SES Chapter 35 V2

Luo Ren finally let go. Mu Dai bolted from the room. The night wind was chilly, but her hand burned.

On the way back, Yiwansan and Cao Yanhua whispered constantly. Mu Dai kept suspecting they were talking about her. When she eavesdropped, she finally relaxed.

They weren’t.

They were discussing whether the box was secure enough.

“This can’t be a long-term plan. We’re basically winging it.”

“We need a real solution.”

That night in bed, she lay restless, staring at the intricate woodcarving on the headboard. All the furniture in the house had been handpicked by Auntie Hong—traditional, detailed, full of symbolic meanings.

The frame was lined with endless swastika patterns symbolizing longevity. Small bats represented good fortune. In the corners, monkeys on horseback hinted at promotions. In the center was a vase with quails, symbolizing peace and safety.

Auntie Hong once pointed to it and told her, “The vase and quails mean safe and sound. I hope you sleep peacefully every night.”

But tonight? No chance.

Uneasy and confused, Mu Dai was also secretly a little… happy? She nervously drafted a WeChat message to Luo Ren:
“What did you mean?”

She hesitated for ages before hitting send, then turned off the light and pulled the blanket over her head.

Forget it. Just sleep.

In the dark, she sighed again and again, flipping over, eyes slowly opening.

Wait.

One of the carved monkeys on the headboard… just winked at her?

Was she seeing things?!

She leaned in closer—no, not a monkey, a deity wearing robes and a tall hat, riding a phoenix, walking forward like he didn’t see her. Behind him came a whole procession.

The first was a little dragon, then a proud phoenix, then maybe a lion, and something that looked kind of like a horse but not quite…

After the fourth, she couldn’t recognize any. They were all strange, mythical beasts. But she remembered the last one clearly—a stern-looking monkey with wings on its back.

Wings? What, was it pretending to be a little angel? Mu Dai couldn’t help but giggle.

Just then—whoosh!—a hand appeared out of nowhere, grabbed the monkey, and vanished into the darkness.

Mu Dai woke up with a scream.

Pitch dark. The night was heavy. Had that all been a dream?

After two seconds, she shot up and turned on her phone’s flashlight, shining it at the headboard.

Yep. Just a little horse and a monkey—classic “immediate promotion” carving.

It was too late to wake anyone, but she made a mental note to do two things in the morning:

First, tell the others what she saw. So she did see something, and in the wood, just as they suspected. But what were those tiny figurines?

No problem. Yiwansan could post online again, like he did with the “Ballad of Tan.”

Second, she needed to talk to Luo Ren. Be direct, clear, and poised.

If Luo Ren tried to dodge or play both sides, she would tilt her head with dignity and say, “Forget the hand thing. As a martial artist, I don’t care. But if you ever touch me again without a good reason, I’ll break your hand!”

Yes—just like her master taught: never lose your composure.

She finally fell asleep and had a string of chaotic dreams. The last was especially weird.

One moment, Luo Ren was gently kissing her cheek. Next, he was building a wall of Mahjong tiles with gusto, while she sat on the side in rags, cradling a baby and crying, “We haven’t eaten in three days, and all you do is gamble!”

She looked down in despair. “Son, what a cruel fate we’ve been dealt…”

The baby had a chubby little face that looked exactly like Cao Yanhua’s.

Mu Dai dropped the baby in shock and jolted awake.

Morning light filtered through the window. She sat up, cradling her pounding head.

She was definitely overthinking.

After scarfing down breakfast, she told Uncle Zhang, “I’m going to check on Luo Ren. He just moved in yesterday—you’ve seen him. I want to see if he needs anything.”

Yiwansan quickly added, “I didn’t get a chance to greet Uncle Zheng properly last night. He treated me to lamb back at Xiaoshang River—I should say hi again.”

Cao Yanhua chimed in, “I want to go with my little—”

Seeing Uncle Zhang’s scowl, he switched gears: “I need to check on Ping Ting after her surgery.”

Now that Huo Zihong was gone, the bar was short-staffed. Uncle Zhang took the opportunity to hold Cao Yanhua back. He was quick with customers and great at upselling, but he was also the least “senior,” which made slacking off harder to justify, unlike Yiwansan, who made a lamb leg sound like a life debt.

