Today is the sixth day of the lunar month.
It's good to take a bath.
Avoid traveling and cooking.
Zhou Li couldn't take a bath. He had traveled quite a distance and even lit a fire where he shouldn't have, roasting a sweet potato from Little Zheng.
Luckily, it would soon be the seventh day.
Zhou Li flattened the back seat of the car and spread out the bedding. It turned into a small bed, completely long enough for one person to lie down and quite spacious—actually a bit more so than the bunk beds at school. He would sleep in the car tonight and return by the sa route early tomorrow morning, hoping not to be discovered.
Huai Xu was nowhere to be found.
Only Zhou Li and Tuanzi were left in the car.
WHIRR...
The sunroof opened slowly.
Tuanzi looked up curiously at the sunroof. She saw the sickle-shaped moon and the stars scattered across the sky, and her bright eyes reflected the stars as well.
"Zhou Ni, look, look! Moon brew!"
"Hmm."
"And there are so many stars too!"
"Yeah."
"Are we sleeping in the car tonight, ow?"
"Yes."
"Sleeping in a car can make you feel dizzy..."
"If it's not moving, you won't feel dizzy," Zhou Li touched Tuanzi's forehead. "Besides, this car is better than ours. We've traveled so far and Lord Dumpling didn't even get carsick, right?"
"That's because Lord Dumpling has beco more powerful!" Tuanzi said proudly, lifting her chin.
"I see."
"Being dizzy is just right for sleeping, isn't it?" Huai Xu's voice ca from outside the car. "It's better that way; you'll be quiet and not make a fuss in the middle of the night. There are plenty of fierce demons around here, and snakes too. Be careful, or so demon might co and snatch you away at midnight, or a snake might slither in and bite you."
"Tuanzi, Lord Dumpling is not afraid!"
"You're back?"
"I'm back."
Huai Xu opened the door to the passenger seat and sat down, gazing straight ahead.
Zhou Li had already lain down and wrapped himself in the blanket. It was very thick and offered him so warmth. Then, he looked up with so effort towards Huai Xu sitting in the front and asked, "Where did you go?"
"I went to look for the place where I fought with that demon back then. While I was at it, I paid a visit to the local snake head here."
"Did you find it?"
"I did."
"Is it still there?"
"There's a big pit that has now beco a small pit. Back then, I also smashed a lot of those duck egg stones that you all treasure now, and they are even more ruined," Huai Xu said calmly. "Then I looked for the demons that live here now. None of them recognized ; they all moved here afterwards. Incidentally, I cleaned up two of them."
"I see..."
"Do you feel cold sleeping?"
"A little."
"Why keep the sunroof open?"
"To watch the stars."
"Even if it's closed, you can still see them. It's glass; you just need to open this curtain."
"There's a film on top. If you look through the glass, you won't be able to see many of the dimr stars." Zhou Li felt that this was a downside. It should be left unfild, or at least use a very high-transparency film.
"Then go to sleep. I'll close it for you after you fall asleep."
"Aren't you sleeping?"
"I don't really feel like sleeping."
"Are you thinking about the past?"
"You ask as many questions now as I used to."
"..."
Zhou Li remained silent for a while, staring at the stars in the sky with open eyes, listening to the wind, and feeling that he might not be able to sleep either.
Only Tuanzi's voice was heard in the car—she was asking Huai Xu curiously about the demons he had just gone to find, what he had said, and what he had done. But Huai Xu wasn't like Zhou Li; he didn't enjoy chatting childishly with her. So Tuanzi quickly ran back to Zhou Li's side, huffing, and burrowed into the blankets without making a sound.
"What did you used to do?" Zhou Li asked quietly.
"Why do you ask?" Huai Xu responded quickly.
"Just asking," Zhou Li said.
"When I was young, I wandered around looking for food, then fought and killed, then studied with my teacher, then wandered around, looking for food," Huai Xu said casually. "I once stole food from the Imperial Kitchen. As a demon, basically no human could beat , let alone capture ."
"Was the food from the Imperial Kitchen delicious?"
"So was delicious; so was not."
"Why would it not be delicious?"
"In so dynasties, the food from the Imperial Kitchen was made to be eaten, and it was very delicious. In others, it was made to be looked at, and it wasn't tasty," Huai Xu said, pausing for a mont. "The kind made for display was for when the Emperor held etings. They'd set out a grand table for everyone, ant to showcase the Emperor's magnificence.
"The officials wouldn't eat it, and neither would the Emperor. It was all for show because it wasn't actually good. When the Emperor truly wanted to eat, he'd go to a favored concubine or the Empress for a specially prepared al. That was the delicious food."
"Why wasn't it delicious?" Zhou Li still didn't understand.
"Because the Emperor's al tis were unpredictable," Huai Xu explained. "Once he ordered sothing, the dishes had to be served quickly and still be hot. So, the Imperial Kitchen would prepare everything in advance and keep it warm on stoves.
