Fu Xi Yan had originally been prepared to meet the visitor with nothing more than two steamed buns in hand, but for reasons known only to himself, Pei Yuan Jin waited until Miss Xia was already halfway there before suddenly telling him to go change his clothes.
Fu Xi Yan said, “Even in winter, I change my clothes every day. They’re perfectly clean.”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “Wear the black outfit Xiangyun Cloth Shop gave you.”
Fu Xi Yan frowned reluctantly. “It’s a little thin.”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “There’ll be a charcoal brazier inside.” His constitution ran extremely hot; even in the depths of winter, he would not feel cold standing bare-chested outdoors, and he never used braziers or anything of the sort. Agreeing to put one in the room was already a concession.
Fu Xi Yan pulled a miserable face. “Do I have to?”
Pei Yuan Jin urged, “She’s almost here.”
Fu Xi Yan could only trudge miserably toward the door, only for Pei Yuan Jin to find fault again. “Take the rooftops.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
Fu Fu had been perfectly decisive when he sent his son over to speak with Pei Yuan Jin, but afterward he began to feel uneasy. The Immortal Treasury Palace was, after all, a colossal organization renowned throughout the jianghu. What if his foolish son said something wrong and offended them, making them think Fu Fu was trying to drive his guests away?
The more he thought about it, the more anxious he became, until he finally went to the courtyard to wait for news.
Fu Xi Yan was currently staying in the west wing of Fu Chen Xing’s courtyard.
Fu Chen Xing never said anything aloud, but he was actually quite happy about it. Of all his elder brothers, Fu Xi Yan was the least interested in asking about his studies. They had rarely interacted in the past, and most of Fu Chen Xing’s impressions of his fourth brother had come from Fu Li An using him as educational material. But after spending nearly every day together recently, their relationship had improved tremendously. Fu Xi Yan occasionally came up with strange ideas, such as sitting too long being bad for the waist and therefore needing to get up and play with bamboo dragonflies for a while. With such a loving elder brother and respectful younger brother, Fu Chen Xing could only be “forced” to play along.
Hearing movement by the entrance, Fu Chen Xing assumed Fu Xi Yan had returned and came trotting out. The moment he saw Fu Fu, however, he stopped short, bowed, and immediately turned around to leave.
Fu Fu said, “Stop. What are you running for?”
Fu Chen Xing cautiously turned back. “I haven’t finished today’s large-character calligraphy practice yet.”
Fu Fu said, “If you haven’t finished your calligraphy, what are you doing running outside?”
Fu Chen Xing was stammering and unable to answer when another large, fat son suddenly dropped out of the sky.
“If your waist gets sore from sitting too long, you need to move around. Father, don’t scold him.” Fu Xi Yan tossed out the sentence at top speed, pushed open the door, and disappeared into the room.
Fu Fu: “…”
I sent you to tell the Immortal Treasury Palace people not to travel over the rooftops. I did not ask the Immortal Treasury Palace people to teach you to travel over the rooftops!
He walked to the door and pushed it, only to find it bolted from inside. “Why did you lock the door?”
“Changing clothes.”
“It’s already nighttime. Where are you going?”
“Pei Yuan Jin has a guest. He wants me to meet her with him.”
“Oh.” Fu Fu nodded and walked a couple of steps away before suddenly realizing something was wrong. He turned back. “He has a guest. Why do you need to meet her?”
Fu Xi Yan came out after changing. “No idea. Maybe they’re discussing something and need a neutral third-party witness?”
Fu Fu was somewhat worried about his son. “Then should I go with you?”
Fu Xi Yan stretched both hands out from beneath his thick cloak and showed him the auspicious-cloud pattern on his sleeves. “Do you own any clothes embroidered with the Immortal Treasury Palace’s auspicious clouds?”
Fu Fu frowned. “Why would I?”
“Then you can’t come.” Fu Xi Yan leaped onto the roof.
Fu Fu: “…”
He turned and saw his youngest son twisting his waist. “What are you doing now?”
Fu Chen Xing said, “Fourth Brother said men need to exercise their waists more.”
Fu Fu: “…”
“When he gets back, make him pack his things immediately and move into my courtyard! He is not allowed to refuse!”
Fu Xi Yan hurried over the roof tiles as quickly as he could, but he was still one step behind Xia Xue Nong.
