"So heartless?"
Jiang Che looked at her with a faint, teasing smile.
"I haven't even left yet, and you're already planning to clear out everything I left behind?"
Dugu Linglong pressed her pale lips together.
"If you want to leave them here, then leave them."
"They might come in useful later."
As the words left her mouth,
Dugu Linglong herself froze for a moment.
That "later" had slipped out before she could stop it, revealing that deep down, she had already accepted that Jiang Che would return to Mount Zhongnan...
Jiang Che clearly understood.
But he did not tease her about it. The amusement in his eyes merely deepened.
The two continued along the bluestone path toward the sect's gate.
As they passed the Ancestral Master Hall,
two meditation cushions still sat beneath the eaves.
One belonged to Dugu Linglong.
The other was one Jiang Che had brought over these past few days to sit with her and listen to the rain.
The charcoal brazier, which had not been completely extinguished last night, still stood between the two cushions.
Dugu Linglong's gaze swept over them.
The words Jiang Che had spoken last night echoed unbidden in her mind.
"Perhaps it's because I like you."
At that moment, the emotions she had forcibly suppressed stirred once more.
Dugu Linglong finally understood.
What she could not bear to part with had never been merely the meals Jiang Che prepared.
Nor was it having someone repair the formation and handle the sect's everyday affairs for her.
What she truly could not bear to lose...
was Jiang Che himself.
But how was she supposed
to put that reluctance into words?
Half an hour later,
the two arrived outside the Celestial Master Sect.
The Shadow Guard had already parked the vehicle beside a passable