Chapter 39: The Body Tempering Elixir

"Jerk."

A word enough to make him wince in pain, Hua Zhao stared at the now red-eyed girl. How could he have known that she'd break down into tears? She had always treated him harshly that he couldn't resist teasing her a bit.

Well, that was half-truth.

"Why are you so glum?" Bo Ling had asked him yesterday as they walked back to their dorm. Ning Bi had gone to her own assigned dorm which was in another building, they had tried to walk her there but she refused. "You look so sad, what's the matter? It even affected Ning Bi."

"I'm not glum." He frowned at his friend and sighed a bit.

Bo Ling pffted at him. "You talked with that Chan Lee girl before our class started and then looked upset the whole time, did you get rejected for the first time?"

"I didn't get rejected!" Hua Zhao frowned, just because the girl decided to hang out with a new group instead of him… it didn't mean that he was rejected or something. Why use the word 'rejected' even? It was more like… the group of people on the second row approached her at the end of the class before he could do it.

They seemed to be a welcome distraction for her.

"You know, I don't think she'd fit in with our group or she'd actually feel comfortable with us." Bo Ling shrugged offhandedly.

Hua Zhao sighed, when Bo Ling wanted to—he was able to make good observations. "...It's not like I want her to be in our group. The others might scare her, yeah. I… I'm just looking out for her in my own way."

"Look out for her? Please, you're scary too… now me? I'm loveable. Heck, even Ning Bi is scary in our group."

He scoffed at that remark. "Don't be like that. Ning Bi is a sweet girl."

"Only to you, Hua Zhao. Only to you." Bo Ling shook his head. "You're dense like some anime protagonists."

Hua Zhao rolled his eyes. "And you're the comic relief."

"Hey! I'm your awesome rival." Bo Ling rubbed his nose. "I'm your polar opposite, give me some respect."

He reluctantly shrugged, he didn't want to admit it but... "I'd attribute that role to Liu Guiren."

"...you're right." Bo Ling reluctantly agreed and rubbed his forehead. "Oh geez, I'm comic relief. This sucks!"

Biting back a smile, Hua Zhao walked inside their shared dorm. "Let's quit with the references now."

"But it made you feel better, didn't it?" Bo Ling nudged at him with a laugh.

"I won't hit you." Chan Lee frowned at him, breaking him away from his train of thoughts. She looked displeased at him but she finally stopped crying, sniffling instead. That didn't stop her from glaring at him though.

Hua Zhao sighed and reached for her head, "Well, aren't you so kind—"

She slapped his hand away. "Only because I've already said some mean stuff… which you had a right to get mad over." Chan Lee frowned at him with puffy red eyes. "But you didn't have to be mean for it, we could have talked it over. It'll be an endless cycle if we keep pushing each other's buttons."

"...I know." He sighed and retracted his hand back into his pocket. He would have liked patting her head. Shame. "So what did you need me for?"

"Medicine."

"Medicine?" He raised a brow, was she sick? Was his assumption right? He could still detect a faint sense of qi around her so she wasn't lacking in it.

"Xue created a—"

And he placed a hand over her mouth before she could even finish the sentence. His eyes darted left and right. He really should have started thinking about getting some silencing talisman or spell that could shroud their presence. "Don't tell me he created the one that makes you live for forever. I'm not interested in that."

She glared at him and he once again removed his hand from her mouth—who knew if she decided to bite him.

"Hua Zhao, I don't appreciate you just touching me." She frowned before she fussed over her bag and retrieved a flask filled with dark liquid. "Here, he called it Body Tempering Elixir." She held it out to him.

Body Tempering? He accepted it, their fingers brushing slightly as he grabbed it from her hand. "Huh…" Well, if the guy had said he could produce something like this from the start, he would have wanted something like this. "But where did he get the ingredients?"

"They came from Kit, probably a parting gift."

"Pfft, a parting gift?" He bit back a snicker when he saw her frowning face. "I just don't think that the Fox spirit would simply leave his friend alone." He explained. Somehow, Chan Lee reminded him a bit of Ning Bi… they were both stubborn in their own way.

"I don't want to worry about that right now." Chan Lee still had that frown on her face.

