By the bathhouse.
Chu Xianning sat by the bathhouse, her porcelain white calves soaked in the cold water. Jiang Huai squatted beside her, taking out the refreshingly cool flower dew. As Chu Xianning lifted her leg, he gently applied it to her snow-white foot, then rinsed it clean with a wooden ladle, leaving her toes smelling fragrant.
Chu Xianning’s eyes were calm throughout, but she hadn’t answered Jiang Huai’s question. Perhaps the answer was already known to him, so she didn’t need to say it.
The sky remained dim, with distant gloomy clouds and faint thunder.
“I’m going to sleep,” Chu Xianning said, standing up and walking towards her room.
A strong wind swept through the courtyard; it seemed like heavy rain would fall soon. For some reason, Jiang Huai felt that Chu Xianning’s receding figure was so slender and delicate. He remembered that on such hazy, rainy days, Chu Xianning would often suffer from insomnia.
“Can I come with you?” Jiang Huai suddenly blurted out, his mind acting on impulse.
Chu Xianning turned her head, her gaze sweeping over his cheeks, her eyes still cool and indifferent. “What do you need to follow me for?”
“Master… do you want to listen to a story or something?” Jiang Huai scratched his head and said softly.
Chu Xianning turned her head and continued walking forward, but did not answer whether she wanted to or not. Jiang Huai suddenly had a strange premonition. Perhaps Chu Xianning hadn’t refused him, so he followed her. However, Chu Xianning closed the door as soon as she returned to her room.
Jiang Huai could only scratch his head again. Was he wrong?
He stood outside the door, lost in thought for a while, before hearing Chu Xianning speak, “Come in.”
He pushed open the door. Chu Xianning inside was already lying on the bed. The curtains were drawn, casting only a hazy dim light in the room. Her black dress was neatly placed to the side; it seemed she was going to undress first.
Jiang Huai brought a chair and sat beside her. “The story I’m about to tell… has a beautiful name.”
“Hmm?”
“Snow Between the Brows.”
Jiang Huai sat by the bedside, brewed a cup of tea to moisten his throat, and then began to softly narrate his newly written story. This was also a planning for A Mumu’s next book. He intended to write a pure love story, completely free of any sensuous content, focusing instead on a devoted master-disciple romance.
Chu Xianning lay on her side by the bed, listening quietly.
Jiang Huai’s voice was very gentle. He didn’t remember at what point he was speaking when Chu Xianning’s breathing gradually became even, and she seemed to have fallen asleep.
So he stopped talking, afraid of waking Chu Xianning. He even became cautious with his breathing. He gazed at Chu Xianning’s features, earnestly trying to remember this scene. After a while, he tiptoed back to his own room and began to paint seriously.
In the painting, the woman was wrapped in a quilt, lying on her side, revealing only her snow-white cheek. Her long, dark hair was like ink. At the end of the quilt, a pair of slender ankles and snow-white feet were visible. As he painted, he gradually became engrossed until a clap of thunder outside the window awakened him.
He wondered if Chu Xianning, sleeping soundly, would be startled awake.
He had never hated rainy days so much in his life.
***
When Chu Xianning woke up, Jiang Huai was busy in the kitchen.
A downpour raged in the courtyard, raindrops rolling down from the eaves like broken strings of pearls. Wisps of smoke curled from the kitchen. When only Jiang Huai and Chu Xianning were in the courtyard, all his dishes were prepared with a light and fresh taste, with ingredients he meticulously selected. Chu Xianning walked into the kitchen, where a small clay pot of braised tofu with scallions was bubbling with heat.
“Is it ready?” she asked.
“Yes, and there’s blanched baby bok choy. It’ll be ready soon.”
“Then I’ll take the tofu out first,” Chu Xianning said softly.
Jiang Huai was slightly stunned for a moment, then swallowed back the words “Let me do it.”
He looked back at Chu Xianning’s retreating figure. Chu Xianning held an umbrella in one hand while carrying the clay pot of tofu in the other. The scene was subtly strange, and Jiang Huai felt an odd sense of dissonance. Gradually, he understood the true reason for this feeling.
In the past, Chu Xianning only needed to sit obediently in the pavilion and wait for him to bring out dish after dish. All she needed to do was pick up her chopsticks.
Soon, Chu Xianning returned to the kitchen and took a porcelain bowl to serve the rice. Her wrists were slender and snow-white. Jiang Huai stared for a moment, but Chu Xianning merely turned her head and looked at him innocently. “What are you looking at again?”
“Nothing,” Jiang Huai shook his head.
Chu Xianning served their meals and took them to the pavilion. Jiang Huai had also finished the last dish. Chu Xianning stood outside the kitchen eaves, holding her umbrella. Jiang Huai hid under her umbrella and leaned closer. She held the umbrella and walked with Jiang Huai all the way to the pavilion.
Jiang Huai couldn’t help but lightly inhale the faint fragrance in the humid air. Under the pavilion, Jiang Huai was still a little reluctant. He picked up his chopsticks and began to eat, occasionally stealing glances at Chu Xianning opposite him.
It seemed like nothing had changed. Chu Xianning still ate with the same elegance and composure. After she put down her chopsticks, Jiang Huai was also full. He cleaned up the dishes and returned to the kitchen. When he came back to the courtyard, Chu Xianning was sitting there quietly. The rain curtain under the pavilion seemed to isolate her from the world. From a distance, her figure was as hazy as if in a painting.
Jiang Huai sat opposite her, cupping his face in his hands, his eyes fixed on her, unblinking.
Chu Xianning noticed his gaze and looked at him as well.
