CHAPTER 49: CHAPTER 48: YOU’RE A PAWN

July 20, Saturday.

At eight in the morning, Zhou Li had just woken up.

His daily routine seemed to be aligning more with Brother Nan’s.

Lately, Brother Nan had mentioned that she would sleep until eight or nine in the morning, then stay wrapped in her blanket on the bed for an hour, have breakfast, and then cycle to her second uncle’s construction site to work. According to her, even though she arrived late, she worked hard enough to complete two days’ work in one.

Zhou Li, for his part, didn’t linger in bed with his blanket.

He was playing on his phone, lurking and watching others chat.

He and Brother Nan had joined the freshmen group nearly a month ago, making them some of the first freshmen to join.

Zhou Li had said no more than five sentences in the group, while Brother Nan had already successfully established an image of a tall, robust, cheerful, and assertive boy in everyone’s mind.

Some even suggested that if they ended up in the same class, they should just make Brother Nan the class leader to save them the trouble of choosing.

Brother Nan, of course, was unwilling.

She had never been a class leader—she had always been the sports representative!

Suddenly, Zhou Li received a message on WeChat—

Hong Ran: [Link]

Hong Ran: [Link]

Hong Ran: "Brother, quickly look and tell me which of these two dresses looks better? The latter one comes in two colors."

Zhou Li: "I can’t choose."

Hong Ran: "Just take a look."

When Zhou Li opened the two links, as expected, they were not ordinary dresses but a type he didn’t recognize: horse-face skirts.

"Dragon phoenix brocade woven lamé skirt..."

"Insect four seasons flower brocade woven lamé skirt..."

Zhou Li found that just fluently pronouncing the names was challenge enough for him, so he stood up and knocked on the upper bunk. "Come take a look, which of these two skirts do you think looks better?"

Huai Xu poked his head out. "You’re buying a skirt?"

"I don’t wear them."

"Is it for me then?"

"Can’t afford it, can’t afford it. Just helping Sister Hong choose." Zhou Li handed him the phone.

"Oh."

Huai Xu took the phone.

His astonishment came quickly. "These are too expensive!"

In less than two minutes, Huai Xu threw the phone back at him. "The first one is more formal, like something a married matriarch would wear. The second one is younger, for a young girl. Wow! One skirt costs as much as your monthly salary. Can you imagine how much her entire outfit costs?"

"Which one looks better?"

"Well, she asked you, so just say which one you like best," Huai Xu said, then added, "What if I save up and buy a whole outfit? I’ll turn into a girl."

"You’d need to save for a year."

Zhou Li felt like asking him was pointless, so he told Hong Ran the second one was better, because she was young.

Hong Ran seemed quite pleased.

Then she sent a voice message: "By the way, I’ve sent Huai Xu’s things over. They should arrive today. I’ve been busy the past few days and forgot about them."

Zhou Li replied, "He’s mentioned it a few times already."

「In the afternoon」

While watching a drama, Huai Xu suddenly sensed something. He paused his phone and looked out the window, then at Zhou Li.

"Look!"

"What?"

Zhou Li followed where he was pointing and saw a large bird circling the neighboring residential complex. It occasionally dived, finally hovering in front of a building at roughly their height.

Huai Xu said to Zhou Li, "Could that be the delivery for us? Did it take a wrong turn?"

Zhou Li frowned. "Possibly."

Huai Xu turned off his phone screen. "I’ll go check."

Moments later, they arrived at the rooftop terrace, the sun scorching their skin. The large bird was perched on the railing, its claws gripping it. It hesitated to land because the area was covered with things the residents were air-drying and small plantings of spring onions and garlic shoots.

"My apologies, I’m not too familiar with the route."

"No worries."

"These are the items Lord Hong Ran asked me to deliver. Please take a look." After speaking, the large bird spat out a beam of light, which transformed into several items upon hitting the ground.

"Thank you, you’ve gone to a lot of trouble."

"You’re welcome."

After the large bird flew away, Zhou Li and Huai Xu stared at the items on the ground.

Two identical short swords.

A jade pendant.

A hairpin.

A wooden plaque.

Zhou Li looked at Huai Xu beside him and saw him staring intently at the items. Then, Huai Xu reached out, and the two short swords transformed into green light, flying into his hand.

Judging by their material, the daggers seemed somewhat transparent.

