Shang Can struggled for three attempts before finally managing to open her eyes.
Her body felt unbearably heavy, and her eyes ached painfully, leaving her with a frightening illusion that she might be going blind. Fortunately, her surroundings gradually came into focus.
The scene before her was unfamiliar. Blinking slowly, Shang Can realized she was in a bedroom. The decor was extraordinarily lavish, suggesting that the owner of this room was likely a vibrant and extroverted person. Though there were no flowers in sight, a faint and rich floral fragrance wafted through the air.
After some effort, Shang Can adjusted to the overly saturated colors around her. Her body began to regain some sensation, and she struggled to sit up, only to discover Yun Duan quietly sitting at the bedside, eyes closed and leaning against the bed’s headboard, her cool brows slightly furrowed.
It seemed she had fallen asleep.
With this realization, Shang Can’s breathing became lighter, and she sat up carefully without making a sound.
Yun Duan was there beside her, which at least meant this place was safe. Shang Can felt somewhat reassured as she glanced at Yun Duan’s uneasy expression even in sleep, unsure if she should wake her.
Although countless questions raced through her mind, urging her to wake Yun Duan for answers, her vision remained somewhat blurred. As she leaned in closer, she suddenly noticed dark circles under Yun Duan’s eyes, which made her heart tighten with worry.
“Creak—”
At that moment, the door was suddenly flung open from the outside, the poorly oiled hinges creaking slightly. Startled, Shang Can instinctively reached to summon heavenly fire, but halted when she recognized the face of the newcomer, quickly pressing her finger to her lips in a “shh” gesture.
Yuan Ge, who had just entered, stared at her in shock for a moment before exclaiming, “You’re finally awake!”
The communication was a total failure. Shang Can reluctantly lowered her hand and turned to Yun Duan, their eyes meeting—Yun Duan’s gaze still somewhat hazy.
“There’s a long story about what happened after you fainted… Ah, drink this bowl of medicine first.”
Seeing the conflicting emotions of resistance and suspicion on Shang Can’s face, Yuan Ge pushed the bowl of medicine toward her, insisting, “It’s really just medicine! If I wanted to harm you, would I have waited until now?”
“…”
That did make some sense. Shang Can glanced at Yun Duan, who sat beside her and gently nodded, so she silently picked up the bowl, grimacing slightly as she took a sip.
“Good.” Yuan Ge nodded in satisfaction. “Anyway, you were badly injured, and then you came here to recuperate.”
“That’s hardly a long story.”
“Great! It seems you’re recovering quite well.”
Shang Can rolled her eyes at Yuan Ge’s inexplicably optimistic conclusion, aware that the flower spirit had likely been a complete outsider in the previous events, yet she remained cautious and asked, “What about Nan Shuang?”
“She’s at the ghost king’s residence recovering.”
This unexpected reply caught Shang Can off guard. She recalled Nan Shuang’s words about their battle being her obsession and silently concluded that this woman’s words were indeed untrustworthy.
“Actually, I wanted to take you to the ghost king’s residence to recuperate since it’s a much better environment than here, but…”
Yuan Ge hesitated, glancing at Yun Duan. The latter remained silent as she poured a cup of tea and handed it to Shang Can. Noticing Yuan Ge’s gaze, she cast a casual look back, startling Yuan Ge into withdrawing her neck.
“…but, for various reasons, we decided to settle for my place in the end.”
“Various reasons…”
Shang Can repeated the phrase with a complex expression, sensing something in Yun Duan’s demeanor that hinted at an unpleasant memory. Yun Duan nodded slightly, saying, “If we want to go, we need to deal with that ghost tribe first.”
“N-No, Ah Shuang is already badly injured…”
Seeing Yuan Ge’s unusual lack of energy, Shang Can deduced that she had likely been feeling guilty and frightened these past few days, which explained why she was so happy to see Shang Can awake.
