It was way past midnight when we sneaked back into Jade Temple, but I didn't feel like sleeping at all. Bai Ye helped put away the new purchases into my closet and, disregarding my protest, shoved into bed. "I lost track of ti," he said with a tinge of remorse as he tucked under the blanket. "You need rest … Get so sleep before it's too late."
I chuckled. I knew he was thinking about my nses—he always beca nagging like this whenever he was worried about my health. "I'm feeling fine this ti," I assured him. "The tuber fleece flower must've helped."
More than fine, actually. I didn't feel cold like last month at all, and I was still wearing my sumr robes in the middle of autumn while Bai Ye had already put on an extra layer for the season. The drastic improvent shocked a bit, but considering how much effort we put into finding that tuber fleece flower, I suppose I shouldn't expect less.
"Then keep it that way," he persisted. "It'll prepare you for more stairs tomorrow."
"I'll run up and down those stairs ten tis a day if it gets a massage from you at night." I caught his hand before he pulled away with a glare. "Please … Stay with for a little longer. If I go to sleep now, I'll only wake up to another long day where I can't talk to you."
He stared at . Then he sighed at last in resignation. "Half an hour. Just this once."
I grinned, knowing that he must've agreed because he wanted to spend more ti with as well. I rolled onto my side, seizing both of his hands in mine. "Tell how you used to spend Mid Autumn," I said. "What did they do for celebrations where you lived?"
He blinked, and I realized belatedly that I was asking him about sothing from five hundred years ago. I smiled a bit sheepishly. Sotis it was easy to forget his age—not just because of that bewitching face, but also because he didn't act quite like the other immortals at Mount Hua, reserved and seasoned with ti. His edges were too sharp, and I wondered what could've happened in the past that made him this way.
"I grew up in the capital city," he finally said, squinting his eyes as if trying to recollect those old mories. "The noble families there liked flower shows, tea gatherings, and poem contests during these festivals … Anything that can be used to show off their exquisite taste. But I had always found them boring."
"I didn't know you could write poems," I gasped. This was the first ti that he told about his life in the commoner's world, and I never knew that he had led such a different life before. No wonder he always had that graceful air about him.
He laughed. "I never did well in those contests, as far as I can recall. I'm much better with a sword than with a writing brush." He squinted again. "I suppose I had always preferred martial arts. There were dragon dances sotis too, but the dancers were all poorer people, whereas the highborn would sit on the grandstand watching the entire show in silence. I disguised myself as a street urchin once and sneaked into the dancing team … when my parents found out, they locked up in the study and starved for three days."
My jaw dropped to the ground. Were all highborn parents strict with their children like that? "They must have high expectations for your future," I mumbled. "It's hard to imagine they would agree to send you away to a cultivation sect when you grew up."
"They didn't," he chuckled. "I left ho on my own. It wasn't a place that I felt I belonged, and those days are nothing but a haze to now."
I thought I understood then why Bai Ye had always been aloof and reticent towards most people. Family was a vague concept to him to begin with, and choosing the path of a cultivator ant to break what little ties he had with it. A small wistfulness rose in . Although I knew that this was the life every one of us faced, I couldn't help but feel that it didn't suit soone as gentle and loving as him. It shouldn't be what he wanted.
"What about Mount Hua?" I asked. "After so many years there … Has it ever felt like ho to you?"
He squeezed my hand. The look in his eyes glead under the candlelight. "Ho is where the heart is, Qing-er. My days at Mount Hua had been dull most of my life, but not anymore. I've never felt so at ho like this before."
My heart swelled at the warmth pulsing from his hands. "Bai Ye …" I suddenly couldn't hold back the question that had been on the edge of my mind for over a month. "Then … If one day I do want to leave Mount Hua … Not because I envy a commoner's life, but because I want to … be with you in the open like a real family … Will you co with ?"
This was the question I had wanted to ask him at Silver Gate, but I couldn't find enough courage for it back then. Maybe the festive atmosphere had given that courage tonight. Maybe the love in his words had given the confidence that I might get the answer I wanted to hear. I waited quietly for his reply.
The candle crackled beside him, sending a flickering glow dancing across his face. He lowered his head, and I didn't see the look in his eyes when he lifted my hands and brushed his lips over my knuckles. "If that is still your wish by that ti," he said softly, "I promised I will always be by your side."
"Of course it will st—"
He smiled and got up from beside my bed, planting another kiss on my forehead. "Just rember that my heart stays with you, Qing-er.. No matter where we are, you're the only ho where it will belong."
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