After leaving Su Qian's Bamboo Pavilion, Liuli did not go to Panmen. Instead, she returned to her own small courtyard in the Inner Academy.
Having been away for two years, the little loft had accumulated quite a bit of dust. Liuli let Zi Yan play in the courtyard while she took out cleaning supplies and began a thorough cleanup. By the time she was done, it was already dusk.
The girl wiped away her sweat and looked at the freshly renewed room. Satisfied, she put her hands on her hips and nodded, lavishly praising herself in her heart.
"I'm sweaty all over. I need a bath." Feeling sticky all over, she frowned slightly. Then she took out a change of clothes and called toward the courtyard behind her, "Zi Yan, do you want to take a bath?"
Zi Yan was sitting on a stone bench in the courtyard, flipping through One Hundred Ways to Eat Magical Beasts that Liuli had given her. Hearing the call, she recalled how Liuli had tricked her into bathing together before and immediately shivered. She hurriedly shook her head. "No! I'm very clean!"
"Tch, it's not like I'd eat you." Liuli rolled her eyes at the little girl and did not press the matter, instead carrying her clothes upstairs.
About half an hour later, the sunset had fallen beyond the horizon. Only a few stars hung in the gray-black night sky.
Zi Yan rubbed her eyes, put the book into her Storage Ring, and got up to head inside. At that moment, her ears twitched, and she looked toward the courtyard gate. Before long, slow footsteps drifted over.
The black-haired young man stood before the familiar courtyard, looking at the tightly shut gate with a touch of nostalgia.
Back when he had still been an