I courted death and then tried to escape, so the whole sect wants to get rid of me.

In the middle of the night, the night wind blows past the copper bells on the eaves, causing them to ring softly.

The ancient osmanthus tree in the courtyard casts dappled moonlight.

Song Yao lay sprawled on the couch, clutching half a scroll of the imperial edict, her breathing shallow and shallow.

Her usually nonchalant eyes and brows relaxed in her sleep, revealing a rare softness.

"Squeak—"

The courtyard gate was gently pushed open.

Xie Zhou walked in carrying a porcelain bottle, his white robe fluttering in the night wind, his expression as indifferent as ever.

He walked to the soft couch and stopped, his voice indifferent: "Lin Mu, Elder Sixteen asked me to bring you medicine."

The little girl was fast asleep, not even moving her eyelashes, only letting out a muffled hum, and hugging the book in her arms even tighter.

Xie Zhou lowered his eyes and stared at her for a moment before turning around and squatting down beside the couch.

With his slender fingers, he gently pinched her calf and carefully removed her shoes and socks.

The moonlight slanted down, illuminating her slender white ankles.

There is a deep wound on it that exposes the bone.

It was slightly scabbed over, with dark red blood still seeping out, and the surrounding skin and flesh showing abnormal bruising.

His brow furrowed as soon as he saw what was happening.

With such a deep wound, why isn't she crying?

In the past, someone as domineering and unreasonable as her would have caused a huge uproar in the entire Nine Saints Hall over a minor cut on her finger.

They even sneaked into their master's treasure vault to steal elixirs and clamored for help to cure their illnesses.

Why aren't you crying now?

They returned from the demon realm, and six or seven hours have passed since then.

So many disciples were receiving treatment, yet she remained silent.

Why?

He unscrewed the porcelain bottle and gently sprinkled the powder onto the wound.

The moment the powder entered the chapped wound, a sharp, piercing pain exploded within.

Song Yao was suddenly awakened from her dream. Her body reacted faster than her brain, and she kicked the figure in front of her hard.

Xie Zhou was prepared, his fingertips firmly gripping her calf.

The force was just right, enough to restrain her movements without touching her injuries at all.

Song Yao was forced to stop, and was stunned when she saw who it was: "Fourth Master... Fourth Senior Brother?"

Xie Zhou looked at her indifferently, his long eyelashes concealing the turbulent emotions in his eyes: "Behave yourself."

He released his grip on her calf, dipped his fingertips in the medicine powder again, and gently rubbed the surrounding bruises with his fingertips.

Song Yao didn't dare to move, her eyes blinking rapidly.

Not right.

Is she still asleep?

Why would my fourth junior brother be here personally healing her wounds?

Did she get reborn back to the time before she died?

Such scenes did occur frequently back then.

She was domineering, unreasonable, and tyrannical, tormenting and humiliating her most obedient fourth junior brother all day long.

It's common for him to take off and put on her shoes, and she even throws her clothes to him to wash.

Perhaps he was too afraid to resist, but he always obediently did as he was told.

But now, even if she had a thousand times the courage, she wouldn't let him take care of her like that.

After all, her cultivation was completely sealed, and he could crush her with a single finger.

The stinging pain brought her back to reality. Song Yao's face was tense, and a little cold sweat appeared on her forehead.

She tried to stop him: "Fourth Senior Brother, why don't I do it myself?"

Xie Zhou: "Shut up."

Song Yao: "Oh."

After wrapping the last layer of gauze, Xie Zhou withdrew his hand, placed the porcelain bottle on the stone table, and said in a still cold tone: "The Sixteenth Elder ordered that the dressing be changed once a day. Do not try to tough it out again."

Song Yao obediently and respectfully bowed to him, saying, "Thank you, Fourth Senior Brother."

"Um."

Xie Zhou turned to leave, hesitated for a moment, then took out a neatly folded oil paper package, placed it on the stone table, and said calmly, "This is from the Sixteenth Elder."

Song Yao's eyes lit up slightly.

Isn't this the best osmanthus sugar in Kunming?

I heard it's made with syrup boiled from the first harvest of golden osmanthus in early autumn. It's sweet and smooth on the palate, with a lingering, refreshing osmanthus fragrance.

She used to love eating it so much that one year she even tied the shop owner up to the mountain to cook it just for her.

Now that winter has arrived, let alone the first batch of golden osmanthus, even the osmanthus trees have lost all their leaves, yet they can still be bought?

