The path didn't take long. Within minutes, they were outside the clan from the backyard.
The door closed by itself again, leaving them with only heavy bushes that nobody clipped—nor was this place any useful.
"This way.." Chóng Fēi whispered shakily, looked around carefully before guiding Lìngxiāo out of the area, which was still at risk of getting caught.
All the way—his own heart was still pounding, not totally because of getting caught, but from the earlier small yet breathless incident.
It was hard to drop if the matter was related to Xiǎo Lìng or.. that book.
'No no.. you can't act like a fool. Coincidence.. happens. Stop acting this way before I slap you by myself..'
He took a few breaths forcefully in and out while walking, without looking at Lìngxiāo again for now—though he felt those golden-brown eyes had landed on him a few times for his strange, stiff behavior.
Once they were at the main road, which had a few people because though the days are always haunting-looking, this was the time when the ghost didn't usually attack anyone. Mostly couples or people in groups walked around. Nobody went out alone for the sake of safety.
No people really recognized them as planned. But they did stare at them like: they feel like I have seen them, but they also look unfamiliar.
"Um.. where are you planning to go..?" Chóng Fēi finally asked. His voice was getting stuck at places, needing to clear his throat before saying the rest. "I mean.. Do we need a local carriage to hire?"
"The path is not too long but not too close either—so we should take one." Lìngxiāo suggested back.
His gaze was over the dark road while a hand raised to keep the veil away from getting over his face by the wind as he added, "The less we would move without our signature qì, the better it would be.."
Chóng Fēi swallowed and nodded in agreement. This really would be better. People might not recognize Lìngxiāo too much, but they would recognize him for sure if he spoke in his usual way or his voice was too loud.
Everyone knew him well here.
"You won't tell me where we're going?" Chóng Fēi whispered when another group of people walked past.
Thankfully, the book wasn't too popular in this area to even recognize the character and look at him for the sake of this. They just took it as a usual dress-up. There were a lot of small clans, so finding youthful men in slightly gorgeous robes wasn't a big deal—if it wasn't Chóng Fēi himself.
"I did not spell it out for safety too." Lìngxiāo looked forward to see how far his gaze could go. "But.." he whispered thoughtfully, then finally looked at Chóng Fēi, the wind blowing his long hair high up behind.
Chóng Fēi leaned in slightly to listen—awkwardly too. He felt like his heart was weaker than any old man. "But what..?"
"Will anyone agree to go there..? The place name has.. bad records actually.." Lìngxiāo said softly. His eyes and smile had a faint shade of concern about the matter.
Chóng Fēi blinked, stopping at the middle of walking for a second before walking beside him again. "Bad records?"
His mind spun with all of the bad record places. There were at least ten of this kind of place—if not only a restaurant. But if it was, there were three of this kind of restaurant here. Two were abandoned, and one was the most dangerous one but still open, and nobody usually went there. But if they went, the place had the tools to cook their own food by themselves, like a haunted picnic.
Still, the place was one of the most known ones because of its haunting beauty—Mō Mèi Xuè Lake View Restaurant.
"What the—no." Chóng Fēi immediately refused when he realized what he might be implying. His face looked pale. "All of the places.. you had to talk and eat with gûi? While you reasoned that gûi would hear us in my clan??"
"It is not haunted." Lìngxiāo almost protested stubbornly. "People here have misbeliefs about the place. Just because ten corpses were left hanging there.. does not mean it is haunted."
Chóng Fēi was left staring at that fearless man. "Do you even know how they were dead?? We are not going there."
"I know all. And I am not going anywhere else either. Even if there is a gûi, I can seal it easily, Gōngzǐ." Lìngxiāo still walked forward.
'Lord.. he's really gonna kill me today.'
"Lìng. xiāo. I am ordering you." Chóng Fēi gritted his words under his teeth, fists clenching.
But Lìngxiāo didn't obey this time—as if he wasn't obedient outside the clan. Instead, he already stopped a carriage.
"Fuck my life.." Chóng Fēi facepalmed and found no other way but to go close to him.
The carriage driver at first didn't agree to go, shaking his head just by the restaurant name. "We do not go there, Gōngzi.. Apologies."
"See..?" Chóng Fēi whispered like he was winning.
Lìngxiāo's smile was still confident.
"Twenty steps away—at the Queen Stone Bridge then." He said and gave a small patch which had two small pieces of gold instead of silver.
