Chapter 307: More Hobbies Than I Needed
Several vines rose behind me as though they had been waiting for their cue, and the messenger fell silent while he watched them move.
He seemed to be deciding whether Gu Han had paid him enough to keep arguing, and apparently, the answer was no. Eventually, he reached inside his jacket and removed a folded piece of paper.
"Gu Han has invited you to meet him tomorrow at noon. The location is marked here."
He tried to step forward, but the nearest vine immediately lowered itself between us. The messenger stopped before it could decide that he had crossed the boundary and held the paper out at arm’s length instead.
Yuche moved past me to take it before the vine decided the man’s hand looked edible. He unfolded the paper, glanced over the handwritten directions, and passed it to Xu Zhenlan, but I didn’t bother looking at it.
"I’m not going," I said with a shrug. I had my outing, I was good for the next few months. I wasn’t leaving again.
The messenger stared at me. "You haven’t even read it."
"I don’t need directions to somewhere I’m not going," I replied, not willing to back down.
"This meeting is meant to prevent unnecessary conflict."
"Then Gu Han can prevent it by keeping his people away from my house."
"He won’t ignore a fortified property inside his territory," the messenger answered like what he was saying was just a statement of fact.
"This property was here before his ribbons, and tying strips of fabric around street signs doesn’t change who it belongs to." I was more than done with this whole thing.
"That doesn’t change the situation."
"It changes my interest in his opinion."
The man’s patience finally began to crack. "You cannot simply declare yourself separate from everyone around you."
"I just did."
"You need roads, supplies, and people."
"I already have roads, supplies, and more people than I wanted."
Lingyun placed a hand over his chest as though I had mortally wounded him. "That hurt."
"You’ll survive."
"I usually do."
The messenger looked between the five of us, clearly unable to understand why none of the men had taken control of the conversation. His attention eventually settled on Xu Zhenlan, just as the first group’s had, apparently deciding that the tallest man with the calmest expression had to be the one in charge.
"Surely you understand what happens if she refuses."
Zhenlan folded the paper and handed it back to Yuche. "She already refused."
The messenger’s face hardened. "Gu Han won’t accept that answer."
"Then he shouldn’t have asked a question," I replied.
The vines along the wall began shifting closer together, filling the spaces between the larger flowers. None of them crossed the property line, but their movement was enough to make all three messengers take another step away.
I pointed toward the road behind them. "You know where the boundary is now. Don’t cross it, don’t follow us home again, and don’t send anyone to collect supplies that don’t belong to them."
The messenger remained where he was, although the two men behind him looked ready to leave without him. "Is that your final answer?"
"No. My final answer had fewer words."
Lingyun smiled. "She means ’fuck that.’"
"I know what she means," the messenger snapped.
"Good. That saves time."
The man looked at me one last time before turning away. The other two followed immediately, although one continued glancing over his shoulder until they passed the abandoned vehicles farther down the road and disappeared around the corner.
The plants gradually settled once they were gone, but several of the larger flowers remained turned toward the road in case the messengers changed their minds and came back.
Zhenlan fell into step beside me as I headed toward the mansion. "Gu Han won’t stop after one refusal."
"I know."
"He’ll watch the property and look for weaknesses."
"He can look for as long as he wants."
"And when he doesn’t find any?"
I thought about the black fabric waiting upstairs and the six crooked stitches I had managed before being interrupted. "Then maybe he’ll come closer."
The flowers along the wall opened eagerly behind us, as though they understood exactly what I was hoping for.
"I could use the practice."
I left the plants to watch the boundary and continued toward the mansion, determined to finish at least one recognizable stitch before someone else decided that I needed to participate in their plans. The others followed me inside, although Xu Zhenlan stayed close enough that I could tell part of his attention remained on the road behind us.
I made it halfway across the foyer before something from the craft store finally worked its way to the front of my mind.
"When did you start doing the lightning thing?"
Zhenlan stopped beside me and gave me a questioning look. "The lightning thing?"
"I thought your power was air."
Lingyun had been heading toward the kitchen, but he immediately changed direction and joined us again. Apparently, the possibility that Xu Zhenlan had been hiding something was more interesting than whatever food he had been planning to steal.
"My power isn’t air," Zhenlan explained. "It’s storm."
I stared at him for several seconds, waiting for him to say something that would make that sound less suspicious, but he only stared back like he didn’t need to explain anything else.
"That sounds like air with better advertising," I grumbled under my breath. Was every air user an actual storm user and they just didn’t know?
It still sounded suspicious as hell, but since it was currently working out in my favor, I wouldn’t say anything more.
Lingyun covered his laugh with a cough, while Zhou Chenghai turned his head before I could determine whether he was smiling too. Xu Zhenlan didn’t appear offended by the accusation.
"Wind was the first part I learned to control."
"And you forgot to mention the lightning?"
"I didn’t forget. I just didn’t know about it until later."
"That’s worse."
"You never asked."
I narrowed my eyes at him as we started up the stairs. "I shouldn’t have to ask whether the man living in my house can summon lightning."
"I can’t summon it."
"You threw it at a rifle."
"I directed an electrical discharge."
"That’s summoning lightning with unnecessary words."
Yuche passed us on the stairs with Gu Han’s invitation still folded in one hand. "She has a point."
Xu Zhenlan glanced at him. "You control metal."
"And everyone knows that," Yuche replied, a half smile on his face.
"I knew," I agreed. "He wasn’t pretending to be a strong breeze until someone shot at me."
"I wasn’t pretending to be anything."
"You were being suspiciously incomplete."
His expression changed slightly at that, and for a moment, I thought he might point out that I hadn’t exactly given any of them a complete explanation of my powers either. Fortunately for him, he seemed to value his continued access to the mansion enough to leave that argument alone.
"Storm includes wind, pressure, static, and lightning," he explained instead. "Wind was the easiest part to control at first. The lightning only became reliable after my power strengthened."
That answer made more sense, although I wasn’t going to admit it immediately. "So you weren’t hiding an entirely different power. You were only hiding the dangerous half of the one you already had."
"I wasn’t hiding it."
"You live in my house. There should be a list."
Lingyun followed us into the hobby room, still far too interested in the conversation. "Are we making everyone submit power disclosures now?"
"Yes."
"Do special skills count?"
"Not if your special skill is annoying me."
He considered that for a moment before sighing. "That eliminates most of mine."
I returned to the chair and picked up the embroidery hoop while Yuche placed Gu Han’s invitation on the far end of the table. The six crooked stitches were still waiting exactly where I had left them, which was more consideration than I had received from anyone wearing red.
Xu Zhenlan remained near the doorway instead of following the others farther into the room. "Does knowing about the lightning change anything?"
I pushed the needle through the black fabric and carefully brought it back up one square closer to where it was supposed to be.
"It means I’ll know who to blame if the power goes out."
Lingyun laughed, and even Zhou Chenghai gave up pretending that he wasn’t amused. Xu Zhenlan shook his head as he turned toward the hallway.
"I’ll keep that in mind."
After he left, I managed another stitch without anyone interrupting me. It wasn’t straight, but it was better than the first six, and no armed strangers appeared at the gate while I made it.
Between the cross-stitch, the poisonous plants, and the man who could apparently smite people, I was beginning to think I had more hobbies than I realized.
