Bi Shenghua had already spotted Hou Biao; he and Yao Jingjing were sitting together in an inconspicuous corner of the bar.
Since Qingmu left, Hou Biao has faithfully carried out Qingmu's instructions to protect Bi Shenghua and Ruhua Bar. The security company has expanded significantly. With the foundation provided by Qingmu, Hou Biao's skills and special connections, and the Xia Family's support, it was impossible for it not to grow stronger.
However, Hou Biao still focused most of his energy on Liuying Lane and Mei Yiqiu's experimental building. He arranged for two security guards to guard Ruhua Bar in shifts 24 hours a day. Security company vehicles also appeared at the entrance of Liuying Lane every day.
During the bar's operating hours, Hou Biao would often come over for a drink. Sometimes when he was busy, Yao Jingjing would come over too. One of them would always come, even though they had never made any promises to each other, they felt it was their duty and responsibility.
Yao Jingjing has completely changed. A year ago, she was a delicate flight attendant who almost married a mentally challenged man in order to pay for her mother's medical treatment. Now, she is a skilled fighter who can easily take on two or three strong men. She walks with a powerful stride, and when she stares at someone, she can make them feel uneasy.
Bi Shenghua heard that since the security company was established, she has been training in combat for more than four hours every day without fail. Sometimes the training is so hard that even Hou Biao can't bear to watch. After all, she is not a professional athlete or a soldier. She also has to manage the company and take care of her family.
Everyone advised her not to work so hard, but Yao Jingjing remained defiant. She wanted to change her fate; she didn't want her only asset to her looks forever. Qingmu saved her mother's life and changed her destiny, but she couldn't rely on Qingmu forever; she had to rely on herself.
Since the Cat-Killing Order was issued, she began to come into contact with the truth of this world, learning more and more things, but also becoming increasingly shrouded in a thick fog of mystery. From Qingmu, she learned a little about her great-grandmother, discovering that she was an extraordinary old woman.
Under Qingmu's guidance, she learned lucid dreaming. Qingmu said she was a genius, possibly inheriting genes from her great-grandmother. During the day, she trained in combat and physical fitness with a large group of rough men, and at night she practiced her Mental Power. After Qingmu left, Hou Biao often served as her sparring partner. They were already able to enter each other's dreams, and their Mental Power improved rapidly over the past year.
Yao Jingjing came to the bar less often than Hou Biao because she was too beautiful, and people saw that she was single, so sitting there sometimes easily attracted unnecessary trouble. Therefore, whenever she came, Hou Biao was free.
For a year, Hou Biao hadn't laid a hand on _Tu_Shu in the bar, because nothing was worth his time. But today was an exception; that kid had dared to mess with Bi Shenghua! Even though it was just a hand on Bi Shenghua's shoulder, Hou Biao couldn't tolerate it. In his eyes, that kid's hand no longer existed.
He knew Bi Shenghua's place in Qingmu's heart. He could ignore everything else, but no one could touch Bi Shenghua, lest they offend Hou Biao. He felt that if anyone touched Bi Shenghua before Qingmu returned, he wouldn't be able to explain it to Qingmu, and it would be better for them to die.
Hou Biao carried the man out like a chick and tossed him to his men. He did it casually, as if he were seeing off a drunken friend, without attracting anyone's attention.
When he returned and sat down next to Yao Jingjing, Bi Shenghua also sat down next to him.
"Actually, you don't need to get involved. You can let Xiao Qi and the others handle this," Bi Shenghua said.
Hou Biao chuckled sheepishly, "It's nothing, just getting rid of some bedbugs."
Bi Shenghua then asked Yao Jingjing, "How has Auntie been feeling lately?"
Yao Jingjing said, "It's great. I just went to the hospital for a check-up a few days ago, and they said the recovery is going very well, with no signs of relapse. My mom even wanted to go back to her hometown, but I insisted on stopping her. Speaking of which, I have to thank you all. Thanks to you, otherwise..."