The man blinked in silent disbelief as he took it. He couldn't disagree anymore. "A-as your wish then, Gōngzǐ.."
Chóng Fēi stared at the patch and then at him again.
'He's fucking using gold just to go there?! Is there honey he's a bumblebee for?!'
'The Queen Stone is too short a distance for two pieces of gold!'
'Why the fuck does he stay poor then? He could have saved those and made his own clan!'
"Come in, Gōngzǐ." Lìngxiāo got in, patting the seat beside him faintly.
He sighed and needed to get in and sit—though his fingers were already trembling in both fear and strange feelings he couldn't name or separate.
The carriage moved on for several minutes.
It was small but large enough for at least four people. Yet all alone, with only two of them here, with a destination Chóng Fēi never even dreamt of going—the space felt strangely small. Small enough to sometimes brush shoulders.
He tried to make space by leaning against the round window of it, looking outside through a small gap in the curtains, trying to loosen the knot of his veils around his heart by this dull familiar scenery outside.
The silence was soft, awkward, but not totally uncomfortable. His gaze just faintly moved to Lìngxiāo—just to see what he was doing so quietly.
He was sitting with his bamboo hat down over his lap, eyes shut softly as if sleeping while sitting. Or maybe meditating. Only he knew. But he didn't look totally asleep. His side profile was gentle, yet back to awareness, no longer looking as weak as he was. But he wondered if he was still tired and sleepy.
'His stubbornness doesn't stop no matter if he's tired or not. He would barely even spell those words..'
Chóng Fēi watched him for a few moments. His gaze seemed to track the new appearance of him like a rare flower had just bloomed somewhere it shouldn't. Though a new color on any person was a normal thing, yet he didn't know what his gaze found in him to watch like this. To watch how within this new way of tying hair, the hair locks fell over his chest or face.
He looked like a peacefully dead person when this calm. Though he wasn't loud like Chóng Fēi, the open eyes and closed eyes seemed to give a different reflection of him.
'I thought the path.. would be boring and.. reckless.. but..'
"I do not understand.." Lìngxiāo suddenly mumbled while his eyes were closed. His expression soft.
Chóng Fēi's heart jumped. He quickly looked back at the window awkwardly, his face mostly into his hand more than the chin on the place he was leaning against.
'Does he.. sleep-talk or something..?'
'Was he awake the whole time and saw me watching him like a creep?'
'No, I was just bored and his.. new look amazed me just as my one did to him. So it's.. normal to gaze on each other like this..'
"If you.. do not mind.. did you have.. affairs with any previous exorcists who have come here..?" Lìngxiāo asked softly, careful not to let the driver hear them too. His eyes opened and looked at him slowly. His expression was almost judgmental, but hiding it behind his smile. "Males..?"
'So.. he wasn't sleeping?'
'He's thinking about what my damn zhù fù said just like.. anything..?'
'He found no other thing to be curious about?'
He didn't meet his gaze. His eyes shut and lips pressed in a thin line with faint distress. Or mostly embarrassment.
"I-its nothing." He muttered softly yet flatly—though he himself didn't know how much truth it was—not sure after what things he was usually drawn to. "He said fucking anything. Those are rumors. I am.. not what you might be thinking.."
"If this is one of the three secrets you would also share.. in exchange for mine..?" Lìngxiāo asked. The soft yet sharp logic seemed to leave almost no choice.
He couldn't expose a thing he wasn't sure of. Yet it was tying with Lìngxiāo himself too. Perhaps he could find out more about him if he told about his secrets too.
It was so personal—almost ridiculous.
He didn't know if he should really share a secret to a stranger who felt familiar in some ways but also didn't have much better ways of communicating with people. Everything always sounded political if personal. If he suspected somebody, he would just indirectly drop hints to find reactions without thinking about how things would land later.
So he stayed silent—a terrible way of ignoring him while his cheeks burned.
Lìngxiāo's way of pressing was effective—too effective perhaps. He just stopped pressing suddenly, like he stopped pulling the rope that Chóng Fēi had stumbled on. He just counted tiny holes of the sewed fabric of the veil of his hat.
"W-why do you even need this?" Chóng Fēi couldn't help but mutter awkwardly. His tone was lower than ever, like any pea.
He didn't know why their conversation always went out of nowhere and he got trapped into it.
Then don't leave it at all.
Lìngxiāo finally looked at him. "Perhaps.. one-sided feelings?.."