Lian Yin waited for a while. When Xie Lanyin did not speak, she thought he might be angry, but when she turned to look, she found that he seemed to have fallen asleep.
The wind by the lake was strong at night. In just this short while, she already felt a chill. If he were left lying here the whole night, he would probably fall ill.
“Don’t sleep here,” Lian Yin said, gently shaking him. “Go inside and sleep.”
When he did not respond, she bent down to pick him up, carrying him in a princess hold as she muttered, “Forget it. You carried me once before, so I’ll carry you this time.”
Just as she steadied him in her arms, the person in her embrace opened his eyes.
“Not pretending anymore?” she asked.
“I wasn’t pretending,” Xie Lanyin said, naturally wrapping his arms around her neck. “I just didn’t feel like talking.”
Lian Yin was about to say something about how shameless he was being, but when she caught sight of the fatigue in his eyes, she paused and instead asked, “I suddenly did that to you earlier… aren’t you angry?”
Not only was he not angry, he had even carried the person who offended him back to the room, draped an outer robe over her, and even taken the initiative to give her the answer.
“It was consensual,” Xie Lanyin said indifferently. “What is there to be angry about? Didn’t I ask you a few days ago if you wanted to do that?”
Lian Yin still felt something was off. “Then if it was mutual, why did you help me?”
“Because…” Xie Lanyin paused slightly, as if teasing her with a suspenseful answer. Only after she set him down on the couch did he smile and say, “I already knew the answer last time. Did you really think I would calculate something useless for you?”
Lian Yin: “…”
Lian Yin: “……”
Very good. Her fists quietly clenched.
No wonder he had been bringing up the transaction these past few days. For him, it had been a completely risk-free deal, guaranteed profit, while she had been worrying like a fool about him overexerting himself…
“I’ll help you calculate the last question in seventeen days,” he added. “I’ve already told you myself, so don’t be angry.”
The pale curve of his neck was marked with ambiguous red traces, and his usually faint-colored lips were now tinted with a vivid hue, slightly swollen.
For a moment, Lian Yin felt as though she were looking into a mirror, seeing her own reflection in his eyes. The air around her suddenly seemed to thin.
“I’m not angry. Get some rest.”
She turned and went outside, letting the wind cool her for a while.
Perhaps because she had already slept earlier in the night, she now felt no drowsiness at all. She was completely awake.
And the more awake she was, the more she felt like she was caught in a web.
Ever since leaving the secret realm, everything had gone too smoothly.
Xie Sui had never suspected her… the Xie family’s targeting had been because of him and had quickly been resolved… Xie Lanyin could be infuriating at times, but the matter of finding what she sought was progressing smoothly as well…
So smoothly that it felt almost unnatural.
Why had no one pursued the missing divine artifact? If she were in the Xie family… once the artifact went missing, she would have immediately sought out Xie Lanyin and had him calculate its location…
But if that had happened, she would have been finished on her very first day in Zhaoyang City.
Footsteps sounded behind her. As she turned, Xie Lanyin had already come to sit beside her.
“Why did you come out again?”
“I couldn’t sleep. It’s not even dawn yet. You’re not in such a hurry to deny everything, are you?”
“……”
In the deep night, the person beside her seemed to gently rest his head against her shoulder. Their trailing hems tangled together, and even their shadows on the ground appeared intimate.
After a moment of hesitation, Lian Yin asked, “The things I tell you… will you report them to someone?”
“Report?” Xie Lanyin smiled. “Do you think I was sent to monitor you?”
Lian Yin thought about it and felt that was unlikely. After choosing her words carefully, she asked, “Xie Sui went to the secret realm because you calculated that there was a divine artifact there, but he didn’t find it… after coming back, was he punished? Did you continue searching for that artifact?”
“So many days have passed, and only now you’re concerned about him?” Xie Lanyin said. “You want to ask about the artifact?”
Lian Yin knew she could not hide it from him, so she admitted, “Can’t I ask? Everyone is curious about a divine artifact.”
“You can,” he said. “But next time, you don’t need to use someone else as an excuse to talk to me. As for the artifact, there were no clues after leaving the secret realm, so naturally, there was no way to continue searching.”
So they had searched, but found nothing?
