Silent Thunder
After that cold wave, the air in Tingxueyuan seemed to have undergone some indescribable change.
Jiu Che still came every day, still silent and taciturn, but some details began to subtly change. The food he brought was no longer just necessities for survival; occasionally, he would include one or two exquisitely crafted pastries, some even with a faint floral fragrance, subtly similar to the aroma of a rare demonic flower from the Demon Realm in her memory. The temperature he maintained by adjusting the array was always kept at a just-right, comfortable warmth, rather than merely something to ward off the cold.
Qi Yuan took in all these changes, and the turmoil in her heart grew increasingly difficult to quell. She began to observe him more closely. She observed the arc of his robes as he stepped into the room, the pause in his fingertips when he put down the food box, and the fleeting, almost elusive emptiness in his icy eyes when he occasionally glanced at the ancient plum tree outside the window.
What is he looking at? What is he thinking?
That afternoon, Jiu Che arrived a little later than usual. When he entered the room, he carried a faint, not completely concealed, aura of murderous intent, and there was even a small, barely perceptible dark red stain on his snow-white cuffs.
It was blood. Not his, but demon blood belonging to the demon race, carrying the scent of sulfur.
Qi Yuan's heart tightened. A battle had broken out outside? He was fighting the demons? Was it her old subordinates trying to rescue her, or...?
She almost blurted out the question, but the words caught in her throat. What right did she have to ask? A prisoner concerned about the whereabouts of her guards?
Jiu Che seemed oblivious to her subtle reaction. He walked to the window as usual, his gaze falling on the courtyard. Today, he didn't leave immediately, but stood there quietly for a long time. Sunlight streamed through the window lattice, casting dappled shadows on his perfect profile. His cold features, under the light, revealed a rare softness and... weariness?
Qi Yuan stood up as if possessed, walked to a short distance beside him, and followed his gaze. Outside the window, apart from the ancient plum tree, there was nothing special.
"What are you looking at?" she heard her own voice, with a hint of deliberate calm.
Jiu Che did not turn around, his voice low and calm: "A hundred years ago, when you first entered Tingxue Garden, you said that this place was too orderly, and even the water flow was bound by the formation."
Qi Yuan was taken aback, not expecting him to suddenly bring up something from so long ago. It was something she had deliberately done to break down his defenses and appear "different."
"...So what if it is?"
"Later, you quietly changed the course of that stream," he continued, his tone still devoid of emotion, "following the contours of the mountain, it naturally meandered."
Qi Yuan remembered. It was indeed something she did on a whim, to prove her theory that "rules are a cage." Later, she was promoted to personal fairy attendant and forgot about this little thing. The water flow must have been restored to its original state by the fairy attendant long ago.
"Does the Immortal Lord bring this up now to punish me for the destruction I caused back then?" she said sarcastically.
Jiu Che finally turned his head slowly and looked at her. His clear eyes, under the close sunlight, seemed like melting snow water, cold but no longer so piercing.
“No,” he said. “The water flow there remains unchanged to this day.”
"..."
Qi Yuan was completely stunned.
Still unchanged?
Does this mean that the traces left by her small, unconventional act back then have remained to this day? Even a century after her defection, the war she started, and her imprisonment by him, they are still there?
A massive surge of emotion, a mixture of shock, confusion, and an indescribable bitterness, overwhelmed all her defenses. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
Why?
Why not change it?
Having cultivated the Path of Ruthlessness and severed ties with his past life, why did he retain this one trace that belongs to "Seven Kite"?
Countless questions exploded in her mind, making her dizzy.
Jiu Che looked at the undisguised shock on her face and the complex emotions surging in her eyes. His frozen lips seemed to twitch almost imperceptibly, but in the end, he said nothing more.
He withdrew his gaze, turned around, and left silently, as usual.
Qi Yuan was left standing there, frozen in place, his calm yet thunderous words echoing repeatedly in his ears—
"The water flow there remains unchanged to this day."
The warm sunlight shone on her, but she felt icy cold all over.
She always thought that she was the one who fell in love first and revealed her weakness in this emotional game.
But only now did she realize with horror that...
perhaps……
That person who seemed to have completely severed all ties,
That's where it's hidden the deepest.
also……
The one I can't let go of the most.
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