Since the night when Wei Yun covered her head with a robe, Xie Tao hadn’t dared to video call him. She just typed and sent messages as before.
Two days later, Xie Tao finally mustered up the courage to open the video call.
But when the video connected, both of them fell silent, their faces flushing slightly. For a moment, neither Xie Tao nor Wei Yun spoke.
In the strict etiquette of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Wei Yun, as a scion of a prestigious family, had never committed such a breach of manners before, especially not in front of her.
As he caught sight of her watery apricot eyes, he couldn’t help but cough lightly, reaching for the teacup and taking a sip.
Xie Tao also hastily picked up her own water glass and took a sip. Perhaps drinking too quickly, she choked and coughed.
Then, after hesitating for a moment, she stuttered, “I… I returned the robe to you…”
“Um,” Wei Yun responded.
He had already tossed the robe into the wardrobe when she returned it to him.
“I want to show you something…” Xie Tao suddenly said.
“What?” Wei Yun, holding the book Xie Tao had sent him, flipped through a page and looked up at her upon hearing her words.
“Just wait a moment!”
Xie Tao said, then took her phone and walked to the TV cabinet. There was a small TV set there, belonging to the landlady, and she moved a small stool and sat down, turning on the TV.
She tuned in to a program dedicated to performing magic tricks.
“Wei Yun, if you learn these, you’ll definitely be able to impress them!” Xie Tao assured him confidently.
“…What is this?” Wei Yun followed the screen and looked at what she referred to as the TV, where the so-called program was playing.
Because recently he has read many books, some of which are even illustrated and vivid, which has given him a lot of understanding of the world she is in within a short period of time.
In addition, sometimes Xie Tao would explain various fresh things in the so-called modern society to him across the light screen, which made him more and more familiar with all this.
He would often marvel at the development of the future to such an incredible extent.
In addition to his sighs, he also developed a great curiosity about her world.
“Magic, aren’t you a master? If you don’t learn some tricks, how can you deceive others?” Xie Tao looked worried for him.
She added, “Which one do you think is good? I’ll find a tutorial for you!”
The first time Xie Tao knew that Wei Yun’s profession was a master, she thought she was hallucinating.
What does a preceptor do? She even cautiously searched the internet.
“Preceptor” is a title given by Chinese emperors to some religious people who are both knowledgeable and virtuous throughout history, usually either old monks or old Taoists.
But Wei Yun’s hair was fine, he didn’t wear the kind of gray and white Taoist robe seen in TV dramas, and he didn’t always carry a whisk or anything like that.
What made a young and handsome 22-year-old man embark on the path of a charlatan? Xie Tao couldn’t quite understand.
Because she wasn’t sure if Wei Yun was really a Taoist, she even asked him at that time: “Do Taoists… date?”
Then she saw him smirk meaningfully, and then decisively hung up.
“When did I say that I must know such tricks?” Wei Yun looked at her, his tone calm and indifferent.
“…Then how do you usually fool them?” Xie Tao was particularly curious about this.
“Although the art of astrology is mysterious and ethereal, it is by no means deceiving,” he only explained this much.
In truth, whether or not he practiced such mystical arts for Emperor Qi and Empress He was irrelevant.
Because whether it was the fortune or misfortune of the country that Emperor Qi wanted to divine, it was merely what he wanted Wei Yun to tell the world.
Used to embellish peace, and even used to deceive oneself.
But these matters of the court were certainly not something he needed to explain to her.
“Oh…”
Xie Tao also didn’t quite understand.
But as she watched the magic still being performed on the television, she leaned closer to the screen, “Are you really not going to learn?”
“…No need.”
A trace of helplessness flickered in Wei Yun’s eyes, only a faint trace, like the clear water after breaking through ice and snow, reflecting a soft shimmer.
“How about you, have you listened to what I said today and read any books?”
He suddenly turned the conversation towards her.
Xie Tao held her phone, with the background noise of applause from the live audience on the TV behind her. When she heard his question, she chuckled nervously, her words lacking confidence, “I’m busy studying for exams, where would I find time to read other books?”
Before Wei Yun could respond, she put on her earphones and said, “I’m going out now, to buy groceries at the supermarket. Keep the video call on, I’ll take you out with me!”
