Cāng Jì stood in the center of the hut, his golden eyes scanning the empty gourd and the dead beetle on the floor with an expression of horror.
"Where is it?" he asked, his voice dropping into a deep vibrato that made the dried herbs hanging from the ceiling rattle.
"It was here! I promise!" Bai Yue scrambled on her knees, desperately patting down the furs and checking every nook and cranny. "I hid it right here after I.…..well, after I acquired it!"
"You mean after you stole it," Cāng Jì corrected, crossing his arms and huffing a puff of blue smoke from his nostrils. "This is unacceptable. This hut is small, it smells of panther musk, and now you have lost my pulse-stabilizer. Do you have any idea what the vibrations of this primitive village are doing to my nerves? My scales are going to lose their luster!"
"Look, I'm sorry about your luster, okay?" Bai Yue snapped, standing up and wiping dust from her knees. "But it's gone. Someone must have taken it while I was in the woods!"
