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CHAPTER 11: Tasting Honey
Chu Li could tell Little Lian seemed to be blaming her for something, though she couldn't deny it either, she really had let her guard down and failed to notice that lone straggler bee.
She gave him an apologetic smile. "It's really nothing, just a sting. I've already treated it. It'll heal up within a couple of days."
Little Lian's expression only grew heavier, clearly unconvinced by her reassurance.
Hoping to lift his spirits, Chu Li summoned the hive from her storage bracelet and held it up in front of him. "Look at what I brought back today. This is a hive wild spirit bees only recently abandoned. There's more than enough here for several fresh candles."
Little Lian lowered his gaze to the massive hive cradled in her arms, his eyes narrowing slightly. After a long moment, he hesitantly reached out, running his fingertips carefully over its surface before leaning in to smell it.
Seeing him look so thoughtful, Chu Li blinked at him. "What's wrong? Does it smell strange to you?"
"No, I was just curious." He tucked his hand back into his sleeve, his brow lifting slightly, the corner of his mouth curving into a faint smile. "Sister, did you risk getting stung by spirit bees just to gather this hive for making candles?"
"Mm-hm." Chu Li set the hive aside, her tone turning gentle as she tried to soothe him. "I know it wasn't fair to leave you alone in the room for most of the day. Are you still upset with me?"
"I'm not trying to blame you, Sister. I just don't like seeing you get hurt. Last time it was that horrible Qin Yuxi hurting your finger. This time it's spirit bees." He held her gaze steadily. "I don't want there to be a next time."
Though his words were clearly meant with concern, there was an unmistakable edge of command in his tone.
When he said "I don't want," it landed closer to "I won't allow."
Chu Li assumed it must simply be because Little Lian had grown so attached to her that he couldn't help worrying this much, unwilling to see her come to any harm at all.
To put his mind at ease, she promised him, "I swear, there won't be a next time."
That afternoon, Chu Li set about rendering the beeswax, calling Little Lian over to watch the entire process.
Once the hive was opened, its neat, hexagonal comb structure was laid bare inside.
Perhaps the colony had abandoned the hive in too much of a hurry, because Chu Li was pleasantly surprised to find that some of the cells still held honey.
She carefully cut away those sections and squeezed out the remaining honey with her own hands.
The milky-white honey looked thick, yet it wasn't nearly as sticky as she'd expected, flowing slowly between her fingers like the finest nectar, dripping down into a celadon jar.
Little Lian, meanwhile, stared fixedly at the honey seeping from between Chu Li's fingers without so much as a blink, seemingly having forgotten entirely that he was the one holding the container meant to catch it.
Watching the honey overflow the jar's rim and drip onto his hand without him even noticing, Chu Li called out to him quickly. "You're daydreaming again, the honey's dripping all over your hand!"
Little Lian snapped out of it at once, quickly repositioning the jar. Only after Chu Li had squeezed out the very last drop did he examine his honey-covered hand and mutter, a little put out, "I'll go wash it off."
Chu Li caught his wrist before he could leave. "That's fine white honey, it'd be such a waste to wash it away. It's not every day we get honey this fresh. Don't you want to taste it?"
Little Lian frowned, clearly not thrilled by the suggestion. "I don't like things that are too sweet."
"White honey probably isn't that sweet, though." As she said it, Chu Li leaned in without quite thinking it through, pressed her lips to the honey-coated knuckle of his thumb, and gave it a light suck.
The white honey that met her lips was pleasantly light and sweet, leaving her feeling refreshed.
She licked away the last traces of honey from her mouth, swallowing slowly, and glanced up at him with a small wink. "Not bad at all, honestly. About as sweet as green mist fruit, I'd say."
Little Lian's pupils contracted slightly as he stared at her, looking somewhat taken aback.
"You don't believe me?" Chu Li murmured, lifting his thumb again and giving the honey at his knuckle another taste, her tongue carefully gathering up every last bit clinging to the corner of her own mouth as well.
After savoring it thoroughly, she told him with complete sincerity, "It really isn't cloying at all. If I'm lying, I'll turn into a puppy on the spot."
Little Lian looked away, his expression turning as overcast as the sky outside. "...I never realized Sister had this particular kind of taste."
"Taste? What taste?" Chu Li asked, confused. "I only had a couple licks of honey..."
She glanced down at the hand she was still holding, and only then did the realization finally catch up with her.
There was, of course, nothing wrong with tasting honey.
The problem was the manner in which she'd tasted it.
What kind of person, exactly, licked honey off a seventeen-year-old boy's thumb with such open, unguarded enjoyment, right in front of him?
Realizing she'd just done something that reflected rather poorly on her, Chu Li scrambled to change the subject. "Well, didn't you lick the blood off my finger before?"
Little Lian's lips twitched faintly, his eyes darting away. "...Didn't you dislike that at the time, Sister?"
His tone carried an unmistakable implication: apparently, she was allowed to do whatever she pleased, while he wasn't permitted the same.
"That's completely different." Chu Li shook his hand a little guiltily and poked a fingertip into his palm. "I definitely won't do that again next time."
"...Sister says one thing, but clearly means something else entirely." Little Lian's fingers curled slightly as he pulled his hand free from hers and turned to leave.
Chu Li reached out, calling after him quickly, "But you still haven't licked... washed the honey off your hand yet!"
Little Lian curled his fingers inward, tucking his thumb tightly out of sight. He paused for just a moment, his back still turned, before walking stiffly out of the inner chamber.
Chu Li shrugged, picking the celadon jar up off the floor and sealing it carefully, then turned to survey the flattened, drained clumps of honeycomb left behind.
Since he clearly had no interest in watching any further, she decided to focus on making the candles properly, so he could enjoy the results of the wax-dripping without any more distraction.
