Hu Tao returned alone to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
Although it was daytime, most of the parlor remained pitch black, giving off a cold and gloomy atmosphere.
Walking through the corridor, Hu Tao remained unfazed - after all, she was too familiar with this place and could walk through it with her eyes closed.
Humming a Hilichurl song, she arrived at a room on the second floor of the funeral parlor and knocked on the door. "Sister Chi Yu, I'm coming in."
There was no response from inside.
Hu Tao gently pushed open the door to reveal a girl's red bedroom.
A large bed, wardrobe, and mirror filled the space.
This room happened to be right next to Xia Zhi's room.
Hu Tao walked to the bedside, where a slender white phantom was lying lazily.
She struggled to open her eyes and glanced at Hu Tao. "It's broad daylight, don't disturb my sleep..."
"I brought you something nice."
"What nice thing?"
"Something very delicious."
"I'm not hungry."
"How can you not be hungry? Aren't you always saying you're hungry?"
Chi Yu closed her eyes, ignoring her.
Hu Tao wasn't bothered. She walked to the dressing table, picked up a small incense burner, and selected the smallest piece from a pile of incense to light in the burner.
A familiar fragrance wafted through the room.
Chi Yu's nose twitched, and her eyes suddenly opened wide. "This is...!?"
She floated up from the bed, looking at the incense burner in Hu Tao's hands with an expression of surprise. "This incense, where did you get it from?"
Hu Tao blinked and said, "Guess."
"You went to Qingce Village a few days ago and just came back today? No, wait... this incense smell is clearly from next door..."
"Next door? Sister Chi Yu, did you sneak over there again?"
"No!"
"Really?"
"Really, I didn't!"
"Then how do you know?"
"I smelled it!"
Hu Tao looked at her suspiciously.
"You could smell it and still resist going over?"
"...I only went over quietly when he was asleep."
Chi Yu lay prone before the incense burner, speaking softly.
"Anyway, he didn't discover me."
Hu Tao thought for a moment and said, "That's true. Since Mr. Xia can't see, it would be hard for him to notice you unless you revealed yourself."
Chi Yu froze for a moment, her face showing disbelief.
"You're saying he can't see?!"
"Yes."
"But..." Chi Yu was about to say she had seen him writing books, but remembering the content of those manuscripts, she couldn't bring herself to mention it. "He doesn't seem like it."
"Mr. Xia walks steadily and does things smoothly. From the outside, he really doesn't look like a blind person. But generally, people wouldn't joke about something like this, right? If he were pretending, he should act more convincingly."
"That's true."
"He gave me lots of incense too."
"Really?"
"Look."
Hu Tao smiled and took out a large handful of incense.
"Wow!"
Chi Yu's eyes lit up as she grabbed a few pieces and sniffed them at her nose tip. Then her brows furrowed slightly, feeling something wasn't quite right.
"This is different."
"What's wrong?"
"They don't have that fragrance."
"Fragrance?"
Chi Yu extinguished the burning incense in the burner and placed a new piece in to light.
The fragrance dispersed from the burner.
Hu Tao sniffed and her expression became somewhat strange.
The current fragrance smelled nice and had a calming effect, but the effect was much weaker compared to the previous scent.
Most importantly, it lacked the soul-pacifying effect.
She felt somewhat deceived.
Hu Tao couldn't help but recall what Qiqi had told her earlier: "That incense, Mr. Xia said it was calming incense."
The incense Mr. Xia gave her was indeed calming incense.
Thinking about it this way, perhaps she wasn't deceived after all?
Mr. Xia probably didn't know himself that the two types of incense he created were different.
After all, for ordinary people, it would be difficult to distinguish between calming the mind and pacifying the soul.
--
At six o'clock, the Summer Shop closed on time.
The customers reluctantly departed.
Zhu Zi sat in a chair, letting out a long breath, then rubbed her face which had become stiff from smiling.
Xia Zhi walked over and handed her a glass of rainbow juice.
"Thirsty?"
"Thank you, boss!"
"How do you feel after your first day of work?"
"Not bad."
"Can you keep it up?"
"I can!"
Xia Zhi nodded. He had been observing Zhu Zi today, and she handled both customer service and tasks very well.
She was indeed a capable young woman.
After Zhu Zi finished her juice and seemed sufficiently rested, Xia Zhi said, "Come on, let's go get dinner."
"Okay boss, I'll wash my face first."
Zhu Zi pattered to the back of the store.
Shortly after, Xia Zhi suddenly heard the sound of something falling to the ground, followed by Zhu Zi's cry of surprise.
He rushed over to find Zhu Zi sprawled on the ground in an awkward position, with a wooden bucket fallen beside her and water spilled everywhere.
"Zhu Zi, what happened?"
"Boss, I twisted my ankle..."
Zhu Zi was taking sharp breaths between words, seeming to be in pain.
"Was it because of the high heels?"
"Mm..."
"I told you this morning to walk slowly."
"I..."
Zhu Zi pressed her lips together, looking somewhat dejected.
"Is your foot very painful?"
"Mm..."
"Can you move?"
"Ouch..."
"Then don't move for now."
Xia Zhi crouched down and carefully lifted her up from the ground.
Zhu Zi, with slightly reddened cheeks, shyly wrapped her arms around his neck.
Xia Zhi carried her to the small bed in the back hall.
This place was originally prepared for massages, but unexpectedly, Zhu Zi became the first person to lie on it.
"Take off your stockings."
"Ah?"
"I'll check if the bone is injured."
"Boss, you know how to do this?"
"Bone setting is part of massage techniques, hurry up."
"I... I can't reach..."
"Then let me help, don't move."
Xia Zhi reached out and first carefully helped her remove the high heels, then rolled down the thin black stockings from her thighs.
The whole process was proper, and Xia Zhi had no inappropriate thoughts. Though Zhu Zi herself was very shy, covering her face with both hands and making soft sounds when he touched her.
Zhu Zi's feet were small and white, with round toes that were pink and lovely like pearls.
Xia Zhi gently held her visibly swollen ankle and examined it carefully.
"Fortunately, the bone is fine."
"Boss, it really hurts..."
"Bear with it, I'll help disperse the bruising."
"Mm..."
"Don't wear high heels anymore in the future."
"Mm..."
A white light of [Healing Arts] glowed from Xia Zhi's hands, complementing his skilled massage techniques.
Soon, Zhu Zi's painful whimpers began to turn into comfortable sounds.
"Mmm..."