Who is Two Flower?

Jiang Beishan was awakened by a chicken wing. He opened his eyes and saw a proud, strutting cuckoo hen standing at the head of his bed. Confused, he rubbed his eyes. Hadn’t he locked all the chickens up properly yesterday? How did one get out?

He carried the chicken outside and discovered that everyone in the entire sect had slept in, including Yun Ruo, who usually liked to wake up early. Big Yellow was used to being taken out for a walk every day, but today, he couldn’t find anyone, so he was lying listlessly outside Ji Yueci’s and Yun Ruo’s door, licking his paws.

It wasn’t until the sun was high in the sky that Jiang Beishan limped and finished making breakfast, and the others gradually got up.

Lin Wang came over, yawning, sat down at the table, and poured himself a cup of tea to wake up. Seeing Jiang Beishan about to call Bai Liye for food, he stopped him, “No need to call him. The light was still on in his room when it was almost dawn. He’s probably making something. Let him sleep.”

Jiang Beishan asked strangely, “How do you know, Senior Brother?”

Lin Wang clicked his tongue. “Don’t even mention it. I was looking for Two-Flower all night and couldn’t find it. I only went to sleep this morning.”

“Who is Two-Flower?”

Lin Wang looked at him. “You don’t know?”

Jiang Beishan looked back, his puppy-dog eyes filled with a desire for knowledge. “Is it someone I know?”

Lin Wang then realized that no wonder Jiang Beishan called Big Yellow and the three geese, but never called the chickens by name. It turned out that the string of fancy names like Fatty, Dun Dun, Little, Big Flower, Two-Flower, etc., were secretly given to the chickens by Ji Yueci herself.

‘Interesting. This is really too interesting.’

“Your Yueci-jie knows. You can ask her later.” Lin Wang, remembering how Bai Liye and he were turned upside down last night, decided to let Jiang Beishan also experience the hardships of life.

Yun Ruo slept very well, and when she woke up, she felt refreshed. She marveled at how good Ji Yueci’s wine was—delicious and conducive to sleep.

Ji Yueci was already awake, sitting by the window, writing and drawing. Yun Ruo called her twice, but she didn’t hear, so she had to go over to see what she was doing.

She saw that the paper in front of her was covered with random patterns drawn with a brush, and she would occasionally stop to write a few words.

Yun Ruo struggled to recognize that they were two repeated words: “Kill mouth.”

“Kill whose mouth?” Yun Ruo asked.

Ji Yueci turned her head sharply to look at her, her eyes filled with murderous intent.

“Let’s bury Lin Wang and Bai Liye together, bury them deep. Can you dig a pit?”

“I think… I can,” Yun Ruo said, “But why? What did they do?”

Ji Yueci: “?”

Yun Ruo: “?” “Don’t you remember?”

Yun Ruo: “Remember what?”

The two looked at each other. A trace of envy slowly emerged in Ji Yueci’s eyes as she looked at Yun Ruo. “…Is your alcohol tolerance very low?”

Yun Ruo was a little embarrassed. “Yeah.” She had a blackout.

Jiang Beishan came to knock on the door, calling them out for food.

Ji Yueci opened the window. “Did that one and that one wake up?”

“Who?” Jiang Beishan hopped over on one foot. “Yueci-jie, who is Two-Flower?”

Ji Yueci paused as she opened the window, turned her head to look at him with a blank expression. “Who is Two-Flower?”

Jiang Beishan still didn’t know that he was a snack that Lin Wang had sent over. He was very innocent and pure. “Ah? Senior Brother Lin Wang said you knew her and told me to ask you.”

Ji Yueci’s mind flashed back to last night when she took Yun Ruo to the chicken coop to introduce her to each chicken’s name, teaching her how to distinguish them. She insisted on making Two-Flower respond to Yun Ruo’s call, but she didn’t hold the chicken steady, and it ran away. They searched the entire courtyard and couldn’t find it, so she called out Bai Liye. She even climbed a tree with Yun Ruo and almost fell, eventually making a scene in Lin Wang’s room. She hid behind the cabinet and refused to come out, insisting that she was a mushroom…

She remembered every embarrassing detail clearly.

And Yun Ruo not only didn’t remember anything, but she was also looking at her with Jiang Beishan, waiting for her to tell them who Two-Flower was.

