When Lin Qin returned to Dragon Rock Territory, it was already dark.
Lights glowed in the stone building, their dim yellow light spilling from the windows and casting a warm hue over the open space before the door. He pushed the door open and went inside. Aileen was sitting by the table, where the dishes were laid out, still steaming.
"You're back?" She looked up at him.
"Yeah."
Lin Qin sat across from her and picked up his chopsticks.
The meal was simple, yet sitting at this wooden table and eating these plain dishes felt more comfortable than anything else.
Aileen merely smiled and placed some food in his bowl.
After dinner, the two of them sat on the steps outside the door.
The night in Dragon Rock Territory was very quiet. A stream flowed in the distance, murmuring softly. The insects in the valley chirped one after another, as though performing a song that could never grow tiresome.
The two simply sat there in silence.
After a long while, Aileen finally spoke softly. "How long can you stay this time?"
"I don't know," Lin Qin said. "At least for a while."
Before dawn the next day, Lin Qin woke up.
Aileen beside him was still asleep.
She slept soundly, her breathing even, the corners of her lips slightly raised as though she were having some wonderful dream.
Lin Qin quietly got up. The moment he opened the door, the cool morning air washed over him.
A thin mist filled the valley. The distant mountains appeared and vanished within it, like an ink-wash painting. The sound of the stream was clearer than it had been at night, and every so often, one or two birdcalls rang out from the mist, crisp and distant.
Lin Qin sat on the steps outside