Chapter 31: Liking Means Weakness.
When Xue Ling walked out of the kitchen with a flushed face, she looked at the clear moonlight and the starry sky outside, as well as the woman in green who was drinking on the roof, and she couldn't help stamping her feet: "Sister Ping!"
She only called out Sister Ping, but all her resentment and shame were contained in these two words.
Under the moonlight, He Ping raised her glass to toast Xue Ling from afar, and smiled at the same time: "How is it, does it look good?"
The 29-year-old woman asked the 17-year-old Xue Ling in the moonlight.
Under the moonlight, her face was a beautiful and blurred profile under the light and shadow, and the wine in her hand was rippling in the glass.
For some reason, Xue Ling nodded: "It looks good."
As soon as the word "looks good" came out of her mouth, Xue Ling felt something was wrong. She covered her mouth with both hands, and for a moment she didn't know why she had made such a serious mistake as a matter of course.
At that moment, her face was as red as an apple.
After all, how could such shameless words come out of her mouth? Xue Ling wanted to tear her mouth apart.
But He Ping simply smiled calmly at Xue Ling, who covered her face in the moonlight, and said, "It's good enough that it's beautiful."
"Okay, you should go to bed now."
"Although I might not be able to sleep for a while."
Xue Ling trotted out of He Ping's sight. He Ping, watching the girl's back, smiled and shook her head, then drank the cup to the brim. She continued to sit, gazing at the moon and drinking alone.
...
...
When the night watchman outside the inn struck four o'clock, Fang Bie emerged from the kitchen under the already setting moonlight and saw He Ping, still drinking on the roof.
He Ping had only brought a pot of wine and no snacks, but she managed to drink from this small pot all the way to midnight.
She drank until Fang Bie came out.
If this was a skill, then He Ping's was truly exceptional.
"Sister Ping, can't you drink less?" Fang Bie said helplessly, looking up at the roof.
"I'm not eating your rice," He Ping said calmly, shaking the now-depleted bottle in her hand.
The bottle could only hold a pound of liquor, at best. And He Ping wasn't drinking the strongest baijiu, but rather distilled and filtered rice wine, which was much softer.
"I won't get sick from drinking, don't worry."
"After all, I prefer being a fool drinking alone under the moon, rather than a fool daydreaming about love under the moon,"
Fang Bie sighed.
"Did you call Lin Xue in?"
He Ping shook her head naturally. "I probably just pointed the way?"
He Ping said innocently.
"Lin Xue is a good girl," Fang Bie said.
He Ping nodded. "I know she's a good girl."
"But not every good girl should be pushed towards me?" Fang Bie asked.
He Ping looked at Fang Bie with the air of an old mother looking at her son. "You're seventeen?"
"Lin Xue is my partner, and the organization has a rule that partners can't fall in love," Fang Bie said.
"The rule is the organization's rule," He Ping said. "But there are exceptions to every rule."
Fang Bie nodded. "But I don't plan to fall in love with anyone for the time being."
"Why?" He Ping asked.
"Love means weakness." Fang Bie said with a smile, "I don't want to leave too many weaknesses in this world for now."
"I protect Lin Xue only because she might be more useful to me, but I will never let myself die in order to let her live."
"And so-called love is something that can make people do stupid things."
"When I'm strong enough, maybe I'll try to like someone."
"But not now,"
He Ping listened to Fang Bie's words and asked, "Aren't you strong enough now?"
Fang Bie nodded as a matter of fact. "Of course not. There are still many people in this world who can kill me."
He Ping smiled. "Not many anymore."
Fang Bie shook his head. "A lot."
"For you, I'm afraid you'd feel the same way if there was only one person in this world who could kill you," He Ping asked.
Fang Bie nodded. "Yes, one is enough, and now there are many, many more than one."
"So how's your sword?" He Ping asked.
Fang Bie was silent for a moment. "Still practicing."
"Then I look forward to the day you master it," He Ping said.
"You might be practicing the strongest sword in the world."
"I don't know if it's strong enough." Fang Bie smiled. "But it's going to take a long, long time."
"It's getting late. I need to go to bed," Fang Bie said.
He walked toward his room, and only when he reached the door of his side room did he turn back and look up at the woman on the roof: "Thank you."
"Shouldn't a life-saving favor be kept in the heart, not just spoken of?" He Ping tilted her head and smiled.
The smile was gentle and sweet.
"I'm just thanking Sister Ping for keeping watch for me until now," Fang Bie said quietly, smiling slightly, then walked into his room and closed the door.
He Ping shook her head helplessly, raised her hand and yawned, then poured the remaining wine into her mouth, then leaped from the roof into the courtyard.
The moonlight cast her shadow.
Straight and slender.
He Ping walked along her own shadow to her room.
Her steps were also calm and straight, each step resting on her own shadow, without the slightest deviation.
There was no sign that she had spent the whole night drinking on the roof under the moonlight.
Only the lonely moon illuminated the empty courtyard.
...
...
When Xue Ling woke up the next day, it seemed as if nothing had happened the previous night.
As the cook at the Xiaohun Inn, the young woman would rise early each day to prepare the ingredients, then wait for Fang Bie to clean and open the shop, while He Ping took care of the accounting.
This was a typical day in this small inn.
When things weren't going on, the Xiaohun Inn was a quiet, small, and clean place, offering accommodation in ten rooms, three meals a day, and some simple takeout.
This was the usual appearance of the Xiaohun Inn. People around had gradually become familiar with this inn, which had only been open for less than six months, and had begun to appreciate the dishes and flavors, praising the young and beautiful cook for her increasingly delicious cooking.
Although the Xiaohun Inn's backroom business alone could bring in a profit of ten taels of silver a month from entertaining guests and staying in the hotel,
Xue Ling truly felt that He Ping valued this income very much.
Even Fang Bie's daily waiter duties and cleaning were done with great care, diligence, and meticulousness.
Sometimes Xue Ling felt that Fang Bie was not a normal person at all. He seemed to be whipping himself forward with a whip every moment. He was self-disciplined, cold, and extremely serious and cautious.
And so, when the ninth day passed, Xue Ling woke up one morning and found a pair of thin, white, gold-threaded gloves lying next to her pillow.
(End of this chapter)