The only thought in Ji Yueci’s mind was: ‘Let’s just kill them all.’

After that day, Ji Yueci never stepped out of the house again. Yun Ruo still delivered the meals. She would occasionally open a window to bask in the sun, but most of the time, she stayed by the table in front of the window, tinkering with her winemaking equipment.

Afterward, she wrote several notes to Bai Liye and Lin Wang, asking Bai Liye to help her make new wine cups and utensils. The patterns and tools she drew were very complex. She asked Lin Wang for many medicinal herbs and spiritual plants, which had to be fresh and picked on the same day, as if she wouldn’t stop until she exhausted them both to death.

Lin Wang begged and pleaded outside Ji Yueci’s window for half an hour. Relying on his experience as a profiteer, he successfully negotiated the herbs he needed to twice the original amount.

Lin Wang: “…” From today on, he would change his name to Despair.

He knew he shouldn’t have asked Jiang Beishan to do something so foolish that day.

Lin Wang had no choice but to go to his diligent junior brother. “Good Beishan, about the medicinal herbs…”

Jiang Beishan looked at his leg with great annoyance. “Senior Brother, I really want to help, but my leg is letting me down. It’s not fully recovered yet.”

Bai Liye couldn’t stand it anymore. “Go find them yourself. Don’t torment Beishan.”

Lin Wang looked at him gloomily. “Is that wine pot that can keep the wine at a constant temperature, the one she specifically asked for, ready?”

Bai Liye was unafraid. “It can be completed tonight.”

Lin Wang was depressed for a while, then thought of a good idea. “Then can you make me a magic tool that can find medicinal herbs? Like a map, it can directly tell me where they are, so it’s much easier for me to find them.”

“Dreaming is faster.” Bai Liye bluntly punctured his dream.

Yun Ruo volunteered. “I’ll go find them. Do I have to go far?”

“No need!” Lin Wang’s eyes lit up. “There are plenty in the mountain streams towards Sunny Peak. Good Yun Ruo, I didn’t pamper you for nothing. You are really a Bodhisattva, kind-hearted and beautiful!”

“Ew.” Yun Ruo shuddered her shoulders in disgust. “Talk properly, or I’ll leave.”

“Don’t, don’t, don’t.” Lin Wang handed the note that Ji Yueci gave him to Yun Ruo.

“Just these. Can you recognize them?”

“No.” She had hardly even heard of the names of these herbs.

“What should I do then?” Lin Wang was helpless. “I can’t draw either. Should I describe them to you? For example, this Fiery Cloud Poisonous Plant, it’s actually not poisonous, it’s just too colorful. As for what it looks like… it looks like a Fiery Cloud Poisonous Plant.”

Yun Ruo: “…”

Yun Ruo looked at Bai Liye.

Bai Liye sighed. “It’s useless to look at me. I don’t recognize many medicinal herbs either. Go find Yueci.”

Lin Wang’s description was equal to no description—utterly useless. Bai Liye couldn’t help either, so Yun Ruo had no choice but to take the note to Ji Yueci and ask her to explain it to her. Ji Yueci cursed Lin Wang and was about to rush out to punish him on the spot, but Yun Ruo stopped her.

Ji Yueci said angrily, “Don’t be too nice to him! Today, he dares to ask you to help him find herbs, and tomorrow he will dare to ask you to test poison for him!”

Lin Wang shouted outside the window, “Injustice! Ji Yueci, don’t describe me like a monster to scare Yun Ruo! Am I that inhumane?”

Ji Yueci couldn’t bear it any longer. She grabbed her long, hard wine scoop and went out to beat Lin Wang until he howled. Jiang Beishan limped and tried to persuade them, weak and helpless. Yun Ruo also wanted to help, but Bai Liye said no need. “Lin Wang is doing it on purpose. He’s worried that Yueci will be like before, shutting herself in her room, silent and ignoring everyone. If she comes out to hit someone, she should be fine. Otherwise, with Yueci’s current cultivation level, it’s not easy to hit him.”

After Ji Yueci finished beating Lin Wang, she returned to her room, closing the door and windows, not allowing anyone to disturb her. It wasn’t until Yun Ruo returned to her room in the evening that she took a stack of paper and handed it to Yun Ruo.

