My parents have already gone back.
Tonight’s rain continues to fall, a steady drip-drip-drip, like someone crying softly outside the window—each drop hammering into my heart, stirring up restlessness.
Gu Yebai cracked the window open.
The damp, cool wind carried the smell of rain inside, brushing across his face before slipping down the collar of his shirt.
He didn’t close the window.
He just stood there, leaning against the windowsill, his gaze hollow.
But his mind uncontrollably flashed back to fragments of Bai Xialin.
Her face flushed, her breathing ragged—yet she had taken him completely, without a shred of disgust.
That forced yet gentle engulfment, along with the guilt afterward, felt like a thin thorn lodged deep in the tip of his heart, impossible to pull out.
Even if Gu Yebai didn’t want to admit it, he had to— On a physical level, he was indeed drawn to Bai Xialin.
Hongyi…
He secretly stole a glance at Gao Hongyi, who was lying on the hospital bed in her patient gown.
She was curled up under the covers, her cherry-blossom-colored hair spread messily.
Her eyes were closed, but her lashes trembled slightly.
Gu Yebai’s heart hammered with guilt.
His fingers unconsciously picked at the peeling paint on the windowsill.
He was afraid she would suddenly open her eyes, afraid the thin layer of tenderness in her gaze would shatter, afraid she would cry the next second and ask him: “Bai Shu, are you still thinking about her?”
But at that very moment, Gao Hongyi opened her eyes.
She wasn’t angry.
She didn’t even frown.
She just slowly propped herself up, her lips curving into a faint, shallow smile—like coaxing a child who had done something wrong but couldn’t bear to scold.
“Bai Shu, you don’t have to sneak peeks at me so cautiously anymore. I really am not angry—at least, not with you.”
She paused, her gaze falling on his trembling fingers.
“After all, it was an unavoidable circumstance. I understand. I’m not the kind of person who’s unreasonable.”
“I cherish Bai Shu’s first time, and I hoped we could grow together on some wonderful night… Now the dream is shattered, but my Bai Shu has still come back to me, still says he loves me. So I shouldn’t be ungrateful.”
Gu Yebai’s throat tightened.
He wanted to say something, but her next words cut him off.
“And, I don’t need to cry.”
Gao Hongyi tilted her head, looking out the window at the blurred night scene blurred by the rain.
Her voice was as light as a sigh.
“Look, the rain is pouring so hard tonight. Heaven has already cried for me… Cried long enough, loud enough, thoroughly enough.”
As she spoke, she slowly pulled back the covers and got out of bed.
Barefoot on the cold marble floor, she walked toward him step by step, like a cat that had finally caught its prey—graceful, yet dangerous.
“But…”
She stopped in front of him, lifted her face, and her wet eyes gleamed brightly, almost frighteningly.
“Bai Shu’s body has still been dirtied.”
Gu Yebai instinctively stepped back, his back hitting the windowsill.
But Gao Hongyi only smiled even more tenderly.
She reached out, her fingertips lightly hooking onto his shirt collar, pulling him closer.
“So tonight, I have to wash you clean properly.”
She stood on her tiptoes, her lips almost brushing against his ear.
Her breath was warm, carrying the scent of roses and a faint saltiness from crying.
“The ward has a bathtub. Two people soaking together should be plenty of space.”
“Bai Shu… let me do it.”
“I’ll wash away every trace of her scent on you, bit by bit.”
“Then… with my own scent, I’ll cover every place she touched.”
“From the inside out—not a single inch left.”
As she spoke, Gao Hongyi reached out to unbutton his shirt.
But Gu Yebai stopped her with his hand.
“I’ll do it myself.”
“All right.”
Gao Hongyi didn’t insist.
She just let out a soft “mm,” her smile still sweet.
The rain grew louder.
She took his hand and led him toward the bathroom.
“Bai Shu, don’t be scared.”
She stopped at the bathroom door, turned around, and hugged him, burying her face in his chest.
She took a deep breath.
Then another, as if confirming something.
“It’s okay.”
“I’ll wash it all away.”
“After I do, you’ll find out—”
“That from the very beginning, you were only supposed to be mine.”
“Right?”
Gu Yebai didn’t answer.
He just let her pull him, step by step, into the bathroom.
Steam rose quickly.
It blurred the mirror into a sheet of white.
And it completely veiled his world.
Gao Hongyi’s small hands gently brushed across his back, across his chest, across every inch of his skin… just like last time.
But this time, it wasn’t as frantic.
Instead, there was an unprecedented sense of relief.
