"Ahem, ahem..."
No response.
"Hmph!"
Still no response.
Feeling mischievous, Chu Ruo picked up a small pebble and flicked it forward. *Swish!* An invisible surge of sword qi shattered the stone into dust. She immediately puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction. "I said, pay some attention to me, won't you?"
This little scorpion... ever since there was hope of restoring her martial arts, she had been practicing diligently every day, to the point of forgetting to eat or sleep. Chu Ruo wasn't truly upset that Nan Muxue wasn't spending time with her; she was simply worried about the woman’s body. Practicing day and night in the harsh environment of the valley floor—how could such a frail constitution handle it?
Still being ignored. After a moment of thought, Chu Ruo covered her eyes with her hands and let out a pitiful cry. "It hurts! Oh, my eyes hurt... Xue'er..."
With just that one sentence, the woman immediately dropped the tree branch in her hand and rushed to her side. Though her face wore an amused expression of someone who knew exactly what was going on, she still took Chu Ruo's hands in hers. "What is it? Alright, stop rubbing them, or you'll make it worse."
The next second, Nan Muxue was pulled into a tight embrace. "Will you rest for a bit now?"
"You..."
"You've been practicing from dawn till dusk. Even martial arts require rest."
"I'm not tired..."
"Look at you, still being stubborn with me."
Nan Muxue chuckled softly and patted her back. "I'm fine. You stay here by the fire and be good."
"You're the one who needs to be good. Ever since you found that spring and the mandala fruits, you've been practicing day and night. Do you think you're made of iron? Even iron rusts. Please, just rest for a while."
Her tone turned helpless. "Ruo'er."
"Feel your own hands; they're freezing." Chu Ruo carefully pulled Nan Muxue's hands toward her mouth, breathing warm air onto them. "It's been so many nights. If this keeps up, I'm afraid you'll collapse. Be good. At least for tonight, sit for a while, warm yourself by the fire, and keep me company. You've been ignoring me lately."
Nan Muxue's heart softened. From the very beginning, she had never been able to be truly cruel to the person before her. A campfire at night was a great comfort; she sat down beside Chu Ruo and reached out to brush the bangs from her forehead. "It isn't as exaggerated as you make it sound."
"It is, it is!" Seeing her relent, Chu Ruo hugged her even tighter. "Lately, you wake up and immediately start practicing. Aside from eating and sleeping, you're always training. You don't even talk to me."
There was a fair amount of exaggeration in those words, but it was true that she had been overly focused. Nan Muxue cupped Chu Ruo's face. "I have neglected you these past few days."
"Hehe."
Nan Muxue looked into those eyes, which always held only her reflection. She could never help but love them deeply. "What are you smirking at?"
"I just feel that even though you knew I was faking the eye pain, you still came to coax me immediately."
"That is because your Master has no way of dealing with you."
"Xue'er..."
Faced with Chu Ruo suddenly burrowing into her arms, Nan Muxue instinctively reached out to hold her beloved. "What is it?" she asked, using all her tenderness to soothe her. "Ruo'er?"
"What if we can't get out? We've explored almost everywhere these past few days, and we haven't found a way up..."
"Since Mother could return, we surely can as well. If we truly cannot leave, then I will stay here with you for the rest of our lives."
"You're practicing so hard just to take me out of here, aren't you?"
"Did you apply the spring water to your eyes tonight?"
Chu Ruo pouted. "Let's not. That spring water is useful for restoring your martial arts, but no one said it can make a blind person see. You apply it every day; isn't it a waste?"
Nan Muxue understood the truth in her heart. It was a futile effort. The words of Phoenix and Bai Zhi'er still echoed in her ears—it wasn't that Ruo'er's eyes couldn't be healed, but that she felt such deep guilt. She believed Nan Muxue's loss of martial arts was her fault, and so she was "punishing" herself subconsciously. That was why her eyes wouldn't heal. This was why Nan Muxue pushed herself day and night to recover; only then would Ruo'er's eyes get better. *Ruo'er, why are you so foolish? I have never once blamed you.*
"Xue'er..."
Another pitiful call brought Nan Muxue back to her senses. She coaxed, "Are you resentful that I've been obsessed with martial arts lately? I..."
The person in her arms shook her head repeatedly. "I just feel that you shouldn't have to work so hard."
"Are you going to say those silly things about dragging me down again?"
"It's the truth."
"I see that whenever you're idle, you start overthinking."
"I'm just worried about you."
