Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 614 - 46: Return to Kowloon
"..."
Li Yan responded with silence.
Zhu Jiuyin looked at Li Yan and frowned, "Why aren’t you speaking?"
"I don’t understand. If you’re still willing to talk, I’m willing to listen."
Zhu Jiuyin snorted coldly, "Don’t try to cozy up to me, I don’t buy into that."
Having said that, he closed his eyes as if he no longer cared about Li Yan.
Li Yan didn’t feel embarrassed, simply smiling and saying, "Then please, rest."
After that, he turned and left.
"A fragmented soul cannot pass the threshold of the Six Ministries, and the Divine Court will also be hard to achieve. Scale-Wu Shen Jiu, Zhuxian Town. Scale-Ding Wei 12, Baodong Co., Ltd. These two places might have what you’re looking for."
Li Yan stopped in his tracks, looking at Zhu Jiuyin in surprise.
"This kind of information is not rare in the second seat, you can find out on your own."
Zhu Jiuyin still had his eyes closed.
"I remember it."
Li Yan bowed slightly, and this time he truly departed.
————————————————
It had been three days since the New Conference’s formation and the official announcement of the October propositions.
Life was no different from before. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
Cha Xiaodao locked up the restaurant, gave the waiter Zhou time off, and took the high-speed train to Zhuhai. Before leaving, he told Li Yan to meet directly at the Yan Fu event.
Li Yan didn’t ask for details, judging by his sheepish appearance, it probably wasn’t anything bad.
The business license from the Bureau of Industry and Commerce had also been approved, and Li Yan’s tavern could open at any time.
Considering the next event was imminent, Li Yan chose not to open for business right now.
As usual, before the event began, he browsed through various buy and sell orders at the auction house. Besides the chance of finding bargains, occasionally some ludicrous accidents would occur, which to Li Yan, was extremely amusing.
However, Li Yan soon realized that almost all items on the auction site had begun to increase in price to varying degrees.
Especially consumables that could increase the Awakening Degree, which had already risen in price once before the Conference meeting, saw their prices skyrocket again after the end of the Conference. Compared to the original prices, they had gone up by about 50%.
Other items had generally become more expensive as well, by more than twenty or thirty percent.
Given the announcement of the October propositions, this was not unusual, but on a whim, Li Yan typed "controllable nuclear fusion technology information" into the search, not expecting much. However, the familiar yet unfamiliar lines that popped up next truly surprised him.
"According to relevant regulations, some of your search results will not be displayed."
Listed below were quite a few sale listings, often mixed with some bizarre requirements: some asked for Yan Fu Heritage related to the Luo Scale, some demanded unique originals from certain fruit worlds, and some blueprints’ materials were simply marked with "to be explored."
Li Yan scrolled for a long time, finally finding a technical document that appeared complex and extensive, yet did not mix in obvious exclusive conditions. But in the very last line, it read that all the universal constants involved in this design are only effective in the following fruits: ...
Unquestionably, the list of effective fruits did not include Heaven Jiazi Nine.
"This is quite interesting."
Li Yan didn’t effort further. Combining his experiences in Mother Crown, he vaguely sensed a rift between the Yan Fu Masters, one that seemed almost invisible but nearly impossible to bridge...
Footsteps sounded from upstairs, but Li Yan didn’t look up, still browsing the information on the auction site, until he felt a soft touch from behind.
"What are you looking at?"
Only then did Li Yan look up, "Something irrelevant. I reckon you won’t be interested, do you want to hear it?"
"If it’s about the Conference, forget it."
After returning, Li Yan had given the bubbles he brought back from Mother Crown to Lady Dan. The bubbles contained a considerable amount of imagery about the rise and fall of civilizations, life and death, with many perspectives quite indifferent. Li Yan had thought Lady Dan’s reaction would be more intense, but in reality, she just digested it herself for a while before asking Li Yan what he wanted for dinner, seemingly not taking it to heart. As for the Conference matters, she was even less concerned and focused her energy elsewhere. Besides practicing drums every day, she began to explore reggae and punk music. She also started cooking more, skillfully handling fish and chicken, cut her long hair short, wore ponytails more often, and began to try out fashionable outfits, shedding some of her ethereal air and adding a rich fragrance that blended cold elegance with soft beauty.
"Ah, then I won’t babble on."
Li Yan’s gaze wandered over Lady Dan for a while, then he shifted his eyes away without a trace of emotion.
Lady Dan leaned close to Li Yan’s face, "Don’t you have anything else you want to tell me?"
"Hm." Li Yan thought for a moment, "If Old Zhao and the others ask you to do something, safety comes first."
"That’s it?"
"I want shrimp for dinner tonight."
"Anything else?"
Lady Dan leaned closer and closer, their noses gently touching.
"..."
In a moment of reverie, Li Yan recalled the tender beauty of the scene when he first met the Mountain Spirit. Suddenly, he reached out and embraced Lady Dan in a full hug, and they kissed passionately, like two swans intertwined neck to neck.
Their large hands roamed over the other’s sturdy back for a while, passion subsiding gradually.
Lady Dan stroked Li Yan’s hair, silent for a long time.
The two had been living together for over a year, yet, in truth, Li Yan had never once touched Lady Dan. Even someone as close as Cha Xiaodao didn’t know about this.
Li Yan’s breathing was unusually deep; he licked his gums and, staring into Lady Dan’s eyes, said unhurriedly, "I volunteered to participate in the retrieval event because I have some personal matters to settle. I didn’t mean to hide it from you, I just didn’t want you to overthink it."
Seated on Li Yan’s lap, Lady Dan played with his hair and asked softly, "Do I seem like trouble to you?"
"Hahaha, I didn’t mean that at all."
Lady Dan winked at Li Yan; she stood up from his lap, "Then I’m off to buy groceries."
"Come back soon."
Li Yan watched Lady Dan tie up her hair and then leave through the door.
The next Yan Fu event was tonight at twelve o’clock.
Daytime passed without incident; Li Yan and Lady Dan had dinner, and dusk gradually fell.
"Esteemed Walker, you are about to initiate a Yan Fu event."
Li Yan opened his eyes, and what welcomed him was the glaring red of various colorful advertisement lightboxes:
Beautiful girls from all countries, full body massage included
Great Nation Medical Research Institute
Luxurious Finland bath, save a hundred for two people
Fair prices for pure rental
...
The characters on the signs blurred before Li Yan’s eyes, forming new words.
"Time: AD 1989."
"Location: Kowloon City District."
"Requirement for this Yan Fu event: Please report to the Hong Kong Office of Zhongxing Baode International Auction Co., Ltd. within twenty-four hours."
Dressed in a beige suit, Li Yan looked much more decent than last time as he walked into a shop with its roller shutter door open, surrounded by all sorts of packaged snacks and cigarettes.
"A pack of cigarettes."
He took out a few crumpled Hong Kong dollars from his pocket and handed them over.
Old Money, sporting a small mustache, turned around to get the cigarettes. The rotating fan scattered the rich smell of lard and cheap perfume, mixed with the noisy bustle, all crashing into Li Yan’s face as he stretched lazily, an involuntary smile appearing on his lips.
