Of course, who else but me, a thousand-year-old tree yaokai running a teahouse, could help her? After forcing Ding Xiaocuo to buy a dozen sickeningly sweet vanil sponge cakes, I told her that her neckce had probably fallen into a gap in time and space. To get it back, she would have to follow it to that world. She shivered and sneezed, clutching a whole box of vanil sponge cakes as she went home.

  The next day, a sunny Sunday. Pàng Zǐ and Shòu Zi, like Cinderel, waved brooms and cloths, sneaking around me and Jiu Jue, trying to eavesdrop on our conversation.

  I have to admit, after all these years, every time I see this man with naturally ke-blue hair, I can't help but mutter to myself, ′this old man is still so unbelievably handsome!′

  Back when I first took on human form, I met Jiu Jue. He often came to the Fulong Mountain, where I lived, to py chess with another man. Back then, I absolutely hated him calling me little tree yaokai, but ter, because of his repeated help, I managed to get through everything safely. Who says there can be no real friendship between men and women? Jiu Jue and I are the perfect example!

  "Can I interview you?” I sat opposite him, dramatically holding up a half-eaten fruit and cream cone and extending it in front of him. "May I ask, is Ding Xiaocuo your disciple, or just some passerby or bandit who owes you money?”

  "Disciple.” Jiu Jue took a sip of the red wine in his cup. His drink always consisted of alcohol, nothing else. I pulled back the "microphone" and raised an eyebrow, questioning, “What kind of master deliberately pys tricks on their disciple? That chain with the “Spiritual Rhino” sword was clearly your doing! You set her up to come to me for help, didn’t you?”

  "A disciple's role is to be pranked by their master. Who told her to pocket the Avatar movie ticket?”

  "Your character is just as twisted as the color of your hair.”

  "Thanks for the compliment. Your ice cream is melting.”

  I gulped down the cone and said irritably, "You're just throwing her into another dimension like that? Aren't you worried she'll get into trouble?”

  "Don't forget she's a "spiritual rhino, and she's served by the side of the matchmaker. She′ll handle it. If she can’t, then she’s just out of luck.” Jiu Jue, sipping his ever-unpaid "overlord wine," asked, "Do you believe in fate?”

  "Believe in fate, but don't accept it,” I answered firmly.

  "Heh.” His gaze suddenly became distant, as though looking far into the future. “If given the chance to start over, can a predetermined fate be rewritten?”

  "No `ifs.” I shook my head. “What′s already happened can′t be changed.”

  "Not necessarily.” Jiu Jue smiled slyly, then opened his palm, and a tiny, delicate Zhuque ntern in the shape of wings appeared.

  "The Zhuque Lamp from the Goddess of Time?” I excimed, then narrowed my eyes mischievously and sat next to him. "Stolen?”

  "Peh!” Jiu Jue gave me a dismissive gnce. “In the Three Realms, I have many fans. Borrowing a ntern is no big deal!”

  He poured the st drop of wine into his gss, swirling it and murmuring to himself, "In every person's life, there's a pce they must go, a person they must meet, and a feeling they must face. Yaokais are no different.”

  His solemn expression quickly returned to his usual twisted demeanor, and with a wicked smile, he added, “Actually, I just want to do an experiment.”