Huo Yuhao lowered his eyes and continued grilling the fish without looking at him. "I'm not strong. I only beat you by luck." His voice was as flat as a deep pool, but it made Xu Sanshi grit his teeth even harder.
Just then, Tang Ya bounced her way through to the front, the Blue Silver Grass ornament in her hair swaying gently with her movements. "Oh? Still not convinced, Xu Sanshi? You got beaten into that state, but you really do live up to your Black Tortoise Bloodline. You're tenacious and can really take a beating!"
Bei Bei pressed a hand to his forehead helplessly, then turned serious. "Why do you have to hang yourself from one tree? There's fragrant grass all the way to the horizon, so why pine for a single flower..."
"That's easy for you to say," Xu Sanshi interrupted rudely, his mood gloomy. "If you're so capable, find me someone better than Nannan and make me forget her!"
Bei Bei shrugged. "Then you'd better keep hanging there. But judging by how things stand, it's not looking good for you." He shot a meaningful glance at Huo Yuhao, who was grilling fish. Huo Yuhao, however, was focused on brushing seasoning onto the fish, as though the dispute around him had nothing to do with him.
The two of them seemed to have strayed a little from their original purpose and ended up comforting Xu Sanshi.
Tang Ya's eyes darted, and she suddenly clapped her hands and laughed. "Xu Sanshi, why don't you join our Tang Sect? With our Tang Sect Secret Arts and Tang Sect Hidden Weapons, you could get a lot stronger. Then you wouldn't be completely out of chances in the future. Maybe Jiang Nannan will even join us someday." She deliberately drew out the last words, and Xu Sanshi's pupils immediately contracted.
"R-really?" Xu Sanshi's voice trembled. After seeing the certainty in Tang Ya's eyes, he suddenly came to his senses. "All right! I'll join! As long as I can get stronger and make Nannan change her mind and come back to me..." His voice gradually faded, but in the night breeze, it coalesced into a burning obsession.
Elsewhere, Jiang Nannan held a freshly grilled fish, its rising steam blurring her reddened eyes. The moment the charred aroma, mingled with cumin, reached her nose, she gently took a bite.
Whether it was because the fish was truly so delicious or because it reminded her of her family, she was clearly a little overwhelmed by Huo Yuhao's kindness. She felt as though she were eating the most delicious thing in the world.
"Th-thank you, junior." Her voice was soft, and unshed tears still clung to her lashes. The next moment, she handed the grilled fish to her close friend beside her.
Her friends were also watching Jiang Nannan, eager to see the show.
Jiang Nannan walked slowly toward Huo Yuhao, and he saw her approaching. He didn't know what she wanted, but he stood up out of politeness.
"Junior Yuhao, could you put down the fish you're grilling for a moment?"
Jiang Nannan didn't know where she found the courage to call Huo Yuhao over to her. Huo Yuhao did put down the fish and walked over under everyone's gaze.
They were very close, almost face-to-face, though not quite that close.
Looking at the questioning expression in Huo Yuhao's eyes, Jiang Nannan couldn't help a little smile.
Just as Huo Yuhao was about to ask a question,
Jiang Nannan suddenly rose onto her tiptoes. (Huo Yuhao had grown quite a bit taller thanks to all his buffs, which made Jiang Nannan look somewhat delicate.) Amid the crowd's gasps, she gently planted a kiss, fragrant with grilled fish, on Huo Yuhao's cheek.
The evening breeze swept up her skirt and stirred wave after wave of screams from the crowd. In the distance, Xu Sanshi clenched his fists, the veins throbbing on them.
The instant Jiang Nannan's soft lips touched his cheek, the fan in Huo Yuhao's hand fell to the ground with a clatter. The charred aroma of grilled fish mingled with the magnolia scent of the girl's hair and washed over him, leaving his mind blank.
He froze on the spot, the tips of his ears reddening at a visible pace as countless question marks exploded in his mind. It wasn't that he was shy; the kiss had simply come so suddenly that it had stunned him. It was only two grilled fish. Did she have to use her first kiss as a token of thanks?
Although a kiss on the cheek didn't count as a first kiss, this development was far too outrageous! He instinctively touched the cheek she had kissed, thinking that he had to guard his first kiss in this life carefully. After all, he was still pure and innocent, and besides, he had to save his first kiss for Qiu'er.
"Thank you for the grilled fish, junior." Jiang Nannan's voice was sweet as honey, and her eyes were full of tenderness as they moved. "Consider that a token of thanks from your senior." With that, she turned like a startled fawn, her moon-white skirt sweeping over the flagstones. The clear chime of the silver bells in her hair gradually faded into the evening breeze.
