"...Because I'm hungry!" I shot her a look. Didn't she understand? Well, maybe she really didn't, having only become human recently.
After we finished the noodles, Lao Si actually took our two instant noodle containers to wash. I didn't stop her; diligence is a good thing, after all.
I lit a cigarette, and Yao Yao tried it, coughing her lungs out from the smoke.
"Smoking isn't good for you, you shouldn't do it," I chuckled.
"I used to smoke, just not this flavor," Yao Yao said, taking a sip of her drink.
I expressed my confusion and looked it up on my phone. It was true; tobacco had been introduced to Yan Xia in the 16th century, so her having smoked it wasn't that surprising.
I took out another pack from my bag, a slim pack of Xuan He Men. I'd bought it at the hotel front desk just now. The Yu Xi I'd stolen earlier was down to half a pack, the rest having been discarded in the cornfield. So, I'd bought a new pack.
I lit a Xuan He Men and offered it to Yao Yao, "Try this one, it's a ladies' cigarette."
Yao Yao took it, took a puff, closed her eyes slightly, leaned back on the chair, propped her feet up on my leg, and her expression was one of pure enjoyment. "Mmm... this is good."
With the cigarette as a bridge, and her placing her feet on my leg – an action that at least signaled she didn't consider me a complete outsider – I felt emboldened to ask her more questions.
"Before, what was this 'sBA' that Shen Xingyue mentioned?" I asked.
"Special Biological Administration, sBA, Shabiya." Yao Yao suddenly spoke fluent English, which greatly surprised me. I had never communicated with her in English in our dreams. She must have learned it from Shen Xingyue.
I recalled someone mentioning "Shabiya" when we were at the Hualou Reservoir. They must have been referring to this "sBA," the Chinese pronunciation.
"Special Biological Administration... what does that mean?" I asked again. "It sounds like an animal protection organization, a department for protecting rare species?"
Yao Yao exhaled two streams of smoke through her nostrils and chuckled, "Not at all. It's a department solely for handling affairs concerning yokai in the human realm."
"Oh? There's a department like that? Is it newly established?" I asked, having never heard of it. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
"There have been departments handling yokai affairs officially since ancient times," Yao Yao opened her eyes. Just then, Lao Si came out. Yao Yao patted the spot next to her on the bed and gestured to me, "I'm going to enjoy myself for a bit. Lao Ba, you explain it to him."
I understood. Proximity breeds advantage. Lao Si, the bear demon, lived near Yao Yao. They probably got together to chat when nothing else was going on.
"Okay," Xiong Xiao Meng kicked off her canvas shoes, hugged her knees, and placed her feet on the chair, teaching me, her student, with seriousness.
"It's not that it's ancient; to be precise, it started from the Zhou Dynasty, because the large-scale appearance of yokai in the human world began with the fall of the Shang Dynasty. I don't know if it's related to the Investiture of the Gods."
"The first official organization established to handle yokai affairs was called 'Dou Gu,' founded by Mozi during the Warring States period."
"After that, each dynasty basically had such special organizations."
"During the Qin and Han Dynasties, it was called 'Hei Qi'."
"In the Tang Dynasty, it was 'Peony Imperial Guard'."
"In the Song Dynasty, it was 'Xun Cheng Si'."
"The Ming Dynasty was even more direct, calling it 'Zhen Mo Si,' which was part of the Shen Ji Battalion."
"In the Qing Dynasty, it was 'Mujige,' which, translated into Chinese, is the renowned 'Zhan Gan Chu,' commonly known as 'Blood Drop'."
"So, your name means that!" I suddenly realized. "Does that mean you were the head of the yokai management department in the Later Jin Dynasty?"
Yao Yao had already lit her third Xuan He Men. I suspected she was getting a bit tipsy. She merely nodded vaguely, not answering.
Xiong Xiao Meng continued: "After the Republic of China, up until the present, it has been called the 'Special Biological Administration.' It used to be affiliated with a national department, but now it's attached to the Department of Natural Resource Protection, though it's actually an independent agency reporting directly to the highest level."
"Your Shen Xingyue is from that department," Yao Yao said calmly. "She's the captain of the first team of the Jinling sBA operations."
"...What do you mean, 'my' Shen Xingyue?" I said sheepishly.
"Heh, isn't she your little fiancée?" Yao Yao teased.