Drink deep of flowers by day, and bask in their radiance; drink deep of snow by night, and let it clear your thoughts.
- Anonymous
"Qiong Rong, I was wiping away your sister Xueyi's tears."
The boy sheepishly withdrew his hand halfway through wiping her tears and answered with some embarrassment. Kou Xueyi hastily stopped crying as well, drawing a silk handkerchief from her sleeve to dab away the traces.
"You see, your sister Xueyi missed us terribly these past few days, and someone wicked bullied her, so she's very upset. Let's go outside and let her have some peace."
"Oh, I see! Don't worry, Sister Xueyi. I'll avenge you properly!"
Even as Xing Yan pulled her toward the door, the little girl remembered to turn back and offer reassurance.
"Huh? Gone already? That scoundrel certainly has quick feet!"
Xing Yan had edged up to the Cloud-Sleeve Pavilion's railing to look down, only to discover that Zhao Wuchen, who had been painfully making his way along below the peak earlier, had vanished without a trace.
"Hmm, all the better. If I really had cost that scoundrel his life, there would have been no end of trouble afterward. Yes, thank goodness he's all right..."
After this remark, he turned to ask the little girl beside him:
"Qiong Rong, you've been here all along. Did you see which way he went?"
"..."
Having heard her brother's earlier reflections, Qiong Rong seemed somewhat hesitant. She paused briefly, then blinked and answered:
"I-I don't know where he is now, either."
"Really?"
Xing Yan had only asked casually, so he said no more. After letting the mountain breeze blow over him for a while and calming his thoughts, he spoke to the girl beside him:
"I'm going to see whether your sister Xueyi feels any