Chapter 24: 《)

Seeing Xiao Rangchen fall silent, Lou Yue thought she shouldn’t push him too hard and risk affecting the plot later on. She rose, brushed past him, and returned to her own room, letting the subject drop.

Just as they passed each other, he suddenly spoke.

“Wait.”

Lou Yue turned halfway back. His lowered lashes were veiled in shadow, obscuring his expression. After a moment, he held out a vial of medicine.

“You’ve been poisoned. This is the antidote,” he said.

Lou Yue froze, then cried out in shock and anger, “You poisoned me?!”

“Xiao Rangchen, are you even a man?”

Xiao Rangchen abruptly lifted his eyes. “You think I would poison you.”

Lou Yue was taken aback.

“In your eyes, I’m nothing but vile and despicable.”

Lou Yue rubbed her brow. She had indeed acted impulsively just now. Ever since her cultivation had reached the Nascent Soul stage yesterday, she had occasionally been feeling restless.

It was as though something were about to break through the soil and emerge—a sense of unease mixed with an excitement that made her blood race.

And today, that feeling was even stronger. At that moment, she even felt her limbs trembling and going weak.

No—that wasn’t just a feeling. They really were weak...

Lou Yue hurriedly reached out to brace herself against the railing beside her.

And beyond the weakness, there was an indescribable...

Thinking Lou Yue’s poison was taking effect, Xiao Rangchen immediately moved to support her, only to halt just before touching her.

Lou Yue felt the world begin to spin before her eyes. She managed to stagger a few steps, then her whole body pitched downward.

No longer able to worry about Lou Yue’s aversion to him, Xiao Rangchen swept her up in his arms, pushed open the door, and carried her into the room. The door closed behind him.

“Your poison is acting up.”

He laid Lou Yue on the bed, took out the vial she had refused earlier, and poured out the pill. Its rich fragrance instantly spread through the room.

Half-supporting Lou Yue upright, he brought the pill to her lips. But Lou Yue turned her head away.

Xiao Rangchen frowned, about to speak, when Lou Yue asked slowly and breathlessly, “Where... did you get... the antidote?”

“Yue Qi. I overheard him and Cang Wu talking about drugging you.”

He added, “I tested it. He also swore a soul oath that taking this would cure you.”

Even through her haze, Lou Yue still felt that something was wrong.

“What else do you want to ask?” Xiao Rangchen asked in a low voice, pinching the pill between his fingers. To him, it seemed that Lou Yue still did not trust him.

Lou Yue tried to use her spiritual power to suppress the unfamiliar heat beginning to surge through her body, but the more she suppressed it, the more fiercely it rose. She drew a breath and did her best to keep her voice steady.

“Did he... say what kind of poison it was?”

Xiao Rangchen fell silent. After a while, he said, “I forgot to ask.”

Lou Yue: “...”

In the stillness filling the room, their uneven breathing sounded especially clear.

Lou Yue felt that if she waited any longer, Xiao Rangchen would surely notice something was amiss. Gritting her teeth, she opened her lips and took the pill from his hand into her mouth.

Her soft, damp lips brushed his fingertips—only for an instant.

Xiao Rangchen lowered his hand, his fingers curling slightly.

The pill melted the moment it entered her stomach. Lou Yue could feel that indescribable sensation gradually receding. Her body was still somewhat weak and limp, but the antidote was genuine.

The room was saturated with its fragrance, so intense it was almost pungent—and somehow familiar.

She had supposedly been poisoned, but when had it happened?

The scent of the antidote seemed to be the same as the one she had smelled on Yue Qi that morning.

Lou Yue had never touched anything Yue Qi had given her. The closest she had come to him was before yesterday’s enlightenment beneath the ancient tree, and then again this morning. There had been too many people around yesterday—the clan heads were all present—so Yue Qi would not have made a move then.

That left only this morning.

A crucial thought suddenly surfaced in Lou Yue’s gradually clearing mind. She abruptly looked up, frowning. “Where’s the pill bottle?”

Xiao Rangchen had already been leaning over her. When Lou Yue raised her head, their noses nearly brushed.

His deep, ink-dark eyes met hers, beautiful eyes reddened at the corners.

Both of them froze.

Then, one after the other, they looked away.

After a brief silence, Xiao Rangchen handed the empty pill bottle to Lou Yue.

“There was only one pill...” Lou Yue murmured distractedly.

“There were originally two. I was afraid Yue Qi had tampered with them, so I made him take one.”

The doors and windows of the room were tightly shut, and the fragrance of the pill had yet to disperse. Lou Yue’s expression darkened. “Get out.”

