I'm really not the Saviour! (我唔係救主囖!) [danmei/BL xuanhuan]

24 - It's the Jade Exorcist

A/N: Chapter 3/8 to be published between 30 Oct and 3 Dec.

***

For the second time, Chan Bik and Cheng Baak-hap clapped their hands to Gaam Yuk Ying's mouth, although they both glared at Gou Hei Lok. The young woman, her eyes soft and wide, smiled back at them.

"Miss Gou, are you trying to pick a fight?"

"Not at all. It's an honest question. Why don't you let Yuk Ying answer?"

"Don't call him so familiarly," Cheng Baak-hap admonished. "Gaam Si-hing has no need to prove himself to you."

"So long as Cousin Dzing likes him, it's fine, is it? Cheng Si-dze, are you really so naïve?"

"Are you?" Gaam Yuk Ying asked, flicking the girls' hands away with a single finger.

"Excuse me?"

"You're excused."

Gou Hei Lok frowned slightly. "I meant, please explain what you mean. Are you saying I'm naïve?"

"Whatever you like."

"You've actually got a really horrible personality, don't you?"

"Did you mistake me for a mirror?"

Cheng Baak-hap smothered a laugh behind her sleeve and used her other to cover Chan Bik's expression.

Gou Hei Lok sighed and shook her head pityingly. "A sharp tongue, huh? That's still not enough."

"Don't talk about Gaam Si-hing as if you know him," Chan Bik warned, pulling Cheng Baak-hap's hand away. "You think you understand him from a single look and a few words, do you think you're some kind of Ascended being? That's an awfully high opinion to have of yourself."

"Oh, so I take it that you don't care about your family's contract to supply us with crops?" Gou Hei Lok remarked airily. With a sly smile, she turned to follow the rest of her family, who had begun trailing after the patriarch and Gou Dzing.

"You-!" Chan Bik looked ready to burn Gou Hei Lok alive, but a hand grasped hers.

"Are you saying you have the power to break highly important trade agreement," Cheng Baak-hap said softly, "one that involves significant amounts of money and goods, simply because of a small disagreement? When you are not of the direct lineage? And when the people you argued with are good friends of the eldest son of the Gou Family?"

The muscles under Gou Hei Lok's eyes went taut, and she turned away without responding.

Chan Bik was shaking. "How did you respond so quickly and cleverly to her, Cheng Si-dze? I'm so angry, I couldn't even speak."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm very angry too. But in a situation like this, the one who gets the most angry loses." She squeezed Chan Bik's hand. "Are you okay, Gaam Si-hing?"

"Didn't itch or scratch."

"Do you ever get bothered by anything?" Chan Bik asked curiously. "No, wait, I've seen Gou Si-hing can get under your skin sometimes. He's the only one, huh?"

"We're getting left behind," Gaam Yuk Ying commented, carefully leading Grandmother Gou. She was evidently quite deaf, as she had not made any reactions during the argument.

Gou Dzing and his grandfather walked slowly too, occasionally turning to look at the group behind them. The attitude with which they did it, however, could not be any more different; Grandfather Gou's gaze was full of mistrust and concern, his grandson's bright and warm. They all somehow ended up in an audience box that the Gou Family had purchased for the tournament, although they caught a look from Gou Hei Lok when it was clear that there were not enough seats for everyone.