She reached out to take it, but before she could touch it, the courtyard gate was pushed open again.

He Yu burst in, carrying a wicker box, and called out from afar, "Junior Sister! Look what good stuff I brought you!"

Upon catching sight of Xie Zhou, she paused for a moment, then greeted him respectfully, "Fourth Senior Brother is here too."

Then she plopped down on Song Yao's soft couch and shoved the box into her arms: "You said last time you used an alchemy furnace to bake jujube cakes, I tried it, it's incredibly fragrant! Try it!"

The sweetness of the jujubes is almost overflowing.

Song Yao's hand, which had reached for the candy, turned away, and she picked up a steaming hot pastry and put it in her mouth.

It really was soft and sweet.

With her cheeks puffed out, she offered a suggestion: "It would be even better with some sugar, but it would still taste good. Next time, let's not bake pastries, let's bake pork belly instead, it will definitely be delicious."

He Yu hesitated: "Won't the smell of barbecue be too strong?"

"Isn't there a senior sister who has a water elemental root? We can just ask her to help us wash it then."

"Clever, clever."

He Yu immediately agreed, "I'll have my master kill a chicken tomorrow."

The two chatted animatedly, when Song Yao suddenly remembered that Xie Zhou was standing next to her. She looked up and offered him a piece of pastry, saying politely, "Fourth Senior Brother, would you like to try some?"

Xie Zhou's expression darkened inexplicably, his thin lips pressed into a straight line, and he uttered two words: "No need."

As he spoke, he turned and walked out of the courtyard, taking the bag of osmanthus sugar from the stone table with him.

Song Yao: "......?"

Wasn't the osmanthus sugar given to her by the Sixteenth Elder?

She hasn't eaten a single one yet...

And why does he seem to be angry all of a sudden?

He Yu scratched his head: "It's nothing, it's nothing. Fourth Senior Brother has always been like this. He doesn't really like to talk to people. We're all used to it."

Song Yao asked in confusion, "Has Fourth Senior Brother always been like this? Didn't he only become like this because of the incident at the main peak?"

Before she unearthed his parents' remains, Xie Zhou had always been well-behaved and good-natured.

Even if she makes him angry, he will quickly make up and come to her, and he will even lower his head and apologize to her.

"Where did you hear this rumor?"

He Yu looked at her with disbelief. "Although Fourth Senior Brother wasn't as unpredictable as he is now before, he didn't really pay attention to people and was particularly cold."

Song Yao: "Indifferent? Xie Zhou is indifferent?"

"Yeah, everyone's a little afraid of him."

"..."

Is this the same Xie Zhou she knows?

Song Yao still remembers the extremely outrageous and shameless things she did in order to increase Xie Zhou's "darkening" value.

She tricked Xie Zhou into going down the mountain to play, but actually led him to Black Cloud Mountain to incite hatred.

What kind of place is Black Cloud Mountain? To put it nicely, it's a hermit sect; to put it bluntly, it's a gathering place for shady, evil, and demonic cultivators.

It's only because their entrance is hard to find, they operate in secrecy, and their geographical location is awkward that they haven't been besieged yet.

It happened to be the birthday banquet of the young master of Black Cloud Mountain, and all the disciples gathered together.

Song Yao tricked Xie Zhou into joining them, and replaced the carefully selected sacrificial maiden with a 300-pound fat pig.

Then, while the Black Cloud Mountain sect leader was giving his congratulatory speech, he set fire to the hair of all the disciples present.

The entire birthday banquet turned into chaos. Without a second thought, Song Yao turned and ran away, leaving Xie Zhou alone there.

I thought that after going to such lengths, my level of corruption should have reached its peak.

She planned to find an opportunity to go in and bring the person out as soon as she reached the top, but she waited for half the night leaning against the tree without any movement.

As dawn broke, Xie Zhou finally arrived late, reeking of blood as he approached her.

The white clothes were soaked with dark red blood, and the ends of the hair were covered with undried blood droplets.

He took her hand, pressed his face against hers, his nose brushing against her fingertips, and looked at her with an almost vulnerable expression, his voice pleading, "Senior sister, please don't abandon me next time, okay?"

Song Yao thought to herself at that moment that there really wasn't anyone in the world with a better temper than Xie Zhou.

But this person was clearly different from the cold-hearted senior brother He Yu had described.

really weird.