Nan Muxue leaned down and kissed her forehead lightly. "Since you can't sit still, starting tomorrow, practice martial arts with me."
"Huh?"
"Unwilling?"
"Not that. How is your recovery going?"
Nan Muxue smiled. "Are you afraid your Master won't be able to beat you and will get hurt by your hand?"
It was clearly a joke, but the person in her arms replied seriously, "I could never bear to hurt you."
"Ruo'er," her tone had been moving just a second ago, but now she spoke with a hint of challenge, "you would need the ability to do so first."
"Hey, even if I'm your disciple, it's been so long that I should have graduated by now. After all, 'teaching the apprentice starves the master,' right?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she buried her head in Nan Muxue's chest, as if anticipating a "punishment." But she always forgot that the woman holding her was unpredictable. For instance, right now, Nan Muxue looked at her ridiculous behavior and simply held her close. "You talk big but you're still afraid. Hiding like this, aren't you afraid I'll hit you?"
"It's not like you haven't hit me before. But I just want to be close to you."
"As I said before, your mouth is likely used to coaxing people all the time."
"That's slander! Xue'er, do you remember that time you took me out? You said once I finished my training, I could leave the mountain. Do you remember?"
How could she ever forget the details of their time together? "How could I not? The first time I took you down the mountain, you already wanted to run away. Thinking back, I really should have beaten you to death then."
"...Why are you so un-cute?"
Her pressure point was poked, and that familiar, intimidating tone returned. "Hmm?"
Chu Ruo laughed it off. "Let's continue reminiscing. I remember you said that if I could steal the antidote for the Hundred Flowers Gu from you, I'd be considered graduated. But after all this time, I still haven't managed to steal it."
Nan Muxue stroked Chu Ruo's hair, smiling faintly. "You wanted to succeed that badly? Just so you could leave Baihua Palace and leave this 'little scorpion'?"
"No," Chu Ruo had slowly shifted her position to lie across Nan Muxue's lap. She looked up and smiled. "Actually, from that moment on, I already couldn't leave you."
"You..."
"It's just that back then, I was conflicted between you and Yan'er. The more I thought about it, the more of a scoundrel I felt I was. I had a cowardly personality and only thought about escaping. I thought leaving would be better for both you and Yan'er. Actually, I should thank Liu Shaopeng. If he hadn't captured me, none of the later events would have happened."
"Is that so? You even went so far as to try and concoct the antidote for the Hundred Flowers Gu yourself..."
"Cough, well, I didn't succeed, did I?"
Nan Muxue gave a soft, mocking huff. "If you had succeeded, I suppose you'd be off somewhere living a carefree life by now?"
"Well..."
"With your skills, you'd probably open a small shop, earn a bit of money, eat and drink every day, and visit brothels when you had the chance. A grand, unrestrained life, wouldn't it be?"
"Hehe, wifey, just tell me—how do you always know exactly what I'm thinking? Ow, ow! You're pinching me again, it hurts..."
"It hurts, yet you never learn. I really shouldn't have saved you back then. I should have let you fend for yourself; then we wouldn't have all this trouble now."
"Then you wouldn't have a husband."
Nan Muxue spoke gloomily, "Do you have a death wish?"
Chu Ruo continued fearlessly, "Wife, there's no one else here, just admit it."
The other woman raised her hand to strike, but Chu Ruo reacted quickly and caught it. "You're right, I overthink when I'm idle. These past few days while watching you practice, I've been thinking about the past, about when we first met. Especially that first trip down the mountain. Actually, you didn't have to care about me. You didn't hesitate to offend Flying Eagle Manor just to save me."
"You are the disciple I spent so much blood and effort to train. If I didn't save you, wouldn't all that effort be wasted?"
"You're just a tsundere. You saved me, but then you beat me until I looked like a pig's head."
"Are you not a pig's head already?"
"You—" Chu Ruo wasn't angry; on the contrary, she laughed happily. "Actually, when I saw your hand that day, my heart ached for you. From the very beginning, I felt that you sacrificed too much for me."
"When I went to save you that day, I thought of nothing else. I had only one thought: I had to get my Ruo'er out, no matter the cost." She kissed her. "As long as it is you, it is worth it."
Chu Ruo sat up and carefully pressed her lips against her beloved's. "I never needed to steal the antidote. Do you know why? Because my Xue'er would give it to me herself."
"Do you know why I won't give you the antidote?" Nan Muxue responded passionately. "I want you to never be able to steal it. I want you to never graduate."
