Several weeks have passed since the Incident, as the battle of Chenfei was occasionally referred to. The life in the peaceful mountain village was slowly…not returning to normal at all, especially considering the gargantuan reconstruction task, the changes within the internal structures of the local sect, and the influx of yaren immigrants from the south, lured to this backwater location by promises of living free….

…free from taxes for the first five years, that is. Bai Lianfei seemed pretty adamant at not only replenishing the losses sustained during the fighting but also growing the settlement to size unseen before. According to her it had everything-the river, a good defensive position, and last but not least, her enlightened and wise leadership, and will soon become a local superpower.

Local here means literally what it means-a superpower within a radius of at least 50, if not 100 kilometers of uninhabited wild land.

However, before this lofty goal is achieved, Chenfei will have to suffer-suffer her absence, as she was preparing to embark on a long journey far north. Destination: the town…village…town…of Yafan, where, under the guidance of Songshu sect, an assembly of all northern cultivators of note was gathering. In the light of Wuyun’s treacherous attack on this peaceful community, a course of action must be decided, and the leader of the sect at the center of all this turmoil mustn’t be absent.

A carriage was prepared, and an attendant personally handpicked by Bai Lianfei was chosen to accompany her on the long and winding road.

Luck would have it, it’s Zhanzhan!

She heard the joyful news when she was holding a rusty old knife, preparing to make dinner. Not because she had a permanent position of a cook, far from it, her cooking was universally acclaimed as terrible, but because the current chef had a rather nasty case of alcohol poisoning and wasn’t available.

“Say what?”

Now then, Zhanzhan had never ever in her 14 years of life had a privilege nor desire to leave her home village. This has not changed since the Incident-in fact, her drive to try out new things and have exciting adventures was directly disproportional to the number of traumas suffered in life, and she obtained quite a few of these during that battle and its grim aftermath.

In other words, she was now clinically depressed, apathetic, and cynical.

However, she was informed, that grandmaster Bai Lianfei actually noticed her less than cheerful disposition, and decided that there could be no better cure than spending several weeks face to face with herself in a small traveling wagon.

“Say what?”

She said goodbye to her mama and papa and grandparents and cousins, all of whom lived in Chenfei, and were present on the tournament hill when the entire nasty business took place below, and escaped the entire ordeal equally unscathed in body, but damaged on a deeper, spiritual level.

“M-my savings” cried papa hysterically every single day. He apparently had a large amount of southern paper money hidden behind the fireplace “for the rainy day” and it all went poof together with their house.

However, mama zhan didn’t know about any of that and was certain he was actually saving money to make a run for it, travel south to Kiyi, and have paid sex with a younger woman other than herself. The two of them were arguing about that ever since, and it seemed that their marriage was walking steadily towards inevitable divorce.

And thus, Zhanzhan found herself staring at the deep dark eyes placed deeply within an emotionless, robotic face, every day, nonstop, her only escape being the realm of sleep.
Eventually, to avoid going completely insane, she tried occupying herself and her new owner…that is, master, not owner…in some new fun activities.

First, she suggested a game of Xiangqi, which she was never good at. And to no one’s surprise, Bai Lianfei ended up winning every single match, without as much as batting an eye. Actually, she rarely blinked at all.

Failing that, she shared some funny stories from her life. Most of them involved records of praying pranks on certain socially inept sheepboy and escapades of certain tomboyish wolfgirl(colorized). These succeeded at painting the otherwise indifferent face a certain shade of what almost passed for curiosity, occasionally amusement, but still..there was no definite smile there yet.

So Zhanzhan decided the time had come for the final resort. She didn’t want to go that far, but Bai Lianfei is no ordinary opponent and defeating her calls for extraordinary measures.

After stopping in some village that was heavy on farming, she obtained the tool necessary to carry out her nefarious plan-a straw of wheat! Now all that was left is to catch her master unguarded….

The occasion arrived sooner than she anticipated. The very same day, it seemed like Bai Lianfei fell asleep in the opposite seat(actually meditating).

Huhu, how embarrassing! In the sect, she was always known to go to sleep last, and rise first!

Thinking that, Zhanzhan stealthy took out the straw, and slowly, ever so slowly moved it in front of Shuangshan’s new grandmaster’s face.

And then she tickled her. With wheat. All over her face, while she was asleep!!

And even that effort ended up a spectacular failure. Not even the faintest smile, nor any other movement of facial muscles! Is she superhuman or what? Who can resist being tickled in the face like that? What is going on!?

In fact, Bai Lianfei, not unlike others who can cultivate their life energy, was quite a superhuman, and she was now quite displeased to be taken out of her deep meditative state in such a meaningless fashion. Slowly opening her foggy eyes, she gazed upon the catgirl.

At this moment Zhanzhan knew she screwed up.
She braced for whatever punishment that white lotus was about to bring upon her foolish and arrogant self, closing her eyes and putting hands over her ears, bracing for impact.
However, nothing happened after that.

Zhanzhan timidly opened one of her eyes, her vision foggy from forcing it closed way too hard, way too long.

And there it was. A faint smile on Bai Lianfei’s face!

“You thought I’m going to hit you?”

Not knowing what to answer to that, Zhanzhan just nodded energetically over and over again.

“Silly girl! If I really wanted to punish you, I wouldn’t do something as crude as physically beating you~”

Was this sentence supposed to be comforting!?

“…and also it seems you got over your depressive episode”

That was true. Ever since they left Chenfei, the ruined buildings, and broken families behind, Zhanzhan was brooding less and less, and slowly returning to her former self.

Wait…could this have been all according to Bai Lianfei’s keikaku!? She planned this far into the future!?

Having found a new level of respect for her master, Zhanzhan bowed over and over again in gratitude(not sure if she’s still out of woods regarding actual punishment for the wheat trick), as their carriage was slowly traveling further and further north, towards the faraway town of Yafan….

tl note: keikaku means plan