“…If we’re being honest, she didn’t really hurt me that much.”
Touching the carefully bandaged wounds on her body, Shang Can stated matter-of-factly, “As for my internal injuries… those weren’t caused by her. I can’t place all the blame on her for my current state.”
“Who did it?”
Yun Duan’s voice was cold, her gaze deep as she reiterated, “Who else injured you? Where are they now?”
“…” Feeling a sudden reluctance to meet Yun Duan’s penetrating gaze, Shang Can pretended to think, averting her eyes as she sighed, “I need to ask Nan Shuang about that. How is she now? Can she talk?”
“She can.” Yun Duan’s fingers twitched as if she intended to reach for the sword at her waist, but she ultimately refrained, regaining her calm demeanor. “But we should wait until you recover a bit more before we go look for her together.”
“…Okay.”
Though she felt capable of getting up and moving freely, Shang Can nodded obediently. Yuan Ge, who had been restless, finally exhaled in relief as if she had been granted amnesty, standing up and promptly collecting the bowl from which Shang Can had drunk. “Well, you should rest well. I’ll leave you two alone for now—”
Unbeknownst to her, the more she spoke, the redder her face became. Eventually, she couldn’t hold back, leaning closer to Shang Can and lowering her voice, “Just so you know, I’ve been keeping watch over you for nearly five days since you fainted, without a proper night’s sleep! No matter what you want to do, I need some rest first!”
Shang Can was baffled, confusedly asking, “What do you want me to do?”
“Do you want me to say it outright?” Yuan Ge exclaimed angrily, her face flushed as she scolded her, “It was my fault for disturbing you earlier! But now that I think about it, it’s really not fair that I finally get some sleep, and you still bother me!”
…What on earth was going on? Clearly, it was Yuan Ge who disturbed Yun Duan’s sleep, yet she was turning the tables on Shang Can now.
As Shang Can stared in confusion, Yuan Ge hurriedly took the empty bowl and turned to leave. Before she exited, she whispered a startling statement.
“You can use the bed however you like! Just don’t do anything weird!”
“W-What weird thing—”
Shang Can was dumbfounded, the question of “What is a weird thing?” stuck in her throat as she watched Yuan Ge flee the room, unable to say anything to explain herself.
…When she first woke up, her vision hadn’t fully returned. It seemed she had been leaning in to closely examine Yun Duan’s face when Yuan Ge walked in.
“…”
Realizing only now what Yuan Ge’s strange behavior and words meant, Shang Can felt her face heat up. She hadn’t done anything shameful, yet she couldn’t help but avoid looking at Yun Duan beside her.
However, there were more important matters to address than this unwarranted embarrassment. Remembering the earlier conversation, Shang Can steadied herself and turned to Yun Duan, bluntly asking, “Have you not had a proper rest in a long time?”
“…Not really.”
Seemingly caught off guard by Shang Can’s question, Yun Duan blinked and instinctively looked away. “Just earlier… I slept for a bit.”
Shang Can wasn’t buying it. With her vision back to normal, she could see that Yun Duan looked even more gaunt. They had only been apart for a little over ten days, but Yun Duan’s already slender frame appeared even thinner against her oversized white robe, which made Shang Can frown deeply as she said, “When was the last time you slept in a bed?”
“……”
There was no response. Yun Duan hesitated and lowered her eyelids, curling her fingers slightly in a somewhat helpless manner.
Despite having a multitude of questions to ask, Shang Can only wanted to postpone all of her plans for the moment. She took Yun Duan’s hand and stood up, walking straight to the bedside, pressing down on Yun Duan’s shoulder to force her to sit down.
“Sleep now.” Shang Can exerted a little force with her hands, pushing the seemingly unwilling Yun Duan to lie down, her voice unconsciously softening, “It’s time to rest.”
Though she obediently lay down with Shang Can’s strength, Yun Duan still looked somewhat unconvinced. She stared intently at Shang Can and said, “A Can, you should be the one to rest. You’ve just started to recover from your injuries.”
