Time passes differently in the mountains.
The light at the entrance of the cave wasn't great. When Chen Yin woke up the next day, it was still dim, and he couldn't even tell what time it was.
—Shen Shuanglian was quietly sleeping in his arms.
At the start of last night, the two of them had embraced somewhat awkwardly, hesitant to hold each other too tightly, leaving an intangible sense of distance between them.
But later, perhaps too tired, Shen Shuanglian finally collapsed onto his shoulder, nestling into his arms and falling into a deep sleep.
Chen Yin lowered his head to look at her face.
Her features were soft and serene, exuding a pure and natural beauty reminiscent of a first love. A few strands of hair clung to her cheeks, her lips rosy and teeth white, creating an irresistible allure.
As a shameless flirt at heart, Chen Yin had to swallow hard multiple times to suppress the urge to sneak a kiss.
—No, no. Taking advantage of someone in a vulnerable moment goes against my principles.
Perhaps disturbed by his subtle movements, Shen Shuanglian let out a soft whimper from her pink little nose and slowly opened her drowsy eyes.
"Hmm… Is it morning already?"
"If you're still tired, why not sleep a bit longer?" Chen Yin teased. "In a place like this, no one's going to wake you up for morning training, right?"
Her half-awake mind began to clear as his joke registered. That's when Shen Shuanglian noticed they were in an undeniably intimate embrace. She was practically using his chest as a pillow, leaning on him so comfortably that she instinctively didn't want to move.
Yet, her face immediately flushed red, and she shifted slightly to the side, her voice small as she asked, "Are… are you alright? Did you feel colder last night?"
"With such a warm and cozy senior sister to hold, how could I feel cold?" Chen Yin grinned cheekily.
Shen Shuanglian's face turned an even deeper shade of red. She averted her gaze, avoiding his eyes, but her tone wasn't one of annoyance. Instead, she asked with genuine concern, "That's good then… But what about other places? Are you feeling unwell anywhere?"
"I think instead of worrying about me, Senior Sister should focus more on her own condition."
Chen Yin's expression grew slightly serious. "Last night, your body felt even colder than mine. Didn't you notice?"
Shen Shuanglian's gaze dimmed slightly.
"I… I'm fine."
"If you call having half your meridians shattered 'fine,' then sure."
Last night, after Shen Shuanglian had drifted off in his arms, Chen Yin had taken the opportunity to check her condition.
What he discovered shocked him.
Shen Shuanglian had used all her spiritual energy to protect him when they jumped off the cliff together, enduring almost all of the impact herself.
Who knows how high that mountain was or how hard the fall must have been?
Chen Yin had done his best to stabilize her injuries, but while he was adept with swordsmanship, medicine wasn't his forte.
Moreover, unlike Shen Shuanglian, a senior disciple from a well-resourced sect who could casually pull out valuable pills, Chen Yin's miserly master wouldn't even part with a life-saving pill without substituting it with something from a street quack. He had done what little he could to calm her disrupted spiritual energy, trusting that her protagonist-like resilience would see her through.
Now, with her secret revealed, Shen Shuanglian bit her lip gently but stubbornly insisted, "It's nothing. Just some minor injuries. I still have some pills, and I'll recover quickly."
"But you," she continued, "you're too weak to handle strong medicine right now. The pill I gave you has potent effects. You must wait patiently for it to disperse, or it could endanger your life."
Chen Yin didn't dare tell her the truth, so he could only laugh awkwardly.
—If Senior Sister found out that I wasn't actually injured, she'd probably kill me for taking advantage of her last night.
The sky was still gray and hazy. Both of them needed to recover from their injuries, so there was no urgency to wander around. They leaned against each other in the cave, quietly resting.
"This is kind of boring, just sitting here. Senior Sister, why don't we chat?"
"Alright," Shen Shuanglian tilted her head slightly. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Hmm… did you sleep well last night, Senior Sister?"
"…It was alright."
"Was it because being in my arms was too comfortable?"
"…"
"I noticed you slept very soundly and couldn't be woken up. Were you having a romantic dream? Was I in it?"
"…"
"Senior Sister, you're so shy. Have you never had a boyfriend? With so many people pursuing you, have you never thought of picking one as your little boyfriend?"
"…"
After listening to Chen Yin ramble on endlessly, Shen Shuanglian finally managed to squeeze out a single sentence: "Say something I can actually respond to."
Chen Yin cleared his throat and, after a pause, said slowly, "Alright then. Why did you save me, Senior Sister?"
"I—I already told you. You're my junior brother. I couldn't just stand by and watch my fellow disciple fall to his death—"
"Is there another reason?" Chen Yin's gaze was clear as he looked into Shen Shuanglian's eyes.
Shen Shuanglian lowered her lashes. After a long silence, she turned her head away, avoiding his gaze.
"Is that reason… not enough?"
"For me, it's not."
Chen Yin's tone grew a little lazy. "I don't know what kind of environment you grew up in, Senior Sister."
"But as far back as I can remember, I've been wandering in this world."
"No food. No clothes. Just to survive, you had to fight stray dogs for dirty pastries on the ground or discarded rotten meat."
"Thinking about how to stay alive every single day left me utterly exhausted. As for dignity? I didn't even know what that word meant."
"People like me, even accepting kindness feels like a luxury."
He thought for a moment before continuing, "If someone offered me a biscuit with a kind smile, I wouldn't eat it."
"I'd worry it was drugged, meant to knock me out and sell me as some plaything."
"If I found medicine for a cold, I'd first mix it into food for a stray dog. Only if the dog didn't die after eating it would I dare consume it myself."
Shen Shuanglian was stunned by his words. After a long pause, she asked hesitantly, "Do you really have to be that cautious?"
"Kids who aren't that cautious don't live more than six months. I've seen plenty of them."
He turned his gaze toward Shen Shuanglian, his eyes bright and piercing, leaving no room to hide.
"That's why I don't believe in unprovoked kindness."
"I don't believe anyone would risk their life for someone completely unrelated to them."
—Perhaps, in the world I once lived in, such things existed.
But in this world?
Absolutely not.
"So, Senior Sister, why did you really jump down with me?"
His gaze burned as it locked onto her.
Shen Shuanglian pursed her lips lightly, and the air grew heavy with silence.
"Of course," Chen Yin suddenly switched back to a playful, carefree tone, "if it's because you've fallen for my dashing good looks and had love at first sight, deciding I'm the only one you'll marry in this lifetime, then I might be willing to believe that."
"Sigh, what can I say? My charm is just too overwhelming."
Shen Shuanglian lowered her head.
Her beautiful eyes flickered several times, but in the end, she only spoke softly:
"Maybe… it's because I'm different from you."
"For me, some things don't need a reason."
Like the love at first sight you mentioned.
Like me saving you.
<+>
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