Leaning towards him slightly, Bai Huiqi followed his line of sight and saw the trinkets the vendor was selling. With a purse of his lips, he nodded ever so slightly and exhaled softly. "... Whatever do you suggest I purchase, Cul—"
"Shh..." With every bit of gentleness in his murmur, the Heavenly Demon shushed him, resting his index finger against the fox spirit’s lips without so much as glancing his way. "Do not let Our disguise go in vain, Young Master Bai."
Bai Huiqi swallowed his words, breath hitching as he glanced down at the finger resting against his lips. The warm touch almost stung, as if thousands of needles were prickling him.
Involuntarily, a shiver ran down his body, numbing even his feet. "Pardon ," he replied, stepping closer to the stall so he could get a closer look at the goods. "Then what should I call you?"
Cheon WuHui pulled his hand back, letting his hand fall by his side, the man discreetly clenched his hand. The icy chill of Bai Huiqi’s body never beca any more familiar.
More so, he could now feel the weight of his scrutiny settle on himself. Still, he refused to glance back at him.
Slightly, he swallowed, and the rhythm of his heart picked up pace as he humd in a low voice and feigned contemplation. The pretense of his thoughts was hardly a tough battle, especially when he did have the best answer in mind.
After a mont or two of silence, the Heavenly Demon opened his mouth, lips parting in the slightest as he spoke in a velvet cadence. "You may call Us by our given na."
He did not need to look at Bai Huiqi to know of the—understandably—startled look he must be wearing on his face. There were far too few people in the entirety of JiangHu who would call him by his given na.
Fewer still had the explicit assent to do so.
Hesitantly, Bai Huiqi bit his lip, sinking his teeth into the soft flesh as he frowned. "Are you... Certain?" His ears, hidden behind the curtain of his white-hair, went afla. His heartbeat, having just settled, picked up once more.
Cheon WuHui raised an eyebrow and finally turned to face the fox spirit, languid mirth and smugness stark on his usually stoic face. With a slight upturn of his lips, the man canted his head to the side. "Why else, pray tell, would I suggest so, Young Master Bai?"
Ah, there it was! That infuriating self-assurance and arrogance Bai Huiqi knew him by. "Oh, I would not know what a man of your stature thinks." With a snort, he murmured in retort, toying with a simple handheld fan.
Cheon WuHui huffed, having heard the dripping sarcasm in the four-tailed fox spirit’s words. "What a relief it is, to see you in high spirits." He himself was fiddling with a rather simple looking perfu satchel. Carefully, he brought the satchel to his nose and gave it a small sniff.
It had a pleasing fragrance. A llow mixture of blue moonflower that only grew at the edge of so of the highest cliffs. It did not sll like a counterfeit either. Privately, he could not help but wonder why a perfu like this one be sold on a roadside stall. With a tilt of his head, he glanced between the vendor and Bai Huiqi.
Seeing the fox spirit interested in the fan, he humd thoughtfully and rubbed the satchel between his fingers slowly.
This reminded him so much of Bai Huiqi that it was almost uncanny.
"Boss," with a pleasant smile dancing on his lips, he began, "how much would you sell it for?" Beside him, Bai Huiqi finally looked away from the fan and stared at the satchel.
The vendor gave him a swift assessing look as if evaluating his financial soundness before imdiately adorning a simpering expression, his joined together. "Excellent choice, Young Master! You have got very good eyes!"
He could hear Bai Huiqi scoff under his breath. "Good eyes? Don’t you an one of the best?"
Casually, the Heavenly Demon shot him a side-long glance of half-hearted admonishnt before answering the vendor. "Oh, you flatter ." He said with a fleeting smile. "It is hard to overlook such a high quality material" —only the perfu was high quality, the satchel housing it could not be any worse— "I wonder who you received this from?"
The vendor grinned widely, his cheeks flushing with pride as he clapped his hands together once more. "Oh, this satchel! Young Master, I bought it from a disciple of the XijinYao Clan!"
At that, the Heavenly Demon stilled for a fraction of a second before he let out a quiet noise of amazent from the back of his throat. "Yao Clan?" He echoed in a tone full of wonder. "Then this must be the true flower?"
"Indeed!" The man nodded enthusiastically.
"Then, we shall purchase this and" —with a smooth manoeuvre, Cheon WuHui swiped the plain white fan out of Bai Huiqi’s hands— "this fan as well."
anwhile, a few good tres behind the two, hiding behind a different stall were Li Xinyuan and Hu Lijing. They were spying on them.
Cursing under his breath, with narrowed eyes, Li Xinyuan stared at Cheon WuHui. "I can’t believe this is a date" —he all but spat in English, causing Hu Lijing to glance at him instead— "a damned date. And Huiqi doesn’t even know that... Oh my god."
Having listened to enough of his hushed murmurs, Hu Lijing looked down at him, lips turned down in exasperation. "What language have you been muttering to yourself in? Is it perhaps a language of your era?"
"Shh!" Li Xinyuan waved him away, all too absorbed in their little act of espionage.
"Do not shush , Master," very dryly, Hu Lijing intoned, "You dragged to watch them with no explanation when I could very well be enjoying the much to be seen fire!"
"Quietly, you pyromaniac! They will discover us otherwise."
"What do you an, ’pyromaniac’?" Hu Lijing scoffed, though in a voice quieter than before, as if the word was a grave offense to him. "I am fire."
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