Gale was momentarily lost as he watched the slender figure leave to warm his tea. She probably wouldn't be coming back to serve the tea after her bold reply.
"She grew bolder than I assumed," Wang Li said with a meaningful look. "I wonder, under whose bad influence she grew this flirty."
Of course, her eyes were pointing at the tall foreigner, who could only snort and ignore her claim silently.
"You know," Wang Li said and hesitated for a while. "You know, she likes you?"
"Of course," Gale said, "Everyone likes me. I'm very likeable."
Wang Li threw him a flat look, full of disapproval. "You know what I'm talking about."
Gale nodded after a while, finding the older woman serious.
"What do you think about that, then?"
"I think it was just teenage infatuation," Gale said immediately. "She'll get over it soon enough."
He couldn't wait to end this topic right there, right at that point. However, it was not to be as the Innkeeper seemed to be in the mood to get in the middle of this.
"What if it's more than just an infatuation?" Wang Li asked as if she was absolutely certain about it.
"We'll talk about that when the time comes," Gale said. "Honestly, I don't think it'll be an issue after she breaks out of the bubble of this little town."
Wang Li stared at him as if looking at a completely lost cause. "You don't understand women, do you?"
Gale snorted almost immediately. "I understand women better than most people," he said, with absolute certainty. "As for Xiaolin? She was but a girl, I'm sure she would get over whatever infatuation she had over me in time when she would be introduced to the broad world."
"Hmm," Wang Li hummed, looking at him, and considering his words.
"What?"
"Nothing," Wang Li said. "I was just wondering if you ever will be able to discard your Maidenless brand at this rate."
Gale glowered at her. "Women, you don't know me," Gale said, firm on his confidence. "Just point me to a woman, and I can assure you she'll be in the bag before sundown."
Wang Li gave him an incredulous look, clearly not believing his words. "It certainly doesn't look like you can pull something like that off," she said, her voice bearing the weight of a challenge.
"I'll show you," Gale said. "Tomorrow, just point me to the toughest woman you can find."
Wang Li snickered at last. She certainly hadn't expected the Master Scriber to be worked up about it like this. Perhaps it was a sensitive topic for most foreigners. Or this one in particular.
"Alright, we'll witness your charm at a later date," Wang Li said, coming back to the topic. "Anyway, you don't have a problem being in a relationship with someone who's your disciple, right?"
Gale narrowed his eyes. "Why are you so infatuated with these lines of questions today?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Just answer the question," Wang Li said. "I know It's nothing abnormal in the martial world for a master to have a relationship with their disciple. Of course, there are exceptions, some masters are too infatuated with spirit arts to care about anything else, but you don't seem like that kind of master to me."
Gale shook his head as he rested his bottom on the veranda. Still not prepared to give an answer. Of course, he knew all this. A relationship between a master and a disciple was almost a tradition if they were of the opposite sex in some places. There were even places where they practice this kind of relationship ardently.
Honestly, the reason behind all this wasn't just lust or simple desire. Practitioners live a long life, several hundred years if they made it to gold. Most of these practitioners hardly have any hobby other than practising spirit arts relentlessly for their life. Without war, a practitioner's life was more mundane than you can imagine. They are lonely creatures.
With the gap of the years lessening with their long age, it wasn't really taboo to get into a relationship with your disciple.
Honestly, there were too many fictions about these kinds of love stories that made the master-disciple relationship so popular. Lord Heartflame was one huge example of this. That fella was hella lucky getting to dig his master.
Honestly, Gale wouldn't have such a problem with it if he was doing it with his master, too. But unfortunately, his master was a dude and rougher than Gale himself most of the time.
'Wait, now that I consider it, I already had a relationship with my first master, didn't I?' Gale mused, remembering Saarya. The beautiful girl who had been wrongly enslaved, the ever-animated girl who introduced spirit arts to him.
Although they never went through the ceremony, Saarya had been his first master in this world.
