After a while, Lin Shengyu finished applying the medicine and gently set down the mortar.
“Remember this well from now on, okay?”
Yun Hao was so moved that his nose stung again. He nodded lightly. He looked up at the sky—it had already darkened. He felt it was probably time to leave.
But where could he go? He already…… had no home.
Just as he was hesitating over how to say goodbye to his junior sister, Lin Shengyu suddenly grabbed his hand—very tightly.
Confusion spread through Yun Hao’s heart. What was his junior sister trying to do? While he was still wondering, the girl who had been looking down suddenly spoke.
“Senior Brother, do you still remember what we said to each other before?”
Yun Hao thought for a moment and shook his head. Over the past two years, they had said too many things to each other. He truly could not recall any specific sentence.
But Lin Shengyu did not give up. Holding Senior Brother’s hand, a trace of memory and sweetness appeared in her beautiful peach-blossom eyes. She suddenly lifted her head and looked straight into the youth’s eyes, her gaze filled with endless tenderness and affection. Word by word, she said,
“I will never let go of Senior Brother’s hand!”
“It was like that before. It is like that now. And it will be like that in the future.”
She did not know what Senior Brother had experienced yesterday, but she wanted to bring him warmth.
……
Those words struck straight into Yun Hao’s heart, shattering it into pieces. He remembered—this was what his junior sister had said to him during their first outing in the sect, after she had been moved by a storyteller.
He could also hear the sincerity and sweetness in her voice now.
He panicked. For a moment, he did not know how to respond. Lin Shengyu’s words had struck the softest part of his heart, instantly tearing apart the defenses he had been struggling to maintain.
Grievance and bitterness, joy and gratitude surged forth together. He felt as though he could no longer hold them back.
Yun Hao suddenly stood up.
“……It’s getting late. Junior Sister, you should rest early. I’ll be going now.”
With that, he turned and prepared to leave the cave abode without looking back.
Lin Shengyu grew anxious. She knew something was wrong with Senior Brother today. Everything she had said earlier was meant to make him stay the night so she could take care of him.
She was anxious too.
“Senior Brother, stay here tonight. I’ve already prepared Grandfather’s bed.”
As she spoke, she gently hugged one of Yun Hao’s arms, trying to keep him. But what responded to her was a gentle push and a strangely voiced concern.
“No……”
“Rest early, Junior Sister…… I…… I’m leaving.”
……
After the youth finished speaking, spiritual energy faintly burst from his body. He left Lin Shengyu’s cave abode at extreme speed, even gently pushing away her embrace.
……
Lin Shengyu stood there in a daze. Senior Brother had still left……
She had even mustered the courage to say those words despite her shyness……
But she did not beg. Instead, she grew even more determined.
Something must have happened to Senior Brother. Otherwise, he would not have been so abnormal. Her heart trembled slightly. In Senior Brother’s strange voice earlier, there had been a trace of crying. It made her feel terrible.
Her gaze gradually hardened. Spiritual energy surged around her. Over these two years, her cultivation had reached the Core Formation stage. At her age, although she could not compare to the top prodigies, she was still considered a genius.
Without the slightest hesitation, Lin Shengyu followed the spiritual energy fluctuations left by Senior Brother’s departure, tracing them bit by bit. She was going to find him.
No matter what had happened, she was still his future wife. She would be his support.
Moreover, she had said it—she would never let go of Senior Brother’s hand!
……
The cold night’s snow and wind gently struck the youth’s face. He walked aimlessly, like a headless fly, not knowing where to go.
His eyes were filled with deep pain, yet also overflowing with profound gratitude. Just now in the cave abode, his junior sister’s words had gently reached into the deepest part of his heart, tenderly soothing the hollow space within.
He could no longer control his emotions. He felt tears about to fall and could no longer hold them back, so he had fled. He did not want his junior sister to see him like that and worry about him, so he had run far away.
But he did not know where to go. He could only find a remote peak and wander aimlessly…… He was alone again. He wanted to go home, but he could not find one……
(Home……)
When he was twelve, his mother had died of lung disease and left him……
For the first time, he had lost his home……
This year, at eighteen, Senior Sister’s harsh words had deeply pierced his heart. He had been abandoned and lost his home once more……
Wave after wave of bitterness surged within him. His nose stung, and he could no longer hold back. Beneath a tree, he slowly curled up into a ball.
He recalled every little detail of the past two years. Broken sobs intermittently escaped him.
“Wuwuwu～”
He had once believed that these two years of life would be what he experienced every day from then on. He had cherished it deeply, because he had gained freedom and a new life as a person.
But in the end, he had failed to hold on tightly. Without realizing it, he had been abandoned again, then fallen heavily into the abyss, powerless to climb back out……
……
(What was all of this for……?)
The youth drifted in a daze, his thoughts wandering. His body was instinctively filled with spiritual energy, maintaining a slight warmth. But his heart was bitterly cold, slowly freezing over.
……
He did not know how much time had passed. He felt a warmth gradually rising beside him. In his muddled state, he instinctively wanted to move closer.
Crackle! Crackle!
