He stood perhaps ten paces away.

Xuanyuan Lige had come out upon hearing the commotion, wanting to see what exactly was going on!

He never expected to walk into this scene — someone wrapped in a quilt lying in the snow, features indiscernible, but judging by her build, she was likely the Central Plains woman the old witch doctor had mentioned during the day.

And Yu Xiaomeng and Madam Yu were actually arguing, even coming to blows!

From a distance, Xuanyuan Lige stood silently watching, his gaze as coldly indifferent as ever. Yu Xiaomeng was so flustered she felt on the verge of collapse — she had no idea how long young master Xuanyuan had been there, how much of their mother-daughter quarrel he had overheard.

For a moment, she lost all sense of herself, frozen in place where she stood!

Madam Yu, however, remained quite composed, muttering under her breath as an opportunity presented itself, “He definitely heard everything. Look at you, you’ve humiliated yourself completely — what are you standing there for, come home with me now!”

Yu Xiaomeng said nothing. Her mind was completely blank, echoing only with the resolute words she’d just declared: “I’ll marry Xuanyuan Shang and no one else!”

He must have heard it, surely!

“Come on, do you want to keep embarrassing yourself? You already said it — look, has he reacted at all?”

“Let’s go!”

Madam Yu forced her voice down low. At this moment, she wished she could break Yu Xiaomeng’s legs and drag her home by force.

But Yu Xiaomeng simply wouldn’t move. She had to admit — some part of her, subconsciously, was waiting for Xuanyuan Lige’s response!

He’d heard it, surely he should say something!

“Are you going or not! You wretched girl, if you don’t leave now, don’t blame me for embarrassing you!”

“I’ll count to three, and if you haven’t left by then, I’ll… I’ll…”

Madam Yu was practically fuming with rage, but just then, Xuanyuan Lige spoke up calmly. “The patient on the ground will catch cold. The wind is strong tonight — go home.”

No form of address, no telling whether this counted as any kind of response to what she’d just said. Yu Xiaomeng snapped back to her senses with a jolt, only to watch helplessly as he slowly turned and walked away.

In that instant, Yu Xiaomeng’s eyes instantly reddened, hot and wet, welling up again and again, tears swimming in her eyes until her vision blurred, and she could no longer make out the figure ahead of her.

Madam Yu, too, froze for a moment, and then, for no clear reason, suddenly shouted sharply, “Xuanyuan Shang, you stop right there!”

By rights, Madam Yu should have been pleased — this should have given her even more reason to convince Yu Xiaomeng to give up on him, she should have been the one dragging Yu Xiaomeng away before young master Xuanyuan even left!

But instead, she suddenly burst out shouting, “Xuanyuan Shang, you stop right there, what do you mean by this! What’s wrong with my daughter that she’s not good enough for you, are you really this heartless and unfeeling?”

Xuanyuan Lige stopped in his tracks. Seeing this, Madam Yu immediately rushed forward and grabbed his arm, saying coldly, “Tell me, what’s wrong with my daughter that she’s not good enough for you, what’s not good about her, what makes her unworthy of your golden eyes!”

As she demanded an answer, she dragged Xuanyuan Lige back toward Yu Xiaomeng. Xuanyuan Lige had no choice but to let her pull him along.

Looking at this girl, her eyes red as a rabbit’s yet the tears never quite falling, Xuanyuan Lige felt a faint ache in his heart.

Toward Yu Xiaomeng, he felt no dislike, no annoyance, and it was certainly not that she failed to catch his eye.

This girl was his benefactor, the kindest and purest girl in all the northern desert.

He was fond of her — only, this fondness was the kind one felt toward a little girl, a little sister.

If anyone tried to harm Yu Xiaomeng, he would certainly risk his life to save her. But when it came to matters of the heart, he could only hurt her — better a short pain than a long one.

“Speak!” Madam Yu urged furiously. “Make it clear tonight, once and for all!”

Yu Xiaomeng’s tear-filled eyes looked at young master Xuanyuan, lost and timid. She clearly longed, so very much, to look at him this closely, to speak with him — yet now that he was truly this near, she felt both anticipation and dread at once.

The two of them stood in silence, gazing at each other.

Madam Yu, furious and out of patience, shouted angrily, “Speak! Make it clear right now, so we don’t keep delaying each other!”

But just then, beside them, Ziqing — her entire body soaked through with snowmelt by now — unable to bear the bitter cold, began murmuring incoherently in her half-conscious state, “Cold… so cold.”

She had no awareness at all, only a purely instinctive response, murmuring as her thin body slowly curled in on itself.

“Cold… Beiyue… I’m so cold…”

“Beiyue… where are you? I’m so cold…”

The stirring at their feet finally made Madam Yu and Yu Xiaomeng realize the patient was still lying there in the snow. Both were startled. Xuanyuan Lige’s brow furrowed, and he moved to help her — but Yu Xiaomeng was even faster, immediately grabbing hold of Ziqing and pulling her up to support her.

Xuanyuan Lige watched silently — but the instant Ziqing’s face turned toward him, his entire body went rigid, as though all three of his souls and six spirits had frozen solid in that single moment…

That quiet, delicate face, cold enough to have turned pale and bluish, long lashes dusted with white snow, lips utterly bloodless and pale, trembling ceaselessly.

That face, that quietness — it was precisely the one he could never forget, the one he thought of day and night, longed for and worried over, even after fleeing all the way to the northern desert!

How could it be…

“Ziqing!”

Xuanyuan Lige’s voice trembled. He shoved Yu Xiaomeng aside abruptly and pulled Ziqing into his arms, rubbing her hands over and over, cupping her small face again and again, trying to warm her.

“It’s alright, it’s alright! You’ll be warm soon!”

“Hold on, I’m taking you home, it’s alright!”

“You’ll be warm soon, don’t be afraid… it’s alright!”

Not only was his voice trembling, his hands trembled too — no matter what he did, he couldn’t warm her, so he could only hold her tightly and rush toward the house. In the blink of an eye, their figures had vanished!

All of this happened so fast, so terribly fast, that Yu Xiaomeng, knocked to the ground, hadn’t even fully grasped what had happened, feeling as though she’d just woken from a dream.

It seemed as though, ever since she’d rescued that girl, she’d been living in a dream.

But then why… why were the tears sliding down so shamelessly now.

She had never once seen young master Xuanyuan look so flustered, so utterly at a loss. The young master Xuanyuan she loved was a man of graceful bearing, well-versed in all things, someone who could remain calm and composed no matter what happened!

His purple robes and silver hair, his quiet reserve, his noble aloofness — so sacred and beautiful that even she didn’t dare, couldn’t bear, to get too close to him.

But just now, he had clearly nearly crushed that woman into his embrace!

But just now, he had clearly been desperate, panicked, afraid!

Even his voice, usually so deep and pleasant, had been trembling!

She only felt that, in that instant just now, that man’s entire world had collapsed.

And as his world collapsed, she too had plunged into a bottomless abyss along with it!

That woman… who was she?

Suddenly, Yu Xiaomeng leapt up from the ground, wanting to chase after them, but at that moment, Madam Yu, having recovered from her own shock, grabbed her hand forcefully. “What are you doing!”