So—
That lingering fear simply disappeared.
Step by step, she moved forward. Her heart was full, so full it felt like it would spill over. Her steps felt light, like a little yellow warbler hopping along. Her dress hem and sleeves fluttered as she walked. Only when she reached the carriage did she stop and turn back.
“Li Qinyuan.” Gu Wuyou suddenly called his name.
“W-What?”
Li Qinyuan hadn’t expected her to turn back. He hadn’t had time to retract his gaze, and for a moment, he was caught in an awkward situation. As if to disguise his stubborn and proud self-esteem—his unwillingness to let others see his worry and concern—he could only cover it up with a stiff tone.
But Gu Wuyou didn’t say anything immediately.
She stood beneath the moonlight, looking at him intently, earnestly, as if she wanted to engrave every inch of his appearance into her memory. She watched until the young man furrowed his brows before finally smiling and speaking.
“I really hope you come back to the academy. I especially, especially hope so.”
She had come into this world—
Just to meet him.
That abrupt, inexplicable sentence left Li Qinyuan completely dumbfounded.
He froze for a long time, only realizing what she was responding to after a moment. But by then, the red-clad girl by the carriage had already stepped inside.
He stood there, watching as the carriage, draped in a blue canopy, slowly moved forward under the night sky. From the swaying curtain, a small hand suddenly reached out, softly waving at him under the moonlight.
Li Qinyuan stood frozen in place.
Even when the carriage disappeared from sight, he still didn’t look away.
Only when another voice sounded beside him did he finally snap back to reality.
“They’re gone?”
He came to his senses belatedly and answered in a hoarse voice, “Yeah.”
“What about Ah Xian and the others?” he asked Jing Yubai.
“They drank the hangover soup and have already gone to sleep.”
Jing Yubai stood beside him, also looking at the long, deep alley shrouded in darkness. The carriage was long gone, but after a while, he withdrew his gaze and said to Li Qinyuan, “Let’s go back inside.”
Li Qinyuan nodded but didn’t speak.
The two of them closed the door and stepped into the courtyard. Just as Li Qinyuan was about to head into the main hall to clean up, Jing Yubai suddenly said behind him—
“Qilang, sit outside for a while.”
Li Qinyuan stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Jing Yubai. The latter stood under the moonlight, his expression warm and calm as always. Seeing this, Li Qinyuan simply nodded.
There were already chairs set up in the courtyard, but with the late night dew, a thin layer of moisture had gathered on them. Li Qinyuan wasn’t the kind to be overly particular—he casually wiped it off and sat down.
Propping his legs up on the stone table in front of him, he leaned back against the plum tree behind him. When he saw Jing Yubai coming over, holding two bowls of tea, he sighed helplessly and rubbed his forehead. “Dabai, you’re still so young, why do you always act like some old man?”
Jing Yubai merely smiled at his words. “I know you don’t like hangover soup, so I made tea instead. It’s calming, not bitter.”
As he spoke, he handed one bowl over.
Li Qinyuan didn’t argue further and took the tea, taking a sip. But after just one taste, he only held the celadon cup in his hands instead of drinking more. The courtyard was silent. He tilted his head back and gazed at the sparsely starry sky above. After a long while, he finally spoke. “She must have gone through a lot to investigate this matter, huh?”
He had originally planned to ask that little girl directly, but every time he looked at her, his mind turned hazy, and he couldn’t think of anything at all.
Ah Xian and Xiao Xu weren’t reliable, so the only person he could ask was Dabai.
Jing Yubai sat properly in his chair, as if he had already expected this question. His expression remained unchanged, and his tone was unhurried. “At first, she gathered all the female attendants and servants who had passed through that area. Later, as if she had suddenly realized something, she ran off alone to investigate further.”
“She didn’t bring anyone with her—not even a single attendant. She didn’t even eat lunch.”
At this point, Jing Yubai lowered his gaze and took a sip of his tea.
Li Qinyuan froze.
Back when they were eating hot pot earlier, he had noticed how much the little girl ate. She looked like a tiny rabbit that could never get full, her cheeks still puffed out as she reached for another piece of meat with her chopsticks.
At the time, he had laughed at her in his heart, thinking how she didn’t look the least bit chubby despite eating so much.
Turns out—
She hadn’t even had lunch before running off to investigate all this?
What an… idiot.
A complicated mix of emotions surged within Li Qinyuan, leaving him at a loss for words.
Jing Yubai took his time savoring his tea, allowing the lingering aroma to settle before, like Li Qinyuan, tilting his head back to gaze at the moonlit sky. With a faint smile, he said, “I don’t know exactly how much effort she put into this. I only know that for this matter, she’s practically offended everyone at the academy.”
