Before the bed, bright moonlight.
Painful memories were bitter water, of course, but the fear was that within that bitter water lay the sugar one had long yearned for.
Unable to swallow it, yet unable to leave it behind.
Lin Luoyu's [Childhood Nightmare] might be the sugar in the bitter water that she could not forget.
Perhaps, in her childhood memories, her parents were the last warmth.
Chu Xingchen gazed at the bright moon. Once upon a time, all alone, he too had wished so very, very much,
Perhaps forgetting was not the cure. Making peace with it was.
Gazing at the bright moon, Chu Xingchen suddenly said:
"Winds stretching ten thousand miles, boundless righteous qi."
Hearing this, Lin Luoyu looked at her master with a slightly puzzled expression.
Chu Xingchen turned his gaze back.
"What does righteousness mean to you?"
Lin Luoyu thought carefully for a moment before answering honestly:
"I haven't thought too deeply about my own righteousness qi. I just think it should mean understanding principle in your heart, following your heart's true intent, and acting faithfully on it. That is righteousness."
"Perhaps it's just as you said, Master: having a clear conscience."
Chu Xingchen nodded with a soft laugh.
"Though I'm your master, my understanding of righteousness certainly falls short of yours. I thought righteousness qi had to be like tonight's moon, cool and flawless."
Lin Luoyu shook her head.
"The bright moon is pure, but it still isn't as free and easy as Fifth Junior Brother."
Chu Xingchen agreed. "Free and easy, yes, but shameless, too. Thoroughly shameless."
Lin Luoyu smiled at that, as though she could still hear Cui Hao begging for mercy.
"Now that you've reached Nascent Soul, I ought to give you a gift." Chu Xingchen looked at Lin Luoyu. "I don't