“The Silent Sea.” The woman picked up her gourd and took a sip of wine. “Do you want some?”
Zu An hesitated. “I don’t have a cup.” For some reason, he harbored no perverted thoughts toward the woman sitting before him. He wasn’t feeling like his usual self.
The woman tossed him the gourd. “It’s not as if I mind. Why are you so restrained?”
The woman’s carefree attitude seemed to clue Zu An in to how stiffly he was behaving. Tilting his head backwards, he lifted the gourd and took a huge mouthful. As soon as the wine flowed into his mouth, he felt a surge of heat engulf his body, burning him up.
The sensation caused him to choke, and he began coughing violently. His face flushed red. “What wine is this? It’s so strong!” It was even more potent than the vodka he had once drunk in his previous life.
“It’s called ‘Burning Sky’. The high alcoholic content is hard for most people to bear. It’s due to my special constitution that I often drink this wine to warm my body,” the woman replied. She took her gourd back and sipped lightly. A slight blush graced her snowy cheeks. She really seemed to enjoy the alcohol.
“My name is Zu An. May I know your name?” Zu An asked.
The woman shook her head lightly and smiled. “Life is a series of transient fates. If we’re going to part in the end, we might as well not get to know one another.”
Zu An frowned petulantly. “But I already told you my name.”
“You were the one who told me on your own accord. I didn’t ask for it.”
“I feel like I just got taken advantage of,” Zu An grumbled in displeasure.
The woman burst into laughter. “You drank my wine. It doesn’t seem to me like you’re at any disadvantage.”
“I guess so.” Zu An noticed that the rain was slowly coming to a halt, so he rose to his feet. “If fate brings us together once more, will you tell me your name?”
“I doubt that we’ll be able to meet again.” The woman shook her head. She shot a glance at the school bag he was carrying, and her face adopted a bizarre expression. “You’re a student of Brightmoon Academy?”
Zu An’s heart skipped a beat. A truant student would never admit to his own truancy. He eyed the woman warily. “If you aren’t going to answer my question, why should I answer yours?”
The woman pointed to the bag he was carrying. “I can tell even if you don’t say a thing. You’re carrying a backpack that only the students of Brightmoon Academy have. It should be lesson time now; what are you doing here?”
“I’ve spent more than twenty years studying from my days in kindergarten all the way until university. I don’t ever want to go to school again!” Zu An replied in frustration.
Kindergarten? University? The woman’s eyes flickered in confusion, but she left her questions unspoken. I am also keeping many things to myself, so what right do I have to question him?
“Thanks for your wine. I’ll be heading off.” Zu An was still thinking of looking for Yu Yanluo. This concerned his lifetime of happiness! It had to take precedence over everything else.
“Sure. It looks like we might just meet one another again in the near future.” A playful smile touched the woman’s lips.
Zu An eyed her impassively. Like I’d trust you. Isn’t the use of enigmatic words to hook the interest of men an intrinsic trait of beautiful women?
Barely a moment after Zu An left the gazebo, he noticed a black-clothed man walking along the pavement. The man glanced casually at him as he walked by. He’d taken a mere handful of steps before he backtracked quickly and called out, “Zu An?”
“Who are you?” Zu An frowned at the man in black. He had a long scar stretching from his nose all the way to his right cheek. A plum blossom insignia was visible near his neckline. Zu An’s heart skipped a beat. Plum Blossom Twelve had borne a similar tattoo.
1. A Japanese tune played by Sojiro
2. This refers to a poem of a man who dreamt of becoming a butterfly before waking up. As he woke, he wondered which one was truly the dream—him being a butterfly, or him dreaming of waking up as Zhou Zhuang.