Even after receiving Bai Luochu’s gratitude, Pei Rumo wasn’t able to cheer himself up. In the end, she was still treating him as an outsider. Pei Rumo sighed but he didn’t harp on it. Now that she was able to speak to him on such friendly terms, it was a sign that their relationship had improved by leaps and bounds. At least they were friends now…
Bai Luochu finished the food in her bowl and was so stuffed she couldn’t move. She felt that Pei Rumo gave her more than half the food on the table. Even though her movement was restricted due to her vision, she didn’t feel like sleeping. She sent Pei Rumo out to fetch some items for her.
“Can Your First Highness do me a favor?” Bai Luochu tested the waters.
Pei Rumo, who was about to return the food boxes, turned around and he said, “Speak your mind. I’ll help you as long as it’s within my abilities.
Bai Luochu didn’t stand on ceremony. She directly listed out the things she needed, “Can Your First Highness please look for some medicinal herbs before helping me to arrange an array?”
Pei Rumo quickly fetched a sheet of paper and he brought along a brush and ink. When he got everything ready, he said, “Tell me everything you need. I will make a list in case I miss out anything.”
Bai Luochu snickered. She slowly listed out the items she wanted one by one and Pei Rumo noted them down on his list. After she was done, he repeated it to her and asked, “That’s all?” The herbs Bai Luochu requested for were ordinary ones and they wouldn’t be hard to find even in the Desolate Region. Of course, if they were in the capital city, Pei Rumo merely had to raise a finger before gathering all of them. He didn’t understand what Bai Luochu wanted to do with these herbs.
She nodded her head and explained herself, “These are ordinary herbs. It won’t be difficult for you to gather them and I have my uses for them. If I ask you to look for precious medicinal herbs, I will be wasting your time and energy. Moreover, you won’t be able to distinguish between them. If someone scammed you with random herbs, money would be the least of our problems. The array I’m about to set up will be greatly affected and that won’t be good. As such, these ordinary herbs are enough,”
Pei Rumo contemplated for a moment and felt that she made sense. He wasn’t knowledgeable when it came to medicinal herbs and he merely learned the basics when it came to differentiating between poisonous herbs. Moreover, he learned it because he had to avoid getting poisoned when out on military campaigns. Pei Rumo wanted to help Bai Luochu to her bed before going off to look for the herbs, but he was stopped by her.
“It’s just going to the bed. I can find my way. I won’t be hurt if I fall anyway thanks to your elaborate set up. Just go.”
Bai Luochu pulled her arm away and she slowly groped around to find her way back to the bed.
After Bai Luochu returned to her bed, Pei Rumo heaved a sigh of relief. “I’ll go look for the herbs now. If you need anything, call for the servant girl.”
Bai Luochu nodded and she promised him. Pei Rumo finally left the room and he met Ying Lan when he arrived in the main hall. Seeing that Pei Rumo wanted to venture out so late into the night, Ying Lan became a little suspicious. “It’s so late… where are you going?”
Pei Rumo turned his head to look at this man who treated him like an enemy and felt that something was off. He never took the initiative to speak to me… “I’m going to look for some herbs. Could it be that I can’t buy herbs after night falls in the Desolate Region?”
Ying Lan’s brows jumped. He didn’t dare to believe what he was seeing. “That’s not likely. However, there are very little people moving about in the dark. You’re not familiar with the area and it won’t be good if you lose your way. I’ll bring you around.”
Ying Lan felt a crushing weight pressing down on him before the words fully left his mouth. Even if he used his toes to think, he would be able to realize that Pei Rumo was the person stopping him from moving. It was too bad for Pei Rumo that Ying Lan’s strength wasn’t something he could hope to suppress. The crushing weight dissipated in an instant.
Pei Rumo realized that he wasn’t able to do anything to the mysterious man in front of him and question marks formed in his mind. What kind of innkeeper is so strong?!
“If you’re not busy, please bring me around.” Pei Rumo turned and left the inn. Ying Lan stood up and ran after him.
In fact, Ying Lan didn’t care if Pei Rumo rejected his ‘goodwill’ after all, with his abilities, he would be able to follow behind Pei Rumo without him noticing. If a secret guard like him wasn’t able to hide from someone like Pei Rumo, there would be no chance to protect his mistress from stronger adversaries from the sects. Since Pei Rumo agreed to bring him along, he didn’t need to waste his efforts to follow him in the dark.
As they left the inn to look for the medicinal herbs, their journey couldn’t be said to be smooth. With the two of them suspecting the other party, none of them could shop in peace.
Compared to the tense atmosphere between Ying Lan and Pei Rumo, Bai Luochu was experiencing unprecedented freedom as there was no one to pester her. She was so bored that she started to cultivate. They had been messing around in the Desolate Region for quite some time now and other than scouting the area in the day and making reports at night, Bai Luochu wasn’t able to look for time to do anything else. Now that she would take seven days to recover, she decided to make full use of it as it was a gift sent by the gods. She would use the seven days to improve her cultivation.
The moment she immersed herself in cultivation, Bai Luochu realized the oddity in the Desolate Region.