The Golden Witch had finally taken her seat. Her two compatriots looked like they had things to say, and strained greatly to hold their tongues.

The two people involved seemed to be the only ones left with an appetite. They ate in silence, not even so much as sparing each other a glance.

When they parted, the three hadn't managed to so much as wait until they reached the guest rooms.

Cui Shen sounded utterly exasperated. "You've truly outdone yourself this time."

It was all Bai Guo could do to stop himself from voicing his agreement.

"Master must have a plan." He said instead, and had even managed to muster up some conviction. They stopped near their rooms.

The Golden Witch turned to face them. "Cui Shen, I need you to teach me about poisons."

Cui Shen closed his eyes in frustration. "Weren't you listening to me? I was never tutored in poisons. I only know a single formula. My knowledge of the poison arts is nothing but the scraps I could surmise from just that."

The Golden Witch seemed undeterred. "But it isn't just any poison. You said it was based on one of the Devil's five venoms. For this particular case, it's hard to think of a better foundation."

As Cui Shen pondered her words, he opened his eyes. He seemed to be slowly coming around to the idea. "If you're hoping for the formula to include an antidote, then you'd be disappointed."

"I figured... However, there's time for me to create one. The more I figure out, the easier it will get."

Cui Shen sighed. "There is one thing you've forgotten to consider. Lady Ouyang is my master. To help you like this would be tantamount to betrayal."

The hallway grew silent. Neither Bai Guo nor the Golden Witch had anything to say. Though their time as master and disciple was relatively brief, they understood the dilemma he was facing.

Lady Ouyang's voice emerged from around the corner. "What nonsense are you saying? You're no disciple of mine. And I tire of repeating myself."

Among the three, only the Golden Witch was unsurprised to hear the old woman's voice.

She stepped into sight, impassive as ever. "You dog, you must think me quite the fool. You really thought I would teach you anything that might compromise my secrets? Stop fluffing up what's little left of your pride by making a show of clinging to bonds we do not even share. It makes me sick to my core to have a sniveling little worm like you dredge up my name to pat himself on the back with his delusional fantasies."

Cui Shen couldn't even look her in the eyes.

"Teach her." Lady Ouyang said. "Go ahead and teach her everything you know. She won't learn anything useful from you. The only joy you can ever bring me is by stripping away any excuses this woman might have for her inevitable loss."

"Then there's no issue." Cui Shen forced out through his teeth.

Bai Guo wished to say something, anything, in Cui Shen's defense, but he was cowered by lady Ouyang's boundless confidence. Just when a ray of hope had seemingly presented itself, it had been snatched away.

The young man glanced at his master, and found her staring back at him.

"Master..." He began, but couldn't go through with the question on his lips.

"I don't have another plan." She declared. That both answered the disciple's unspoken concerns and filled him with dread.

But suddenly, a smile began to stretch across the lips of his golden haired master. Though she had very clearly tried to hold it back, it seeped out like water through a cracked dam.

In that moment, he felt like there was a lot of meaning in those yellow eyes of hers, but he couldn't understand what she was trying to communicate. For a moment Bai Guo was reminded of a kid getting caught in an obvious lie, but he had no idea what to make of his association.

Lady Ouyang never got to see the Witch's strange smile. She turned around to face the old woman with steely conviction.

"I think you are bluffing." The Golden Witch accused. "Cui Shen, let's go."

"Master, do you need me for anything?" Bai Guo anxiously asked.

"No." His master replied. "Go find something to do."

The two of them left, and lady Ouyang followed them.

"Will you be following me around from now on?" The Golden Witch asked without turning her head.

"I must make sure you don't cheat." The old woman said.

"We haven't worked out the rules in much detail yet, have we?"

"When you first arrived, you swore you wouldn't harm me." Lady Ouyang reminded her. "So then that shall be our only rule. But of course, if you attempt to go after any of my girls, I'll leave you with no choice but to break that rule."

The Golden Witch shook her head. "Oath or no oath, it's not in my interest to get on your bad side, madam Ouyang. Think of this challenge as a way for me to demonstrate my qualifications to be your disciple."

