Capítulo 42: Exposition Time
Lu Xifa opened her eyes, feeling a soft sensation on her back.
She landed on her bed while hugging Lan Xiang.
Very quickly, she jumped out and shook her head to clear her mind. However, her eyes traced Lan Xiang's body.
"He's... more chiseled than I thought..."
Her gaze ended up on the bottom half of his body. "...and he's packing..."
She widened her eyes, rushed to her shower and opened the cold water. "Pure thoughts, pure thoughts, pure thoughts..."
.....
Bang!
Ning Muqin's assistant finally broke the door down. "Who's there?!"
He adjusted his glasses and took a fighting stance. Of course, his false bravado was seen through by Ning Muqin.
She entered the room herself, thinking that her shivering assistant was not reliable.
Observing the scene, she widened her eyes.
...Almost everything was destroyed!
Only a few crates in the corner weren't broken, and even then, they weren't left untouched, a few cracks on the crates' sides.
Around the area was a faint soothing aura, calming both Ning Muqin and her assistant down.
"What happened here?" The assistant calmed down. There weren't any other people except for them. "Did one of our items explode?"
Ning Muqin traced the origin of the explosion.
According to the traces left on the walls, the explosion should be somewhere over... here.
On the spot she determined to be the origin, there was a small box lined with white wool, completely clean, of any trace of the explosion.
"This... It's the container of the replica Yang necklace, isn't it?" Ning Muqin picked it up and showed it to her assistant.
"Huh? Um, yes." The assistant removed his glasses and wore them again.
"The absence of the Yang necklace, coupled with the calming aura around the room..." Ning Muqin thought out loud.
"That means, the cause of the explosion is the Yang necklace itself?" The assistant was shocked. "But how can that be? Even though it's a replica, it wouldn't be easy to make it explode. The only known way would be to pair it with a superior replica Yin necklace, or better yet, the real one..."
Ning Muqin signaled the assistant to shut up. "Look here, there's blood all over the floor."
"A trespasser? The only way inside is the long and heavily guarded hallway leading to this room. They must've been caught on camera, let's go check."
"No, if they were on the camera, the guards would've been alerted already. Instead, none of them are even aware an explosion happened. That means the trespasser has a technique to go undetected, or it's an inside job."
Ning Muqin thought it through. It was nearly impossible to go through the hallway even if the trespasser had invisibility or super speed. That was because aside from the guards, lasers covered the hallway from top to bottom.
For someone to disable the lasers, it was more likely to be an inside job.
"Let's investigate all our employees. Collect a sample of this blood as well."
"W, what about the destroyed artifacts and other stuff?"
"We, as the Ning family... need to compensate for them."
It physically hurt for Ning Muqin to say the word "compensate".
"Tsk, the more important thing is that the pills are all gone. What's going to become of my son?" She bit her lip.
The physician said that her son had at most a week left. This was if they were lucky.
.....
Lan Xiang opened his eyes in shock as he looked around the room. "W, what? Where am I? In Xifa's room...?"
He looked down his body and saw a blanket. Only then did he notice that under it, he was completely unclothed.
"Ah, the blood has been wiped off my body. Did Xifa do this? Where did she sleep then? This is her bed."
A snore disrupted his thought process, coming from the side.
Lu Xifa's head lied on the mattress as she slouched while sitting on a chair beside the bed.
Lan Xiang smiled and caressed her hair. "Thanks."
He continued sliding his hand down her smooth hair as he yawned, facing another way. When he looked again, he saw Lu Xifa fully awake, her eyes staring directly at him full of embarrassment.
"Ah, you're awake."
Lu Xifa sprang up and blushed all over. What was he doing just now? Was he patting my head? It felt really comforting...
"Ai, stop seducing me!"
"Seducing you? What do you mean?" Lan Xiang scratched his head.
Lu Xifa faced away from him to hide her ever-widening grin. The sensation on her head didn't seem like it would leave anytime soon. "Never mind what I just said. Wear some clothes, I put some on the drawer next to the bed."
Luckily for Lan Xiang, Lu Xifa liked to crossdress. Otherwise, he would have to share that interest.
Lan Xiang started to whistle while putting the clothes on.
"What are you doing? Bring them to the bathroom and wear them there!"
Lu Xifa, still with her back against him, imagined the scene happening behind her. The blanket had fallen off, revealing his whole body... She fought with her desire to turn around and observe.
"What's the matter with me wearing these here? You've seen my body already, right?" Lan Xiang didn't see the problem.
"Hah? Wh, what do you mean nothing's wrong? You're engaged to Cousin Jian! Me seeing your body once is enough! Besides, I've seen it two times already..." Lu Xifa's voice trailed off towards the end.
"What does me being engaged with Jian'er have anything to do with this?"
"Don't you feel like you're betraying her?" Because I do.
"I only feel stuff like that if I have a guilty conscience. I'm not doing anything dirty with you, why should she feel betrayed?" Lan Xiang shrugged.
"Only if you have a guilty conscience, huh." Lu Xifa felt more depressed. Why did my first love happen to be this guy...
"Anyway, thanks for taking care of me while I was unconscious. How long was I out?"
"It's been an hour or two."
"Thank goodness." Lan Xiang was relieved. If he had fainted for too long, he would be worrying Xie Jian, which would be bad.
"Speaking of, what happened to the necklace? I don't remember much towards the end."
"Well... the Yang necklace exploded, and everything in the Ning storage room was destroyed..."
