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"What is this?!"

Lin Ling suddenly demanded, interrupting the two of them.

That minister was still struggling to find an excuse to stay a while longer. Hearing Lin Ling's voice, he immediately perked up and pricked up his ears.

The contrast before and after was far too obvious, leaving Shi Changyuan momentarily speechless.

Lin Ling held an unopened letter he had found on the bookshelf. The handwriting on it was unmistakably his own.

What did that mean? It meant Shi Changyuan had never read the letter he had written to him back then!

Lin Ling instantly understood why Shi Changyuan's carriage had still been waiting in the same place three days after he went up the mountain.

Shi Changyuan had never known he would return in the winter of the following year.

Shi Changyuan had thought he would never come back!

When Shi Changyuan saw the letter, his expression changed slightly as well. He raised a hand and dismissed the minister who had been openly eavesdropping.

The minister was driven out of the Imperial Study, but his goal had already been achieved. When his colleagues surrounded him at the palace gates, he beat his chest and stamped his feet, his face full of sorrow as he mournfully announced: His Majesty and the future Empress were really arguing!

"Read this letter first, then explain yourself."

Lin Ling stuffed the envelope into Shi Changyuan's arms, folded his arms over his chest, and simply stared at him.

Shi Changyuan opened the envelope and unfolded the letter, reading it word by word. His gaze gradually went distant, as though he could hardly believe it, so he started from the beginning and read it word by word again.

The letter was short and sloppy. It was not some farewell letter as he had imagined, not some declaration that there would be no return date and that life and death would forever divide them.

It was merely a spur-of-the-moment letter, simple beyond simplicity.

The letter was barely over a hundred words, yet Shi Changyuan spent a full quarter of an hour reading it.

"Lingling... you had originally planned to come back?"

Shi Changyuan had thought that Mushroom's return to the deep mountains meant he had completely severed all ties with the past and would never again enter the mortal world.

But this letter meant Mushroom could come down the mountain to spend winter and return to the palace. Mushroom could also return to the palace for a new dish or a new set of clothes.

"I planned to return to the palace before the snow fell in mid-autumn, then go back up the mountain after the snow in mid-spring," Lin Ling continued explaining.

He counted the days on his fingers. He would spend winter in the palace, return to the Capital City for festivals and holidays, watch foreign envoys and join in the excitement, then spend the rest of his days cultivating on the mountain. He simply wanted to spread things evenly.

"Wasn't it you who said the weather was freezing and the roads were difficult?"

Three

"So, if I hadn't suddenly come down the mountain, you would have prepared yourself for me not to return?"

Lin Ling imagined the possible scene. "Would you have thought I was heartless and ungrateful, destroyed all my belongings in a fit of rage, then issued an order strictly forbidding anyone from mentioning me, turning me into that legendary person no one was allowed to speak of?"

"Then, in winter, on a night of falling snow, you would see me again. From then on, we would have all sorts of misunderstandings. You would torment me, I would torment you—"

Shi Changyuan grabbed Lin Ling's mouth in one hand, his expression somewhat complicated. "...Where did you even read such things?"

Mushroom blinked innocently and mumbled, "Miss Liu gave me some storybooks. They all wrote it that way."

"...I see."

Shi Changyuan steadied himself, then answered Lin Ling earnestly. "But in reality, after I returned to the palace, I would soon find the letter. Even if it were a farewell letter from a heartless and ungrateful Little Mushroom, I would still read it carefully to the end."

Shi Changyuan stared at the person before him, then the corners of his lips lifted slightly. "And then I would know that Mushroom was not heartless or ungrateful."

Lin Ling proudly lifted his chin, ready to receive praise.

Shi Changyuan smiled again and reached out to grab Lin Ling by the back of his neck. "But this is a Mushroom greedy for pleasure, one who likes both the freedom of the deep mountains and the comfort of the imperial palace."

Faced with such a grave accusation, Lin Ling's eyes instantly widened.

"I'm not! I was clearly afraid you wouldn't be able to bear parting with me! You're simply... using flowery words and deceitful nonsense here!"

Lin Ling had read books now. He was no longer as easy to fool as before.

"Little illiterate." Shi Changyuan chuckled. "Where did you learn such improper words?"

Lin Ling was thoroughly unconvinced, but Shi Changyuan pressed him down.

Shi Changyuan pulled Lin Ling before him and gazed at him with dark eyes. There seemed to be far too much he wanted to say in those eyes, yet he did not know where to begin.

Lin Ling quieted down.

"Is there anything else you want to ask me?" Lin Ling blinked and asked seriously.

"Yes."

Shi Changyuan admitted, "There is a great deal."

"But there is only one thing I want to ask most."

Shi Changyuan lifted Lin Ling's chin, making him look directly into his eyes.

"Why did you come back?"

Why did he come back?

Did coming back need a reason? Lin Ling was somewhat confused.

In the silence between them, Shi Changyuan saw the panic in Lin Ling's eyes and saw his hesitation. Just when he thought he would receive no answer, Lin Ling spoke.

"All right, actually, it's because I couldn't bear to leave you."

Lin Ling's voice was soft, yet serious and sincere. It echoed through the Imperial Study like a feather brushing against the heart.

Shi Changyuan's breathing caught, but his heart thundered like a drum.

He pressed, "Why couldn't you bear to leave me?"

This seemed to involve a field Mushroom did not understand at all. How could he explain something he had not even figured out himself?

Shi Changyuan looked at Lin Ling's blank expression and knew this could not be rushed, but he truly did not dare wait any longer.

When he had suggested leaving after spring began, he had thought he still had plenty of time. He could slowly grow closer to Mushroom and make him fall in love with him, but Mushroom had gone into hibernation almost immediately.

On the day at the hot spring pool, he had thought he could gradually deepen Lin Ling's affection and slowly guide him toward understanding, but Mushroom had left just like that.