"So, are you guys going to buy here?" the waiter said once more after explaining at length.
"Oh…uhm, we want the ones made from plants. Which one is that?" Hong Mei said with a pale face.
Are human cultivators really that strong? She thought to herself.
"Okay, let me show you."
Hong Mei and Hua Baiyu finally left the shop with pale faces. In their hands, each of them enclasp a box of clothes. In the end, they chose clothes made from plants, but the design of the clothes was still beautiful even though the quality was not as good as the previous ones.
The two of them rushed home in shock and did not expect it.
Night had fallen, and people began to put up lights to celebrate the lantern festival tomorrow.
Hong Mei and Hua Baiyu sat in the front yard that had been decorated with lights, drank tea, and snacked on cakes.
At this time, they returned to their original forms, and Hong Mei's nine tails fluttered freely after being hidden for some time. Meanwhile, Hua Baiyu had removed his disguise, and half of his body from waist to feet had turned into a beautiful sparkling white snake tail.
"The humans here are so scary." Hong Mei said to Hua Baiyu, who agreed with her words.
"That's right, I want to go home immediately after teaching them a lesson!"
Hearing that, Hong Mei became curious about Hua Baiyu and asked carefully.
"Oh yeah, Hua Baiyu, how old are you?"
"Ah? My age? My age… if you count it, it's already 10,000 years old. What about you?" Hua Baiyu replied. Hong Mei was shocked. She was confused about whether to call Hua Baiyu as usual or add the title of big brother in front of his name.
"I'm only 1000 years old," she said shyly.
"Wow, you're still so young." Hearing that, Hong Mei just smiled shyly.
"Then I'll call you sister," Hong Mei said.
Hua Baiyu just smiled slightly. "Ah, no need, just call me normally."
"No, no! If I do that, I will sound impolite," Hong Mei insisted.
"No need, Hong Mei. If you keep insisting, I will add your title in front of your name every time I call you. how about that?"
"Ah, that's a different matter. I don't want to be known as the princess here. Let me call you big sister, okay?"
"Haha, whatever you say then!"
"Yey!"
Morning arrived.
Hong Mei opened her sleepy eyes and yawned. She cast a cleaning spell, and her appearance instantly became neat.
She opened the bedroom door walking through the corridor to the kitchen and found Hua Baiyu were serving food on the dining table. "Hong Mei, are you awake? Let's eat!"
"Wow, what's the occasion? There's so much on the menu!" She immediately sat down then took her chopsticks and tried one of the dishes.
"Hmm... so delicious! I didn't expect you to be good at cooking!" Hong Mei said happily. Hua Baiyu, who saw her eating with gusto, was also happy. He also took his bowl and chopsticks to try the food he had cooked earlier.
"Really? I'm glad to hear that! This is one of my hobbies, I often do it in Qing Qu."
"Wow, then I'm lucky to meet you here," Hong Mei cheerfully said.
After eating and cleaning up the plates and dining table, Hong Mei and Hua Baiyu decided to rest for a while and train their strength before attending the lantern festival, in the afternoon.
When the afternoon arrived the two girls came out with their respective original forms, they hid their respective tails using only their human forms, but this time they did not cast disguise magic, only wearing animal masks, Hong Mei wore a half-faced fox mask while Hua Baiyu wore a white mask decorated with peony flowers.
The festival was held in the city center with a channel dividing the city, making beautifully decorated boats cross it to reach their respective destinations, making the city of You Wu look very beautiful, especially the lanterns that were installed filling all corners of the city which made the night in this city look very bright.
The traders and buyers who filled the streets also made this city crowded with people in an instant, people who walked around looking at what was being sold by the traders, including the two girls who were now at the stall of traders selling knick-knacks and hair accessories.
"Wow, this hairpin is so beautiful!" Hong Mei said excitedly, taking a pink and blue hairpin decorated with circular peonies and gemstones hanging with the help of silver chains. Hua Baiyu nodded and said.
"Try wearing it first." Then helped Hong Mei to pin it in her pink hair and gave her a mirror to look at.
Hong Mei looked at her reflection in the small mirror.
"Wow, its really beuatiful on me!"
"Yeah, you're right, It's suit you well. Then what about this? Does it suit me? I think I like it!" Hua Baiyu asked Hong Mei, The girl nodded agree.
"This is also beautiful!" the girl replied, examining the hairpin made of jade and decorated with silver lilies and pearls hanging around it.
Then, after handing over the money to the seller, they left there and went around again. This time, they stopped at a noodle stall. They happened to be hungry and ordered two bowls of spicy noodles for each of them.
When they were about to eat the noodles, they took off their masks because they were currently sitting in a place far from people's sight and rather hidden, so they didn't bother this time.
"Oh yeah, Hong Mei, I remember when I first met you, you said that you wanted to improve your cultivation."
"Yeah, right, why?"
"I wonder if you've found a way?" Hua Baiyu asked in between his meals.
