Ye Jingtang left Wanshui Town, called down Niao Niao circling overhead, and carried the bird on his shoulder as he hurried back to the river. Looking up, he saw Ning'er and Third Madam standing side by side atop the boat's cabin, gazing toward the mountains behind the town.
Ye Jingtang leaped aboard and looked back at Wanshui Town.
"What's wrong?"
Holding the Telescope, Pei Xiangjun searched the mist-shrouded mountains.
"While you were taking care of things just now, I thought I saw a white figure leave town. It vanished in a flash..."
Ye Jingtang landed behind his two fiancées and leaned close to Third Madam's cheek to look. She brought the Telescope up to his eyes.
"A white figure... where?"
Luo Ning noticed Ye Jingtang's hand on her lower back and unobtrusively pushed it away.
"I was watching the street just now and didn't see any white figure. I think she's been staring at the Dragon-Elephant Diagram so much these past few days that her eyes are playing tricks on her."
Holding up the Telescope for Ye Jingtang, Pei Xiangjun said unhappily, "How could my eyes be playing tricks on me? You're the one with poor eyesight."
As they spoke, Pei Xiangjun also discovered a hand on her lower back. She glanced at the utterly focused Jingtang, pressed her lips together, and pretended not to notice.
Ye Jingtang scanned the boundless mountains through the Telescope. Finding them empty, without the slightest sign of anything unusual, he asked Niao Niao,
"Did you see a white figure?"
"Chirp, chirp..."
Standing atop the mast, Niao Niao shook its head like a rattle drum, indicating that it had been watching the houses around Ye Jingtang and had paid no attention to the area outside town.
After searching a little longer without finding anything, Pei