Tours, negotiations, exchanges, afternoon tea, technical exchanges, dinner banquets, drinking feasts, sleep, breakfast...
Ji Jue spun and jumped without stopping.
Yellow Beard stared blankly, his expression utterly flat, watching everything before him as wave after wave of barking reached his ears.
"Ow, thank you, family, thank you, thank you! Yes, I love you too!"
"Northern Frontier, Northern Frontier, my hometown!"
"Hey, our Northern Frontier is the real deal!"
"What do you outsiders know? We're Northern Frontier kids!"
In the blink of an eye, he had put on a fur coat and a bear hat, transforming into a Northern Frontier local who sang and danced. Speaking in clumsy, half-learned Northern Frontier dialect, he welcomed and saw off guests with remarkable ease.
Unfortunately, good times passed quickly. It was time to say goodbye again.
At noon the next day, Yellow Beard personally escorted Ji Jue to North Wind's entrance, pointed outside, and told him to get lost. There was not even a token invitation to come again or stay a few more days.
"Ah, Great Craftsman Yellow Beard is truly too hospitable. I'm honestly embarrassed..."
Ji Jue's little hand reached over as though he had not seen the other man's livid face at all, gripping his hand and refusing to let go as he bid him a reluctant farewell. "Stop seeing me off, really, don't see me off any farther. If you do, I'll miss my flight... Ah, look what you've done. I can hardly bear to leave."
Just as Yellow Beard began to pant heavily, his eyes gradually turning bloodshot as he neared the limits of his restraint, Ji Jue abruptly changed tack and sighed. "Ah, it's truly regrettable that I didn't get to witness North Wind's essence.
"So, really, really, really..."
He paused for a moment, his smile full of