"As a result, many dishes would be overcooked or mushy by the ti they were served. They looked sumptuous, sure, but they tasted awful. Eventually, the chefs realized no one actually ate the food, so they stopped putting in much effort."
"I see..."
Zhou Li felt like he had learned sothing new again.
At that mont, Tuanzi suddenly poked her little head out from under the covers, pouting, and said, "Lord Dumpling will rember you! You don't talk to Lord Dumpling, but you talk to Zhou Ni!"
Huai Xu rolled his eyes.
The night deepened, and Zhou Li fell asleep too.
The wind in Devil City was indeed terrifying, sounding like the screams of the fierce demons hidden within. But with the Great Devil King by his side, Zhou Li was not afraid.
The space inside the vehicle was not large, but that did not dampen Lord Dumpling's enthusiasm for adventure and parkour.
When his face was firmly stepped on by a little plum blossom foot, Zhou Li couldn't help but open his eyes, only to see Tuanzi standing above his head. She seed to realize that she had woken him up by stepping on him, so she looked down at him and offered a crisp apology, saying she hadn't seen that it was his face.
Believe her, my foot.
Zhou Li glanced up again.
The sunroof was closed, and the crescent moon had moved overhead. Because the glass was a bit dirty, the moonlight cast a hazy, jade-colored halo, and there seed to be even more stars than before.
Huai Xu was still sitting in the front, already asleep.
Zhou Li thought he would sneak out to play again once he fell asleep or sit staring with wide eyes, statue-like.
「About ten minutes later.」
Just as Zhou Li was drifting into a hazy state of consciousness, he suddenly heard Tuanzi talking, clear and pleasant, followed by Huai Xu's reply, as if arising in a dream—
"Are you awake, ow?"
"You're still not asleep?"
"Did you have a nightmare, ow?"
"No."
"You can't fool Lord Dumpling!"
"What do you know."
"Lord Dumpling sniffed the unhappy scent on you; you can't fool Lord Dumpling."
"What's it to you... you little brat!"
"Lord Dumpling is older than you!"
"Keep it down."
"Oh~~"
It was then that Zhou Li opened his eyes. He felt it wasn't a dream, so he woke up.
Tuanzi imdiately tried to clear her na, "Lord Dumpling was already very quiet!"
Zhou Li turned over and asked quietly, "What ti is it?"
"Four o'clock."
"Did you have a dream?"
"No."
"You can't fool Lord Dumpling," Zhou Li said.
"That's right!" Tuanzi echoed.
"It's just a dream. Nothing strange about it," Huai Xu said, annoyed, looking at them. "I was reminded of the past. What you think about during the day, you dream about at night, that's all."
"Do you often dream?" Zhou Li asked.
"Ah!"
"You barely sleep anyway," Zhou Li pointed out. "What did you dream about?"
"Nothing," Huai Xu said. "I've forgotten."
"He's lying, isn't he?" Zhou Li turned his head.
"Exactly!" Tuanzi declared resolutely.
"See?" Zhou Li wrapped himself tightly in the blanket, lying on his side and looking up at Huai Xu, pursing his lips. "If you rember sothing bad, sothing that makes you uncomfortable, and you don't wish to tell , then what's the point of my coming with you? Couldn't you have co here on your own?"
"And faster than driving," Zhou Li added.
"I might have been a bad person before, and you would hate if you knew," Huai Xu admitted. "I did a lot of bad things."
"Were you a Great Devil King?"
"You're so annoying."
"I don't know the you from before. I only know the you now. Besides, Master Ming knows about your past, and he doesn't hate you for it. Why would I?" Zhou Li shook his head helplessly. "Besides, it's too late now. Lord Dumpling and I already like you very much... right, Lord Dumpling?"
"Right, ow!!"
"You just said you hated ."
"Lord Dumpling was just kidding, hehe..."
"So co on, tell us," Zhou Li urged eagerly. "I can't sleep anymore. Finish your story quickly, so we can go out before daylight and avoid being discovered."
"I killed many demons, and many people too," Huai Xu began, twisting his hands together. "So deserved it. So didn't, but it wasn't necessarily wrong when I killed them. Still, there were many I killed for no reason, with no cause, simply because soone above ordered it. So I did.
"They pleaded for rcy, knelt down and begged , yet my heart remained unmoved; I didn't even know what pity was. This happened many tis. And many of those people and demons hadn't done anything wrong, or they were too weak to resist. I killed them in droves."
"..."
After a brief silence, Zhou Li responded in a light-hearted manner, "So all the tall tales you told before were actually true."
"I bullied the weak, set fires, and robbed."
"Anything else?"
"Plenty. You've probably never seen with human heads tied to my belt."
"How old were you then?"
"In my teens."
"That's really pitiful."
"Yeah..."
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