Chapter 1040: There Are Sea Creatures in the Sea (5)

Qing’s mornings were early, but leisurely.

She would wake naturally and quietly from sleep at the crack of dawn, so considering her usual conduct, you would think she was the type to sprawl out and sleep until the sun was high overhead, but why?

Because Qing was, for all that, a Taoist adept—in other words, astonishingly enough, a cultivator of Taoist arts!

But unlike ordinary Taoist adepts, who rose in the blue-black dawn, straightened their robes, recited sacred formulae, burned incense, and welcomed the new day, Qing’s mornings were truly lazy.

The moment she woke up, with her mind only half awake and the lingering aftertaste of sleep still clinging to her, she had to lazily move her arms and legs for no reason and enjoy the feel of the blanket against her skin.

Then she had to lie there for a while and squirm around, thinking, What was I going to do today again, what should I do today, what do I want to do today... haaahm....

That was Qing’s morning, and the pleasure she savored from the very start of the day.

So today as well, in that dazed state of being half awake and half asleep, with the sound of Jayeo softly snoring, and then another soft snore from the human thermostat, Cold Aura Seol Iri, perhaps because Jayeo was sprawled on top of her chest, and Gongsun Yoye’s even little breaths going hiss-hiss, and above all, the shhhhhhhh, the dull sound of rain falling somewhere far away, everything felt indescribably refreshing....

Mm. Rain really did sound nice.

And the reason it suddenly made her crave grilled pork belly and scallion pancakes was probably because rain sounded kind of like food sizzling and crackling on a hot iron griddle. Mm, now she wanted cold noodles too, slurped down with the pork belly. Cold noodles needed two circles of vinegar and mustard over the top....

Huh? The sound of rain?

Qing’s eyes snapped open.

The rain she heard from beyond the papered lattice outer wall, so typical of hot Shanghai, somehow sounded far from ordinary.

At that, Qing carefully slid free with a soft slither, like a snake, trying not to wake her friends. Well, there were people on both sides of her, so of course she had to go downward. Then she slipped on the sleepwear she had shed like an empty skin and carefully opened the outer paper door.

SHHHAAAAA—.

Mm. It was raining pretty hard.

Damn it, they were supposed to go see the sea today, so why did it have to rain today of all days...?

“Miss Seomun? No, Qing?”

“Hm? Yoye? You’re up? Mm, it’s raining.”

“Well, of course. It’s monsoon season. I mean, because it’s monsoon season. This year’s monsoon came a bit late. I mean, late.”

“Mm. Does this area get hit hard during monsoon season?”

“Of course. It gets damp every single day, and it rains and rains, but the heat lets up a little, and the sound of rain is nice, so personally I don’t dislike it. I mean, I don’t.”

“Ugh. Come to think of it, of course it’s monsoon season, and here I was planning to go see the sea.”

Qing muttered regretfully.

They said the day you went to market was the day the market opened, and honestly, if it had rained just one day earlier, maybe the city would not have caught fire. Somehow the timing just did not line up.

Though really, it was more accurate to say that it was raining because there had been a fire yesterday, but she was only grumbling because she was disappointed anyway.

“Mmm. But is it going to rain a lot...?”

“When the monsoon comes late, it usually rains heavily. It’s already raining quite a lot now.”

“Huh?”

Qing tilted her head.

“This counts as a lot? Then usually it doesn’t rain harder than this?”

“Wouldn’t you call this a lot? It’s not like a typhoon came through. I mean, it didn’t.”

Typhoon was typhoon in the Central Plains too. Depending on the region, it could also be called a violent windstorm or a great storm, but still.

Qing’s eyes narrowed.

What was this, this counted as heavy rain?

In monsoon season?

Man, the monsoon around here was nothing special.

Well, Jagwi County, where the Priestess Order stood, was one of the places in the Central Plains that got the fiercest monsoons of all.

The Hubei region, with the enormous volume of water pouring out of its vast water systems, was inland, so the air stagnated there, leaving everything damp and muggy and suffocating enough to stop your breath cold, boasting a truly monstrous monsoon.

And then those soaked rainclouds would hit the Musan Mountain Range near Jagwi and dump everything they had.

The monsoon at the Priestess Order was a literal water bombardment. The rain came down in smacking, pounding sheets so hard your skin would sting if you stood in it, crashing down with almost the force of a waterfall.

Compared to that, this?

Was not this basically just a drizzle?

Qing’s eyes flashed.

It was the look that appeared whenever her uselessly powerful impulse to act kicked in—the look of someone who did things first and thought later, who acted before she thought whenever something caught her attention.

And then, a little later.

After they had modestly filled their stomachs with an enormous spread of morning food and cooking, and then neatly finished things off with sweet pastries and tea as a light palate cleanser after the meal—

Sure enough.

Qing made her declaration.

“We are now going to the sea.”

“Ooh. We are now going to the sea.”

Jayeo repeated it right back, faint starlight flickering in her black eyes.

Faint though it was, for Jayeo, whose eyes usually had so little shine to them, that counted as dazzling.

The rest of the group, however, did not look especially supportive.

“Seomun—no, Qing—that might be a bit much, do you not think? I mean, it’s not that I dislike it, but if you absolutely insist on going, there is nothing to be done, I mean, nothing to be done.”

“No.”

“Hah.”

Those were, in order, Gongsun Yoye, Seol Iri, and Peng Daesan’s reactions. Though, hmm, Yoye really needed to settle on whether she was speaking casually or formally. Maybe she still needed time to get used to it.

Still, Gongsun Yoye was not refusing cleanly, and in the first place, being someone with no friends, she was not really in a position to be forceful no matter what the matter was.

