For Freedom

Luo Yan sat in an old chair by the window, Zhu Zhuqing sat on the edge of the bed, and Ning Rongrong sat beside the table.

None of the three spoke first. The night wind slipped through the crack in the window, making the lamp sway wildly.

Luo Yan tilted his head and glanced outside. Beneath the old locust tree across the street, a figure in white robes still stood there.

Chen Xin had not left. He stood quietly, waiting for Ning Rongrong to come out.

Luo Yan withdrew his gaze and looked at Ning Rongrong.

Ning Rongrong was looking at him too. Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but she swallowed the words back down.

Zhu Zhuqing lowered her eyes and looked at no one.

"Your grandfather's got plenty of free time," Luo Yan said first. "Not sleeping in the middle of the night, standing downstairs like a streetlamp."

"He's not my grandfather."

Ning Rongrong said in a muffled voice, "He's Grandpa Sword, the sect's guardian Douluo."

"Even more free, then."

Luo Yan said, "A Titled Douluo standing punishment outside an inn. If word gets out, Eternal Fortune Inn can triple its prices tomorrow."

Ning Rongrong did not laugh. She looked at Luo Yan, then at Zhu Zhuqing.

It was not that she had never considered meeting this girl. She just had not expected it to happen at a time like this.

What she had least expected was for Luo Yan to shield Zhu Zhuqing behind him in front of Grandpa Sword. She had seen it clearly. He had not hesitated for even a moment.

"Didn't you say you'd give me an ending?"

Ning Rongrong suddenly asked, her voice lowering. "You left me alone in Heaven Dou City and disappeared for two years. I haven't even asked you for an explanation, yet you and her already..."

She did not finish. Zhu Zhuqing raised her head.

"He and I were only traveling together," Zhu Zhuqing suddenly said.

Ning Rongrong looked at her. "Traveling? Nothing else?"

"Then why did you stand in front of Grandpa Sword just now?" Ning Rongrong asked.

"A Titled Douluo's attack was beyond me," Zhu Zhuqing said evenly. "But I wouldn't let him die."

"Enough, enough."

Luo Yan raised his hands in surrender. "I'm not dead yet. If you want to argue, wait until morning. One of you is waiting downstairs, the other is sharpening her claws by the bed. I don't even know which half of my lungs I should breathe with."

"I wasn't sharpening..." Zhu Zhuqing said.

Ning Rongrong snorted. She stood and walked to the window, looking down.

Seeing the white-robed figure, she sighed for no apparent reason. "I'm going to get dragged back again..."

Luo Yan took a drink of water. "Why did you come here?"

Ning Rongrong stood by the window without turning around. Her shadow stretched across the floor in the moonlight. Several seconds passed before she said, "I came to find you."

"I know you came to find me."

Luo Yan said, "What I'm asking is, what did you come to find me for? You didn't bring a Titled Douluo here in the dead of night just to scold me, did you?"

Ning Rongrong stood with her back to him for a long time, then suddenly turned around. Her eyes were slightly red. "I was taking the entrance exam at Shrek Academy. I'd already finished half of it when I heard your name, so I ran out. I didn't come to scold you. I..."

She paused, her voice dropping as she swallowed the rest of her words back down.

"What is it?" Luo Yan asked.

"I want to go with you," Ning Rongrong said.

Zhu Zhuqing looked at her as Luo Yan slowly set down the cup in his hand.

"I don't want them arranging my life anymore."

Ning Rongrong spoke faster, as though she would lose the nerve if she slowed down. "In the sect, everyone says I'm the future sect master. What I practice, whom I meet, where I go—it's all written down in ledgers. Even taking the Shrek exam was something I snuck out to do."

The more she spoke, the more agitated she became, her chest rising and falling. "So I'm not taking it anymore. The moment I heard news of you, I came looking for you. Aren't you good at running? You took her and vanished for two years. What difference does it make if you take me along for a few more?"

Luo Yan did not respond. He looked toward Zhu Zhuqing.

Zhu Zhuqing still looked the same, but her fingers curled slightly.

"That's quite a thing to say."

Luo Yan smiled. "I'm not running a circus. You're the young lady of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Following me around, staying in shabby inns, eating cold leftovers, getting chased every other day—what are you after?"

"Freedom," Ning Rongrong said.

Luo Yan froze. He had thought she would say, "You," or "excitement."

But she had said "freedom." Those two words left him speechless, because freedom was exactly why he had left Notting City.

Now, a girl who likewise wanted no restraints stood before him and said she wanted to follow him. He suddenly did not know how to refuse.

"And besides."

Ning Rongrong added, as if she had finally found her chance, "You promised you'd come find me. But what happened? I waited and waited for you at Seven Treasure Hotel. I waited until I returned to the sect, until my father arranged for me to enter Heaven Dou Royal Academy, and you never came even once."

Luo Yan opened his mouth. He had wanted to laugh, but Ning Rongrong was staring at him. The grievance and resentment in her eyes were enough to raise eight evil sword immortals!

All he could do was sigh. "What happened in Heaven Dou City was my fault. I left in too much of a hurry. Later, when I wanted to send something, I couldn't get it through. Your sect's people looked at me like I was a thief."

"Now you realize you looked like a thief?" Ning Rongrong glared at him.

"I was half a thief to begin with."

Luo Yan said, his gaze falling on her face. "Otherwise, how could I have run off with your bracelet?"

Ning Rongrong's face flushed. Of course she had seen the bracelet on his wrist. She had noticed it from the moment she came upstairs, but she had not mentioned it.

She had been afraid that bringing it up would make her seem too concerned. Now that Luo Yan had exposed it, even her neck felt hot. "That bracelet was collateral for the book money. Don't say things that make people misunderstand."

"Oh." Luo Yan smiled. "Then aren't you taking it back?"

"I'm not."

Ning Rongrong said as she sat back down. "I'm following you. Wherever you go, I'll go. When you've paid off your debt, then I'll consider whether I'm going back."

Zhu Zhuqing suddenly said, "We don't have anywhere to go right now."

Ning Rongrong froze. She looked at Zhu Zhuqing, then at Luo Yan.

Luo Yan shrugged. "Her business is finished, and mine is done too. I was just wondering what to do after waking up tomorrow, and then you showed up."

"So you two are... idle people now?" Ning Rongrong asked uncertainly.

"Mm."

Luo Yan smiled. "Idle enough to go crazy. So don't make it sound like you're joining us on some desperate flight across the world. We're just two people who've finished what we had to do. It's not impossible for you to come along. But—"

He paused and glanced at the white-robed figure outside the window. "You have to persuade your Grandpa Sword to go back first."

Ning Rongrong's eyes lit up, and her entire face came alive. "You agreed?"

"I didn't," Luo Yan said. "What I mean is, if you don't get dragged back to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect tonight, we can discuss it again."

"Fine."

Ning Rongrong immediately rose and smoothed her skirt. "I'll go down now. Grandpa Sword only thinks something happened to me. I'll explain it to him."

She reached the door, then turned back. Her gaze was bright and earnest.

"You're not allowed to run off again while I'm downstairs," she said.

"Am I that kind of person? I won't run."

"You'd better not!" Ning Rongrong glared at him, pulled open the door, and left.

The room fell quiet again. Zhu Zhuqing still sat by the bed as Luo Yan looked at her.

Zhu Zhuqing said, "So what are we doing after this?"

Luo Yan rubbed his smooth chin with his fingers, thinking for a moment. "How about... we run first?"