Chapter 147: Meeting the White Immortal Again

The White Immortal was not as disheveled as he had been when we first met. He was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt, his hair had been cut much shorter, and his stubble was shaved quite clean. He looked like a completely different person, or at least like an intellectual, appearing quite young and refreshed.

But even if his face, once cleaned up, was enough to charm thousands, I didn’t actually want to deal with him. I especially didn’t want to see him here. For a moment, a swirl of complex emotions rushed to my heart, and I couldn’t quite control my expression. Fourth Brother glanced at me, and by the time I regained my composure, it was already too late.

“You two have met?” Fourth Brother turned back, looking at the White Immortal with an inquiring gaze. He didn’t ask me, likely because he felt my reaction was far too sluggish compared to the White Immortal’s.

The White Immortal gave a mischievous chuckle. “We’ve met. Back when I was still in Luoyang, Young Master Gan came looking for me. However, it was to treat Lu A’yao’s injuries at the time. Master Si, you might hear rumors from the outside, but you probably couldn’t have dug up the specific details of that perilous raid in Yunnan, could you?”

I listened to him chatting away with Fourth Brother, and my gaze gradually became increasingly unfriendly. This was because I didn’t want to tell Fourth Brother about the current issues with my body just yet.

Setting aside the fact that the changes in my blood had a negligible impact on my daily life, Fourth Brother was already carrying so much on his shoulders. He was one of the pillars of this ship, and tomorrow morning he had to lead the research vessel out to sea. I didn’t want him to worry about my trivial matters anymore.

“The raid was certainly dangerous, but we all made it out alive. There’s no need to bring up the Yunnan business here,” I said, my tone sharp. Fourth Brother surely picked up on it.

The White Immortal wasn’t afraid of my temper. On the contrary, I felt like he was deliberately saying things to goad me into getting angry. He wanted to say more, but he was suddenly held down by Lu A’yao, who had emerged from the inner cabin. Lu A’yao appeared like a ghost, and the White Immortal was so startled that he forgot what he was going to say.

A worker came in to call for Fourth Brother. Fourth Brother said his goodbyes to the White Immortal and then walked over to my side, reminding me in a low voice, “He’s the only doctor on our ship. Be tactful and get along with him. Don’t go looking for trouble, do you hear me?”

His words made me feel as if I had swallowed a fly. I nodded like a deflated balloon.

It seemed that before the fire could even start, Fourth Brother had doused it with a bucket of water. I realized we would likely be at sea for more than a week. Even though the White Immortal was technically hired by Fourth Brother, given his identity, I still had to mind my manners around him.

Once Fourth Brother left the cabin, I ignored the smug White Immortal in front of me and chose the bed furthest to the side. I tossed my backpack onto the bed and sat down to pack my things in silence.

“What’s this? I only said two sentences and you’re already angry?” The White Immortal sat on the table, drinking water from a cup. I didn’t look up at his face, but I could imagine he had that same punchable, grinning expression.

I took a deep breath and didn’t take the bait, continuing to pull items out of my bag one by one.

“Tsk, your mindset isn’t good enough. You need to practice,” the White Immortal said, poking Lu A’yao with his elbow. “Is he really Gan Rong’s biological son? I remember Gan Rong was a master of psychological warfare in the antique trade back in the day. How can her son explode at the slightest touch?”

I squeezed my eyes shut, my hands stopping their movement. My fists clenched tighter and tighter as I felt my patience reaching its limit.

Then I heard Lu A’yao speak. “If you really have no one to talk to and are just making conversation for the sake of it, I don’t mind throwing you into the water to chat with the fish.”

The White Immortal flashed a toothy grin at Lu A’yao and quickly begged for mercy. The cabin immediately fell silent, leaving only the sound of waves slapping against the hull. Not long after, Fourth Brother came to call for Lu A’yao, and Lu A’yao followed him out of the cabin.

Seeing them both leave, I immediately scrambled up from the bed. I didn’t want to stay alone with this lunatic for a single second. But before I could stand up, the White Immortal lunged forward and blocked my path.

“What do you want?” Just seeing him gave me a headache.

The White Immortal produced two red persimmons from somewhere. “It’s all a misunderstanding. I’m offering these as an apology. I was just teasing you earlier, don’t take it seriously. We’ll be colleagues from now on, so we should get along, right?”

He sounded very sincere as he stuffed the two persimmons into my hands. However, given the terrible first impression he had made, I suspected there might be worms in the fruit and he was just trying to scare me.

The White Immortal cleared his throat and put his hands behind his back, posing like some great expert. He said to me, “Let me reintroduce myself. My ancestors have been doctors for generations. I am skilled in treating all sorts of rare and complicated diseases. I guarantee that my medicine will cure any ailment, ensuring you stay healthy for ten years.”

I peeled a persimmon and sat on the bed to eat it, watching his performance. I asked, “Are you Lu A’yao’s childhood friend? How did you end up as his friend? Isn’t the Lu family full of old-fashioned types?”

The White Immortal seemed dissatisfied with my question. He leaned in and asked, “No, I’ve said all that, and you’re actually only interested in whether I’m childhood friends with that guy named Lu?”

“What else?” I countered, then went back to eating the persimmon. “These persimmons are pretty good. Where did you buy them? They’re quite sweet.”

I didn’t think there was anything wrong with what I said, but the White Immortal looked like he was about to spit blood from frustration. He probably hadn’t been looked down upon like this since he was a child. He had to lean against the wall to steady himself for a moment.

“Fine. Since you’re only interested in that, I might as well tell you a shocking secret,” the White Immortal said with a sly smile.

I tossed the skin of the first persimmon into the trash and started on the second one. “What kind of secret is it this time? I’ve heard too many secrets lately. Yours might not even interest me.”

The White Immortal circled around me and plopped down right next to me. “This one, I guarantee you’ll care about. Haven’t you always wanted to know about the porcelain shards on Lu A’yao’s face?”

Sometimes, a single sentence really does have that much power. My movement of eating the persimmon froze. I looked up and stared at the White Immortal. “Explain yourself. What do you mean?”

White Immortal gave me a meaningful look. I couldn’t quite decipher the intent behind it, but I was certain it wasn’t anything good.

He chuckled and glanced into the distance. Only after confirming that Lu A’yao hadn’t come down from the deck did he speak. “In the beginning, when he was a child, those stitched porcelain shards weren’t on his face. When Lu Xiaosu first picked him up, she hadn’t even intended for him to take her surname. It was all a matter of chance, really. Without those porcelain shards, he never would have become the Lu A’yao he is today.”

I didn’t hear anything useful in that. Of course I knew people weren’t born with porcelain shards on their faces. I looked at White Immortal impatiently. “You’ve been talking for ages, but you haven’t actually said anything.”

“Now, that’s not true,” White Immortal said, giving me a mysterious smile. “Those porcelain shards on his face? I’m the one who stitched them on. And his life? I’m the one who saved it.”