BXBX NOVEL Chapter 21: The First Night
Chapter 21: The First Night
"…"
"That old f*cking scoundrel."
And just like that Di Tou\'s state of relative Zen and his good mood was shattered again.
Inside the hole there wasn\'t much, there were two scrolls that could be considered p*rnography, 4 small jars of wine, and two pieces of women\'s lingerie.
For a second Di Tou was considering where or not he should burn the p*rnography and lingerie to purify his mind and the living space, but after imagining Mu Di Bai\'s smiling face…
Hehe.
It was better to live after all.
In his heart, however, Di Tou put a black mark next to Mu Di Bai\'s name, while removing the categorization of "loyal husband."
Over the next 15 minutes, Di Tou did his best to move the four jars of wine over by the writing table, while doing his best not to accidently shatter or damage any of the jars. While they seemed like they were of a high quality, they were also formed of some sort of porcelain, and after being burned for an unknown period of time seemed exceedingly fragile.
As for the scrolls and lingerie…
It was probably best to just leave it there and pretend it didn\'t exist.
After slotting the elevated bit of floor back into its slot, Di Tou felt rather reinvigorated. While it was true it was just wine and unmentionables, figuring out one of Mu Di Bai\'s secrets… Felt really f*cking good.
While at the end of the day he was still under the old man\'s thumb, a minor victory was nonetheless a victory. As for celebrations…
Di Tou looked at the wine jars.
The wine jars: O_O "What are you thinking of doing?"
Di Tou smiled and grabbed a teacup (it had been resting on top of the desk and was most likely paired with the tea leaves) and the tea knife (used to break apart the tea cake into smaller pieces) off the desk.
Then brutally stabbed into one of the wine jars with the tea knife, trying to get rid of the layers of wrapping paper.
After another five or so minutes of labor, Di Tou managed to make a sizable hole in the wrapping paper and managed to unseal the jar.
Surprisingly, however, Di Tou couldn\'t smell anything even after he had unsealed the jar.
"That old man… He wouldn\'t have hidden fake wine would he have..?"
While he was confused, Di Tou felt like he had already gotten this far, so he should at least taste the wine so that his efforts wouldn\'t be wasted.
Pouring a bit of the wine into the cup, he found that the wine was clear like water, but also had a certain murkiness to it.
Putting the jar back on the ground with its comrades and bringing the cup to the table to sit down as his back was aching from the labor. Di Tou took another sniff once again found there was no smell.
"Is this really just water?"
Hesitating, Di Tou held the tea cup in his hand before lifting it to his mouth and taking a small sip, before placing the cup back on the desk.
"This wi-"
And then Di Tou passed out.
*The Next Morning*
"Crocuroo Koo-"
"Mmm… 5 more minutes… Cmon RuRu… just fi-" As Di Tou tried to roll over to scratch his back, he fell out of the chair.
"F*ck."
Di Tou lay on the floor dazed for a bit, trying to figure out what was going on.
Where was his bed?
What time was it?
Did he miss work?
"Ngh. My back hurts."
Picking himself up off the ground and stretching a bit, Di Tou clicked all the pieces back together in his mind, and looked at his hands that were covered in wrinkles.
"Hiash… It\'s not just a dream."
As Di Tou was about to feel down on himself.
*Grumble*
Di Tou was feeling hungry, looking over at the desk, if he remembered correctly all there was where some peanuts, and then... Di Tou paused, looking at the cup of wine that was still mostly full on the table. And then some untouchable things.
Well what was inevitable was bound to come, it looked like it was time for Di Tou to head out and try to blend in as Mu Di Bai.
But how exactly should he go about that?
After all, Mu Di Bai wasn\'t exactly an easy to read person. Di Tou had thought he had understood the man for the most part for a while, but then the presence he had after the Mandate arrived changed Di Tou\'s entire impression of the man.
If it was to be said the man was flippant and carefree that would be incorrect as the man could instantly become serious and deadly.
If it was to be said that he was a serious and honest person, that would be even more incorrect, as as far as Di Tou could tell the man\'s skin was as thick as an elephant\'s.
Even if it was to be said that Mu Di Bai was a flippant and shameless person. The question had to be asked: was that how he acted at work!?
Probably not… right? Who would be that insane?
So, in the end, Di Tou was back to square one.
In the end Di Tou decided… F*ck it. He was too hungry and his back hurt too much to think about this anymore right now. Either way it was an unsolvable problem, he might as well act a little cranky and standoffish, at most people would think he was in a bad mood.
But before he left, he had one more thing to do.
Di Tou went over to the dresser, ignoring the dress, and took out a simple grey robe to change into. After all, his current clothing could be at best considered a bit better then what a villager wore, and he had slept in them not once but twice now. It would be better to dress the part.
Then, checking to make sure he had both bags of currency and his identification token that he got from Mu Di Bai, Di Tou headed out.
After taking about 10 steps out of the house, he turned back to get an image of it in his mind so he wouldn\'t get lost later. After all, how would he explain to someone that he was looking for his own room?
Looking at the building from the outside, it opened up right into the street, but had an adjoined courtyard that sat to the left of the room and wrapped around behind it. The courtyard itself was rather barren, with only a small stone table and two small stone stools and a shed.
The building was some space away from it\'s neighbors, as they were all separated by courtyards and some grassy space in between, and the area as a whole didn\'t seem too populated or busy.
After he had a general sense of where he was, Di Tou turned around and decided to just start walking. After all, he didn\'t know the direction he should be headed, so any direction was the same.
Taking a deep breath, Di Tou put a slight scowl on his face and headed out.