Motivated once more, she began by boiling the drained honeycomb in water, straining out the residue while it was still hot, and once the contents of the pot had cooled, skimmed off an entire thick layer of golden beeswax floating on the surface.
She reheated the rendered wax a second time to soften it, divided it into fist-sized portions, embedded a wick into each one, and shaped them by hand into round, plump little candles.
Chu Li felt genuinely pleased with the natural beeswax candles she'd made entirely by herself, and immediately picked one out to show Little Lian.
But the moment she stepped out of the inner chamber, she heard someone knocking at the door.
It was Li Yuanfu, Elder Wen's capable partner.
Chu Li had no personal grievance against Li Yuanfu himself, but the last time she'd seen him, it had been because of Qin Yuxi's troublemaking.
She had a feeling this visit wouldn't bring good news either. "May I ask what Elder Wen needs from me?"
Li Yuanfu made a polite gesture of invitation. "I hope Miss Chu will accompany me. Three elders have already been waiting for some time in the rear mountains."
...Three?
Chu Li felt a flicker of alarm. That was one more elder than last time, which could only mean the situation had grown more serious, not less.
And she had no idea why the elders would want to meet in the rear mountains of all places. Surely it couldn't have anything to do with her collecting that abandoned hive?
Chu Li ran her thumb uneasily over the freshly shaped candle in her hand, thinking about how she hadn't even had the chance to show it off to Little Lian yet, and felt a wave of disappointment. "Let me tell him first. I'll be right back."
"There's no need." Li Yuanfu spoke like some emotionless wooden puppet, mechanically relaying the message. "Elder Wen instructed that Miss Chu may bring him along as well."
Something sank in Chu Li's chest.
Within the Bliss Sect, an ordinary partner's standing was naturally far below that of a proper disciple, and unless absolutely necessary, they were never permitted to attend gatherings like this.
What could possibly have happened, for Elder Wen to make an exception and allow Little Lian to come along with her this time?
No sooner had Chu Li arrived at the rear mountains with the boy in tow than she spotted two painfully familiar figures.
Right in front of all three elders, Jin Lan and Qi Ying were locked in a heated argument, neither willing to back down.
"Junior Sister Chu deliberately burned a group of spirit bees alive, all to gather wild honey for herself. My own partner ran into her this very morning, and she still had a fresh sting mark on her shoulder. That's proof enough as far as I'm concerned." Jin Lan jabbed a finger accusingly at Chu Li. "Spirit bees mean a great deal to this sect, and yet Junior Sister Chu shows such blatant disregard for our rules. It's simply outrageous!"
"Junior Sister Jin, since when do you just say whatever comes to mind?" Qi Ying rounded on Jin Lan, glaring. "Xiao Li only wanted to collect beeswax for candles. Going after an abandoned hive was entirely my idea in the first place. Are you accusing me of encouraging her to slaughter an entire colony?"
"Senior Sister Qi, I have nothing against you personally. You're the one who insisted on stepping in to defend the guilty party here." Jin Lan turned back to the three elders, her tone resolute. "I ask the elders to see clearly through this and hold Junior Sister Chu accountable, for the sake of keeping our sect's ranks clean."
"How can you be so unreasonable?" Getting nowhere in her back-and-forth with Jin Lan, Qi Ying turned instead and bowed toward each of the three elders in turn. "Xiao Li is this disciple's friend. My judgment of people has always been sound, and I can say with certainty she would never do something like that."
Elder Wen raised a hand to put an end to the argument. "That's enough. Ah Ying, please stand by for now. Let's hear from Xiao Li herself."
Naturally outraged by Jin Lan's baseless accusation, Chu Li stepped forward at once to defend herself. "Senior Sister Jin is spinning outright lies out of thin air. I'll stake my life on it, I have never once done anything so cruel and senseless!"
Jin Lan arched an eyebrow, looking at her sideways. "Perhaps, in Junior Sister Chu's eyes, spirit bees simply don't count as living creatures worth caring about at all? Otherwise, how could you go so far as to burn an entire innocent colony to ash?"
Chu Li could hardly believe her own ears, feeling the blood rush straight to her head. "Senior Sister Jin, are you fabricating this monstrous a lie over nothing more than some petty personal grudge, and slandering me openly in front of everyone?"
"A monstrous lie?" Jin Lan laughed, entirely unbothered. "Elder Lu personally witnessed the charred remains of the colony with his own eyes. If you doubt it's true, why not go ask him yourself?"
Chu Li silently recited the core socialist values to herself in an effort to stay calm, though it did nothing whatsoever to dampen the urge rising in her to hit something.
She felt her fingers curling into fists inside her sleeves, restless, ready to move, but before she could actually act on the impulse, held back by the very last thread of her self-control, Little Lian suddenly threw both arms around her, holding her firmly in place.
"Sister, absolutely not!"
Trapped like this, Chu Li wanted to break free, but she was too worried she might accidentally hurt him in the process if she moved too abruptly, and so she stayed still, quietly urging him under her breath to let go.
The boy, however, refused to release her, leaving her even more helpless than before.
Jin Lan seemed to thoroughly enjoy the sight of Chu Li so visibly restrained and unable to act. "Well, well, this little brat's certainly learned some manners since last time."
Caught suddenly between enemies on every side, Chu Li could hardly contain her frustration and snapped at Little Lian instead. "Whose side are you even on right now!"
The boy only tightened his grip around both her arms, his voice turning tearful and wounded as he pleaded with her. "Please don't let her make you angry, Sister. Getting angry only makes a person look ugly."
【Author's Note】
【Bonus scene】
Question: When do you think they look their best?
Ji Wuyan: Sister looks good no matter what.
Chu Li: He looks best when he's crying.
Ji Wuyan: ...Something's wrong with you.
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