The mind is a wonderful and complex thing and what runs though it in terms of thoughts and feelings is different for each and every person. For example, in the mind of the pervert sitting tea opposite the two students, one of which happened to be selling pills to him, he was thinking; Should I give them that copy of the double yang cultivation method I happened to pick up in my youth?And in the mind of the Pharmacist Clawse; I should never have exposed young Leon to this pervert.
Jin Li had only one thought running through his mind and it was a question. It had replaced all other thoughts in his mind and all other feelings. Even the anger and frustration he had felt for the past few days had shrivelled into his mind until they were ash and smoke and drifted away into nothingness.
And now all that was left was; "Why were they so soft?"
The clear spiritual pills that Leon was attempting to sell were still just clear spiritual pills, even if their impurities were reduced improving their grade and as high in demand as the pills were, there were also a flood of low alchemists producing them. That said, the pervert Ursam had taken a shine to Leon and purchased them at a slightly higher price than he would have done for other good quality clear spiritual pills taking the twenty pills for the price of 4 silver. The four cloudy spiritual pills that Leon had also decided to part with were purchased also at 4 silver.
"Come to my shop, next time," Ursam invited the young alchemist and the young martial artist to his place that happened to be located in New Julip Town as the pa.s.sing trade was ten times higher than in Old Julip Town. Leon agreed before being whisked away by Jin Li.
Feeling secure with the imagined weight of the silver within his inters.p.a.cial pouch, Leon followed Jin Li towards the Griffin Nests in New Julip Town. He felt that reasons behind Jin Li"s "prank" had not been resolved, but was not sure how to bring it up either. Perhaps he ought to apologise for his misdeed while intoxicated first? With that in mind, he had Jin Li wait for him outside a certain shop, which the youth reluctantly did so and went inside to purchase him a gift. It was the red jade hair pin that he happened to have noticed the day before. It wiped away his earned funds, but he felt that if this could settle matters between himself and Jin Li, then it ought be worth it.
"F-for you," Leon offered the cloth wrapped jade shyly. "I"m s-sorry that I acted b-b-badly w-when you c-cared for m-m-me that t-time."
Jin Li held the red jade in his fist, staring at it incredulously. It wasn"t the most stunning of pieces, the blood red jade was a common coloured stone in the high realm, so chances were that it was here as well, yet Jin Li couldn"t help be moved by the gift. But why was Leon apologising again? Ah right, he had made accusations over tainting his person with those soft lips. Soft lips... The inner conflict erupted inside his body again as he glanced down at the hopeful looking youth standing beside him, partially annoyed that the reflection of himself was in those thick gla.s.ses instead of in those large eyes and partially annoyed that he was thinking of those soft lips located south of them.
He tore his gaze away angrily, but the feeling of the jade in his hand weakened the emotion and he pressed it down. "This Lord will graciously accept your apology," he mumbled, though even those words seemed without their usual arrogance therefore lame in his ears.
Leon didn"t seem to notice as he beamed with a glad smiled, Jin Li felt a little heat rising in his cheeks as he witnessed those soft lips stretching into a bright curve. "G-glad you like it!" Leon inwardly sighed, before finally bringing up the unanswered question; "Last n-n-night"s k-k-k-k-k-kiss...."
"This Lord will not stand here and allow you to question his reasons," Jin Li said, suddenly storming off. A startled Leon had to run to catch up with him. And the unanswered question remained unanswered.
An hour later, as the griffin that happened to be taking several students back to the Ascending Martial Arts inst.i.tute glided though the cool mountain air, Jin Li once more glanced at the red jade hair pin in his hands and then at the youth sitting beside him. He leaned down to speak into Leon"s ear, so that he might hear him above the rushing of the wind in their ears;
"Later, you should help this Lord adorn the hair pin."
Leon returned his demand with a smile and nodded; "Okay."