Luo’er shivered, taken aback by her movement, but accepted her kindness. Whenever they discussed intelligence, Baiyue always had nothing to contribute, so she silently did whatever she could for everyone.
"Yue’er, we’ve been partners for so long, and in the end, you still favor Luo’er." Hu Daoke expressed a face of woe.
Hearing Hu Daoke’s words, Tangmo, who was currently drafting a report, lifted his head to look at Luo’er and the others. Recalling his experiences in the academy, Luo’er braced himself, assuming Tangmo was getting jealous again. Surprisingly, after a quick glance, Tangmo resumed writing the report as if nothing had happened.
"Huh?" Luo’er couldn’t help but speak out.
"What’s wrong?" asked Hu Daoke.
"Nothing, it’s just that Moumou seems to be acting a bit odd!" replied Luo’er.
"Really?" Hu Daoke turned his head to look at Tangmo, thought for a bit, and said, "Indeed, it’s strange. Sister Moumou unexpectedly started writing reports voluntarily!"
"Uh..." Luo’er didn’t know how to respond, so he simply closed his mouth.
Tangmo quickly finished the report as per Luo’er’s request and sent a magic messenger to Headquarters. All they had to do was wait. At the moment, Holy Heart City was under lockdown. Luo’er and the others were aware that the longer they stayed in the city, the higher the risk. Therefore, their priority was to escape from the city and head straight to Masya.
Cheng Ziang, who had foresight, had anticipated the potential lockdown and thus had their horses and equipment moved to an inn outside the city ahead of time. The owner of that inn was a member of their information network. He regularly supplied them with ammunition, in stark contrast to the lazy proprietor in the city. Hence, they had specifically entrusted him to take care of their horses and watch over their equipment.
Now, as long as they could sneak out of the Uptown District, they could rush to the inn outside the city, collect their gear, mount their horses, and race towards Masya.
However, leaving wasn’t going to be easy. As long as the army and patrolmen hadn’t started interrogating outsiders, they were relatively safe. So, they could only wait hopefully for a suitable opportunity.
If possible, taking a boat would undeniably be safer than crossing a bridge. But right now, even boats leaving the city are under strict surveillance, making it hard to get a boat to paddle across the river.
Their money was sufficient, so they simply rented two rooms to separate themselves from the two girls. The long-awaited relaxation left Luo’er feeling incredibly tired. After cleaning up a bit, he soon dozed off.
Looking at Luo’er’s tired sleep, Hu Daoke couldn’t help but ask Cheng Ziang, "Did Luo’er have a tough time at the academy?"
"His status was that of a slave, what do you think?" responded Cheng Ziang, boredly leaning on his palm, and giving him a sideways glance.
"Haven’t you noticed that Sister Moumou’s feelings towards Luo’er have changed?" asked Hu Daoke.
"Really?" Cheng Ziang asked casually.
"I feel they’ve gotten closer." said Hu Daoke.
"Humph," Cheng Ziang scoffed, not being able to resist the gossip, "Luo’er was flirting with every girl he could find in the academy. Moumou was so angry on several occasions!"
"What do you mean?" Hu Daoke curiously asked as Cheng Ziang dropped another bomb.
"I don’t want to talk about it!" Cheng Ziang ignored him, lost in his thoughts.
Hu Daoke moved his arm, causing Cheng Ziang to stumble against the table. Cheng Ziang glared at him, then sighed in exasperation. "Luo’er at the academy first got to know a little maid who worked with him, then got along really well with an aristocratic young lady. Moumou was nearly mad!"
"Really?" Hu Daoke widened his eyes, hesitating whether to believe Cheng Ziang’s words. In his memory, Luo’er was introverted and wouldn’t flirt with unfamiliar girls. More crucially, Luo’er was a half-elf whose green eyes drew contemptuous glances in Otherworld, making it very hard for him to flirt.
"I was kidding!" Cheng Ziang glanced at him and then put his head back on his hands, looking away.
"Was what you said true or not?" Hu Daoke asked, slightly frustrated.
"I’m going to sleep!" Cheng Ziang decided to ignore the gossip-lover, got up, and lay down on his bed.
"You!" Hu Daoke, with a frustrated expression, went to bed but as he was just about to lie down, he was hit by a pillow thrown by Cheng Ziang.
"What are you doing?" Hu Daoke asked, holding the pillow.
"I’m sleeping first, so your snoring won’t disturb us," Cheng Ziang coldly remarked.
"You," Hu Daoke grumbled, "if you don’t want to be bothered by my snoring, go sleep in the hallway!"
Cheng Ziang didn’t respond and just laid on the bed, closing his eyes. The constant travel had worn him out mentally and physically. Although he wasn’t as exhausted as Luo’er, he wasn’t far from it either.
