He elected to stay in his room for the rest of the day, and it was eerie how quiet he was being.
He lay on the bed for the past three hours as he stared at the ceiling in a daze.
‘Okay, Jumeng saw me cross-dressing; it’s not a big deal. If anything, she thinks it’s a strange hobby—one, it isn’t illegal; two, I’m not hurting anyone; three, I’m not stealing her food. It is completely fine!’
Lu Yibei had the strange ability to adapt to any situation, considering his extremely thick skin. Nothing matters to him at this time.
Nothing can phase a person without shame.
If anything, Jumeng seeing me do so is beneficial, he thought. ‘Now, I can avoid her suspicion and run out at night under the guise of wanting to avoid her, and I’ll be safe from being detected!’
‘But I must prepare.’
He got up from bed in a hurry and barged into his walk-in closet, searching for his sewing kit and the guitar bag containing the statue of Acala, the Immovable, and got to work.
As a child who grew up in a single-family, he had to rely on himself for almost everything, so he was able to use a sewing kit with relative ease.
He planned to modify the guitar bag a little bit to fit his agenda.
Time unknowingly passed as he got to work; it was around four in the afternoon, and the orange sky was dusted slightly with hints of indigo. Soon, he finished sewing additional attachments to the guitar bag.
This guitar bag was a gift from Sumi, his neighbour, and previously, it was only big enough to store the statue.
Now, two additional pockets were sewn in, and his toy gun and kitchen knife were placed into the pockets. No more, no less.
Just like that, he had a portable arsenal with him—long-range, short-range, emergency weapon—he had it all!
He was very satisfied with his work and patted himself on the back. Then he took out a drawstring bag that was used to hold shoes, stuffed his remaining charms inside, and carried the box containing the bamboo scrolls with him.
Before going downstairs, he glanced at the magical girl suit thrown on the bed and sighed, “Could you… revert back to your original appearance, please?”
The suit flew into the air, and in a dazzling twirl, it returned to its original red-white appearance of a coat and landed quietly on Yibei’s shoulder as it rubbed his cheek affectionately.
“That’s more like it,” he smiled and went downstairs.
When he came downstairs, he could see the apparitions helping Jumeng out, and more than half of the charms he commissioned were complete.
Seeing Yibei in the living room, Jumeng smiled and waved her hand, beckoning him over, but he simply snorted, stuffed the charms into his bag, and left without looking backwards.
Jumeng’s hand was still frozen as she watched him leave.
Seeing this, the eyeball leapt up and whispered to its friends, “What’s wrong with the two of them? Are they having a fight?”
They all glanced at Jumeng’s frozen state and shrugged.
“By the way, this goddess is quite powerful. In just a few seconds she went upstairs, and she sent our Witch into a nonverbal state. Tell me, who should we listen to in this family from now on?”
“I think we should still follow our Witch’s words… I think she has great potential, unlike this hag, and…”
As the eyeball continued to speak, it could sense that its friends were slowly backing away. It twisted its body and looked backwards, but before it could react, it was tossed across the room with a baseball bat and passed out.
Seeing the eyeball twitch lifelessly on the floor, Jumeng stomped on it and yelled, “No! I am not inferior to him! No matter what, I am on top, understood?”
“Understood…”
All of them didn’t understand the relationship between the goddess and the Witch, but after listening to her, it was clear what her intentions were.
She wants to seize this apartment and eat everyone in here!
“What are you looking at? Continue and work! Don’t be lazy!”
After leaving his apartment, he didn’t go straight to Gate No. 4 of his University to find the headless girl but instead stopped a taxi to go to Peony Street.
When Jumeng made the first charm, he had already tried to shoot it with his toy gun—perhaps it was because the charm was the size of a tiny bullet or that it was made with high-quality peach wood in spite of the goddess—but it flew less than one metre away from the gun, charred and falling limply to the ground.
However, this wasn’t a problem for him. He still needed to visit some old neighbours back on Peony Street to get the job done.
He was very familiar with the layout of the whole street, having lived here for more than ten years. Which alley is the best shortcut? Which alley is the best to sneak around in? It was all muscle memory for him.
At around five in the afternoon, the sky was a deep scarlet, and various stalls set up on Peony Street had already started to close shop.
The fallen leaves were scattered on the streets, and the tourists soon dispersed, leaving the ancient streets to return to their original tranquillity.
Passing through the archway, he went straight to the shops in his old neighbourhood, having planned out this entire operation.
