A Touch Of Irony

"Her laughter floats on the wind, bewitching him so~

He closes his eyes, his heart brought low~

Unable to speak his mind, his heart remains closed~

A call to arms, wrests him from home, words left unsaid, she'd never know~

The seeds of love, still left unsown~

Wait for him, sweet summer rose~"

As he listens to the song, Fang Lei's patience slowly depletes until he has none left. After ignoring the annoying merchant for most of the journey, he abruptly turns around and raises a domineering fist and shouts, "Shut up, ah! Why are you so irritating? I can tolerate you if you're silent because I can at least pretend you don't exist… but if you're singing, it's like you're nagging in my ear!"

Wen Po pauses, before a huge grin appears upon his lips. "Oh, so you finally turned back to look at me. Great! Aren't you hungry after walking for so long?"

Fang Lei realizes he's fallen into Wen Po's trap. Almost immediately, he turns around once more and begins to walk at a faster pace, fuming.

Though his pace does increase, it's nothing for Wen Po. After all, Wen Po is a traveling merchant, he's gone to many places by foot. It would be strange if he wasn't fit enough to catch up to Fang Lei. He resumes, even louder:

"O wait for him, sweet summer rose~

What could've been, fate only knows~

His return, years in the making~

His return, long years of waiting~

Your mother is, a dame worth dating—"

"OI, ONE OF THOSE LINES DOESN'T FIT WITH THE OTHERS!" Fang Lei turns back, his indignant expression meeting Wen Po's surprisingly childlike laughter.

"You are so…!!" The young man starts, but for some reason, he just can't seem to stay angry. The merchant's genuine amus.e.m.e.nt is disarming.

"...So what? Handsome? Intelligent? Charismatic? Because I know that, thank you!" Wen Po says after another bout of laughter, clearly in high spirits.

"...Narcissistic." Fang Lei finishes, although with an apparent lack of his usual venom.

Hearing this, Wen Po puts on an expression of feigned hurt, "Well, I'm sorry you feel that way, but I can compliment myself less now, since we're about to arrive at Huaxi Village."

Fang Lei is about to retort, before he glances over and sees the village just in his view. For once, Wen Po wasn't joking. Thank goodness.

According to his leads, it appears Xu Jiyu and Liu Jian had recently left this village. If he could get more information here to find out where they went, then continuing to trail them wouldn't be too difficult.

"Since we're here, leave me alone, stupid old man. We're finally off that god-awful road, so you'd better not follow me." Fang Lei says, and without looking back, he walks over to a young maiden and begins to converse with her.

Wen Po doesn't respond. Instead, he watches the adorable man go about his business, deep in thought.

"Hello sister, I was wondering if you saw anything unusual recently? Specifically in the morning?" Fang Lei questions her with a sweet smile. The girl immediately melts upon seeing this irresistible meng!

"Ahh… yes, I just woke up this morning, lying in the dirt outside! It seems everyone in this village were possessed by spirits. But luckily, they're all gone now!" She replies with a friendly demeanor.

After a moment of thought, she adds, "But… I do have to say, the first thing I saw when I woke up was an extremely handsome man with an exposed c.h.e.s.t. He was bridal-carrying a good-looking youth in his arms as they rode off into the sky together on a sword! It was so… so… kyaa!" The maiden squeals, swooning upon remembering the scene she had saw with her own eyes. "They were the picture of the perfect couple!! Totally hot, ahhhh!!"

Fang Lei's face fills with black lines, but the girl was too busy fangirling over her fantasy to notice. He has the sudden urge to leave…

The young man says, "Thank you, sister! I'll be going now…"

He slips away and manages to get away from that crazy girl, who was still squealing about 'sh.i.p.s' and 'pairings'. Women are such mysterious creatures, ah! Fang Lei just doesn't understand them at all!