"You're going to get wrinkles." He muttered underneath his breath before nodding and clasped his hands together. "I agree, I'm surprised that you're taking it quite well." How many days had it been? Last Friday when he had talked with her, she hadn't had Xue's spiritual traces around her. It has been nearly a week now since that day.

"...you should see my neighbor, he's taking it much better than me."

"Yeah, I recall that weird guy at your apartment." Hua Zhao recalled seeing that man for about two times now? Chan Lee seemed to trust that person, leaving Xue with the man as a caretaker while they were gone.

"He's not weird!" She was quick to defend him. "He's just…"

He fought back an amused smile, "Just?"

Chan Lee scratched her cheek. "A bit strange?"

He'd have to worry about the man on a later notice though, there were bigger problems to tackle on right now. "Same thing." Hua Zhao uncapped the flask and brought it to his nose, sniffing it for a moment. His nose scrunched up slightly, "It doesn't smell like crap…?"

"Does it usually smell bad?" She raised a brow.

"I'm not sure if he messed it up or made his own adjustments to the recipe."

"He's talented!" She defended the Moon Rabbit all at once.

Well that was for him to decide.

He took a quick swig of the liquid—an electrifying sensation jolted from his throat to his entire body in quick succession. It was an elixir that tempered one's body and expelled impurities, the cleansing lightning soon evaporated to a cooling feeling that invigorated his senses.

"Alright… this is good." Much potent than what he was used to. Perhaps, Shen would be interested in it? But would bringing in these be beneficial for their society as a whole?

"Do you think we could get some buyers?" Chan Lee was much closer to him now, tiptoeing a bit and staring at him. It was a little unnerving.

She didn't like him but was now looking at him with too much interest? Did she actually want him? It was a weird thought that flew past his mind—he quickly tossed the idea away. "...I mean, I'd buy it." He shrugged a bit lamely and fought back any previous thoughts. Instead he turned to the bottle in his hand. He could already foresee the possible fights over it. The other ones available at the market were diluted mud water to this.

"Don't you guys have some super secret sect that'd buy this?"

Hua Zhao sighed, "Are you guys really in need of dire cash?"

She frowned at him.

Man, this wasn't helping his resolve at all. "How many flasks do you have? I'll buy them myself."

"Your employer must be very rich."

"Huh?" He raised a brow.

"You told me before that you worked for someone, so if you're able to buy the flasks yourself then you must be well paid. Wouldn't they be interested in something like this? What's your line of work really?" Chan Lee asked him.

He fought back from making a face. "...It's just a side gig. But name your price and I'll buy them. We don't even need the market for it to see, I can already see that this are high quality elixirs and would like them for myself." He'd probably get whacked by his grandfather if he'd have to withdraw some money but it was worth it.

He was already hiding them as it is so it was better to continue this for as long as he could.

"$1000 per flask."

"What?!" He eyed the girl. "I didn't expect you to price so exorbitantly and in foreign currency at that. Greed is one of the fatal flaws of humans, you know?"

"I'm more than willing to succumb to it then?" Chan Lee smiled at him, it was a strange expression on her face. But he'd gladly choose it over her frowns.

He cleared his throat. "Let's negotiate at some other time, I don't have a thousand dollars or anything close to that… wait do I have to pay for this flask?"

"Consider that as a free tester."

"Hmm...alright." Maybe he could take out a loan from Shen, but that would arouse suspicion from the young man. Maybe Bo Ling? Or his sister? He should visit the tea house sometime. "...Anyway, I'll be seeing you around then."

"Yeah." She nodded.

"—Because I have to pay for those elixirs yeah." He nodded along with her.

"Right."

Their conversation was turning awkward now. "And also because we're classmates." He shrugged.

"Hua Zhao...you're kind of blocking the door."

CREATORS' THOUGHTS
RachelRuth

Hi there! You guys get feeling of wanting to end a conversation but not being able to do so? So you have to endure meaningless chatter unless something happens to set you free from it? (ﾟωﾟ;)

It's more worse than talking to oneself in this A/N lol. Anyhow, I'll see you guys on the next chapter! Comment or something so I know I'm not talking to myself（　´∀｀）

The little scene between Hua Zhao and Chan Lee has ended, and I personally like it this way instead of dragging it out haha

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