Hu Daoke sat on the bed, fuming as he looked at the peacefully sleeping Cheng Ziang. He really wanted to go to sleep. But remembering Cheng Ziang’s words, he decided to stay awake till these two were deeply asleep.
The night passed without much conversation. When Luo’er woke up from his sleep, it was already dawn. He seemed to have grown accustomed to waking up early and felt exceptionally energized.
He yawned and got up, finding Hu Daoke loudly snoring in a rather unpleasant sleeping position. On the side, Cheng Ziang was curling up his body with difficulty. Suddenly, Ziang muzzily got up from his bed, flinging a flying pillow that hit directly on Hu’s face. Hu didn’t even move, just stopped snoring. Cheng Ziang sighed in relief, lying back down to sleep.
After a while, Hu Daoke hugged his pillow and started snoring again. It seemed that Cheng Ziang had no energy to fight and curled up to sleep with his head in his arms.
Luo’er sighed, getting up from the bed. He carefully pulled the pillow from Hu’s hand, then quietly went to Cheng’s side to put the pillow on his bed and picked up the quilt that had been kicked to the ground to cover him.
Next, he went over to Hu, carefully lifting his chin, which immediately stopped his snoring. It took a while for him to let go, even though he knew this solution was temporary, it would at least buy Cheng some time to get into a deep sleep.
It was already winter, but Holy Heart City, with its temperate marine climate, didn’t feel too chilly, yet the morning mist outside the window still gave a sense of cold.
After taking care of these two guys, Luo’er stretched, then opened the door to the corridor.
It was an uptown hotel, and truly different from the hostel in the east city area. The spacious corridor was clean and neat, a maid was mopping, which made Luo’er couldn’t help recalling his past.
The corridor was lined with densely packed candles, making it exceptionally bright. Despite knowing they were currently in danger, he still planned to wander around.
Just as he was about to step away, the door beside him creaked open. Tangmo, wearing her nightgown, came out rubbing her sleepy eyes. As soon as she saw Luo’er, her eyes lit up. Her sleepiness immediately disappeared, and she threw herself onto Luo’er, cheerfully saying, "Good morning, Luo’er!"
"Good morning!" Luo’er laughed bitterly, pulling her off his body while frequently glancing back at the maid who was busy cleaning not too far away.
"Why did you get up so early?" Tangmo looked up and asked him.
"Got used to it!" Luo’er turned his face away, revealing a bitter smile.
"You’re thinner!" Tangmo stroked his cheek with her fingers and said worryingly.
"It’s all over now, isn’t it?" Luo’er said, his hands fidgeting, he grabbed her wrist to stop her from causing additional trouble.
Seeing Luo’er’s rejection, Tangmo pouted, giving him a grudging look, "Did you stop liking me touching you?"
"What kind of question is that?" Luo’er didn’t know how to answer her.
"You let that little maid, Feliz, touch you." Tangmo collapsed, complaining.
"When did I allow that?" Luo’er laughed, "We have already left the academy, and you’re still jealous?"
"I don’t care, Luo’er is mine, no one can take him away!" Tangmo said stubbornly, hugging Luo’er tightly.
"You..." Luo’er laughed bitterly, raising his hands and letting her have her way.
"Luo’er," Tangmo nestled against Luo’er, lowering her head and softly asked, "When will you accept me?"
"I’m sorry, I haven’t thought about it yet. All I have in mind right now is the mission and finding my mother." Luo’er replied truthfully.
"When will you find her?" Tangmo asked with a faint sigh.
"I don’t know, maybe in three or five years!" Luo’er replied.
After a pause, he was about to comfort her, but to his surprise, Tangmo let go of him and looked up at him, smiling, "It’s okay, I can wait, no matter when, Luo’er belongs to me, right?"
"I have never liked any girl!" Luo’er replied to her question somewhat irrelevantly.
"What about Yue’er?" Tangmo suddenly asked.
"Yue’er..." Luo’er was taken aback, not knowing what to say.
"I knew it," Tangmo glared at him, then nestled back against his body softly saying, "if you like Yue’er, I won’t be jealous, but you can’t be ambiguous with other girls!"
Luo’er didn’t know what to say, his face turned red, all the way to his ears. He awkwardly watched Tangmo’s every move, but seemed at a loss.
Although he never thought about this emotional stuff, having his mind all focused on the mission and finding his mother. But now, Tangmo’s confession is indeed reasserting that he is Tangmo’s man and can’t like others anymore.
Although it was somewhat dominating, Luo’er didn’t find it uncomfortable. For him, he didn’t have time to think about love and marriage. Therefore, he also didn’t have time to fall for other girls. Since Tangmo had already claimed him, he just had to go with the flow.
"Moumou, people are watching?" In the end, Luo’er couldn’t help but point to the cleaning maid not far away.
"So what if they look?" Tangmo squinted her eyes, she never needed to hide her feelings for Luo’er.