"I could hardly imagine a person that could be less qualified than you."

"I may not know much about poisons now, but I'll catch up in no time."

Lady Ouyang scoffed. "Your knowledge of the poison arts should be the least of your concerns."

The Golden Witch turned her head. "Meaning what exactly?"

"A disciple isn't chosen by her skills." Lady Ouyang explained. "The only thing that matters is her character. And just from the way you act and the company you keep, you could not possibly be further from a desirable candidate."

The younger woman frowned. "Tao Geming forced his presence on me, just like he has done to you."

"Don't try to feed me this nonsense. Our circumstances are nothing alike." Lady Ouyang sneered. "My life and the life of my girls are up to his whim. He stays his hand solely because I found a way to exploit his pride. You think that's the same as being the subject of his fancy?"

After a snort, she continued. "I don't care to exclude him from my evaluation of your character. Your group encompasses every last loathsome facet that made me withdraw myself from the jianghu. The lowly, the crude, the cowardly, the imbecilic. Birds of a feather flock together; how true those words ring now."

Her anger mounting, the Golden Witch faced forward. They walked in tense silence until they emerged outside.

"Well then..." Cui Shen sighed. He looked completely out of his element. "I suppose first of all I should demonstrate how to create the Body Dissolving Incense. I'll show you which ingredients are required, how to combine them, and how to use the poison."

"I'm in your hands." The Golden Witch said.

The three of them dashed off into the swamp.

As Bai Guo watched them leave, he rued his circumstances once more. "Again master took matters into her own hands without consulting me at all. She has no faith in me. But maybe she's right. After all, what am I supposed to do here? Even if she asked, what help could I offer?"

His eyes wandered the flower field and caught glimpse of a girl in the distance. Ling Ling was waving at him with a smile.

Hoping to clear the clouds over his head with the tedium of labor, Bai Guo approached, and the two disciples pressed on with their task.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

As he worked, Bai Guo couldn't help but notice that Ling Ling seemed less restrained than before. She spoke more and laughed more.

"Must be because her master is gone." The young man silently figured. But while the young woman seemed to find some relief in her master's absence, Bai Guo felt anxious over the absence of his. The routine helped little to dull his rambunctious thoughts.

Nevertheless, he entertained the girl with stories of his work at the inn, even as all he could think about was his master's strange expression before she left. Just how was he supposed to interpret that? "Master usually means what she says, so should I take that at face value, too? She really doesn't have a plan again?" He pondered.

Ling Ling took to his stories with surprising amounts of scrutiny. "You must be exaggerating! The way you talk, it's almost like there's a hundred people coming to your inn every day."

The distracted Bai Guo needed a moment to understand the source of her confusion. "A hundred is just what fits in the inn at a time, and that's just the first floor. We serve more than a hundred customers per day, far more."

Ling Ling stared at him wide eyed. "You're not lying?"

"If we only served a hundred people a day, we'd be out of business in no time."

Ling Ling shook her head, still in disbelief. "If this is all true, I should be calling you 'young master', I think..."

Bai Guo's smile was filled with pity. "It's really nothing special. Have you really never been to a big city?"

"Mistress Ouyang sometimes brings me along to the nearby villages when she has something to do there..." Ling Ling said. "But I've never seen more than maybe twenty people in the same place at once. A hundred people all crammed together in a little house... It's hard to even imagine. The smell alone must be overwhelming..."

"Well, sure, the city air isn't as clear as in the countryside, and the streets are always packed with people. But there are so many things to do, to eat, to see! You'd have to try real hard to get bored." Bai Guo chuckled a bit. "The city life is so addicting that even my master ended up squandering all her riches after I taught her how to enjoy the city life."

Ling Ling gasped. "Really? Even someone like her?"

Bai Guo scratched his head. "Well, she treats money like water, so it was only a matter of time with or without me..."

The young girl looked back at the mansion, her eyes filled with regret.

"I don't know..." She began to mutter uncertainly. "There's too many people there... I don't think I would like it... It just sounds too dangerous... And mistress Ouyang would never let me go..."