And Seol Iri had simply shut her mouth tight after a single, “No.”

Peng Daesan frowned at the two of them, then finally realized that the only person here who could actually say what needed to be said was him.

“You’re saying we should go to the sea? In this weather?”

“Of course. What’s stopping us? In the first place, if it rains, you get rained on. If it snows, you get snowed on. If hail starts pouring down, well, okay, hail is a little different, but still. Anyway, isn’t that the fate of a martial artist? What, is a martial artist supposed to choose their weather before a fight? ‘You killed my parents! But it’s raining today, so let us postpone our life-and-death duel until next time. Come to think of it, monsoon season has only just begun, so I’ll come back around the end of next month!’ Is that how it works? Why stop there, then? If that’s how it is, should people only fight in spring and fall, when the weather is cool and clear and perfect for moving around? Roaming around in weather like this is training too, right? It all turns into flesh and blood, and later, when I have to fight in the rain, it could become precious experience that saves my life.”

Qing’s ultimate technique!

Making complete bullshit sound plausible!

Gongsun Yoye, who was truly serious and diligent when it came to training, looked so solemn that she practically seemed to be thinking, I see! So that’s how it is!

But Peng Daesan only shook his head.

“Just because you have a mouth does not mean you are meant to say anything that comes into it. And if you are formally setting a date for a life-and-death duel, people do, in fact, tend to avoid bad weather.”

“Huh. Really?”

“If a date has been formally set, that means the duel will take place before witnesses, and bad weather is discourteous to them as well.”

“Mm. That makes sense, but what if a situation comes up where you have no choice but to fight in the rain? Are you going to say, ‘Wait! Let’s do it after the rain stops!’ and put it off then too?”

“Hmph. Even if that were true, how does it become a reason to go sightseeing while getting soaked in the rain?”

“Damn it. This isn’t working. Ah, whatever. Anyway, I’m going. I’m going to see the sea. San can stay here and live indoors. Or else offer an alternative. If we’re not going to the sea, what are we doing instead?”

“Well, that—”

This too was one of the techniques of argument.

If you are not going to suggest an alternative or a solution, do not criticize irresponsibly!

At first glance, it sounded plausible, but in reality, there was hardly any logic as cowardly as that.

Anyone could criticize something. Saying, “If you have no solution, then keep quiet,” really just meant that, on any given issue, people should shut up and watch.

Still, Peng Daesan also did not exactly have anything he needed to do right now, so all he could do was close his mouth in faint irritation.

“All right, all right, then we’ll decide by vote. I want to go to the sea right now. Raise your right arm. If you say we can’t go to the sea because it’s raining, raise your left foot and right foot.”

“Me. Jayeo does.”

Qing and Jayeo shot their right hands into the air.

Honestly, if the opposition had included people like Jin Jangmyeong or Zhuge Ihyeon, the sort who had no issue throwing away face and making fools of themselves, or someone like Sima Chunbong, with her blazing competitive spirit, they absolutely would have raised both feet to express themselves clearly.

But apparently, no one here was quite willing to lift both legs high in the air just to object.

The stinging sense that several gazes were landing on her made Qing clear her throat and revise the wording.

“If you say we can’t go out because it’s raining, because getting wet might make you catch a cold and anyway it’s dangerous and scary and you hate rain so, so much, and if the weather is not bright and sunny you are too cowardly to ever step outside, raise your left arm.”

Qing did her best to rig the wording with some slick talk, but Seol Iri and Peng Daesan steadfastly raised their left hands.

At this point, even sheer stubbornness would make a person raise a hand.

And so Gongsun Yoye, who had suddenly become the one holding the rudder of the group’s destination, hesitated.

Qing’s face turned toward Gongsun Yoye, and seeing that, Jayeo added backup with eyes that sparkled a little less than before.

In the end, Gongsun Yoye timidly raised her right hand.

“There, see? Six in favor, two opposed. The motion for a seaside outing has passed. Bang bang bang.”

“Bang bang bang.”

Qing announced it while tapping the table three times with a spoon, and Jayeo, not knowing what it meant, copied her father all the same—bang bang bang.

“But why is it six to two? There are only five people here. Where did the other three hands come from?”

“Well, because Jayeo counts as four votes, obviously. Really, if Jayeo wants to go, then we go. Isn’t that what parents are for?”

If Jayeo counted as four votes, then from the beginning she had been capable of defeating the other three all by herself.

At that, Peng Daesan’s momentum visibly weakened.

The kid wanted to go, after all.

“Even if Jayeo has learned martial arts, she is still a child. Even a martial artist, if they get soaked through and then overdo it, can end up bedridden.”

“Sure, a kid might. But come on, not a martial artist. What kind of martial artist gets hit by a little rain and then starts wheezing and ends up bedridden, hm?”

Quite suddenly, Qing’s head turned toward Seol Iri.

“No.”

“I didn’t even say anything yet?”

“No.”

Even if the person herself denied it, something that had happened could not simply unhappen. There really was a martial artist right here who had gotten rained on and then lain sick with fever.

“Come on, let’s at least go and see. We can rent a big carriage, and if it starts pouring too hard, we can just rest inside. Besides, it’s not like we’re staying here until monsoon season ends anyway, right? Wherever we go, getting rained on is all the same.”

“Mm.”

In Peng Daesan-style speech, hm meant he disliked something, while mm meant he did not really have anything left to say.

Which also meant he would not object any further.

At that, Qing sprang to her feet and hurried the group along.

“All right, all right, let’s get moving first. We should buy some good rain cloaks too. We’ll need to arrange a carriage, and since it doesn’t seem like there’ll be anywhere proper to eat, we should buy food in advance too. First, let’s get out there.”

And so, at last, to the sea!