Nanyi gritted her teeth: “Come on! If you have the guts, kill me! Otherwise, just wait for payback!”
Xie Queshan bent down to gather snow while Nanyi charged forward throwing snowballs. The two fought in the snow.
Techniques, martial arts—none of it mattered anymore. Both hands were working, even scraping snow from low walls.
Close combat was humanity’s most primitive action, venting the deepest emotions beneath layers of civilization.
Anger and grievance.
She was angry—angry at his villainous facade. And he felt wronged—this grievance was so deep even he hadn’t noticed it, always disguising itself as viciousness when it erupted.
His movements suddenly stopped when he realized that somehow he had pinned her in the snow, messily burying snow on her face. Half his body leaned over her while her hands still swept wildly on the ground, gathering all the snow she could reach in her palms.
Her disheveled hair fell across her face, her clothing loose and askew. The scenery beneath her clothes rose and fell with her breathing, and the goose-yellow knot on her sash had come half undone, like a resting butterfly. For the first time, he noticed she had such a graceful waist.
His misty white breath faintly brushed against her face as his eyes gazed at her through the haze.
She held the snowball ready to slam it hard against his head, but her movement also froze.
The position was quite intimate.
The strength in her hands loosened, and the snowball rolled to the ground. The person who had been fierce just moments ago was now somewhat at a loss.
All sensation returned. Her back pressed against the cold snowy ground while above her was a burning-hot person.
A bit cold.
As if possessed, her hand that had been suspended in midair reached toward the back of his neck—the warmest place.
Her fingers, cold from touching snow, made his back tense with a shiver as a strange sensation flowed through his entire body. His muscles immediately tensed, rigid beneath her fingertips.
At this moment, he was unbelievably docile.
He gazed at her eyes in fascination, but couldn’t see clearly. He gently blew, and the soft breeze brushed past her eyes as crystalline snowflakes drifted away from her eyelashes.
These clear eyes were completely revealed.
Some flowing emotion seemed about to emerge between them.
Like beneath glaciers, a black monster no one had ever seen was pressing toward them from afar. Just as this monster was about to break through the ice, he suddenly rolled to the side, lying in the snow beside her, and quietly looked at the sky.
Everything came to an abrupt halt.
Yet it was thoroughly satisfying, all grievances dissolved.
Nanyi waited for her inexplicably intense heartbeat to calm down, then gently turned to look at his profile.
“I know Pang Yu died by throwing himself on the sword. You tried to persuade him—you wanted to save him and find a chance to release him. And Song Muchuan too—you don’t want to harm him either, right?”
He kept his eyes on the sky, not answering.
“I won’t tell Xie Xiaoliu.” She said this very seriously.
He smiled—a very clean smile. He turned to look at her, but his eyes were so sad.
“You know many of my secrets.”
“What should we do then? Are you going to kill me?”
Her boldness today was extraordinarily great.
He reached out to brush the snow from her face. Being a martial artist, his palm immediately warmed, and where he touched felt like wildfire burning through dry grass.
He said: “Don’t betray me.”
A betrayer repeatedly telling her not to betray him.
The smile on Nanyi’s face slowly faded, finally settling into a stiff curve. She realized Xie Queshan was serious.
But what constituted betrayal? She had told many lies, helped others deceive him—did that count as betrayal? She tried to understand him but deep down wouldn’t stand on his side… did that also count as betrayal?
At any time, she would prioritize her own life. If at some unavoidable moment she had to sell him out—was that betrayal?
She began seriously considering this question and found herself completely lacking confidence.
“My mercy only extends once.”
The morning bell tolled, its sound echoing above Li Du Mansion.
Like a declaration, that cryptic game of survival was beginning again. He had only conditionally pardoned her.
Step across the line and be caught by him—it would still mean eternal damnation.