In the blink of an eye, the daggers disappeared.

Zhou Li was stunned, then turned his gaze to the other items.

But it seemed only the two daggers were so extraordinary, as he saw Huai Xu walk over, bend down, and pick up the remaining three items for a closer look.

The jade pendant was a small round disc with mediocre craftsmanship and common material, apparently not worth much.

Both the hairpin and the plaque were made of wood, surprisingly unrotted.

There were characters carved on the wooden plaque—

"Pingding Army, Jia Si."

"Jia Si..."

Huai Xu read it aloud, then became even more puzzled.

He thought for a long time but couldn’t make sense of it. Then he turned to Zhou Li and said, "Can you look up what this Pingding Army is? Which dynasty is it from?"

"This is clerical script. It looks like Han clerical."

"You look it up for me."

"No need."

Zhou Li had already pulled out his phone, opened WeChat, and pressed the voice message button. "Sister Hong, do you know what the Pingding Army is?"

Hong Ran replied quickly.

Zhou Li turned the volume to maximum to play the message. "It was a special military force in the ancient human kingdoms, specifically responsible for fighting Demons. There were three such armies in total. The other two were large forces, while this one was the smallest but consisted of elites. It was mainly responsible for special operations like decapitation strikes, reconnaissance, and assassinations. Haven’t you noticed? Your friend is very suited for this kind of work."

Zhou Li glanced at Huai Xu.

Huai Xu stared blankly.

Zhou Li continued to ask, "Then why does Huai Xu have this item? Did he ever serve humans?"

Hong Ran replied, "Silly boy, he *is* human. He just transformed into a Demon using a very special method. But that was a long time ago; he’s been a Demon for many years now."

Zhou Li was astonished. "There’s such a method!"

Hong Ran replied, "I’m not sure of the details."

Zhou Li sent a "Thank you."

Then, he looked at Huai Xu again. "So you used to be human, not a Great Devil King!"

Huai Xu also nodded. "So, I used to be human!"

"Let’s talk downstairs. It’s too sunny up here."

"Okay."

Huai Xu carried all the items and followed Zhou Li downstairs. He was still a bit dazed, muttering "Jia Si, Jia Si" under his breath.

Upon opening the door, Zhu Shuang, who had finished her exam, was leisurely sitting in the living room eating ice cream. Seeing him, she asked, "Bro, do you want some ice cream?"

"No."

Zhou Li returned to his bedroom.

He searched all afternoon and found information only on a Pingding Army from the Song Dynasty, nothing matching Hong Ran’s description.

Huai Xu sat next to him the whole time, silently staring at his computer screen.

Zhou Li turned his head and tried to lighten the mood. "So you actually have a gender, right? You couldn’t possibly have been both male and female when you were still human, could you?"

Huai Xu didn’t make a sound. He lifted the jade pendant, inspecting it against the light.

He would occasionally stroke his wooden plaque.

Or he’d take his hairpin and twirl it like a pen, unconsciously, yet with great skill.

Zhou Li guessed he was struggling to accept the fact that he was originally human. Unsure how to comfort him, Zhou Li could only bring him a bowl of snacks and let him process it slowly.

「Today」

Liu Xuehan’s short holiday ended, and Zhou Li had to resume tutoring her, the duration of which had increased slightly.

Luo Yuhang’s sessions hadn’t increased in length, but Zhou Li had found another student. Piecing them together, he still had a significant number of classes each week.

But on his first day back at Liu Xuehan’s house, he noticed the girl seemed very down, her eyes red and swollen.

"Teacher Zhou, Tuanzi ran away!"

"What happened?"

"It ran away."

"How did it run away?"

"From the main door... it opened the door itself..." The girl had developed a deep affection for Tuanzi. She had never imagined the usually well-behaved Tuanzi would run away. "I treated her so well!"

"When did it run off?"

"The day before yesterday."

"It’s been two days, huh? Have you gone out to look for it? Tuanzi is so quiet, it couldn’t have gone far, right?"

"I’ve looked everywhere—all over the complex, every street and alley," the girl said, very distressed. "And it’s not fierce at all. What if it’s bullied by other stray cats outside?"

"It probably has its own ways of surviving, right?"

"I still can’t bear it. The thought of it snuggling in someone else’s arms makes me miserable."

"My condolences."