"I'm back."
Qiu Wuji opened the door and came in, carrying freshly bought groceries in one hand and a roll of Xuan paper in the other, with a plastic bag containing brushes and ink hooked over her fingers.
Chu Ge hurried over to take things from her. "With all this to carry, you didn't need to buy groceries too. We could've just ordered takeout."
"I don't like food made outside." Qiu Wuji rummaged through the grocery bag and pulled out a stalk of foxtail grass.
Chu Ge watched wide-eyed as she produced a small bag of soil as though performing a magic trick, took a disposable plastic cup from the coffee table, poured the soil into it, planted the foxtail grass, and set it on the windowsill.
Chu Ge said, "...How ethereal."
Qiu Wuji rolled her eyes at him. "You're just a stalk of foxtail grass yourself. This is all you deserve."
"Didn't you say this was about making yourself comfortable? How did it become about finding a match for me?"
"Yes, well, I already look at one stalk of foxtail grass every day. Another won't make much difference. This one has returned to its natural simplicity and looks better."
Chu Ge didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "That's called dealing a thousand damage to the enemy and taking eight hundred yourself..."
"Doesn't that still leave me two hundred ahead?"
Chu Ge started to speak, then stopped. If you really do end up paired with me someday, that'll be taking ten thousand damage yourself, Foxtail Grass Sect Master.
Whether Qiu Wuji caught his meaning or not, she couldn't be bothered with him. She cleared the dining table and spread out the Xuan paper.
Chu Ge stood to one side, watching curiously.
He hadn't written Qiu Wuji as having practiced