Yi Ti was stunned, then whispered, “I don"t have dog ears.”
Liang Chen: “……”
“I also have no tail.”
“Stop being so wordy!” Liang Chen ferociously wagged his tail as he struggled to get up, “Since you saw it, then……”
Yi Ti"s heart went cold, this familiar lines……he"s not trying to kill the witness, is he?
“Cecil!” She subconsciously shouted out.
At the same time, a few blue transparent something flew out of the house and firmly wrapped around the hands and feet of the “not a dog” young man.
Liang Chen was shocked, “What d.a.m.nable thing is this?!” During the struggle, he saw a jelly shaped object step out of the house and was stunned, “M, monster!” Then，don"t know if he"s overwhelmed by the smell or was too scared, he actually fell on the ground with a “plop” and didn"t move again.
Yi Ti: “……” You"re like that and you have the nerve to say that to someone else?
When she was silent, she saw that Cecil was in low spirits, so she hurriedly crouched down and asked: “What happened? Did you over consume your energy?”
Shakes his head.
“Then what happened?”
“……”
Yi Ti thought about it and suddenly realized, “Is it because of what he said?” Like him being a monster.
“When humans saw me before, they also……”
“……this, ah. ” Yi Ti bent down, her hands naturally resting on his head, then stroking it, “I don"t think they"re malicious, they"re just too scared. Look, when I first saw you, didn"t I also faint?”
“I"m sorry.” drooping……depressed……
“I don"t blame you.” Yi Ti raised her hand and waved away the dark clouds over the jelly alien. “The reason why they think you"re a monster is that they don"t know you. At least I know you"re not a monster but your shape is different from humans. You"re my friend, right?” She held out her little finger and shook it, “Don"t forget, we did the pinky swear.”
“Nn, you"re my friend.” Cecil looked at her and seriously replied.
——a precious friend he found on Earth.
Yi Ti laughed only to remember that a poor creature who claimed to be "not a dog" was still lying in the yard. She quickly stood up and walked over, “Cecil, can you help me drag him to the house.”
After some trouble, Yi Ti finally got Liang Chen into the house. To prevent him from waking up and “committing a crime” again, she found a rope and tied him up. Then opened the air conditioner and waited for him to wake up while sitting on the sofa.
This wait reached midnight.
After lying down on the sofa and sleeping a little, Cecil finally called her.
“He woke up.”
“Ah? Oh.” Yi Ti rubbed her eyes and sat up, looking at Liang Chen in the open s.p.a.ce not far away, “Are you awake?”
“Let me go!”
“Okay, but you have to watch your mouth.”
“……when did I bite you?”
“Ah?” Yi Ti suddenly realized that he seemed to have misunderstood something， “Didn"t you say『Since you saw it』……”
“Are you stupid? If I really want to kill you, you think you can hide?” Liang Chen snorted, then with a light push, the ropes on his body broke. He rubbed his arm which had been tied up, then watched the strange object on the sofa, “I had never seen anything like that, what is it?”
“Cecil is my friend.”
Then, Yi Ti explained a little, of course, masking any important information.
“Alien?” The young man that looked like a teenager looked at Yi Ti and then the jelly alien next to her with a strange look, “Are you kidding me? How could that kind of thing exist!”
Yi Ti silently reached out and pointed to his head: “Do you think you"re convincing?”
“……”
“Mr……Liang,” She always felt uncomfortable calling him “mister” with that young face, “Can you explain this to me?” What is he? Why did he interrupt her contact with Mr. Xue three times? Who"s the latter?
Yi Ti felt like she needed an explanation.
“Tsk.” Liang Chen snorted, “Everything is because of the old woman"s trust.”
“Master?”
“You call her Master?” Liang Chen showed a surprised expression, “That means you"re also a spiritual cultivator?” Although he wanted to scare Xue Ye with this matter today, he only thought to bluff him. Speaking of which, “When we met several times before, you really smell of herbs.” He thought that the old woman left her with some potions as a legacy which explained the smell——because he"s familiar with that smell. He didn"t expect the bluff to be true……
Of course, he"s not to blame.
Because people who have the talent of a spiritual cultivator are really rare. It can be said that the more the era developed and the more civilization progressed, the fewer such people are.
“You know Spiritual Plant Cultivators?”
“Nonsense!” Didn"t she know how famous this t.i.tle is in some special circles?
“Can you tell me?” Yi Ti instantly became interested. After all, although she became a spiritual cultivator, she only read the relevant information in her master"s letter. Even if she"s curious, there"s no one to ask, but now it"s different. There is another living being familiar with her situation……the creature in front of her.
“Since the old woman accepted you as a disciple, why should I explain Spiritual Plant Cultivators to you?” Although Liang Chen"s expression is a little impatient, he still explained it, “This kind of occupation is very rare and no one usually wanted to offend you. On the one hand, many people need the potions you make. On the other hand, no one can use it even if they got your secrets. Unless you have the talent, no one else could do it.”
Yi Ti has personal experience in this. What does “appropriate amount” and “play it by ear” mean……it"s enough to drive anyone crazy, right?
“When the old woman was young, her name spread far and wide and she had friends in every circle. Although she died, I think she should have arranged everything so you don"t need to worry about anything.”