The pressure around Xiao Rangchen dropped as well. He withdrew the hand supporting her shoulder and straightened up.

Knowing he might have misunderstood, Lou Yue looked up at him. “Go find Yue Qi immediately. Get another pill from him and take it.”

Xiao Rangchen did not understand.

Lou Yue continued, “If I’m right, this pill is probably both an antidote and a poison. Swallowing it cures the poison; smelling it is the poison.”

“The only time I smelled this fragrance on Yue Qi was this morning.”

Xiao Rangchen did not move. After a long pause, he said, “He has probably already left Xuandu.”

“Then get out anyway,” Lou Yue snapped through gritted teeth.

Xiao Rangchen noticed something unusual about her. “You know what poison this is?”

Lou Yue did not answer. She tested the strength in her limbs; walking was no longer a problem. “If you won’t leave, then I will.”

Bracing herself against the bedframe, she got up and headed for the door.

But it would not open.

The door actually would not open?

Not only was the door sealed shut, the windows would not open either.

Lou Yue was nearly frantic. A barrier-like force had enclosed the entire room, and she could not break through it.

Her condition was not right at the moment, but she was still at the middle stage of Nascent Soul. An ordinary barrier should never have been able to trap her. She turned, intending to ask Xiao Rangchen to try, only to see that the man who had been standing ramrod straight moments ago now had one hand braced against the edge of the table, his head lowered, his expression unreadable.

...Xiao Rangchen was having an episode. The room was saturated with the scent of that pill, far stronger than what she had smelled this morning. If he lost control...

Lou Yue immediately spun back around and once more hurled her spiritual power against the barrier.

Don’t do this to me. Xiao Rangchen had been poisoned with that kind of drug—why trap her in here with him? She was a man; she couldn’t help with this at all! Heavens, let her out already!

Yet the heavens only knew how to strike her with lightning. At a critical moment like this, they were utterly useless.

Lou Yue kicked the door in frustration.

“What are you afraid of?” Xiao Rangchen’s voice came from behind her, low and hushed.

Lou Yue turned to look at him.

Xiao Rangchen still had his right hand on the table’s edge, but he had straightened up. His face appeared normal enough.

For some reason, Lou Yue let out a breath of relief. She shuffled two steps closer to him. “This room has been sealed by a barrier. Try and see if you can open it.”

Xiao Rangchen walked toward her, his steps slow and steady. Lou Yue turned her gaze aside.

He raised a hand and placed it against the door, spiritual power stirring around him.

In an instant, he recognized that the force locking this room was the very same one that had trapped him that morning.

“How is it?” Lou Yue asked from a distance that was neither too near nor too far, her gaze carefully avoiding him.

Xiao Rangchen lowered his eyes slowly. The shadows cast by his long lashes concealed whatever lay beneath them. After a long pause, he spoke, his voice carrying an inscrutable undertone.

“It won’t open.”

“...What the hell is this thing? Even you can’t open it—then how are we supposed to get out?”

Xiao Rangchen stared blankly at the hidden patterns carved into the door. “Later,” he replied. “Maybe it’ll open later.”

“Why—” Lou Yue was about to ask why it could open later but not now when a thought flashed through her mind, and she abruptly stopped herself.

Why? Obviously, because his poison was acting up. He was affected by it and couldn’t use his full strength right now. Once the effects wore off later, he would be able to.

But how exactly were the effects supposed to wear off?

Could something potent enough to affect a Nascent Soul cultivator through scent alone simply disperse on its own? Obviously not.

Then how would it wear off?

Damn it, brain, stop thinking! She did not want to know!

Without drawing attention to herself, she edged toward the window, putting a safe amount of distance between herself and Xiao Rangchen.

“...How are you?”

From the corner of his eye, Xiao Rangchen glanced at Lou Yue, who was so deliberately keeping her distance. His Adam’s apple bobbed once before he answered slowly, “I can still hold on.”

No lamp had been lit in the room. Only a hazy wash of moonlight filtered through the lattice window.

By the time Lou Yue had counted three hundred and twenty-nine patterns on the window lattice—each curved at roughly thirty to forty-five degrees, joined by one hundred and forty cloud motifs, each cloud motif dotted with twenty tiny specks—Xiao Rangchen spoke again.

“Could you...”

Lou Yue’s heart immediately leapt into her throat. Could she what?

“Say something.”

Lou Yue instantly relaxed and turned to look at him.

He sat leaning against the door, one leg drawn up, one hand resting casually over his knee. He was far from the window, where the light was dimmer, and she could not make out his expression clearly. But his voice sounded noticeably lower than before.