The Car Master at the end of the street is a well-known car shop. Even if it is the most damaged bicycle you have ever seen, no matter what, he’ll be able to restore it.
It isn’t just limited to vehicles either—small appliances, high-heeled shoes, iron pots—he could fix anything.
When he was young, he would often stand right by the Car Master’s booth and watch him do his work, and because of that, he also learnt some things simply by listening.
Therefore, since he wanted to remodel his toy gun, the Car Master was the first person he thought of. As long as he gave the gun to him, it would turn out all right.
When he found him, the Car Master was wiping away the oil stains on his hand and was about to close the shop. When he saw a familiar face approaching him, he tossed his rag in the air and picked up his toolbox, about to run away as if he had encountered a thief.
“W-wait! Don’t run! I’m not going to steal your tyres today!”
Yibei gabbed at the shoulder straps of his toolbox and laughed. Before this, he was known as the resident trickster, stuffing firecrackers into water pipes, adding ghost peppers to lunch boxes, and forcing pedestrians to listen to him talk non-stop.
Despite this, everyone had a love-hate relationship with him—everybody hates a wild child, but everybody loves a child with a warm heart who can cook.
After stating his request, the Car Master reluctantly agreed to help him, and in just two minutes, he completely disassembled the toy gun.
He put on his glasses and looked at the internal structure of the gun before saying, “Okay, I know how to change this. Give me half an hour.”
However, he didn’t get to work immediately and instead stared at Yibei.
“What’s wrong? Is there anything missing?”
“No!” he said with a dark face. “I can’t work while you are here. Go find something else to do, and come back in 30 minutes!
In reality, he didn’t want to deal with Lu Yibei potentially, forcing him into a conversation he couldn’t leave.
‘Whatever! I have other things to do anyway!’
The place Lu Yibei wants to go to is a tower located in the depths of Peony Street. The whole tower is made of high-quality wood, all of which is of ancient mortise and tenon structure. A long time ago, there were many statues of gods enshrined in it, but those statues were long destroyed.
The tower was already sealed off, and the gate was locked with heavy-duty locks. He once found a weakly locked area and climbed inside, and he would climb to the top of the tower, declaring it his own secret hideout as it overlooked the entire stretch of Peony Street.
Lu Yibei hadn’t been to the tower for a long time. He followed the path in his memory, climbed into the entrance of the ancient tower and climbed upwards. Perhaps it was because his limbs were longer now, but he found it much easier to climb to the top of the tower, taking him less than five minutes to reach the peak.
After climbing over the fence and jumping into the corridor on the top floor, Lu Yibei patted the dust off his body, and as soon as he looked up, he saw an incredible scene.
The mottled and colourful sunset glow wove half of the sky into a floral-like design. This is why Peony Street was named that way.
However, something else sat by the window of the tower.
A girl in a white dress sat by the edge of the tower, and she seemed to outshine the sheer magnificence of the sunset with her beauty alone.
And all she had to do was sit silently.
Her face was delicate and unspeakably flawless. She had no smile, but her aura hinted at her pleasant nature.
Her eyes were as bright as spring blooms, coupled with the innocence of a cub and the justice of a heroine. The orange rays reflected in her eyes, reflecting a charming yet melancholy gaze.
Even just thinking of her smile makes somebody feel a little giddy.
And her figure was perfect too—her wasp-like waist, her slender legs, her fragrant shoulders, and the loose white dress barely concealing the mountains on her chest…
Lu Yibei found that she was fresh and refined yet down-to-earth; she ate her roasted chicken without the need for bowls or utensils, using only her hands to pluck out the meat into small pieces and put it into her mouth, washing it all down with a swig of water.
‘Who the fuck is this?’ His sense of reality spoke. Somebody of unknown origin broke into his secret base. If anything, this girl might be an urban legend!
He rolled up his sleeves angrily and was about to step forward to argue with the girl, but he saw the girl turn around, staring at him curiously as she spoke, “Would you like something to eat?”
He was silent for a few seconds as he rolled his eyes. He stepped forward, squatted beside the girl, tore off a large drumstick, and chowed it down. Then he grabbed a handful of beef and chowed it down as well.
“Pfft! You might be a good match, and you’re interesting! If I wasn’t already engaged, I would’ve dated you.”
‘Oh, so her heart is with somebody else. Then we have nothing to talk about!’
“By the way, my name is Wikstroemia, and you are…?”
