As these words were spoken, both the speaker and listener froze simultaneously. Yu Yi's thoughts finally detached from the Du family matters as she looked up at him, making a questioning sound through her nose, "Hmm? What did you say?"
Xue Chenjing bit his back teeth and said, "No, I didn't say..."
But as the words left his mouth, they automatically transformed into an emphasized, loud declaration, "In your heart, everything else is more important than me, isn't it!"
Yu Yi looked at him in disbelief. Was this his true feelings? Was this what he really thought? His tone was so jealous, as if he truly cared about his position in her heart.
Someone who had always been manipulating others actually had the nerve to be jealous.
Xue Chenjing felt uncomfortable under her gaze. He suddenly covered his mouth with his hand, veins throbbing at his temples, as he furiously shouted in his mind: "System! System! Get out here, I'm going to kill you!"
The system remained silent, deathly quiet, not daring to respond.
Just as Xue Chenjing was angrily wishing he could bite off his own tongue, Yu Yi suddenly burst into laughter.
Her eyes curved into beautiful arcs, her curled eyelashes trembling slightly, her pupils reflecting the morning light. Her entire face glowed with this smile, making others dizzy with its radiance.
Xue Chenjing's irritation evaporated in her smile, like morning dew under the rising sun.
Yu Yi smiled sweetly and responded in a soft voice: "Yes."
Xue Chenjing's annoyance, having just dissipated, was replaced with new frustration. He couldn't help but frown, his eyes welling up with tears. He was truly like a jellyfish that had gained consciousness - made entirely of water, the slightest poke would make his eyes red, giving him the appearance of being on the verge of tears.
As if he had suffered some great injustice.
Yu Yi stared at him unblinkingly, wanting to see his red eyes, wanting to see him cry, secretly feeling a hint of vengeful satisfaction. For a moment, she truly hoped her words would hurt him.
But to her disappointment, Xue Chenjing's furrowed brow smoothed out, and he calmly accepted her answer, saying, "Alright, I understand."
His expression even showed traces of poorly concealed joy.
Yu Yi examined him puzzledly, suddenly losing all interest. She silently lowered her gaze and turned to walk out of the Du family residence.
Around the hour of Chen (7-9 AM), there was movement in the Du elderly couple's room. Du's Mother put on her clothes and came out, went to the kitchen to cook a pot of porridge, and placed bamboo steamers above it to steam some large white buns and yesterday's leftover dishes.
She herself quickly ate a few bites of a cold bun with hot water before hurriedly leaving. Just as Fengsheng County's city gates opened, Du's Mother had already set out with incense and candles, heading towards the Moon Goddess Temple.
Yu Yi and Xue Chenjing followed Du's Mother at a moderate distance. Yu Yi held a meat-filled baked bun in her hand, breaking off pieces to feed to the miniaturized Crane Senior Brother while eating herself. Xue Chenjing walked beside them, carrying a food box.
Seeing that Yu Yi had finished feeding Crane Senior Brother, he pushed a piece of cake into her hand, saying, "This is sweet, the kind you like."
Yu Yi turned to smile at him, "Thank you, Mingyuan."
Xue Chenjing's good mood vanished completely, but he could only respond with a forced smile, turning his head to take a fierce bite of the cake.
By the time they reached the Moon Goddess Temple, Crane Senior Brother's belly was completely full, and he had crawled into Yu Yi's pocket to take a nap.
Outside the Moon Goddess Temple was completely quiet. The area that had been bustling with activity last night was now filled with only post-celebration desolation in the morning. Uncleared firecracker debris lay wet on the ground, stretching into the osmanthus forest, testament to how intense the firecracker display had been the previous night.
In the lingering morning mist, wooden prayer tablets hung thickly from the osmanthus branches. After a night's exposure, the tablets had absorbed moisture, and the gold characters on many were now blurred beyond recognition. Through the dense foliage of the osmanthus trees, one could see the upturned eaves of the Moon Goddess Temple and its tightly closed vermillion doors.
Du's Mother skillfully made her way through the osmanthus forest, but instead of heading towards the temple's main entrance, she circled around the outer perimeter, apparently intending to use the back door.
The morning mist was thicker in the osmanthus forest, and Yu Yi quickened her pace to keep up with her. However, unexpectedly, the figure that had been just a few steps ahead suddenly disappeared around a corner. She immediately tried to run forward but was grabbed by the wrist by Xue Chenjing.
"Don't run around, the layout of this osmanthus forest has changed," Xue Chenjing said, turning his head to look around.
Having studied charm arrays and possessing memories from multiple lifetimes, he knew many ancient and evil arrays unknown to ordinary people. He hadn't expected to stumble at a small Moon Goddess Temple, only noticing the abnormality after they had already come this far.
Xue Chenjing felt extremely embarrassed and didn't want to look Yu Yi in the eyes, but fortunately, he was currently using Xue Mingyuan's identity, which made him feel somewhat better. After all, Xue Mingyuan was useless anyway.
Yu Yi stopped when he grabbed her, alertly following his gaze to look around. Her talent lay in swordsmanship, and her knowledge of charm arrays was mediocre, so she couldn't see anything unusual. She asked, "Is there an array?"
