Ku Lo peeked at the rooftop to see if a certain someone still hid there.
She wasn't. Only the first raindrops of a downpour falling from the sky occupied the rooftop's tiles before they flowed into the gutters.
It seemed that Rin Tin Tin had the decency to leave in order to give him space; he was sure of this for some mysterious reason.
'Could it be that I share a faint dual cultivation link with her, too?' he pondered. 'I did penetrate her, but that shouldn't be enough for such a strong link... and it has been almost a week since it happened in the first place.'
'But what else is there? Us creating a bond would make a lot of sense as to why I can sense her warm intentions towards me-' He shook his head. 'Whatever, all I need to know is that she's gone.'
Ku Lo turned his focus to the frozen Huang Qingling not faced by the rain soaking her brown hair and white robes.
'I should still try to genuinely help her. Gingge has gone too far for me not to answer with love to her, and to her family.' His feelings for Gingge skyrocketed every time she put herself out there for him.
With his mind made up, he decided to offer his heart to Gingge. By extension, this meant he needed to take care of Qingling.
A foot began tapping against the ground as a hand scratched the underside of his chin.
'Maybe I can just-' His hands tried to pull her up and under the roofed entrance.
'Nope, not happening.' He couldn't move her slippery hand an inch.
'What if I-' With a hint of power, he pushed her shoulders.
Qingling didn't have a reaction, yet her body did lean into a fall.
'Shit!' He lunged after her, catching her halfway to the ground with his hand around her waist.
"Bastard! What are you doing?! Get your hands off me!" Qingling struggled out of his grasp, which led to her falling on the wet ground.
"I wasn't—"
"Shouldn't you be with Gingge?" Her index finger pointed at him standing atop of her lying on the ground. "Did you try to..."
"No! I would never."
She laughed hysterically. "You expect me to believe that?"
"I have my standards. No matter what you think, molestation is below me."
"But forgetting everything else in the world when Feng Huling gives a little tease isn't? Why did the man Gingge wanted have to be such a resilient liar?"
"Wait. Wait. Wait. That's rich coming from you. Wasn't it your idea to—"
"She wouldn't have gotten over you otherwise. I gave her what she wanted while preparing to get rid of you and console her once you'd inevitably break her heart. But she just…"
"Why can't you let her pick?"
"Would you let a child run into the woods?"
"She isn't a child!" He tried his best to keep his voice down as an act of appearing calm, yet this was still a slight exclaim.
"She is. Who in their right mind would come to like someone enough to forgive this treatment after a few hours of looking at them from afar?"
"So what or whom are you looking for?" His light blue eyes were wide open. "Some far way prince perfect?"
"If he can take care of my sister, mentally and physically, then yes."
"And why are you so against me making it up to her? I'll do whatever it takes to make her happy!"
"Forget it. Your flowery words mean nothing to me.."
"I'm not a cold-blooded monster. There's no way I don't get how much I hurt her. If she hated me, I would stay as far from her as possible but you've seen her, too. She still wants the asshole who ditched her for another girl. So, as long as she is willing to try, I will give it my all to make up for what I lacked before!"
He reached out his hand to her. "Please. Just for now — please — be the caring sister she needs."
"If you're so eager to make it up to her, then why not break up with everyone else?"
"What?"
"Is that already the limit of your sincerity?"
"What are you talking about? Anyway, Gingge told me she doesn't care for this as long as I love her."
"This isn't just about your own incompetence, not everything is about you. And of course, she'll tell you so. However, the reality of the situation is that Gingge can't deal with rivals. Soon as she has to fight off others, her spirit is crushed. Go in there and you'll see what it does to her."
"So that's why-" He let out a deep sigh. "But how could I do that? Neglecting Fen'er and Ling'er because of my mistake wouldn't be fair either."
Qingling looked at him like he was an idiot. "I do not care"
"Right, you don't care and I understand why."
"Good, then waddle off now." She shooed him with a hand. "If you can't—"
"I'm not going anywhere," he cut her mid-sentence. "You might not care for me, but you do care about your sister's well being."
"Really?"
He nodded. "Both of us can play this game."
His smirk must've done its job as her cheek twitched. "Do you know that the contract allows me to end your life?"
"Do it."
She stood, silent.
"Do it," he repeated. "Let's see how she'll react to that."
Her head tilted as a vein on her forehead appeared next to popping open.
"Now tell me how I can fix thi—"
Before he could finish, a hand slapped his face. "There's a limit even for that."
The slap wasn't any harder than the one before, but this time Ku Lo was only forced to lean forward.
Now towering over him — he didn't dare to stand back up — he watched how Qingling took her time cleaning her hand which had slapped him. "One final chance. Your wanton recklessness for your own life has earned it. As a bonus for not even complaining about that slap and knowing your place, I'll throw in a piece of advice. Listen closely, lucky bastard: Sweep her off her feet. Demand extreme things from her so she can't think and feels wanted."
"After all your self-righteous buildup, this is what you come up with?"
"You're the one who caused this and now you're picky about advice? Get going or my blade might get a mind of its own."
"Yes., thank you for your malevolence." To end this grovelling, Ku Lo made his way to Gingge's room without a further word.
Inside of the room lit by a single candle, right behind the door lied Gingge curled into a ball.
"It's okay now. No need to cry." His hands embraced Gingge, drawing her into his chest.
"D-did y-you stop fighting?" Gingge's hands squirmed around him and hugged tight. "Is t-the f-fight over?"
"Mmm-" he patted her back. "We'll not fight anymore." Of course, this was a lie.
Ku Lo knew the argument wasn't over, but the two of them had agreed on a ceasefire for Gingge's sake. Whatever Qingling decided to punish him with would be the punishment Gingge was unwilling to administer.