The white jade cup had once been endearingly ugly. Now it lay in pieces, and the sections painstakingly restored bore clear cracks, along with several small holes where the missing fragments had yet to be found.
It had gone from endearingly ugly to pitifully ugly.
"Master Yu Qing, we found another piece!" A disciple brought over a tiny fragment in cupped hands.
"Mm, cough, cough..."
The aloof beauty turned his face away, struggling to suppress his cough as he instinctively drew a white handkerchief from his robes to cover his mouth.
The handkerchief was silky and spotless. Only one corner bore a clumsily drawn white cat, strikingly similar to the one on the white jade cup.
The very same endearingly ugly little white cat, aloof and haughty.
Bai Yuqing abruptly froze, forcibly suppressing the fierce urge to cough that had already risen in his throat.
The effort brought a faint flush to his pale, jade-like, sickly face.
He tucked the white handkerchief back into his robes before covering his mouth with his slender, well-defined hand, finally allowing the coughs he had held back to escape.
"Cough, cough..."
His voice was low, proud and restrained.
At last, he turned back, his gaze settling on the tiny fragment of the White Jade Cup in the disciple's cupped hands. He reached out, then suddenly stopped just before his fingertips touched it.
"Do you have a handkerchief?"
The disciples exchanged glances.
Why did he need a handkerchief to clean his hands just to take a fragment?
Besides, didn't he already have one?
"Yes..." A disciple presented a handkerchief with both hands.
Bai Yuqing meticulously wiped his hands with it before taking the tiny fragment.
Then, with utmost care and reverence, he fitted it back onto the white jade cup.
Seeing one fewer hole in