Lan Zhan listened to Wei Ying.
"Let's do this to make it faster. Things that seem unrelated to fairies and possibly magic, they can be tossed right in." Wei Ying was saying. "Any possible candidate for what we're looking for, put it here." Wei Ying gestured vaguely behind him.
"What if we can't tell which it is?" Li XiWang wanted to know.
"Then ask someone." Wei Ying told her with a smile, picking up the first item closest to him.
Li XiWang did the same. In her hands, there was a tiny mirror and it had an odd shine. She grabbed a talisman paper and drew on it the characters for unenchanting something, one of the first types of talismans she learned about from her Father Wei.
It lit up with a pink glow and she could see herself all shiny and bright.
But that was about it.
She shook the mirror, waved it about, but there was no change. So it was tossed back into the chest and she did the same with the next item.
XiChen was busy leafing through an ancient tome. It seemed to be a book of spells but he was unable to read the language, in spite of his mastery of several dialects, including those featured in some of the manuscripts in the Forbidden room...but he was at a loss to make any sense of this.
"XiChen-Ge?" Wei Ying beamed at him. "That one can go straight back in." He jerked a thumb towards the chest.
"What is it, A-Xian?" He asked anyway, because he was curious. "Can you read it?" His tone was doubtful.
Wei Ying slapped an unbinding talisman on it and immediately the characters transformed into the familiar ones that XiChen could read.
"Wow." He muttered, glancing through.
"Wei Ying reads it without help." Lan Zhan told him, terribly proudly and with a smidgen of smugness.
"Er...just because it helps me to sort out my thoughts...nothing else..." Wei Ying laughed awkwardly, hoping it was the end of the conversation.
"So...when you're already stressed about something...you try and untangle that...for light relief?" XiChen asked him, incredulously.
"Wei Ying does not try. Wei Ying does." Lan Zhan corrected him.
Wei Ying's face was the colour of a cooked beetroot now.
"Here...why don't you check this out?" He discreetly swapped out something else for the book and quickly tossed it back into the chest.
Wei Ying picked up a crystal ball and absentmindedly placed it behind him.
Li XiWang watched it roll off the table and drift under their clothes drawers, but her attention was stolen by Rumi who held a dangerous looking fan.
"That's a weapon." She told him, proud that she actually knew what it was.
"What's this?" Hui Gai held up a teapot.
"Oh...that? That's just a clever invention...and I liked it. Lan Zhan bought it for me." Wei Ying said, smiling as Lan Zhan squeezed his knee.
"A teapot?" Hui Gai sniffed, unimpressed.
"Yep. That's a special kind of teapot...for serving tea among other things, when you're entertaining undesirable guests." Wei Ying showed him a button that could be pressed. "It contains two cannisters, one for tea and one for, I imagine, poison? So you can sneakily dispose of unwanted problems...I'm assuming." Wei Ying saw XiChen glancing at the other teapot, the one that he and Lan Zhan usually used for when he came around.
He giggled helplessly.
"Don't worry, XiChen-Ge, I don't use that one. I only expressed an interest in the mechanism on how it worked, and my rich husband over here, decided to indulge me."
Lan Zhan kissed the top of his head fondly.
"Wei Ying must be indulged. Wei Ying is loved."
Wei Ying was wondering if was embarrass-a-husband day today.
His face may as well stay red from the amount of times it had flushed.
They were all having a grand time though.
There was so much to look at and explore that the time passed very quickly.
There were exquisite crystal glasses that once filled, would keep refilling no matter how much was drunk out of them. There were toothbrushes that had a never-ending supply of toothpaste, board games that actually cursed or blessed depending on the luck of the individual. There were magic bowls that filled with whatever food was most desired, magical wands which Wei Ying had already rendered frozen and unable to do any damage.
There was an assortment of puzzle boxes, and Li XiWang was having fun solving them with Rumi. They made a great team, working together, though the downside was that most of the boxes were empty.
Strange figurines fighting dragons, warriors holding their weapons aloft, praying maidens and sleeping folk.
Then Zago, who had all the enthusiasm of a dead snake, opened the catch on a dark, smaller chest.
Instantly, the whole room became darker, as if the sun wasn't shining outside.
It became so dark inside that no one could see each other even, until Wei Ying felt around for the lid and slammed that chest closed.
The darkness vanished immediately, and the last whispers of it sank into the keyhole. Wei Ying rummaged around for a padlock and then he fastened it closed.
Everyone was staring at him with cow eyes.
"Er...let's carry on...shall we?" He beamed uncomfortably and did as he himself suggested.
They took a break for lunchtime and then finally they had a chance to look around.
"We haven't even gone through half yet!" Li Xiwang sighed dramatically and collapsed on the floor.
Rumi copied her.
"Isn't there some kind of spell or talisman you can cast that will make this all easier?" Hui Gai said, gesturing at the terribly messy room.
He had never seen the room look so filthy before, but then Lan Zhan did not look the least bit upset.
"I wish someone would automatically separate all these into what's useful and what's not!" Zago muttered, lying down next to Li XiWang and giving her a fist bump.
And then, the most extraordinary thing happened.
YOU ARE READING
WangXian Forever Book 9: The Flower Demon
RomanceThings have settled down for our favourite couple and they're just getting used to living in the domestic bliss that Wei Ying always dreamed of. However, there is still the question of Jiang Cheng and his mysterious curse, the JingLing that can't re...