The instant he jumped down from the eaves, sword light flared all around him. Had he truly landed on the ground, those blades would have stabbed countless bloody holes through him.
Still in midair, he whipped off his cloak and threw it downward, then pushed off against it with one foot and launched himself upward again.
If the battle at the Censorate prison had given him any benefit, then setting aside the obvious gains, this ability to respond calmly in the face of sudden danger was perhaps the greatest of them all.
At the instant Fu Xi Yan sprang upward again, Pei Yuan Jin, who was seated inside the room, had already struck out twice from afar. One wave of palm force passed through two women and hurled them straight against the foot of the wall.
Only then did Fu Xi Yan drift safely to the ground. He picked up his cloak and dusted it off.
Xia Xue Nong, seated inside, narrowed her eyes slightly. “We nearly injured someone belonging to Young Master Pei. Please forgive us.”
Fu Xi Yan could not help seeing this beautiful young woman in a new light. Her own people were lying injured on the ground, yet she showed not the slightest concern. What impressive heartlessness.
Pei Yuan Jin said, “He is the master of this place. Fu Xi Yan.”
Fu Xi Yan distinctly saw the smile at the corners of the girl’s mouth stiffen slightly when she heard his name. A strange look entered her clear, beautiful eyes as she examined him from head to toe.
After finishing her inspection, she even sighed. “You are indeed disappointing.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
Fu Xi Yan leaned toward Pei Yuan Jin and whispered, “Who is this? Can we have her beaten out with sticks?”
Xia Xue Nong said, “Young Master Fu may say it aloud. I can hear you.”
Fu Xi Yan said, “If you can already hear me, there’s no need for me to say it loudly, is there?”
Xia Xue Nong smiled faintly. “I hear that Young Master Fu is already a great sixth-rank official of the Northern Zhou court, dwelling high in the halls of government. Naturally, you may not know much about matters of the jianghu. Years ago, Palace Master Pei sent out a widespread call to select brides for Young Master Pei. Xue Nong was fortunate enough to receive Palace Master Pei’s personal approval and has waited at home as a bride-to-be for ten years. Not long ago, when we heard that the Harmonized Yang Pills had finally been completed, my father ordered me to travel to the Immortal Treasury Palace and fulfill the marriage agreement…”
From the moment she said “select brides,” Fu Xi Yan went numb. He sat down beside Pei Yuan Jin and tried to compress his enormous body into the smallest ball possible, but throughout every word of Miss Xia’s speech, her eyes remained fixed unblinkingly on his every movement.
Some hatred did not need to be expressed. It was already everywhere.
Fu Xi Yan gently bumped Pei Yuan Jin with his elbow.
Pei Yuan Jin turned his head. To Fu Xi Yan’s astonishment, the look he gave him contained traces of the same appraising dissatisfaction as Xia Xue Nong’s.
…
That dog surnamed Pei tricked me! What do you mean, meet her together? You two are the ones on the same side, aren’t you? This is a Hongmen Banquet!
Elio’s Notes: The Hongmen Banquet refers to the famous banquet at which Xiang Yu’s faction plotted to kill Liu Bang. The expression now describes an apparently friendly invitation that is actually a trap.
Fu Xi Yan cursed inwardly, but having benefited so much from Pei Yuan Jin, he found himself rather short on confidence and could only explain meekly, “What happened back then was completely accidental!”
A gleam flashed through Xia Xue Nong’s eyes. “So Young Master Fu admits that you ate the Harmonized Yang Pills?”
“I had the good fortune… to eat a few.”
“Are there any left?”
Fu Xi Yan’s eyes secretly darted toward Pei Yuan Jin, only to discover that after scrutinizing him, the bastard had actually drifted off into thought! …Fuck! I’m sitting here meeting your guest and getting roasted alive, and you’re daydreaming?!
Annoyed, Fu Xi Yan simply straightened his back and said, “The Harmonized Yang Pills belonged to Young Palace Master Pei. Even if I ate them, he is the one entitled to question me. Whoever agreed to Miss Xia’s marriage should be the person you go looking for. What does any of this have to do with me? Surely you don’t expect me to take responsibility? You and I have never had anything to do with each other, so why insist on dragging me into it?”
Xia Xue Nong’s pretty face immediately hardened, but when she turned toward Pei Yuan Jin, her expression became pitiful. “What does Young Master Pei think?”
