"Talk about a double standard. A minute ago you wouldn't spare me a single bowl of porridge, and the moment you hear 'Young Master Music,' you do a complete turnaround and want to buy me a drink?"

Ning Chen said it with a smile.

Hua Linglong laughed. "You didn't really come for porridge either, young sir, did you?"

Ning Chen grinned. "Then what did I come for?"

Hua Linglong said, "My guess is you heard from Young Master Music about what happened between him and me, and you got curious and came to take a look at me."

Ning Chen was surprised into a smile.

"Miss Hua, you..."

Ning Chen suddenly felt that way of addressing her sounded a little lecherous, so he switched. "Heroine Hua, do you still remember Xie Siyu?" (TL Note: 花姑娘, "Miss Hua," is also "hua guniang," "flower girl" — the phrase Japanese soldiers in Chinese war films use for a woman they're after. Ning Chen swaps it for 花女俠, "Hua the heroine.")

Hua Linglong thought about it and shook her head. "I don't remember. Who's he?"

"The Eldest Brother of the Ghost-Shadow Sect!"

Hua Linglong seemed to remember. Her face darkened. "Oh, that lecher. You know him?"

"Uh... He's actually not a lecher. He's just not entirely all there. I know things went badly between you back then, but it was all a misunderstanding. What he meant by practicing together isn't what you took it to mean.

When he said practicing together, he really meant getting married. After you're married, it's perfectly normal for husband and wife to sleep together, and then they train together and improve together."

Hua Linglong narrowed her eyes at Ning Chen, then waved a hand. "Forget it. That was years ago. I forgot about it ages ago... Whether he's all there or not has nothing to do with me.

All you need to remember is to bring Young Master Music tonight.

Oh, and I don't even know your honorable name yet, young sir. I suppose you're one of the Great Beginning Pavilion's Four Young Masters too?"

Ning Chen smiled. "I'm…