She smiled, her eyes crescent-shaped, as if there were stars falling into her eyes.
Wei Yun was momentarily stunned, but after a moment, a faint movement in his throat, he softly responded, “Alright.”
This was the first time Wei Yun had seen the world outside her room so vividly.
As she moved away, everything that retreated behind her seemed unfamiliar to him, yet there was also a strange sense of familiarity.
Skyscrapers, neon silhouettes.
Those were completely absent in the present Great Zhou Dynasty.
But occasionally, they would appear inexplicably in the light screen that occasionally flashed in front of him since he was young, blurry scenes passing by.
Xie Tao came out of the supermarket, holding a plastic bag, wearing headphones, and still talking incessantly to Wei Yun.
Meanwhile, Wei Yun had already walked into the courtyard.
Finally, after returning home, Xie Tao sat down at the desk.
“I have a gift for you.”
She couldn’t wait to take out two small woolen animals from the plastic bag.
One was a giraffe, and the other was a tabby cat.
Then she pressed the woolen giraffe pendant under the phone, watching it being enveloped in a golden light and disappearing on the desk.
In that instant, the little pendant disappeared from her hand and accurately landed in Wei Yun’s hand.
The object in his hand was furry, and Wei Yun couldn’t help but pinch it.
“Yours is a giraffe, do you know what a giraffe is?” Xie Tao asked him.
Wei Yun shook his head.
“Then I think I need to show you more episodes of the classic program ‘Animal World’…” Xie Tao touched her chin and said.
“…”
Wei Yun frowned, not quite understanding.
“Winter is coming, Wei Yun.”
At that moment, Xie Tao looked out of the window at the dark sky and her gaze fell on the withered leaves on the windowsill that had appeared at some point, suddenly saying.
In this quiet late night, Wei Yun stood alone in the courtyard, his gaze resting on the light screen condensed by the copper pendant in his hand, the girl propping her chin up, suddenly with a hint of anticipation in her eyes.
“When the first snow comes, can I watch it with you?”
He heard her say.
Like a child longing for candy, she looked into his eyes, filled with a sparkling light.
Her eyelashes quivered slightly as Wei Yun held the furry giraffe. His Adam’s apple moved, and finally, he softly said, “Okay.”
For some reason, his voice was hoarse.
“It’s late, you should go to sleep,” he said, watching the girl in the light screen, his eyes filled with an inexplicable tenderness.
“Um…” Xie Tao nodded as if to end the call, but after a moment, she hesitated and curled her fingers.
“What’s wrong?” Wei Yun noticed her biting her lip, seeming to have something to say but stopping herself.
“I…” She started, looking a bit embarrassed, her cheeks starting to blush, a blush resembling the delicate hue of March apricot blossoms, clearly visible in the light of her room reflecting in his eyes.
“If only I could really see you…,” came the slightly shy voice of the girl, carrying a hint of warmth and fragility, as well as a hint of melancholy.
In that instant, Wei Yun’s chest seemed to be stung by something unknown. His Adam’s apple moved slightly, and the layers of ice in his usually cold and deep eyes finally cracked open, revealing a flicker of brightness and uncertainty.
With a slight movement, he touched the screen as if trying to touch her face across this mysterious and unpredictable gap of space and time.
Like ripples on the water, her face gradually fragmented, a dense cloud gathering, and golden light scattering.
The copper pendant in his hand returned to its original state once again.
And he, holding the copper pendant in his hand, stood in the deep silence of the courtyard, motionless for a long time.
Not far away, the guards lit lanterns to send off Wei Bo, who would wear the crimson robe tomorrow morning, and Wei Jing, who had come in together to report something, saw this scene and couldn’t help but exchange glances.
Wei Bo: “…Is our lord a little off?”
He deliberately lowered his voice.
Wei Jing recalled a series of strange events recently, as well as the inexplicable flowers that always appeared in the lord’s study, and nodded heavily.
More than just a little off?
That’s really odd.
Wei Bo stood in the corridor, watching Wei Yun standing in the courtyard for a long time. When had the master ever shown such a gentle expression?
With a sudden thought, Wei Bo exclaimed, “Could it be that the elder has been ensnared by a fairy?”
