"Honestly, coming without a word and leaving without a word too, not even staying a few more days."
Watching her mother vanish from sight, the young girl muttered under her breath, her head lowered but Tushan Jingci quickly shook off the feeling, and her long legs carried her happily down toward Xiao Mo's courtyard.
She was missing him again but just as she had run to the halfway point on the mountain, her steps slowed without her meaning them to.
She lowered her head, her fingers twisting together without purpose, her mind turning over and over the words she had said the day before.
Had she been... too lacking in restraint yesterday?
Those storybooks always said that a man cherishes less easily what comes too easily and what is hard to win is treasured all the more once it is won.
Had she been too forward? Would Xiao Mo think less of her because of it?
"Oh, Tushan Jingci! Honestly, what are you even thinking? Xiao Mo is not that kind of person!"
Tushan Jingci shook her head and forced the tangle of thoughts out of her mind.
To start worrying about it now would simply be pointless worrying and she liked him. Was there anything wrong with that?
Liking someone should not require so many twists and turns.
Once her thoughts had settled, she lifted her head and prepared to continue on toward Xiao Mo's bamboo courtyard but before she could take another step, a warm and easy voice reached her ears first. "What is the Young Miss doing here?"
Xiao Mo had come up the mountain path, a smile at the corner of his mouth, his gaze resting on her with gentle warmth.
He had noticed for some time now that Tushan Jingci had been pacing back and forth on this path, sometimes murmuring to herself with lowered head, sometimes shaking her head from side to side.
"I... I was not doing anything. Just taking a walk here."
At the sight of Xiao Mo, Tushan Jingci felt her heart racing faster and faster, pounding away as though it might leap straight out of her throat and as the events of the previous evening came back to her, an embarrassed warmth rose in the young girl's heart, a faint blush quietly spreading across her cheeks but Tushan Jingci quickly steadied herself, lifted her head, and looked at Xiao Mo with slow blinks, a measure of concern showing on her face. "Xiao Mo, did my mother come to find you last night?"
"She did." Xiao Mo gave a nod.
"And... my mother did not do anything to you, did she?" Tushan Jingci's tone carried a thread of tension.
Though her mother had said in words that she would not harm Xiao Mo, what if she had done something else behind her daughter's back?
In any case, Tushan Jingci could not shake the feeling that her mother's sudden visit to the Hanshan Academy had certainly not been as simple as she made it seem.
"What could the Lady possibly do to me? She only asked about my recent cultivation progress and offered me a few words of guidance."
Xiao Mo's expression remained calm, and he gave a faint smile, having no intention of telling Jingci about his conversation with the Lady the night before.
"Truly?" Tushan Jingci stepped forward, her beautiful eyes looking earnestly at Xiao Mo, a note of scrutiny in her gaze. "You are truly not deceiving me?"
A flicker of something passed quickly through Xiao Mo's expression, too fast for Jingci to notice. "I am not."
"Hmm..." Tushan Jingci kept her eyes fixed on Xiao Mo's, her bewitching fox eyes carrying a degree of half-belief.
"All right then."
She finally took a step back, a note of concession in her tone.
"Since Xiao Mo says everything is fine, then everything is fine. Come with me to the Dean's, then. Mother says we are to leave the Hanshan Academy and return to Tushan in two months, so we need to go and let the Dean know first."
With that, Tushan Jingci turned lightly on her heel, her pretty skirt lifting slightly, the hem brushing softly against Xiao Mo's robe, and then began walking ahead.
Xiao Mo followed her with a smile, and the two of them walked at an unhurried pace toward the main peak of the Hanshan Academy.
Watching the slender, graceful figure of the young girl ahead of him, Xiao Mo had the sense that Jingci's pace today was somewhat faster than usual and the atmosphere between the two of them seemed to carry an added warmth as well but on reflection, he understood why.
After all, once one person has confessed their feelings to another, the relationship between them could never again be quite as straightforward as it had been before and though Jingci appeared lively on the surface, she was at heart a girl who could be shy.
Having only just spoken her heart aloud the day before, it was only natural that facing him again today would bring with it some measure of bashfulness.
"If you like me, I will make you like me even more in the future."
"If you do not like me, I will make you fall for me in the future."
Xiao Mo thought back to the words Jingci had said the previous day, and a faint smile rose unbidden to the corners of his lips, a warm current moving slowly through his heart.
What a wonderful young woman she was and a young woman as wonderful as this.
How could it possibly be him that she had come to love?
"Xiao Mo, what is the matter? You look rather down."
Just as Xiao Mo had fallen into thought, the perceptive Tushan Jingci turned around, her eyes full of concern as she looked at him, worry in her voice.
"It is nothing. I was only thinking about how to tell the Young Miss that Elder Sister Liu Shui has left the Hanshan Academy." Xiao Mo gave a faint smile and shook his head, offering the excuse that came readily to hand.
"Oh?" Tushan Jingci gave a small start, somewhat surprised. "Elder Sister Liu Shui has left?"
"Yes."
Xiao Mo explained to Tushan Jingci about Liu Shui going to the Seeking Immortals Temple, and gave her a brief introduction to the temple and to Daoist Master Yun Xi.
Of course, he naturally said nothing of the matters that should not be spoken of.
After listening, Tushan Jingci gave a quiet nod, a trace of sadness in her expression, but she was genuinely happy for Liu Shui all the same. "I was going to ask Elder Sister Liu Shui whether she wanted to come back to Tushan with us. I never imagined she would be chosen by a sect instead. But if you say that Daoist Master Yun Xi is so formidable, then I am certain Elder Sister Liu Shui will achieve great things in the future."
"I believe so too. The next time we see Elder Sister Liu Shui, she will certainly have come much further along the great path."
Xiao Mo looked at Tushan Jingci, his tone warm and encouraging.
"The Young Miss should also cultivate diligently. The world is unsettled these days. The higher one's cultivation, the safer one will be."
"But I have you."
The young girl's eyes curved into two pretty crescent moons. She clasped her hands behind her back and gave a light, happy hop forward, bending her slender waist slightly to look up at Xiao Mo from below, her bright face full of smiles.
"You did promise my mother, after all, that you would protect me for the rest of my life."
Her voice was light and playful, carrying a sense of contented reliance, alongside an unspoken joy.
"And so..."
The young girl straightened back up, her eyes shining as she looked at him, the smile at her lips growing ever brighter.
"I entrust my whole life to you, Young Master Xiao."