He elected to stay in his room for the rest of the day, and it was eerie how quiet he was being.
He lay on the bed for the past three hours as he stared at the ceiling in a daze.
‘Okay, Jumeng saw me cross-dressing; it’s not a big deal. If anything, she thinks it’s a strange hobby—one, it isn’t illegal; two, I’m not hurting anyone; three, I’m not stealing her food. It is completely fine!’
Lu Yibei had the strange ability to adapt to any situation, considering his extremely thick skin. Nothing matters to him at this time.
Nothing can phase a person without shame.
If anything, Jumeng seeing me do so is beneficial, he thought. ‘Now, I can avoid her suspicion and run out at night under the guise of wanting to avoid her, and I’ll be safe from being detected!’
‘But I must prepare.’
He got up from bed in a hurry and barged into his walk-in closet, searching for his sewing kit and the guitar bag containing the statue of Acala, the Immovable, and got to work.
As a child who grew up in a single-family, he had to rely on himself for almost everything, so he was able to use a sewing kit with relative ease.
He planned to modify the guitar bag a little bit to fit his agenda.
Time unknowingly passed as he got to work; it was around four in the afternoon, and the orange sky was dusted slightly with hints of indigo. Soon, he finished sewing additional attachments to the guitar bag.
This guitar bag was a gift from Sumi, his neighbour, and previously, it was only big enough to store the statue.
Now, two additional pockets were sewn in, and his toy gun and kitchen knife were placed into the pockets. No more, no less.
Just like that, he had a portable arsenal with him—long-range, short-range, emergency weapon—he had it all!
He was very satisfied with his work and patted himself on the back. Then he took out a drawstring bag that was used to hold shoes, stuffed his remaining charms inside, and carried the box containing the bamboo scrolls with him.
Before going downstairs, he glanced at the magical girl suit thrown on the bed and sighed, “Could you… revert back to your original appearance, please?”
The suit flew into the air, and in a dazzling twirl, it returned to its original red-white appearance of a coat and landed quietly on Yibei’s shoulder as it rubbed his cheek affectionately.
“That’s more like it,” he smiled and went downstairs.
When he came downstairs, he could see the apparitions helping Jumeng out, and more than half of the charms he commissioned were complete.
Seeing Yibei in the living room, Jumeng smiled and waved her hand, beckoning him over, but he simply snorted, stuffed the charms into his bag, and left without looking backwards.
Jumeng’s hand was still frozen as she watched him leave.
Seeing this, the eyeball leapt up and whispered to its friends, “What’s wrong with the two of them? Are they having a fight?”
They all glanced at Jumeng’s frozen state and shrugged.
“By the way, this goddess is quite powerful. In just a few seconds she went upstairs, and she sent our Witch into a nonverbal state. Tell me, who should we listen to in this family from now on?”
“I think we should still follow our Witch’s words… I think she has great potential, unlike this hag, and…”
As the eyeball continued to speak, it could sense that its friends were slowly backing away. It twisted its body and looked backwards, but before it could react, it was tossed across the room with a baseball bat and passed out.
Seeing the eyeball twitch lifelessly on the floor, Jumeng stomped on it and yelled, “No! I am not inferior to him! No matter what, I am on top, understood?”
“Understood…”
All of them didn’t understand the relationship between the goddess and the Witch, but after listening to her, it was clear what her intentions were.
She wants to seize this apartment and eat everyone in here!
“What are you looking at? Continue and work! Don’t be lazy!”
After leaving his apartment, he didn’t go straight to Gate No. 4 of his University to find the headless girl but instead stopped a taxi to go to Peony Street.
When Jumeng made the first charm, he had already tried to shoot it with his toy gun—perhaps it was because the charm was the size of a tiny bullet or that it was made with high-quality peach wood in spite of the goddess—but it flew less than one metre away from the gun, charred and falling limply to the ground.
However, this wasn’t a problem for him. He still needed to visit some old neighbours back on Peony Street to get the job done.
He was very familiar with the layout of the whole street, having lived here for more than ten years. Which alley is the best shortcut? Which alley is the best to sneak around in? It was all muscle memory for him.
At around five in the afternoon, the sky was a deep scarlet, and various stalls set up on Peony Street had already started to close shop.
The fallen leaves were scattered on the streets, and the tourists soon dispersed, leaving the ancient streets to return to their original tranquillity.
Passing through the archway, he went straight to the shops in his old neighbourhood, having planned out this entire operation.