Pei Yuan Jin seemed to have only just emerged from his thoughts. His gaze toward Xia Xue Nong was slightly cold, but his words were perfectly clear. “He’s right. Since Father made the promise, go find him.”
Xia Xue Nong pressed her lips together. “Very well. Then I want a clear answer from Young Palace Master Pei. Are there truly no Harmonized Yang Pills left at all, or are there some left that you intend to save for someone else?”
Pei Yuan Jin said coldly, “None.”
Xia Xue Nong asked, “Young Palace Master means that whether it is me, Ban Qing Yu, or Wen Ping, none of us will have the opportunity to take them?”
Pei Yuan Jin could not even be bothered to answer. He propped his cheek on one hand and looked toward the doorway, clearly waiting for her to leave.
“Then shall we make a deal?” Xia Xue Nong leaned slightly forward, revealing just the suggestion of her delicate collarbones, while the expression on her face remained utterly pure and innocent. “Young Palace Master, marry me, and from this day forward, Xia Family Fort will follow the Immortal Treasury Palace’s lead.”
Pei Yuan Jin gave a soft laugh. “Doesn’t it already?”
“Does Young Palace Master not need a wife who can stand beside you openly in public? If I marry you, I will never interfere in your private affairs, and you need never worry about my becoming jealous. I merely wish to borrow the Immortal Treasury Palace’s name to protect Xia Family Fort.”
Keeping such a beautiful, vibrant young woman at home purely as decoration… Fu Xi Yan glanced at the female swordswomen lying injured outside and thought, A real vase would be much less trouble.
Sure enough, Pei Yuan Jin showed little interest. “You mean I marry a wife I can only look at, and on top of that, I have to take care of her family?”
Xia Xue Nong said plaintively, “If I could, why would I not be willing to do other things for Young Palace Master as well?”
Her beautiful eyes shifted, rippling as though filled with reflected light. She was genuinely captivating.
Unfortunately, someone was entirely immune to romance.
Pei Yuan Jin asked bluntly, “Then what use would there be in marrying you?”
Fu Xi Yan: “…” Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh. Gloating at a guest’s misfortune would violate the rules of hospitality.
He extended one index finger from each hand and gently tapped them together, whispering, “Well said.”
Watching the two men whisper together in front of her, Xia Xue Nong dearly wanted to fling the words “damned dog couple” at them. But the knowledge that a small lapse in patience could ruin a greater plan allowed her to endure.
“Will Young Palace Master truly not reconsider? Ban Qing Yu is deeply calculating, while Wen Ping’s ambitions are higher than the heavens. Neither would be as willing as I am to compromise. Rather than wait until you have no choice left, why not choose me as a shield? I certainly would not embarrass you.”
Young Palace Master Pei asked in return, “Why would I need a shield?”
“Does Young Palace Master truly intend to be bound to a fat man for the rest of your life? In the future, whenever anyone mentions you, do you want them immediately thinking of the fat man at your side?”
Fat man this, fat man that. Did she really think fat people had no temper?
Fu Xi Yan forced out a fake smile. “Miss Xia certainly isn’t fat, so perhaps you shouldn’t sit on my family’s chairs or stand on my family’s ground. You’re nothing but a rack of bones and light as a swallow. Why not flap your arms a little and float around in the air?”
Xia Xue Nong said coldly, “What excellent upbringing Count Yongfeng’s Estate provides.”
Fu Xi Yan smiled. “Still not as impressive as Miss Xia’s complete lack of kindness in speech.”
Xia Xue Nong looked toward Pei Yuan Jin, making one final effort. “Young Palace Master truly will not change your mind?”
Pei Yuan Jin’s eyelids were half-lowered. He appeared too lazy even to answer.
Xia Xue Nong rose with a melancholy expression. “Ten years of waiting, hoping only that your heart might answer mine… In the end, my devotion was misplaced. After this, my father will probably write to Palace Master Pei and ask him for an explanation. Today’s conversation will inevitably be mentioned. I hope Young Palace Master will not take offense.”
Because she put it so plainly, there was nothing anyone could object to.
Pei Yuan Jin said, “Do as you please.”
Xia Xue Nong bowed. “Then Xue Nong will take her leave.”
Pei Yuan Jin said indifferently, “I won’t see you out.”