Lou Yue straightened slightly, her throat tight. “What do you want me to say?”

“Anything.” After a pause, he added, “As long as it can distract me.”

...Understandable. But being asked to talk out of nowhere, she couldn’t think of a single topic. She couldn’t exactly chat with him about his white moonlight. Things were already strange enough; if she brought up something even stranger, what if he did something strange too?

Even if she was currently a man, men could be in danger too. Especially when he had a record.

Lou Yue racked her brains for a long while, yet still had no idea what to say.

“How about... I play you something?” Earlier, she had discovered a konghou and a flute in the original owner’s storage ring. She had practiced both for more than ten years in her previous life. Though these instruments differed slightly in form, she should be able to manage them easily enough.

Xiao Rangchen did not refuse, so Lou Yue chose the more soothing konghou over the flute.

The konghou, fashioned from violet jade, curved like a crescent moon and resembled a perching phoenix. Its white strings gleamed softly, delicate and elegant.

She simply sat down against the window as well. After plucking a few notes to test the strings, she gently gathered and brushed them with both hands. The clear, winding melody of “The Mountain Spirit” flowed slowly from beneath her fingers, carrying the distant, tranquil spirit of the wilderness as it spread through the room.

Silvery moonlight draped itself around Lou Yue. Her lashes were lowered, her gaze intent.

Xiao Rangchen tilted his head back slightly against the cold door, concealing the longing in his eyes as he stared, unblinkingly, at the figure by the window.

Xiao Rangchen did not tell her to stop, so Lou Yue continued playing. Then, amid the gentle music she played for herself, she successfully lulled herself to sleep.

The position was awkward, and her sleep was restless; she only dozed for a short while.

Yet when she opened her eyes, she found herself staring straight into a pair of dark eyes at close range. The coldness had long since vanished from their depths, replaced by a surging, impenetrable darkness that reflected her image.

Lou Yue’s heart jolted in shock. The konghou slipped from her arms, and she hurriedly reached to catch it. Just as her fingers touched the instrument, a broad hand covered hers.

They both froze.

Xiao Rangchen’s palm was scorching hot, and the heat seeped continuously into her skin, leaving her fingertips numb.

Lou Yue swiftly put the konghou away in her storage ring, then jerked her hand back and rose to her feet. Xiao Rangchen slowly stood as well, his tall, slender figure instantly filling her entire field of vision.

The rich scent of medicine mingled with the crisp, clean fragrance of his body and wrapped around her like a net.

Lou Yue instinctively tried to move around him to the right, but the moment she did, he seized her right wrist.

Xiao Rangchen bent down toward her bit by bit. Without touching her, he braced one hand against the window frame to her left, resting his forehead against it as well.

His scorching breath spread along the side of her neck, searing her skin inch by inch.

Lou Yue did not dare move. She barely even breathed.

“I think... I can’t hold on much longer...” he murmured hoarsely.

Lou Yue decided that the heat from his body must have passed into hers. Otherwise, why did she feel so hot too?

All she could hear was his heavy breathing, accompanied by one or two suppressed swallows.

He seemed to turn his face slightly toward her. Lou Yue felt his burning breath strike the side of her neck, his breathing growing heavier and heavier.

“What should I do...” he asked again, his voice low, hoarse, and broken, carrying a trace of barely perceptible pleading. The fingers gripping her wrist tightened as well.

Lou Yue immediately tried to escape. Spiritual power surged through her, but a stronger force instantly suppressed it at her wrist. He twisted her hand back and pinned it against the window frame. In the movement, something soft and searingly hot suddenly pressed against the side of her neck.

Lou Yue went completely rigid.

Xiao Rangchen remained motionless as well.

After a moment, that soft warmth slowly moved downward, brushing over the pulse at the side of her neck.

Lou Yue could no longer hold herself back. She raised her foot and kicked, her left hand rising at the same time.

Xiao Rangchen did not move his head. Instead, spiritual power surged through his knee as he pressed it against both her legs, while his other hand caught her left wrist and pinned it against the window frame too. He trapped her in the narrow space between himself and the window.

Lou Yue still refused to give up. As a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, she should have been stronger than him, who was only at the early stage. Even though his body, tempered through physical cultivation, was far more powerful, and the drug was affecting him, she should not have been completely without a chance.

Yet the spiritual power restraining her grew stronger and stronger, far surpassing her own.

Xiao Rangchen had concealed his true strength!

The lips at the side of her neck shifted to another spot, and her entire neck seemed to catch fire.

