Why am I only feeling shy now? Ban Lan couldn't help but laugh at herself.
She stared intently at his perfectly proportioned lips, and suddenly felt an urge to lean over and kiss them.
To kiss or not to kiss? Ban Lan began to struggle with the decision.
She was afraid of being discovered by Cen Ji, yet she couldn't resist wanting to touch his lips. Torn between these conflicting emotions for a long time, she suddenly realized how ridiculous her hesitation was. Their feelings for each other were already clear; it was just a kiss of love, perfectly normal, yet she had agonized over it for so long.
Thinking this, she suddenly stood up and leaned her head closer.
She was fine when she didn't move, but as soon as she moved, Cen Ji immediately woke up and then felt a light, fleeting kiss on her lips.
"Um... I wanted to wake you up..." When Cen Ji suddenly opened his eyes and looked at her, she couldn't help but stammer.
He can't see me, he can't see me, he can't see me... Ban Lan muttered to herself.
Cen Ji couldn't see her clearly.
However, whether you can see it or not doesn't seem to make any difference.
Because Cen Ji paused for a moment, then pulled Ban Lan close and kissed her.
Ban Lan hadn't expected that her playful gesture would elicit such enthusiasm from him. Furthermore, she noticed that Cen Ji's kiss was completely different from yesterday's.
Cen Ji's kiss wasn't deep, but it was very earnest, so earnest that Ban Lan even felt it was "meticulously crafted." Her lips were being gently held by Cen Ji, feeling both tingly and itchy. She wanted to laugh, but the moment she opened her mouth, his soft tongue silenced her.
Cen Ji kissed Ban Lan slowly and tenderly, but Ban Lan stared at him with wide eyes.
She had never seen Cen Ji so gentle at this moment.
She even felt that Cen Ji's usually slender profile had become exceptionally soft.
She couldn't help but reach out and stroke his cheek.
Cen Ji noticed her touch and suddenly came to his senses, straightening up.
Ban Lan felt inexplicably embarrassed and blurted out, "Um... the rain has finally stopped."
Cen Ji looked out of the cave and saw light and shadow intertwined before him, as if it were a beautiful sunny day.
Ban Lan then asked, "Last night...uh...did I say a lot of things?"
"More than just a lot! Enough to pile up into several mountains!" Cen Ji couldn't help but laugh upon hearing this.
When Ban Lan saw him smile, she curled her lip and said, "I knew it... This problem is so damn annoying!" After saying that, Ban Lan realized that she had used a foul language again. She couldn't help but look at Cen Ji and found that the smile on his face was still there and had not diminished at all.
Ban Lan suspected that he hadn't stopped her from using vulgar language because he hadn't heard her clearly.
“You said a lot, but I don’t remember much of it,” Cen Ji said with a faint smile.
Thankfully… Ban Lan breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Cen Ji was about to get up when he suddenly remembered something and asked, "What did you mean by 'why is it taking so long' that you kept muttering last night?"
Ban Lan was stunned for a moment, then frowned and pondered. After a long while, her expression gradually darkened.
"Falling in love with me, it turns out, takes so long..."
"Has it been a long time?" Cen Ji pondered. He had asked himself more than once when exactly it started, that he could no longer forget her. He had thought about this question for a long time without finding an answer, but it made him understand another issue.
“Not long,” Cen Ji said slowly, “it’s actually just the time it takes to turn around.”
Before the icy pond, her final turn marked the beginning of his heartache for her. Only, at that time, he didn't understand.
Ban Lan seemed not to understand and wanted to ask more, but then she saw Cen Ji looking at her.
“We should go back,” he said softly.
Ban Lan suddenly felt a little lost.
Cen Ji reached out and touched her forehead, finding that she was not much better than yesterday, and his expression darkened slightly.
Ban Lan snuggled closer to him and said, "I'm not going back."
Cen Ji said, "You have a fever."
Ban Lan said, "So what?"
Cen Ji patted her head: "What if you get brain damage from the fever?"
Ban Lan burrowed her head into Cen Ji's arms, making her words muffled and strained.
"Then be stupid. Being stupid is better than watching you and your senior sister being all lovey-dovey."
Cen Ji's gentle expression suddenly froze, and even the hand that was patting Ban Lan stopped in mid-air, forgetting to fall.