Just as she finished speaking, there was a "drip—" sound.
Though this sound was as soft as falling dew, it immediately caught both their attention. Yu Yi watched as a drop of golden ink seeped from a prayer tablet hanging on a nearby osmanthus branch, forming a perfect sphere before suddenly dropping.
Immediately after, she heard another "drip—"
Xue Chenjing suddenly understood and clicked his tongue in annoyance, "It's human thoughts."
No wonder he hadn't detected any charm array. Every osmanthus tree in this forest was covered with prayer tablets, each one carefully written with sincere wishes by different people.
After last night, this osmanthus forest had gathered the most fervent wishes of the mortal world. Though mortals were weak, their emotions were rich and easily generated thoughts. One person might not be threatening, but the combined wishes of hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands couldn't be underestimated.
Mortal faith could even create gods.
In just one breath's time, the dripping sounds suddenly merged into a continuous stream, like a summer night's sudden downpour, falling throughout the osmanthus forest. The golden ink merged from streams into surging waves, rushing towards the two of them from all directions.
A flash of green bamboo sword appeared from Yu Yi's sleeve, moving to her feet. She grabbed Xue Chenjing and pulled him onto the sword blade. The green bamboo sword tilted at a steep angle, grazing past a wave of golden ink as they shot upward.
Xue Chenjing, caught off guard, fell backward and quickly lunged forward to tightly wrap his arms around Yu Yi's waist.
Yu Yi had no time to mind his hands now, focusing solely on dodging the golden ink surging up from below. The ink had transformed into ropes of water, continuously shooting out from the osmanthus forest, seemingly determined not to rest until they had dragged them into the vortex.
Just as they were about to reach the edge of the osmanthus forest, a stream of golden ink suddenly rose into the air. The characters for "Peace and Joy" flickered within the ink, and behind these words of prayer appeared three familiar figures she hadn't seen in a long time.
Mom, Dad, Sister!
They smiled and opened their arms to welcome her, "Xiao Yi, come home quickly."
The green bamboo sword's speed suddenly faltered, caught by the golden ink surging up from the osmanthus forest. Xue Chenjing, watching the illusion from behind, quickly raised his hand to cover Yu Yi's eyes, urgently saying in her ear, "Yi'er, wake up!"
But it was too late. The golden ink waves surged up wildly, dragging them into the vortex.
As they fell into darkness, Xue Chenjing only felt her trembling eyelashes against his palm, wet with tears.
After an unknown amount of time, the darkness receded, and Xue Chenjing found himself standing alone in a cold, desolate street. He looked left and right, but everything was empty, and Yu Yi had fallen who knows where.
His fingers curled inside his sleeve, his palm still clutching that warmth and wetness.
It burned his palm, making it impossible to ignore.
Xue Chenjing stood still for a moment, then raised his hand and slowly opened his fingers, staring at the wet traces on his palm for a moment. As if possessed, he lowered his head and lightly licked the tears from his palm.
The tip of his tongue tasted salt, the flavor of another person spreading through his taste buds.
Xue Chenjing's heart raced, his breathing becoming heavier. His lowered eyelashes trembled slightly, and through the gaps between his lashes, he caught sight of a figure appearing before him. He suddenly looked up, his gaze meeting a pair of shocked eyes.
System: "...Master, I was just about to warn you."
Xue Chenjing: "...Couldn't you have warned me earlier?"
Why are you always so useless!
The System optimistically consoled him: "Don't worry, Master. Licking tears isn't that perverted, really."
In that moment, countless thoughts raced through Xue Chenjing's mind, but none could outpace his now truthful mouth.
His hand still hovered near his lips, head slightly lowered, maintaining his upward gaze at Yu Yi as he withdrew his crimson tongue from between his fingers and said, "Your tears looked delicious, so I licked them."
After speaking, Xue Chenjing pressed his lips tightly together, utterly resigned, having given up on making any futile explanations. Besides, he couldn't explain himself now – whatever he tried to say would only end up revealing more of the sensual thoughts in his heart.
Yu Yi's tears indeed tempted him. Just thinking about how the moisture on his palm came from these eyes that were now looking at him, Xue Chenjing could barely suppress certain urges within his body.
He didn't just want to taste her tears; he wanted to taste everything else, anything that belonged to her, anything that was hers. He wanted to wrap himself around her like a vine, to taste every inch of her from head to toe, to savor the sweet, intoxicating scent that seeped from her pores – the same scent that had once driven him mad with desire.
From the very beginning, when they met again under the osmanthus tree, he had felt this urge.
He had stood then in the shadows cast by another tree, watching as she rose to her tiptoes, struggling to reach that osmanthus branch.
Her slender fingers clutched the wish paper, her sleeves falling back to reveal fair wrists, her waist, tied with red silk sashes, appeared so delicate it could be encompassed by one hand, and as her movements lifted her skirt, her fine ankles were barely visible beneath the layers of gauzy fabric.
What he had wanted most at that moment wasn't actually to help her hang the wish paper.
That kiss on the sea of fallen flowers had taught him just how delectable she was.
