She looked down on the bird after bringing her head back from wandering around. A raven is often cared for by an owner, so why is this raven flying about?
Suddenly, a thought came to her mind as her face pales and quickly turns to her teacher, "Teacher Xia, do you know any other children of the heavenly hound's owner?"
The old man raised a brow, "Shouldn't you refer to him by name?"
Willow sighed, "It's because his abilities are often praised that I'm too scared to say it. But you haven't answered my question. If you know, have they ever raised anything other than a canine?"
"I've met one once when I was still making military attires for the army." He sighed as well and shook his head, "He was talented in the canine unit and helped teach many canines and their owners strict rules and discipline in the unit. However, he and his son later went missing during a mission years later. I believe he said that he doesn't have any recollections of his other late siblings being able to train other animals besides canines. However, with his father's nature, there aren't many siblings around in the first place."
It would seem that his father and her father had a pretty similar outlook on the matter of relations with humans in the end. She recalled how Lord Feng wasn't too happy when discussing about human relations when mentioning his wife. It would make sense since he sounded very devoted to his wife when he mentioned her. Lord Feng's wife was also a phoenix and is called Huang from what she recalled during her high school years.
Together, they would symbolize the queen before the two phoenix image shifted to that of a single one and the two's names merged together. With his nature, she doubted that he had much demigod children. As she thought this, a new thought came into her mind. If he was so devoted, what would make him have human relations with humans? How could it be that her biological mother could so easily trick a phoenix god out of all the people in China?! Dear god, please don't tell her that her mother had some crazy special heritage related to deception and illusions! That's the least her mind could take right now!
Anyway, if the man can't tame birds, then what about the cat? Though Karma seems to have this outgoing and honest behavior futilely covered by a weak mask of suspicions, she feels that it wouldn't be unusual for him to suddenly be able to have an ace like this up his sleeve if he can understand the current situation and skills as a stalker.
In her grasp, the raven kicked its legs, "Annoying cats!"
Willow raised a brow, "What?"
"Stupid cats!"
Willow stared at it in confusion and looked to her master, "Did it just say..."
Teacher Xia shrugged his shoulders in exasperation, "I heard it too, lass."
"Cats should go to hell!"
This time, Willow quickly sealed the raven's beak with a light pinch. She sighed, "All right. That's enough. Who sent you?"
As she released the beak, the bird stared at her with its black eyes and shrieked, "Caw!"
This time, Willow pinched a little harder with a scowl, "You can cut the act. My teacher's array isn't so simple that a mere bird could sneak past the boundaries. Tell me who sent you or I'll have to use you to test some raven dishes I have planned in mind."
Released by the beak, the raven scolded her, "How dare you treat your father's messenger in this fashion!"
She sighed again, "Was it not you who broke into the residence in the first place? If you came just before I returned into the house, you wouldn't have been treated like a burglar. Moreover, I can't even tell if you're really my father's messenger or the kitten's spy with your choice of words."
"Why would I ally myself with a feline of all things?" The bird spat, "All they do is hunts us down as playthings. It's only natural for us to want to show them their place!"
Hearing this, Willow thought for a bit before she shook her head and let the raven go, "So, what's my father's message?"
"He wanted me to ask you how long are you going to play the Hiding Kitty game with your new playmate?" The raven grumbled.
"That's it?" Willow raised a brow in surprise, "Though I guess he must've gotten pretty impatient. Well, I guess I can't keep playing the cat any more."
Her teacher, sitting at around the stone table to lazily watch the interrogation, sighed, "You've been here for over a month, child. Though you've made progress here, I can't see what you do outside of the walls when you almost never go out for personal matters."
As her teacher said this, Willow knew he wasn't wrong. From his point of view, at least. She bit back a sigh and nodded, "Fine. I'll try to make a move already. I'll get stuff ready."
"You're sure?" The old man watched her, "Then, you plan to leave for Beijing?"
"I'll be fine." Willow replied with a smile, "I've got some ideas and done the preparations."
After all, she's been here for over a month now. During that month, she's gone through many inquiries and experiments. Then, there was the beating on her shin with the old man's cane and her many explosions during her experiments with magic circles and arrays.
Hearing her words, the old man raised a brow in confusion before catching the raven she tossed to him offhandedly. Aside from errands and studies, when had she began working on the investigations? However, after she started learning magic circles and arrays, she's been bombarding the poor man with questions regarding the formation of arrays and poking fun at it as if she was a child poking a stick into an anthill. Thanks to that, he nearly lost his beard two weeks ago just from taking a look at her new magic circle!
Sensing his glare behind her back as she was about to walk out with her duffel bag, she quickly turned around and said nervously, "I'll make sure to bring some local souvenirs for you."
The elderly sighed, "Just make sure you remember to keep your identity hidden. That'd be enough. I expect you to be back in a month."
