Yun Xuechang took the tanghulu Hua Yan handed over, parted her thin lips slightly, and bit into one.
The sweet syrup mixed with the slight sourness of the hawthorn, melting together on the tip of her tongue and making her eyes narrow involuntarily.
“Yan’er, this tanghulu… doesn’t seem to be made by the Dining Hall?”
The white-haired Fairy chewed slowly, one side of her cheek bulging slightly, while the cowlick on top of her head hopped along with her movements.
“H-How—how is it not? It’s clearly from the Dining Hall!”
For some reason, Hua Yan seemed a bit flustered upon hearing this, her tone gaining a hint of urgency.
“But today is Muyue-ri. The Dining Hall’s snack should be fried chicken pieces; they don’t have tanghulu.”
“You remembered wrong! Today is Shuiyue-ri! They definitely have tanghulu!”
“Is that so?”
A flash of uncertainty crossed Yun Xuechang’s eyes. She swallowed the hawthorn, and a hint of doubt surfaced in her cool gaze once more.
“The tanghulu from the Dining Hall uses ordinary mortal hawthorns, and they still have the seeds. But this skewer uses high-quality Red Jade Spiritual Hawthorn, and the seeds have been carefully removed. The sugar coating is also applied rather unevenly and looks quite messy. It doesn’t seem like the handiwork of the Dining Hall chefs.”
“W-What Red Jade Spiritual Hawthorn? I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
The red-haired girl in front of her became even more flustered.
“I have eaten many tanghulu; I won’t be mistaken.”
Yun Xuechang bit into another one and looked at her seriously.
“Yan’er, could this tanghulu be…”
“Ahhh! Yes! So what if I made it myself!”
Before she could finish, Hua Yan interrupted with a flushed face, glaring at her in embarrassment. Her voice carried a huffy tone.
“This is the tanghulu I made myself! So what! Are you satisfied now?”
‘Wait…?’
Yun Xuechang was stunned.
She had actually wanted to ask if this tanghulu was something Hua Yan had spent a large amount of money to buy outside. Based on what she just heard…
Hua Yan had actually made it with her own hands?
“Hmph!”
Seeing her dazed expression, Hua Yan felt even more humiliated. She stomped her foot and turned to leave.
‘Cursed! I kindly made them for her, and she dares to be picky and complain they’re ugly?! Yun Xuechang! Don’t even think about eating anything I make ever again in this lifetime!’
“Yan’er, wait.”
A slender, fair hand gently caught her wrist.
“Don’t leave yet. I… I wasn’t criticizing the tanghulu for being bad.”
Though Yun Xuechang’s voice was soft, it carried a rare sense of urgency.
“Even though the sugar coating is messy, it’s truly delicious. I didn’t mean to disparage your work.”
She explained clumsily, her fingertips tightening slightly as if afraid the person in front of her would truly disappear.
“I really like the tanghulu you made… I, I want to eat it again in the future. Can you… please not leave?”
“…”
“S-Since you put it that way… ahem, then I won’t leave!”
The red-haired girl turned her face away, her arrogant expression hiding a hint of pride as her gaze drifted.
“If you really like it and are willing to ask me nicely in the future… I’ll—I’ll see my mood. It’s not like I couldn’t make them for you again!”
“Mm, thank you, Yan’er.”
the anxiety in Yun Xuechang’s eyes quietly dissolved, replaced by a shallow smile.
She suddenly remembered something and asked, “Yan’er, did you actually taste this tanghulu you made yourself?”
“Uh…”
Hua Yan froze instantly.
After hearing Lin Qianqian’s story this morning, she had rushed to the Dining Hall to find a chef to teach her how to make tanghulu.
She had never set foot in a kitchen before and had zero cooking experience.
Even with the help of Spiritual Power, she had wasted many materials.
It wasn’t until nearly noon that she barely managed to produce a decent-looking skewer.
Where would she have found the time to taste it?
Unless she counted the ones where she had burned the sugar or overcooked the hawthorns.
Seeing her silence, Yun Xuechang held the tanghulu out toward her.
“Since you made it, you should try it too. It’s really delicious.”
Hua Yan looked hesitantly at the bright red fruit. A bamboo skewer should have had seven hawthorns, but two had already been eaten by Yun Xuechang.
