Beautiful girl, why did you leave without a word

The wind rustled the phoenix tree leaves.

In the dense mountain forest, time had passed unnoticed. The sun leaned against the mountaintop, and the golden rays of sunset filtered through the gaps between the leaves, casting mottled shadows on the ground.

The grimy girl had finally cried enough.

She lifted her head, glanced at the sun about to dip below the horizon, wiped her tear-streaked face and the dirt with her sleeve haphazardly, took a deep breath, sniffled, and calmed herself down.

“As long as I’m alive, it’s fine. As long as I’m alive, it’s fine.”

Xia Hanmo muttered quietly, repeating the words like a mantra, a hint of obsession in her voice.

Her mind was in chaos now.

It should have been a good thing that he was still alive. It should have been a good thing that they had reunited. So why had it turned out like this?

“Xia Hanmo, you’re such an idiot.”

The girl cursed herself under her breath, then slapped her cheeks hard, as if trying to scatter her tangled thoughts.

“Anyway, he’s alive…”

“Even if… even if it’s like this now, it’s still so much better than before. At least you can hide in the shadows and sneak a look at him, right?”

“Isn’t that what you wanted?”

She mumbled to herself, as if trying to convince herself. Then she patted the dirt off her clothes, stepped on the fallen leaves, and prepared to walk out of the forest alone, heading toward the setting sun.

The girl’s footsteps crunched on the withered leaves.

Crackle, crackle.

Just like her mood at that moment—utterly scattered and chaotic.

“Beautiful maiden, why take your leave without a word?”

Just then, a gentle voice came from above. It drifted down with the falling leaves, softly landing in the girl’s ears.

Hearing that familiar voice, the girl froze in her steps.

She jerked her head up and looked toward the source of the sound. Not far away, on a tree branch, sat a young man clad in white robes. The hem of his clothes swayed in the wind, and a warm smile lingered on his face. The golden glow of the setting sun bathed him, making him look like a celestial being descended from the heavens.

Xia Hanmo stared at that figure, stunned.

That figure she had longed for day and night.

“What? Stunned into silence?” Ye Shu sat on the tree trunk, grinning at her. “Is my grand entrance too cool for you, swept you off your feet?”

“How… how could that be…”

Xia Hanmo gazed at that figure, then suddenly covered her face, turned around, and bolted.

“I don’t know you! You’ve got the wrong person!”

Ye Shu, sitting on the branch, watched her fleeing back and let out a cold snort.

“Hmph! Trying to run?”

With that, he lightly raised his right hand.

Above his head, the miniature figure in black-and-white Daoist robes suddenly opened its eyes. A shimmering, multicolored thread connected the tops of their heads.

Ye Shu reached out and snapped the thread lightly.

The Little Fairy Doctor, who was sprinting frantically, suddenly felt a pang in her heart—as if something bad was about to happen. She instinctively pressed her hand to her chest, not noticing the protruding tree root in front of her.

The next moment—

Wham!

Her foot caught on the root, and the Little Fairy Doctor lost her balance completely. She pitched forward, rolling several times on the ground before stopping, covered in mud and dead leaves.

She lay on the ground, her head still spinning.

Then she heard the crisp sound of footsteps behind her, growing closer.

“Run, will you? Then go on, run some more.”

Ye Shu strolled up leisurely, a smug grin on his lips. “You sneak-kissed me and tried to run off? You think things are that easy in this world?”

Xia Hanmo lay on the ground, dirty and messy, her face smeared with mud and leaves like a little stray cat. She watched Ye Shu approaching slowly, looked at her own wretched state, and an inexplicable wave of grievance welled up inside her.

She stared intently at Ye Shu’s face, her lower lip clamped tightly between her teeth, her eyes rimmed with red, the muscles around her face twitching.

A bad feeling suddenly crept into Ye Shu’s heart.

Sure enough, the next second, the Little Fairy Doctor threw her head back and burst into loud sobs.

“Wahhh!!!“”

She cried loudly, tears streaming down her face in big drops, mixing with the mud and leaves. She looked utterly pitiful and disheveled, like a three-year-old child sitting on the ground wailing.

Even Ye Shu was startled.

“Hey! Don’t cry!”

“I was just joking! Why are you suddenly crying? Did you hurt yourself when you fell?” He quickly stepped forward, crouched down, and awkwardly picked up Xia Hanmo from the ground, his hands patting her all over, afraid she might be injured.

Of course, there wasn’t a single bruise.

For a mighty cultivator at the Return to Void stage to get hurt from a fall—that level of absurdity was just as ridiculous as tripping over a tree root while running through the forest.

The entire cultivation realm would cease to exist!

“Boo hoo… big meanie, big meanie, big meanie… Why… why did you come looking for me… I… I had already decided to leave…” Xia Hanmo wrapped her arms around Ye Shu’s waist and buried her face in his chest, sobbing loudly like a child who had suffered an immense wrong, her shoulders trembling.

“Like this, how could I bear to leave you…”

Ye Shu gently held her, gazing up at the sky and softly patting her back. He didn’t say a word, letting her vent all the grievances in her heart.

“These fifteen years must have been so hard on you…”

He looked at the pitiful girl in his arms and sighed softly in his heart.

He didn’t ask what she had been through. It didn’t matter. If she wanted to talk, he would listen. If she didn’t, he wouldn’t press her.

He just held her quietly, listening to her soft, choked sobs. It felt like he would hold her forever if she kept crying.

The sun slowly set, and the moon gradually rose.

The sky cleared. One by one, bright stars silently appeared, casting scattered light across the deep blue canvas.

The girl’s crying finally ceased.

Ye Shu looked down at her swollen, tear-filled eyes. Gently brushing away a leaf stuck to her face, he smiled. “Look at you, all teary-eyed like a little kitten. How are you going to face anyone now?”

Xia Hanmo pouted, her expression full of grievance.

She was still upset, still wanting to cry.

“You… how did you find me?” She sniffled, her voice choked.

Hearing this, Ye Shu sighed helplessly.

“Come on, miss. If you wanted to run, you could have at least gone farther, right? You were just squatting in the next mountain forest crying—from morning till night.”

“It was hard not to find you.”

The Little Fairy Doctor was momentarily stunned.

So… so it was because she hadn’t run far enough and hadn’t cried quietly enough that he found her?

“Wahhh!”

With that thought, Xia Hanmo lifted her head, threw herself into Ye Shu’s arms, and burst into loud sobs again.

This time, she was crying because she was too stupid.