The woman said she was “stepping out for a bit,” but several days passed, and she did not return.
During this time, the atmosphere in Asura City grew increasingly tense. At nearly every moment, taskers were dying miserable deaths.
Because Bai Qu and Su Ling had powerful weapons and agile skills, no one dared to provoke them. Thus Youyou, who was under their meticulous protection, was spared from witnessing the purgatorial scenes.
This night, Youyou was plagued by nightmares. She tossed and turned in bed, her face deathly pale, her cherry lips slightly parted, and her smooth, fair forehead beaded with sweat.
“Bai… Bai Qu, Bai Qu.”
She called out his name intermittently, as if chanting the name of her only lifeline. Her miserable, pitiful state caused the woman hiding in the shadows to stir. In the next instant, she appeared on Youyou’s bed. At the same time, Bai Qu, who was sleeping on the floor in the living room with Su Ling, heard the sounds and also opened the door and entered.
He froze for a moment upon seeing the woman, but he quickly regained his composure. “What’s wrong with Youyou?”
He walked step by step to the bedside. His voice was soft, and his face still bore traces of weariness. Bai Qu bent down and touched Youyou’s face, then skillfully placed the back of his hand against her forehead before touching his own.
“No fever. Is she trapped in a nightmare?”
Making his own diagnosis, Bai Qu tucked her in, placed her two small hands, which had been lying outside, back under the covers, and then pulled over a small stool to sit on. No, it would be more accurate to say he rested his head on the edge of the bed, dozing off to catch up on sleep.
“Bai Qu.”
As if his presence had gradually brought an end to her nightmare, Youyou opened her reddened eyes and accurately turned her head toward him.
Hearing her voice, Bai Qu slowly raised his head. He had been extremely drowsy, but the sight of the tears in her eyes woke him up completely. Ignoring the pins and needles in his arm, he comforted her. His voice was very soft, and in the dim, hazy bedroom, it sounded even more ethereal and gentle.
“Mm, Brother’s here, so don’t be afraid.”
Seeing the little girl just staring at him blankly, as if she had been frightened senseless by the nightmare, Bai Qu’s lips curved slightly, and his voice grew even softer. “Shh, it was just a dream. Brother is here. Youyou’s awake now.”
“But… it was really scary.”
She dreamed that everyone she saw had turned evil.
…
In the lamplight, a drunk father suddenly woke up at the table and began to beat his daughter. The daughter sobbed, her body tiny and frail. She was dressed in ragged clothes, her face and body covered in bruises. Then, she saw the daughter, while her father was fast asleep, walk toward him with a kitchen knife in hand.
…
Beside a spring-fed pool that gurgled softly, a young couple was in the throes of a passionate romance. The man was handsome, the woman beautiful; they looked like a perfect match. But suddenly, for some unknown reason, they began to argue. The small argument escalated into a huge fight, and the fight turned into a brawl. Then, the young man accidentally pushed his lover into the pool.
…
A mischievous boy with yellow hair whistled a vulgar tune on his way home from school. He sauntered along a tree-shaded country path when, all of a sudden, a bird’s nest in a tree caught his attention. In the end, the boy played with the baby birds until they were dead and then casually tossed them into the bushes, leaving behind nothing but the mother bird’s hoarse, sorrowful cries.
…
It was an ancient battlefield. One side had been defeated, and tens of thousands of their soldiers were taken captive. In the main tent, several officers of the victorious army asked their general how to deal with the prisoners. The general, imposing and sharp-eyed, stroked the tassel of his sword and entertained a benevolent thought. But then, for some reason, he suddenly changed his mind and ordered all the prisoners to be buried alive.
…
There were other, smaller fragments as well. Youyou wasn’t a good storyteller, and she spoke in fits and starts, stammering and stumbling over her words, but in the end, Bai Qu understood the stories and what she was trying to express.
The smile on his face never wavered. He slowly wiped Youyou’s face with a wet wipe, his tone a little teasing. “So, Little Youyou is this powerful in her dreams?”
