Twilight (2)

The memories ended. Lin Huaixu lay sprawled on the bed, his whole body sunk into the soft cloud-brocade pillows. His hair crown had long since been tossed to the foot of the bed, and his black hair spread messily over half the mattress, a few mischievous strands hanging by his cheek and trembling lightly with each breath.

With his eyes closed, the scene of Su Miaoxi carrying him over her shoulder and racing through the sect at noon kept circling in his mind—the swords his junior brothers and sisters had dropped, the wide-eyed medicine boys, and those whispers that had drifted into his ears despite themselves...

He had been wise and glorious all his life. When had he ever suffered the pain of such a social death?

He sighed dully, his voice muffled by the pillow, vague as a spoiled cat's. "Sigh... I've lost all the face I'll ever have in this life. I'm no longer clean, sob sob sob..."

The moment he finished speaking, the bed beside his ear sank slightly. Su Miaoxi was sitting at the bedside flipping through a medical text. Her fingertip paused on the page, and she looked at him. "If you knew it was embarrassing, then don't try to tough it out next time. If you get hurt, treat it yourself. Why did I need to forcibly haul you to Spirit Medicine Peak?"

"I was planning to come the moment I returned to the mountain. I just happened to see our most lovable little junior sister looking upset on the way, so I came to comfort you." Lin Huaixu wiped away tears with an invisible handkerchief, though he had not managed to squeeze any out. "I cared so much about you, yet you repaid kindness with enmity and stripped me in front of all