Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Shen Qingyu smiled. “A crooked-neck tree? Are you talking about me?”

Qiao Ying cleared her throat. “How could I be? You’re so good-looking, and you’ve made such a success of yourself. What part of you looks like a tree?”

Shen Qingyu propped his chin on one hand, his smile bright. “Then what do I look like?”

Qiao Ying simply rested both arms on the table, cupped her chin in her hands, and stared at him for quite a while before saying, “Like a fox spirit.”

Shen Qingyu let out a low laugh. His white hair fell over his shoulders, and the white silk blindfold could not hide the delight in his expression. His blue robes trembled faintly with his shoulders, and his smile was so soft it seemed to melt with the spring breeze.

Qiao Ying thought to herself, He really looks even more like a fox spirit now.

The storyteller’s tale was so good that more and more people in the teahouse began making a racket. Qiao Ying already knew how the story ended, so she left some silver to settle the bill and walked out of the teahouse with Shen Qingyu.

“Osmanthus cakes! Fresh osmanthus cakes, hot from the oven!”

“Wontons, made with the finest flour! Care for a bowl, honored guest?”

“These lotus hairpins are the most popular with ladies these days. Young master, why not buy one for your wife at home?”

…

The cries of street vendors rose one after another. A sugar-painting master drew golden lines across a stone slab with his copper ladle. The fragrance of fried rice cakes mingled with the sweet-and-sour scent of candied hawthorns, drifting through the entire street. An old farmer carrying vegetable baskets on a shoulder pole hawked his crisp greens and radishes, while children chased after a peddler selling sugar figurines, their silvery laughter striking the hearts of passersby.

These people, all scraping out a living, had no time to think about how they had nearly died in their sleep just days ago. When the sun rose, they had to survive, and so a fresh tableau of bustling everyday life unfurled once more.

Qiao Ying joined the bustle and bought a beautifully blooming hibiscus flower from a little girl.

Shen Qingyu followed unhurriedly at her side. “You’re very happy.”

Qiao Ying looked up at him. “Yes, I am.”

He asked, “What is there to be happy about?”

Qiao Ying said, “When I open my eyes, I can see the sun rising into the sky again. I can hear all these lively sounds, smell the aroma of food, and feel how soft the wind is. Today, I have clothes to wear and food to eat, and I’m alive and well. Of course that’s worth being happy about.”

The clamor on the street seemed even louder than before, and much noisier too.

Shen Qingyu said, “You really are as foolish as those ordinary mortals.”

Qiao Ying shot him a glance. “I was never any different from those ordinary mortals. You’re the one who keeps saying I’m strange.”

That was true. Why did he always think she was strange?

Clearly, she was no different from anyone else. Just as weak, just as eager to live and afraid to die. He only needed to move a finger, and she would cease to exist.

Shen Qingyu seemed to understand something. “Because you are also an ordinary mortal, you stood up and told the truth, hoping that sword would spare those ordinary mortals.”

Qiao Ying rubbed her chin and said, “If that’s how you want to understand it, I suppose that works.”

She slowed her steps, drawing closer to him. “You once told me that there are many demons and monsters in this world that eat people. But these ordinary mortals have still managed to live on, generation after generation, as usual. That’s because behind the scenes, there are many people like Mu Yunshu, aren’t there? She wasn’t the first, and she definitely won’t be the last.”

Qiao Ying looked at the children running and laughing around them. “I just think it would be a shame if the things they protected disappeared just like that.”

Shen Qingyu did not quite understand again, but he still clearly remembered Qiao Ying saying that he was the very, very best. Naturally, he could not say he did not understand.

And so, with a smile that was not quite a smile, he said, “The storyteller should have added your name too. If you hadn’t stepped forward that day, perhaps all those ordinary mortals really would have had their souls scattered into nothing.”

“Don’t. I can’t be mentioned in the same breath as someone like Miss Mu. In the end, Bai Xue spared those people because of Miss Mu. It had nothing to do with me.”

Shen Qingyu suddenly felt her lightly touch the area beside his ear. When he raised his hand to feel it, his fingers brushed against soft petals tucked into his hair.

The Youth in Blue had white hair like snow. He looked like a wisp of rosy spring color had fallen upon the peak of an icy mountain, and the white silk blindfold over his eyes added a hazy softness. For no reason at all, there was suddenly a hint of gentle allure about him.

Qiao Ying laughed. “Shen Qingyu, you look even better like this.”

For some reason, his fingertips grew faintly warm.

The one who had always drifted beyond ordinary mortals seemed, through this single bright splash of color, to touch for the first time the warmth of everyday life he had never known.

And so, he was no longer merely a god high above all others. He had truly descended from the peak of a snowy mountain and arrived in the mortal world.

Shen Qingyu had always known that in Qiao Ying’s eyes, he was the most beautiful person of all. Even so, he could not help asking now, “How good-looking?”

Qiao Ying thought for a moment, then said, “Even the most beautiful fox spirit described in storybooks isn’t as good-looking as you.”

