Faraway Wanderers

Chapter 15. Tavern

“Master, how are you so sure that once a person wears a disguise, it has to be uglier than how they normally are?” Gu Xiang asked.

Wen Kexing drawled, “No matter how ugly or beautiful people look, the features they were born with have a harmonious quality to them. Once tweakings are made, it’s impossible to not slip and make a mistake; and if you make yourself to be more beautiful, there will be more eyes on you, thus exposing those mistakes even more easily, understand?”

The three of them were walking on the main road that was full of people in the middle of noon. Zhou Zishu maintained his energy well by staying mute during the other two’s conversation and ignoring Wen Kexing’s occasional secret looks thrown his way; but at those words, he couldn’t help his surprise. This man sure knows a lot, he glanced at Wen Kexing and thought.

Being the center of attention gave a boost to Wen Kexing’ ego as he continued to ramble on. “The art of disguise is vast with varying methods. Some paint over their face – this method requires fastidiousness as the smallest inconsistency will out them. Some craft a human skin-like mask; this one is way more effective and harder to detect if the disguiser is good at his job.” He spared a quick look at Zhou Zishu at that.

Gu Xiang immediately applied what she had been taught by feeling Zhou Zishu’s face with her fingers. Her hands were soft, and around her sleeves was a refreshing fragrant that could only belong to a young maiden. Zhou Zishu made no attempt to dodge; instead he only laughed and let her do what she wanted. No one knew who was taking advantage of who at this point.

He asked softly and patiently after a while, “Have you found anything?”

Gu Xiang’s expression was full of doubt, she looked back to Wen Kexing skeptically, “Master, I still feel like it’s real…”

Wen Kexing replied, “Of course he won’t wear a human skin mask, that thing leaves no room for the skin under to breathe. He would have to remove it after a certain amount of time, which is why I’m sticking to him, to see if he will do it.”

There was idolization on Gu Xiang’s face. “So you wasted this much time fooling around just because you want an answer to that.”

Wen Kexing pointed at Zhou Zishu, “If he is a beauty, I’m definitely not wasting anything.”

After mulling things over, Zhou Zishu decided he could stay silent no longer. “Since when was I fooling around with you?”

Wen Kexing answered unhurriedly, “Not now, but you definitely will in the future.”

Then he also reached out to touch Zhou Zishu’s face. “That time when I touched the skin on your shoulder, the feeling was different…”

Zhou Zishu batted his hand away as he stepped back. Wen Kexing raised his brows in discontent, pointing at Gu Xiang, “How can she touch you but I can’t?”

Zhou Zishu casually fixed his torn sleeves. “If you can look like her, I’m willing to strip off everything so you can touch however much you like.”

Gu Xiang once thought Zhou Zishu was a poor beggar who was too unfortunate to have run into her Master and even sympathized with him; but after that reply she realized they were just birds of a same damn feather, no wonder they flocked together.