In the end, Shang Can didn’t let Yun Duan feed her porridge. She managed to persuade Yun Duan and took the bowl back into her own hands, drinking cautiously this time.
Yun Duan still seemed somewhat worried. Shang Can noticed that she hadn’t made a sound for a long while, so she couldn’t help but look up and urge, “Why aren’t you eating? Are you just staring at me?”
“…I was just thinking,” Yun Duan replied, sounding a bit confused, “How to treat a burned tongue.”
“Thank you, but it’s not necessary.”
Shang Can quickly responded. Her hand trembled, causing her spoon to clink against the ceramic bowl with a crisp sound.
This is ridiculous. It felt like every time she heard Yun Duan say something, some indescribable thoughts would pop into her mind. Shang Can took a deep breath and tried to soothe herself calmly, “It’s not that bad; it’ll heal on its own after a while. There’s no need to worry so much.”
She bit her slightly painful tongue nervously and added, “I just can’t see; my hands aren’t broken. I can still handle something as simple as drinking porridge myself.”
“But Acan just burned her tongue.”
“…That was just a moment of carelessness. I believe even the celestial beings in the Nine Heavens have had the experience of burning their tongues while drinking porridge; it’s nothing rare.”
Perhaps feeling that she made a valid point, Yun Duan softly hummed in acknowledgment and finally diverted her gaze from Shang Can, saying in a low voice, “But it still hurts when you burn yourself. Acan has already been hurt so many times.”
Shang Can, whose body had been in a sorry state since her visit to the ghost realm, suddenly found herself at a loss for words. There was no way to refute this accusation, so she could only vaguely respond, “It’s not like I’ve been hurt a lot; most of it is already healed… it doesn’t really hurt that much.”
Her words went unanswered, and the table fell silent, with only the sound of the bowl colliding with the spoon echoing occasionally.
Clearly, they hadn’t even finished discussing how to treat Yun Duan’s night wandering, yet now it was Shang Can who felt at fault. As a demonic cultivator, she felt utterly powerless in front of Yun Zhongjun.
Shang Can felt a sense of melancholy—was the gap in their statuses really this large?
While she was lost in thought, Yun Duan had already finished her breakfast. She quietly set down her spoon and asked, “What are your plans for today, Acan? Should we… go back for a visit?”
Considering they were in the open lobby of the inn, Yun Duan didn’t specify a place, but Shang Can knew she was referring to the Bi Luo Huang Quan. After hesitating for a moment, she shook her head and said, “No.”
“…Let’s wait until my eyes are better,” Shang Can said, furrowing her brows. “It’s not convenient to go back right now, and I’d probably have to listen to Wan Shao nag me.”
“Before my eyes get better, I’ll have to rely on Yun Zhongjun,” Shang Can added, looking at Yun Duan with a deep smile. “If there’s somewhere you want to go, you’d better take me along; otherwise, I won’t have anywhere to go. And since I can’t see, I might get run over by a cart on the way.”
Suddenly, she paused and added, “…But if you want to return to Qing Yu, then I’ll just wait here for you.”
Yun Duan fell silent for a while before softly replying, “No problem, I won’t go back to Qing Yu.”
Another silence ensued. Shang Can inwardly lamented how she had made the atmosphere so heavy and deliberately cleared her throat, forcing a laugh. “Then where does Yun Zhongjun want to go? Are we off to punish evildoers or to enjoy the mountains and rivers? If you don’t mind, I can accompany you, but since I can’t see, I might be a bit of a burden.”
Shang Can touched the white cloth covering her face. She had just changed it herself while Yun Duan was sound asleep last night. After just a few days, she had grown accustomed to it, sighing, “Besides, I seem to have quite a few enemies; we might just run into one or two on the road, and I’d end up causing trouble for you—”
As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly noticed a person sitting not far away standing up abruptly and striding toward their table, unceremoniously dragging the empty chair beside her and sitting down.