In fact, she kept comforting him.
“I really am perfectly fine.”
Gao Hongyi smiled.
But… was she really?
When she scrubbed his back, when she stared at his face after his first night, when she forced out every smile… why did she hear something shatter?
Ah.
Like a mirror that had been perfectly intact—suddenly a crack appeared.
Then the crack grew, spread, spread, and spread.
Who was that mirror reflecting?
Gao Hongyi felt as if she had fallen into a lost world—a scarlet world, a terrifying world where notes played in chaotic disorder.
Was that red-haired woman herself?
The red-haired woman, with tears of blood streaming down her face, thrust a red longsword into her own chest.
Red rain, mixed with red blood, stained her white dress…
Everything was red.
The piano, the threads, the people… all red.
“I’m not angry at all.”
Gao Hongyi mechanically repeated her reassurances.
“Bai Shu, we need to be good from now on.”
‘Dad is a traitor…’
‘An unreliable person. He needs to become reliable again. Correction is necessary.’
‘Bai Xialin is a fox spirit.’
‘She’s someone to be killed, someone who should become a corpse. But what method should I use to turn her into a corpse?’
“Congratulations on passing the interview, Bai Shu.”
‘Will there be new fox spirits at school?’
‘Is there any way to make the whole school fall under my control as puppets?’
Her mouth was celebrating, but inside, a sense of crisis rose for no reason.
A person who had nothing.
‘What method can I use to completely defeat Bai Xialin?’
When she closed her eyes, all Gao Hongyi could think of was the piano…
‘If my piano skills are high enough, can I turn people into my soldiers?’
‘Victory alone isn’t enough. I have to make Bai Xialin regret it. I have to make her kneel before me. But even that won’t satisfy me.’
‘I want to see her tremble in fear.’
‘I want to see her beg for forgiveness and then die…’
‘If I can use the piano to turn others into my soldiers, let them kill with their own hands…’
‘Tee-hee.’
“I also need to thank Bai Xialin properly.”
Gao Hongyi still spoke words she didn’t mean.
“Thanks to her, Bai Shu was saved from the kidnappers. Otherwise, I would have lost Bai Shu forever.”
“Bai Shu, how was your first time? Do you regret it? Because that person wasn’t me.”
Gao Hongyi wrapped her arms around Gu Yebai’s neck from behind.
‘Why does this world always get in the way of my love? Why doesn’t this garbage world just destroy itself?’
Drip…
A drop of red blood fell into the bathtub…
But it quickly neutralized in the water—she had accidentally bitten her lip from clenching her teeth earlier.
“Bai Shu, let’s kiss…”
They embraced and kissed in the warm water.
She deliberately let him lick her bleeding lip.
‘I hope he tastes my blood like it’s a delicacy. Don’t reject it, don’t frown… Lick my blood, okay, Bai Shu?’
“I’m sorry, Hongyi…”
“I told you, I don’t want an apology.”
“As long as we’re good from now on, that’s enough…”
“From now on, Bai Shu is mine alone. No one can change that.”
At that moment, Gao Hongyi finally seemed to know the name of the chaotic, disorderly song that had always played in her spiritual world.
‘I really want to play the piano.’
‘I really want to use my own hands to keep what should be kept, and destroy what should be destroyed…’
Gao Hongyi’s eyes alternated between tenderness and madness.
Those eyes would never return to plain black.
Her long hair hung on her shoulders, a few strands clinging to her collarbone, wet.
The warm water wrapped around them.
She placed a warm towel over him, starting from his collarbone, moving down inch by inch.
Her movements were slow, as if tracing a precious piece of porcelain.
“Here…”
Her fingertip pressed against his left chest, her voice low like a whisper.
“She held you here, didn’t she?”
The towel circled on that patch of skin, pressure so light it was almost imperceptible—yet it burned, making Gu Yebai tremble all over.
“I’ll be gentler than her.”
“Every time your heart races from now on, it will be because of me.”
The towel moved down, wiping across his ribs, his waistline.
And every place Bai Xialin had touched could not escape.
Especially certain critical areas…
Her arms wrapped around him extremely tightly, as if she wanted to press him into her bones.
Water flowed over them both, bubbles swirling around their feet.
Steam blurred the mirror into white.
Finally, after soaking in the warm water for two hours, Gao Hongyi dazedly loosened her grip.
“We’re done. Let’s go to sleep.”
“I’m going to hold you while we sleep.”
“All night long.”
“I won’t let go.”
“Don’t complain.”
“Otherwise, I’ll definitely make Bai Shu cry before me…”