"Yes, sir." She responded bluntly, "I'll see you in a month!"
It wasn't till she left the yard that the elderly sighed once more. Once again, he would be in the yard by himself for a while again. He stood in the yard thinking to himself with raven now perched on his shoulder. The elder contemplated to himself quietly before glancing over to the bird, "Should you not follow your mistress?"
"Wh-What mistress?!" The bird cawed with puffed feathers.
"Hmph! Celestials don't often interfere with the matters of their half-blooded children unless it was for some business." Teacher Xia explained with an arrogant glare, "A raven that could speak the language of the native land and the foreign lands isn't something to scoff at and would be too wasteful to use as a simple messenger. My apprentice is one thing, but do you think you can fool this old man? You understand what would happen if she happens to lose her life again? Do you think you can bear such a responsibility?"
"Fine. Fine!" The bird screamed as he hopped into the sky.
Having walked out of the rural neighborhood, her foot finally reached the slightly busy urban streets as people walked to and fro on errands and work. The morning sun shined down on her blue sweater as she carried her thermal of hot water boiled with citrus peels, and peppermint. the bench on the bus stop was still cold to the touch, but the warm sun still shone brightly as the bench's hood provided shade under her head.
She sighed as she watched the bus begin to pull over to her side and the people crowd on to the line. With her mask and gloves on, she got onto the bus and chose a seat in the back. At least, she was trying to when a caw startled her and accidentally made her drop her drink.
In embarrassment, she quickly picked up the empty thermal and hurried into the bus. Occupying the seat in the back, she waited till the last person finally got on before the bus began to leave. This time, the driver wasn't an elderly man, but a seemingly-newly hired driver who looked to be in his twenties or thirties.
Although it's been years since she last visited China, she knew that a driver would be designated to drive to certain places multiple times a week. It wasn't till the last week that she met with the bus driver and even given him and his family some fragrant incense to repel mosquitos. He seemed rather healthy then, but he did seem to be getting weaker from age. While thinking this, Willow stuffed a piece of peppermint gum into her mouth as she watched the scenery of cities move past her.
As per usual, there were a lot of guards and officers checking the health of the people at the gates of the houses and apartments while the people continue to move back and forth on the streets. She recalled the people back in Sichuan and remembered how she sent a letter to them about the scenes in one of the cities she's passed during her trip to Hefei and that she would be busy for the next month so she could sort things out with supposed friends of her parents.
The bus continued to drive as the sun drew high into the sky. Many people have gone on and off the bus. All except for her. Seeing this, some assumed she was a traveler and began to keep their distance away from her as they drew nearer to Hebei province. With snacks in her bag, she didn't get off a single stop till the bus reached the end of the route.
By then, the sun that loomed high in the sky was starting to draw closer to the west and hide behind tall buildings. As Willow got off, she immediately opened her phone and began searching for the nearest hostel while every last person began getting off. However, she paused when she noticed a white figure walk past her and looked up.
It was a woman in a white dress with silky black hair flowing behind her followed by a pair of sunglasses and mask. Her appearance seemed rather ethereal that it caught the attention of the passerbys as the woman went to greet the driver in his blue uniform. It wasn't until they noticed the man scolded her for not wearing a pair of gloves as she handed him a tin lunch box that they passerbys tore their eyes away from her and hurried away from the vicinity. Yet, Willow still spotted some who stayed behind and gossiped with excitement glistening in their eyes and more people continued to stare and gossip from across the street. Curious, Willow walked closer to the two girls and asked in Chinese, "Hello. Do you know who that woman is?"
"You don't know?!" One of the girl with the braided ponytail exclaimed in surprise.
"Yeah. Sorry." Willow apologized with a seemingly-meek smile, "I'm not from China."
"Oh, then you're a foreigner?" The elder girl stared at her in bewilderment, "I guess you wouldn't know then."
The seemingly elder sister pointed at the woman and said excitingly, "That woman is one of the well-known idols in China."
"A celebrity?" Willow raised a brow, "But, if you can recognize her, then why isn't she getting swamped by fans?"
"No one can really explain the logic behind that." The younger ponytail girl replied with a frown as she straightened her red skirt and white shirt nervously, "She's very popular and well-known amongst society, but people say that it's difficult to approach her even when she doesn't have her bodyguards around. That's why everyone calls her Lily of The Valley."
"You brat!" The elder girl, in the white shirt and torn jeans, smacked the girl on the head and said in a hushed voice, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all!"
Clutching the back of her head, the girl whined in pain and anger as she pursed her lips in silence.
"Then, the bus driver..." Willow stared at the man walk away to find a place to eat after he separated from the woman.
"You don't know, but people in this city knew him as a her close relative." The elder girl replied.
"A close relative?" Willow raised a brow, "But, if they were close relative, how did he become a bus driver?"