Chapter 86: Reunion

After the banishment of the twin-headed demon, Anping finally returned to normal. The townspeople who had been shut up in their homes came out one after another, welcoming the long-awaited warmth.

Returning from the city gate, the members of the Bamboo Grove Guild were in high spirits, their steps light and brisk. Tiger Two could not wait to strip off his padded clothes, shedding even the outer robe and quilted trousers until he was cool all over.

Swallow Mountain tossed his clothes aside by the roadside and bounded through the ungarded gate with delight. Meltwater trembled on the moss and dropped from his hair onto his head. De-shu stood with his mouth half open, the breath from his lips growing fainter by the moment.

"Guild Leader," said Swallow Mountain, "after all this trouble, what exactly are we doing it for?"

Those words drew Luo Gan out of the sweetness of victory, and he carefully considered just how far he had come.

A dialogue box popped up in his field of vision. He unlocked it with a thought and checked the clue progress: it had reached twenty percent. Only then did he let out a quiet breath. It seemed the steps he had taken were indeed correct.

Of course, Luo Gan could not reveal to the others in the Bamboo Grove Guild his true purpose in exorcising demons. On the day Yuan, the Taoist master, had enlightened him, he had been warned not to disclose his identity from the real world within the game, or he would bring about ill consequences.

His stamina had dropped by about thirty percent, and Luo Gan felt the fatigue in his body. Still, he felt fine, with no discomfort.

"I rid the people of harm; I seek nothing else," Luo Gan said.

De-shu shook his head and sighed. "Ah, you're a grown man already. Why do you still like playing the hero and saving the common folk?"

Tiger Two moved to shield Luo Gan. "I don't think there's anything wrong with that! The city is back to normal. That isn't bad for us."

"Not bad?" De-shu said. "We nearly lost our lives! I just don't understand it—if a tree stands out in the forest, the wind will surely destroy it. You won't listen to the old, and in the end you'll be the one to suffer!"

Swallow Mountain laughed. "You say that, De-shu, but in the end you still came with us, didn't you?"

De-shu turned his head away and said no more.

Swallow Mountain asked, "What about Zhang Jifeng and that shopkeeper in the city? Guild Leader, should we go deal with them together?"

Though his tone was fierce, he was really probing Luo Gan's true thoughts, trying to see whether he had other plans.

Luo Gan thought to himself that the carefully laid scheme had been ruined in the end by those two doglike traitors. It was infuriating. Old Hu had seemed like a decent man, yet his intentions were hidden. At the crucial moment he let everything slip, offering a fake flower as tribute. Merchants always wore the same face.

As for Zhang Jifeng, he had only been a lookout, resentful over Wang Gemao's failure, and then unexpectedly turned into a double agent by secretly siding with Governor Lu. Thankfully he knew very little; otherwise there would have been no turning back.

"Pig slaves! Hmph, betraying us—neither of them is any good!" Tiger Two cursed angrily. They had nearly dragged everyone into ruin; even a thousand deaths and ten thousand cuts would not have been enough for such men.

Swallow Mountain joined in. "Right! Let's go together and show them!"

"Absolutely not!" De-shu said. "We have only just subdued the monsters. If we let momentary hatred blind us now, then we'll truly be finished!"

De-shu was the first to think clearly. Weather-beaten and seasoned by hardship, he was greedy for profit, yes, but he also understood that some benefits could be obtained only through endless toil, while others, even if effortless to seize, must not be sought.

"Don't rush. We'll make other plans. Those two traitors aren't worth risking our lives over again."

Luo Gan continued searching, but the next step brought no further guidance. Then, suddenly, his heart stirred. He thought of Jun Tao, who had gone far away amid the calamity. Regrettably, the girl he had taken a liking to was not by his side to witness his heroic bearing.

The clatter of hoofbeats rang out repeatedly, and somewhere in the distance came the jingle of bells. A small sedan chair sped toward them from afar, gauze curtains fluttering. The coachman leaned his head slightly back, seeming utterly at ease, while the carriage rolled, swaying, toward Luo Gan.