Yun Ruo took it and looked at it. Each piece of paper had a drawing of a medicinal herb. Although the drawings were casual, the characteristics were obvious and the appearance was vivid. There were many notes written next to them, all of which were the characteristics of the herbs and precautions for picking them.

“When you help Lin Wang, remember to ask him for a reward.” Ji Yueci reminded Yun Ruo. “Don’t let him off cheap.”

“It’s okay, it’s just a small favor,” Yun Ruo said. “I also took the opportunity to learn something myself.”

“No.” Ji Yueci approached her. “You must. I just don’t like you always forcing yourself to be sensible. What’s wrong with being a little willful?”

Yun Ruo was stunned.

Seeing her stunned, Ji Yueci suddenly changed her mind again. “Forget it. There’s nothing good with Lin Wang anyway. These herbs are ultimately for my use. You’re helping me. What reward do you want? Just say it. We’re friends, aren’t we? You can ask me for anything.”

The two were one sitting and one standing. Yun Ruo looked up slightly, and Ji Yueci lowered her eyes to look at her. The anger was very shallow, floating on the surface, not reaching her eyes.

Yun Ruo thought for a long time but couldn’t think of anything to ask her for.

Ji Yueci pointed to the little chicken ornament on her table, her brow furrowing. “I heard Beishan say that this was made for you by Ah Ye. You helped him, and he asked you what you wanted, and you asked for this little chicken. You even asked him for something, why don’t you ask me for anything?”

Yun Ruo really wanted to correct her that this little chicken wasn’t something she asked for either. Bai Liye just inexplicably thought she liked chickens and gave it to her.

But she couldn’t say it. Listening to Ji Yueci’s words, she only felt warmth in her heart.

This was the first time someone had told her that they didn’t like her being sensible and accommodating, but instead wanted her to be a little willful.

“Then, I want a pot of delicious wine,” Yun Ruo said.

“My wine is all delicious.” Ji Yueci raised her eyebrows. “With your small capacity, I’ll brew you a pot of light flower wine. What flavor do you want?”

“Anything is fine…” Yun Ruo said halfway, then changed her mind. “Osmanthus. I like osmanthus.”

“No problem.” Ji Yueci acted as if that was more like it.

Yun Ruo pinched the paper and began to identify various spiritual herbs and branches. Ji Yueci walked to the window and opened it, looking down at the person squatting under the window sill, eavesdropping. “Did you hear that? Next time you go down the mountain, buy osmanthus flowers.”

Lin Wang stood up as if nothing had happened. “Oh, osmanthus flowers, right? Okay. Hey, I dropped something. I’m looking for something, Jiang Beishan. Have you found it yet?”

Jiang Beishan’s face wasn’t as thick as Lin Wang’s. He was embarrassed and didn’t dare to stand up. Hearing this, he immediately understood the excuse Lin Wang was giving him and exaggeratedly pulled a weed from the ground and held it in his hand with surprise. “Found it, Senior Brother!”

“Let’s go, let’s go.” Lin Wang carried Jiang Beishan on his shoulders, and the two hurriedly slipped away.

“Aren’t you leaving?” Ji Yueci asked Bai Liye, who was leaning against the window sill.

Bai Liye turned his head and glanced through the open window. Yun Ruo was sitting at the table, looking down and studying the herbal drawings, not paying attention to the movements here. He withdrew his gaze. “Your straightforward personality is impolite no matter who you talk to.”

“Have I ever been any different?” Ji Yueci paused. “Ah Ye, you’re willing to help Yun Ruo get a recommendation letter. Do you think she’s…”

“Don’t overthink it.” Bai Liye interrupted her. “It’s you who made friends so quickly. Aren’t you afraid that, like before, after they know about your affairs, they’ll fall out with you again?”

Ji Yueci was silent for a while, then said lightly, “I’ll worry about the future later. I think I’m fine like this now. You should worry about the promises you made. Master doesn’t like dealing with the Academy, and last year there was another incident because of me. If he doesn’t write a recommendation letter for Yun Ruo, I wonder what you’ll do.”

She said it lightly, but the sound of closing the window was loud, causing several birds on the tree by the window to be startled and fly away.

Bai Liye touched his nose and sighed.

‘This is really a problem.’