The next day.
Morning.
Ningguang opened her eyes, still heavy with sleep.
She slowly sat up and stretched.
When she noticed Xiu Yuan's bed was empty, she figured he had gone out to buy something, or perhaps he was meditating on the roof.
He often did that.
Ningguang opened the door and stepped outside, only to find that Xiu Yuan was not on the roof.
"Did he go out to buy groceries...?"
She wondered aloud, but did not think much of it and went to wash up.
She waited at home for a long time, but Xiu Yuan still did not return.
That struck Ningguang as odd.
"Where did you go, Xiu Yuan? You don't usually stay out this long."
Anxious, she paced back and forth. She wanted to go looking for him, but worried he might return while she was out and panic when he could not find her.
As she fidgeted restlessly, looking this way and that, she finally noticed the sheet of paper.
When she picked it up and read it carefully, her heart suddenly shuddered.
"No... Xiu Yuan wouldn't leave me behind... I don't believe it..."
"It's a lie... It has to be a lie..."
Those words were like sharp thorns, piercing her body without mercy.
She trembled slightly, huge tears rolling down her cheeks.
She frantically rummaged through every chest and cupboard, but could not find the boxed tea set she had given Xiu Yuan yesterday.
Clutching the note, she burst out the door in tears and ran desperately toward Liyue Harbor.
Her tears scattered over the ground like pearls as she ran.
[I'm sorry, Ningguang. By the time you find this letter, I will already be gone.]
[There are things I have no choice but to do. I'm sorry I can't take you with