Moonlit Reunion

Wu Zhen wanted Mei Zhuyu to turn into a cat so she could pet him to her heart's content.

Mei Zhuyu was initially reluctant, but Wu Zhen was exceptionally skilled at wearing people down. Despite being a few years older than him and having previously enjoyed calling him "young master," she now had no qualms about acting spoiled and coquettish. She held his hand and showered him with endless sweet talk, coaxing the usually steadfast Daoist Mei into relenting. With some awkwardness, he transformed into a cat.

Wu Zhen picked up the Tabby Cat and examined its belly closely. After a moment, she remarked, "Hmm, your belly doesn’t look any bigger." Then, delighted, she placed the cat on her lap and spent a good while stroking its fur.

However, this was a one-time occurrence. No matter how much Wu Zhen pleaded afterward, Mei Zhuyu refused to transform into a cat again. The reason? After reverting to human form and dressing, he had suffered Wu Zhen’s teasing—an experience far too mortifying to repeat.

During their journey, they encountered various travelers—ordinary wayfarers, merchant caravans, and local farmers from nearby villages.

One day, Wu Zhen, who had been riding her horse, suddenly clasped her hands together and abandoned her steed to climb onto the oxcart. She turned to Mei Zhuyu and asked, "Guess what’s in my hands?"

Mei Zhuyu glanced at her cupped palms and ventured, "A flower?"

In recent days, Wu Zhen had often plucked wildflowers to gift him—a romantic gesture, given the abundance of beautiful blooms along their path. Whenever she spotted a particularly lovely one, she couldn’t resist picking it.

Wu Zhen shook her head. "Nope, try again."

Mei Zhuyu guessed, "Some amusing little Monster?"

Wu Zhen had a habit of capturing interesting Monsters to show him. Countless unsuspecting little creatures had been disturbed by her antics along the way.

Again, Wu Zhen shook her head. "Still wrong."

Mei Zhuyu gave up. "What is it, then?"

Wu Zhen, still unwilling to reveal the answer, grinned. "Close your eyes and feel it."

Mei Zhuyu humored her in such trivial matters. He closed his eyes and reached out to touch the object in her hands. His fingers brushed against something warm and fuzzy. When he opened his eyes, he saw a tiny, downy creature nestled in Wu Zhen’s palms.

"A duckling? But there aren’t any houses around here—where did this little one come from?" Mei Zhuyu wondered aloud.

Wu Zhen wagged a finger. "Wrong. It’s a gosling, not a duckling."

Both had soft yellow down and red beaks, and since Mei Zhuyu had never raised either, he couldn’t tell the difference. Wu Zhen pressed the tiny gosling into his hands, then leaned against the oxcart window, propping up a leg. "Just now, an old man was driving a cart into town to sell goslings. I thought the little creatures huddled together looked adorable, so I went over for a closer look. But this feisty little thing actually pecked at my fingers! So, I bought it from him."

Her impulsive purchases were nothing new, so Mei Zhuyu wasn’t surprised. Cradling the fluffy, endearing gosling, he found it hard to believe it was the aggressive little troublemaker Wu Zhen described.

It was quite pleasant to touch, though.

Seeing him study the gosling, Wu Zhen laughed. "Let’s raise it for now. In a few days, we’ll roast and eat it."

Despite her words, she showed no intention of eating the gosling in the following days. Instead, she carried it in her hand while riding her horse and even tasked Niu Yi and Niu Er with catching insects to feed the little creature. Perhaps because the journey lacked entertainment, she found great amusement in playing with the gosling.They even gave the little goose a name, calling it 'Goosey,' which left Mei Zhuyu both amused and exasperated.

The only time Wu Zhen would disdainfully toss the goose to Mei Zhuyu was when it excreted. She’d lift the little creature by one of its tiny wings and fling it into the carriage, shouting at Mei Zhuyu, “I don’t want this filthy thing anymore! Tonight, we’ll boil water, pluck its feathers, and stew it for dinner!”

But by evening, she’d completely forgotten about it and would once again cradle the little thing in her hands, bouncing it playfully.

Sometimes, watching her behave like this, Mei Zhuyu couldn’t help but worry about their future children. It was easy to imagine that if they ever had a child, Wu Zhen would likely treat them the same way—doting on the little one when she felt like it, then tossing them aside by the feet when they became troublesome, leaving someone else to take care of them.

Lost in these thoughts, Mei Zhuyu shook his head and chuckled to himself. Unfortunately, Wu Zhen was too busy scolding her 'Goosey' to notice her husband’s smile.

During this journey, they weren’t just traveling—they were also searching for traces of their missing cousin, Pei Ji Ya. The Pei family servant who had come to Chang’an had been assigned a squad of soldiers by Wu Zhen and was also searching for Pei Ji Ya along the route from Chang’an to Kunzhou. That group traveled faster, and since Wu Zhen’s party was moving light and quick, they had been overtaken two days prior. The squad didn’t know Wu Zhen had also left Chang’an to search, and when they passed by, Wu Zhen pretended not to recognize them.

For one, their current situation wasn’t suited for traveling with such a large group. Secondly, the circumstances surrounding Pei Ji Ya’s disappearance were unclear, and Wu Zhen preferred to let the conspicuous squad serve as a distraction while she operated in the shadows—it was far more convenient.