“Master, she……” There was warmth in Yi Ti"s heart. Obviously, they"ve only seen each other once but she actually did this for her. But at the same time, she deeply regretted in her heart. If she didn"t quickly leave at that time, then……she pursed her lips then asked, “So Mr. Liang is also a person that master arranged……”
“That"s right.” At this time, Liang Chen was already sitting on the opposite sofa. With his hands on his pockets, he said with an unpleasant expression, “She……before she left, she told me that she might never come back. If she came back, then that"s it. If she didn"t, then help her take care of the next person who"ll live here. As a reward, that old woman gave me a bunch of potions.”
“Potions?”
Liang Chen is certainly not a dog. In his words, he"s “more n.o.ble and powerful!”. Yes, he"s a werewolf.
As everyone knew, a werewolf"s weakness is during a full moon. On this moonlit night, they usually can"t keep their human shape and be forced to turn to a wolf. If it"s just that then it"s okay. The problem is that during the transformation, werewolves are generally unable to maintain their reason and they"d do things they"d regret after waking up. It"s also because of this weakness that they were wantonly killed leaving not many left and almost all of them are separated from each other.
Liang Chen can live in the city, can mix among the crowd, and can rationally talk to people on a full moon night, all because——Xu Xiuying helped him prepare special potions.
How did the two meet and what kind of past did they have, Liang Chen didn"t say and Yi Ti didn"t ask. She could imagine that before meeting her master, the other should be homeless and miserable and living from hand to mouth. So for him, his present life might be a rare peace. In this respect, although he"s calling her “old codger” or “old woman”, in his heart, he didn"t hate Master who changed his life.
Otherwise, why would he still abide by the agreement after Master died?
And when they first met, he knew that there might be a new resident in the flower shop but he still treated her as a thief. I guess it"s because he"s been waiting for the old woman who lived here to come back.
“What"s with that disgusting expression? Like I said, it"s because of the transaction that I took care of you! Don"t let your imagination run wild!”
“……” Although his mouth said so, his body is very honest——Yi Ti didn"t know why these words floated in her mind. She coughed softly to prevent herself from laughing and quickly asked, “So, who is Mr. Xue?”
“A stinky bat, nothing more.”
“Bat?” Yi Ti said, then remembered some creatures that the werewolves in legends didn"t like. She then thought of the outdated style of the young man named Xue Ye and instantly realized, "Vampire?"
“That"s right.” Bringing up the other person, Liang Chen"s mood seemed to get worse, “You"re a spiritual plant cultivator and I already told him so presumably, he won"t have any more ideas about you.” The food is delicious, but he still needed his life to eat. Having said that, he got up and shook his tail, “I"m going back.” It"s almost the early hours in the morning and he would transition from “wolf” to “man”. Although his state has been suppressed by the potion that he"ll only reveal the ears and tail, the change would still make him suffer.
He didn"t want to do this in front of other people.
“Wait a minute,” Yi Ti jumped off the sofa then said, “if you"re okay with it, can you tell me what kind of trading agreement did you have with Master during her lifetime? Not the one where you protect me but about the potion.”
“Why are you asking this?” Liang Chen tilted his head and looked at her for a moment, “But there"s nothing to say. The old woman gave me a potion every month and in exchange, I packed three meals from my restaurant.”
“……” it"s a really down to earth way of trading. Is he the owner of the restaurant? But, as a werewolf that has a very sensitive sense of smell and taste, did he have a natural advantage in selecting ingredients and dishes? And the food in his restaurant is really delicious. Moreover, Master proposed this trading method at that time probably hoping that he could also live a stable life, that"s why “let"s continue the trade.”
“What?”
“Although Master gave you a lot of options, but wouldn"t you eventually ran out? However, I have never refined your potion so the finished product might not be as good as Master"s. If you don"t mind that……of course, in exchange, you just have to pack my daily meals.”
Liang Chen thought for a moment, then snorted, turning around and no longer looking at her, “Dinner. Looking at your otaku appearance, it doesn"t look like you can get up that early.” Finished, he left like that.
“……” Hey! Is it really okay to carry out such an attack on my lifestyle choices? Although……he seemed to be telling the truth.
A tentacle stretched out behind Yi Ti and gently patted as if to comfort her.
“Cecil.” QAQ
“Xiao Ti, I will wake you up.” Cecil sincerely said.
“……” This isn"t comforting but more like a knife, okay?!
Footnotes:
play it by ear: 看着办, kànzhebàn, to do as one sees fit / to play it by ear (according to the circ.u.mstances)
homeless and miserable: 颠沛流离, diānpèiliúlí, homeless and miserable (idiom); to wander about in a desperate plight /to drift
living from hand to mouth: 朝不保夕, zhāobùbǎoxī, at dawn, not sure of lasting to evening (idiom); precarious state / imminent crisis/living from hand to mouth
Don"t let your imagination run wild!: 胡思乱想, húsīluànxiǎng, to indulge in flights of fancy (idiom) / to let one"s imagination run wild
otaku appearance: 死宅, sǐzhái, die-hard otaku (sb who hardly ever emerges from their home, where they play games, watch movies, etc)