"Mm... I understand." Jingliu did not push away Bai Heng's hand resting on her long hair. She merely turned her head aside, her face still utterly expressionless.
Bai Heng knew when to quit while he was ahead.
After all, he had just risked trading one act of initiative for a lifetime of introversion by taking advantage of Jingliu.
Fortunately, he had succeeded. Jingliu had not cut him down with a single sword strike.
After withdrawing his hand, he offered her the cup of Immortality Joy Tea again and said,
"Here, Master Jingliu."
This time, Jingliu accepted the Immortality Joy Tea Bai Heng handed her.
That counted as agreeing not to practice swordsmanship at the training grounds today.
It also counted as indirectly accepting Bai Heng's invitation for a date.
Only after Jingliu took the cup of Joy Tea from him did she belatedly ask,
"Is there... only one cup?"
"Yep." Bai Heng placed his hands behind his head and played dumb. "Looks like the two of us can only share one milk tea."
Jingliu shot Bai Heng a speechless glare from beneath her black veil.
It was not as though she could not see through Bai Heng's little scheme. But when she thought of the corner of his mouth that she had bitten open,
Jingliu ultimately indulged him.
The two of them walked down the street together, sampling many of the Xianzhou's specialty snacks along the way.
There were even old shops that had been around for seven hundred years, selling things like South City mung bean cakes, beef pastries, and toothpick sticky rice balls. Bai Heng had once brought all of them back to Sword Champion Manor for her to try.
But Jingliu could no longer remember those things... They only felt vaguely familiar to her, nothing more.
As they walked, Bai Heng somehow ended up holding Jingliu's soft, icy little hand.
After holding it for so long, Bai Heng's palm became a little sweaty. Yet Jingliu still did not pull her hand away, allowing him to hold it.
Until they arrived before a stall selling exotic creatures.
Jingliu stopped in front of a cage.
Inside were two rabbits with red streaks in their fur.
The stall owner was a balding middle-aged Outworlder. Seeing that Jingliu seemed interested in the two rabbits, he immediately struck while the iron was hot and said with dramatic flair,
"Oh, miss, you've got a sharp eye! I specifically brought these two rabbits back from a volcanic planet in the Zeno Star System. Their scientific name is Fire-lick Rabbits. They can live up to five hundred years, enough to serve as pets accompanying you Xianzhou folk for half your lives."
"And these rabbits can ward off cold and keep you warm. They're especially suitable for people with cold constitutions. I can vaguely see that you have symptoms like that, miss."
The stall owner had keen eyes and enthusiastically promoted his rabbits.
But Jingliu ignored him and did not utter a single word.
Seeing this, Bai Heng stepped forward and looked at the two small, snow-white Fire-lick Rabbits with red streaks in their fur.
He had visited many planets before and had seen this species of rabbit. The information he knew was more or less the same as the stall owner's description.
The only thing the man had concealed was that Fire-lick Rabbits were extremely prone to dying young. Though their maximum lifespan was five hundred years, their average lifespan might only be around a hundred.
"Can you let them out for me to take a look?" Bai Heng asked the stall owner.
At this point, Jingliu finally spoke.
"No need."
"It's fine, Master Jingliu. I'm just taking a look." Bai Heng signaled for her to wait, then had the stall owner continue.
The balding middle-aged man was quick with his hands.
Seeing a sale within reach, he immediately used a key to open the cage.
The two Fire-lick Rabbits were very well-behaved. Even after the cage was opened, they remained huddled in the corner.
Of course, this could also mean that the Fire-lick Rabbits were in poor health and had lost their vitality.
To verify what exactly was going on with them,
Bai Heng reached inside and gently stroked their fur, then carefully examined their eyes and mouths.
He found that the two rabbits looked to be three or four years old. They were fairly healthy, though a trace of fear showed in their eyes.
If they stayed caged for another two days, they might end up depressed.
