The Canary

Only then did Zhao Linchuan release her hand. He took out a flask of water from his Storage Soul Tool and unhurriedly washed the saliva off his fingers, not forgetting to tease her as he did.

"Tut, tut. I wonder which family's young miss you are. You look so dignified and noble, but privately, you're actually like a little dog."

Bibi Dong covered her cheek, which was aching slightly from being pinched, feeling utterly wronged.

Clearly, she was the one who had been hurt... Forget it. A wise woman didn't fight when the odds were against her. She should fill her stomach first.

Puffing out her cheeks, she said in a muffled voice thick with a nasal tone, "I'm hungry..." Her voice was full of weakness, pitifulness, and helplessness.

"Then eat if you're hungry." Zhao Linchuan pointed at the roasted lamb, looking completely justified. "I didn't stop you, and I certainly didn't pinch your mouth shut to keep you from eating."

Bibi Dong shot him an angry glare and decided to turn her grief and indignation into appetite.

She reached out directly, forcefully tore off a plump lamb leg that was charred on the outside, tender within, and still sizzling with oil, then opened her little mouth and took a viciously huge bite.

As though she were treating the lamb leg as Zhao Linchuan's arm, she tore and chewed at it fiercely, utterly disregarding any ladylike image.

"Slow down, slow down. No one's going to steal it from you." Zhao Linchuan picked up the wine flask and filled the white jade cup before her with fragrant, sweet amber fruit wine.

It would have been better if he had said nothing. Once he did, Bibi Dong ate even faster, her cheeks stuffed full like a little squirrel guarding its food, as though she truly feared someone would snatch it away.

Watching her feast with such complete abandon, Zhao Linchuan secretly shook his head and laughed.

How was this still the dazzling, cold, noble Saintess of Spirit Hall from the Douhun Stage?

She was clearly just an adorably innocent girl next door, starving badly enough to lose all restraint.

After several rounds of wine and a full spread of dishes.

Bibi Dong drained the last drop of sweet fruit wine from her cup, then contentedly rubbed her slightly rounded belly. Her stomach felt warm, and even more than half of her resentment toward Zhao Linchuan had faded away.

Rarely, she softened her tone, with a hint of sincerity. "Thank you for the meal..."

"Since you're full, it's time for us to head back." Zhao Linchuan stood up.

"Don't!" Bibi Dong hurriedly shook her head. Looking at the moonlit sea glittering beneath the cliff and listening to the rolling waves, she suddenly found herself reluctant to leave this rare freedom and tranquility.

She casually found a topic. "Young Master Zhao, could you... tell me about your background?" Her eyes were filled with curiosity. "I know pretty much all the somewhat renowned clans and sects on the continent.

"But I've never seen or even heard of this kind of martial soul you use."

"The place I come from is rather far away." Zhao Linchuan gazed at the deep night sky, his tone somewhat distant. "It's normal that you wouldn't know about it."

"Overseas?" Bibi Dong pressed.

"Something like that." Zhao Linchuan answered ambiguously.

Silence fell over the cliff, broken only by the crackling bonfire and the roar of waves striking the shore.

Bibi Dong felt a little awkward, unsure of what to say.

She looked at the brilliant stars filling the sky, then suddenly had an idea and pointed at the soft grass nearby. "How about we... go stargazing?"

"Alright." Zhao Linchuan nodded in agreement. The two walked over to the grass and lay down side by side, soft earth beneath them carrying the fresh scent of grass and soil.

"Um... Zhao..." Bibi Dong turned her head to look at the profile of his face so close by, especially distinct beneath the moonlight.

"Just call me Linchuan from now on," Zhao Linchuan interrupted her gently. "Calling me Young Master Zhao every other sentence sounds rather awkward."

For some reason, Bibi Dong's heart skipped a beat. She replied softly, "Th-then... alright."

"You can call me Dong'er from now on too. There's no need to keep calling me Miss." She felt her face grow a little warm.

"Mm." Zhao Linchuan responded, his gaze still fixed on the stars.

"Linchuan..." Bibi Dong called softly, her voice carrying a gentleness even she had not noticed. "Can you... tell me about some interesting things that have happened on the continent?"

"I... I rarely hear stories about the outside world." Her words carried a trace of yearning and faint loneliness.

"There are plenty of interesting things," Zhao Linchuan said, turning his head to meet her bright eyes. "What sort of things would you like to hear?"

"Anything is fine." Bibi Dong was like a child eagerly awaiting a story.

"You seem to... know very little about the outside world?" Zhao Linchuan keenly sensed something.

Bibi Dong fell silent for a moment before saying quietly, "Ever since I was young, great expectations were placed on me. Most of my time was spent cultivating and learning how to handle affairs... I rarely had the chance to truly interact with the outside world."

There was a faint, almost imperceptible loneliness and helplessness in her voice.

Zhao Linchuan understood at once.

No wonder this proud Saintess in the original story had so easily given her heart to someone like Yu Xiaogang.

A bird that had been locked since childhood inside a gorgeous gilded cage and had never seen the true sky—once it encountered someone who claimed he could show it the world outside, even if that person was merely mediocre, it would be enough to make it rush into the flames like a moth.

"I see..." Zhao Linchuan's voice softened further, carrying a hint of comfort. "Then let me tell you a story. A story about a canary."

"A canary? Hurry and tell me!" Bibi Dong became interested, her eyes sparkling as she looked at him.

"Once upon a time, there was a man of great power and status who obtained an exceptionally beautiful canary with an incomparably lovely song..."

Zhao Linchuan's low, magnetic voice flowed slowly through the quiet cliffside.

Through the story, he cleverly alluded to freedom and restraint, cherishing and possession, as well as the yearning and struggle of a carefully confined life for the vast sky.

His words were not sharp, yet they were like a gentle key, inadvertently touching a chord deep within Bibi Dong's heart that no one had ever reached.

When the story ended, only the sound of the waves and the faint crackling of the bonfire's dying embers remained by the cliff.

Bibi Dong remained silent for a long time, her long lashes lowered, casting small shadows across her fair cheeks.

Under the moonlight, a crystal-clear tear quietly slipped from the corner of her eye, tracing along her temple before disappearing into her hair.

She raised a hand and hurriedly wiped away the tear stains, her voice carrying a faint, barely noticeable choke and confusion. "You... are you saying that I'm that golden canary?"

Qian Xunji's gaze, seemingly gentle yet truly filled with a desire for control, was not the way a teacher looked at a student at all.

It was more like he was admiring a meticulously crafted collectible, something no one else was allowed to touch!

Once that thought arose, it grew wildly in her heart like weeds.

"No," Zhao Linchuan said, turning his head in feigned surprise, his gaze clear. "It's just a story. Why would you think that?" He stopped at just the right point and did not spell it out.

Bibi Dong quickly wiped the corners of her eyes dry and abruptly sat up. Her voice regained its usual coolness, though it carried a trace of barely perceptible weariness and resolve.

"Let's go. We should head back." She needed time to process the impact of that story.