When love draws near, it's like snow

Chapter 18

When I opened my eyes again, it was already past midnight. It seemed that my unconsciousness had lasted much shorter than I had imagined. I reached out and touched my injured left shoulder—it was bandaged, but the wound still looked awful. I smiled wryly, "Huaiyuan, couldn't you have bandaged it properly? Why did you have to wrap me up like a dumpling?"

"、、、、、、"

"Okay, okay, I promise I won't be so quick to argue next time," I said, raising my hands in surrender. "So please don't be angry with me anymore, okay?"

"So you know that loose lips sink ships?" Huaiyuan's cold voice muffledly reached my ears—heh, the brat is quite worried about me, huh.

"Hehe, I have you as my ace bodyguard, what's there to be afraid of?" I made a face at him and was about to turn around when I accidentally aggravated the wound on my shoulder, making me gasp in pain. "That woman Lu Rumei looks so delicate and weak, I never expected her to be so vicious! No wonder that Jiang guy would rather be a ghost than marry her!"

“Jiang Mo Hui.” Huai Yuan couldn’t help but chuckle as he glanced at me.

Haha, laughing means I'm not angry anymore. I shook my head smugly. "Isn't 'not returning' and 'not going back' the same thing? There's no difference." Of course, I got another eye roll in return.

Less than five minutes later, I finally couldn't help but ask, "Huaiyuan, do you think that Jiang Mohui is crazy? He has a beautiful woman like Lu Rumei, yet he looks down on her? I heard he's incredibly arrogant towards women. Hey, do you know that Jiang Mohui? Huh? Do you think he might be gay?" I smiled at him ingratiatingly.

“G?” Huaiyuan reacted this time—raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, you mean that thing you guys were talking about, the one about being gay or missing a hand?" I grinned and leaned closer. "Right? You must have seen him, right? Look at that Liu Wufeng, he's so handsome, and so loyal to him. Even though he's been dead for six years, he's still searching the world for him. Who would believe there's nothing between them?" Hmph, he ignored me, but I can't draw my own conclusions, can I? Such simple logic, easy to deduce, right?

"You have the leisure to meddle in other people's business. I think your injury is almost healed. You don't need me to change your dressing anymore, do you?" Huaiyuan still had that cold and indifferent expression.

"No, I'm just killing time anyway." Fine, ignore me then. I lazily stretched and looked out the window, bored—wait, why is the moon so round?

"Huaiyuan, am I seeing things? Isn't today the tenth of the month? How can there be such a big moon?" I exclaimed in surprise.

"Fifteen," Ji Huaiyuan looked at me coldly, "You've been hit by Yu Linglong's Love-Locking Whip, and you're still here chatting idly. I really don't know whether to say you're lucky or just a fool with good fortune?"

"You mean five days? No way! I thought it was only one or two hours!" My mouth was wide enough to fit an egg—could that beautiful leather whip really be that powerful? No wonder Liu Wufeng asked her for the antidote that day; I thought he had just misspoke in his haste.

"By the way, I saw Liu Wufeng chase after you that day. How are you? Are you hurt anywhere?" I quickly looked him up and down—it seemed like he wasn't missing any parts. I breathed a sigh of relief and patted my chest. "So, he didn't catch you; or were you smart enough to hide? Luckily you're alright. That's right, Liu Wufeng is a gentleman. Even if he had caught you, he wouldn't have done anything to you. I shouldn't have doubted him."

"You've only known him for a few days, yet you have so much confidence in him?" Huaiyuan sneered repeatedly.

"He's so handsome, of course he's not a bad person." I waved my hand dismissively. "Don't worry, I've seen more people than you've eaten rice, I won't be wrong."

"If you like him so much, why don't you marry him?" Wow, what a tense atmosphere—what did I do to offend him? This is so inexplicable!

"Of course I have no problem, but..." Before I could finish speaking, Huaiyuan suddenly walked over and pulled off the silk quilt covering me. I was startled and reflexively covered my head with my hands. "What do you want to do?"

"Change the dressing!" Hey, if you're going to change the dressing, why slap it so hard? I winced in pain, "Ji Huaiyuan, are you trying to murder me?!"

This jerk actually smiled at me! I was instantly furious. "What are you laughing at? Just because you have white teeth doesn't mean you can be so great!" Humph! Does he think I don't have a temper? This lady gets angry too! I pulled the blanket over my head—if I talk to him again, I'm a little dog!

What smells so good? You brat, are you a pig? Why are you making such a loud noise while you're eating? I've slept for five days! I'm starving! The noise continued, and the aroma seemed to grow stronger, finally—

"Ji Huaiyuan!" I forcefully threw off the covers and sat up abruptly. Then I felt a chill on my chest as my clothes slipped down—it seemed someone had cut the collar open to make it easier to apply medicine. My face instantly burned, and I frantically covered my chest with my hands.