The whole process was fluid, and what caught her attention even more was that Yun Duan only lightly uttered a “Hmm?” and didn’t make any move to stop it. Shang Can felt puzzled, and she suddenly caught a whiff of a faint fragrance that must belong to a flower demon—sweeter than that of Yuan Ge but less rich.
“…What great enthusiasm.”
The person sitting beside her spoke slowly, their alluring voice sounding as if they were gritting their teeth, as if squeezing the words out through clenched jaws.
“No place to go? Do you want to punish evildoers or enjoy the scenery?”
The newcomer let out a cold snort. “You’re all so busy! I think Yun Zhongjun should be the first to eliminate you! You’re a real piece of work!”
“…”
This voice was so familiar that it made her head spin. Shang Can helplessly rubbed her forehead and sighed deeply.
“…The elders actually let you out?”
“Is that a problem?” Wan Shao said angrily, lowering her voice and speaking slowly to Shang Can. “Of course, I came to follow the will of Lord Can and have a good—nag. Nag. Nag.”
Back in the room, Shang Can sat at the table, silently contemplating how this was just running into her enemy, and she hadn’t even left the inn yet.
Over there, Wan Shao had already surveyed the room, leaning in with an exaggerated tone as if she had discovered some earth-shattering secret and whispered in Shang Can’s ear, “You and Yun Zhongjun are now sharing a bed?!”
“…”
Why did this flower demon only know how to say such nonsense as soon as she arrived?
Reminded of last night’s memories by her words, Shang Can irritably waved her hand to shoo her away.
“So how did you end up here?” To avoid Wan Shao’s loose tongue saying anything unnecessary in front of Yun Duan, Shang Can took the lead and asked, “I only contacted Ye Ya late at night the other day. How could the elders let you out so quickly?”
“Of course they couldn’t! Those old fossils…”
Wan Shao grumbled a few words in a huff, then stated matter-of-factly, “But they can’t stop me from forcing my way out.”
“…I see.”
Shang Can’s feelings were quite complex. Thinking back, the Night Crow, who had frequently been wandering outside her window last night, probably came to inform her about Wan Shao’s escape, but she had chased him away in her anxious state. She felt very sorry for him.
Silently apologizing to the Night Crow in her heart, she candidly told Wan Shao, “If you’re here to take me back to Bi Luo Huang Quan, that won’t do. As you can see, I’m now a captive of Yun Zhongjun.”
Yun Duan, who had been quietly sitting beside her, was suddenly mentioned. Before she could speak, Shang Can calmly got up, walked behind her, placed her hands on her shoulders, and said earnestly, “We have to follow the rules of the martial world. If you want to take me away, you must defeat Yun Zhongjun first.”
“…”
The person opposite was momentarily speechless, while Yun Duan hesitated for a moment before responding, “That’s right; you must defeat me first.”
What a cooperative response. Shang Can couldn’t help but laugh as she cheerfully began to massage Yun Duan’s shoulders like a devoted subordinate, causing Yun Duan to move her shoulders uncomfortably and turn her head to look at her with a hint of reproach, calling her softly, “…Acan.”
“Enough already, thank you both.”
It seemed that Wan Shao could no longer bear to watch the scene unfold. She called out for a halt and added a perplexing thank you before returning to her original tone and sighing deeply, “Then I can’t possibly win.”
The pretentious Shang Can feigned sympathy and consoled her, “Yes, yes, having self-awareness is a good thing. I think you should head back to Bi Luo Huang Quan soon; the elders are definitely looking for you. The longer you take, the worse it will be for you.”
“If the mountain doesn’t come to me, then I will go to the mountain.”
Ignoring her words, Wan Shao suddenly spoke without any context and then added, “Since Can Zhe isn’t coming to me, I have no choice but to come to rescue Can Zhe.”
It was unclear if it was intentional or not, but she slightly emphasized the word “rescue,” causing Shang Can’s heart to shiver. Shang Can fell silent, shrugged, and returned to her seat, sighing, “Did you hear something from someone?”
