Rewards

"Long time... no see." Bai Heng's voice was slightly hoarse.

You had thought you were all alone in the world, but she had returned.

Later, you learned from A Ruan that when she found you on the battlefield, your life force had nearly been exhausted. Yet the power of "Preservation" within you had given you a sliver of hope. After treatment, you escaped the danger of death, and she brought you here to recuperate. After sleeping for half a month, you finally woke up.

With A Ruan accompanying you, you returned to your hometown with your parents' belongings and kept vigil for your loved ones for seven days. Throughout that time, A Ruan remained by your side.

Over those seven days, you discovered that A Ruan had changed greatly. Though she had grown even gentler and more ethereal in appearance, you always felt that her personality had become colder and more distant.

During those seven days, you opened a jar of wine before the grave of the old man who had never allowed you to drink, and shared a drink with him. You had secretly drunk before, too. Back then, wine had only seemed spicy and bitter to you—what was so good about it? But now, you seemed to have grown fond of its taste as well.

The twelfth lunar month was bitterly cold. The once-lively streets and alleys had already become tombs, and only the Plum Blossoms atop the walls still bloomed proudly against frost and snow. When you were young, even though your parents spent most of the year traveling for business, they always came home to see you on New Year's Eve. But this year, neither of them returned.

Within the courtyard, half reduced to ruins, Bai Heng sat atop a broken wall and raised his wine jug. The fiery liquor ran through his stomach as he suppressed the emotions in his heart.

"There is no moonlight tonight. What are you thinking about?"

A Ruan walked up to the broken wall, lifting her almond-shaped eyes to look at Bai Heng.

"Nothing... I just find drinking alone a little boring." Looking at the girl approaching him, Bai Heng forced out a smile.

"Then come down."

"Why?"

"I can have a drink with you."

Bai Heng paused, then laughed.

"This wine is very spicy."

"I am only trying it. Everything has a beginning."

Her expression remained calm, as though she were not joking.

Bai Heng looked into those clear, pure eyes that he could never quite read and said, "Come on. Let's go to the pavilion. It's rather cold here."

Leaping down from the ruined wall, Bai Heng and A Ruan walked side by side. Neither spoke. They simply made their way to the stone pavilion facing the plum tree.

At that moment, the incense burner in the stone pavilion was still burning, while pastries and a tea set sat on the table.

Bai Heng lifted the wine jug and poured wine into a teacup. Once it reached a third of the cup, he pushed it toward A Ruan.

"Please."

A Ruan extended her slender fingers, pinched the rim of the teacup, and took a small sip as if tasting tea.

But the next moment, she began coughing softly.

Seeing her like this, Bai Heng smiled. "See? I told you, this wine is very spicy."

Yet A Ruan merely steadied herself before lifting the teacup again and draining the half-cup of wine in one gulp.

The cold wine entered her stomach, making A Ruan's body tremble slightly. A faint blush also spread across her fair cheeks.

Bai Heng looked at her without speaking.

A Ruan gently set down the teacup.

She looked at Bai Heng and said,

"The lips and teeth are the most sensitive. To judge whether pastries are superior, one only needs the chance to take a small bite. I think wine should be the same. Drinking such strong wine alone... perhaps you truly have something on your mind..."

"I do not know what you need. If it is a 'reward,' then I can grant you anything you want."

Bai Heng sensed the sincerity in her words. His hand, reaching for the wine jug, froze in midair before slowly lowering.

He looked at A Ruan, visibly moved, and forced a faint, bitter smile. "Could you... give me a hug?"

A Ruan was slightly stunned, then her expression gradually turned serious.

She rose and came to Bai Heng's side, extending her pale hands to gently draw him into her embrace.

The courtyard was exceptionally quiet. Only snow falling onto the branches rustled softly. A Ruan stroked Bai Heng's back and comforted him.

"These past three years, I know you have suffered greatly. After everyone you cherished left you, you had no one to confide in. You could only bury your pain in your heart along with bitter wine. That must have been exhausting... I only hope my 'reward' can help you relax. If you can, have a good cry, all right?"

Ever since the day A Ruan had brought Bai Heng back from the battlefield,

she had never seen him shed even a single tear, not even before his parents' graves.

His expression had been so despairing, so despairing that he had lost even the courage to cry...

It was like when he had fallen as a child. If his mother had been beside him, he would have cried loudly.

But if there had only been unfamiliar strangers around, he would merely dust himself off and leave.

And now, he had finally found someone he could rely on and confide in.

Bai Heng felt his nose begin to sting.

Feeling the warmth so close to him, he seemed to become that boy who had fallen before his mother once more, crying out without restraint...

With A Ruan by your side, you spent your last Spring Festival here.

At eighteen, you left your homeland with A Ruan and traveled to the planet where Uncle Ruan and Aunt Mei were conducting scientific research.

Here, Uncle Ruan and Aunt Mei held your coming-of-age ceremony for your eighteenth birthday. Just as before, they still treated you as their own and organized a grand celebration for you, hoping you could soon emerge from the shadows of the past.

In the days that followed, you fulfilled your childhood dream. You successfully embarked on the path of life sciences research. Although you had never received systematic training, the researchers at the institute all believed you possessed extraordinary aptitude. But after working there for some time, you discovered that A Ruan's research in the field of life sciences had reached heights no one else could match. She was the true genius. While everyone else was still studying the external forms of life, A Ruan had already achieved its "cultivation," "reorganization," and "reproduction." She was already capable of creating life.

After realizing the gap between you and her, you began working twice as hard in order to catch up to her. In just a few months, you organized all the institute's known materials and progressed at an unbelievable pace.

At nineteen, your hard work finally paid off. You became the only person in the institute who might be able to keep up with A Ruan, and thus became her assistant. Perhaps your performance was simply too outstanding, or perhaps you had grown increasingly handsome and refined, but many girls around your age at the institute confessed to you. Sometimes, when you and A Ruan traveled to other planets for investigations, you also gained the favor of local women. But you politely turned them all down.

After receiving those confessions, your understanding of love gradually became clearer. After much thought, you came to understand your own feelings and decided to confess to A Ruan on her nineteenth birthday.