This system doesn’t have a single romantic cell in it!
The treatment session ended, and Song Qingzhi, as usual, withdrew his spiritual energy.
This time Su Tiantian had learned her lesson and didn’t attempt any high-difficulty “fainting” maneuvers.
She merely swayed “weakly” for a moment, then very naturally… reached out a paw.
She grabbed the sleeve of Song Qingzhi, which he hadn’t quite had time to fully pull back yet.
Her fingertips felt the fine, cool smoothness of top-grade cloud brocade, and beneath the fabric, the solid outline of the bones in his wrist.
Song Qingzhi paused.
He lowered his gaze to the fair, slender hand clutching his sleeve.
Su Tiantian immediately lifted her little face, her eyes moist, carrying just the right amount of panic and helplessness.
“S-sorry, Brother Qingzhi, my legs are a bit weak…”
Inner monologue: Got him, got him! I finally touched a living one!
Song Qingzhi’s gaze lingered on her face for two seconds. He didn’t shake her off.
He simply gave a soft “Mm.”
Then he turned naturally, letting her keep hold of his sleeve.
Like leading a little tail behind him, he guided her a few steps toward the edge of the pool until she stood steady.
Only then did he quietly pull his sleeve free from her hand.
“There will be guests at the sect tomorrow. The healing will be moved to after the evening lesson.”
He informed her calmly.
“Oh, okay.”
Su Tiantian nodded obediently, while the little person in her heart was already spinning in circles.
Not only did he not push her away, he even updated her on his schedule again! This was a qualitative leap!
Since Song Qingzhi had personally said, “There’s no need to force the matter with the spiritual plants” (in truth, she really couldn’t keep them alive!), Su Tiantian immediately followed his advice.
She decisively gave up on those delicate, hard-to-grow rare flowers and instead poured her enthusiasm into vegetable farming.
She got her hands on some spiritual vegetable seeds that were easy to grow and tasty.
Her little garden was completely transformed into a “Happy Farm.”
Plump jade melons, bright red vermilion fruits, lush green spirit chives everything was growing splendidly.
At the moment, she had her sleeves rolled up and was squatting by the ridge without a shred of grace, catching bugs off a jade melon seedling while muttering to herself.
“You little thing, daring to eat my melon let’s see how I deal with you…”
“What are you doing?”
A cool voice sounded behind her, startling Su Tiantian so badly that her hand shook and she almost pulled the seedling out by the roots.
She spun around to see Song Qingzhi standing behind her, still dressed in that immaculate white robe.
He looked completely out of place in this dirt-scented vegetable patch.
At that moment, Su Tiantian’s inner monologue screamed: Immortal Venerable, do you always appear this silently?!
His gaze fell on her mud-stained hands, and on the melon seedling she had “abused” into leaning crookedly.
Su Tiantian panicked.
She quickly hid her hands behind her back, trying to salvage a bit of dignity.
“I—I was catching bugs for it… these bugs are too awful…”
Song Qingzhi’s eyes swept over the vibrant vegetable patch, then returned to her face flushed with healthy color from the labor, with a tiny speck of dirt on the tip of her nose.
“Mm.”
He responded, his tone unreadable.
Just as Su Tiantian thought he might find this “beneath her status,” he suddenly stepped forward.
Bending down, his long fingers gently straightened the melon seedling she had twisted askew.
His fingertips brushed the back of her hand by accident, bringing a faintly cool sensation.
Su Tiantian froze.
(System: …Comparing target’s behavior with database… No matching entries found. Analysis difficult.)
Even the system crashed!
Song Qingzhi straightened up. His gaze seemed to linger for a brief moment on her mud-smudged, fair wrist, then shifted away.
“After the evening lesson, meet at the spirit spring.”
Leaving those words behind, he turned and left.
As if he had merely done some trivial, inconsequential thing.
Su Tiantian stared at his retreating back, then looked down at the now-straightened melon seedling.
Her heartbeat felt a little out of control.
D-did he just touch my hand?!
At the spirit spring after the evening lesson, the steam seemed thicker than usual.
The healing process was, as always, silent.
But when Song Qingzhi’s warm palm once again pressed against Su Tiantian’s back, sending that soothing spiritual energy into her, she could clearly feel that the spiritual energy he channeled today was gentler and more meticulous than before.
When it ended, Su Tiantian habitually reached out to grab his sleeve.
This time, her hand was only halfway there when a slightly cool hand gently closed around her wrist.
Not the sleeve her wrist!
Su Tiantian stiffened all over and looked up at him in shock.
Song Qingzhi’s expression didn’t change. He simply held her wrist and guided her slowly to stand up from the edge of the pool.
His palm wasn’t particularly warm, even carrying his usual coolness.
But the solid sense of being held sent a strange tingling sensation from her wrist straight to her heart.
“The ground is slippery.”
He explained calmly, then released her hand.
As if that brief contact had truly been nothing more than preventing her from slipping.
(System: Warning! Host physiological indicators abnormal! Heart rate: 135 bpm! Facial temperature increased by 2.3°C! Please calm down immediately!)
Calm down my ass!
Su Tiantian felt like her face was hot enough to fry an egg.
She lowered her head, not daring to look at him, and murmured her thanks in a voice as soft as a mosquito’s buzz.
She practically fled the scene, limbs moving in all the wrong directions.
Watching her almost-panicked retreating figure, Song Qingzhi slowly opened his palm.
On it seemed to linger the delicate warmth of her slender wrist, and… her suddenly accelerated pulse.
He frowned slightly.
Her instinctive reactions always seemed far more genuine than the deliberate weakness she put on.
Meanwhile, Su Tiantian, having run back to her room, buried herself in her blanket and screamed silently.
“System! He touched my wrist! He did it first! What does this mean? What does this mean?!”
(System: Based on behavioral logic analysis, it most likely still falls under an extension of ‘preventing accidents’ and ‘responsibility.’)
“I don’t care!”
Su Tiantian popped her head out from under the blanket, eyes sparkling, hugging her pillow and grinning foolishly.
“He touched my wrist! Round it up and that means he likes me!”
She rolled around on the bed twice, then suddenly sat up.
She pulled out her little notebook and solemnly crossed out “Seduction Plan V3.1.”
Then she wrote anew:
“Relationship Cultivation Plan V1.0: Initial results achieved. Continue observation. Focus on key breakthroughs!”