On this day, near Kunzhou in the territory of Puzhou, within a city called Tangshui, Wu Zhen finally uncovered some news about Pei Ji Ya. She obtained this information from the local rat and insect demons, which Mei Zhuyu had summoned.

Though Wu Zhen’s current body contained the Demon Power of the Cat Official—a force distinct from the spiritual energy of ordinary Demon Creatures—and though the Cat Official’s authority held less sway outside Chang’an, commanding minor demons was still well within her capabilities. Mei Zhuyu, who had mastered his cultivation effortlessly in a short time, could now wield the power within this body with relative ease. After settling into a comfortable inn, as they had done before, he summoned a group of minor demons for Wu Zhen to question.

These weak demons knew far more than the ordinary humans living there. One particularly clever little demon said, “A frail and handsome young master of the Pei family, accompanied by servants and guards—I saw someone like that two months ago. They stayed at the Lu Family Inn up ahead for two days before leaving the city.”

When Wu Zhen asked if any of them knew where Pei Ji Ya had gone after leaving the city, the demons chattered among themselves before a timid one stepped forward and said, “I haven’t seen him, but I have relatives living outside the city. Maybe they’ve spotted him. I’ll go ask them for you tomorrow.”

Satisfied, Wu Zhen nodded in approval and pulled something from her pocket to hand to them. “Thank you. If you can truly help me with this, there will be more rewards.”The items Wu Zhen had sent were medicinal herbs that could assist minor demons in taking human form or enhance their spiritual power to aid cultivation. These were rare treasures, so the minor demons who received such benefits were eager to serve. Without waiting until the next day, the same minor demon hurried back that very night with news, saying they had found new information.

Tangshui City was a remote small town where the curfew wasn’t as strict as in Chang’an—only the front gate was closed. Wu Zhen entrusted her "gosling" to Niu Yi and Niu Er for care, then she and Mei Zhuyu followed the guiding demon out of the city, arriving at the mountain path leading to Lushui.

The demon pointed down the path. "My second uncle said the person you're looking for passed through here about two months ago and fell into the ravine below."

The ravine looked quite deep. Wu Zhen nodded and said to Mei Zhuyu, "Wait for me up here. I’ll go down and take a look." With that, she grabbed the demon and jumped down.

The cliff wasn’t too steep, covered with thorny bushes, small trees, and miscanthus grass. Even in the darkness, Wu Zhen could see clearly. Using the branches of the small trees as leverage, she landed safely in the ravine.

This part of the ravine showed no signs of human presence—it seemed like a place people rarely visited. Guided by the demon, Wu Zhen didn’t have to walk far before she spotted the wreckage of a carriage, along with the bones of horses and humans, not far from the mountain stream, emitting a faint stench of decay.

After two months, the wreckage remained undiscovered, but the horse and human corpses were incomplete, as if partially eaten by wild animals. Wu Zhen approached the carriage and rummaged through the debris, confirming it belonged to the Cui family. Then, she began searching among the dozen or so corpses, now unrecognizable, for Pei Ji Ya.

After frowning through the search, her expression relaxed slightly—Pei Ji Ya wasn’t among the bodies.

"These corpses are unusual."

Wu Zhen turned to see Mei Zhuyu standing behind her, somehow having made his way down.

"Did you jump down too? Did the child not get shaken out?"

Mei Zhuyu: "...No, I flew down."

Wu Zhen: "Wait, since when could I fly?"

Mei Zhuyu: "I used Daoist arts to fly."

Wu Zhen: "But you're using my body right now, and I don’t know Daoist arts."

Mei Zhuyu: "I do."

Wu Zhen: "That doesn’t make sense..."

Mei Zhuyu placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her back toward the corpses, reiterating, "These corpses are wrong."

Wu Zhen finally stopped questioning how he got down and began examining the bodies closely. Upon closer inspection, she gradually noticed something amiss.

Earlier, she had only glanced briefly, assuming the missing parts were due to animal bites. Now, she realized the absent portions weren’t bitten off—they appeared melted or corroded by something.

Every human and horse corpse showed varying degrees of this melting effect. Ignoring the stench, Wu Zhen leaned in closer to sniff but detected nothing. Remembering she was currently in her husband’s body—without her own heightened senses—she couldn’t detect anything unusual. So, she asked Mei Zhuyu, "Husband, come smell this."

Mei Zhuyu complied and inhaled. Amid the rot, he caught a whiff of fragrance. The scent made him dizzy for a moment, his eyes darkening abruptly.

Lowering his head, his expression unreadable, Wu Zhen noticed his silence and asked, "Well? Did you smell anything burnt? Was it the work of a Demon Creature?"If it were the work of a Demon Creature, there would definitely be a peculiar burnt smell around the missing parts.

However, Mei Zhuyu shook his head and told her, "There isn't any."

Wu Zhen was puzzled. "No burnt smell means it wasn't done by a Demon Creature."

Her seemingly frail but actually tenacious and terrifying cousin—where could he be now?

Mei Zhuyu stood up and suddenly looked deeper into the mountain stream. After staring into the darkness for a moment, he said to Wu Zhen, "It's too late. Let's head back first and come again tomorrow."

"Alright," Wu Zhen nodded, leaving the place with him. However, before departing, she also glanced into the darkness of the deep mountain stream, her expression uneasy.