Lantern Festival (Part 2)
Qingshan instructed Heshu again, "Treat senior sister well" and "I will be back soon", then turned and left the hut, and his figure disappeared outside the courtyard gate.
"Your relationship is so... well, no wonder you don't want to return to heaven."
Almost at the moment Qingshan's figure disappeared, Heqi's teasing words rang out.
He Shu smiled awkwardly and scratched his head:
"Hehe... By the way, it's not even spring yet, and the rules of the fairy world haven't changed. Why did you come down to earth so early?"
The teasing smile on Heqi's face gradually faded. She looked deeply at Heshu with a complicated expression, then lowered her head. A self-deprecating arc appeared at the corner of her lips, and her tone gradually became low:
"I was... tricked before. She said she had found traces of the Shadow Demon, so I believed her. I asked Madam Xi to come down to the mortal world and brought her with me... I didn't expect that I would almost harm you because of this. Later... it indirectly caused an irreparable disaster, and even Chun Fei was..."
She sighed deeply, a sigh filled with regret and powerlessness.
"Even if Madam is magnanimous and considers that I was deceived and has no intention of punishing me severely...how can I...still have the dignity to continue to serve her with a clear conscience?"
"So now you..."
He Shu's expression darkened when he heard this. He reached out and patted He Qi's shoulder, not knowing how to comfort him.
He knew in his heart that all this was an unexpected disaster for Heqi and it hurt him deeply.
She and Chun Fei, who had not yet been punished by heaven and later became Tao Hua, were old acquaintances.
Back then, the two worked together beside Madam Xi, and they were like sisters, talking about everything...
No wonder Heqi acted so abnormally when Taohua got into trouble later. He was so desperate to care about tracking down the shadow demon that he was even used by others.
It’s a pity...times have changed, old friends are gone, and everything has changed, leaving only regrets.
"Madam Xi has no intention of making things difficult for me..."
Heqi took a deep breath and tried to make his voice sound calmer.
"Seeing that I was determined to leave, she mediated for me and found a position as a messenger fairy servant beside Immortal Lord Yunhan for me to succeed. This is... the job you had in the Immortal Realm."
She pretended to be open-minded and didn't seem to care.
"It's much more peaceful and relaxing than before, when I had to come down to earth every day to deliver flower news. It's just that... I'm still a little uncomfortable for a while."
"Oh...I see."
He Shu nodded in understanding. Although he understood in his heart, he still felt a little sorry for He Qi.
She has served Madam Xi for a long time and has rich experience and extraordinary friendship. Moreover, she is outstanding in ability and efficient in her work. It is really a waste of her talent for her to do such a nearly sinecure job as a messenger now.
He Shu also sighed softly, and replied in a deliberately unremarkable tone:
"When I was a messenger fairy servant, I didn't have such good treatment. I ran around all day and was exhausted."
He walked to the place where Qingshan had just sat and sat down, face to face with Heqi, taking in the loneliness and melancholy in her eyes that could not be completely concealed.
Those emotions that had long since calmed down with the passage of time were now aroused, and despite trying hard to suppress them, they still began to churn.
Thinking of Heqi's current situation, and then thinking of how he and Qingshan had gone through so many twists and turns to be together, an indescribable bitterness welled up in his heart, and he had no mood to continue talking.
There was silence in the study for a moment, and He Shu saw the person opposite him suddenly shook his head, as if trying to throw away all those weak emotions.
Heqi quickly returned to his usual slightly sharp and high-spirited appearance, putting away the inappropriate sadness, and tapped the hardwood armrest of the chair with his fingertips, making a crisp "dong dong" sound.
She scoffed disdainfully, her tone tinged with her usual pride:
"How could I be compared to a fool like you? Even if I wasn't used to it, I soon became Xianqing's most capable and trusted right-hand man."
"Hey! Who are you calling an idiot?"
The sympathy and sadness that had just risen in He Shu's heart were completely shattered by such a familiar, disgusted word. He immediately became furious and argued unconvincedly:
"Although I haven't been given much importance by the Immortal Lord, I have at least been praised. He said I'm the most hardworking immortal servant he's ever seen!"
He paused, immediately grasped the key point, and counterattacked:
"Don't try to change the subject! Tell me clearly, what exactly is your purpose in coming to the mortal world this time? If you come here without permission, beware of me... I will report it to Emperor Xuanyue!"
He Qi heard this, and the smile on his face became even wider, with a sense of confidence. He seemed not to be frightened at all by He Shu's threat, which was not so serious at all. There was no trace of the gloom on his face.
"I'm truly sorry to disappoint you. Immortal Yunhan has personally descended to the mortal realm to discuss matters with Emperor Xuanyue. I've been ordered to come down to the mortal realm to be in charge of the communication."
She changed the subject and brought the focus back to He Shu, scanning him up and down with an inquiring gaze.