"If you're worried about the age difference," Wang Li continued, "that shouldn't be an issue. By your words, you're barely six years older than her. Gosh! The man my family arranged for me to marry was over thirty years older than me and that's still within an acceptable range. In contrast to that, six years is nothing."
"It's not just about the age difference," Gale heard himself say.
"Then what else? Spirit arts and cultivation rank? I thought you never cared about that."
"I usually don't," Gale said, choosing his next words correctly, "but you should be aware the problem comes with large differences in ranks."
Wang Li's eyes narrowed as a pensive look appeared on her face. She bit her lips as she heard him say:
"I was talking about pain," Gale said straight away, "not anything to do with what you suffered."
The innkeeper's eyes winded, finally understanding the implication behind his words. She was just about to reply, but both of their attention was pulled towards the back, where they heard an easily audible grasp. Next came the clatter of feet moving on the floor.
Gale turned his head and stared at where the noise came from. He sighed. The eavesdropper had already moved on, but he wouldn't need to use his Qi sense or any supernatural ability to know who it was.
"I think we should drop the topic here," Gale said after a while.
Wang Li was thoughtful and nodded. From the look of her expression, it didn't seem like they had planned this. Then again, this wasn't really a secretive place to talk about such a sensitive topic, either. Even if their voice was on the lower side.
"I was just making sure, you aren't oblivious about this," Wang Li said, drawing a conclusion to the topic. "I needed to confirm that Xiaolin didn't get hurt by your obliviousness about the matter of the heart."
Honestly, it was too easy for her to see, this being a one-sided thing for Xiaolin for decades if she never managed the courage to take the next step.
Of course, Gale may be confident about flirting with most women, but he would never take the initiative towards someone he had a defined relationship with. With someone, he didn't look in that eye.
"I can see your concern is valid, but honestly, it was too early to consider," Gale said, sucking in a deep breath. "For now, I think she better focus on her spirit art, the lost potential wasn't that easy to get back after all."
Wang Li nodded. "Thank you for not disregarding my worries even though you're uncomfortable with this topic."
"No worries," Gale said, waving his palm. "Honesty, I stayed with you here to apologise."
Wang Li furrowed her brows, completely confused. "About what?"
"You remember that night, I gave you some advice about relationships without thinking about who and what I'm talking about?" Gale said. "I'm sorry if it affected you in some way. I shouldn't have told you to work harder. Marriage, or even a simple relationship, isn't just about working harder on your own. It was about working together, rather than apart."
Wang Li clearly wanted to say something in reply, but her lips quiver as she considers him. "You. . ." her voice trailed off. "You apologised for this already. Last time, you apologised and gifted chocolate for everyone."
"I did?" Gale frowned. Well, it was a sensitive topic, so he better be sure, his apology was heartfelt and she accepted it.
"I know it's hard," Gale said after a while, dropping his head. "I know what it's like to smile with everyone, yet bear such pain within you that tears you apart when alone. Even if the laughter is genuine and heartfelt, the pain never leaves you. It was genuine too.
"Honesty, I don't know what advice to give as I am a lost cause myself. I wish one day we can talk about our loss, regret, and failures with ease."
Gale stood up after saying that. He crept into the inn, leaving the aghast figure of Wang Li, who was still looking at him absent-mindedly.
***
Xiaolin's heart beat at a tremendous rate as she rushed somewhere to hide. The words she heard were still fresh in her mind, buzzing in her ears, throwing the tantrum of the anticipated future.
She would never have the courage to even think more about this. . .
Xiaolin crept in the familiar way of the inn, though the pathways were all confused in her head. Still, with the inn mostly being vacant, it wasn't hard for her to find an empty room.
Without considering anything, she rushed into the room, opened the closet and slid in. She couched inside and closed the door.
The only thing that remained was her heartbeat. It was still racing fast, stirring as she recalled all she had heard. It wouldn't stop after what she heard.
'I just have to rank up to match master, right?'
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