Lian Yin did not know the reason. It seemed she had narrowly escaped disaster again…
It had been several days since leaving the secret realm, yet she still had not figured out the origin of the artifact within her… even strangers, she could not seem to use it.
“What’s wrong?”
Lian Yin came back to her senses and realized Xie Lanyin was looking at her. “Nothing,” she replied quickly.
He watched her for a moment longer, then said with certainty, “You don’t want to tell me.”
“…And you still say it out loud after realizing that?” she replied. “What’s so strange about not wanting to tell you? Can you tell me everything about yourself?”
“Maybe,” Xie Lanyin said with a smile, starlight reflecting in his beautiful eyes. “If you never ask, how would you know I wouldn’t tell you?”
Lian Yin turned her gaze away. “I’m not curious about you.”
Once everything was over and she left Zhaoyang City, what connection would they still have? Besides, he never offered anything willingly.
A few days later, Xie Sui returned, and the entire city grew busy.
The Xie family was preparing to seize a new secret realm.
Seizing a secret realm was a major event. Recently, the Xie family held discussions every day. Xie Lanyin attended for the first two days, but later, finding it tedious, he simply stopped going. As a result, people began coming directly to the residence.
Inside the room.
A massive full moon hung outside the open doors and windows. Silver-white moonlight spilled over the black-and-white chessboard.
Lian Yin sat on the left and looked across at him. Today, Xie Lanyin was dressed with refined elegance, a golden-threaded crown atop his head, his half-loose hair tied into a ponytail instead of hanging lazily as usual, adding a touch of distance to his demeanor.
Resting his chin on one hand, he held a black chess piece between his long, jade-like fingers, yet refused to place it. His beautiful features carried a faint trace of irritation.
He was deliberately keeping someone waiting again. Ever since these people started coming to the house, his mood had been poor.
The room was quiet, almost oppressively so.
Lian Yin was starting to feel sleepy. It was already close to midnight, and yet there was still a line of people standing outside, while Xie Lanyin continued to stall.
“Have you decided yet?”
“I have.” Xie Lanyin placed the piece down casually, then turned to look at the Xie family elder who had been standing respectfully by the couch for a long time.
The elder’s expression was extremely unpleasant.
Anyone who had reached the rank of elder held a certain level of status within the Xie family, yet now he had to bow and scrape before a junior in front of his subordinates. How could he feel at ease?
Xie Lanyin seemed almost amused by the humiliation on his face. After a soft laugh, he finally deigned to ask about the matter, his tone faintly mocking.
The elder began explaining the matters at hand, which sounded like they would take quite a while.
Lian Yin felt even sleepier. For some reason, she had been unusually drowsy all day, especially at night…
She blinked, forcing herself to stay alert. A cup of tea was suddenly placed in front of her. Looking up, she saw that Xie Lanyin had poured it for her.
She accepted it, but did not drink.
After the people left—
“Why provoke him for no reason?” she asked.
“I provoke you for no reason too,” Xie Lanyin replied lightly.
“Is that the same? Didn’t you see the look on his face? He looked like he’d kill you the moment he got the chance.”
“Really? Then I’d welcome it.”
His tone was indifferent, as though he did not care at all.
Lian Yin frowned. “Are you in a bad mood? Just because they came to find you? It doesn’t happen often, right?”
“Maybe,” he said, dragging out the word slightly. “At least I didn’t take it out on you.”
In other words, she should mind her own business.
Lian Yin fell silent for a while, then slowly began gathering her chess pieces.
Watching her finish collecting the white pieces, Xie Lanyin reached for the container of black pieces as well. “Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
“Say what? Those kind words won’t save someone who wants to die? Or should I praise you for dressing so beautifully today, achieving excellent results in attracting hatred?”
“You think I dressed for them.”
“What, are you going to say you kept that cold expression for me?”
Xie Lanyin said nothing.
After she finished putting away all the pieces, Lian Yin looked up. Across from her, he sat with lowered lashes, his pale face carrying a hint of loneliness.
What now? Sharp-tongued in front of others, pitiful in private.
She set the container back in place and asked, “There are no more guests today, right? Are you going back?”
“No one else,” he said. “That was the last one.”