“Cen Qi…”
Cen Ji snapped out of his daze and said, "Are you stupid? How are you going to avenge your junior brother?"
After a moment of silence, Ban Lan suddenly sat up and stared at Cen Ji.
"Did you kill my junior brother?"
"no."
"real?"
"real."
Ban Lan suddenly lowered her head and sighed, "Actually, I thought about it later, and you really had no reason to kill my junior brother. But my junior brother can't die in vain. All the evidence points to you, I..."
Ban Lan suddenly couldn't continue speaking. She paused, then turned her face away.
Cen Ji didn't care that he was wrongly accused; he only cared whether Ban Lan believed him.
But at this point, he could no longer ignore those dubious accusations.
He suddenly realized that letting Banlan kill him would only cause her more pain.
"Let's go." Ban Lan turned around, forced a smile, and stood up.
As soon as she stood up, Ban Lan's legs suddenly went weak, and she fell backward.
Upon hearing the sound, Cen Ji realized something was wrong and hurriedly reached out to help, calling out urgently, "Ban Lan!"
Ban Lan frowned, rubbed her head, and muttered, "It's nothing... just a little dizzy..."
Cen Ji completely ignored her "I'm fine," picked her up and carried her out of the cave, saying, "I can't see the mountain's terrain. Describe it to me. We must go back today no matter what."
Ban Lan rested her head against Cen Ji's chest and sighed softly, almost imperceptibly.
Missing
one,
Ban Lan slowly sat up in bed, squinted, and looked around.
The room wasn't large, but it was clean and tidy. The furniture and belongings were arranged in an orderly manner. On the long black wooden table lay an unfinished book, the title of which was conveniently obscured by a purple clay teapot placed to the side.
Ban Lan stared blankly at the teapot for a long time before realizing that the words on the cover were obscured. She couldn't help but lightly rub her head, feeling a wave of dizziness and heaviness in her head, as if she had slept for several days and nights.
However, she really didn't know how long she had slept, because she felt like she was starving. But coincidentally, just when she was at her hungriest, the room was filled with a faint smell of medicine, which Ban Lan found unbearable.
She stood up, weak and limp, holding onto the bed railing. After regaining her composure, she walked outside.
As soon as she stepped outside, the glaring sunlight made her instinctively reach out to shield her eyes.
"The young lady is awake?"
Ban Lan was startled. She looked up and saw an old man in a green robe carrying a basket of herbs whose names she didn't know, walking into the house.
Ban Lan hurriedly followed him back into the house and immediately asked, "This... old man, is this Kongshan Ridge?"
The old man nodded.
"And what about Cen Qi?" Ban Lan asked when he didn't answer. "It's Cen Ji, the man who brought me here, the one in black."
The old man put down his basket, dusted off his sleeves, and said casually, "Aren't you hungry?"
"Hungry," Ban Lan said hastily.
The old man turned around and said, "There's porridge on the stove, go and eat it yourself."
"Oh." Ban Lan didn't waste any more words with him, turned around and went out the door, but as soon as she stepped out, she pulled her foot back in. "Where's the kitchen?"
"Turn right when you go out."
After Ban Lan left, the old man walked to the table and touched the teapot on it.
It's cold.
The tea had gone cold in just a short while.
The old man sat down on the armchair beside him.
His surname is Sun.
As for his name, Sun, he himself doesn't remember, because in Kongshanling, no one calls him by his name; everyone just calls him Doctor Sun.
His appearance made many people think he was an extremely unapproachable person, so he lived for decades without making many friends.
He picked up the teapot, took a sip of cool tea, and looked up to see Ban Lan walking in carrying a large celadon bowl.
"Why don't you eat in the kitchen?" Doctor Sun frowned.
Ban Lan did not answer, but instead sat down opposite Doctor Sun with the porridge in her bowl.
The porridge wasn't hot anymore; there wasn't a trace of steam in the bowl. But Ban Lan picked it up and took a big gulp without even using a spoon. Her lips were covered in porridge stains, but her face was full of satisfaction.
After finishing most of the bowl of porridge, Ban Lan finally lifted her face from the bowl.
"Thank you." Ban Lan smiled at him and casually touched the corner of her mouth with her sleeve.