After the spiritual energy was restored: Goddess girlfriends came knocking.

In the days that followed, Cang Yao became somewhat strange.

During the meal, Lin Chu picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks and looked up to find Cang Yao staring at him.

He looked back and saw Cang Yao's face flush red. She lowered her head and shoveled rice into her mouth. Even though there was still food in the bowl, she stuffed the empty chopsticks into her mouth.

Lin Chu looked at her, puzzled.

"What did you eat?"

Cang Yao looked down and realized that she had caught nothing.

Her ears turned bright red, she put the bowl on the table, said "I'm full" and ran back to the east room.

Xiao Xiao held the bowl, looked at her sister who had run away, and then at Lin Chu.

"What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know," Lin Chu answered truthfully.

Two days later, Lin Chu was reading under the locust tree, while Cang Yao was washing clothes by the well.

As he looked at it, he felt a burning sensation on his back. He turned around and saw Cang Yao squatting by the well, her hands soaking in the basin of water, her face turned toward him.

Their eyes met, and Cang Yao suddenly lowered her head and began to scrub the clothes vigorously. After scrubbing them for a couple of seconds, she realized that the clothes in her hands had just been washed.

Lin Chu turned back to continue reading.

After a while, my back started to feel hot again.

He sighed and closed the book.

"Cangyao".

"Hmm?" The voice was a beat higher than usual.

"Is something the matter?"

"No!" The answer was too quick.

Lin Chu glanced at her but didn't ask any further questions.

Cang Yao buried her face in the washbasin, the water reflecting her flushed cheeks.

She herself didn't know what was wrong with her.

I used to just look at him, stare at him if I wanted to, and never thought anything of it.

Now, just looking at him makes my heart pound. I want to move away but I can't bear to, and if I don't move away, I'm afraid he'll notice.

Xiao Xiao was eating peanuts under the eaves, watching the two people, one looking at the sky and the other washing clothes, chewing loudly. She thought to herself, "These two are getting weirder and weirder."

That evening, Cang Yao was washing dishes in the kitchen, while Lin Chu was tidying up the table in the yard.

After finishing her meal, Xiaoxiao ran to Aunt Qin's house to play with some of the village girls. The courtyard was quiet and peaceful.

After washing the last bowl, Cang Yao wiped her hands and came out.

Lin Chu stood under the tree, looking up at something.

She walked over and looked up in the direction of his gaze, but there was nothing there.

"What are you looking at?"

"The stars," Lin Chu pointed to the sky, "the brightest one, it'll be up early tonight."

Cang Yao tilted her head back, arching her neck as far as she could.

There was indeed a star in the sky, brighter than all the others, hanging there all alone.

She looked at the stars for a while, then her gaze slid down to Lin Chu's profile.

He looked at the stars, and she looked at him.

The twilight softened the lines of his face.

Cang Yao's heart started racing again.

Aunt Qin's words echoed in her ears—"Look at the way he looks at you. When he looks at other people, he barely lifts his eyelids, but when you come over, his eyes follow you."

She then remembered what Aunt Qin had said about matchmakers.

Someone is asking him if he is engaged.

Someone wants to marry him.

What if someone gets there before her—would he then abandon her?

"Lin Chu."

"Um."

"I—love you!" Her voice trembled slightly. "So when are you going to marry me?"

The moment those words were spoken, the air seemed to freeze.

Lin Chu turned her head.

Cang Yao seemed to have used up all her strength after saying those words.

"I—I'm going back now—"

She covered her burning face and turned to run away.

Xiao Xiao was sitting on a stool in front of the hall, holding a braised chicken leg that Aunt Wang had just brought over, gnawing on it with oily bits of food.

She saw Cang Yao rush in, her face flushed red. Before she could even ask what was wrong, Cang Yao had already dashed into the east room like a gust of wind.

"sister--"

"I'm going to bed!"

The door slammed shut.

Xiao Xiao held up the chicken leg, looked at the tightly closed door, then looked down at the chicken leg in his hand, and let out a burp.

What's wrong now?

She quickly finished the chicken leg and wiped her mouth with her sleeve.

Just as he was about to get up and knock on the door, Lin Chu walked in.

His steps were slow, and the expression on his face was somewhat subtle.

"Brother Lin Chu, what happened to my sister?"

Lin Chu glanced at the tightly closed door of the east room, and her lips twitched.

"It's fine."