Uncle Zhang scowled. “Fine, all of you go. I might as well hire new people if I’m raising you lazy bums…”

Before he finished, the table was empty.

He yelled at their backs, “I’m not done yet! You’d better be back in an hour!”

When they arrived, Uncle Zheng was helping Ping Ting “exercise” in the courtyard. The doctor had stressed movement—it was the best way to lift her spirits and avoid falling into that dead-eyed state from being bedridden too long.

Cao Yanhua carried a bag of apples and bananas, the perfect hospital gift, but it made him look awkwardly formal. Yiwansan, in contrast, was relaxed and went straight to greet Ping Ting.

“She’s doing a lot better,” Uncle Zheng said. “But… who knows?”

He sighed. Madness is still a sickness, but when does it ever end? Will she be like this forever?

Yiwansan looked toward Ping Ting. There was a gourd-shaped koi pond in the yard, with a carved stone lotus rising from the bottom. Several bright red koi swam lazily around the lotus.

Ping Ting held a leafy bamboo twig, gently swatting the water when the fish swam by, smiling softly the whole time. To her, this was exercise.

The scene was quiet, serene—like a painting. Yiwansan didn’t even want to say the word mad. How could she be mad? Maybe her spirit just got lost, and she’s trying to find her way back to her body.

He crouched by the opposite side of the pond and splashed water to herd the fish toward her.

Ping Ting laughed out loud.

Uncle Zheng was moved. “You all live nearby. If you have time, come by often. The doctor says having people around helps.”

He didn’t say the rest: Luo Ren was good to her, but he wouldn’t play like a child the way Yiwansan would.

Yiwansan casually replied, “Sure.”

Mu Dai looked around. “Where’s Luo Ren?”

Uncle Zheng pointed up. “There.”

Luo Ren was on the second floor, leaning against the railing, watching them with amusement. In his hand… was his phone.

He had just been typing a WeChat reply to Mu Dai—nine words:

Exactly what you think I meant.

But seeing her look up at him, he changed his mind. He hit delete and erased it character by character.

Confessions like this should be said in person. Not through a phone, not through cold little characters typed on a grid. It just wasn’t romantic.

He put away his phone like nothing had happened, waiting to see how Mu Dai would respond.

She stared up at him, fuming.

And then she shouted, “Meeting time!”

The room with the box became their temporary meeting room.

Mu Dai carefully described everything she’d seen in her dream.

Cao Yanhua’s jaw dropped. It was all too bizarre—Laozi riding an ox was one thing, that was an actual legend. But deities on phoenixes, dragons, and flying monkeys?

Yiwansan lowered his eyes, hiding a complex flicker of thought. Outwardly, he just looked bored, like he didn’t understand a thing.

But Luo Ren looked thoughtful. “I think I’ve seen something like that before.”

“You think?” Mu Dai’s eyes widened. Was this normal to him?

“Well,” Luo Ren explained, “after I bought this place, I noticed a lot of old architectural decorations. Have you seen the roof cats on the eaves of Lijiang’s houses? They’re meant to ward off evil.”

Mu Dai nodded. To her, they were as normal as leaves on trees.

“But different regions have different styles. In ancient China, big buildings had specific roof types like ‘hipped’ or ‘gabled’ roofs…”

Everyone looked confused.

Luo Ren backtracked. “Okay, simpler. The upturned roof corners? Those are called ‘ridge corners.’ They often have sculpted figures for decoration.”

He pulled out his phone and found a picture: glazed beasts from the corner of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City.

He passed the phone around. The caption explained that the lead figure was a celestial riding a phoenix—“The Immortal Who Shows the Way.” Following behind were mythical beasts: dragon, phoenix, lion, heavenly horse, sea horse, suanni, fish suppressor, xiezhi, ox, and the final figure called hangshi—a serious-looking monkey with wings.

According to tradition, the number of beasts varied by building importance, usually three, five, seven, or nine. Only the Hall of Supreme Harmony had all ten highest statuses.

Cao Yanhua smacked the table. “See? Knowledge is power!