Chapter 15: You Promised!
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Last night, she'd left the moonstone on a side table. Now, it lay in pieces on the floor.
Zhe Huo felt she could hear her heart shatter.
How many spirit gems was that?
Her hands clenched into fists. "Qinghan!"
His eyes red and raw, Luo Qinghan whimpered, "This morning, I was wiping the tables, and knocked it right off. I didn't mean to…"
Zhe Huo could feel her belly roiling with flame, but there was no way for her to let it out.
He was only a child. While doing her housework for her, he had accidentally knocked something over. What was there for her to say? One look at his beautiful, melancholy features, and she couldn't do a thing against him.
Instead, she tore at her hair, raging in silent fury.
Qinghan pulled at her fingers, chewing on his lip as he timidly reminded her, "You promised you wouldn't get mad."
"But Qinghan, this was Wu Shan's gift to me… How am I supposed to tell him that I broke it? Ah, alright… I know you didn't do it on purpose." Zhe Huo shook her head helplessly, knowing she would have to apologize to Wu Shan once more.
Qinghan blinked with tearful eyes, and a hopeful little smile almost dared to appear. He fought to keep it down.
She called that a precious gift? Qinghan snorted imperceptibly.
Two days later, in the Cloud Temple, the grandmaster assembled all those disciples who were able to take on quests on their own. Only Chu Tianjue was absent.
Fei Zhao walked around the base of the temple. Finally, unable to bear his curiosity any longer, he asked, "Grandmaster, where is the other master?"
Nan Lingye, idly flicking through the dusty bamboo scrolls on a table nearby, looked over at this question, and gave Fei Zhao an enigmatic smile. "Your master is, hmm… he was in a bit of a foul mood, so he's probably off sulking somewhere right now."
Everyone understood immediately: Master Tianjue had most likely lost very badly at chess, and was now skipping their monthly meeting.
"Alright, let's assign the tasks for this month. Whoever wants to take on more work for the chance to earn more money, hands up," Grandmaster Lingye drawled lazily. He scanned the crowd, and cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, everyone? Didn't I just hand out some gold the other day? It's like you're all dead broke or something!"
Zhe Huo wrinkled her mouth at this, and muttered under her breath, "You did no such thing."
If not for her going out to look for work on her own, she'd already have starved to death.
No one on Lavender Mountain depended on the grandmaster. They could only count on themselves.
Zhe Huo's sentiment was immediately echoed by Fei Zhao, and soon the entire hall was murmuring with dissent.
Lingye's eyebrows rose to meet his hairline. "Utter balderdash!" he snapped, snatching up a bamboo scroll and thwacking it against the table. This had the effect of showering his face in a cloud of dust. Squeezing his eyes shut and waving his hands to clear the air, he coughed violently for a while.
The disciples in the temple were desperately holding back their laughter.
When Lingye had regained his composure—and cleared his throat—he tried again. "As to how I haven't been paying any of you… do none of you know the reason why?"
As one, the disciples shook their heads.
Grandmaster Lingye rapped a finger against the table, and declared with an air of lamentation, "Any money I give to you fools, it's like you can't spend it fast enough! Obviously, I've been keeping it safe for you lot!"
-- Gift
received