Xu Sanshi, on the other hand, instantly went paler than he had when the Soul Fighting Arena's protective barrier shattered. His eyes widened, his eyeballs nearly bulging from their sockets, and a broken sob escaped his throat. "Nannan! No-" Just then, the melody of "A Spray of Plum Blossoms" seemed to drift down from the sky. The bustling night market seemed to have suddenly been muted, leaving only that mournful song echoing through the air.
"Though no snow fell from the sky, Xu Sanshi felt a chill shoot from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. He felt as though he had fallen into an ice cellar-so cold, so very cold. How could it be described? It was much like the scene when Yuan Hua heard Qiu Ya say, 'Don't contact me anymore. I'm afraid Xia Luo will misunderstand.'"
Seeing Xu Sanshi so utterly distraught, Tang Ya couldn't help laughing. "Oh my, is our senior Xu Sanshi about to cry?" As she teased him, she held out the handkerchief Bei Bei had given her, only to quietly pull it back when she caught his murderous glare.
Bei Bei patted Xu Sanshi's trembling shoulder and said gently, "There's fragrant grass all the way to the horizon, isn't there? This is just a little episode on the road of life. (To get through life, you've always got to wear a little green. Besides, you never won her over. At most, it was an open crush, and that hasn't even turned into a romance.)"
His words of comfort made Xu Sanshi's taut nerves snap. The man who had cut such an imposing figure in the Soul Fighting Arena now burst into tears like a child. Tears and snot dripped onto the front of his robes as he mumbled, "Bei Bei... my good brother... for life..."
The crowd gradually dispersed, and the commotion in front of the grilled-fish stall finally died down. Huo Yuhao crouched to pick up his fan, his gaze inadvertently passing over the footprints Xu Sanshi had left on the ground. He shook his head with a wry smile. Just then, a timid voice came from behind him. "H-Huo Yuhao?"
He turned to see Xiao Xiao standing beneath a streetlamp, night dew still clinging to the ends of her hair. The girl's eyes were bright, and the shocking scene just now had clearly left her emotions surging. "I... I want some grilled fish too..." Her voice grew quieter and quieter as her fingers nervously twisted the hem of her clothes. "Like senior Nannan's..."
Huo Yuhao couldn't help laughing and relit the grill. "Of course. But my grilled fish doesn't come with an extra 'special token of thanks.'" His teasing words instantly turned Xiao Xiao's face tomato red, but they also brought the unexpected disturbance gradually to a close amid the bustle of everyday life.
Within the Lotus Sea of Divine Soul, in Nezha's palace, a gentle rosy glow flowed over the gilded halls. The lotuses in the pond before the courtyard were in full bloom, their faint fragrance drifting through the air as wisps of cooking smoke rose beneath the glazed roof tiles.
Huo Yuhao placed the freshly grilled fish on a blue jade plate. Grease ran down the contours of the fish and into the charcoal ash, making a faint sizzle in the quiet.
Nezha reclined against an exquisitely carved bench, his white robe spilling casually onto the floor and leaving his bare feet exposed. He reached for a wine jar and tipped his head back to drink. Fine wine dripped down his chin, spreading dark stains across the front of his robe. "You still remembered your old ties and held back at every turn. With your strength, you could have killed that fellow outright, couldn't you?"
A faint smile curved Huo Yuhao's lips. Candlelight flickered in his eyes, tinting his silvery-white hair warm gold. "He's just a fool blinded by love, not some unforgivable villain." He gazed at the sea of clouds surging beyond the palace gates, his voice gradually growing lower. "I returned in this life to settle accounts with someone else. He isn't some mortal enemy of mine, so there was no need to kill him. I'm not someone who delights in killing, either."
Nezha burst out laughing, making even the luminous pearls hanging from the beams sway gently. He suddenly leaned forward, brushed his fingertips over the fish skewers on the grill, and picked out a few. "Spare me that talk of mercy! If your grilled fish weren't to my taste, I couldn't be bothered with your affairs!"
Huo Yuhao pushed a freshly filled luminous cup toward him, tiny ripples spreading across the fine wine. "Speaking of which, I still have to thank you for your generous help, Third Prince. That trick of turning the Red Armillary Sash into a Martial Soul fooled quite a few people." He recalled the fluttering streak of scarlet light in the Soul Fighting Arena, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the side of the cup. "Without it, this act would have been hard to pull off, and I'll have it to thank for my disguises in the future, too."
Nezha tipped his head back and drained the wine, then casually tossed the cup into the air. The jade cup traced a graceful arc and fell into the lotus pond, scattering silvery glints across the water. "It was only a scrap that broke off the Red Armillary Sash. That treasure can regenerate in the first place."
He raised an eyebrow slyly, a mischievous smile flashing in his eyes. "Consider it advance payment for a hundred years of grilled fish. Whenever I want some in the future, you'd better come running! Honestly, your real talent is as a cook. Sometimes even the delicacies of the Heavenly Court aren't as satisfying as this skewer of grilled fish."