“…I received a letter from that Bi’an flower demon. It’s quite rare; I didn’t know she could write.”
With a tone full of disdain, Wan Shao huffed irritably and ground her teeth, “She wrote ten pages—three pages scolding me, five and a half praising someone named A-Shuang, and the remaining page and a half contained what happened between you in the Ghost Realm along with an invitation for me to fight her there—my head almost exploded from reading it.”
“…” Shang Can was momentarily speechless and cautiously asked, “By the way, what did Yuan Ge hear when I blew that bamboo whistle you gave me last time?”
“That thing, huh…”
Wan Shao tried to recall and sighed, “It was probably some unspeakable profanity I recorded when I was younger.”
Shang Can silently rolled her eyes under the white cloth, secretly relieved that Yuan Ge was relatively easy to deal with. If Wan Shao and Yuan Ge had switched places, she imagined Wan Shao would have angrily beaten her up the moment she blew that whistle, making it unlikely for the situation to be resolved peacefully.
However, in terms of results, that bamboo whistle had indeed been a great help, so Shang Can decided not to criticize Wan Shao for her lack of foresight and merely nodded, “So what did she say in that last page and a half? Can I see it too?”
“Huh? With how you look now, how could you possibly see anything?”
As Wan Shao reached out toward the white cloth covering Shang Can’s face without courtesy, Shang Can quickly dodged. When she tried to reach out again, Yun Duan silently blocked her hand. Frustrated, Wan Shao whispered angrily at Shang Can, who was hiding behind Yun Duan, “What’s wrong with your eyes? Can anyone treat your little ailments better than me—ah.”
She abruptly stopped mid-sentence and realized, “—Is that ailment acting up again?”
Unconsciously, Shang Can turned her head away and nodded, “Yeah, it’s just an old issue.”
“That ailment?”
The two of them shared an unspoken understanding, and this time it was Yun Duan who asked, “Does Wan Shao know? What exactly is the problem?”
“Ah… it’s not a major ailment.”
The nominal physician responsible for treating Shang Can’s ailments for the past ten years, Wan Shao declared with righteous authority, “It’s just that when the spiritual energy is overused, she may flare up, causing her to be sensitive to light, so she has to keep her eyes covered. There are no other adverse effects, so Lord Yun Duan can rest easy.”
What she said was similar to Shang Can’s earlier explanation, and Yun Duan seemed relieved, lightly responding with an “Mm,” before asking, “How long will it take to get better?”
“Well…”
Noticing that Wan Shao’s tone was somewhat confused, Shang Can grew anxious because she couldn’t communicate effectively with her. Just as she was about to say something to ease the tension, Wan Shao suddenly exclaimed brightly, “With me around, she will definitely get better faster!”
“Lord Yun Duan can rest assured!” Wan Shao pounded her chest, which made her feel rather painful, “Since you’ve brought it up, I, Wan Shao, will take full responsibility for this matter. I won’t return to Bi Luo Huang Quan until her eyes are healed!”
“…You’re just using Yun Duan as an excuse!”
Shang Can, shocked and indignantly slapping the table, exclaimed, “A dignified lord of Bi Luo Huang Quan, following Yun Duan without a reason—just go back already!”
Wan Shao ignored her entirely and turned to Yun Duan to complain, “Yun Duan, look! This person definitely has a guilty conscience and doesn’t want me to treat her!”
Stabbed by the phrase “guilty conscience,” Shang Can’s voice weakened when she spoke again, “You… you’re talking nonsense—”
“Ah, Can.”
Ah, I’ve lost.
Shang Can, feeling uneasy, closed her mouth. Sensing the hint of anxiety in Yun Duan’s tone, she quietly said, “…Why are you so unwilling for Wan Shao to stay and treat you? She says you have a guilty conscience…”
Before she could think of how to respond, Wan Shao clicked her tongue twice and laughed meaningfully.
“It can also be said another way,” Wan Shao said with a teasing tone, sighing, “I see she has someone in her heart.”
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