“Xiao Rangchen... I’m a man...” she reminded the disoriented man in a trembling voice.

His lips paused for a moment, then continued wandering along her neck.

“Xiao Rangchen, wake up!”

This time, they did not pause at all.

He seemed to be either giving up entirely or no longer in his right mind. Completely disregarding the fact that she was a man, he kissed her with growing force and abandon, moving from left to right before returning to linger delicately at her throat.

“...Xiao Rangchen,” Lou Yue said, her voice trembling. “Can you please come to your senses...?”

“Look carefully—I’m a man. A man!”

“Xiao Rangchen, how can you do this to Liufeng Xin?!”

The moment Liufeng Xin’s name was spoken, the person buried against her neck finally stilled.

Seizing the chance, Lou Yue hurried on. “Liufeng Xin would be heartbroken if she knew.”

“She’s beautiful and pure, gentle and—”

Xiao Rangchen lifted his head, and Lou Yue’s voice abruptly died away.

Desire surged in those dark eyes, saturated with possessiveness. The sharp corners of his eyes brimmed with aggression as he fixed her with the unrelenting stare of a beast that had locked onto its prey.

Nervously, she licked her lips without thinking. His gaze clung to them at once.

Alarm bells blared in Lou Yue’s mind. She immediately pressed her lips tightly together and stiffened, flattening herself against the window behind her.

“Gentle and what?” Xiao Rangchen suddenly asked, his husky, scorching breath brushing across her face.

Lou Yue hesitated. After waiting a moment, deciding she might have been overthinking things, she slowly parted her lips. “Gentle and considerate...”

He gave a soft hum, as though encouraging her to continue.

Forcing herself to recite the image of the white moonlight from the book, Lou Yue said, “Don’t be fooled by how aloof she seems. She’s actually adorable and understanding. She’s truly wonderful—no one else could possibly compare to her, mmm—”

Xiao Rangchen kissed her hard.

Lou Yue turned her head to avoid him, but his warm, damp lips pursued her relentlessly.

“Xiao—mmph—”

Lou Yue struggled with all her strength. Xiao Rangchen seized both her wrists and pinned them above her head with one hand. With his free right hand, he reached behind her head and held her firmly, leaving her nowhere to run.

Their lips and teeth rubbed together, again and again.

His tongue slipped inside. Lou Yue bit down viciously—she missed, but the threat was clear enough.

Yet while she defended the inside, she could only surrender the outside in humiliation, letting him ravage it as he pleased.

She hoped that, having conceded this much territory, Xiao Rangchen would refrain from pushing further and becoming even more excessive.

Instead, he bit down on her lip.

He swept away the blood, and his burning lips descended again—forceful, urgent.

After a long while, he was no longer satisfied with merely kissing her. The hand at the back of her head slowly slid down to her shoulder blade. It lingered there for a moment, then traced the line of her spine to her waist, cupping her lower back and drawing her into his arms.

“Mm—mmph—”

Lou Yue twisted her head away with all her might. “Xiao—Xiao Rangchen, don’t—don’t go too far!”

Under the moonlight, Lou Yue’s face was flushed crimson, from the tips of her ears to her jaw. Her skin glowed with a dewy sheen; her lips were red and swollen from his bite, glistening with moisture, while every breath trembled with a soft, unsteady sound.

Xiao Rangchen’s Adam’s apple bobbed heavily. The impulse within him was nearly breaking through the last of his restraint. Like drinking poison to quench his thirst, he could no longer suppress the urge to take her apart and consume her whole.

He slowly lowered his eyes. Then, with a sudden forceful movement, he turned Lou Yue around so that her back faced him.

“Xiao Rangchen!!” Lou Yue cried out in alarm, her entire body going rigid.

“I won’t touch you...”

Behind her, Xiao Rangchen let out a ragged, scorching breath. “Don’t move... and don’t turn around.”

With that, he released the hand that had been restraining her, took several steps back, and leaned against the table.

Facing the window, Lou Yue listened to his footsteps. Only then did the heart lodged in her throat slowly settle.

Xiao Rangchen gazed silently at the obedient figure standing by the window. His eyes traveled greedily from the pale nape of her neck to the delicate line of her shoulder blades. Even through layers of clothing, their subtle curves were still discernible...

The silence behind her was terrifying. Lou Yue clenched her fists, a shiver creeping up her spine.

She wanted to ask what he was doing, yet some instinct told her she must not.

Holding her breath, she strained her ears for a long while. At last, she heard a faint sound.

She thought she must have misheard. Otherwise, why would there be the sound of something wet...

