WangXian Forever Book 9: The Flower Demon

Chapter 72 Technicolour

Hui Gai smiled with all of his teeth, pointed and dangerous looking. His red lips gleamed in the dim light.

"That's a very good question. What do you think you're supposed to do with it?"

Uncle Qiren's eyes widened in a panic and Wei Ying noticed his ears had gone completely red...so it was a Lan trait that extended to all of the Lans...interesting...

He decided to help Uncle Qiren out.

"It's a fish...and it's really beautiful." He said, smiling at his best friend.

"Good guess, but look closer." Hui Gai had taken off the white sack to reveal a clear fishbowl.

Inside the water, there was upon first examination, a beautiful multicoloured fish. Its pink and blue scales shimmered in the dark room until XiChen lit more candles to see it better. Now, the fish glowed with green and yellow iridescent fins...but there appeared to be another body underneath it.

"I'm not eating that!" Uncle Qiren announced with a huff.

"You savage!" Hui Gai clutched his chest in mock outrage. "I thought you guys were vegetarians? And your first thought was eating this? This remarkable and, might I add, very rare species of Emperor Shrimp? He's catching a cool ride on a sea slug. And it's that sea slug we're interested in."

"They're so cute!" Wei Ying came closer, and then he narrowed his gaze. "Are you sure that's all they're doing? Because...maybe we shouldn't interrupt them right now..."

"REGARDLESS OF WHAT THEY'RE DOING..." Uncle Qiren paused his shouting to take a closer look, made a face and continued, "I AM NOT PUTTING THAT ANYWHERE NEAR ME!"

"Alright, alright, keep your hair on!" Hui Gai tutted, and then promptly zapped Uncle Qiren to knock him unconscious. "Sorry PengYou, it might be better if he's not awake, then."

"You're right, he's still in shock I guess, after waking up like that..." Wei Ying threw an arm casually around Hui Gai's shoulders. "So...if he doesn't have to eat it, how is the cure administered?"

"The guy who sold it to us said the sea slug emits a protein on its body, but only when the Emperor Shrimp is riding him...so I guess we wanna wipe the slug all over the affected areas?" Zago informed him, with a sly grin. "So who's up for it?"

They all looked at XiChen, who glanced behind himself, just to make sure there wasn't anyone there, and they were talking to him.

Unfortunately...the space behind him was empty.

"I'm sure this type of sensitive task is better suited to someone with expertise in that field. I would not want to risk failure..." XiChen ended, shifting from one foot to the other.

"Fine! I'll do it!" Zago muttered, mumbling under her breath about supposed warriors and chickens.

Wei Ying lifted Uncle Qiren and placed him carefully on the bed. It was late in the afternoon anyway, so there was no point uncovering the windows for light; XiChen placed the candles he had already lit, closer to Uncle Qiren.

Wei Ying wasn't satisfied with that amount of light and quickly produced a light talisman, which he flung towards the ceiling. Instantly, light flooded the room before he stabilised it to be bright enough for their requirements.

Zago hovered above Uncle Qiren while Hui Gai held the bowl close to her. She scowled and plunged her hand inside, lifting both sea creatures out of the water and immediately, the sea slug secreted a large amount of gloop.

And it had a ... certain smell to it.

Zago was ruthlessly applying the slime to Uncle Qiren's face, a hefty amount where his eyebrows had been, and then targeting his mouth and chin. She had to keep dunking the sea creatures back in the water so they wouldn't suffocate.

"What shall we do with them...after?" Wei Ying asked, admiring Zago's ability not to gag.

People like this should receive all the lollipops they wanted after performing a service like this, he thought, watching Zago discreetly wiping her hands on Uncle Qiren's robes after she was done.

"Oh, we have to go give it back, the bowl, the sea slug, and the shrimp. We only borrowed them..." Hui Gai said, with a grin.

"And now what? How will we know whether the treatment was successful or not?" XiChen was asking.

"I would have thought that would be quite obvious, no?" Hui Gai gestured towards Uncle Qiren's face, pointedly.

"I think he means when?" Wei Ying whispered.

"Oh, right. What did that guy say?" Hui Gai asked Zago.

She shrugged.

"Anyway, we have to go return this." Hui Gai grabbed the fishbowl and vanished, along with Zago.

"I suppose overnight?" Wei Ying said, edging towards the door. "And I better go check on Lan Zhan." He left quickly, leaving XiChen watching Uncle Qiren sleeping.

**********

Wei Ying was still upset by the news that both XiChen and Lan Zhan had received marriage proposals.

So what if they had rejected them?

That wasn't the point at all!

He stomped out of Uncle Qiren's quarters and then remembered the children, who were holding hands and watching the door like hawks.

"Is Grumple alright?" Li XiWang asked as he approached.

"Yep, he's going to be." Wei Ying said, forcing his jealousy back so it wouldn't affect his interactions with his children.

The moon tree threw Wei Ying another two flowers and after he thanked her, Wei Ying tucked one each behind the ears of his kids.

They walked slowly back to the Jingshi, and that's when Hui Gai appeared alone. He held out his arms towards both Li XiWang and Rumi, who ran towards him. "Oge misses them." He said, glancing at Wei Ying. "Wanna go play with Klem and Jez?" The shrieks of joy were enough for Hui Gai to give Wei Ying one last grin, before vanishing.

Wei Ying was a little bit glad about this; now he could get some answers out of a husband who may or may not be awake...