Luo Gan stared dazedly, imagining some ingenious and exquisite maiden, jade-like and translucent, pure and flawless, one glance from whom could make all beings lose their hearts.

A pair of jade-white hands reached from within the carriage, signaling the coachman to stop before Luo Gan. He froze, and Tiger Two and the others were even more puzzled.

At last, a head peeked out from the carriage. It was Jun Tao! Those tender, captivating eyes looked straight at Luo Gan, and Tiger Two felt awkward inside, turning slightly aside.

"Long... long time no see!" Luo Gan finally managed to force out those words after a long silence.

Rouge colored her face, and her vermilion lips parted ever so slightly, as though they too were touched by a passing breeze. Jun Tao stepped down from the sedan and walked toward Luo Gan.

"Long time? I was only away for a month."

A month? We have been busy in Anping for so long that Luo Gan suddenly felt a little dazed. The weather had grown confused, and time itself seemed out of order. From autumn to winter had taken less than two months, and in the blink of an eye it had become spring again. He did not know whether the disorder in time was caused by the Sima residence, or by some overworked game programmer who simply hated overtime.

"Jun Tao... where did you go? Why were you gone so long?" Luo Gan asked, somewhat shyly, too embarrassed to speak plainly of his feelings, his manner suddenly timid and unlike his usual decisive self.

"Chang'an. About that..." Jun Tao instinctively took Luo Gan's hand. Luo Gan's face turned red at once. Swallow Mountain understood immediately, exchanged a glance with De-shu, and the two of them quietly stepped back to give them space. Seeing Tiger Two standing there in a daze, they pulled him away as well.

Tiger Two and Luo Gan looked at each other, both utterly embarrassed.

"Come on, let's go! I think the girl next door is pretty good-looking. Swallow Mountain, come with me and take a look!" Tiger Two called out loudly, trying to hide the faint stirring in his heart.

Luo Gan turned to look at Jun Tao. With such a beauty beside him, what more could he desire? Governor Lu, Wang Gemao's reward—what were they to him? What had the world to do with me? He could not help breaking into a happy smile.

"What was it you just said?"

Jun Tao said, "It's all because of that shopkeeper. He insisted on holding some hundred-flowers exhibition of talent, and now the Emperor wishes to watch a dance performance. He has named certain people and ordered them to go to Chang'an together."

Luo Gan was still greatly shocked. The reigning emperor was Li Shimin, and Emperor Taizong of Tang was renowned as a sagely ruler. If he had specifically named people to perform, it must be no ordinary affair. Yet history bore no record of such matters—not to mention any dance, or even anything concerning Anping at all.

The more he thought about it, the less he could make out what the Emperor truly intended.

"What can I do for you, then?"

"Come with me. I had someone cast a divination, and it said the road ahead will be perilous. I'm terribly uneasy."

Luo Gan laughed. "A fortune-teller? Ridiculous. Only the ancients would be superstitious enough for that. What could a divination like that possibly tell you? Don't listen to him!"

He spoke with such conviction that Jun Tao seemed to have taken a strong tonic; she nodded again and again.

"If you can say that, I feel much more at ease. To think they even wanted me to find a man surnamed Luo to accompany me—how unreasonable is that!"

Hearing that, Luo Gan quickly changed his tone. "But as the saying goes, when preparations are thorough, the mind grows idle; and when one sees something often, one no longer doubts it. We can't listen to others all the time, nor can we refuse to listen at all, right?"

Jun Tao asked in confusion, "Then what should I do?"

After a moment's thought, Luo Gan made up his mind. "No problem. I'll accompany you."

Jun Tao was overjoyed, and the two of them chatted happily.

At the gate, Yuan, who had waited for a long time, watched the members of the Bamboo Grove Guild and smiled knowingly.

"Enjoy yourselves. The real show has only just begun."