You Look Like the Shameplant (3)
She opened her eyes wide, and let her gaze fall on his hand holding the paper. She didn’t dare to look him straight in the eyes, and her long eyelashes covered the faint wave of light in her eyes.
Although dull and inconspicuous, she was indeed arresting and lovely, not the machine in Ye Duanhong’s imagination.
He handed the paper back to her and said, “You can go back now.”
Ji Qingzhou felt as if she was granted an amnesty. She took the paper, turned around and ran away, finally leaving the class.
She stepped on her Flywheel and flew all the way to Elder Qiao Shu’s Mingxin Lake for lunch. Many of the new disciples had already cultivated to the fifth or sixth stage of Qi Refining and did not need to eat three meals daily, so at lunchtime Elder Qiao Shu felt a bit lonesome there.
Elder Qiao Shu steamed stuffed buns at noon, and a light smoke wafted from the bamboo house. When Ji Qingzhou saw the smoke, her tummy growled with hunger.
She landed on the bamboo corridor, but at the end of the winding corridor, there was another person standing there, dressed in white, with handsome and warm eyes. It was none other than Shen Rongyu.
Ji Qingzhou greeted him, “Xiao Yu-shixiong.”
Shen Rongyu was looking down at the plant that Elder Qiao Shu had just cultivated. When he saw Ji Qingzhou coming, he raised his head, and his pursed lips slightly curled up. “Zhouzhou, how was your Magic Class?”
Ji Qingzhou put her small bag on the table. Seeing that Qiao Shu was still steaming buns in the kitchen, she was embarrassed to disturb him, so she walked to a place not far from Shen Rongyu and reported her class situation: “Elder Ye taught us the Water Drawing Technique, and it happened that I already knew it.”
Shen Rongyu touched a clump of grass in front of him and called Ji Qingzhou nearer: “Zhouzhou, come and have a look.”
Ji Qingzhou moved closer, and then saw that blades of grass that Shen Rongyu had touched folded inward. It was a very common shameplant.
“Elder Qiao said that this plant is interesting. He let me take a look and said that I would like it.” Shen Rongyu stroked the veins of the shameplant with his fingers. The plant had already folded its leaves and did not respond.
Seeing that his hand was so close to startling the entire clump of shameplant into drooping its leaves, Ji Qingzhou spoke out to discourage him, “Xiao Yu-shixiong, its leaves are closed.”
Shen Rongyu grasped her wrist, and a faint spirit qi passed to her. The moment he saw her, he knew that her magic power had run out again.
He held her hand and guided her to touch the blades of grass. At noon, on the shore of Mingxin Lake, the lake surface was sparkling, and the glittering sunlight illuminated the two figures harmoniously.
The moment Ji Qingzhou’s fingers touched the shameplant leaf, it immediately drooped. She didn’t want to touch it, because the plant would definitely respond to her touch.
The shameplant leaves immediately closed as her hand flexed, making the movements of the person and the plant surprisingly in sync.
“Zhouzhou, I’m telling you, it looks like you,” Shen Rongyu whispered.
Ji Qingzhou felt a little shy, but she didn’t want to show it, because if she showed it, wouldn’t it prove that what Shen Rongyu said was true?
She drew her hand away from Shen Rongyu’s palm and whispered back, “I don’t look like this.”
Ji Qingzhou lowered her head, turned around, and ran straight to Elder Qiao Shu’s kitchen. The steam from the steamed buns in the kitchen puffed toward her face, and this could finally be an excuse as to why her cheeks were burning.
“Hungry?” Qiao Shu regarded cooking as a pleasure. He was usually unhappy whenever someone approached to lend him a hand. He took the buns on the top layer and served them on the table, while reminding Ji Qingzhou, “Wait until it’s cooler before taking a bite.”
“Elder Qiao.” Ji Qingzhou wanted to take revenge and complained directly, “Xiao Yu-shixiong touched the whole pot of plants you planted, causing them to fold their leaves.”
“That wicked boy—” Elder Qiao wiped his hand on the apron, and hurried out to check.
Ji Qingzhou picked three steamed buns from the steamer. They were a little hot, so she ate them slowly in the room, along with the bitter vegetable soup that Qiao Shu cooked. Eating them alone made her fully satisfied.
Qiao Shu chased Shen Rongyu away. With nowhere else to go, he went to Ji Qingzhou’s side.
Ji Qingzhou stuffed the steamed buns into her mouth, making her cheeks bulge. Shen Rongyu pushed the bitter vegetable soup in the soup bowl to her, and his bent knuckles touched the rim of the bowl.
Qiao Shu brought up a plate of buns, along with other small dishes that he cooked and ate himself.
“Rongyu, do you want to eat too?” Elder Qiao Shu asked him warmly.
“Yeah.” Shen Rongyu scooped a bowl of soup for himself, and the sides of the bowls collided, issuing a jingling sound.
Ji Qingzhou felt that the pressure of this meal increased sharply, and she even spent more time chewing buns.
Elder Qiao Shu tended to nag and chatter about some things while eating: “You’re living on White Water Island. Although I have strengthened the defense formation for you, you still need to be careful.”
“Didn’t you catch that evil aura?” Shen Rongyu asked.
“No.” Qiao Shu sighed softly. “Although Huang Shi has been suppressed, the rest of his minions have not been completely eliminated, and Xuanyun Sect is not a completely safe place.”
Ji Qingzhou just listened quietly. She didn’t understand much of it anyway.
“We still haven’t found out the real culprit of the incident that happened ten years ago,” Qiao Shu brought up an old incident.
Shen Rongyu didn’t ask, but Ji Qingzhou was scared and curious. It sounded like it was some horror story. She swallowed the bun in her mouth and asked curiously, “Elder Qiao, what happened?”
“Several disciples who had long entered the sect and passed the internal examination went missing.” Qiao Shu recalled for a moment and replied, “Their cultivation levels were around the first or second stage of Golden Core, not so much that they didn’t have the means to protect themselves, but they just disappeared silently. Not even their bones were found.”
Shen Rongyu lowered his eyes and drank the bitter vegetable soup in his bowl without speaking.
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