The two sat in the rain-soaked pavilion, gazing at each other quietly, as if playing a game of “whoever speaks first loses.” Their gazes seemed to meet across the air, building a transparent bridge. He saw many expressions appear in Chu Xianning’s eyes, but if he tried to distinguish them one by one, he couldn’t see clearly.
Perhaps it was the same for Chu Xianning.
“I don’t know if it’s my imagination…” Jiang Huai scratched his head and said softly after a moment of hesitation, “I feel like Master has changed a little recently?”
“Is that so?” Chu Xianning asked indifferently.
“It does feel like it.”
“Oh.” Chu Xianning didn’t argue further, just nodded slightly.
“If the rain stops tomorrow, do you want to go fishing together?” Jiang Huai asked cautiously.
“Okay,” Chu Xianning nodded gently.
Unexpectedly, this time he didn’t see any hesitation in Chu Xianning’s eyes. She agreed too easily, making Jiang Huai doubt if he was caught in some illusion.
If there was a “Chu Xianning Affection System,” Jiang Huai felt that Chu Xianning’s affection for him must have secretly increased recently. But if he tried to think of the reason for this increase, he couldn’t come up with anything.
To this day, he still didn’t know the correct strategy for “conquering” Chu Xianning. The only thing he knew how to do was to occasionally summon up the courage to pretend to be a puppy in front of Chu Xianning to make her happy.
But he knew that Chu Xianning was never innately cold and aloof. Chu Xianning was just quiet and preferred solitude. She always had a cold exterior but a warm heart. She just didn’t know how to express herself on a daily basis, so she always appeared cold. Her features also leaned towards coldness; when she didn’t smile, she looked like an icy landscape.
“Then, Master, do you want to listen to a story tonight?”
“I can listen.” Chu Xianning replied softly. She was very interested in the story Jiang Huai mentioned. But before that, she stood up and said softly, “I’m going for a walk on the mountain. Do you want to come?”
The rain had gradually lessened.
“Sure, sure!” Jiang Huai stood up and held out the umbrella.
Although Chu Xianning possessed spiritual energy that could easily shield her from the raindrops, walking in the rain like this always felt like something was missing. Chu Xianning didn’t scold him but stood under his umbrella, and together they walked towards the mountaintop.
Guanxue Mountain was originally Chu Xianning’s alone. After she became the protector elder of the Tian Xuan Sect, every blade of grass and tree on this mountain belonged to Chu Xianning. Now, Guanxue Mountain had become a mountain for two people. The spirit springs, streams, flower gardens, fruits and vegetables, and some nurtured spirit birds on the mountain were all meticulously managed by Jiang Huai. The former Guanxue Mountain was desolate; over the past decade, it had become lush and green, with everything in perfect order.
The two walked up the moss-covered steps. The sky grew darker, but Chu Xianning did not light up the Firefly Stones. They walked in the dim rain like this, and Jiang Huai seemed to have moved slightly closer to her.
He again smelled her faint fragrance. He suddenly remembered licking Chu Xianning’s skin during the day, as if her skin carried that faint scent. She was like a pure white flower bud, tightly closed. No one had ever seen the sight of her petals unfurling.
The two gradually reached the mountaintop, where there was also a pavilion. Jiang Huai and she sat side by side, looking towards the distant mountains of the Tian Xuan Sect. Rain dripped from the eaves, falling on the tiles with a ding-dong sound. Water droplets slowly slid down the swaying green grass. The sky in the distance grew increasingly dim, leaving only a hazy glimmer of light.
Jiang Huai suddenly blurted out, “Master… I’m a little scared…”
“Hmm?” Chu Xianning turned her face and looked into his eyes.
“Master has suddenly been so good to me. It feels like you’re preparing a good meal for me before my death…”
Chu Xianning’s eyebrows were cold, and she said indifferently, “You guessed correctly.”
“What?”
“When I raised you, it was to kill you to prove my path of detachment. It’s about time. Jiang Huai, are you ready to face your destiny?” Chu Xianning’s eyes were fierce and cold, and at first glance, it really seemed that way.
Jiang Huai, however, burst into laughter.
Was this Chu Xianning’s way of telling a cold joke?
“Do you find this very funny?” The edge of the Suoxue Sword was instantly placed at Jiang Huai’s neck. The faint coldness of the blade made him instinctively shrink his neck. He looked at Chu Xianning’s approaching eyes. Those eyes really seemed as cold as ice, but Jiang Huai just blinked innocently. “If Master really wants to kill me to achieve supreme detachment, I will accept it. This means that at this moment, Master has a trace of emotion for me, which is why she wants to sever it?”
A hint of slight dejection seemed to flash in Chu Xianning’s eyes, as if she couldn’t scare Jiang Huai at all. She retracted the Suoxue Sword in her hand. Jiang Huai couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his lips. He muttered softly, “Then why have you been so good to me recently?”
“It’s the same as before. Don’t be egocentric.” Chu Xianning said indifferently, her gaze returning to the distant mountains.
“Alright.” Jiang Huai also looked at the distant mountains. After a while, he suddenly muttered softly, “Chu Xianning.”
“Hmm?”
“You’re so cute.”
“You’re being disrespectful.”
“You want a beating.”
“I’m too lazy to beat you.” Chu Xianning turned her face away.
When Jiang Huai quietly turned to look at Chu Xianning’s profile, he seemed to vaguely see a hint of guilt in her eyes.
In the dim light, her snow-white profile was incredibly clear. A bold thought suddenly surged in his heart. The moment the thought appeared, he didn’t hesitate at all. He had no doubt that this was the bravest moment of his life.
He leaned in and pecked Chu Xianning’s snow-white cheek.
