It was already night when Yin Wujou returned. The rain had just started, not heavy, just a light drizzle, making a muffled sound as it hit the roof of the Xuantie Palace. When he pushed open the door to the front hall, he was damp, with fine water droplets clinging to his hair and a dark water stain on his shoulder. Snow Empress was sitting under the lamp reading a book, and looked up at him when she heard the noise.
"What happened in the west of the city?" she asked.
"A Red-Scaled Tiger went berserk and injured three people. It's been subdued." Yin Wujou shook the water droplets off his outer robe, hung it on the rack, and sat down across from him at the table. "Why aren't you asleep yet?"
"Wait for you."
Yin Wujou looked at her, his gaze lingering on her face for a moment, then suddenly frowned. "What's wrong with your eyes?"
Snow Empress closed the book, stood up, walked around the desk, and stood in front of him. He sat in his chair, looking up at her with his brows still furrowed, and reached out to touch the corner of her eye. Snow Empress took his hand, bent down, and looked intently at his face. The candlelight shone from the side, softening one side of his face while the other side remained in shadow, making the curve of his brow bone particularly distinct at the boundary between light and shadow.
" Yin Wujou," she said.
"Um."
Granny Song told me about your past.
Yin Wujou's brow twitched, then he gave a helpless smile, "Is she bringing up the time I cried when I was little again?"
"She said you painted over three hundred pictures after returning from the Ziwei Sect," Snow Empress said. "I burned them all."
Yin Wujou's smile faded slightly. He didn't withdraw his hand, letting Snow Empress hold it, while his other hand rested on the armrest, his fingertips tapping unconsciously twice.
"She said you brought that petal back and buried it at the base of the wall," Snow Empress's voice trailed off, almost drowned out by the sound of the rain, "And you cried when you buried it."
Yin Wujou closed his eyes and exhaled a long breath. The breath dissipated as soon as it came out, as if a layer of shell had been removed from his body. When he opened his eyes again, his two cold, star-like eyes shone brightly under the light, containing a torrent of emotions, yet he suppressed them with a calm and collected demeanor.
"I went to the Ziwei Sect when I was sixteen," he said. "You walked in from outside the main hall, dressed in a snow-blue robe. I sat in the last row and glanced at you through the gaps in the crowd. Just one glance."
He paused, his thumb gently stroking the back of her hand. "After I went back, I tried to draw it for half a year, but I couldn't recreate it. I remembered it clearly, but as soon as I picked up the brush, it would go crooked, and it wouldn't look like you. It would look like someone else wearing your face. Later, I simply stopped drawing, leaving only that petal. I thought it would be good to keep a memento. Then I heard you went to the Absolute Abyss..."
His voice finally cracked, though it quickly healed, but Snow Empress heard it clearly. What leaked out of that crack made her heart ache.
"After I returned from the Absolute Abyss, I spent three months recovering from my injuries. During those three months, I realized something." Yin Wujou looked at her, the corners of his mouth curving upwards, a smile tinged with self-deprecation and a great deal of seriousness. "I thought then, if I had known that meeting you only once would end like this, I should have looked at you more closely. If I had seen you clearly and remembered you, even if we never met again, I wouldn't be unable to even paint a proper portrait."
Snow Empress bent down and hugged him. Her arms encircled his shoulders and neck, her face buried in the crook of his neck, her voice muffled and nasal. "Look now. Look as much as you want. You can look for as long as you like."
Yin Wujou leaned back slightly under her weight, then reached out and pulled her tightly into his arms. His chin rested on the top of her head, and the sound of his heartbeat, steady and powerful, traveled through the fabric of her clothes, like the inextinguishable subterranean fire beneath the Demon Domain Realm's main city.
The rain grew heavier. The sound from the top of the Xuantie Palace changed from a muffled thud to a sharp, ringing sound, like thousands of silver needles falling simultaneously. The bronze bells under the corridor were blown almost sideways by the wind, ringing out a series of rapid, fragmented sounds. But the warm yellow light in the front hall cast the shadows of two people on the wall behind them, overlapping into a dark mass that was indistinguishable from one another.
After an unknown amount of time, Snow Empress lifted her face from the crook of his neck, her nose brushing against his chin. Her eyes were still red, but the corners of her mouth were upturned, and her whole face was very close, their noses almost touching.
" Yin Wujou, say it again," she said softly.
"Say what?"
"Tell me about that thing you figured out after you came back from the Absolute Abyss."
Yin Wujou looked down at her, his eyelashes casting a small shadow on her cheekbone. The corners of his mouth curved up, and the two cold stars in his eyes were now burning like two grains of molten gold, hot and bright, completely capturing her image within them.
He said, "I said, I regret only glancing at you once."
Snow Empress smiled and pressed her lips to hers. The kiss was light and soft, like a petal falling on the water, rippling outwards. Yin Wujou's hand rested on her back, his fingers tightening slightly, pulling her deeper into his embrace. The rain roared like drums, the lamp flickered and popped, the warm light in the room swayed for a moment before steadily returning to its original position.
From that day on, Snow Empress began drinking the medicine left by Granny Song. Every morning on an empty stomach, she would take one pill. The pill would melt instantly in her mouth, and a warm current would flow through her meridians and throughout her body. The hidden injuries she had sustained in the Absolute Abyss were melting away inch by inch, like snow under the spring sun. Every morning, Yin Wujou would come to check on her as she took her medicine, saying he was afraid she would forget. But Snow Empress knew in her heart that he just wanted to make sure she was alright.
Three days after Granny Song left, the first uninvited guest arrived in the Demon Domain. The man was extremely tall, dressed in a faded blue Daoist robe, and carrying a rusty iron sword. He stood at the entrance of the Wujou Hall, cupping his fists to the demon general guarding the gate. "Please inform him that an old friend has come to visit."
Yin Wujou was squatting in the backyard looking at the purple flowers. He was acting strangely today, insisting that a Yezi under the flower with curled edges was sick, and he squatted there gesturing with a small silver pair of scissors for a long time. Snow Empress was eating melon seeds nearby, watching him fuss. When she heard the announcement that someone was looking for him, Yin Wujou look up. "Who is it?"
The man didn't say his name, only that he was an old friend.
Yin Wujou thought for a moment, put down the silver scissors in his hand, dusted off his hands, and stood up. Snow Empress followed him to the front hall and immediately saw the blue-robed Daoist priest, who looked somewhat familiar. When the Daoist priest saw Yin Wujou come out, he grinned, revealing a row of white teeth. "Young Yin, long time no see. I've come to ask for a cup of wine."
Yin Wujou's expression visibly relaxed upon seeing the man, even showing a hint of surprise. " Daoist Yun? Why did you come all the way back from the Southern Frontier?"
"I heard you're keeping a mistress, so I came to see for myself." Daoist Yun's gaze passed over Yin Wujou and landed on Snow Empress. He looked her over for a moment, then clicked his tongue in amazement. "She's really alive? I thought the rumors had gotten mixed up."
Snow Empress stepped out from behind Yin Wujou and gracefully bowed. " Snow Empress greets Daoist Yun."