Xia Xue Nong walked leisurely toward the door. Halfway there, she suddenly turned around. “My ten years of admiration for you were genuine, so there is one thing I think I should still tell Young Palace Master. Ban Qing Yu and I set out around the same time and have remained in correspondence. If I am not mistaken, she should also be in Haojing by now. If she comes to see Young Palace Master, I hope you will remember what you said today and treat everyone equally. Otherwise, I’ll be terribly unhappy!”
She smiled faintly, then raised an eyebrow provocatively at Fu Xi Yan. “When I called Young Master Fu fat just now, it was out of jealousy. Perhaps once I have untangled these feelings in my heart, I will naturally come to like the round and plump Young Master Fu. After all, being plump is a blessing, and the facts have certainly shown that Young Master Fu is extraordinarily blessed by fortune. It truly makes one envious.”
She had managed to say both the insults and the compliments all by herself.
Fu Xi Yan smiled. “Don’t worry. People say a broad mind makes the body plump. One look at Miss Xia tells me you’re terribly narrow-minded, so how could I possibly lower myself to argue with you?”
Elio’s Notes: 心宽体胖 traditionally means that a relaxed, broad-minded person appears healthy and at ease. Fu Xi Yan deliberately exploits the modern literal association of 胖 with “fat/plump” to insult Xia Xue Nong in return.
“That makes sense too.” Xia Xue Nong walked into the courtyard, where her subordinates had already helped one another to their feet. With her back to the main room, her smile vanished completely. She said coldly, “Let’s go.”
Only after everyone had left did Fu Xi Yan drop his fake smile and openly show his displeasure. “What were you daydreaming about just now?”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “Thinking.”
“About what?”
He turned his head and looked at Fu Xi Yan with an unreadable depth in his eyes. “The future that was supposed to be, and the future as it is now.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…” That sounds terrifying even to me.
He deliberately changed the subject. “Where’s Uncle Meng?”
Pei Yuan Jin had no desire to delve further into his previous remark either and followed the change of subject. “You said the Ministry of Justice suspects Ren Fei Ying of being the killer. I sent him back out to continue searching.”
“Oh.”
Fu Xi Yan answered vaguely, yet his backside seemed glued to the couch. He dawdled without getting up until Pei Yuan Jin turned and looked at him several times. Only then did he hesitantly say, “There were nine Harmonized Yang Pills. If one person needs three, then they were meant for three people.”
“Mm.”
“Was Miss Xia merely the vanguard?” Fu Xi Yan asked. “There won’t be a Miss Ban and a Miss Wen coming to the door one after another, will there?”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “If you don’t want to see them, you don’t have to.”
Fu Xi Yan answered without the slightest hesitation, “I don’t!”
This sort of scene could not quite be called fighting over a lover, yet calling it open hostility somehow felt equally strange. One encounter like this shaved ten years off his life. If it happened twice more, he might as well hand over his life on the spot.
Before leaving, however, he still supplied himself with a grand and noble justification, proving that his refusal to engage in battle was entirely a contribution to humanity. “Mainly, I just don’t want the scientific progress of this world to suffer a catastrophic loss!”
After leaving the courtyard, he looked up at the night sky dotted with stars and slowly exhaled.
It seemed the timer on that time bomb was ticking closer and closer to zero.
What would happen once it exploded, however, was something he had not yet prepared himself for. From the look of things, Pei Yuan Jin was not prepared either. But there was really no way to prepare. The two of them were like little boats driven onward by fate, able only to drift with the current and grope blindly forward through the darkness.
As he was thinking, he suddenly saw a slender figure approaching slowly ahead. Still traumatized from his recent encounter, Fu Xi Yan nearly turned and fled. Only when the woman spoke did he realize it was Yu Su Huan.
“Aunt Yu, you’re finally back.” He jogged forward to meet her. “If only you’d arrived a little earlier.”
Yu Su Huan smiled. “To help you deal with Xia Xue Nong?”
“How did Aunt Yu know? Did you run into her?”
“I was the one who encouraged her to come.”
“…” Fu Xi Yan smiled bitterly. “Couldn’t you have saved that blow for tomorrow?”
Yu Su Huan said, “Wouldn’t that just make you unhappy for two days instead?”
