While eating, he habitually pushed a small dish of spirit mushrooms she favored toward her.
Su Tiantian was screaming internally.
My mushrooms! My favorite spirit mushrooms! Brother Qingzhi pushed them over himself!
Yet on the surface, she merely lifted her eyes and gave the dish a quick glance.
Then she continued to sip the porridge in her bowl in small mouthfuls, her chopsticks never reaching for the tempting delicacy so close at hand.
Song Qingzhi’s hand holding the chopsticks paused slightly as he glanced at her.
She ate quietly, the lines of her profile soft, yet for no apparent reason there was a sense of distance about her.
He rubbed his fingertips together, a faint trace of loss so slight he himself failed to clearly grasp it flickering through his heart.
She seemed… a little different today.
The breakfast ended in an almost stagnant silence.
Su Tiantian was the first to set down her bowl and chopsticks and rise to her feet, giving a bow.
“Please enjoy your meal, Your Excellency.”
Then, without waiting for his response, she turned and left the dining hall.
Inner tears streaming: Waaah… is my breakfast-buddy career really over just like that?
Song Qingzhi watched her back disappear through the doorway as he sat Alone at the table.
Looking at the spread of exquisite breakfast dishes, he suddenly felt… that he didn’t really feel like eating anymore.
The study was unusually quiet that morning.
Song Qingzhi reviewed documents, the tip of his wolf-hair brush gliding across the paper, producing soft rustling sounds.
Sunlight filtered through the lattice window, casting dappled shadows on the floor.
Yet his gaze drifted unconsciously toward the empty doorway more than once.
At this hour, she would usually be holding A Gazetteer of Jiuzhou or some elementary text on formations, carefully knocking on the door, looking at him with those clear eyes tinged with a hint of mischief, and asking questions that were both absurd and amusing.
That liveliness was absent now.
And its absence made the study where he had spent hundreds of years feel strangely vast and unfamiliar.
He set down his brush, tapping his fingers against the desk without thinking.
What… was she doing?
At that moment, Su Tiantian was squatting in the vegetable patch, hugging a book titled One Hundred Possibilities of Spirit Plant Hybridization, sighing at several drooping seedlings.
“Ugh, days without an iceberg to tease really make every second feel like a year…”
She poked at the soil.
“System, are you sure this trick really works? Why do I feel like he hasn’t reacted much at all?”
(System: The target individual has begun to exhibit signs of inattentiveness and habitual expectation. Please maintain your current state.)
“Really?”
Su Tiantian was half-convinced, half-doubtful.
“But he still looks so calm…”
At dusk, by the spirit spring.
Mist curled through the air, blurring their outlines.
The healing process was as silent as ever.
Song Qingzhi’s warm palm rested against Su Tiantian’s back as pure spiritual energy flowed in slowly.
Su Tiantian forced herself to stay stiff as a plank, while her inner thoughts went into overdrive.
Aaaah! He’s so close! His spiritual energy is so warm!
No, no, no I have to endure! I can’t lean over! I’m an emotionless retreat machine!
When the treatment ended and Song Qingzhi had just withdrawn his hand,
Su Tiantian jumped aside like a startled rabbit, taking a large step away.
She quickly put distance between them, then lowered her gaze, bowed, all in one smooth motion.
“Thank you for your trouble, Your Excellency.”
Her voice was flat and emotionless.
Without waiting for his reply, she turned and left.
Her steps were hurried, as if some ferocious beast were chasing her.
Song Qingzhi remained where he was.
Watching her almost jog away, that respectful yet distant “Your Excellency” still echoing in his ears.
He slowly rubbed his fingertips together; there seemed to be a lingering trace of the feel of her clothes there.
That form of address sounded particularly harsh.
(System: Strategic retreat, Day One complete. The target individual has begun to experience initial “feelings of loss” and “discomfort due to maladjustment.” Please continue tomorrow.)
Su Tiantian ran back to her room, shut the door, and leaned against it, gasping for breath.
“System! Was he staring at my back the whole time just now?!
“I felt like my back was about to be pierced by his gaze! Is he angry? Or… is he really starting to miss me?”
(System: Data collection and analysis in progress… Please wait patiently for further developments.)
Clutching her rapidly pounding heart, Su Tiantian felt both eager and uneasy.
This “strategic retreat” seemed to be… actually starting to work?