Su Kang is chatting with Bai Yunxi. After eating, he left from there. Bai Yunxi is walking with a maid to her bedroom. She asked her,
"What's your name?"
"Reporting to Young Lady, this servant is Xian'er. If you need anything, you can call me out anytime."
"You, what did you call me?" Bai Yunxi asked in surprise.
"Young lady? Young Master brought Young Lady back to the Su family; servants are talking about this." Xian'er replied.
Bai Yunxi is feeling complicated. He didn't tell her anything about this; maybe even he does not know about this. Servants are just talking rumors, Bai Yunxi thought. She let it go for now.
During their sightseeing on the journey, she faced such situations many times. She is already immune to this situation. She believes tomorrow Su Kang will correct this rumor.
"How is your young master?" Bai Yunxi asked suddenly.
"Young master is a gentleman who is humble and carefree. He is friends with genius Li Fang. Young master's vision is beyond ordinary. When Li Fang was struggling with many enemies, it was the young master who helped him and even convinced the Su family to help him. Now Li Fang is the youngest pill formation expert of Jiang state. Everyone knows that without Young Master, Li Fang's journey to the current stage is impossible." Xian'er said.
After listening to this, Bai Yunxi is silent. She heard from Su Kang about their adventures about treasure seeking, secret realms, or fights. But he didn't say something like this directly.
"What about your young master's fiancée or someone like that?" Bai Yunxi asked.
"Reporting to Young Lady, Young Master doesn't have any fiancée yet. But now that he has you. Both of you should decide together about your engagement or marriage in the future."
Xian'er thought since Bai Yunxi didn't mind her calling 'Young lady' or denied the rumors, it must be true.
Bai Yunxi's face is turning red. Her cheek and ears are becoming a little red. She was caught off guard by this answer.
"Okay. I am sleepy. You can go." Bai Yunxi hurriedly ran to the room.
Now she is alone in the room. It is elegantly decorated with many items; the bed is big and wide, but somehow it felt empty to her.
It is the first time that she lived in such a big house, which inexplicably made her a little anxious.
In the silent and dark room, her mind kept wandering; it was filled with words of Xian'er. She is thinking about Su Kang's previous words.
"Was he talking about me? He didn't clearly say anything; maybe it's someone else? What should I do about it?" She kept thinking about it until she fell asleep.
After falling asleep, she started having those dreams again. One dream after another kept playing on her mind.
In the last dream, Su Kang was fighting a lion beast. At the end of the fight, Su Kang's figure was bloodied with the beast's and his own blood. He was breathing heavily with a sword in his right hand and a halberd in his left hand. Meanwhile, Li Fang was coming from stealing the beast's treasure from his cave.
"Brother Su, I didn't expect you to kill it. It was not part of our plan."
"It was too dangerous now. It guessed our intentions and started attacking ferociously. It was becoming difficult to defend, so I went all out." Su Kang said with a smile while wiping his lips with his left back palm.
"Body of this eagle-winged lion is a treasure as well. We hit the jackpot this time." Li Fang said.
"You can keep it yourself." Su Kang replied while straightening his back with a smile on his face.
....
The next morning Bai Yunxi woke up with a headache, and then she thought about those dreams.
"Recently I'm having a lot of weird dreams. I need to relax. Maybe I'm under too much burden and stress." Bai Yunxi thought.
She got out of bed, and with the help from maids, she got ready. She is wearing a blue-and-white patterned robe with small golden-colored earrings. Her long hair is freely falling on her back with a simple white hair ornament in her head.
Maids prepared her food, but she doesn't want to eat alone. For the past three weeks, she was used to eating with Su Kang, but now that he isn't eating with her, she didn't eat much. After eating her food, she didn't know what to do.
Bai Yunxi is sitting in her courtyard and started talking to Xian'er about anything to pass her time. Xian'er is still addressing her as 'Young lady.'. Bai Yunxi is thinking when Su Kang will deny those rumors.
"I will have to talk to him about this." She thought.
But Su Kang didn't visit her. At night Bai Yunxi was thinking about her day in this mansion. She has nothing to do except eat, wander in the garden, or soak in the hotspring. She somehow missed her chatting with Su Kang. Suddenly she remembered Su Kang from her dreams, holding a sword and halberd soaked in blood with a torn upper robe, giving a carefree smile.
"He is a friend of Fang'er; I must not think about this."
Bai Yunxi kept rolling on the bed until late before she fell asleep. Su Kang
didn't use those skills anymore. He didn't believe that she is stupid enough to fall for such things. If he keeps doing this more, eventually she will feel that something is off until he really plans to alter her memory.
....
It's been three days since Bai Yunxi came here. Most of the time, either she is cultivating or passing her time in the garden with maids; today she will be going to Su Kang's residence if he didn't visit her.
She ate her food and then cultivated till the evening.
After coming out of the cultivation, she asked Xian'er to lead her to Su Kang's residence. Xian'er was unexpectedly enthusiastic about it.
When Bai Yunxi was going there. Many servants on the way keep glancing at her on the way. She understood their meaning and immediately became more nervous.
After reaching Su Kang's place, she asked to inform him. She was invited into the garden by a servant. He informed her that Su Kang is in cultivation. Bai Yunxi thought of leaving, but the servant stopped her.
"The young master has given an order: if the young lady is coming to look for him, then we shall inform him."
"Young lady, Young Master really cherishes you well." Xian'er said immediately.
Bai Yunxi is feeling embarrassed and shy for some reason. Soon Kang came in wearing a loose, half-sleeved robe, and his hair is still wet. He sat down.
"Miss Bai, do you want to eat something together?"
Bai Yunxi wanted to refuse, but Su Kang forced her to eat a little for now, and then they will be having dinner together later.
He started asking about her life in the Su manor. She told him about her daily activities. Then she asked, looking embarrassed, "What are you going to do about rumors around us?"
"Rumors? What are you talking about?" He asked with a puzzled look.
"About me being your... your woman... about us being a couple." She said while her face is turning red.
For some reason she is feeling shy and embarrassed while talking about this.
"I don't have any idea about this. What do you want me to do now?"
"You have to protect your reputation. If others know about me, then it will damage your reputation, so you should deny it."
"But Miss Bai, here nobody knows about you. Moreover, if I can guarantee your safety, even if it means doing something like this. I'm perfectly fine with it."
"But what about that woman whom you were secretly pursuing... if she heard this then?" Bai Yunxi is feeling weird asking this.
"You don't have to worry about it. I will take care of it."
"Umm, about that woman... can you tell me more? I'm curious."
Bai Yunxi is going to confirm if that woman is her or not. If it's her, then she has to reject him somehow.
"At first it was nothing but she somehow always appeared in my thoughts. Then curiously I investigated her and found out more about her."
"Her husband died decades ago, soon after their marriage. She has a son. She has raised her son in very difficult situations. Her jovial and carefree personality changed into a weak and depressed woman under the burden. She has kept her heart locked. Her only source of happiness is her son; many times I risked my life for her son. Helping her son was like directly bringing smiles to her face, but I wasn't able to witness those moments myself." Su Kang said.
His eyes were filled with sadness, and he kept looking at her face. She is sure that he is talking about her. He truly loves her.
Her heart is shaking now. She had already prepared herself for this situation, but she is not able to speak anything now. He sacrificed and lived so much for her, and she didn't want to hurt him too deeply.