"Why thank me? Thank that blockhead!" Bi Shenghua said. She already knew everything about Qingmu and Yao Jingjing's story in Southern Yunnan, but she wasn't angry at all. A blockhead, who knows when he'll bloom! Maybe he'll never see it.
Yao Jingjing laughed and said, "Why thank him? That blockhead won't understand! My thanking you is the same as thanking him!" Then she looked worried again, "Sigh, my mom's health has improved, but she keeps nagging about that blockhead all day long. She really treats him like her son-in-law. I try to explain to her, but she won't listen. I can't be too harsh on her, because I'm afraid it will be bad for her health."
She and Bi Shenghua are now inseparable. "Sigh, Sister Hua, what should I do?" She then turned to Hou Biao, " Monkey, why don't you come home with me sometime and pretend to be my boyfriend? Anyway, my mom just wants a son-in-law, she doesn't care if he's a big shot or a small fry."
Hou Biao was startled and quickly waved his hand, saying woodenly, "Oh no, no! I can't!"
Bi Shenghua glanced at Yao Jingjing, then at Hou Biao, a strange feeling suddenly creeping into her heart. She smiled and stood up, saying, "You two sit for a while, I'm going out for some fresh air."
Yao Jingjing watched Bi Shenghua's departing figure and sighed. Hou Biao asked her why she sighed, Yao Jingjing said softly:
"Before, I always felt pathetic, with all sorts of unpleasant things happening to me. I finally met someone I liked, but he was a blockhead. But after meeting Sister Hua, I realized that compared to her, I'm quite fortunate. Look at her, no parents, running a business all by herself, she's forced herself to become neither male nor female, and when she finally fell for someone, he was also a blockhead, and now that blockhead has disappeared."
Hou Biao asked, "You and the landlady... both like... the same piece of wood?"
Yao Jingjing said, "I let go a long time ago."
"You let go?"
"Yes, after I met Sister Hua, I let go."
"Oh..." Hou Biao let out a long sigh of relief.
"Why are you panting?" Yao Jingjing laughed. "Trying to pick me up?"
Hou Biao hurriedly shook his head in denial, his shiny bald head reflecting the light like a spherical neon light on a stage. "No, no! I... I didn't!"
Yao Jingjing burst into laughter, turned her head and saw the dimly lit street outside the window. The tall willow tree was already decorated with lanterns and ribbons, and the New Year was not far away.
Bi Shenghua stood under the tree, looking up at the drooping willow branches and the scattered starlight from the sky. The light pollution on the street was quite severe, so the view of the sky was not as clear as from the rooftop. It took her a while to find Orion's belt. From where she was standing, it overlapped with one of the drooping willow branches, making it look like three jewels hanging on the willow branch.
She reached out and took the willow branch in her hand, noticing a broken section at the tip—the very same branch she had broken last year. She remembered that before Qingmu left, she had put that small piece of willow into Qingmu's backpack.
It's been almost a year; that broken willow branch must be dead by now. She figured, given Qingmu's personality, he wouldn't likely find a place to plant the branch and make it grow; it's probably still in his bag. More likely, like last time when he went to Southern Yunnan, he'd already lost the bag.
But surely nothing bad will happen to him?!
She was extremely reluctant to say things like "the fate of the person is unknown," but she had to admit that the person had indeed gone missing, just like the Malaysia Airlines plane that went missing years ago. It was just a way to comfort herself, using the word "unknown" to leave behind a sliver of hope.
Thinking of divination, she recalled the fortune she had drawn at the temple, "What will become of us after parting a year later? Like the stars Shen and Shang amidst the smoke and clouds at dusk."
She ultimately didn't spend an extra thirty yuan to have the Daoist priest interpret her fortune, because she felt that some things, rather than being thoroughly disappointed after being deciphered, were better left locked away with hope and longing.
She saved thirty yuan, but insisted on spending a hundred to buy the fortune stick. Only when she got home did she discover there was another line of text on the back of the stick:
From now on, stop planting willows in front of the door, and instead plant mulberry trees to raise silkworms.