Xiao Xiao looked at him suspiciously, then at the east room, and finally decided to ignore it.

Since Lin Chu has said that, then there shouldn't be anything wrong.

These two have been acting strangely for several days now.

"Get some rest, I'm going back to my room now," Lin Chu said to Xiao Xiao.

Xiao Xiao blinked: "Yes, Brother Lin Chu, you should rest early too."

Inside the room, Cang Yao buried her face in the blanket, curling up into a ball.

She hugged another pillow and buried her face in it.

I started to feel anxious and uncertain again.

He had said before that he would marry her once she understood what true love was.

Now she understands, and he should keep his promise, just in case he doesn't.

Cang Yao tossed and turned in bed, twisting the blanket into a giant pretzel.

In another room, Lin Chu lay on the bed with her hands behind her head, staring at the ceiling.

He's not a blockhead, he just has too many worries.

He always felt that he would leave sooner or later, so he always suppressed the things in his heart and dared not let them out.

But that day, Ao Tianxin thought to himself, "Being caught up in the mundane world is not necessarily worse than cultivating oneself in seclusion."

Although you are a mortal, who dares to say that you can do less than a cultivator?

And that day by the stream, Cangyao shouted his name into the river.

And there was that booklet he had flipped through, with crooked handwriting recording all sorts of trivial matters, line by line.

Lin Chu recalled a sentence she had read in that booklet: Wherever he is, that is home.

Looking at the quiet moon outside the window.

He imagined her by the stream, her peach blossom eyes sparkling as she looked at him, struggling for a long time before finally managing to squeeze out those words.

One hundred years, thirty-six thousand days.

Enough to have many, many meals with her and watch the moon many, many times.

……

The next morning, Cang Yao got out of bed.

She splashed cold water on her face, took a deep breath, and pushed open the door.

Lin Chu had already gotten up.

He was holding a book, just like any other day.

The table was set with porridge and side dishes, just like usual.

Cang Yao stood at the door for a while, then walked over and sat down opposite him.

She picked up the bowl of porridge, took a sip, and secretly peeked at him from above the rim.

Lin Chu turned a page of the book, took another sip of her drink, looked at him again, and he turned another page.

Nothing happened.

Cang Yao put down the bowl, stood up, and walked around him twice.

Lin Chu looked up at her, then lowered her head again to continue reading.

Cang Yao walked around again, this time even slower, deliberately making her steps heavier.

Lin Chu still didn't react.

She bit her lip, sat back down on the stone bench, and stared at it with her chin in her hand.

He would usually look up when she stared at him.

But today, it's like flowers have grown on that book; he can't get enough of looking at it.

"Why have you been reading all day?" she couldn't help but ask.

"Hmm, this part is more interesting." Lin Chu didn't even look up.

Cang Yao's cheeks puffed out.

Interesting? She said such important things last night, and he's acting like nothing happened today? She stood up, turned around, and went back into the house.

He walked to the bedside, picked up the pillow, and punched it several times.

"You stinky Lin Chu," she muttered under her breath, "You said those kinds of things last night, but you're acting like nothing happened today."

She punched the pillow again.

"Although I did run away last night—you can still reply to me now."

"Idiot, idiot, idiot."

After she had finished pounding, she threw the pillow back onto the bed and sat cross-legged, sulking.

Did he not take her words seriously at all?

Perhaps he thought he was joking.

Maybe he doesn't like me at all?

But Aunt Qin said—Aunt Qin said the way he looked at her was different.

Aunt Qin said he treats others differently than he treats her.

Cang Yao grew angrier the more she thought about it. No, she had to ask him directly and get to the bottom of it.

She stood up and opened the door.

The book is still on the stone table, and the teacup next to it is still steaming, but the person is gone.

"Xiaoxiao!" Cang Yao turned and called out to Xiaoxiao, who was squatting outside the courtyard watching ants, "Where's Lin Chu?"

Xiao Xiao didn't even look up: "He went out, said he was going to town, and left as soon as you got back into the house."

"Go to town? What for?"

"He didn't say." Xiaoxiao yawned. "Sis, why are you in such a hurry? It's common for him to go to town."

Cang Yao stood inside the room, her hand still gripping the door frame.

He slowly retreated back into the room and sat down again on the edge of the bed.

The pillow was still in the shape it had been pounded in earlier; the dent looked like a wrinkled face, staring back at her.