“Master, I…”
Knock, knock, knock…
“Mu Chen, are you there?” Bo Jinyu stood by the door and looked into the room, feeling somewhat constraint.
Looking towards the door, Mu Chen suddenly turned cold, ‘Here the nuisance comes again.’
Interrupted by Bo, Gu Yunjue buried his face on Mu Chen’s shoulder, rubbing like a brat. “Master, don’t look at others!”
Helplessly, Mu Chen had to open the door with the “giant baby” in tow. Seeing they two in such a weird posture, Bo Jinyu was apparently stunned for a while and didn’t recover from his amazement until he noticed Mu Chen’s cold face, explaining awkwardly, “I am here to apologize. My senior brother went too far for some misunderstanding. Now that I have made everything clear to them, no one will trouble you hereafter.”
Then he took out a jade badge and handed it to Mu Chen, “This is my identification badge with which you will have a discount buying anything and are free to go anywhere within Pill City. And … never mind, that’s all. No more bother with your rest. See you!”
With that said, Bo Jinyu threw the badge to Mu Chen and strode out right away, seemingly unwilling to stay a second longer. As he went downstairs, he stamped hard on the stairs with bangs.
Taking over the jade badge, Gu Yunjue looked at it and asked carelessly, “Master, what do you think?”
Mu Chen hummed, “Ugly.” Noticing that his little disciple had been listless for some time now, Mu Chen stretched his hand to touch Gu’s forehead and worried that he might be ill.
Gu Yunjue took the chance to rub against Master’s palm with his head, smiling, “I was asking about your view on this young master.”
“With a pure heart, the person is kind of worthy to make friends with, but too annoying.” Mu Chen gave a very subjective comment.
“Why do you dislike him, master?”
“I don’t know.” As for Mu Chen, no reason was needed for someone annoying.
“Bo Yuntian had this son when he was rather old, so he dotes on him all the time. His brothers also cherish him like priceless treasure. Born in such a wealthy family, he should be so innocent, which proves that he is favored and protected wholeheartedly by his families.” Speaking word by word, Gu Yunjue stared at Mu Chen and saw as expected a hint of obscure misery flashing through his eyes.
He sighed secretly, thinking that little Master really cared about his origin. Whoever experienced anything like the mirthless childhood would wonder who his father was, and would yearn for father’s help during hard times. The suffering of endless expectation and despair had left in his heart a deep scar which he deliberately avoided in case of thinking about the unpleasant days or being unveiled by others.
But since he met Bo Jinyu, there came a slight sense of jealousy that was invisible even to himself.
Thinking of that, Gu Yunjue suddenly recalled that both in his previous life and this life Mu Chen had told him that in any despairing hardship, one should not give up but keep optimistic about the future.
This must come from his own experience. He believed in the brightness of future and encouraged himself to stay strong because he knew all about surviving alone from hopeless days. Little master’s toughness just brought so many pities and pains to Gu Yunjue.
With that in mind, Gu Yunjue held Master’s arms even tighter, which interrupted Mu Chen’s obsession in the depressing mood. Presuming that little disciple was disturbed by the gloomy memories of his own, Mu Chen stretched out his hand and intended to console little disciple by rubbing his head but found it always uncomfortable in any gesture. He hummed sulkily, “Hands off! Come in front of me!”
Gu Yunjue moved accordingly and saw Mu Chen waiting for a hug with open arms. The expression on his face was quite intriguing as if he was saying— Come here to Master’s arms. Don’t hesitate. Quickly!
Gu Yunjue couldn’t help smiling and threw himself at Mu Chen. Snuggling up in his arms, he commended with a serious face, “So broad Master’s arms are that I feel much safer and secure.”
Mu Chen hummed, remaining his cold and proud air. Little disciple always said silly things. His arms had always been the same broad. Instead, little disciple just grew up increasingly, so that it was hard to hold him effortlessly like before. When did little disciple’s shoulders become so broad?
In their previous lives, Mu Chen recalled, little disciple was taller than him, when a subtle feeling arose in his mind, as if raising his chin to see little disciple would undermine his prestige as a master. How about not feeding him since tomorrow? In this way he would never grow higher. But he soon shook his head for he couldn’t bear little disciple suffering it. Faced with the dilemma in his mind, Mu Chen seemed either too cold or soft in turn.
“What did you intend to say?” Mu Chen’s thought flew back.
‘Master is still unstable’, Gu Yunjue blinked his eyes. Hence he could not say it out lest master lost temper. Instead, he swallowed up the words and simply said, “Nothing special. We can talk about this next time.”
Mu Chen stopped asking him. They stayed in the room for a long time and didn’t go out until the afternoon. Before leaving, Gu Yunjue deployed an array of traps to defense the intruders with a message left on the door, “Intruders Die!”
Mu Chen was confused about this, knocking on his disciple’s head speechlessly, “You naughty boy!” So childish was he, as an adult still interested in scaring others.
They went firstly to sign up at the registration place for the Pills Concocting Competition, then they went shopping happily. Gu Yunjue was simply a spirit stone squanderer who paid at once for whatever Mu Chen took a second look.
In the meantime, a familiar guest visited Mu Chen’s place.
Seeing the note with the words “Intruders Die!”, Chen Mo hesitated for a while before the door and then left resignedly with a smile.
At this moment, Mu Chen arrived at the Treasure Loft, a special place for treasure trading, where one could buy anything affordable ranging from weapons to pills and to ornaments.
Standing beneath a plaque of six meters long, Mu Chen felt curious at the sign of the Gazing Chen Pavilion. Who was it behind all this? He should be able to gather so much power in the immortal realm during such a short time. It was absolutely inconvincible to say that he was not planning something secretly.
“Master, are you curious about the lord of this pavilion?” Gu Yunjue smiled softly by the door.
Mu Chen nodded, “He should own business in Pill City. It develops so fast in the past years that it will undoubtedly arouse people’s curiosity.” What’s more, the Gazing Chen Pavilion hadn’t existed in his previous life, so he certainly took notice of it.
“The lord of this pavilion is said to be infatuated with someone. Hence he established the pavilion to safeguard his lover in the wish that they can love and live there all their lives without any extrinsic interruption.” A familiar voice rang behind them. Mu Chen turned around only to find Bo Jinyu speaking, “This is the most popular version in Pill City. Maybe there are more versions in other places.”
This time, he came with a lady who looked like him with similar eyes and eyebrows. Mu Chen recognized her identity, feeling it improper to make Bo Jinyu awkward anymore. So he nodded politely, greeting, “My honor to see you, Mrs. Bo.”
Mrs. Bo smiled slightly, then replied gracefully, “I’ve heard that my son made a good friend during his trip last time. Now here you are! My son surely didn’t lie to me that Master Mu is really a gorgeous man. Finally, he has a good sense.”
The corner of his mouth twitching, Mu Chen was just about to explain when he saw Bo Jinyu give him a surreptitious wink for help. Therefore, he had to give a response reluctantly. Friends? Absolutely Not!
“I was informed that new goods have arrived. So I am here to company my mother. Would you like to go with us?” Bo Jinyu changed the subject of their conversation in a hurry.
Mu Chen refused coldly, “Sorry, we have something else on schedule. Maybe next time.”
Bo Jinyu asked him modestly, “I want to concoct a pill for my father as his birthday gift. Would you please help me?”
Mu Chen: “…”