Yi Shuyuan jogged all the way back to the County Office, then returned to the Library while shaking the water from his clothes.
"Did you really not hear that cry from the sky just now?"
Hui Mian poked out of Yi Shuyuan's collar and looked up at him in bewilderment.
"What cry?"
"Something like a cow mooing. Moo, moo."
As Yi Shuyuan spoke, he suddenly began imitating it with his vocal mimicry.
Strictly speaking, what Yi Shuyuan did now was no longer mere vocal mimicry. Not only did the sound resemble the original, but he was also recalling and savoring the sensation from earlier, lending his voice a peculiar resonance.
The instant Hui Mian heard it, a current seemed to shoot through the little marten's body. Every hair stood on end, and Hui Mian froze against Yi Shuyuan's chest, not daring to move.
"S-sir, is that you...?"
"I must have imitated it pretty well. Why has all your fur puffed up?"
Hui Mian's heart pounded.
"You scared me, sir! Please don't frighten me with dragon calls. I'm a coward..."
A dragon's voice?
"Dragons sound like cows?"
"Sir, please stop making fun of me for pretending to be a Well Dragon King."
Yi Shuyuan rubbed the little marten's head, and the bristling fur settled.
"I wasn't making fun of you. Besides, you're hardly a coward. Weren't you perfectly brazen about asking for tea on Broad South Mountain?"
"Heh, heh, heh..."
Hui Mian laughed awkwardly.
Instead of entering the Library, Yi Shuyuan turned and carefully searched the sky, a measure of excitement stirring within him. So dragons sounded like cows?
Back in the mountains, they had discussed how a dragon's ringing cry could shake the nine heavens. Clearly, that cry ought to be rather high and piercing.
It now seemed that an