At last, he could not stop the corners of his lips from lifting. The vivid petals among his snow-white hair swayed along with the motion, as if that touch of spring color adorning winter snow held a mysterious power, adding an inexplicable tenderness to the refined air of the young man before her.
Shen Qingyu took her hand, laughter still impossible to hide in his voice. “Qiao Ying.”

“Mm?”

“I want fish tonight.”

In the past, he had eaten whatever she handed him. Even if it was something he disliked, he had never complained. But now, he was actually taking the initiative to make requests.

Qiao Ying said, “I hate cooking fish. It makes my hands smell.”

Shen Qingyu lowered his head, and the little flower by his ear drooped along with him.

Qiao Ying had no choice but to change her tune. “Fine, fine, we’ll have fish. But you’re handling it. I’m only responsible for putting it in the pot and cooking it.”

He smiled again. “All right.”

The petals unfurled once more, bright and beautiful.

“Big Brother, Big Sister!”

Someone called out to them. They turned and saw a child running over.

No one knew what corner Xiao Shao had popped out from. He was still afraid of Shen Qingyu’s presence, but he mustered his courage and held out a handful of peanuts. “Thank you for helping me save Grandma.”

Qiao Ying accepted the peanuts generously and said with a smile, “Then we’ll accept this thank-you gift.”

Xiao Shao grinned, his smile dazzling.

“Xiao Shao, come back and eat!” Aunt Wang walked out of the house and looked around. “Oh, this child, where has he run off to play now?”

Xiao Shao waved at Qiao Ying. “I’m going back to eat, Big Sister. Goodbye.”

Qiao Ying waved as well. “Goodbye.”

Xiao Shao ran over, took his grandmother’s hand, and happily went home with her.

The vegetable sellers nearby began chatting in low voices.

“She’s really gone mad. Her grandson died of illness half a month ago, and every day she still calls the child back to eat.”

“Stop it. She’s a pitiful woman too. Everyone else in her family is gone, and she only had her grandson to depend on. To earn more money to treat the child’s illness, she was willing to do any dirty or exhausting work. Unfortunately, Heaven didn’t grant her wish. The child was still lost.”

Back then, it had rained every few days, and the air had been heavy and stifling. Children from poor families were frail, and in the end, if they couldn’t hold on, it was hardly uncommon.

Qiao Ying pulled Shen Qingyu along as they strolled leisurely down the road. She stuffed a handful of peanuts into Shen Qingyu’s hand. “Peel these and eat them when you have nothing to do.”

Shen Qingyu asked softly, “You’re not scared?”

“Scared of what?”

He reminded her, “You ran into a ghost.”

He still remembered that she wasn’t very brave. Back in the underground cave, she had screamed at the sight of a Wandering Soul.

But Qiao Ying corrected him. “That was a child.”

“Mm. A little ghost.”

Sometimes, he was oddly serious about these things.

Qiao Ying said crisply, “I’m already holding hands with a fox spirit. Even if I run into a ghost, what’s there to be afraid of?”

Something in her words seemed to hit another spot that pleased him. He let out another low laugh, and the vivid petals in the white hair at his temple trembled, as though they too had been tinged with mirth.

Qiao Ying suddenly felt that she shouldn’t have pinned that flower on him. It was as if, with that bright red blossom, he had grown even more beautiful, and his entire body now gave off an alluring, tempting air.

Shen Qingyu pressed his lips together slightly, then turned toward her.

Qiao Ying instantly had the guilty illusion that she’d been caught peeking, and she hurriedly looked away.

But he said, “Qiao Ying, I’ll let you kiss me.”

Qiao Ying stubbornly refused to admit it. “Don’t talk nonsense. I wasn’t thinking about kissing you!”

He only smiled without saying a word.

After dinner, Shen Qingyu washed the dishes and chopsticks. He was usually lazy to the bone, often sitting on the roof like a cat curled up in its own nest to bask in the moonlight, so it was rare for him to take the initiative to do chores.

That night, Qiao Ying lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. In the end, she couldn’t hold back. She threw on her clothes, got out of bed, and easily pushed open the door to the room next door.

Shen Qingyu was not asleep. He had not even taken off his clothes. That little red flower was still blooming cheerfully among his white hair.

He sat quietly by the bed. Only when he heard the sound did he lift his face slightly and slowly reveal a smile.

“Qiao Ying, you’re here.”

She had the sudden illusion that this exquisite, beautiful young man was some demon waiting to be favored.

Qiao Ying cleared her throat and braced herself. “Does what you said during the day still count?”

The young man tilted his head slightly, a lock of white hair falling over his shoulder. Fully aware of what she meant, he asked with a smile, “What did I say?”

“It was… it was when you said you wanted me to kiss you!”

He was being particular again. “Qiao Ying, you’re the one who wants to kiss me.”

Qiao Ying refused to admit it. “You’re the one who wants to kiss me.”

He refused to back down either. “You want to kiss me.”

“Then forget it. No kissing.”

Qiao Ying turned to leave, but the door slammed shut with a sharp clap. Before she could react, a hand reached from behind and pulled her into a familiar embrace.

Then the young man’s overwhelmingly aggressive presence came crashing down around her.