When Ruan Zeqiu woke up, a delicious scent had filled the cave. He blearily opened one eye and looked in the direction from where the scent was coming. At first, he was confused, as he couldn’t understand what was going on, but then, as he continued to stare hard in that direction, Ruan Zeqiu suddenly sat up straight. His eyes widened, and he questioned Ruan Chanchan, "Sister, what are you doing? Just what do you think you are doing?"
He stared at the holy flame that was burning underneath the stone and then looked at the meat that was smoking on top of the stone slab. Ruan Zeqiu, who had never seen something like this before, couldn’t help but scramble to his feet. He said to Ruan Chanchan, "Sister, you just cannot steal the holy flame like this? This is something that the Beast Goddess had blessed us with last summer. Quick, take it back to Priestess Yuan."
He was worried that if the tribe member found out that Ruan Chanchan had stolen the holy flame for doing something so weird and useless, what was the point of putting a stone slab over the holy flame and then putting the cured meat on top of it? It looked stupid, no matter how he looked at it.
When Ruan Chanchan heard his words, she was amused. She said to him, "I didn’t take this holy flame from Priestess Yuan’s cave. Do you think that I can steal something so important without anyone catching me? If you don’t believe me, then you can go and take a look at Priestess Yuan’s cave."
No sooner had she spoken than Ruan Zeqiu really turned around on his feet and bolted right out of the cave. Seeing how fast the mer was running, Ruan Chanchan couldn’t help but blink her eyes in sheer shock. Damn, was she that untrustworthy? She thought that she had done quite a good job in winning the trust of this brother of hers. Who would have thought that despite all the hard work that she had put into him, this mer still doubted her?
That little jerk!
Ruan Zeqiu had no idea that he had offended his beloved sister. He rushed to Priestess Yuan’s cave, and if not for the fact that he couldn’t simply barge inside her cave, he would have done it. However, he couldn’t because that would be rude. So he could only wait outside and call for Priestess Yuan.
"Priestess Yuan, are you in there?"
The old priestess was eating her dinner at the moment when she heard Ruan Zeqiu’s voice; she frowned and looked up.
"Zeqiu? What happened to him? Did something happen to Chanchan?" Priestess Yuan mused as she slowly got to her feet.
Yuan Ni watched his grandmother stand up and slowly followed her out, but he was quite annoyed. He couldn’t understand why the Ruan siblings were so rude; how could they come to look for his grandmother in the middle of the night? What if she had already gone to sleep?
Don’t tell him. Yuan Ni paused and started thinking. What if Ruan Chanchan came to see him? Maybe she was playing with him in the afternoon, and when he didn’t chase after her, she came to look for him?
As this thought surged in his head, he pursed his lips and went back inside the cave. Yuan Ni was more or less certain that he was indeed on the right track. And that Ruan Chanchan came to see him under the pretext of looking for his grandmother.
Yuan Ni had no idea that the woman he was avoiding wasn’t even there.
Something that surprised Priestess Yuan as well. She looked at Ruan Zeqiu, who was standing in front of her cave, panting heavily. When she saw that Ruan Chanchan was not beside Ruan Zeqiu, she couldn’t help but frown hard. "What is going on, Zeqiu? Why did you come looking for me all of a sudden?"
Only now did Ruan Zeqiu realise that he was a bit impulsive. He should have thought things through before coming to look for Priestess Yuan, but in his hurry, he didn’t even think things through. However, when he thought about the mess they might have to face tomorrow morning if his sister really took the holy flame away, he gritted his teeth and questioned Priestess Yuan, "Priestess, the holy flame... is it still with you?"
Priestess Yuan frowned upon hearing his question. She said to him, "Of course it’s with me. Who do you think will have it if not for me?"
When Ruan Zeqiu heard that Priestess Yuan really didn’t lose the holy flame, he was stunned. If the priestess didn’t lose the holy flame, where did his sister get the holy flame from? For a few seconds, his head went blank, but then he thought about it carefully and remembered the identity of his sister.
Holy One.
Wasn’t this what everyone called his sister? If his sister was the holy one, was it that hard for her to create the holy flames? The more he thought about it, the more Ruan Zeqiu realised that his thoughts did make sense.
"Zeqiu!"
Ruan Zeqiu snapped out of his thoughts and let out a dumb ’huh?’
Priestess Yuan sighed with a helpless smile on her lips. She said to Ruan Zeqiu, "Tell me, did your sister procure the holy flame?"
"How do you know this, Priestess?" Before Ruan Zeqiu could stop himself, he ended up blurting out the truth.
When Priestess Yuan heard his response, she couldn’t help but sigh. Her sigh was filled with deep emotions, as she had to admit that Ruan Chanchan’s development was even faster than she had expected.
She smiled at Ruan Zeqiu, who was staring at her stupidly. Reaching out, she patted the young mer on the head. She said to Ruan Zeqiu, "Your sister is blessed, Zeqiu. Try not to think too much about her actions, alright? As Chanchan is destined to make big changes, she will definitely do things that will be beyond your understanding alright?"