Lou Yue suddenly went rigid, wishing she could cover her ears at once.

Xiao Rangchen was actually...

Damn it. She wanted to smash her head straight into the window!

Heat surged from behind her ears down her back. Her entire body felt like a red-hot iron bar, standing there stiff as a ramrod.

She didn’t dare move, afraid that interrupting him would bring disaster down on her.

She had no idea how much time had passed before she heard the man let out a muffled groan, his voice low and sensual. She thought it was over.

It wasn’t.

That had only been the beginning...

By the time dawn gradually replaced the moonlight, Lou Yue’s eyes had gone blank.

She had actually stood there all night, listening to Xiao Rangchen doing... that.

Several times, she had wanted to sit down. But whenever she remembered what the other person in the room was doing, she immediately forced herself upright again, repeatedly circulating her spiritual energy to soothe away the stiffness and aches.

“...Shall we go?”

Xiao Rangchen asked softly from behind her. His voice was clear and composed, without a trace of the huskiness from the night before.

Lou Yue turned around woodenly. He had already changed into a fresh set of clothes, his features bright and calm, his aura serene.

The complete opposite of her.

It was as though she were the one who had been tormented all night.

She lifted a foot to leave, but her body pitched forward. After standing rigidly through the entire night, even with spiritual energy supporting her, she still felt somewhat uncomfortable.

As Xiao Rangchen reached out to steady her, she braced herself against the windowsill, avoiding his hand.

His hand froze in midair before slowly withdrawing.

Once she had recovered a little, Lou Yue straightened her back and walked past him toward the door without looking aside.

Xiao Rangchen glanced at her lowered lashes. After a brief pause, he stepped forward, pressed both hands to the door, and poured spiritual energy into it. With several sharp cracks, the barrier sealing the room shattered.

Lou Yue pushed open the door and rushed out without looking back, vanishing from sight in an instant.

Xiao Rangchen turned to look toward the window.

She would not be returning here again.

After a long while, he withdrew his gaze. As he turned around, he halted at the sight of a patch of emerald green at the edge of the bed.

Lou Yue found the Lou family members and arranged for new accommodations. Perhaps because they knew who she was, they took her directly to a private courtyard, complete with a hot spring pool.

Once inside, she removed her outer robes and plunged headfirst into the warm water.

By the end, that room had been filled with Xiao Rangchen’s scent. Even she had been tainted by it.

“Bastard...”

She took out a mirror and looked at herself.

There was no longer much to see on either side of her neck. Only a faint red mark remained at her throat—hardly noticeable unless one looked closely. But her lips were another matter.

Once soft and moist, they now looked as though they had ripened to fullness, swollen and plump. A fresh bite mark overlapped the small wound already there, making it especially conspicuous.

Lou Yue flung aside the mirror, formed a block of ice from water, wrapped it in spiritual energy, and pressed it against her swollen lips.

Before long, she angrily smashed the ice in her hand. “Scumbag!”

What did he take her for? A tool for venting his urges?

His heart was occupied by his white moonlight—he was thinking about another woman—yet he had come to kiss her. Classic scumbag behavior.

Yes, he had been drugged, but if he could take care of it himself, why had he kissed her?

He had merely revealed his true nature as a shameless womanizer.

The more she thought about it, the more aggrieved she felt. The worst part was that there was no way for her to get even.

Lou Yue plunged back into the water, only to sense a disturbance from within her storage ring.

She lifted her hand. A messenger butterfly fluttered out and landed before her, and a deep yet rather unserious voice rang out:

“Dear son, miss your old man?”

Lou Yue’s temple twitched. Then the voice on the other end called out again, “Anyone there? Is this stupid butterfly broken again? Son? Son?”

“Lou Yue!!!”

The sudden roar was deafening. Lou Yue replied irritably, “I’m listening.”

“If you’re listening, why aren’t you saying anything? Stop messing with your own father, will you? It wasn’t easy for me to raise you—I fed you, clothed you, wiped your ass! Old Zhang next door has such a thoughtful daughter. She either brings her father washwater for his feet or does the laundry and cooking. But you? The moment your wings hardened, you patted your butt and left, abandoning your father in this backwater place to guard a pile of mountains. And you never even contact me on your own!”

Lou Yue dug at her ear, her tone cool. “You sound full of energy. Clearly, you’ve been doing just fine without me.”

“How could that possibly be the same?” Lou Chengfeng’s voice rose. “The old man’s birthday celebration is about over anyway. Come back early. Your father misses you!”

