Chapter Forty-Eight: Restoring Body and Mind

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“Green tea... Yes, of course.”

To ease the awkwardness, Shion offered to make tea for Master Jingci.

She remembered that Sakya usually kept some tea leaves in a kitchen drawer. She had even had some the last time she visited.

“Sorry, Sakya. I’ll just take a little,” Shion murmured inwardly as she found the tea, boiled some water, and began brewing it.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Master Jingci.”

“Thank you, my benefactor.”

Shion carried the tea to the coffee table, and the two of them sat down.

“By the way, how much longer will Sakya be asleep?”

Master Jingci quietly sipped his tea. Hearing Shion’s question, he set down his cup and glanced toward the bedroom.

“That depends on how well her body recovers. I merely helped her sleep more soundly.”

“Eh?”

Shion looked startled and troubled.

When someone was exhausted, they could easily sleep for ten hours or more. They certainly could not afford to wait that long today.

“Don’t worry. She’ll wake up within three hours at most.”

Jingci took another sip of tea.

“You have decent tea-making skills, Benefactor Shion. Still, it would have been better to use water at around seventy degrees rather than freshly boiled water.”

“Uh... really? But... how did you know when I brewed this tea? How can you be so certain about Sakya?”

Shion leaned forward slightly. The monk sitting before her was truly impossible to figure out.

Then again, the director himself was a strange man. It was only natural that his friend would be no different.

“She drank quite a lot of alcohol...”

Jingci gave her a meaningful smile.

“A person’s bladder can only hold so much, can’t it?”

“Huh?”

Shion put on a polite yet awkward smile. She was beginning to suspect that this monk was not nearly as solemn as she had imagined.

“Come along. Once Sakya wakes up, we’ll prepare a proper meal to help restore her strength. Consider it a small compensation from me.”

Jingci rose and beckoned to Shion.

Shion glanced at her phone. It was four in the afternoon.

“Oh? Master, you’ve thought this through so carefully...”

It made sense. To help Sakya climb out of her depression, they could start with a good meal.

By the time they bought the ingredients and finished cooking, it would be six or seven at the latest.

Then Sakya would wake up to a wonderful surprise.

This monk named Jingci seemed to be a rather thoughtful man after all.

Well, if only he were not a monk. A man so considerate, gentle, and handsome...

Hmm...

After spending only a few hours with him, Shion already felt rather favorably toward Jingci.

“All right. I know a supermarket nearby. We can buy the ingredients there.”

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“Then please lead the way, Benefactor Shion.”

Shion gently closed the apartment door, and she and Master Jingci went out together.

The sky had grown somewhat dim. It was twilight.

Sakya was awakened by a strange sensation.

Her entire body felt wonderfully refreshed, as though she had slept soundly for a very long time.

Of course, there was another, far more urgent reason compelling her to open her eyes and get out of bed.

“Eh?”

When she rose, she discovered that she was wearing pajamas and lying neatly beneath the covers.

The heating was not on, either, and the window was open a narrow crack.

She vaguely remembered getting completely drunk at home. In fact, she could barely recall anything that had happened before.

Even the cans of alcohol in the room had disappeared at some point.

Since she had drunk herself unconscious, she could not remember what the room had looked like beforehand.

Sakya merely sensed that something was out of place, then climbed out of bed.

There was something more important to take care of now.

She needed to use the bathroom!

For the past several days, Sakya had been hiding at home and drinking away her troubles.

She had been completely unable to sleep at night.

Although the director had ordered her to rest at home, the nightmares that haunted her made sleep impossible. As a result, she had not truly rested at all.

Sakya opened the bedroom door and found the living room brightly lit. Several dishes had already been arranged on the dining table beside it.

And besides...

Shion was sitting in her living room!

“Hey, you really woke up when I said you would.”

When Shion saw Sakya, she smiled and waved. Then she called toward the kitchen.

“Just as I thought.”

A man’s voice came from the kitchen. It sounded somewhat familiar to Sakya.

“Sh... Shion... what are you doing here? And who is the other person!?”

Sakya grew flustered.

“For your safety, I keep a spare key to your apartment.”

Shion held up the spare key.

“As for the other person, it would be better if you went and greeted him yourself.”

There was no time to say more. The pressure in Sakya’s lower body was growing increasingly unbearable. Whatever questions she had could wait.

“I... I’m going to the bathroom first...”

Her face flushed as she hurried toward the bathroom with her thighs pressed together.

“Go ahead. Take care of that, then come have dinner. It’ll be ready soon.”

The bathroom was right beside the kitchen. As Sakya reached the door, she saw a bald man busy cooking inside.

He tossed the food in a pan, then turned around to greet her.

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“Y-You... why are you here!?”

Wasn’t this the monk who had previously stood on Traum’s shoulder?

While in the bathroom, Sakya carefully sorted through her thoughts.

Shion must have been unable to contact her and, left with no choice, used the spare key to enter the apartment. She had then witnessed the embarrassing state Sakya was in after drinking herself unconscious.

But of all people, that monk had come along too...

Master Jingci, if she remembered correctly.

Good grief... She had met Master Jingci only once and was not at all familiar with him.

And now, on his very first visit, he had seen her at her most wretched. Just thinking about it made her scalp prickle.

Aside from attending the memorial service for the victims, Sakya had barely left the house these past few days. She had spent her time at home with the heating on, wandering around in her underwear.

She had been almost completely unable to sleep for an entire week. It was even more tormenting than the physical exhaustion she had suffered before.

Her heart felt stifled and miserable. She had wanted to cast off everything that bound her, if only for a while, and indulge herself.

If she had really been drinking herself unconscious while wearing nothing but her underwear, and Master Jingci—the man she had met only once—had seen her like that...

Sakya’s face burned all the way to her ears.

Her emotions had been chaotic yesterday, and she had said some things to Longsheng that she should not have. After returning home, she had been restless and upset. Games, the internet, and television had all failed to help her escape from her feelings.

So today, she had simply drunk herself senseless.

“Calm down...”

After taking several deep breaths and clearing the alcohol from her head, Sakya felt much better.

She had never expected Shion and Master Jingci to come to her home, let alone cook for her. How embarrassing...

Once she went out, she would have to thank them properly.

While Sakya dealt with her urgent need, Jingci finished the last dish and placed it on the table.

It was now seven o’clock, exactly as Jingci had estimated—just in time for dinner.

“I’m truly sorry! I’ve made a fool of myself in front of you, Master Jingci!”

At the table, Sakya first apologized for her disgraceful behavior that day.

“You seem to have recovered quite well. Come on, eat something first.”

Shion patted Sakya on the back.

“Master Jingci made all of this to help restore your strength.”

Jingci smiled as well.

“I heard from Old Qin that you are a very polite child, but there is no need to be so formal. What happened was not entirely your fault. I bear some responsibility too.”

“Eh?”

Seeing how candidly he spoke, Sakya relaxed a little. Moreover, Master Jingci seemed to be speaking in a much more casual tone today.

It seemed everyone had another side to them.

“What do you mean, Master Jingci?”

“Uh... let’s eat first. We can talk about that after dinner.”

Shion had already experienced Jingci’s lengthy explanations. Discussing such things at the dinner table would ruin the mood.

She quickly changed the subject.

“Indeed. Sakya, please allow me to express my gratitude with this meal.”