"By the way, where on earth did you and that mortal boy go? I've been waiting around this courtyard for two days, but I haven't seen any sign of you. I almost thought you had moved away."
He Shu felt a little nervous when she asked him this question. His eyes flickered and he subconsciously lowered his eyes to avoid her sharp gaze.
If he told the truth, he would definitely be laughed at by this person. His mind raced, and he casually made up another excuse to cover it up:
"Well... the Lantern Festival is approaching, and we thought it would be fun to gather more people, so we made a special trip to the north to invite some old friends to celebrate with us."
"Invite old friends?"
Heqi raised his eyebrows slightly, with obvious disbelief in his tone.
"Such a small matter can be solved with the sound transmission technique. Why go through so much trouble and come here in person?"
She turned her head to look at the carriage that Qingshan had pushed into the yard.
"You even used a spirit horse. I guess your old friend's residence must be quite close to Luzhu Mountain, right?"
"Not all fellow demon cultivators know how to transmit sound..."
He Shu continued to make up stories despite his own stubbornness, and felt cold sweat coming out of his forehead.
"The one we invited is a young salamander demon that has just transformed. Besides relying on the cold jadeite that comes with him to perform some small magic to condense ice and turn snow..."
"As for the rest...without anyone teaching me, I naturally don't know a thing about many basic techniques, and voice transmission is even more impossible."
This sentence is actually nonsense.
During the years that Sang Li was a "hostage" in Youtan Mansion, although she did not teach Cangjue everything she knew, she did teach him many practical skills. She let him come into contact with all kinds of techniques. Although he may not be proficient in everything, he is definitely not completely ignorant.
Especially the low-level communication technique with great use, such as sound transmission, Cang Jue had already mastered it and used it quite skillfully.
He Shu was nervous, worried that the shrewd He Qi would see through him, so he lowered his head even lower, almost into his collar.
Fortunately, Heqi's focus seemed to still be on the carriage. He was only half-believing and half-doubting his words, but did not completely refute them.
"But there must be other, simpler ways of delivering messages...like finding a random goblin or monster to deliver a message?"
He Qi refused to give in, tapping his chin lightly with his fingertips, as if he had made up his mind to get to the bottom of it and find out what these two people were up to.
He Shu hesitated and was about to give up. He was ready to confess that he had run away from home because of a quarrel, but he was "caught" by someone and returned home in disgrace.
At this critical moment, two figures landed lightly in the courtyard like snowflakes carried by the wind, just in time to save him.
"It's Sang Li and Cang Jue! They arrived so quickly!"
He Shu was as happy as if he had been pardoned. He was secretly delighted and hurriedly stood up, holding Jin Wu, and ran out of the study excitedly and ran towards the yard.
Seeing this, Heqi had no choice but to put aside his doubts and followed him out.
In the yard, Cang Jue curiously let go of the hand that had been pulling Sang Li's sleeve, took two cautious steps forward, raised his head, and deeply inhaled the fresh air of ice, snow and grass with his nose, with pure joy on his face.
"Is this where Brother He and his lover live? The smell is so fresh, completely different from Youtan Mansion... and different from Shenyue Town!"
He spoke in a low voice, his nostrils flaring, but soon he keenly smelled the strange scent of Heqi in the air.
Cangjue's footsteps suddenly stopped, a trace of panic flashed across his face, and he subconsciously stepped back until he touched Sang Li's arm, and was gently held by her cold but soothing palm.
"Is this the 'old friend' you mentioned...whom you want to invite to the festival?"
Heqi's voice was full of amusement, and it sounded behind Heshu.
"He's really a shallow little monster."
She looked at the salamander demon, who quickly hid behind Sang Li like a frightened deer, and couldn't help but find it a little funny. She chuckled and teased, "What are you doing?"
"Heh... Birds of a feather flock together. Anyone who hangs out with a coward is, as expected, a coward as well."
"Hey, what's wrong with you today? Why are you talking so harshly?"
He Shu quickly bent his elbow, poked He Qi's arm, and began to blame him in a low voice.
"Cang Jue didn't offend you! He's just a little salamander demon who has been living at the bottom of a cold pond without seeing the sun. This is his first time traveling far away, and he's blind... Don't be so reckless and hurt him."
In the past, he might have joked like this, but now that someone else did this, he felt a little pity for Cang Jue and began to protect him like Sang Li.
Ignoring Heqi, Heshu quickly stepped forward, softening his voice, and led the still nervous Cangjue to sit on the stone bench beside the peach tree in the courtyard, introducing him in a gentle voice:
"Cang Jue, don't be afraid. This is Zhu Wuyou, my former colleague in the Immortal Realm. He's not a bad person."
"Good luck, sister."
The clear voice of "Sister Zhu" made Heqi, who was usually eloquent, a little dizzy for a moment and he was unusually speechless.
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