“I agreed to attend tomorrow’s family banquet. I still have to remain in Xuandu for another month.”

“Did the old man force you?”

Lou Yue denied it. “It was a condition in exchange for retrieving something earlier.”

Lou Chengfeng fell silent for a moment, then said, “You don’t need to pay attention to whatever they say at the family banquet. That bunch has been throwing their weight around for so long that everything out of their mouths sounds like shit. Once this is over, come back for a visit.”

His serious tone lasted less than two seconds before turning unserious again. “Your dad really misses you.”

“We’ll see.”

“Stop fobbing me off with that! Get back here already!”

“I’m going to cultivate.” Lou Yue prepared to end the call.

“Cultivate what? I already told you, high cultivation doesn’t amount to much. You’ve got so many magical artifacts sitting around gathering dust! Listen to your dad—no need to cultivate. Go out and have some fun. Chat with some young ladies, that’d be good too. If you’re short on spirit stones, I’ll go dig a few baskets out of the mountains and find someone to send them over. Buy some fun things, or get gifts to make people happy. Cultivation is so boring—dull! I don’t cultivate anymore these days. Learn from your old man!”

“I’m at the middle stage of Nascent Soul.” Lou Yue said blandly.

The other end went dead silent for a long while, followed by the sound of something being knocked over.

“What? You’re at the middle stage of Nascent Soul?!”

Lou Yue pushed the messenger butterfly farther away, rubbed her ear, and calmly hummed in confirmation.

“How is that possible? Why did your cultivation advance so quickly all of a sudden? You didn’t take some shady, unorthodox pills, did you?”

“Your son is naturally gifted. Is that so hard to believe?”

“Fine, of course you can. Isn’t your father just worried about you?” Lou Chengfeng sounded distracted. “Is Xuanba with you? Why isn’t it responding when I try to contact it? Has it learned from you to ignore messages too? It’s getting awfully bold.”

Lou Yue froze when she heard Lou Chengfeng call out the name “Xuanba” so directly.

So Xuanba’s original name had been Xuanba?

A vague thought suddenly flashed through her mind, too quick to grasp. She frowned slightly and replied, “It’s gone into hibernation.”

“...Why would it hibernate out of the blue? Son, why do I have such a bad feeling about this...” Lou Chengfeng fixated on that point. “Why is Xuanba hibernating? How long has it been?”

“Maybe it’s old and wants a good night’s sleep?”

Lou Chengfeng: “...”

“Your son wants a good night’s sleep too.” With that, Lou Yue cut off the transmission.

Before she could put away the communication butterfly, it lit up again. She didn’t need to guess to know it was Lou Chengfeng. She ignored it, and a moment later, a written message came through.

Lou Yue stared blankly at the two words floating in midair:

Return immediately.

That feeling of unease, agitation, and racing blood was back.

There had to be some secret she didn’t know.

And Xuanba and Lou Chengfeng both knew it.

She couldn’t think of an answer. Every guess seemed hazy and far-fetched.

With a sigh, she decided to let it go. What she needed now was a comfortable night’s sleep to relax her mind. Maybe she was simply overtired and having heart palpitations, just like when she used to pull several all-nighters in a row.

But this sleep was far from restful.

She had a dream.

In the dream, she became a snow-white lop-eared rabbit with soft fur. By accident, she fell into a pit a hunter had dug to trap animals. The fall didn’t hurt; she landed on top of a gray wolf that had fallen into the trap before her.

The wolf was enormous. Its grayish coat was smeared with patchy blood, and it looked badly injured.

It lifted its eyelids and glanced at her, its expression casual, yet somehow as if everything were firmly under its control.

She hopped away, trying to put some distance between them so it wouldn’t decide to make a meal of her. But after only two hops, a gray paw pressed down on her back and pinned her flat to the ground.

Her hind legs kicked like spinning wheels, but she couldn’t escape. The gray wolf lowered its head and sniffed her lightly, then bit down on the back of her neck.

She thought she was about to die. Instead, the wolf merely carried her to the front of its body. Its damp nose flipped her over, and then it lowered its heavy neck onto her soft belly and closed its eyes to rest.

She lay rigid, too frightened to move, afraid the wolf would suddenly change its mind and decide it would be easier just to eat her.

She endured it until she woke.

Lou Yue opened her eyes and stared at the canopy overhead. Irritated, she turned onto her side and kicked the blanket away.

What kind of ridiculous dream was that? Why had she turned into a rabbit—an utterly defenseless lop-eared rabbit, at that? Even if she had to become an animal, she should have been a lion: powerful, imposing, and awe-inspiring!

