The Manhattan sunlight streamed into the room early in the morning, falling directly on Lin Xiao's face. He squinted, raised his hand to shield his eyes, and found that both arms were numb. Betty was on his left, and Mei was hugging him on his right, their heads each occupying one shoulder, pinning him to the bed.
Mei's hair was spread across his chest, her breathing was even, her lips were slightly parted, and a faint, enigmatic smile lingered at the corners of her mouth. Betty lay on her side facing him, two faint red marks on the arm she was using as a pillow, marks she had bitten the night before. She slept more lightly than Mei, her eyelashes fluttering occasionally, her brows furrowing slightly before slowly relaxing.
Lin Xiao stared at the ceiling for a while, and the corners of his mouth slowly curled up.
Last night's events flashed through my mind.
At first, when Betty agreed to his unreasonable request, he thought Betty had some experience, after all, she had been close to Banner at the time. But the small patch of dark red on the sheets afterward startled him. He looked down at it for a while, then looked up at Betty. Betty buried her face in the pillow, her ears were almost bleeding red, she curled up into a ball, and mumbled, "Don't look." He later learned that her father was very strict, and from childhood, even the slightest disturbance around her would be watched by General Ross's men. She had been very restrained with Banner, and since she was Catholic, there were many things she couldn't do casually.
Many thoughts flashed through Lin Xiao's mind at that moment, but he didn't say any of them out loud. He simply pulled Betty closer to his chest, rested his chin on the top of her head, and patted her back gently, like soothing a frightened cat.
Even now, when I think about it in the morning, I still feel like laughing.
He carefully pulled his arm away. Mei snorted, rolled over, and hugged the pillow. Betty didn't wake up either, but her fingers twitched slightly in her sleep, as if searching for something. Lin Xiao placed the pillow next to her hand, which she grabbed, her brows slowly relaxing.
He tiptoed out of bed, stepped barefoot onto the carpet, and went to the bathroom to take a shower. When he came out, he had a towel wrapped around his waist, his hair was still dripping wet, and he looked at himself in the mirror. There were several nail marks on his shoulders and back, and a bite mark on his chest, not deep, but noticeably red.
He dried his hair with a towel, pondering as he did so: he needed to ask Tony for a few housekeeping robots. May and Betty were busy with their own things during the day, and then they had to endure his antics at night; their bodies definitely wouldn't be able to take it in the long run.
Lin Xiao went downstairs, poured himself a glass of water, and while drinking it, took out his phone and dialed Tony's number.
"What?" Tony's voice came through the receiver, with the sound of metal clanging in the background, clearly indicating that someone was in the lab.
"I'll be at your company later to discuss the contract. I also wanted to ask you something. Could you get me a few of those robots, the kind that did housework, that were exhibited at the Stark Expo?"
What do you need that for?
"There's so much work to do at home, two women can't manage it all."
There was a pause on the other end of the phone. " Lin Xiao, how many people are in your family? How much work can you possibly do?"
"You don't understand." Lin Xiao leaned back on the sofa, crossed his legs, and said in a serious tone, "Household chores are a small matter, but they delay important matters. I'm optimizing resource allocation, handing over repetitive labor to machines, and freeing people up to do more valuable things. You're a big capitalist, don't you understand this simple principle?"
A cold snort came from Tony's end, "Fine, I'll get you two. But the cost will come from Vought's account."
"Haven't you taken enough from Vought's account?"
"That's different; that's an investment. These two are for personal use, so they're different in nature."
Lin Xiao chuckled, about to say something more, when suddenly he heard a very faint noise behind him. The sound was like something rubbing together, or like the crackling of static electricity. He instinctively turned around and looked, but saw nothing.
"What's wrong?" Tony asked on the phone.
"It's nothing, you probably misheard."
He had barely finished speaking when the sound behind him rang out again, this time more clearly, accompanied by a crackling sound like an electric short circuit. Lin Xiao whirled around to see a golden halo expanding behind him, sparks flying, and the air filled with a burnt smell.
A head peeked out from the circle.
That person was Ned! He was wearing a yellow monk's robe, his face was rounder than in the last video call, his hair was a mess, his forehead was covered in sweat, and his mouth was open, as if he was muttering something.
Lin Xiao didn't have time to dodge, Ned didn't have time to shrink back. When Ned poked his head out, he bumped into Lin Xiao Xiao's shoulder as he turned to the side with a dull thud. Ned leaned back, his hands flailing wildly in the air, and grabbed Lin Xiao's collar.
Lin Xiao slipped, and the recoil from Ned pulling him caused him to fall into the teleportation portal.
"Holy crap, you..."
Before he could finish the last word, Ned pulled him into the circle of light.
The light closed behind them, like a golden eye shutting down. The living room returned to silence; the cell phone was still lit on the carpet, displaying Tony's call screen.
" Lin Xiao? What's wrong with you? Stop playing dead. What the hell are you up to now? If you're not talking, you're definitely up to something. Let me make this clear, I'm only sending two robots." Tony's voice came through the receiver, but little did he know that Lin Xiao was already thousands of miles away.
When Lin Xiao fell to the ground, his first reaction was cold.
The cold here was completely different from a winter in New York. Even in New York, the cold is just a bit windy and snowy, and you can get through it by wearing more layers. The cold here seeped into your bones; taking a breath felt like having your lungs filled with ice water.
He propped himself up and sat up. Before him stretched a vast expanse of white snow, with rolling mountain ridges in the distance and a clear blue sky. The altitude was so high that the sun was shining brightly overhead, but it was not very warm.
