The spring breeze grew warmer beneath the gentle sun.
Xie Lingyu gently swirled the teapot. A blossom beside a branch drifted over on the spring breeze and slowly landed on the table. She glanced at it and gently picked it up.
"What color is it?" Chu Xingchen sat beside her and asked softly.
[A pale pink.]
As Xie Lingyu wrote, she held the petal and gently waved it before Chu Xingchen.
Chu Xingchen watched Xie Lingyu quietly, his gaze calm. Lately, he seemed vaguely able to see through a little of the illusion. At this moment, Xie Lingyu wore blue-green and white robes, and her hair seemed to be tied with a pure white ribbon, fluttering in the spring breeze.
He asked:
"How long have I been back?"
[Half a month.]
"That long?"
[You used to lie around for half a year at a time, and now half a month feels quick to you?] Xie Lingyu raised her hand to write, a smile on her lips, and said quietly:
"You're a lazybones through and through. Why pretend to be hardworking?"
Chu Xingchen was slightly stunned, not because of Xie Lingyu's written reply...
But because he seemed to have heard something.
Had he heard Xie Lingyu saying something about being hardworking?
Was he hearing things, or was it something the Xie Lingyu within the illusion had said?
Seeing Chu Xingchen's strange reaction, Xie Lingyu reached out and wrote again:
[What's wrong?]
Chu Xingchen shook his head gently. "Perhaps I've been too busy lately, and suddenly having a little leisure feels strange. Or perhaps knowing there's a mountain of things to do, yet being unable to do anything right now, makes me a little uneasy."
Xie Lingyu did not hurry to answer. Instead, she first set a teacup before Chu Xingchen and