He Sui’an’s mind buzzed.
They had never tried this before. Precisely because they had never tried it before, she felt a bit embarrassed and at a loss, though she did have the desire to learn.
Qi Buyan’s gaze fell on the book, and not getting a response from He Sui’an, he turned to look at her.
She finally nodded slightly.
When the silver buckle of the sash jingled, He Sui’an glanced at it instinctively.
The candlelight in the room flickered, and after a while, Qi Buyan pulled out his hand, wet from the water, through a small gap. His long fingers glistened, indicating the preparation needed for learning this new aspect.
He Sui’an shivered as she moved closer, trying to make herself comfortable, but as soon as she leaned in, she collapsed onto Qi Buyan. She suddenly felt powerless to continue learning from him, almost wanting to back out.
A blue butterfly appeared on the side of Qi Buyan’s face as he called her name, “He Sui’an.”
He Sui’an timidly wanted to get up.
He held her down.
The blue butterfly on Qi Buyan’s face deepened in color, and the naturally slightly red corners of his eyes looked at her as he asked about the barely visible butterfly emerging on her, “Didn’t you just agree to try and learn this?”
He Sui’an explained, “But this feels so strange.” It was hard to describe, like her whole body was pinned down, the stimulation was too intense, leaving no room to continue learning.
She unintentionally kicked her leg, knocking over the book beside them.
The unintentional act seemed more like a deliberate move by someone who disliked studying, purposely knocking down the book. Realizing this, He Sui’an awkwardly said, “I didn’t mean to, let me help you pick it up.”
Unexpectedly, he sat up from his lying position, reached out to the floor, and picked up the book, all while holding He Sui’an in that posture. It felt so deep, her expression changed.
Before she could say anything, Qi Buyan placed the book back in position and lay down again.
He Sui’an needed to take a moment to compose herself.
She had to take a break.
She wanted to prepare herself again for learning. It wasn’t easy to connect theory and practice, especially since He Sui’an hadn’t even mastered the theoretical knowledge yet and was encountering this for the first time.
Qi Buyan called her name again.
“He Sui’an…”
After all, she had taken too long, and he was struggling to hold back. He Sui’an quickly tried to follow the book, sitting in a posture that didn’t seem much different from the illustration. She felt herself stabilize and said, “It-it’s okay now.”
The room became momentarily quiet. They didn’t speak again, both trying to adapt.
He Sui’an sat with her back very straight.
What happens next?
She could somewhat guess: she needed to slightly twist her waist as if dancing, which wasn’t hard to learn. But as He Sui’an tried to twist, Qi Buyan also wanted to move, so she pressed him down.
He Sui’an whispered softly, “Didn’t you say to follow the book?”
So he let her take the lead.
He Sui’an did her best, standing up and sitting back down, as if training her waist. She had to admit this felt novel, being in control herself.
The book lay open, but Qi Buyan no longer looked at it. Instead, he watched He Sui’an. He wanted to kiss her earlobe, where a very small, colorful butterfly had appeared, vibrant and beautiful, without her noticing.
Qi Buyan’s breathing became erratic, and he bluntly said, “I want to kiss you.”
He Sui’an paused.
Kiss her?
That would require her to bend down or him to sit up. After thinking it over, He Sui’an chose to bend down.
She leaned in and kissed the corner of Qi Buyan’s lips, but he slightly lifted his body, bypassing her face, and kissed the earlobe with the small butterfly. The warm touch of his lips was very light.
This kiss was inversely proportional to their other movements. The young man finally lifted his waist and deepened the blue butterfly mark on He Sui’an.
He Sui’an repeatedly consumed it.
There were even sounds of consuming.
It continued until late at night when He Sui’an fell asleep, exhausted. They had only learned halfway, but Qi Buyan let her be. The butterflies they created still remained, with He Sui’an’s being especially deep and vivid in color.
He Sui’an inadvertently kicked the book to the ground again, unaware, curling up in Qi Buyan’s arms, her small face flushed with a warm red.
Qi Buyan’s long hair hung down beside him, entwined with hers.
He Sui’an was too tired.
She began to snore softly.
Since He Sui’an went to bed late, she also woke up late the next day. By the time the sun was high in the sky, she was still lying in bed, while Qi Buyan had already gone to feed the poison gu and check on the ones nearing completion.
The black snake was the first to eat its fill. It crawled in through the window. The room had been cleaned meticulously by Qi Buyan, but a faint scent lingered, which the snake could detect with its keen sense of smell, though it didn’t know what it was.
He Sui’an turned over.
The black snake wanted to crawl over to her.
He Sui’an had fed it meat before, and the black snake gradually regarded her as half its owner.
Before it could reach her, the black snake’s tail was pinched. It twisted its flat head to look at the one holding its tail. Qi Buyan looked at it with a half-smile, and the black snake wanted to get closer to its master again.
Qi Buyan, however, turned and placed the black snake into the water. The red snake that had followed him in watched coldly, while the silver snake peeked from behind the door, and the purple spider clung to the eaves, observing.
He Sui’an woke up.
She sat up and looked at Qi Buyan.
He Sui’an’s hair was a mess, looking like a bird’s nest due to her notoriously bad sleeping posture. The new dress Qi Buyan had put on her the previous night was wrinkled. “What are you doing?” she asked.
Ignoring the black snake in the water, Qi Buyan walked over to He Sui’an, “Giving it a wash.”
She understood.
Occasionally, he would throw the poison gu into the water to let them clean themselves.
Seeing this, He Sui’an didn’t interfere.