"..."
"..."
A moment of silence for the Ning family.
Even though Lan Xiang didn't have a good impression of the Ning family due to Ning Luoxue's actions, destroying all of the items was too much, especially since it wasn't theirs, and they were only selling it. He didn't have a deep grudge against the Ning family or anything.
"In hindsight, we probably should have moved to an open space first before trying to connect the pendants."
"Ah, you were the one who kept pushing me to do it!"
"Hey, let's not play the blame game now. You could've just as easily stopped it at your request." Lan Xiang crossed his arms. "Never mind that, why did the Yang necklace explode?"
"I really have no idea. I have to ask Granny Ran for that."
"Technically, she's also my Granny Ran." Lan Xiang smirked.
"...I know." Instead of a comeback like usual, Lu Xifa responded despondently. She let out a sigh after thinking about the fact that Lan Xiang was her second cousin-in-law.
"I should introduce you to her, then we can ask about the Yang necklace."
"Me? Introduce me?" Lan Xiang felt nervous. He felt like a guy being introduced to his girlfriend's parents for the first time. Although, it wasn't entirely wrong, since Lu Ran is Xie Jian's grandparent.
"I'll call her right now."
After a couple rings, Lu Ran picked up.
"Hi, auntie~"
Lan Xiang's jaw dropped. The comforting voice she used to talk to her grand aunt was way different to her normal voice. Listening to it made Lan Xiang let down his guard.
"Um, where are you right now? I have someone to introduce... What? No, not a girl..."
The call hung up.
"Hm? Why did she hang up?"
Lan Xiang snapped out of his daze. That voice was too much for him, no siree! Ai, what am I doing?
All of a sudden, a rift opened on the wall, Lu Ran walking through.
To Lan Xiang, she looked like a middle-aged woman, about 30-40 years old.
"Xifa, who is this woman?"
"You idiot, that's Granny Ran!"
"...What."
Lan Xiang looked again.
A beautiful woman in her late 30s, rocking the wool jacket and scarf, is actually about 60 to 70 years old?
Lu Ran took off her shades, and looked at Lan Xiang. "So, Xifa. Who's this 'not girl' you're talking about, eh?"
Before Lu Xifa could speak, Lan Xiang stood up and introduced himself. "Hi, grandma. I'm Lan Xiang."
"Why are you calling me grandma, huh? Do I look like a grandma to you?"
"No, grandma, it's just that, I will be... marrying your granddaughter in the future." Lan Xiang seemed shy talking about marriage. However, one couldn't deny that he had a huge smile on his face when he thought about it.
"Marrying? So this kid is your boyfriend, Xifa?"
"N, no!" Lu Xifa turned red all over. "He's, he's Cousin Jian's fiancé."
"Oh, Little Jian! I haven't seen her for so long, next time I visit Shenzing, I'll greet her." Lu Ran took a seat.
"So, you, kid. What's your name? Xiang? If you are dating Little Jian, then why are you wearing Xifa's clothes?" Lu Ran's gaze turned sharp.
"Ah, it's nothing inappropriate! It's just that all my clothes turned into dust." Lan Xiang shrugged.
"Eh? How would that even happen?"
"Auntie, it's like this. I... found the Yang necklace."
Lu Ran froze, dropping her shades on the floor. "You found it? Where is it then?"
"See, that's the thing. Both our clothes were destroyed since the Yang necklace exploded."
"It exploded? You mean, you tried to connect it to your Yin necklace?"
Lan Xiang and Lu Xifa were surprised. They didn't expect Lu Ran to suddenly find out what they did.
"Where did it explode? The box should still be intact."
"Um, we connected the pendants as soon as we found it."
"In other words, it exploded in the Ning Auction House's storage room." Lu Ran let out a long sigh. "Come closer, you two."
Lu Xifa and Lan Xiang walked closer.
"You idiots!" Lu Ran smacked them both on the back of their head. Even though they hardly felt any pain, the scolding made them feel bad.
"Aiyaya... if the Yang necklace exploded, that means it's only a replica. It's not the real Yang necklace."
"It isn't the real one?" Lu Xifa felt relieved. She thought she might have destroyed what her family's been searching for for generations.
"If it was the real one, it wouldn't have exploded. The two would have connected in perfect harmony with one another."
"What happens after they connect?" Lan Xiang was curious.
Lu Ran shrugged. "Truth is, no one has managed to find the real Yang necklace for centuries now, since their genesis."
"So, it's fine that we destroyed the Yang necklace, right? It's a fake after all."
"No! It's not a fake, it's a replica! A replica. Even though it doesn't contain as much raw energy as the original one, it is still an important relic! Even if it wasn't important, you two still made it explode in a storage room! What if there are casualties? What if the Ning family tracks you down?"
Lan Xiang and Lu Xifa turned their heads down, patiently listening to Lu Ran's sermons.
Eventually, it ended.
Lu Xifa regained enough qi to open a rift to Lan Xiang's house.
Lan Xiang bade goodbye and jumped in, Lu Xifa closing the rift after.
"Xifa."
"Hm? What is it, auntie?"
"You... Don't go too far. He's your cousin's fiancé."
Lu Xifa immediately got into a bad mood. "...I know."
REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES 
SauceMaster64
SauceMaster64 Fun fact, Muqin means mother. So it's a stupid name lol
PS: ALL your POWERSTONES belong to ME. Muhahahaha!
Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder