"The last candle's in place, my liege." 

The faint illumination caused by the array of flickering candles casted eerie shadows over the four cloaked figures in the room. 

"And the dagger?"

"It is here, my liege."

A stream of withering laughter escaped from the throat of the figure who appeared to be the group's leader. "Splendid. At last, we can proceed with the ceremony." 

❤️ 

As she impatiently waited for the elevator to rise to the thirtieth floor, Bai Wei Lan's gaze remained locked on her phone.  

Since the clasp on her favourite pearl bracelet had inexplicably broke in the morning, she had already had the niggling suspicion that today would prove to be an inauspicious day for her. 

Her suspicion was promptly confirmed at noon when the most popular manhua artist on the online manhua platform that she owned and operated had publicly announced that she would be taking an indefinite break from drawing—without discussing the details with any of the management staff beforehand. 

When Bai Wei Lan's eyes swept across the preposterous lines of text posted to said author's Weibo that explained that she would be taking a much needed break "to seek new inspiration from the creative springs of the world", she barely restrained the urge to snap her phone in half. "Bai Qing Mei, you lazy and irresponsible thing! Can't you go even one week without trying to escape work? You're in the middle of a weekly serialization! Will you only be satisfied when you see my business go bankrupt?!" 

As she ranted, Bai Wei Lan furiously jabbed a manicured finger at the cartoon style profile picture on the page wishing she could hit the person who drew it through the screen until finally, the elevator slowed to a stop and the doors opened to reveal the thirtieth floor. 

Bai Wei Lan's high heels clacked on the spotless marble floor as she stalked towards apartment 3002. "Don't count on me going easy on you just because you're my cousin, Bai Qing Mei! This time I'm really going to clean you up for good!" 

As she passed apartments 3005, 3004, and 3003, her expression was terribly dark but the moment she came within ten meters of apartment 3002, her face collapsed. 

Out of nowhere, a wave of pungent smells that seemed to contain notes of everything from smoked ham to teakwood to red wine to lavender to citrus fruits engulfed Bai Wei Lan's senses. 

Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as she started violently coughing and choking. 

For a while she could not fathom what she was experiencing. 

Had someone thought that it would've been fun to mix the world's most popular essential oils and the world's strangest essential oils into one large bucket? Or had someone been trying to murder their spouse by cooking with perfumes? What in the world could've been responsible for such a bizarre medley of fragrances from assaulting her airways?! 

While covering her face with a balled up scarf, she staggered over to the entrance of 3002 and clumsily unlocked the door with her fingerprint.

In Bai Wei Lan's original plan, when she pulled the door open and entered the apartment, she would greet her stupidly indolent cousin with a shockingly harsh torrent of criticism that would leave the latter trembling with shame. 

However, in reality, when she stepped into the entryway, it became she whom was shocked, for when she entered, she was greeted by the sight of three cloaked figures solemnly chanting around the dining room table. On top of the table was the outline of a human body covered by a large white sheet and encasing all of this was a ring of lit candles. 

Bai Wei Lan froze. 

As she slumped wordlessly in the doorway, the volume of the chanting dramatically climbed to a crescendo as the figure furthest away from her aimed a dagger directly over the body on the table. 

When she saw the dagger about to pierce the body, Bai Wei Lan instinctively charged forward and shouted, "Stop!" 

Unfortunately, just as soon as she encroached upon the circular barrier of candles, her heels gave out and she lost her footing.

As she plunged forward with outstretched arms, she knocked over several of the burning candles. The momentum created from this action sent the largest of the candles rolling towards the bottom of the dining room table where the sheet had been bunched up. When the tip of the candle's wick met the edge of the sheet, flames began to lick the sheet. 

As plumes of smoke quickly rose to the ceiling, everyone inside the apartment flew into a panic.  

"Goodness! The sheet's on fire!"

"Quick! Yan Nan, get up!"

Hearing these cries, Yan Nan who had been lying on the table, shot upright, ripped the sheet off of his body, and flung it as far as he could. 

Still on the ground, Bai Wei Lan had no time to react before the blazing sheet somehow landed precisely over her head. 

As the flames travelled from the sheet to the beautiful designer hat that she had been wearing, she rolled around and flailed her limbs in fear. "Help! Help!" 

Bai Qing Mei hurriedly dropped the dagger that she had been holding and dashed to the kitchen. Once there, she lifted the bucket of water that they had cleverly prepared in advance and carried it over to Bai Wei Lan. Then, when she estimated that she was close enough, she decisively emptied the bucketload of water over her cousin's head. 

The battle between the cold tap water and the crackling fire was but a brief one as the fire almost immediately died after it was doused. 

Bai Qing Mei wiped her forehead. "Phew, crisis averted." 

"Nicely done, boss! Your movements were so heroic!"

"Xiao Mei, is it okay to turn the lights back on now?" 

"Yes, Aunt Zhou. It's fine now."

"Ehrm, before that, shouldn't we put out the rest of the candles first?"

"Good suggestion. We should—"

"BAI! QING! MEI!"

Bai Qing Mei stiffened then slowly turned her head. 

When Bai Qing Mei caught sight of Bai Wei Lan's dangerously twisted expression, she immediately held her hands up in surrender and cautiously began to back away. "Before you say or do anything irrational, Lan Lan, my dearest cousin, can I just remind you that I'm the only one of our relatives who has the same blood type as you?" 

Bai Wei Lan rolled up her sopping wet sleeves before advancing towards her cousin with murderous eyes. "So?"

"S-So that means that killing me off today would only reduce the chances of your survival in the long run!” sputtered Bai Qing Mei as she further attempted to increase the distance between her and her cousin. “Think about it! Without me, in the future should you ever require blood infusions or organ transplants, you’ll be down one perfectly good potential donor!” 

“To Hell with the future!" Bai Wei Lan’s pent up rage finally exploded and in the next moment she mercilessly lunged at her younger relative. “Let's both end it here today!” 

"Ahhhhh! Aunt Zhou, Xiao Qin, Xiao Cang! Save me! Save me! I think her elbow is puncturing my spleen!"

❤️ 

Some time later, an exhausted and battered Bai Qing Mei kneeled in front of Bai Wei Lan with her arms raised over her head like an unruly child being disciplined by her parents. 

"So let me see if I understood this correctly, because you thought that it might be interesting to make the antagonist in one of your future works be a cult leader but weren't exactly sure how'd you go about it shaping their character," began Bai Wei Lan evenly, "you asked people to participate in an acting exercise where they had to act as cultists to help you understand their mentalities more concretely?" 

Bai Qing Mei nodded weakly. 

"And you chose the scene of a cult conducting a sacrificial ritual specifically because you saw that candles are often used in these kinds of scenes in movies and you needed to find a "sensible" way to use up the 100 scented candles you accidentally ordered online instead of the 10 you meant to buy?" 

Bai Qing Mei nodded again. 

“And the people you got to do this inane acting exercise with you were your assistant, your cleaning lady, and for some reason, the delivery boy from the restaurant down the street?"

“Wow, must you sound so disbelieving, Lan Lan? There’s no rule that says that assistants, domestic helpers, and delivery people can’t be good at acting.” While chiding her cousin, Bai Qing Mei sneakily lowered her arms to relieve the aching. 

Bai Wei Lan scoffed. “You know that wasn’t what I was trying to get at.” 

With a righteous expression, Bai Qing Mei slightly adjusted the position of her legs so that she was no longer formally kneeling. “Your tone was too disdainful. Especially when mentioning Xiao Nan—which is ironic since he’s literally an acting major! Sure, he may just be some kid helping out with his family’s restaurant for now but his parents tell me that he’s destined to be a big star. Apparently, he’s the most talented one in his department!” 

Bai Qing Mei lightly rubbed her nose. “Though to be fair, they also claimed that they make the best braised ribs on the block when really their ribs are probably only the third best...In any case, it was a fact that he outperformed both Xiao Qin and Aunt Zhou...Huh, that reminds me, I still need to send the three of them red envelopes later.”

Bai Qing Mei stared at Bai Wei Lan knowingly. “As a boss you should learn to be a little more generous too, Lan Lan. When's the last time you sent us red envelopes or took us out for a staff dinner?" 

Bai Wei Lan jabbed Bai Qing Mei with what she had now learned was merely a prop dagger. "Don't call me, Lan Lan! Not only am I older than you, I'm also your boss. At the very least you should call me Elder Sister if not Chief Bai. More importantly, when am I not generous to you, you ungrateful little demon?! You have the most flexible deadlines out of all of our contracted artists, you earn more per read, and just now, I didn't directly send you off to meet King Yan despite the fact that you told the world that you're going on leave without asking for my permission!" 

Thinking of the thousands upon thousands of negative comments that they had received on their platform from distressed readers since her cousin had made her announcement gave Bai Wei Lan a headache. "You just had to end the previous chapter off on a cliffhanger didn't you?" 

Bai Qing Mei sighed then unceremoniously collapsed onto the floor. "It wasn't on purpose...I just couldn't think of how I wanted to draw the next bit so I had to stop."

Bai Wei Lan rolled her eyes. "That's the excuse you make every week because you're a lazy and hopeless degenerate who doesn't like working for more than two hours a week.” 

Bai Qing Mei exaggeratedly clutched her chest in a heartbroken manner. “Oh, your cruel words hurt me so! Let us not forget that it also I, this lazy and hopeless degenerate, that has been faithfully and exclusively publishing my works onto your platform for over six years to provide for your luxurious life, Chief Bai." 

Bai Wei Lan snorted before lifting her chin domineeringly. "Fine, taking the fact that you're my cash cow and reserve blood and organ donor into consideration, I'll make you a deal. If you go online now and retract what you said about taking a leave, I won't deduct your salary this month." 

The look in Bai Qing Mei's eyes became distant. "...No deal." 

Bai Wei Lan furrowed her brows. "Excuse me?"

"Lan Lan...I'm afraid I'm...at a creative impasse."

"...What?"

"Artist's block! I have artist's block!" Bai Qing Mei woefully covered her face with her hands. "In the next chapter I need to reveal the true appearance of Demon General Mo Qing but I don't know how I should draw him!" 

Demon General Mo Qing was the name of the hidden final boss of her currently serialized manhua ⟪The Hero Has Custody of the Demon King⟫. 

In the manhua, an illustrious warrior known to the world as the Hero is tasked with raising an outwardly harmless little girl who's actually the current incarnation of the bloodthirsty and treacherous Demon King to prevent her from growing up crookedly and destroying the world. Like Bai Qing Mei's previous works, the manhua was a hit from the moment it was released as it featured her beautiful and distinctive art style, compelling characters, and a uniquely hilarious yet heartwarming plot.  

Bai Wei Lan stood up in shock. "You're kidding right? You're at the series' finale, woman! Why haven't you consolidated your character designs yet?" 

"I have consolidated them!” retorted Bai Qing Mei bitterly. “In my head I feel like I know exactly how Mo Qing should look like but whenever I try to bring that image to a canvas, it just doesn't look right!" 

Bai Qing Mei grimaced before rolling over to one side. "What makes Mo Qing so fascinating but also makes him difficult to draw is the fact that he perfectly encapsulates both the chilling bloodthirstiness and childlike purity of a demon. He wouldn't hesitate to slaughter an entire family for blocking his path on the road but unlike a human, he would never lie or go back on a promise. Once he swears fealty to someone, he would risk his body and soul for that person for all eternity."

Although Bai Qing Mei claimed to love all of her precious original characters equally, inevitably there were a handful of characters that she was secretly more fond of in her heart and when she spoke about these characters her gaze would subtly appear more affectionate like the way they were now. “Because the original Demon King understood Mo Qing’s character, he installed him as General without fear of rebellion. If Mo Qing didn't think that the current incarnation of the Demon King was being controlled by the Hero, he'd never be fighting against her. He may be the story's antagonist but I wouldn't consider him a bad guy or a villain. I just wished I knew how to express his duality in his appearance! Especially his face!" 

In every sketch that she had done of Mo Qing previously, Bai Qing Mei had felt that she had drawn his face to be either too soft and kind looking or too rough and aggressive looking. Somehow, the balance was always off. 

Bai Wei Lan massaged her temples. Because her cousin was someone who possessed both lazy and perfectionistic tendencies, she knew that the other was the type to not bother to start any task unless she knew that she'd be able to complete it perfectly. It was her cousin’s most tragic character flaw and what made it inevitable for her to procrastinate. “So how long do you think it'll take before you'll be able to draw him the way you want?" 

"I don't know,” she admitted truthfully. “That's why I said I'd be gone indefinitely. I just need more time to figure out how I can draw the ideal Mo Qing."

"And your little acting exercise was supposed to help with that?" 

"No, that was me acting on an impulse,” divulged Bai Qing Mei sheepishly. “I got a little distracted; however, I really had intended on focusing all of my energy on the Mo Qing issue later in the day. I already made a list of all the places I could go face hunting!" 

Bai Wei Lan narrowed her eyes. "...Face hunting?" 

"Yes!" Bai Qing Mei beamed. "I'm going to go out and hunt for someone whose face embodies the essence of Mo Qing in real life and then I'm going to use that face to inspire my drawings." 

"In other words, you're going to go search for a muse." 

"When you put it that way it sounds so pretentious." 

"When we put it your way it sounds illegal."

Bai Qing Mei chuckled. "Don't worry. I won't do anything obscene. I know my limits. Since you're not really objecting to it, can I take it that my request for time off is being approved?" 

The two cousins stared at each other for a long while before Bai Wei Lan finally acquiesced. "Fine. You can have up to three weeks of time off. After that, I don't care if it's not perfect, I'm making you draw a face on this character." 

"Deal!"

Bai Wei Lan glanced at her watch. "It's already 4:00. I should head home now if I want to give myself enough time to get ready and drive over to the hotel for tonight's banquet." 

"You're going to a banquet tonight?" 

Bai Wei Lan crouched down and gave Bai Qing Mei's nose a rough squeeze. "I just knew you'd forget. Bai Shu Yao's banquet is tonight, remember?"  

Hearing the name "Bai Shu Yao", Bai Qing Mei rolled over to lie on her stomach. "Pass. I'm not going."

Bai Wei Lan shrugged. "Okay, it's your choice but I'm obliged to tell you that Second Aunt told me to tell you that if you skip out on yet another family gathering, she swears she'll go to your house tomorrow, break your legs, and cancel your internet subscription." 

"That's too much!" Bai Qing Mei kicked the ground in protest. "How could she threaten me with such a thing? Doesn't she know that the internet is my life? How could she treat me like this? Did my mom really give birth to me or did she just pick me up from the trash?" 

"Well, if Second Aunt did pick you up then she sure did a good job at finding a child that looks like her," analyzed Bai Wei Lan calmly. "But alright, enough whining. It's time to move, you big baby." 

"No, I refuse! I'm not going!"

Seeing Bai Qing Mei refuse to cooperate, Bai Wei Lan directly dragged her towards her bedroom by the ankles. "Now, now. You and I both know that Second Aunt means business so it's better to just go along with her wishes. I'll help you with your hair and makeup."