She yawned, got out of bed, put on her shoes, and used another basin of water to wash up. After freshening up, she casually tied her long hair with a silk ribbon, without braiding or making a bun.
He Sui’an had just woken up and definitely hadn’t eaten anything. Qi Buyan hadn’t eaten either, having spent a lot of time feeding the poison gu on the mountain. He hadn’t cooked yet, mainly because he didn’t know what she wanted to eat.
When Qi Buyan lived alone in the secluded mountain of Tianshui Village in Miaojiang, he cooked for himself.
The taste was… edible.
He only cared that it was something he could eat and never had high demands for food.
People from Tianshui Village would periodically send food up to the mountain, storing it in a natural ice cellar. If Qi Buyan wanted to eat, he would fetch it from there.
When He Sui’an first came to Tianshui Village, she heard about the natural ice cellar on the secluded mountain but had never seen it. Today, she suddenly felt like visiting it with Qi Buyan. “Can we?” she asked.
Qi Buyan took her there.
The ice cellar was inside a cave.
She held his hand as they walked in. “Can you not stay in the ice cellar for too long?”
“Yes.”
The Heavenly Silkworm Gu inside Qi Buyan’s body hadn’t been fully resolved. It used to seem like it had fused with him, and now it was completely integrated.
The Heavenly Silkworm Gu replaced the broken silver butterfly chain, keeping Qi Buyan alive. He could no longer attempt to refine the Gu King to remove it, so he would still fall into a deep sleep in extremely cold conditions.
Staying in the ice cellar for too long would also trigger this.
Therefore, Qi Buyan usually didn’t stay long, fetching what he needed and leaving immediately.
He activated the mechanism to open the ice cellar.
The mechanism was on the ground, and stepping on the right spot would trigger it. As Qi Buyan’s boot pressed the mechanism, He Sui’an memorized the position carefully.
She tightened her grip on Qi Buyan’s hand. “Alright, let’s get out quickly then.”
No matter what, they had to go inside to get the food, and she had never been inside before, so she didn’t know the way. Qi Buyan would have to go in as he used to, so she might as well accompany him.
Once He Sui’an had been inside, she could replace Qi Buyan next time.
Qi Buyan walked through the dripping cave and continued inward. He Sui’an raised her hand to catch some of the water dripping from above, feeling its clear and fresh quality.
The ice cellar was just ahead, and the temperature dropped sharply. He Sui’an felt the chill as soon as she got close.
She touched the ice beside her.
Qi Buyan asked her what kind of meat she wanted.
He Sui’an didn’t answer immediately. She walked towards another area where an ice chamber, carved out by someone, was separated from the food storage area. In the center of the ice chamber was an ice coffin.
The ice coffin was intricately carved, exuding a faint cold air.
She walked closer. “What’s this?”
“I made it.”
Qi Buyan also walked over, lowering his eyes to the ice coffin he had carved out of boredom a few years ago.
He had once tried to sleep in it for a month and was awakened by the red snake. It had bitten Qi Buyan. As long as he bled and felt pain, he could gain temporary clarity, enough to get out of the ice cellar.
If not for the red snake, Qi Buyan might have forever slumbered in the ice coffin.
Hearing that he had made it, He Sui’an examined the ice coffin more closely, tracing the patterns on its surface, and asked, “Why did you make an ice coffin?”
“I just felt like making it.”
He Sui’an didn’t ask further. Remembering that Qi Buyan couldn’t stay in the ice cellar for too long, she grabbed a few pieces of meat and left with him. As they exited, she asked Qi Buyan if he was planning to go down the mountain today.
Qi Buyan took the meat from her hands. “Do you want to go down the mountain today?”
“Just asking casually.”
He Sui’an felt that Qi Buyan’s life was too monotonous, revolving around refining and raising venomous insects, or sitting in front of the mountain reading one Gu book after another. She wanted to add a bit more color to his life.
But she also felt she shouldn’t arbitrarily change his habits, so she asked, “Do you not like going down to the village?”
Qi Buyan: “Not really.”
“Do you like it then?”
“Not really,” Qi Buyan walked straight out. Entering the ice cellar required activating the mechanism, but when leaving, the ice cellar doors automatically opened to both sides.
He added, “I can do either.” Before meeting He Sui’an, Qi Buyan’s life was solely about venomous insects. It didn’t matter where he was, as long as he could refine Gu.
The secluded mountain was a suitable place for refining Gu, which is why Qi Buyan hadn’t left it for over a decade.
He Sui’an considered for a moment before deciding, “Let’s go down the mountain tomorrow. I want to visit the small village near Tianshui Village.”
Qi Buyan didn’t mind.
They walked out of the ice cellar, and a gust of hot wind greeted them, making He Sui’an almost want to turn back.
She quickly returned to the wooden house, where the temperature was slightly lower. Qi Buyan put down the meat they had retrieved and went to pick some fruit.
With nothing much to do, He Sui’an noticed the mask they had brought back the previous night. She picked it up and put it on.
When Qi Buyan returned, he saw He Sui’an wearing the mask. She waved at him and said with a slightly aggrieved tone, “I seem to be stuck. Can you help me take it off?”
He placed the washed fruit in her palm and bent down to remove the mask.
As the mask came off, her face was revealed.
Their eyes met.
When Qi Buyan removed the mask from He Sui’an’s face, he brushed against the small colorful butterfly on her earlobe. Her ear felt slightly ticklish, and as she looked up, she saw his youthful, fair face, making her heartbeat quicken.
In a moment of impulse, He Sui’an bit him lightly, leaving faint teeth marks on his skin.
Qi Buyan’s eyelashes trembled slightly.