“I’m afraid if I take too many blows, I won’t live to see tomorrow.” Fu Xi Yan shook his head. “Did Aunt Yu hurry back at this hour just to watch the show?”
Yu Su Huan avoided answering. “I’ve been staying at Count Yongfeng’s Estate for so long, yet I’ve never properly looked around the garden. Will you walk with me?”
Gardens in this era were unlike the parks of Fu Xi Yan’s previous life, where streetlamps and ground lights illuminated the paths at night. Without a lantern, everything became a mass of darkness, and the covered walkways, bridges, and artificial hills lost all their beauty, leaving behind only indistinct silhouettes.
Fu Xi Yan commandeered a lantern from a passing servant and carried it ahead to light the way.
Yu Su Huan sat down inside a pavilion. “There isn’t even a moon tonight.”
Fu Xi Yan set the lantern beside them and tucked both hands into his cloak. “The stars are beautiful too.”
Yu Su Huan gazed across the black surface of the water. If one looked carefully, tiny reflections of stars could just barely be seen among the faint ripples. “Yes. If one’s heart yearns for the night sky, why insist upon the moon? The stars are beautiful too.”
Fu Xi Yan felt there was something pointed in those words, but before he could think too deeply about it, Yu Su Huan continued. “Xia Family Fort originally built its fortune by selling information. During the campaign to hunt down the Puppet Path, they rendered tremendous service in the early stages, but repeatedly made mistakes later on. Their gravest failure came when they fell for Mo Xiao Ran’s diversion, allowing him to escape to the Heaven-Earth Mirror and beguile Shi Luo Ying. The entire operation to eradicate the Puppet Path ultimately fell short because of it. Afterward, the Immortal Treasury Palace established the Wind Division, dealing Xia Family Fort a devastating blow. The fort never recovered and could only survive beneath the Immortal Treasury Palace’s protection. After Palace Master Pei entered seclusion, their circumstances became even more difficult. For Xia Xue Nong, marrying the Young Palace Master of the Immortal Treasury Palace is the key to restoring her family.”
Fu Xi Yan’s head began to ache. “Aunt Yu sympathizes with her?”
“Fortunes rise and fall; honor and disgrace, prosperity and decline are unavoidable. I am no saint. How could I possibly sympathize with everyone? Miss Xia has been exceptionally clever since childhood and knows very well how to please people. Palace Master Pei liked her very much back then.” She paused. “It is better for them to speak openly face-to-face than to scheme against one another in secret. Some things must be asked with one’s own mouth and heard with one’s own ears before one can finally give up.”
“What if Young Palace Master Pei had agreed today?”
“Wouldn’t that have made everyone happy?” Yu Su Huan said. “The two of you have been deadlocked for so long without finding any solution. If she could open another path, that would be a considerable achievement.”
Fu Xi Yan wanted to ask what solution she meant and exactly what sort of alternative path Xia Xue Nong could provide.
Yet the faint fear buried inside him left him temporarily speechless.
Yu Su Huan said, “I do not know martial arts, but I know there are three major thresholds along the martial path. The first is the True Origin Stage—the threshold for entering martial cultivation. The second is advancing from the Dao-Entry Stage to Martial King. There has always been a saying in the jianghu: ‘Once you enter Martial King, heaven and earth are transformed.’ After becoming a Martial King, one is almost unrivaled beneath Heaven.”
The statement had such an obvious hole in it that Fu Xi Yan could not resist asking, “Then what if one Martial King fights another Martial King?”
“That is extremely rare. When Martial King faces Martial King, one dies and the other is wounded. Who would willingly do that?”
“But above Martial King, there’s still Martial God.”
“Martial God is another threshold entirely. When the day comes that you are ready to advance to Martial King, you will understand.”
The more she spoke that way, the more desperately curious Fu Xi Yan became, but this was not the main point of her conversation today, so she passed over it quickly. “Do you remember asking why the Young Palace Master never seems to practice martial arts?”
Fu Xi Yan’s premonition that the good never comes, but the bad always does began acting up again. “Actually, I’m not especially fond of prying into other people’s private affairs.”
“The Young Palace Master has remained at the peak Dao-Entry Stage for a full two years,” Yu Su Huan said. “He has been waiting all this time for the Harmonized Yang Pills to be completed.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…” His feet awkwardly scraped back and forth against the ground.