The broken edges were glistening, making it impossible to tell if it was melted syrup or…
‘She just had this in her mouth…’
Hua Yan hesitated, but when she looked up, she met Yun Xuechang’s clear and honest crimson eyes.
‘Tsk, since even a woman like Yun Xuechang doesn’t care, I, Hua Yan, am a dignified man after all. What is there to be afraid of! I’ll eat it!’
She found a good angle and took a quick, large bite, snatching a hawthorn away.
“How is it? Is it good?”
Seeing her eat it, Yun Xuechang’s eyes crinkled slightly. She pulled the tanghulu back and gently bit off another one.
“Mm, yeah…”
Seeing her continue to eat from the same skewer she had just touched without any hesitation, Hua Yan’s face felt faintly hot. she lowered her head, and her voice grew softer.
‘Wait, that’s not right!’
‘I made these tanghulu, so why is she the one asking me if they taste good?’
‘Of course what I made is delicious!’
After realizing this, Hua Yan immediately looked up again, ready to speak. But at that moment, Yun Xuechang asked softly:
“Then, why did Yan’er think to make tanghulu for me today?”
“Uh, I…”
Facing those calm yet curious red eyes, Hua Yan looked left and right, knowing she couldn’t escape. She had to explain with a mix of truth and lies.
“It—it was just that I ran into Daoist Friend Lin at the Sect Library today… Right! And then I chatted with her about your Master and things from your past…”
She spoke tentatively, quietly observing Yun Xuechang’s expression. Although the woman’s face was usually expressionless, Hua Yan felt that her current mood was quite peaceful.
“Daoist Friend Lin said your Master often bought tanghulu to coax you when he was alive, so you particularly loved eating them. I figured… since you’re back at Mianyun Peak now, and I asked something I shouldn’t have last night, I was afraid you’d be overwhelmed by the scenery… and then Rongrong and I wouldn’t feel good either. I just thought I’d nip the problem in the bud by making some tanghulu for you! Yes, that’s it!”
After hearing this, Yun Xuechang nodded understandingly.
“Thank you for your concern, Yan’er. However, I won’t let it affect you and Rongrong.”
Her expression was honest as she continued, “Actually, what you said last night was not improper. Regarding the matters of my Master and my junior siblings… I have long since moved on.”
“After the catastrophe back then, I did indeed ask myself why I was the only one who survived and why Master and the others met such a fate.”
“But people must look forward. If Master were still here and saw me acting depressed, he would probably just knock me on the head and call me a blockhead again.”
As she spoke, she took another gentle bite of the tanghulu.
Seeing this, Hua Yan asked hesitantly, “Then why do you still spend all day practicing the sword and cultivation, holding such a deep obsession with eradicating Evil Cultivators?”
“Moving on doesn’t mean forgetting.”
The white-haired Fairy swallowed the hawthorn, her expression serious.
“I will carry this past with me as I continue forward. Moreover, only by cutting down all the evil in this world can such tragedies be prevented, so that no one else is separated from their friends and family by the veil of life and death for no reason.”
She looked up, her eyes filled with a steady light.
“Therefore, I will continue to cultivate and become stronger until I have cut down all the evil in this world.”
The mountain wind blew past, lifting a few strands of her white hair. Her pure and flawless face was solemn, though a small speck of glistening sugar remained at the corner of her mouth.
Hua Yan gazed quietly at the Yun Xuechang before her and suddenly felt that this might be the first time she had truly seen her clearly.
No, it should be said it was another “first time.”
Ten years ago on the Yin-Yang Platform, when they first met, she only felt that her opponent was powerful, cold-faced, and taciturn. She took her for a cold-hearted woman.
Meeting again ten years later and traveling together through Great Chu, she felt this person was nothing more than a well-meaning blockhead whose heart was filled only with swords and cultivation—someone truly difficult to understand.
But now, in front of the habitually lazy and casual Hua Yan, who had never deeply considered the greater meanings of life, Yun Xuechang seemed like someone embracing a noble—even somewhat unrealistic—ideal, her entire body faintly glowing.
‘Heh, indeed, she’s still a sword blockhead.’
The corners of Hua Yan’s mouth curved up unconsciously.
But for some reason, she felt that the blockhead in front of her…
Was actually quite cute.
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