As Bai Guo listened to her mumble, something of an idea had finally crossed his mind. He shrugged. "Yeah, she definitely wouldn't. "

Ling Ling seemed crushed by his words. They worked in silence for a while.

The girl eventually spoke up again. "What is it like, traveling with your master?"

For a time, Bai Guo pondered how to answer her question. His face began to slowly contort into a grin. "She can be a real slave driver sometimes. She just can't sit still. We're lucky to spend more than a day in the same place. And she walks so fast, I'm always tired. And she always gets into trouble. You wouldn't even believe some of the stories I have..."

The young man's grin was infectious; Ling Ling pursed her lips to hide her smirk. "Even though you're grumbling, you're smiling so much."

Bai Guo began to turn red. Though he tried to shelf his grin, his face wouldn't listen.

Ling Ling chuckled. "I've heard of speaking ill behind someone's back, but I don't think that saying was meant for such roundabout praise."

"Who's praising her?" Bai Guo protested. "I'm trying to vent a little while she's gone!"

They both wandered over to a basket to dump some dead flowers. They stalled at that spot, suddenly unwilling to part. Bai Guo sat down. Ling Ling kneeled next to him in the grass.

"I don't know if you've noticed," Ling Ling said. "But when you're talking about your master, it's like you're glowing. I think it's wonderful. I'm so..."

The girl trailed off, nervously tugging at her sleeves. "...I wish I could be as filial as you." She concluded.

Bai Guo sighed. "It has nothing to do with you. Our masters are just very different people. I mean, sir Shen told us about..."

Now it was Bai Guo who had abruptly left her hanging. Ling Ling glanced at him impatiently, her curiosity almost overflowing.

The young man turned up his head. "Ah, forgive my loose lips, it's nothing. Sorry, let's get back to work."

He tried to stand up, but Ling Ling suddenly grasped his sleeve.

"Please tell me." She pleaded.

Bai Guo found himself at a loss. He hadn't expected her to be so insistent.

"Sir Shen told us about how lady Ouyang finds her disciples - by stealing them away from their households."

"That's not true!" Ling Ling exclaimed, but she seemed surprised by the lack of strength in her own voice.

"You mean that hasn't happened to you?" Bai Guo asked.

The young woman quivered. "Mistress Ouyang told me my parents didn't want me, that they gave me away..."

"So you don't remember your parents?"

"I've lived here since I was little. I don't remember my life before this place..."

Bai Guo shook his head. "Well, I don't know. Sir Shen told us that your senior martial sister was one of those who were kidnapped as a child."

"I've never met her... She left before I was born. I've only found out about her at all because of junior martial brother's return." Ling Ling gripped her shaking hands. "But... even so, the girls here, none of them were kidnapped. Their village got destroyed, and they wandered into the bog by accident. One of them ended up getting bitten by a snake, and mistress Ouyang saved her and took them in. And elder Lai has been here before I was even born. I just don't think she's anything like you say..."

The young man sighed. "See, this is why I didn't want to talk. If these rumors get to lady Ouyang, knowing her temper, there'll be hell to pay for all of us."

Ling Ling gasped. She seemed terrified by the idea. "I won't tell her! But you're right, we should maybe stop talking about this... I don't hold it against you..."

She turned left and right, warily glancing all around. She was greatly relieved to find nobody peering in on them.

"Fine by me!" He said, standing up. He grabbed her shuddering little hands and helped her up as well.

Her eyes widened when Bai Guo grabbed her. Ling Ling's mind raced for a coherent thought as they held hands.

"It's about time for me to go cook." She stammered as they separated.

"Too bad I can't help with that."

"I don't think they'll be coming back for lunch." Ling Ling began, immediately overcome with something that resembled regret. But it was too late to take back her words; she kept going. "It takes a long time to assemble the ingredients for junior martial brother's poison. They might be busy until late."

"Well then... I'll take the risk." Bai Guo declared.

Ling Ling led the way back to the mansion, blood rushing to her face as soon as she turned away.