She Never Called Out

Ning Rongrong rested her hand on the window frame.

After calling out those words, she had not spoken again.

Li Zhexian had already gone a long way down the mountain path. He carried a gray cloth bundle on his back and a wine flask at his waist. The Azure Lotus Sword bumped against its scabbard from time to time as he walked.

Chen Xin was still standing before the mountain gate.

He had not gone after him.

Ning Rongrong gripped the sword tassel in her hand.

Li Zhexian had left it on the letter. She had originally intended to give it to Chen Xin, but in the end, she had kept it for herself.

The tassel wound around her fingers, digging painfully into her palm.

Still, she did not let go.

"Did he hear me?"

Ning Fengzhi came up behind her and turned his gaze toward the mountain path as well.

"He heard you."

"Then why didn't he look back?"

"Because once he looked back, it would have been even harder to leave."

Ning Rongrong bit her lip.

If she called out again and asked when Li Zhexian would return, it seemed as though she could make him stay.

But she remembered what she had said the night before.

You can't keep up with me.

At the time, Li Zhexian had neither argued nor asked her to stay.

He had returned the sword tassel to her, taken back the jade pendant, and then turned and left.

"Does he already hate me?"

"In the letter he left Uncle Jian, he didn't write a single word of resentment toward you."

"Not a single word?"

"He said you didn't owe him, and neither did Uncle Jian."

Ning Rongrong tightened her grip on the sword tassel again.

Those words made her feel worse than being scolded.

At least if Li Zhexian had scolded her, she could have considered herself punished.

"If he'd scolded me a few times, would I feel a little better?"

Ning Fengzhi looked at the tassel in her hand.

He reached out, but in the end, he lowered his hand again.

"Maybe you would."

"You've always been like this. Only after everything is done do you tell me it was for the sect."

"This time, it was a choice I made myself."

"Have you regretted it?"

Ning Fengzhi looked beyond the mountain gate.

Chen Xin was still standing there.

His sword had not been drawn either.

"I chose the sect's interests," he said. "But I didn't expect that only after he left would you learn what it felt like to lose someone."

"I know."

Ning Rongrong answered very quickly.

But her eyes had already reddened.

"You still don't know. If you really did, you wouldn't just be standing here, unable to even ask him to stay."

Ning Rongrong turned her face away and stopped looking at Ning Fengzhi.

The mountain wind came in through a gap in the window.

It lifted a corner of the paper on the table.

Ning Rongrong reached out and pressed it down.

It was the cultivation schedule for the sect's disciples, with everyone's name already written on it.

But Li Zhexian's name was not among them.

"Will you bring him back?"

"If he wants to come back, he won't need anyone to bring him."

"Then send people to follow him."

"Uncle Jian has already made arrangements with the North Gate caravan."

"I'm not talking about the caravan."

Ning Fengzhi turned his gaze to her.

Ning Rongrong said no more.

She wanted someone to protect Li Zhexian in secret.

But she also understood that Li Zhexian did not like being followed.

"Do you want someone to escort him?"

"I was only asking."

Ning Fengzhi did not expose what she was thinking.

He reached out to straighten her loosened hair tie.

Ning Rongrong turned her head aside, dodging his hand.

"Don't treat me like a child."

"You're not a child anymore."

"If that's so, why do you keep making decisions for me?"

"This time, I didn't decide to break off the engagement for you."

"But you didn't say anything."

Ning Fengzhi was silent for a moment.

After a while, he spoke.

"I thought that by saying nothing, I was leaving the choice to you."

"But when I asked you, you didn't answer me either."

"That's true."

Ning Rongrong tucked the sword tassel inside her robes, against her chest.

"I don't want to hear you say that."

"Then what do you want to hear?"

"I don't know."

She walked to the stairs, then stopped.

"I'm going to find Grandpa Jian."

"He'll come back."

"I'm not going to find Li Zhexian. I have something to ask Grandpa Jian."

Ning Fengzhi stepped aside.

Outside the mountain gate.

Chen Xin heard footsteps behind him and turned around.

"Rongrong, why have you come here?"

"When will he come back?"

"I cannot answer that."

"Then why didn't you stop him?"

"He had already decided to leave. I couldn't tie him up with a rope and keep him in the sect."

Ning Rongrong stood at the bottom of the steps.

The words she wanted to say caught in her throat and would not come out.

Chen Xin glanced at the mountain path, his voice low.

"He said in the letter that you didn't owe him."

"What else did he say?"

"Nothing else."

"Why doesn't he blame me at all?"

"Because he doesn't want to blame you."

"I'd rather he blamed me."

Chen Xin did not answer.

He only looked at a cracked gray brick beside the gate.

"Go back. The wind is strong out here."

"I don't feel cold."

"But your hands are trembling."

Ning Rongrong hid her hands behind her back.

Chen Xin took a letter from his sleeve and held it out to her.

"This is the letter he left."

"I've already read it."

"This one wasn't left for you."

Ning Rongrong did not reach out to take it.

Chen Xin put the letter away again.

Then he turned and walked into the sect.

Ning Rongrong stood there for a while before heading back.

At the other end of the corridor, Shi Potian was waiting for her.

Bandages were wrapped around his arm.

"Rongrong, don't be sad anymore. He's left the sect, and that's good for everyone."

Ning Rongrong stopped.

"What did you just say?"

"Now that he's gone, you don't have to keep worrying about him."

"Who told you I was worrying about him?"

Shi Potian pressed his lips together.

"He hasn't even reached level twenty. If you follow him, he'll only drag you down."

Ning Rongrong walked up to Shi Potian.

"How many more times are you going to say that?"

"I'm doing this for your own good."

"I don't need you doing things for my good in that way."

"He left the sect with Twin Martial Souls. Sooner or later, Spirit Hall will come looking for him. When that happens, even without me lifting a finger, he might not make it back alive."

Ning Rongrong touched the sword tassel inside her robes.

"Don't ever say his name again."

With that, she walked around Shi Potian and continued on her way.

Shi Potian was left alone in the corridor.

He looked down at the bandages wrapped around his arm.

He had already lost to Li Zhexian twice, and had lost face twice as well.

Now Li Zhexian had left the sect with Twin Martial Souls.

If word reached Spirit Hall, sooner or later they would send someone to deal with him.

Shi Potian returned to his residence.

He found a sheet of writing paper.

Shi Potian did not dare leave his name, so he wrote down only what he had seen with his own eyes.

At the end, he added another sentence.

Li Zhexian had left the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and no one was escorting him.

That night.

A secret letter arrived at the sect's side gate.

The gatekeeping disciple opened the envelope, and upon seeing the secret mark, handed the letter to the deacon on night duty.

The deacon read the letter.

But he did not send it to Ning Fengzhi's study.

"Take it to the West Courtyard."

"To that elder in the West Courtyard?"

"Don't ask."

The deacon picked up a lantern and walked into the night.

Ning Rongrong sat on the edge of her bed.

The sword tassel rested against her chest.

Shi Potian's words still lingered in her ears.

She ran her fingertips back and forth over the tassel's knot.

"I'm just keeping this for him for now."

Though that was what she said,

her hand had not let go of it once.