“What do you mean?” Li Qinyuan frowned.
Jing Yubai seemed momentarily surprised, turning to look at him with a hint of disbelief. “She didn’t tell you anything?” Then, as if realizing something, he chuckled softly. “Well, that’s unexpected.”
He then recounted everything that had happened at the academy over the past few days—the way she had defended Li Qinyuan in front of everyone, how she had vouched for him with unwavering certainty, and how she had demanded the others apologize to him.
“Qilang, you should’ve seen it. That little girl, when she scolds people with a serious face, actually has quite the imposing presence.”
“I used to think she was the type to act recklessly, only caring about her own satisfaction without considering the consequences. But now, seeing how tightly she kept this matter to herself, not revealing a single word to you… I realize I was wrong about her.”
Jing Yubai’s voice echoed in the cool and silent night, carrying the same gentle warmth as always. “She must have thought through all the consequences. She knew exactly what she was facing. And yet, she still did it.”
“Without considering the consequences.”
Jing Yubai deliberately met Li Qinyuan’s gaze as he repeated those four words.
—”She thought of everything.”
—”She knew exactly what she would face, yet she still did it.”
—”Without considering the consequences.”
Li Qinyuan’s mind echoed with these words.
His slender fingers tightened around the tea cup in his hands.
The usual careless, indifferent expression on his face had long since disappeared.
His heart felt as though it were being clenched tightly—so tight that even his internal organs seemed to ache with a dull, tingling pain.
His breathing grew low and uneven, as if he were struggling to steady himself against the storm of emotions within.
Until his breathing gradually steadied and could no longer be heard, Li Qinyuan finally closed his eyes.
The night was as cool as water.
The two figures in the courtyard remained silent, leaving only the restless sound of the wind filling the space between them.
It was unknown how much time had passed before he finally opened his eyes again. His voice, when he spoke, was hoarse and dry, yet the words he uttered had nothing to do with their previous conversation.
“It’s late. Let’s go in and rest.”
After speaking, he lifted his tea cup and stood up.
Behind him, Jing Yubai did not move. He merely watched Li Qinyuan’s back and suddenly said, “Qilang, do you know something? I was really happy today. It’s been a long time since the few of us have laughed like that together.”
He rarely expressed his emotions so openly. His voice was almost rushed, slightly excited, but after a pause, he regained his usual composure.
Then, he added in a quieter tone, “And it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you this happy, too.”
Li Qinyuan’s footsteps faltered slightly. He did not turn back, only letting out a quiet “Mhm.”
He was happy, too. No—he wasn’t just happy. He was very happy.
He could still recall the lively scene of everyone gathered around the hot pot, eating and talking. That kind of raucous, heartwarming atmosphere… he hadn’t experienced it in a long, long time.
“In the future—”
Jing Yubai stood up behind him, but this time, his words carried hesitation. “Will we still have times like this?”
Li Qinyuan’s slender fingers remained wrapped around the now-cold tea cup. He stood in the warmly lit courtyard, lowering his gaze.
He could hear the wind lashing against the tree branches. He could hear the cold air brushing past his ears.
And he understood what Jing Yubai meant.
He did not answer immediately, only standing there in silence for a long while.
Eventually, he turned back to look behind him.
The usually composed and steady young man in blue still stood there, waiting for his answer.
Li Qinyuan stared at him for a long time.
Then, his mind drifted back to the long alleyway—
To the girl in red, tilting her head up toward him, her bright face adorned with the most radiant smile in the world, saying those words to him—
“Li Qinyuan, I believe in you.”
“Even if no one else in this world believes you, I will always believe in you.”
In that instant, a sudden thought arose in his mind—
That this vast world was shrouded in endless darkness, yet within it, there was one person clad in red, stepping over the shattered shadows, walking toward him.
The cold wind still howled.
Yet for the first time in this long winter, he lifted his head, opened his eyes, and truly looked at the sky above him.
The darkness of night would always be there.
But even in the darkest of nights, there were still guiding lights—perhaps a single lantern, perhaps the curve of a crescent moon, perhaps a scattering of stars.
Or perhaps—
It was the hand that someone reached out toward him in the dark.
Suddenly, he realized—this world wasn’t as terrible as he had once thought. At the very least, there were still many, many people around him worth cherishing.
The inky black night wrapped around him, making his usually carefree and unruly demeanor seem more restrained, adding a sense of calm and maturity beyond his years.
He looked at Jing Yubai.
And finally, he spoke.
“Yes.”
After all these years of drifting in confusion—
He was finally willing to let someone take hold of his sleeve—
And call him back to the world.