Mr. Ye Hai's Plans

At least until Mr. Ye Hai handed over the reins, he had to show the magnanimity... and sense of responsibility expected of a senior apprentice.

Lu Bolin took a deep breath.

His junior apprentice had taken a watch. So what?

It was only a limited-edition Omega mechanical watch in the Calatrava style, with a legendary 30T2 movement, a precious-metal stainless steel case, and an enamel dial.

Lu Bolin rubbed his aching face, working up a brilliant smile.

Now that his little junior apprentice—whom he'd never met—had returned, it was only right for him, as the senior apprentice, to welcome him and show that he was the future master of the Golden Orchid Nunnery.

Loyalty! Yes, he had to show enough loyalty to prove he had what it took to become a gang boss!

Only then could he put Mr. Ye Hai at ease and convince him to entrust the Golden Orchid Nunnery to his care!

Lu Bolin took a step forward.

Just then, Ye Miao's tearful voice rang out:

"Xu Yi! Someone at school is picking on me! I don't want to go back!"

Lu Bolin stopped dead, jealousy surging through him.

All these years, even when Ye Miao had been wronged, she'd never confided in him like this!

That country bumpkin! What made him think he deserved this?!

Xu Yi's angry reply came from beyond the screen wall:

"Who was it? I'll go kill her!"

Ye Miao was still crying.

"It's this little punk called Jing Tao!

"Waaah...

"She's my classmate. She said I only came to school so I could marry a Foreign Devil, and that she knew all about the shady stuff going on in the gang!

"When I tried to explain, she said I was in a gang and shouldn't pretend to be some innocent white lotus!

"Waaah..."

Xu Yi:

"..."

Xu Yi wasn't very good at comforting people. He fidgeted for a couple of seconds, then suddenly said:

"That's a nice-looking watch!"

Ye Miao was already so upset that she'd gone a little fuzzy. Xu Yi's sudden change of subject left her stunned. Then she took the watch off her wrist and mumbled, still just barely sniffling:

"This watch is called an Omega. I heard only nobles from England's upper class are allowed to wear mechanical watches like this..."

Xu Yi praised it sincerely:

"It really is nice!"

Back home, Xu Yi probably could never have afforded a luxury watch like that, not even in his entire life.

Coming to this world had given him a real taste of the putrid excesses of the bourgeoisie.

Behind the screen wall, Lu Bolin heard Ye Miao's words and felt his head grow hot, as though it were about to start smoking.

The smile he'd just forced onto his face slowly crumbled under the weight of his anger.

Ye Miao lifted Xu Yi's left hand and fastened the Omega around his wrist, reminding him:

"You just need to wind the crown by hand every day—about twenty to thirty turns. Once it's fully wound, the movement should usually have about forty hours of power reserve."

Xu Yi didn't refuse. He just blushed and said:

"How can I accept this..."

Ye Miao had finally recovered a little. She grabbed Xu Yi's hand, her voice turning tearful again:

"They don't take me seriously at all! You're the only one who can help me!"

If it was Jing Tao, this would be easy!

A confident smile appeared on Xu Yi's face. He thumped his chest and said:

"Leave it to me! I'll handle her!"

At the sight of Xu Yi's confidence, Ye Miao's expression brightened, the clouds parting as her sorrow gave way to joy. Most of her hurt feelings disappeared. Her tear-streaked face blossomed like a pear blossom after rain as she threw herself into his arms and looped her arms around his neck, her words brimming with laughter:

"I knew you were the best!"

Lu Bolin could no longer hold back. He stepped out from behind the screen wall and saw Ye Miao and Xu Yi in each other's arms. Jealousy flared within him, leaving him shocked, angry, and envious. If he hadn't been trying to maintain his image, he might have ground his back teeth to dust.

"So this is our little junior apprentice."

Get your hands off him, you son of a bitch!

Xu Yi saw Lu Bolin hold out his hand but didn't immediately shake it.

Ye Miao was still hanging off him, and she clearly didn't want him to shake Lu Bolin's hand. Instead of moving away, she clung to him even tighter.

Lu Bolin was burning with anger, but his position made it impossible to show. He put on the same "gentle and considerate" senior-apprentice act he always did, merely pretending to look displeased.

"You two! This is the middle of the street! Have some decency! Let go, right now!"

Ye Miao gave a little snort and let go. Ignoring Lu Bolin, she said to Xu Yi:

"Take care of it soon, okay?"

Then she turned and left.

From the bottom of her heart, she didn't want to come back to the Golden Orchid Nunnery.

After taking a couple of steps, she turned back.

"Xu Yi! I'm running out of money!"

Xu Yi took five silver dollars out of his pocket as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Here. Same as always—half for you."

Ye Miao took the five silver dollars from him, and at last she smiled.

Lu Bolin sneered inwardly. What a poor wretch!

Half? So your entire fortune is only ten silver dollars?

Lu Bolin had plenty of silver dollars!

"Ashui, I have a check here..."

He hadn't even finished speaking before Ye Miao turned and walked away, leaving him stranded in an awkward silence. The hand holding the check in his pocket didn't know what to do.

"Senior apprentice."

Xu Yi's call rescued him from his embarrassment.

"Seeing you in person beats hearing a hundred stories!"

Xu Yi sounded warm and friendly, but he felt not a trace of warmth toward Lu Bolin.

That was because, in the spiritual vision that Ye Miao's scent had just awakened, Lu Bolin's body was surrounded by a layer of crimson light.

That crimson light also carried a pungent, unsettling smell.

It definitely wasn't a fragrance.

What was this?

Was Lu Bolin a Night Roaming God?

Was that crimson glow his spiritual aura?

Xu Yi couldn't figure it out. But in his experience, anything that showed up as a crimson glow in his spiritual vision was never a good thing.

—The senior apprentice was no good. That wasn't good news for him.

Based on what Xu Yi knew about the Golden Orchid Nunnery, after spending two years abroad in England to "polish his credentials," the senior apprentice had probably returned to take over from Mr. Ye Hai and become the nunnery's future master.

The thought of working under someone whose entire body glowed with a vicious crimson light made Xu Yi uneasy.

Lu Bolin watched Ye Miao's figure disappear around the corner of the street along the Green Shore River. He pulled his lips into a strained smile and said to Xu Yi:

"Little junior apprentice, go greet Master first."

Xu Yi cupped his hands to Lu Bolin, then went inside.

As Xu Yi disappeared behind the screen wall, the smile vanished from Lu Bolin's face.

He paced a few steps at the entrance, then suddenly kicked the wheel hub of the Chevrolet. Several copper studs snapped off his leather shoe.

Xu Yi entered the grounds. His spiritual vision was still active, and as he reached the courtyard in the middle of the nunnery, he felt the cold gaze coming from the incense hall.

It was cold, but held no particular emotion.

Unfriendly, but not hostile.

It was like the gaze of a lofty god, neither joyful nor sorrowful, utterly detached.

Xu Yi fought the urge to shiver, doubts rising in his heart.

His spiritual sense gave him a mysterious feeling, something beyond words and rather like intuition.

When he sensed that gaze, his intuition told him that something like a Hundred Night Miasma was probably lurking in the incense hall, and that it was extremely powerful...

At least, it was far stronger than Jing Tao's master, Yan Luo—the [Ferryman] on the second step of the [Ascension Staircase] of the [Yin Son of Heaven].