The Car Master at the end of the street is a well-known car shop. Even if it is the most damaged bicycle you have ever seen, no matter what, he’ll be able to restore it.
It isn’t just limited to vehicles either—small appliances, high-heeled shoes, iron pots—he could fix anything.
When he was young, he would often stand right by the Car Master’s booth and watch him do his work, and because of that, he also learnt some things simply by listening.
Therefore, since he wanted to remodel his toy gun, the Car Master was the first person he thought of. As long as he gave the gun to him, it would turn out all right.
When he found him, the Car Master was wiping away the oil stains on his hand and was about to close the shop. When he saw a familiar face approaching him, he tossed his rag in the air and picked up his toolbox, about to run away as if he had encountered a thief.
“W-wait! Don’t run! I’m not going to steal your tyres today!”
Yibei gabbed at the shoulder straps of his toolbox and laughed. Before this, he was known as the resident trickster, stuffing firecrackers into water pipes, adding ghost peppers to lunch boxes, and forcing pedestrians to listen to him talk non-stop.
Despite this, everyone had a love-hate relationship with him—everybody hates a wild child, but everybody loves a child with a warm heart who can cook.
After stating his request, the Car Master reluctantly agreed to help him, and in just two minutes, he completely disassembled the toy gun.
He put on his glasses and looked at the internal structure of the gun before saying, “Okay, I know how to change this. Give me half an hour.”
However, he didn’t get to work immediately and instead stared at Yibei.
“What’s wrong? Is there anything missing?”
“No!” he said with a dark face. “I can’t work while you are here. Go find something else to do, and come back in 30 minutes!
In reality, he didn’t want to deal with Lu Yibei potentially, forcing him into a conversation he couldn’t leave.
‘Whatever! I have other things to do anyway!’
The place Lu Yibei wants to go to is a tower located in the depths of Peony Street. The whole tower is made of high-quality wood, all of which is of ancient mortise and tenon structure. A long time ago, there were many statues of gods enshrined in it, but those statues were long destroyed.
The tower was already sealed off, and the gate was locked with heavy-duty locks. He once found a weakly locked area and climbed inside, and he would climb to the top of the tower, declaring it his own secret hideout as it overlooked the entire stretch of Peony Street.
Lu Yibei hadn’t been to the tower for a long time. He followed the path in his memory, climbed into the entrance of the ancient tower and climbed upwards. Perhaps it was because his limbs were longer now, but he found it much easier to climb to the top of the tower, taking him less than five minutes to reach the peak.
After climbing over the fence and jumping into the corridor on the top floor, Lu Yibei patted the dust off his body, and as soon as he looked up, he saw an incredible scene.
The mottled and colourful sunset glow wove half of the sky into a floral-like design. This is why Peony Street was named that way.
However, something else sat by the window of the tower.
A girl in a white dress sat by the edge of the tower, and she seemed to outshine the sheer magnificence of the sunset with her beauty alone.
And all she had to do was sit silently.
Her face was delicate and unspeakably flawless. She had no smile, but her aura hinted at her pleasant nature.
Her eyes were as bright as spring blooms, coupled with the innocence of a cub and the justice of a heroine. The orange rays reflected in her eyes, reflecting a charming yet melancholy gaze.
Even just thinking of her smile makes somebody feel a little giddy.
And her figure was perfect too—her wasp-like waist, her slender legs, her fragrant shoulders, and the loose white dress barely concealing the mountains on her chest…
Lu Yibei found that she was fresh and refined yet down-to-earth; she ate her roasted chicken without the need for bowls or utensils, using only her hands to pluck out the meat into small pieces and put it into her mouth, washing it all down with a swig of water.
‘Who the fuck is this?’ His sense of reality spoke. Somebody of unknown origin broke into his secret base. If anything, this girl might be an urban legend!
He rolled up his sleeves angrily and was about to step forward to argue with the girl, but he saw the girl turn around, staring at him curiously as she spoke, “Would you like something to eat?”
He was silent for a few seconds as he rolled his eyes. He stepped forward, squatted beside the girl, tore off a large drumstick, and chowed it down. Then he grabbed a handful of beef and chowed it down as well.
“Pfft! You might be a good match, and you’re interesting! If I wasn’t already engaged, I would’ve dated you.”
‘Oh, so her heart is with somebody else. Then we have nothing to talk about!’
“By the way, my name is Wikstroemia, and you are…?”
