Luo Yuan held her hand and walked for a long time in the forest, finally spotting an inn by a small path.
It was late at night, and the waiter was fast asleep, snoring on the counter. Luo Yuan tapped the counter with his hand, finally waking the waiter.
After taking off her soaked clothes to dry, Yang Ruoning sat on the bed wrapped in a silk quilt. Luo Yuan also changed into clean clothes and pushed the door open. Although the coarse cloth clothes were borrowed from the waiter, he still looked undeniably handsome wearing them.
Yang Ruoning pouted. As expected, good-looking people look good in anything.
As Yang Ruoning watched him spread the bedding on the floor, she felt her little butterfly fluttering again. She quickly turned away and lay down, saying, "Rest early."
Although she was tired, she had no sleep. She stared at the ceiling, her mind racing with thoughts. She wondered about the origin of the black-clothed men, why they wanted to kill him, whether these people were connected to that girl, and who that girl was...
She tossed and turned in bed for a long time, unable to sleep. Below the bed, Luo Yuan had already fallen asleep. She turned over and looked at Luo Yuan. The moonlight outside cast a faint glow on his face, painting it with a hazy halo. His hair was still damp, curving over his forehead, and his exquisite nose bridge gleamed.
She tiptoed off the bed and lay down beside him.
She reached out, wanting to touch him, but was afraid of waking him. So her fingers hovered about a centimeter away from him, silently tracing his outline. Her finger glided over his forehead, his eyes, his high nose bridge, finally stopping at his lips. She stared at his lips, unable to resist the urge to kiss him.
"What are you doing?" Luo Yuan's somewhat deep voice came from above her.
She looked up, meeting his gaze. She saw a tenderness in his eyes that was too profound to be diluted.
Busted. Yang Ruoning awkwardly withdrew her hand.
She asked, "How did you know I was there?"
"Because of that note."
"Oh? Did I just tell you I was going to meet someone in the west of the city and you guessed where I was going?"
"When we get back, you really need to study reading and writing properly, Yang Ruoning."
"Hm?"
"The note said that your husband's family had come to find you and take you home, telling me not to look for you anymore," Luo Yuan said.
Ha, so everyone thought I was a married aunt, even the assassins.
Suddenly, Luo Yuan grabbed her hand, kissed her palm, and then placed her hand by his cheek.
"I rushed all the way here, afraid of being a step too late..."
Yang Ruoning saw a glimmer of light in Luo Yuan's eyes. She saw her own reflection in his pupils, so clear and bright. She liked her reflection in his eyes; that self was always bright and beautiful.
She couldn't help herself and softly murmured to herself, "I think I like you."
"Speak human language," Luo Yuan said.
"I think I like you."
"What does that mean?"
"It means... I want to sleep with you and wake up with you every day."
"So, in your world, if you 'like' someone, it means you want to sleep with that man?"
"Yes, more or less."
He chuckled softly. He laughed for a long time, and Yang Ruoning felt a sense of embarrassment after being exposed. Just as she was about to explain further, his lips found hers the next second, gentle yet possessive. "I like you too, Yang Ruoning. I want to spend every moment of my remaining life liking you," he said, gazing at her emotionally.
After that day, Yang Ruoning moved into Luo Yuan's study. Was it considered living together? Yang Ruoning didn't know. She just felt that her life was recently filled with pink bubbles, and every corner of her heart seemed to be filled with sweetness.
The unexpected outcome of the assassination that night was that it made Yang Ruoning the happiest and most envied woman in the capital.
Every night she would talk to Luo Yuan for a long time. She seemed eager to share every little detail of her life with him, seemingly not considering the consequences of Luo Yuan knowing these things.
She told Luo Yuan that she had traveled through a wormhole from another time and space. Her world was very different from this one. She took out the computer from her backpack and explained it to him one by one. She even watched movies with him, telling him what her world was like. Luo Yuan, however, did not show much surprise. Yang Ruoning couldn't help but sigh inwardly. As expected of someone destined to be an emperor, his mental fortitude was different from ordinary people. But he was extremely curious about her world and always asked many, many questions.
For example, Luo Yuan pointed to the necklace she wore around her neck and asked, "This thing, which looks so rough, is also from your era?"
"Ah, this, this belongs to that little boy. Remember, we released river lanterns for him once. He was the first person I met when I came here," Yang Ruoning recounted how she first bought the little boy from human traffickers.
Luo Yuan, however, was curious about this.
"You said the time in your world and here is different?" he asked.
"Yes, it is. I only left for fifteen days, but fifteen years have passed here. The monk in that small temple told me that the little boy had died many years ago. I was too late," Yang Ruoning said, lowering her eyes. Her thumb gently rubbed the small wooden carving.
"Yes, you were late. Didn't you just say you told the little boy you'd be back in a few days? But you were gone for fifteen days," he said.
"Yes, many things happened there... I didn't... it was all my fault," Yang Ruoning said.
He suddenly lifted her chin, looked into her eyes, and said very seriously, "You have to promise me that you won't leave me."
Yang Ruoning kissed him lightly, "Promise? I don't want to make such useless things. The most useless thing in life is a promise." Yang Ruoning kissed him lightly, "Let's just enjoy the present, okay?"
"Ha, right, I have something good for you," she changed the subject.
She rolled off the bed and took out the large bag of fruit hard candies from her backpack. They were meant for the little boy. She had put them in her backpack and forgotten about them for a while.
She stuffed the bag of candies into Luo Yuan's arms, "Here, a gift for you."
Luo Yuan curiously opened the bag and took out a fruit hard candy. Yang Ruoning taught him how to unwrap the candy paper, put the candy into his mouth, and said, "These candies have many different flavors. What flavor do you think you're eating?"
Luo Yuan tilted his head, thought for a moment, and said, "I don't know. It's a flavor I've never tasted before."
Yang Ruoning leaned closer to him and kissed his lips, saying, "Hmm, it tastes like strawberry."
Luo Yuan pulled her into his arms, his voice low, "Are there any other new things?"
"There are so many, so many. A thousand years worth. I might need a thousand years to tell you slowly."