Hong Mei pulled a long noodle with his chopsticks and hung it in the air to let the heat dissipate a little.
"I haven't found a definite way yet, but yesterday, I had an epiphany, and my realm increased after I understood the technique I read in the previous human cultivator book, so I thought I'd find out the ins and outs first." Then he slurped the noodles after finishing his sentence.
"Ohh is that so, but… where did you get that human cultivator book?" Hua Baiyu asked curiously.
"Hmm?" Hong Mei chewed his noodles first.
"Oh, that. I met to human cultivators when I first came to this realm."
"Oh, the ones who were going to sell you?"
"Hehe, yeah, but they didn't end up doing it, so it's okay."
"I don't know what to say." Hua Baiyu replied speechless.
"Oh, Damn it!" Hong Mei hurriedly covered her face and turned her head away.
"Eh? Why?" Hua Baiyu asked in surprise, seeing Hong Mei who was nervous in an instant.
"It's them! Hide me, I don't want to meet them!"
Then, Hong Mei hurriedly ducked behind the table. Hua Baiyu stared at the two men who passed not far from where they were sitting. The black and yellow-haired man looked here and there enthusiastically and was about to pass in front of Hua Baiyu and Hong Mei until Xiao Yang who saw Hua Baiyu looking at him, he became stunned and made Lan Bingyue who was standing beside him also follow the direction of the man's gaze who saw a beautiful girl with beautiful eyes staring at them with a mysterious look.
"Greet her!" Seeing Xiao Yang just frozen in place, Lan Bingyue patted the man's shoulder, telling him to dare to take the first step.
Xiao Yang was still frozen and didn't move, while Hua Baiyu, who realized that her gaze was drawing the two people closer, became stuttering and pretended not to see and only ate the noodles in front of her.
"I'm sorry, Hong Mei, but they're approaching us!" Hua Baiyu winced when he said that.
"What?" Hong Mei whispered hysterically. She panicked, but when she wanted to run away. The yellow-haired man had cleared his throat and greeted her.
"Ahem...hi..., sorry to bother you, but I feel interested when I see you. May I get to know you?" Xiao Yang dared to stand beside Hua Baiyu. His eyes only saw the girl and did not see anything else. Hua Baiyu was silent and did not dare to make a sound, hoping that they would just pass by them.
Meanwhile, Lan Bingyue, who caught the strange movements of this female friend who hid her face under the table, he became curious, especially after seeing the strands of hair color that he knew. But he felt doubtful because the creature had been returned to its previous place, it couldn't be the girl he knew. Right?
Hong Mei just remembered the mask she had placed on the table earlier. She took her hand out from under the table and felt the fox mask that was next to her bowl of noodles, right in front of Lan Bingyue.
Lan Bingyue helped her pick up the mask, but he stopped her when she tried to pull it down. Hong Mei, who had no choice slowly raised her head and saw Lan Bingyue's shocked expression when he saw her face. She smiled shyly and sat back down at her chair.
"Hong Mei!" Lan Bingyue was surprised, not expecting to meet the fox that he had released back in human form roaming everywhere in the human realm. Right in front of him now! No weonder he felt familiar with her hair color because its rare to see here in Huaxia.
"Hi, it's me... again." She tried to hide her embarrassment.
Xiao Yang, who realized that the girl beside the one he liked was the fox spirit he released, was also surprised. "Fox Spirit?!" he almost screamed, but she managed to cover her mouth and looked around, afraid someone would hear.
"What are you doing here?" Lan Bingyue asked in surprise, This fox!, he had helped her back to her place with great difficulty until they had to bear the punishment for it, but she ended up in a place she shouldn't be like this. Isn't this a waste of their efforts?
"Yes, why didn't you go back to Qing Qu? Didn't you promise us before?" Xiao Yang added afterward.
Lan Bingyue crossed his arms, and Xiao Yang, who had forgotten Hua Baiyu's presence beside him, now leaned on his hips, looking at Hong Mei, who was starting to shrink in her chair.
Hua Baiyu saw Hong Mei, who was cornered, starting to speak up.
"Don't blame her."
Hua Baiyu's voice diverted the focus of the two young men who were staring at Hong Mei with a serious look, as if they wanted to scold her and hit her hand for being naughty.
"And you're her friend?" Lan Bingyue asked, Xiao Yang who regained consciousness with Hua Baiyu's presence saw this beautiful girl of his type again, his cheeks and ears slowly turned red as the girl answered Lan Bingyue's question, her words seemed to be hidden in Xiao Yang's sight and only her beautiful face illuminated by the full moon was visible.
"Yes, I'm her friend. We both come from the same place. Hong Mei wanted to help me; that's why we're here now, not in Qing Qu."
Lan Bingyue saw Hong Mei staring at her with wide eyes and pouting lips. Lan Bingyue's cheeks suddenly turned red and she tried to avert her gaze. This girl looked even more beautiful and cute when he saw her once again like this.