Finally, Bai Heng tried parting the little rabbits' hind legs and took a close look.
Oh, two little female rabbits.
Now there was no problem.
"How much?" Bai Heng asked.
The moment Bai Heng started asking about the price, the stall owner's excitement became impossible to hide. He held up one large hand and said,
"Five hundred! For the quality of these two, just five hundred Credits total!"
"Give me your bottom price." Bai Heng's expression did not change.
Hearing that, the stall owner's smile widened. Rubbing his hands together, he said,
"Four hundred and fifty Credits... What do you think, sir? That's already cost price. I might not even sell them for that price to anyone else. But we hit it off, and I feel like we're fated, so otherwise I definitely wouldn't let them go so cheaply."
Watching the smooth little routine unfold before him,
Bai Heng said flatly,
"One price: one hundred Credits each. That is the average price of Fire-lick Rabbits in most star systems. If you brought them from the Zeno Star System, then with that place's financial system, one Fire-lick Rabbit probably costs less than five Credits, doesn't it?"
Upon hearing Bai Heng's words, the stall owner froze slightly, thinking, How did I run into an expert?
"Th-this... one hundred Credits each... Fine, two hundred Credits it is. I'll just make a little on the side." He sighed. Two hundred Credits was indeed a price he could accept.
But if he did not sell them, then once the two Fire-lick Rabbits really fell ill, he might not even make back ten Credits.
"Do you accept payment by Credits?" Bai Heng asked.
The stall owner forced out a smile and said,
"Yes, yes."
After the transaction was completed, Bai Heng took the two Fire-lick Rabbits out, intending to place both of them in Jingliu's arms.
At this moment, Jingliu removed the black veil covering her beautiful eyes and said,
"You... are pretty good at haggling."
Bai Heng did not answer her question immediately. Instead, he asked,
"Master Jingliu, isn't your black veil used to suppress the Mara-Struck? Is it really okay to take it off?"
Jingliu blinked her watery eyes and gently shook her head.
"Seeing things that remind me of people does make me more susceptible to the Mara's influence, but it will be fine if it is only for a little while."
Bai Heng stared into those gorgeous eyes, like deep roses, and said nothing more.
Instead, smiling, he gently placed the Fire-lick Rabbits in Jingliu's arms and said,
"Here, Master Jingliu. They're in your care now."
The two Fire-lick Rabbits could sense the coldness emanating from Jingliu, but given their constitution, this degree of cold was no issue for them.
On top of that, the crisp, sweet, cool fragrance clinging to Jingliu was not only enticing to people, but to rabbits as well.
So the two rabbits happily rubbed against Jingliu's smooth skin.
At first, Jingliu was still somewhat unaccustomed to it, occasionally sending Bai Heng pleading looks for help.
Bai Heng was more straightforward. He simply gave the Fire-lick Rabbits a hard smack on their little butts.
Gradually, the two Fire-lick Rabbits settled down. Jingliu looked at the adorable little creatures and often fed them the snacks they had bought along the way. There was none of her earlier cold indifference left.
Seeing this, Bai Heng suddenly regretted it.
Because Jingliu was holding the Fire-lick Rabbits, he could no longer hold her hand. Even his chance to feed her snacks had been stolen by the rabbits.
He had finally gotten an opportunity for a date, only for two rabbits to ruin it?
The more Bai Heng thought about it, the angrier he became. Just then, he and Jingliu happened to walk past a shop selling roasted braised rabbit.
Heh. Just what he needed—a place to vent his anger.
So he said to Jingliu,
"Master Jingliu, since we've already saved two rabbits, why don't we go in there and save another one?"
Holding the two Fire-lick Rabbits, Jingliu looked toward the roasted braised rabbit shop.
The two Fire-lick Rabbits also looked at the shopfront.
The Fire-lick Rabbits blinked their big eyes. "??"
Bread did not receive any gifts and cried and made a fuss, sob sob sob.
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