“If it was the last one, why make him wait so long?” she asked. Seeing he did not move, she added, “Aren’t you leaving?”
Xie Lanyin looked at her and suddenly said, “Give me a hug.”
Lian Yin: “……”
Ever since that night on the boat, he had been drawing closer to her, bit by bit. At first it was holding hands, then hugging, then kissing…
If she refused, he acted as if nothing had happened.
If something did happen, he still acted as if nothing had happened.
“I’ll tell you something,” he added. “It concerns you.”
Lian Yin hesitated, then walked over and hugged him.
The couch was not large. With the chessboard between them, it barely fit one person on each side. Lian Yin had intended to move the board aside, but Xie Lanyin simply reached out, pulled her into his arms, and set her on his lap.
His proportions were excellent, his arms long, his embrace firm and enclosing, leaving no space to escape.
As Lian Yin tried to turn and look at him, he leaned his head gently against her. He breathed in the familiar scent of her hair, and the knowledge that everything she used here had been prepared by him brought him a strange sense of calm, suppressing the restless demonic impulse within him.
Feeling him bury his face at her neck and remain silent again, she was about to urge him when he suddenly spoke.
“Can we kiss?”
“…No,” she replied.
“Weren’t you going to tell me something?” she reminded him.
He fell silent again.
She could feel his warm breath brushing against her skin, his movements restless, almost like a dog rubbing against her.
It tickled! She pushed at his head. “If you’re not going to say it, I’m leaving.”
Only then did he stop. His tone softened, turning pitiful. “The secret realm we’re going to this time is very dangerous. I might not come back…”
Lian Yin nodded. “Really? Is that dangerous? No wonder your mood has been so bad lately.”
His eyes darkened slightly. “…Mm.”
He started rubbing against her again.
The more she humored him, the worse he got.
Holding his head away with one hand, she said, “Then you’d better die slowly. At least survive until the third day in the secret realm, and remember to finish what you promised me before you die…”
Before she finished speaking, he bit lightly at her neck, more like a vented kiss than a real bite.
“I’ll complete what I promised you before I die,” he said softly. “Don’t worry.”
His hair fell over his eyes, hiding his emotions.
Lian Yin had only meant it as a joke, but hearing his tone made her uneasy. “Is it really that dangerous? Did you calculate a death tribulation?”
“No,” he said. “Why would I calculate that for no reason?”
“…Then why did you make it sound like you’d actually die?”
He did not continue the topic. Instead, he said, “The Dengyun Secret Realm is located beyond the heavens. We’ll have to take a cloudship there, and along the way, you’ll have to stay in the same room as me…”
“I don’t want to stay in the same room as you!” Lian Yin said immediately.
He looked slightly surprised. “That unwillingness? I thought you’d want to stay with me…”
“What made you think that?”
“Why wouldn’t you? Are you worried something might happen if we stay in the same room every day?”
“……”
He laughed softly. “So I was right.”
Just as she was about to argue, the world before her began to sway.
His voice drifted beside her. “During the day, you won’t have to stay with me… don’t worry. If…”
It sounded distant, as though separated by a layer of mist.
“Xie…” she tried to call his name, but her throat felt constricted, each syllable weak and unable to fully form.
“Mm.” He heard her. His approaching face blurred, his purple eyes soft as he smiled. “Are you really this sleepy today?”
Sleepy…
Yes… she had been sleepy… all day…
As that thought settled, her eyelids grew heavy, drooping uncontrollably. The world flickered between blur and darkness.
Blur… darkness… blur… darkness…
Her mind sank into a haze, everything spinning.
Half-asleep, she felt a soft kiss press against her forehead.
“Good night.”
He seemed to say something else, but she could not hear it.
Her consciousness slipped away completely, her body going limp as she collapsed into his arms.
He caught her.
Xie Lanyin lifted the sleeping girl and carried her steadily out of the room.
As the caster left, the illusion of the full moon outside the window began to crumble, threads of blood-red light seeping through the cracks in the once-bright moon.
In moments, a massive blood moon hung in its place, even larger than before, radiating an ominous aura.
Tonight was the hour of demons.
Xie Lanyin laid her on the bed, then lay down beside her fully clothed, pulling her into his arms with quiet satisfaction.