Races: Online

It wasn't everyday that you decided to visit a friend out of the blue. 

You need to properly set a schedule and make an appointment usually. A heads up so your friend could spruce up their place and maybe take a bath or something—that was like the decent kind of friendship levels.

Maybe you could visit right off that bat if you guys were best friends, but that was sort of pushing it between him and Han Jing.

If one could even call them friends in the first place… Mou Gu wasn't really sure how to say it since time kind of made people grow apart. So he kind of brought the guy a gift—a bottle of osmanthus wine.

The pink-haired man crossed through the streets of the city and waded both in the human and spirits crowd. While he recognized and greeted some people and even spirits… he couldn't linger too much as he had a destination in mind.

"Enjoy the festival!" Mou Gu called out and waved.

He saw like a hundred-armed spirit return the gesture before he made his way to the residential streets. 

It was really difficult for some people to get used to seeing spirits and there were those who freaked out and even fainted when it happened—but mixing one's perception of the Veiled World layer with the normal world was like the next thing. 

Mou Gu had gotten used to it more than other cultivators he hung around with.

This was his specialty and what he offered to Shen Society.

Neither the humans or the spirits paid much heed to him, essentially he mixed well in both worlds. However, this wasn't the time for Mou Gu to lift himself up by thinking about how great he was at cultivation. 

He was supposed to be thinking about Han Jing.

Mou Gu finally arrived at the apartment and then stepped into the lobby—it was almost nostalgic visiting this place. The two of them hung out in college during freshman year and that was until he went away to practice both cooking and cultivation some more. 

Han Jing was one of those guys that were kind of quiet by themself. However, he was also more than willing to get loud when he was around friends and trying to keep their spirits up.

Maybe it was because Han Jing got into a company like him that made him take more risks during parties and such? Between the two of them, Mou Gu was the popular one so the guy's charm ended up being another thing.

Mou Gu actually thought Han Jing had that kind of… sensitive aura type. When it was just the two of them, Han Jing was more laidback and willing to just laze around and didn't need to impress anyone. 

However, his visit now wasn't about a simple reunion or anything like that. 

The man quickly started heading upstairs to surprise the guy. 

Mou Gu kind of needed to check on Han Jing to check if his memories were still repressed. Of course, he had already seen the guy recently, like about a couple of weeks ago or so.

Han Jing was selling flowers and that was the weirdest shit he'd ever seen. 

This was the guy who sort of still had some sense of pride. While the guy did ask him for a job, he still didn't like begging for money or doing any strange jobs that might have paid well… 

Well, Mou Gu just really couldn't imagine the guy selling flowers, but he did.

Around that time, Han Jing looked sprightly and just overall dedicated to working. It was almost as if Mou Gu had met a completely different person and that was bewildering and worrying. 

Han Jing was lazy in Mou Gu's mind, so a workaholic one was abnormal.  Still, Mou Gu was willing to put that off as the man finally grew up a little and took things seriously. 

However, things changed a couple days ago.

There were circumstances that made him realize that he needed to pay more attention to the guy. Sticking the memory-sealing talisman wasn't the solution that solved everything for them. 

A couple days ago, Mou Gu attempted to visit Han Jing before the Mid-Autumn Festival only to hear the news from his mother that Han Jing was out of the city with friends…? 

Other friends?

That was when Mou Gu started worrying some more.

Here was the thing—Han Jing sold really amazing flowers. Not just in aesthetic appeal, but quality. These were like regular flowers, but their natural qi levels were so high up than normal that it was practically two weeks since he watered his pot of water lily and they were alive.

Mou Gu had been prepared to write that off as Han Jing having some innate born green thumbs that he discovered late… but with the mention of "friends" and out of the city?

He was afraid that Han Jing might have gotten involved with some nasty cultivation sect.

Now, he was going to visit the guy on the exact date of the Mid Autumn Festival because he was pretty damn sure that Han Jing would be home at this time. It was a family event, a friendship thing and maybe a romance thing for some—even Mou Gu dropped by earlier to be with his relatives.

Mou Gu stood at the door to the Han's rented apartment to knock.

He stopped in his tracks.

"There's no aura signature of anyone inside… and there we go, Han Jing's at the rooftop with somebody else?" Mou Gu looked up and sighed in relief. "Doesn't seem like a dangerous person." 

His spiritual senses were long-ranged enough even when he was only passively using it.

Mou Gu made his way up and prepared himself to socialize. This was in order to pay more attention to Han Jing and see if there were traces of maybe mind-control talismans or needles embedded in his arm or something. 

However, when he reached the rooftop and poked his head out—he saw Han Jing with a girl.

An actual girl.

It wasn't Bo Lifen but somebody else.

"Han Jing is finally getting some game?" Mou Gu retraced his steps back, missed a step and fell off the staircase—only to perfectly landed on his feet without a sound. He looked at his wine and considered bringing it up to them… but then shook his head.

Han Jing, wine and girl was never going to be a good combination.

Mou Gu didn't exactly get a good glimpse of the girl, but he was pretty sure that it was a girl. This was one of those weird moments that his cultivation and social duties started clashing against one another.

It was kind of a bro-code not to interrupt Han Jing from scoring some points.

… The risk of the girl liking him more than Han Jing was also possible. That had ruined some friendships he had back in college and Mou Gu did not want a repeat of that to happen at all. He pulled out his phone and sent Han Jing a text.

Hopefully the guy had his phone on vibrate and it would alert his asscheeks that Mou Gu was waiting for him. 

For now though—he wondered where the rest of the Han family was?

It was at that exact moment that he picked up on the auras of them on the third floor. Mou Gu sent one last look at the staircase to the rooftop, wished he had a lucky talisman to offer up… but then proceeded to head downstairs.

He caught the sight of a guy who looked like an older-version of Han Jing at the door, accompanied by a lovely woman and her daughter.

"Mr. and Mrs. Han—it's so good to see you!" Mou Gu greeted them immediately.

Han Shirong paused from opening the door to their apartment, glanced at his wife who threw him a look, and then cleared his throat. "I presume you must be one of Jing's friends?" 

"U-uh, that's right, sir! I'm Mou Gu, a classmate of Han Jing during his freshman year… but we've kept in touch." Mou Gu found himself awkwardly replying and holding the osthmanthus wine bottle. This man didn't really remember him? Well, he was always away. "I was looking for Han Jing to bring your family this drink to celebrate the Mid Autumn Festival."

"That's quite thoughtful of you, but my son isn't here right now." Han Shirong finally opened the door. "Did you spend your time in this apartment and did not attempt to get in contact with him before coming here?"

"Mou Gu, dear. We just got back from dinner outside—but would you like to come inside and have some hot tea?" Han Wenling was quick to interrupt her husband and gave the younger man a smile. "Thank you so much for thinking about this festival. We'd love to catch up with you if you can join us for a bit?"

This was why he thought that Han Jing was lucky in a way. 

"Ah, I'd love to come inside for a bit. Maybe Han Jing will come back soon?" 

The expression on the couple's face kind of flickered at Mou Gu's words, but before they could reply, Jinjing was quick to answer. Compared to them, she seemed more willing to give a more accurate answer.

"I don't think he's going to be back until after the festival, not until both work and school resumes."

"Jinjing!" Han Jing's mother scolded the girl. 

"It's true."

Did these people not know that Han Jing was just on the rooftop?