The smell of spicy pizza lingered in the air of the pizzeria, stinging Jian Jing's nose and respiratory tract with a subtle but nagging pain.
Brother Bear glanced at Lu Ka and said nonchalantly, "Don't say that in front of customers. Castle Winterfell is a nice place with over 300 years of history, older than our great grandfathers."
He cracked a joke but no one laughed.
Lu Ka grumbled, "I just feel uncomfortable whenever I get near that place." He looked at the customers he had picked up and joked ingratiatingly, "I still have work to do this afternoon. Uncle, I've brought the people to Barna, just a few kilometers from the castle. So...maybe you could give them a ride?"
He rubbed his nose until it turned red. "Just two people, it'd be convenient, right?"
"Sure, but Lu Ka," Brother Bear said seriously, "don't forget, the nursing home fees for your grandma are low because Sa Er paid for half of it."
Lu Ka was momentarily at a loss for words.
Their conversation attracted the attention of others.
Kimberley, the blonde woman among the newcomers, couldn't help but blurt out, "You seem to be talking about something we don't know. Castle Winterfell?"
Brother Bear glared at Lu Ka.
Lu Ka tried to gloss over it, stammering, "Yes, um...the castle is built on a cliff, and my fear of heights makes me...feel pressured."
Kimberley looked skeptical.
"Your pizza," said the boss, carrying the pizza in one hand and the chicken pasta in the other. "And your noodles."
Kimberley took a piece of pizza and asked, "Italian pizza? Italian?"
The boss shrugged. "French."
"Do you know Castle Winterfell?" Kimberley deliberately glanced at Lu Ka.
The young man was visibly fidgeting.
But the boss's response was casual: "Who in Barna doesn't know Castle Winterfell?"
"Have you been to that place yourself?"
The boss said, "I'm not interested in it. Would you like anything else?"
"Two lemon waters, thanks."
The boss brought out a jug of iced water for them to help themselves.
Kimberley took the initiative to chat with Jian Jing: "It sounds like you're going to the castle too?"
Kang Mu Cheng said, "We're here for a wedding."
"Oh, so you're Melanie's friend - are you a friend of Sa Er or the groom?" she asked.
"Sa Er is my classmate."
"I see. So what do you think of him?" Kimberley tossed her hair and put on an inquisitive look. "I'm Melanie's sister. To be honest, I don't know anything about the man she's marrying."
She complained to her companion, "Dear, this whole thing is just awful."
"Melanie has the right to choose her own husband," her husband said. "Come on, let's happily attend their wedding."
Kimberley made a displeased expression but didn't object, lowering her head to eat her lunch.
Jian Jing stirred the ice cubes in her glass with a straw. She felt like Kimberley was impulsive, asking questions and then immediately forgetting them. Her thinking seemed rather muddled.
But Jian Jing didn't say anything, just snatched the last piece of pizza from Si Yingjie.
After lunch, Brother Bear and Lu Ka discussed and finally agreed to give Kimberley, her husband and the others a ride to Castle Winterfell.
On the road, everyone introduced themselves.
The blonde woman was called Kimberley, the bride was her cousin Melanie. The man with her was of course her husband, having married just a year ago.
Jian Jing asked, "Where are the bride's parents?"
"Poor Melanie, her parents died shortly after she was born," Cousin Kim said. "She lived with our family since she was a little girl, and we were just like real sisters. But I've never met her husband."
She stressed the word "never", very concerned about it.
Kang Mu Cheng had to speak up for his friend: "Lei Ao is a good man, kind and responsible. I believe they will be a very happy couple."
Cousin Kim blinked and looked unconvinced.
But her husband said, "Anyway, he owns a castle, and money can solve many problems. This marriage won't be too bad."
It didn't take long to get to Castle Winterfell, just 10 minutes up the mountain road after leaving town. Then the gray castle perched on the cliff came into view.
Jian Jing couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow!"
It was magnificently spectacular!
On the distant cliff stood an astonishing Gothic castle. Whitish gray walls with typical high spires, straight and majestic lines, ornately decorated - and right before the endless sea.
However, that alone was not enough to take one's breath away.
As the temperature dropped, water vapor from the sea continued to condense on the castle's surface, encasing it in clusters of crystalline shells, as if made of ice.
Abundant irregular sharp icicles covered the castle and cliff, like a huge white crystal, but the opaque overlapping layers prevented light from penetrating, blurring the twisted stagnant shadows on it.
It was beautiful, magnificent, yet eerie.
No wonder Lu Ka felt uncomfortable - he wasn't lying.
The car circled onto the highway, slowly leaving the bizarre scenery behind. Gradually the front view of the castle came into sight.
It became ordinary.
The old exterior wall still had a luxurious style, but the reliefs had faded, the columns had lost their color, no longer extravagant but heavy with history.
In short, not as shockingly weird as the back.
Brother Bear parked the car at the gate, rang the bell, and the iron gate slowly opened to let them drive in.
Jian Jing instinctively observed her surroundings. In winter, the grass and trees were withered. Thick snow was piled on both sides of the road, like a white towel cake.
Amid the snow were some black dried branches and bird prints.
A young girl pushed open the door. "Uncle George, guests?"