She had no desire to go back to sleep. After spacing out for a while, she took out her communication butterfly and contacted Liufeng Xin to see whether anything had happened on her end.

Liufeng Xin did not respond. Later, Lou Yue received a written message from her, asking to meet at dusk in the same woods as last time.

Lou Yue arrived half an hour early and sat on the same tree branch as before, watching the sun sink toward the horizon.

Xuantiandu hovered in the sky, its unshielded rosy light spilling across the ground. The scenery was indeed beautiful, but lately Lou Yue had been plagued by palpitations. She could not settle her mind, let alone appreciate the view. She shifted through countless positions on the tree branch, yet none felt comfortable.

Liufeng Xin was late. Worried that something might have happened, Lou Yue was about to head for Baichuan Hall when Liufeng Xin finally arrived.

Before she had even come close, she was already waggling her brows at Lou Yue.

Lou Yue said nothing. Only when Liufeng Xin reached her did she hear her whisper, “Long Aotian is following me. He’s right behind me!”

Lou Yue pressed her lips together.

“He’s been tailing me ever since I left Baichuan Hall. I couldn’t shake him off. I was afraid you’d keep waiting, so I brought him here anyway. I have a feeling his real goal isn’t me...”

“Ah!” Liufeng Xin looked at her. “He’s noticed something strange about the fireflies! What do we do? Should we change locations?”

Before she had finished speaking, Xiao Rangchen stepped out on his own.

His gaze was fixed squarely on Lou Yue as he approached, one step at a time.

“We need to talk.” He stopped in front of her.

Behind her veil, Liufeng Xin’s eyes darted back and forth between them. Lou Yue found it impossible to ignore the avid, gossip-hungry look on her face.

She had no idea what Xiao Rangchen wanted, but she knew one thing: she did not want to see him right now, much less talk to him.

She lifted her eyes coldly. “We have nothing to talk about.”

As she spoke, she reached for Liufeng Xin’s hand—just as Xiao Rangchen’s hand closed around her wrist.

Liufeng Xin was ecstatic inside. She had never imagined that one day she would become the star of a melodramatic “you hold my hand, he holds yours” scene—and with the very couple she shipped, no less. She felt she could die without regrets in the next moment.

“Lou Yue.”

Xiao Rangchen’s voice was low, his tone stubborn. “Talk to me.”

His grip on her wrist was not light. Xiao Rangchen was using force, apparently determined to get his way even if he had to resort to martial means.

Lou Yue refused to indulge him. If she did not want to talk, then she did not want to talk. She turned to Liufeng Xin and gave her a meaningful look, signaling for her to say something. She did not believe Xiao Rangchen would refuse to listen to his white moonlight.

Xiao Rangchen turned to look at Liufeng Xin as well.

On one side was Liufeng Xin’s familiar, urging look; on the other was an equally familiar coldness and rejection, as though he wanted to stab her to death. Under the gaze of the couple she shipped, Liufeng Xin’s heart trembled.

Putting on an aloof expression, she said, “You two talk.”

Under Lou Yue’s astonished stare—which clearly said, “You betrayed our revolutionary friendship?”—Liufeng Xin slowly pried Lou Yue’s hand from hers. Before leaving, she even gave them both a cool smile that said, “I absolutely won’t disturb you.”

“...” Lou Yue watched helplessly as her ally defected, then walked some distance away and turned her back on her.

Xiao Rangchen stepped in front of Lou Yue, blocking her view of Liufeng Xin.

Lou Yue yanked her wrist back, murder in her eyes. Was he satisfied now?

Xiao Rangchen fell silent for a moment. Then he looked at her and began slowly, “Last night—”

He still dared to mention last night? Lou Yue clenched her fist. If he said one thing she did not want to hear, she would punch him.

“There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time.”

What was it? Go on, say it. If he had the nerve, she would let him taste her fist.

“I like you.”

Mm, you like... what?!?! Lou Yue’s mind went blank.

“But in those circumstances, saying it would have seemed like I was trying to deceive you.”

Lou Yue felt that she could no longer understand what he was saying.

“I want you to know this.”

“I’ve said what I came to say.” Xiao Rangchen took two steps back and looked at her. His eyes were unfathomably deep, his emotions dark and unreadable.

His lips moved, but in the end, he said nothing more. He turned and left. Even after his figure vanished from sight, he never looked back.

Liufeng Xin leaned in front of her curiously. “That was quick. You two finished talking already?”

Lou Yue looked at her expressionlessly. “I didn’t say a single word. What kind of talk was that?”