"No need to cover it up, there's nothing to see anyway." Seriously, that's infuriating!

How could they be so disrespectful? I gritted my teeth and looked up, only to unexpectedly meet Huaiyuan's bright eyes. His gentle expression made my heart start to pound.

I just sat there, watching him gently wrap me in a dark green trench coat. Then, he leaned down and so softly brushed a stray strand of hair from my forehead, as if he wanted to see straight into my heart. "There's a place where the water is the clearest and the moonlight is the most beautiful. Do you want to go with me?"

I nodded blankly—I thought, even if he asked me to die with him right now, I probably would still nod, right?

Huaiyuan bent down and picked me up horizontally—he was less than 1.5 meters tall, not even reaching my shoulder. The position was so bizarre that I couldn't help but chuckle, finally breaking the strange atmosphere.

"Hahaha~~~~!" I wiped away the tears from the corners of my eyes, laughed wildly, pointed at him, and gave him some kind advice: "Isn't that hilarious? Trying to pick up girls like other people? You're still a bit early! You should just carry me on your back like that day, that'll be more presentable."

He didn't reply, only stared intently at me, still holding me, and lightly leaped out of the window, landing on a tree in the courtyard. "We're still in Benlei Pavilion! It seems Liu Wufeng didn't notice you that day." Sensing the silence around me, I shut my mouth.

The surrounding scenery rushed past me, the wind gently caressed my face, a bright moon hung high in the sky, a few scattered stars dotted the night sky, and silver moonlight spilled across the earth. Huaiyuan was as swift as a bird in flight and as light as a swallow—I couldn't help but admire the vastness and profundity of Chinese martial arts to the point of prostration.

Huaiyuan finally stopped. I looked around and saw water all around, shimmering silver in the moonlight. The willows on the shore swayed their slender branches, creating a beautiful night scene—it was Wangxia Lake. It seemed he had brought me to the vicinity of the pavilion in the middle of the lake.

I just took a nap, and in that one night, summer has quietly arrived?

Watching a shooting star disappear into the tranquil sky, I leaned against Huaiyuan's not-so-broad shoulder and drifted into a dreamlike daze. He gently but firmly wrapped his arms around me, his face serious. "Give me time, let me grow up."

Suddenly, tears welled up in my eyes. Faced with the sincerity and honesty in his eyes, I didn't want to hide anything from him anymore. I had an urge to tell him everything. Perhaps, only by telling him everything frankly could he break free from that feeling—he was still so young, he didn't understand what feelings were. He had just lived a long time in solitude, and his sudden appearance with me had created a misconception, right?

“Huaiyuan, listen carefully. I’ll only say this once.” I took a deep breath, looked steadily into his eyes, and bravely faced him: “You and I are not from the same world.”

"I know," he replied calmly.

"You know? What do you know?" Now it was my turn to be shocked.

"I don't care where you came from, or whether you're a ghost or a demon. In short, the people and things I've decided on will not change." He remained as calm as ever.

"What ghosts and demons?" I was completely defeated by him. "I'm a human being, a living, breathing human being, okay? Look, I have flesh and blood, I have warmth, I can get sick, I can get hurt, I need to eat when I'm hungry, and I need to sleep when I'm tired!"

"Then what is there to worry about?" His smile was so bright that I was momentarily lost in thought.

I shook my head, struggling to pull myself out of the chaos. "Huaiyuan, some things aren't as simple as you think." I gazed at the lake, lost in inexplicable sorrow. "Although I am human, I live in a different era and time from you. I didn't originally belong here; I was brought here by some unknown force for some unknown reason."

I paused here, wondering if he could understand me. I was confused myself—he looked at me, gesturing for me to continue.

"I don't know where things went wrong, that I ended up in your world." His eyebrows twitched, but he remained silent. I sighed. "Huaiyuan, there's no way we can be together. Not to mention you're so much younger than me..."

He interrupted me, "Does being older than you mean it's okay? Like Liu Wufeng?"

“It’s not about age,” I gritted my teeth. “Even if you’re older than me, there’s still a thousand years of time and space between us.”

"What do you mean?" He frowned.

"What I mean is, although I am a person, I was born almost a thousand years later than you. I don't know why I came here, nor do I know when I will go back. Perhaps, in the next second, I will disappear from your sight and return to my original world! Do you understand?!" I shouted at him, tears blurring my vision.

"Don't worry, I won't let that happen. You're still right under my nose, you haven't disappeared, have you?" He said with absolute certainty.