Leaving Alone, Keeping It Secret!

Su Qingyuan's figure vanished at the end of the path through the Peach Blossom Forest.

The night breeze carried the lingering scent of herbs from her clothes to you, faint as a sentence left unfinished.

You sat on the stone bench and looked down at the freshly bandaged wound on your right shoulder.

The bandage was wrapped neither too tight nor too loose. Even the knot had been placed where it would not press against your shoulder when you moved.

Soft footsteps sounded at the courtyard gate.

You looked up.

Situ Hao Yue stood beyond the threshold, one hand braced against the doorframe, his injured right arm held in a sling across his chest.

His face was as white as paper in the moonlight.

But his eyes were bright—bright as they had been back in the Canglan Realm, when he had charged at the front with a greatsword on his shoulder.

"Couldn't sleep."

His voice was hoarse, as though his throat were lined with sandpaper.

You said nothing, only tipped your chin toward the stone bench opposite you.

He came in slowly, each step cautious, as if measuring how much strength he had left.

As he sat down, his right arm accidentally brushed the edge of the stone table.

His brows drew sharply together, but he made no sound.

"Your wound hasn't healed. Don't go wandering around," you said.

"Won't kill me." Situ Hao Yue pulled a wine flask from inside his robe, uncorked it, and tipped back his head for a swallow.

Wine ran from the corner of his mouth and over the blue stubble on his chin.

"I've had worse."

He handed you the flask.

You took a drink too.

The wine was strong, the kind brewed from spirit fruit by Xuanji Hall's Alchemy Hall. Swallowing it was