“Huh? Then what did he say?”

He said he liked her. How could that possibly be true?

No. Impossible! She refused to believe it.

She was a man now. Was Long Aotian suddenly into men?

Even taking ten thousand steps back, if he really liked her, shouldn’t he at least care what she had to say? Shouldn’t he want to know whether there was any hope? But he hadn’t cared about her answer at all.

He didn’t like her at all. He was getting back at her.

He wanted her to keep guessing, to lose sleep and appetite over it.

Damn. What a vicious scheme!

“Girl, your eyes are practically breathing fire. What did he say to make you this mad?”

Lou Yue gritted her teeth. “He cursed me.”

“Huh?” Liufeng Xin looked utterly baffled.

“I was too naïve.” Lou Yue ground her molars. “Xiao Rangchen isn’t just scum—he’s dark-hearted too.”

“What exactly did he say? I’m dying of curiosity!”

Lou Yue took a deep breath and rattled it off in one breath. “He said he likes me, but how could that possibly be true?”

“Aah!!”

Liufeng Xin started squealing before she had even heard the second half. Covering her mouth, she bounced on the spot. “Ah! My ship is real! Oh my god...!”

“...”

“Girl, I’m so moved, sob...”

“...”

Liufeng Xin used her sheer veil to dab at the corners of her eyes. “I’m so happy today. I’ve decided I’ll remember this day forever.”

“I said, ‘How could that possibly be true?’ Can’t you listen to the whole thing?” Lou Yue said, speechless.

“Oh, but I think it’s totally possible.” Liufeng Xin thumped her chest. “Girl, if I were a man, I’d like you too. Seriously!”

Lou Yue reminded her through gritted teeth, “I am a man right now.”

“Man or woman, who cares? True love knows no gender!” Liufeng Xin had already sunk back into her own fantasies.

Lou Yue thought she had gone crazy—and that arguing with her about it made Lou Yue no more normal.

“Didn’t you say your family wants you back in Langhua?”

Liufeng Xin’s face immediately fell. Looking miserable, she said, “Girl, do you really have to do this to me?”

“I’m telling you to stop daydreaming.”

“You just can’t stand seeing my CP have a happy ending.”

Lou Yue sighed helplessly. “Don’t ship heresy. It’s doomed to crash and burn.”

Liufeng Xin put on a solemn expression. “My intuition tells me it’s real this time.”

Seeing the conversation veering off-topic again, Lou Yue sighed. “If we don’t talk business now, it’ll be too late.”

“Fine.” Liufeng Xin pulled Lou Yue up onto a tree branch, and they sat side by side. “The family head found out about what we did afterward and flew into a rage. He ordered me to return to Langhua by tomorrow morning.”

Mischief gleamed in Liufeng Xin’s eyes. “Does that ‘eloping’ thing you mentioned yesterday still count?”

Lou Yue nodded. “Of course. What do you have in mind?”

Liufeng Xin leaned closer and laid out her plan...

It was only when Xiao Rangchen was nearly out of the woods that he gradually slowed to a stop.

Without looking back, he merely raised a hand and braced it against the tree trunk beside him.

Suddenly, his sharply defined knuckles clenched tight, blue veins standing out across the back of his hand.

Yu Youchun’s voice came through the ear cuff on his right ear. “You’re not going to tell her you’re leaving?”

A few hours ago, Yu Youchun had only just let Xiao Rangchen know that he had hidden himself in his ear cuff after leaving Que Yunsheng. But compared with that, Xiao Rangchen was more bothered by the fact that Yu Youchun had seen something he shouldn’t have.

“Fine, I admit I peeked at first. But when you kissed her, I shut off all five senses. I absolutely didn’t see anything I shouldn’t have. I may have been dead for many years, but I still know the rule: what is improper to look at, one must not look at.”

“Still, I have to say, your way of making your feelings known was far too casual. You should at least have listened to what she had to say. Honestly, are you just playing with her?”

Xiao Rangchen gazed at the drifting clouds on the horizon. After a long while, he finally relaxed his clenched hand and spoke in an even voice. “I know what she would say.”

“I don’t need her answer. I only want her to toss and turn at night, unable to forget me.”

He had originally intended to leave during the day, yet he still couldn’t bring himself to go. As she had said, the road ahead of him was fraught with danger. Whether he would survive was unknown.

Once he left, he had no idea how long it would be before he saw her again—or whether he would still be alive to see her at all.

He wanted Lou Yue to know that he liked her.

He wanted Lou Yue to remember him.

She didn’t have to believe him.

But she absolutely could not forget him again.