“I’ve already slept for five days,” Shang Can shook her head and joked, “How about we rest together?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized she had made an ill-timed joke. Just as she was regretting it and about to retract her statement, she saw Yun Duan slightly press her lips together and quietly ask, “Is that okay?”
“…”
Suddenly recalling the misunderstanding with Yuange, Shang Can felt dry and a little awkward, her words stumbling: “I… I’m not sleepy now. Maybe we can talk about it later.”
What was she saying? She had left a glimmer of possibility. Annoyed, Shang Can bit her tongue, inwardly scolding herself for not being in the right state after just waking up and not noticing Yun Duan’s somewhat disappointed expression.
“…… I can’t sleep.”
Yun Duan’s voice was very soft. Shang Can raised an eyebrow, thinking about how Yun Duan hadn’t rested for such a long time, she couldn’t possibly be unable to sleep. Then, she heard her continue softly, “Ever since A Can wasn’t here, I haven’t been able to sleep.”
“…”
The words Shang Can originally wanted to respond with got stuck in her throat. She momentarily didn’t know what to say, ultimately following her heart, sitting in the spot Yun Duan had occupied when she woke up, and soothingly said, “I’m here now, Yun Zhong Jun. Can’t you sleep?”
Yun Duan raised her eyes and stared steadily at Shang Can. Perhaps due to the angle, Shang Can felt that at this moment, Yun Duan appeared less ethereal and more charming, making it hard to look directly at her.
“A Can won’t leave this time, will she?” Even her words carried a childlike stubbornness as Yun Duan asked softly, “You’re not going anywhere, right?”
Shang Can keenly felt her clothes being gently tugged. She discreetly glanced with her peripheral vision and indeed saw Yun Duan lying on the bed, not acting very properly, as if she thought she hadn’t been noticed, as she cautiously wrapped her fingers around the hem of her clothes.
It felt like a light and ticklish hit from a feather pillow to Shang Can’s heart. She pretended not to notice and shifted her gaze away.
“…… At least until you wake up, I won’t be going anywhere.” Out of some kind of awkwardness, Shang Can added, “Just consider it my way of repaying you for watching over me these past few days.”
“……”
The beauty on the bed, who was already slightly drowsy, clearly wasn’t very satisfied with this answer, yet she still showed a hint of relief.
No matter how you looked at her, she appeared sleepy, but Yun Duan still insisted on pushing through, throwing another topic at Shang Can: “I want to hear about what happened after we parted.”
Her body instinctively stiffened at the phrase “after we parted.” Shang Can quickly realized Yun Duan was referring to matters in the Netherworld. She recalled the illusions after falling into the River of Forgetfulness and the glimpse she caught of the buried non-hope at the bottom of the river after the battle, and she slightly tightened her lips.
But Shang Can decided to set this topic aside for now. After all, it was likely a long story, and she needed more time to sort through this information and consider how to approach it with Yun Duan.
She looked down at Yun Duan and took out the broken green jade tablet from her pocket, gently placing it at Yun Duan’s bedside.
“Sorry, I broke it.”
Shang Can said softly. Yun Duan quietly shook her head and reached for the jade tablet, her fingers brushing over the crack with a look of deep fear.
Not wanting to bring up the dangers that might worry her, Shang Can smiled and said, “You must have thought of this when you were summoning spirits at the inn, right? Knowing that you should cut first and report later, you sent me the jade tablet disguised as a paper crane. I can’t believe you thought of that.”
Yun Duan also smiled. When she spoke again, her voice was very soft, at a volume that Shang Can would miss if she didn’t pay attention, almost as if she was talking to herself: “…… If only I could also turn into a paper crane.”
The room fell silent. Shang Can quietly leaned against the edge of the bed, watching Yun Duan until she fell into a deep sleep.
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