“The threshold to Martial King is extremely dangerous for him without the assistance of the Harmonized Yang Pills. Worse, the hidden injuries it could leave behind may affect his later advancement to Martial God and his ability to transcend life and death.” Yu Su Huan said, “I encouraged Xia Xue Nong to come not merely to give her a chance, but to give the two of you a chance as well. If the Palace Master and the Elders were not in seclusion, and if the Immortal Treasury Palace were not currently facing so much turmoil, matters would never have remained this calm.”
Fu Xi Yan went completely rigid.
All this time, Pei Yuan Jin and Fu Xi Yan had tacitly pretended the matter of the Harmonized Yang Pills did not exist, clearly choosing to avoid it. But what had to happen would eventually happen. Avoidance not only failed to solve the problem; it only made the problem more complicated. Yu Su Huan could not simply stand by while the two of them continued hiding their heads like turtles.
Yu Su Huan patted his shoulder. “I will not force either of you, but other people will. Think carefully.”
Fu Xi Yan asked, “Is there actually anything to think about?”
Yu Su Huan said, “This concerns the future of the Immortal Treasury Palace. Even the Young Palace Master cannot simply refuse.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
He walked dazedly out of the pavilion, only to suddenly hear Yu Su Huan call, “Young Palace Master.” Turning around, he saw Pei Yuan Jin sitting atop the pavilion. There was no telling when he had arrived or how much he had heard.
The night was so dark, and there was so much distance between them, yet Fu Xi Yan still did not dare look at him.
Pei Yuan Jin jumped down from the pavilion and asked Yu Su Huan, “Any news of Tan Bu Ju?”
“Not yet.”
Pei Yuan Jin’s gaze darkened slightly. “Where has Shou Nan Shan reached?”
“He should be arriving in Haojing soon.”
“Mm.”
Pei Yuan Jin walked past at an unhurried pace, apparently paying no attention whatsoever to the conversation Fu Xi Yan and Yu Su Huan had just had in the pavilion. Fu Xi Yan, however, could not stop thinking about it. If not for that accidental ingestion, perhaps he himself could never have become the Fu Xi Yan he was today—but Pei Yuan Jin would unquestionably have become a stronger Young Palace Master Pei.
How extraordinarily fortunate he himself had been—and how extraordinarily innocent the person who had paid for that fortune.
“Can the medicinal effect be forced back out of my blood?”
Once, the thought of having his blood used to refine medicine had been one of his greatest fears. Yet now, driven by impulse, he was the one who asked.
Pei Yuan Jin stopped. Yu Su Huan was about to answer, but Pei Yuan Jin raised a hand to silence her.
He walked back to Fu Xi Yan, lowered his head, and asked, “You’re willing to have your blood drawn? Aren’t you afraid they’ll drain you dry?”
“Blood regenerates. We could draw a little each month and do it slowly.”
“Blood is useless. The medicinal effect has merged into your true qi. If anything were to be refined, it would have to be your true origin.”
Fu Xi Yan’s face went white.
Refining away his true origin would not kill him, but from that moment onward, he would truly have nothing more to do with martial cultivation.
He was not genuinely a saint. In his previous life, he had once impulsively sacrificed himself to save another person and paid an enormous price for it. This time, with time to hesitate, the choice became even harder. Yet the conversation had somehow progressed to this point, as though even the background music had already begun swelling to accompany the tragic atmosphere of “The wind howls, the Yi River runs cold.” If he refused to sacrifice himself now, it almost seemed difficult to justify.
His lips moved once, then again. His throat was so dry it almost seemed ready to smoke, yet he simply could not take that final step.
Pei Yuan Jin suddenly scoffed. “If true origin could be refined into medicine, wouldn’t every powerful martial artist have to worry that someday even their corpse would be processed until nothing remained?”
Fu Xi Yan’s mind went completely blank. “What do you mean?”
“What I mean is…” Pei Yuan Jin raised one finger and tapped him on the forehead. “Even if we stewed you whole, you’d still be useless.”
Fu Xi Yan blurted out, “Then what are we supposed to do in the future?”
Pei Yuan Jin’s finger froze.
They simply stared at each other, each seemingly waiting for the other to break the awkward silence. Unfortunately, both of them had remarkably good patience. They remained that way until the candle inside the lantern finally went out, then silently walked back side by side through the darkness.
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