Wasn't he talking to him? Who else could Master Xiao be talking to?
But soon, the shopkeeper realized the truth.
No.
Master Xiao wasn't talking to him.
Master Xiao wasn't even looking at him.
After a few moments of confusion, a thought suddenly flashed through the shopkeeper's mind.
The guardian?!
Master Xiao had told him there was a mysterious guardian in his flower shop.
Could it be...
Was Master Xiao talking to that mysterious guardian right now?
The shopkeeper's heart suddenly began to race.
He couldn't help clenching his hands on the table.
Yingzhao nodded.
That guy.
He was so neurotic.
Yingzhao didn't like that human.
Because of him, the flower boy had been frowning for days.
He'd only just started feeling better, but now the flower boy had thought of that human again and was frowning once more.
Xiao Xiao's fingers gently rubbed the scale Yingzhao had given him.
It was obviously no ordinary scale.
Such fantastical colors and an exquisitely delicate shape...
Was it... from a yao?
But...
He couldn't sense any yao qi.
Instead...
He leaned closer to the scale.
It smelled of water.
Another yao skilled at concealing its yao qi?
Xiao Xiao had noticed that the yao he encountered these days were becoming more and more "cunning."
Fewer and fewer humans could see them, yet the yao were growing increasingly wary.
He smiled faintly.
Whether it was or not, he would have to find out.
Perhaps...
A "more elevated" version of the story A-Zhe had told him was about to unfold in real life.
"Shopkeeper Hua."
Xiao Xiao turned to look at the shopkeeper.
"Yes!"
The shopkeeper blurted out.
Then he realized he'd reacted a little too dramatically and nervously, and smiled sheepishly.
"Master Xiao, go ahead."
But he couldn't