“What is it?” Feng Xin asked.
Xie Lian pulled at his earlobes. “One of the earrings is gone.”
The people of Xianle believed that the pinnacle of Daoist cultivation was the harmony of yin and yang, the unity of male and female. The forms of the gods were inexhaustibly changing and naturally unbound by gender restrictions, shifting male or female as they willed. And that belief was woven into the design of the God-Pleasing costume. Throughout history, every God-Pleasing Martial Warrior was adorned in accessories that possessed the form and details of both sexes: earrings, bracelets, and so on. When Xie Lian was preparing for the role, he pierced his ears and put on a pair of earrings.
They were a pair of magnificent, deep red coral pearls that gleamed resplendently, lustrous and smooth and extremely rare. However, when Xie Lian was combing his hair just now, only one of the red coral pearls from the pair was left.
The moment he said it was lost, Mu Qing’s relaxed expression froze again, but the other two did not notice at all. Feng Xin looked all over the chamber first, inside and out, but returned empty-handed.
“You’re so scatterbrained that you can even lose things worn on your ears. I didn’t see it in the Palace of Xianle, so I’ll go out and search the roads. It better not have gotten lost during the parade.”
Xie Lian was puzzled too, but he also didn’t care that much. “Maybe. If it did, then there’s no way you’ll find it. If it’s lost, it’s lost.”
Mu Qing, however, brought out the broom he usually used to sweep. He said quietly, “That pearl is too precious, we should at least try to look for it. Maybe it rolled under the bed or a shelf.”
He then started sweeping, and Xie Lian responded, “Why don’t we call for a few more hands to help?”
“Crowds get handsy. We don’t want anyone sneaking it in their pockets before we find anything,” Feng Xin said offhandedly.
Mu Qing was quietly checking under the bed, but when he heard Feng Xin’s words, his face momentarily turned a shade of deathly white. He shot to his feet, and CRACK, the broom in his hands snapped in two. Xie Lian was startled.
Ever since they left the Palace of Divine Might, Feng Xin had been filled with complaints about Mu Qing, but he never let any of them loose. Now that he saw Mu Qing blow up first, he got angry too.
“What are you doing, breaking things so suddenly? Who pissed you off now?”
Mu Qing replied coldly, “Why don’t you tell me straight what you really want to say, instead of casting shadows where there are none? I have nothing to do with the lost pearl.”
Feng Xin had always been a straightforward individual, and this was the first time he heard someone accuse him of “casting shadows where there are none.” He laughed from sheer anger. “Why don’t you tell that to yourself?! What did I say? I didn’t say you stole it, but you got all flustered. What, feeling guilty?”
Xie Lian broke out of his shock and sat up on the bed, crying “Oh no!” in his head. “Feng Xin, that’s enough!”
A few veins popped on Mu Qing’s forehead. Feng Xin really didn’t think much of it and asked in confusion, “What?”
It really wasn’t the right time for Xie Lian to explain, so he could only try to pacify Mu Qing. “Don’t misunderstand. Feng Xin was just making offhand comments. He wasn’t targeting you.”
Mu Qing clenched his fists tight, then released them, and at last took control of his temper. However, his eyes were growing red, and he turned to Xie Lian, enunciating each word as he stared at him.
“You…don’t keep your promises.”
“No! You’re wrong!” Xie Lian cried.
Mu Qing closed his mouth and took a few breaths, then cast a furious stink-eye at Feng Xin. Without another word, he dashed out the door. Xie Lian jumped off the bed and was about to give chase, but he was yanked to a stop mid-step.
“Your Highness, you haven’t even put on shoes! It’d be a disgrace to go out with your hair down and in such a mess!”
“Help me stop him!” Xie Lian ordered.
“At least put on your shoes first and tie your hair,” Feng Xin said. “And leave him be. He’s always moody like this. Who knows what nerve we touched to make him go mental out of the blue?”
Mu Qing was long gone by then, and Xie Lian knew he wouldn’t be able to catch up anyway. Instead, he grabbed for a hair tie to fasten his hair in a rush.
He sighed as he did so. “He wasn’t going mental. You just said the wrong thing by accident.”