A sound of someone rubbing their nose came from beside him. Lin Xiao turned his head and saw Ned squatting in the snow, one hand covering his nose and the other supporting his knee. His monk's robe was half wet, and snowflakes clung to his hair. When he saw Lin Xiao looking at him, he shrank back and gave a dry laugh.
"Good morning, Uncle Lin..."
Lin Xiao looked at him, then at the surrounding snow-covered landscape, then at the winding stone path on the distant mountain ridge, and finally back at Ned.
"Holy crap, where am I?"
" Kamar-Taj." Ned's voice was barely audible.
Lin Xiao remained silent.
He stood up, brushed the snow off his clothes, took a deep breath, and then another. He looked down at his clothes: pajama bottoms, a T-shirt, and soaking wet slippers. He closed his eyes and slowly exhaled.
Ned.
"Um."
"What have you been doing?"
Ned paused in rubbing his nose, his eyes darting around. "I... I drew a circle, and the door opened."
" Mordo let you out?"
"He doesn't know."
"Then what are you doing out here?"
"Eat." Ned relaxed his nose, his eyes a little red. "Master is too strict. If I can't memorize the incantation, I'm punished by copying it and going hungry. I haven't eaten for two meals. I'm so hungry my stomach is sticking to my back. I just want to go back to New York and have a good meal... really."
Lin Xiao looked at him and remained silent for a long while.
"So you opened a portal from Kamar-Taj, across half the globe, and into my house?"
"Yes, Uncle Lin, your house has the most good stuff. Aunt May's waffles are delicious; I haven't had them in ages. I dream about eating the strawberry filling in her waffles..."
Lin Xiao took another deep breath. He looked down at his slippers, then at the stone path in the distance, and then at Ned, who was squatting on the ground rubbing his nose. He was speechless.
He crouched down to meet Ned's gaze, his tone suddenly becoming very calm.
" Ned, does your master know you've run away?"
"I don't know. My master is usually very strict. Today, when I brought him some porridge, I added something to it. He drank it and then went out. I opened the door when he wasn't there, thinking I'd only be back in New York for a little while. I told Peter, but that kid wasn't very nice and advised me not to do it, so I had no choice but to... come by myself..."
What did you put in his porridge?
Ned's eyes darted around again. "I just... grabbed some croton seeds in the cafeteria, just a few, not many."
Lin Xiao's lips twitched, but he didn't laugh. "You gave your teacher a chin implant?"
"Just a few! Really not many! I was worried he'd get sick, so I left a bottle of antidiarrheal medicine in the outhouse with instructions on how to use it..."
Lin Xiao stared at him for several seconds, then slowly stood up. He was speechless at this clown, but more importantly, he had somehow ended up in Kamar-Taj without even realizing it.
In the distance, on the ridge of Kamar-Taj.
Mordo stood behind a low wall, his dark gray monk's robe billowing slightly in the wind. He looked at the two figures in the snow: a burly man in pajama bottoms and slippers, and a boy huddled up rubbing his nose.
Mordo clutched a small bottle in his hand. It was the antidiarrheal medicine Ned had left in the outhouse. A note was attached to the bottle, scrawled in crooked handwriting. "Dosage and administration: Two pills at a time, after meals, drink plenty of water."
His expression was complicated. He had actually seen Ned put the croton seeds into the porridge. The kid's hands were shaking like a leaf; he sprinkled in two, hesitated for a moment, and then added one more. Mordo didn't say anything at the time, just picked up the porridge and drank it. The dosage of croton seeds wasn't large; he could handle it. He just wanted to see what the kid was up to.
The answer is clear now. This kid wanted to run away, but he didn't really intend to ruin his master's life.
Mordo tucked the medicine bottle into his robes and turned around. A mountain breeze blew, swirling up the snow at the end of the stone path and scattering it onto the hem of his monk's robe. He walked towards the main hall, his pace neither fast nor slow. After a couple of steps, he stopped, glanced sideways at the mountain gate, and sighed softly.
"Fine, just punish that kid by making him copy the Calming Mantra twenty times." He said to the air, his voice neither too loud nor too soft.
The wind rushed down from the mountain ridge, scattering snowflakes everywhere. Lin Xiao stood in the snow, his pajama bottoms soaked through and his slippers filled with snow. He looked down at himself, then at Ned, and a slow smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
Let's go.
Where to?
"Go find my godmother, cough cough... I'd like a cup of hot tea from Ancient One." Lin Xiao stomped his wet slippers on the snow twice and walked towards the stone path. "And while you're at it, ask your master if he provides food for his apprentices."
Ned followed behind, jogging a couple of steps to catch up with him. " Uncle Lin, you're not angry?"
"I'm angry." Lin Xiao said without turning his head, "But if I go back now, Tony will laugh about this for a year. So I'm going to finish up the Kamar-Taj matter first, and then go back to settle the score with him."
Ned shrank back, not daring to ask any more questions.
Two people, one tall and one short, one wearing a T-shirt, pajamas, and slippers, the other in a drab gray monk's robe, walked up the narrow stone path. The snow crunched under their feet, and the Kamar-Taj gates appeared and disappeared in the morning mist in the distance.
Lin Xiao took a few steps, then suddenly stopped and turned his head to look at Ned.
You've gained weight.
"... I've only gained a little weight, even plain porridge and pickles make me gain weight, what can I do?"
"Go back and let your mom see you; she'll be happy."
Ned's face fell. Lin Xiao ignored him and continued walking. The mountain wind messed up his hair, but the slight smile on his lips never faded.