The Inn of Coming Wealth - 39

Familiar knife marks and a familiar craft. Aso looked up and saw them, smiled faintly, and pushed two cups of freshly brewed herbal tea onto the table. "You're back? Was the mission smooth? Have some hot tea to warm yourselves up first." Xiao Long took the teacup. The moment his fingertips touched the ceramic, his eyes flickered intensely again. He lowered his head and looked at the lemon balm and perilla leaves floating in the tea. This ratio, even the temperature of the boiling tea and the technique to remove the fishy smell... it was so similar. It was exactly like the woman who, during the collapse of Dragonfall Volcano and the ensuing apocalypse, had shoved hot soup into his hands while muttering, "You don't take care of yourself," holding a long saber. "Innkeeper," Xiao Long's voice was hoarse, a hint of disbelief in his tentative question, "May I ask your surname?" Aso's eyes curved into a smile, as down-to-earth as ever. "You're too kind. Everyone calls me Aso. Or you can call me Caihua if you prefer." "Caihua..." Xiao Long repeated the two words, his brow furrowed. The name was unfamiliar to him, but in the legends of Dragonfall Volcano, the mysterious woman who led everyone through the catastrophe in their time of crisis and then quietly departed was known as Su Jingwen. And when Xiao Long's gaze fell upon the faint, small knife scar subtly revealed on Aso's wrist as she took off her apron, his heart completely lost its rhythm.