The sound of something burning and cracking was especially piercing in the silent snowy night, yet also strangely comforting.
What was that sound……?
The youth thought in a daze. He felt as though something thick had been placed over his body—thick enough to be frightening, yet reassuring. He could not help but pull it tighter around himself.
Something seemed to be glowing. The youth struggled to think bit by bit in his mind. His consciousness slowly returned.
His eyes, which had been half-closed, suddenly opened. His vision was still somewhat blurry. He could only make out a figure, but could not see the person’s face clearly.
(Have I been discovered……? Well, this might be some other elder’s peak. I came up here without permission and disturbed their peace.)
Yun Hao was about to get up, thank the figure, and leave. But the moment he regained clarity, he found that no matter how he tried to organize his words, he could not speak. Even his expression froze on his face.
That figure was so familiar……
……Junior Sister!!!!?
Bamboo wood crackled as it burned, radiating waves of warm firelight. The girl’s delicate little face glowed softly in the flames. She seemed to have noticed that the youth had woken up and slowly turned her gaze toward him.
Yun Hao stood frozen in place. A tremendous fear engulfed him. The youth panicked. He had told her earlier that he was coming back, but now that his junior sister had found him here, how was he supposed to explain?
He stammered like a child, trying desperately to express what was in his heart but unable to form the words.
“……Jun…… Junior Sister, I…… I……”
……
The youth was like a clumsy performer, constantly putting his awkward acting on display. The girl watched quietly from below the stage but did not say a single word.
Yun Hao could not form a complete sentence for a long time. The tremendous fear in his heart turned into thick despair. He had just told the girl that he would never lie, yet now he had been mercilessly exposed.
Wails of despair echoed inside him. He thought bitterly—if he lost Senior Sister, would he lose Junior Sister as well?
He watched as the girl slowly walked toward him step by step, like a countdown to judgment.
He wanted to keep trying, to say something more, but before he could open his mouth, she had already sat down facing him and gently pulled him into an embrace. Her expression was exceptionally tender.
“Let’s go home, Senior Brother.”
The girl seemed to have spoken, yet also seemed not to have. She seemed to know, yet also seemed not to know. She asked nothing, yet it was more comforting than a thousand words.
Yun Hao’s mask completely shattered. He froze. The girl’s single sentence had pulled out all of his emotions.
……Home……? At this point……
……Did he still have a home……?
Then he could no longer hide his feelings. Tears fell like a kite with its string cut. In sorrow and pain, he answered,
“……Home…… I no longer have a home……”
……
Lin Shengyu gently released Yun Hao. Her eyes revealed a trace of tender affection. She looked at him, accepting his vulnerability, accepting his sorrow. Word by word, she spoke—like a promise, like an affirmation—her voice filled with unwavering certainty.
“You will have a home. You definitely will.”
She released his arms and instead took the youth’s hands, placing them against her slightly full chest. A happy smile appeared on her refined face as she asked him,
“Senior Brother, can you feel my heartbeat?”
She looked at the youth who was still crying and did not wait for his answer before continuing.
“It beats for Senior Brother.”
“As long as there is a place where Senior Brother is, no matter how far away or how unreachable, there will be a home.”
“Because Senior Brother…… is my home.”
She poured out her heart until, at last, she gently embraced the youth once more, holding him tightly.
“Senior Brother, we will have a home. We definitely will.”
“So let’s go home now, alright?”
Lin Shengyu’s every word deeply soothed the youth’s scarred heart. With her tenderness, she filled the affection he had lacked and yearned for over the past eighteen years.
Yun Hao’s sorrow completely poured out. He cried loudly. Memories of Senior Sister and memories of Junior Sister tangled endlessly in his mind. Only after a long time did he answer in a low, sobbing voice,
“……Alright.”
……
Lin Shengyu watched over the now-sleeping Yun Hao, gently stroking his cheek again and again. Half of her delicate little face was filled with happiness, and the other half with heartache.
She was not stupid. She had noticed long ago that something was wrong with the youth. Last night in the snow, Senior Brother had said he had no home and cried in pain.
From those few words, although she could not deduce the complete course of events, she could roughly guess.
The only people Senior Brother regularly spoke with were a few fixed individuals. The only one who could make him this heartbroken was Senior Sister Luo Shuiling.
A strange anger rose in the girl’s heart. She had already recalled it countless times last night, yet every time she thought of it again, she could not control her emotions.
What exactly had that woman done to make the usually gentle Senior Brother so heartbroken? But undeniably, she also felt a trace of gratitude. Gratitude that that woman had pushed Senior Brother out. Since Luo Shuiling did not cherish Senior Brother, she would.
For two whole years—hundreds of nights—she had tossed and turned sleeplessly, waiting bitterly. Now that the opportunity had come, she would seize it tightly.
The girl hesitated. With endless shyness, her pink cherry lips lightly touched the youth’s pale lips for a brief moment. Then she quickly stood up, as though nothing had happened.
She looked at the sky outside the window, which had already brightened, and silently made a vow.
She would definitely give Senior Brother the home he wanted. She swore it!