"Little Mary." Brother Bear pushed hard to open the solid wooden door. "Is Lei Ao home?"
"As usual, in the study, no disturbance allowed," Mary replied. "But he told me that when guests arrive, I should take them to their rooms. All cleaned up."
"That's great news, I bet our guests are exhausted," said Brother Bear.
He told the five guests, "This is Mary, Lei Ao hired her to help around the castle. She's a capable girl, ask her if you need anything."
Mary was a pretty girl with red hair and a light smattering of freckles. She flatly announced, "There's much to do around the castle for the few of us - I hope you won't treat me like a maid to order around."
Cousin Kim awkwardly retracted her hand as she was about to pass her coat to Mary.
Mary looked uncertainly at Kang Mu Cheng. "You're Lei Ao's friend Kang?" Her pronunciation was off. "They're your friends?"
Kang Mu Cheng nodded.
"Your rooms are on the third floor," Mary said. "Follow me."
She then turned and went upstairs, leaving Cousin Kim and her husband standing.
In Chinese, Si Yingjie commented: "Quite a personality."
Jian Jing had to stifle her amusement.
"Mind your step," Miss Mary said coolly but dutifully. "The stairs are over a hundred years old, best not to trust them too much."
The stairs were steep but the railings and walls were beautifully carved. In the dim wall lights, the statues faded in and out, quite aesthetically pleasing.
On the third floor, it was slightly brighter. At the end of the hallway was a stained glass window, with typical angel patterns in red, green, yellow and blue, casting colorful lights on the floor.
"Here are three guest rooms," Mary stopped and took out a set of keys from her waist to open each one. "Make yourselves at home, the beddings are all new."
"Thank you very much," Kang Mu Cheng said gratefully.
Mary's attitude softened a little as she nodded, then hurried downstairs to receive the other two guests.
Si Yingjie pushed open every door and glanced inside. "They're all similar. Jian Jing can take the middle one."
Jian Jing readily agreed: "Okay."
The guest rooms were not too big, about 30 square meters. Besides the typical European four-poster beds, there was a wardrobe, a chair, a desk, and a very typical and practical fireplace.
A real fireplace, with neatly chopped oak firewood on the rack next to it, and a brick chimney above. In the corner were a set of fire tongs, shovel and broom.
The exquisitely made fireplace leaned against the wall, ready to be lit at any time.
Jian Jing had a hard time resisting the urge to try lighting it.
On the wall next to the bed was an arched window, shut tight. Just outside was the frozen cliff. From this angle, looking down, the greyish ice blocks were interlocked, much like the grim teeth of some beast in the sea.
She took off her coat—though the castle was old, it had modern heating installed, and warm air blew from concealed corners, so it was not too cold—opened her luggage, and quickly tidied up her clothes.
Next she used the bathroom.
Even great beauties need to use the bathroom, are plane bathrooms made for people?!
The bathroom of the guest room was not big. The tiles still retained the style from a hundred years ago, fortunately the bathroom fixtures were modernized, with a flush toilet and bathtub that were brand new.
She took out her phone, good, there was a signal.
Kang Mu Cheng had sent a new message in their group of three: [Rest first, dinner starts at 7pm]
Si Yingjie sent a sleeping emoji.
Jian Jing did the same.
Their chat history in this group basically followed this pattern.
Kang Mu Cheng was too lazy to correct them anymore.
After the long journey of over ten hours, even those made of iron would be exhausted. The three people were incredibly tired, and got into bed to sleep without any discussion.
The bed was unexpectedly soft. Her body sank into it, soft and comfortable, but after not too long, the overly soft mattress started tormenting her spine.
Jian Jing did not sleep well, constantly feeling uncomfortable. She could not stand it anymore and sat up to try changing mattresses.
But just then, her watch showed 5:23pm.
She had slept for over three hours, yet it felt as if she had stayed up the entire night.
"Ah, how annoying!" She sat on the bed in frustration for a while, unwilling to get up. Eventually she got out of bed to wash up.
The water was very hot. She washed her face and applied a face mask, putting on light makeup. She changed out of the comfortable, loose athletic clothes worn on the plane into a more formal grey woollen long dress, paired with short boots.
She casually bundled up her messy hair into a fluffy bun.
Wearing little rabbit ear hair clips, she was done.
Worried that Si Yingjie and Kang Mu Cheng were not yet awake, she didn't knock on their doors but went straight downstairs.
Downstairs, Mary and Qiao Zhi were nowhere to be seen, nor Kim's cousin and her husband. Only a man in a black suit sat in the lounge smoking a cigar.
The two made eye contact.
Jian Jing paused in her steps, thinking to herself: What was the name of the male lead in that vampire movie? The one with skin so pale he looked bloodless.
"日本人ですか?" he asked.
Jian Jing: "I'm Chinese."
"Sorry." He shrugged and switched to clumsy Chinese. "I can't tell the difference."
Jian Jing said: "You can speak English."
He immediately switched languages, much more fluent now: "You look a lot like a Japanese singer." And he hummed a few lines of 'Riding on the Silver Dragon's Back.'
Jian Jing: "..."
People often said she resembled Misako Yamaguchi, but that was a Mika Nakashima song.
She reasonably suspected this person was face-blind.
