"We've been traveling and staying together all this time, never separating..." Murong Jing He mused, confirming the specific timing of when this situation began. Then he asked, "Did anything unusual happen when you were in that coffin?"
At his reminder, Mei Lin couldn’t help but recall the beautiful man and the dizzying fragrance that emanated from him.
"Did you touch the body?" Murong Jing He frowned.
"I wanted to take the jade pillow from under his head, so naturally..." Mei Lin began to explain, feeling a bit uneasy, but Murong Jing He cut her off impatiently.
"That kind of corpse isn’t something you can just mess with! Do you even have a brain?"
Scolded again. Mei Lin felt a bit dejected, but it wasn’t as upsetting as before, mainly because she could sense the concern in his reprimand... or at least she hoped it was concern.
"Are you sure he’s even dead?" she muttered, still finding it hard to believe that the man was truly deceased.
"That stone forest has existed for centuries, did you really think that person was recently placed there?" Murong Jing He responded irritably. After a moment’s thought, he decided it wasn’t worth getting angry over something like this, so he added, "This is the kind of good fortune others dream of; you should consider yourself lucky."
Hearing the dismissive tone in his voice, Mei Lin didn’t press the issue further. Thus, the matter of her internal energy's resurgence was left at that, and the two didn’t speak of it again for a long time.
Although Lao Wozi village was poor, life there was peaceful and serene, free from deceit and constant fear. Mei Lin had never experienced such a life before, and she felt that enduring some hardship for it was worthwhile.
However, while the herbal soup helped alleviate the pain from the poison, it didn’t lessen the poison’s toll on her body. The increasing conflict between the poison and her growing internal energy caused her to faint several times. Once, she collapsed on her way back from hunting in the mountains and was carried home by a villager.
When she awoke, she found herself lying on the bed, facing Murong Jing He, who looked displeased. Before she could recall what had happened, she heard the loud, grating voice of a man speaking in the local dialect.
Confused, she turned her head and saw a short man sitting at the foot of the bed, one leg crossed, drinking water from a bowl while talking to Murong Jing He. To be precise, he was the one doing all the talking, while Murong Jing He just listened.
The room was filled with the stifling smell of fermented beans, so strong that it nearly made Mei Lin faint again.
When the man noticed that Mei Lin had woken up, his face lit up with excitement. If not for the cold look in Murong Jing He’s eyes, he might have rushed over to her.
"Lady Lin, you’re finally awake! Have some water, have some water..." he said enthusiastically, moving closer to offer her the bowl in his hand.
As he approached, the stench grew stronger. Mei Lin’s face paled slightly. She propped herself up and took the bowl, but didn’t drink from it.
"And you are..." Although she wanted to chase this strange man out, her ingrained caution made her smile faintly. Understanding the situation was her priority.
Mei Lin was naturally beautiful, and her smile was like a delicate flower blooming, her pale complexion only adding to her fragile, captivating charm—completely different from the typical village women.
The man stared at her in a daze, nearly drooling, until Murong Jing He’s cold snort snapped him out of it.
Although Mei Lin was displeased, she didn’t show it on her face. She got out of bed, tucked Murong Jing He’s blankets in, and finally listened to the man’s stammered explanation. It took a while, but she eventually understood that this man had brought her back after finding her unconscious on the ground.
Since he had helped her, she couldn’t be rude. She picked a deer, two hares, and five wild chickens from her hunt to thank him, and only after much effort did she manage to see him off. While the villagers in Lao Wozi lived near the mountains, few were skilled hunters, most relying on their few acres of poor farmland. So the gifts Mei Lin gave were quite generous.
After sending him off, Mei Lin returned to the main room, where the foul smell still lingered, and Murong Jing He’s expression was no better. Remembering how he had reacted to the smell of the corpse in the tomb, Mei Lin couldn’t help but feel a mix of amusement and sympathy at how long he had endured without complaining.
"I want to go outside," he said, clearly unable to tolerate it any longer.
At his words, Mei Lin instinctively glanced out the window. It was already evening, the mountains bathed in sunset hues, the sky a clear, deep blue—a beautiful autumn evening. Realizing it had been a long time since he’d been outside, she agreed, then found a chair in decent condition, placed it by the wall, and went to help him.
Just as she lifted him onto her back and took a few steps, she felt a sharp bite on her ear. Her legs almost gave way.
"You’d better not take a liking to that sort of man," Murong Jing He said in a deeper voice than usual, his tone commanding rather than suggestive.
Mei Lin steadied herself and continued walking, mulling over his words until she couldn’t help but laugh.
"What are you thinking about?" she replied. The villagers all believed they were a married couple, so no one would dare make a move on her. Besides, she was fully aware of her physical condition, and with the responsibility of caring for him, how could she possibly have the energy to entangle herself with anyone else?
Murong Jing He sneered, still biting her ear. "Then why were you smiling so flirtatiously at him?"
Flirtatious, flirtatious, flirtatious... For a moment, Mei Lin’s mind was filled with that word, and she nearly choked on it. It took her a while before she angrily retorted, "I smile at you even more flirtatiously, and you’ve never done anything about it!" She was so frustrated that she didn’t watch her words, and only after she spoke did she realize what she had said. Her face flushed red.
Murong Jing He chuckled, his mood much improved. By the time Mei Lin set him down in the chair, his expression had returned to normal, no longer showing the sour face as if someone owed him a fortune.
Mei Lin draped a coat over him, then returned to the house, stripping the bedding and soaking it in a basin. She opened all the windows wide and used mugwort to fumigate the entire room. Even she didn’t know why she couldn’t stand the idea of the bed being tainted by someone else’s smell. After all, she had shared much filthier and smellier spaces with others before.
She couldn’t figure it out, and didn’t want to dwell on it. As she went about her tasks, she kept replaying the words she had blurted out earlier, her face growing hotter and her heart beating faster. She felt both embarrassed and anxious, and there was a strange anticipation—as if... as if they were back in that narrow tunnel, their bodies pressed together as he whispered her name close to her ear.
"Would you stay with me if I were like this for the rest of my life?" Murong Jing He suddenly asked, retracting his gaze from the horizon just as Mei Lin was squatting by the well, washing the bedding.
For life... Mei Lin’s hands paused, her lowered eyes darkening. She didn’t answer.
How could she promise him a lifetime?
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