Seeing her flush with embarrassment, a clear sign that she now understood the difference between dreams and reality, Bai Qu wiped away her tears, his eyes twinkling with amusement. “To cry so much over a dream… it seems my little sister is really made of water. But aren’t you afraid people will laugh at you for this?”
With his free hand, he pointed at the woman, indicating to Youyou that there was a guest present. Bai Qu watched as the little girl’s expression shifted from surprise to delighted joy, and the certainty in his heart grew even stronger.
“You’re back!”
Her slightly reddened eyes still held a trace of moisture. Youyou looked at the beautiful woman with the red hair, red eyes, and red cloak, and forced a wide smile. “By the way, where did you go? I missed you so much.”
Unaware of what a beautiful sight she was in the woman’s eyes at that moment, Youyou sniffled, and a hint of grievance couldn’t help but creep into her voice. “I finished several more puzzles, but you weren’t here.”
The woman: …
It was as if her blood-red eyes, cold as a ten-thousand-year-old glacial pool, were cracking inch by inch. The woman looked at the soft, pretty little girl and couldn’t stop herself from leaning in, bringing her face close to hers.
“You… missed me?”
There was a hint of caution in her voice, a touch of disbelief. The woman stared intently into Youyou’s eyes, searching for even the slightest trace of a lie.
But there was none. Not a single trace.
The little girl lying softly on the bed was so harmlessly pure you could see right through to her soul, and right now, her heart and eyes were filled with nothing but her.
In an instant, her heart began to pound, and the woman felt as if she had come back to life.
“Mhm, I did.”
Unaware of the beautiful red-clad woman’s inner turmoil, Youyou smiled sweetly and said, “I think of you when I’m eating, I think of you when I’m sleeping, and I think of you when I’m playing games. So… please don’t be unhappy anymore, okay?”
A soft light flowed from her clear, limpid eyes. Youyou licked her lips. “I want to play games with you, I want to do puzzles with you, I want to…”
The woman could no longer hear the rest of Youyou’s words. She stared at her, entranced, desperately wanting to kiss her.
Unfortunately, Bai Qu, who was sitting right beside them, had no intention of letting the woman take advantage of Youyou. He coughed lightly twice to get her attention and then, braving the woman’s pressure, said, “Are you still sleepy, Youyou? If you are, you can sleep a little longer. Brother will stay here and watch over you.”
“Mhm.”
The moment she heard the word “sleepy,” Youyou couldn’t help but yawn. Looking from Bai Qu to the woman, she suddenly lifted a corner of her blanket and said to the woman, “Do you want to get in and sleep? It’s really warm.”
Bai Qu had taught her about the proper distance between men and women, but he had never said she had to be on guard around other women. Happily extending the invitation, Youyou looked utterly foolish.
It left Bai Qu completely speechless.
“Okay.”
Her mood shifting from cloudy to sunny, the woman lay down right then and there, without even taking off her cloak.
Her body following her heart’s desire, she pulled Youyou into her arms. The woman looked at Bai Qu provocatively and communicated with her mind: “She and I are complementary. We are opposites, yet we are codependent. We are a match made in heaven. There’s nothing you can do to stop it.”
“Opposites?”
Bai Qu also used his mind to speak with her, raising an eyebrow as he speculated, “Youyou devours good intentions. In that case, you must be the one who feeds on malicious thoughts, correct? Good and evil will always exist. No wonder…”
No wonder this woman seemed so malevolent and difficult.
Thinking of Youyou’s dream and the woman’s earlier words, Bai Qu’s gaze darkened. He was extremely displeased with the nasty attitude she had displayed that day.
His thin lips parted as he said coldly, “Miss Unknown, if you truly care for Youyou, then please respect her choices. Perhaps her decisions seem childish and laughable to you, but even if she remains a good-for-nothing like this forever, she still has me, her brother.”
“If you can’t accept that, you are free to forget about her.”
“She doesn’t need your ridicule.”
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