"It's her," Yin Wujou said.
Granny Song snorted coldly, "It's better than what you drew back then."
A Yin Wujou's face. He coughed lightly and said, "Grandma is joking. I never drew anything back then..."
"I did draw it." Granny Song interrupted him mercilessly. "The woman in blue you drew when you were sixteen, her nose and eyes were all distorted, I was ashamed for you when I saw it. You burned more than three hundred of them afterward, did you think I didn't know?"
Snow Empress keenly caught the words "woman in green" and turned to look at Yin Wujou. Yin Wujou's ears flushed slightly, and he stood up, pushing Granny Song's shoulder as they walked towards the side hall. "Granny, you've come a long way and must be tired. I've had a quiet room prepared; please go and rest..."
"What's the rush?" Granny Song slapped his hand away, remaining seated without moving, then turned to Snow Empress, "Girl, come here."
Snow Empress approached as instructed. Granny Song extended her hand; her hands were withered and thin like old tree roots, covered with lines of varying depths, and her nails were trimmed extremely short. She grasped Snow Empress's wrist, placed three fingers on her pulse point, closed her eyes, and felt for a while. After a moment, she opened her eyes, her expression softening. "Your foundation isn't bad. You were so badly injured at the Ziwei Sect last time, yet you managed to recover seventy percent; your own cultivation technique also contributed."
Yin Wujou stood beside her, his expression tense. "Grandma, there's still some cold energy remaining in her meridians..."
"I'm not blind yet." Granny Song rolled her eyes at him, then took out a small porcelain bottle from her sleeve and handed it to Snow Empress. "Take one pill on an empty stomach every morning for forty-nine days. The coldness in your meridians will be completely dispelled. Once it's gone, come to me for another prescription."
Snow Empress accepted the porcelain bottle and thanked her. Granny Song waved her hand and stood up. This time, she didn't refuse Yin Wujou's help and let him lead the way to the side hall. When she reached the door, she suddenly turned back and glanced at Snow Empress. Her gaze was much gentler than before, like a ray of warm sunshine filtering through the clouds in winter. "You have better judgment than him."
Snow Empress paused for a moment, Granny Song had already turned the corner and disappeared. When Yin Wujou returned, his ears were still red. He sat back down in his chair, picked up his teacup, and put it down again, going back and forth several times. Snow Empress sat opposite him, holding the small porcelain bottle, looking at him with a half-smile.
"The woman in blue?" she asked slowly.
Yin Wujou closed his eyes briefly. "She's talking nonsense."
"You started drawing at sixteen?"
"My skills weren't good enough back then, so my drawing wasn't good."
"More than three hundred?"
Yin Wujou finally gave up struggling, buried his face in his hands, and mumbled, "Don't ask anymore."
Snow Empress placed the porcelain bottle on the table, got up, walked around the table to his chair, and looked down at the exposed nape of his neck. The lines of his neck were smooth, and fine blue veins could be seen under the surface, which were now tinged with a faint pink because of their owner's discomfort. She reached out a finger and poked the back of his neck. Yin Wujou stiffened, slowly lowered his hand from his face, and looked up at her.
The angle was perfect. Snow Empress looked at her reflection in his cold, star-like eyes, bent down, and leaned closer. "Who exactly is being painted?"
Yin Wujou's Adam's apple bobbed, then he reached out and pulled her down, his hands cupping the back of her head. Their foreheads touched, their breaths mingling. His voice was low and soft, as if afraid of startling something. "I've always been drawing the same person. At first, I didn't know who it was, then I found out. After that, I didn't dare draw anymore, afraid it would look too bad, unworthy of the person."
Snow Empress's heart suddenly raced. She lowered her eyes, her gaze falling on his lips. His lips were pale, the lower lip slightly fuller than the upper, and they were slightly pursed, as if he were enduring something. She moved closer, her lips almost touching the corner of his, and whispered, "Then try drawing one now."
"I won't draw it," Yin Wujou said.
"Would you like me to paint one?"
"I won't draw it." His breath warmed her cheek. "Even a drawing wouldn't be as good as the real thing."
Snow Empress chuckled softly, closing the last bit of distance between them. His lips were cooler than he had expected, but quickly warmed, carrying the lingering sweetness of the sugar cake. His hand on the back of her head tightened, and his other hand, without her noticing, encircled her waist, trapping her between the armrest of the chair and his chest. The kiss wasn't deep, but it was lingering, like sugar slowly melting over an afternoon, thick and sweet, seeping into every crevice.
When they parted, both of them were a little out of breath. Snow Empress's forehead was pressed against his, her eyes were still closed, and the corners of her mouth were turned up in a smile that she couldn't stop. Yin Wujou's fingers ran through her hair, slowly combing it from the top of her head to the ends, over and over again, as if to confirm that she was really there.
"Back in the Ziwei Sect," his voice was slightly hoarse, "The day you changed my bandages, I was already thinking about doing this."
"Then why didn't you do it?" Snow Empress opened her eyes.
"Back then, all you could see was that flower," Yin Wujou said. "If I had kissed you, you probably would have taken a sword and chopped off my remaining arm too."
Snow Empress laughed so hard her whole body trembled, her forehead sliding from his brow to his shoulder, and she said in a muffled voice, "You certainly know how to save face."
Yin Wujou lowered his head and kissed the top of her head. "It's not a stepping stone, it's regret. After that, every night when I lay on the couch, I thought, 'If only I had kissed her then and there. Losing an arm for a kiss, it was worth it.'"
Snow Empress lifted her face from his shoulder, her eyes sparkling. "So, do you regret it now?"
Yin Wujou looked at her, the smile on his lips slowly fading into a deeper, heavier, almost drowning look. He didn't answer, but kissed her again. This time it was much deeper than before, carrying a strength that had accumulated over many years, a strength that was both fortunate and fearful, as if he wanted to make up for all the days that had been lost.
The copper bells under the eaves jingled, the Yezi of the red tree rustled in the wind, and the voices of people in the distant market were indistinct. The purple flower bloomed quietly at the foot of the wall, the golden threads on its petals shimmering in the afternoon light.
Granny Song stayed in the Demon Domain for three days. On the first day, she stayed indoors, and Yin Wujou personally delivered each meal to the door of her quiet room. On the second day, she came out and walked around the courtyard, examining the purple flower from all angles for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. Then she said to Yin Wujou, who was following behind her with a nervous expression, "It's well-maintained, much better than that red orchid you tried to grow back then that died."
"Grandma still remembers that pot of red orchids..." Yin Wujou helplessly.
"Of course I remember." Granny Song tapped the ground with her cane. "You cried so hard your snot was hanging down to your chin, I wiped it for you."
Snow Empress was standing under the eaves drinking tea when she heard this and almost choked on her tea. Yin Wujou turned his head and glared at her, and she quickly put down her teacup and pretended to look at the sky. But she couldn't suppress the smile on her lips, and her shoulders trembled.
The third day after Granny Song arrived was a cloudy day. Leaden clouds hung low over the Demon Domain Realm, and the wind carried a damp, earthy smell.