Memories

In the side room of Xuan Zi's courtyard.

Zhang Lexuan looked around.

Yue Ling had long since tidied up and renovated this place, turning it into a little world of his own.

The entire room was simply furnished. Several small chrysanthemums sat on the windowsill, their petals swaying gently in the breeze.

With Xuan Zi's permission, Yue Ling had planted all the open ground visible within the courtyard with different varieties of small chrysanthemums.

He had even filled the ground outside the courtyard walls with them.

Zhang Lexuan slowly walked out of the courtyard.

The terrain halfway up the mountain was the flattest and most open. With her help, Yue Ling had built a small pavilion there.

Back then, he had planned to plant small chrysanthemums all around the pavilion, but she had stopped him.

She still remembered saying, "Chrysanthemums are beautiful, but they're ultimately a little too monotonous."

Afterward, she eagerly sought out all kinds of flower seeds. Through day after day of planting and tending, the slope gradually blossomed with flowers and grasses of every color, stretching together like a sea and weaving a splendid yet elegant ocean of blooms.

This little pavilion had also become a place Zhang Lexuan visited every day.

When the pavilion had first been built, whenever Yue Ling had free time, he would bring carefully prepared dried chrysanthemums, combine them with several Soul Plant ingredients she could not name, brew a pot of tea, and sit here talking with her.

Most of the tea ended up being drunk by her.

And this tea truly helped regulate her body.

Her martial soul was the moon. Whenever night fell, drawing upon moonlight to cultivate allowed her to achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Yet after years of absorbing the cold power of moonlight, a bone-piercing chill that refused to dissipate would accumulate in her meridians and internal organs.

On certain days, the pain brought by that chill became especially unbearable.

At first, when she watched Yue Ling pour tea into her cup, her heart was full of hesitation.

But unable to resist the anticipation in Yue Ling's eyes, she could only gently lift her teacup and take a small sip with the bearing of an eldest disciple.

The result was far better than she had expected.

The faint bitterness and coolness unique to chrysanthemums were completely balanced by the honeyed sweetness of red dates, mingled with the mild spicy fragrance of ginger. The aftertaste was a mellow sweetness formed by goji berries and honey.

Cold and heat were balanced. It was neither bitter nor harsh, nor did it cause internal heat.

Warmth traveled down her throat and settled in her lower abdomen, slowly suppressing the accumulated chill within her body and warming her from head to toe.

When she cultivated afterward, that bone-deep cold within her body had also faded considerably.

Moreover, after Yue Ling moved here, he often played with Bei Bei.

Yue Ling called him little brother, while Bei Bei called him big brother. The two had a great time together.

This also gave her the rare chance to set aside ample time to cultivate in peace.

Sometimes, Bei Bei would come to this pavilion as well.

Children his age were curious about everything around them.

At Yue Ling's invitation, he tried a sip of chrysanthemum tea, and his fair little face immediately scrunched up.

The tea was cool as it went down his throat, carrying a trace of bitterness, and it was nowhere near sweet enough for his liking.

From then on, Bei Bei never came to the little pavilion again.

During this time, if other outstanding inner courtyard disciples happened to pass by and saw the eldest disciple here from afar, they would tactfully take a detour.

Over time, this place became Zhang Lexuan's alone.

Day after day, under Yue Ling's attentive care, whenever she finished cultivating and felt exhausted, she would bring a pot of chrysanthemum tea he had blended himself and sit alone in the pavilion, admiring the flowers and scenery as she eased away her fatigue.

She had not experienced such meticulous gentleness in a long time.

At Shrek, she was the widely acknowledged eldest disciple of the inner courtyard and one of the academy's greatest geniuses, but she bore far too many responsibilities beyond her control.

Her rough and desolate childhood had given her a gentle, composed exterior, while her heart within remained hard and cold.

But though both were boys, Yue Ling and Bei Bei were ultimately different.

No matter how often she put on the airs of the eldest disciple, in Yue Ling's eyes, she would always be that helpless little girl curled beneath a bed while her mother shielded her.

Things were always beyond one's control.

There were some matters of the heart she did not want to hide from a boy whose thoughts were so pure.

After hesitating for a long time, one day in the pavilion, she looked into his clear eyes and finally confessed everything.

After listening, Yue Ling merely froze for a moment. He said nothing more, simply finished the tea in his cup, packed up the things in the pavilion, bade her farewell, and left.

She had thought that after this confession, what awaited her would be a long period of estrangement. She had already resolved to harden her heart and shut out others' closeness as she had before.

Yet the next day, Yue Ling still came to her courtyard as usual, bringing all manner of novel pastries and food he had made.

She had asked him why, but his answer was always beyond her expectations.

That day, Yue Ling widened his eyes and said indifferently.

"I saw that you were in a bad mood yesterday, so I made more sweet things. I hoped they would cheer you up."

"Then why are you so good to me?" Zhang Lexuan's heart trembled slightly.

"Why? Why does everything need a reason?" Yue Ling answered without hesitation. "If I'm not good to you, who should I be good to? Seeing Master once a month would already be considered lucky. Bei Bei is too young. Around here, you're the only one I can talk to."

Fine. She would let him do as he pleased.

A faint, secret delight rose in Zhang Lexuan's heart. At the same time, when she looked at the young Bei Bei, a measure of guilt for betraying her promise surfaced within her.

Mu En had given her this life. She should have done her best to keep her promise.

But was it truly right to keep accepting his kindness like this? Aside from being the eldest disciple of the inner courtyard, she was, in another sense, merely an ordinary girl.

This confusion had lingered in her heart for a long time.

Every late night, she would gaze at the lone moon hanging in the sky and ask herself over and over.

What should I do? What am I supposed to do?

No one had ever been able to give her an answer. It was just like back then, when she had followed Mu En's arrangements and agreed to become Bei Bei's child bride.

Beyond her control.

On the bed.

Once the evil soul within Yue Ling's Spirit Sea had been sealed into a corner, he soon woke up.

The instant he opened his eyes, the sight before him made him pause.

Six pairs of eyes were fixed on him, and they silently looked at one another.

Before he could speak, Xuan Zi hurriedly fired off a string of questions.

"Yue Ling, why is there a remnant soul of an Evil Soul Master hidden in your Spirit Sea?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Xuan Zi suddenly remembered something else. "Right! You've been lying on that ice bed for so long. Get up and let me take a look. You weren't hurt, were you?"

"Master, I..."

"Don't talk too much. Cultivate here with me in peace. Unless it's important, don't go wandering around the outer courtyard again."

"There's food and drink here. It's best for you to stay safely here..."

Xuan Zi kept rambling at his side.

Yue Ling felt a little helpless. The one who had hurriedly driven him away in the first place had clearly been his teacher.

Though he said that, there was not the slightest annoyance in his heart. Being genuinely cared for and worried about by someone actually felt rather nice.