Time halted, space froze.
In that instant, Zhu Fei and Qiu Ruoxue cast aside everything, reveling in the warmth of the present.
One minute, two minutes, three minutes...
The atmosphere rose, the temperature burned, emotions merged...
Gradually, Zhu Fei was no longer satisfied with his current actions and began to make further moves.
Moments later, just as Zhu Fei’s hand was about to venture to a certain part of Qiu Ruoxue’s body, she suddenly raised her hand to block his motion.
She slowly opened her closed beautiful eyes, calmly looking at Zhu Fei.
"Zhu Fei, not today, let’s stop here."
Upon hearing Qiu Ruoxue’s words, Zhu Fei’s expression paused, somewhat unclear about the meaning behind her words, and he couldn’t help but look back at her questioningly.
Qiu Ruoxue smiled helplessly, lifted her hand to brush the hair by her ear, and bitterly laughed, "I just happen to be on my period today, so... haha, so I have to apologize to you. Let’s just stop here for today."
Zhu Fei slapped his forehead, looking at Qiu Ruoxue with a mixture of laughter and helplessness.
Seeing his reaction, Qiu Ruoxue couldn’t help but gently bite her lip, and finally took the initiative to lift her jade arm, wrapping it around Zhu Fei’s neck. After giving him a light kiss on the cheek, she whispered in his ear,
"Next time, the next time we meet, I’ll give myself to you."
Having said that, Qiu Ruoxue smiled faintly, turned around, and walked naked into the ’bathroom’, right in front of Zhu Fei.
Watching Qiu Ruoxue’s striking figure disappear behind the door, reminiscing about the words she had just said to him, Zhu Fei felt an unprecedented sense of fulfillment.
Indeed, although there had been no earth-shattering experiences between him and Qiu Ruoxue, nor any vows as resolute as mountains and oceans,
The fact that she, a woman with a characteristically cold demeanor, had just expressed such sentiments to him, imparted a clear message that Zhu Fei would be completely obtuse not to realize by now.
Perhaps some might say that the development between Zhu Fei and Qiu Ruoxue was too abrupt, too rushed?
But Zhu Fei himself didn’t think so. In fact, since the moment he saw Qiu Ruoxue again, he had sensed a difference in her.
On the surface, Qiu Ruoxue’s character appeared as cold and indifferent as before.
But only Zhu Fei himself knew in his heart the subtle change in Qiu Ruoxue’s attitude towards him throughout their journey.
If the previous Qiu Ruoxue was misty, elegant, and elusive, making it difficult to discern her true feelings, then the current Qiu Ruoxue was clear, transparent, and forthright—one look, and her intentions were known.
However, whether it was the Qiu Ruoxue of the past or the present, in essence, she had never changed.
Because, the real Qiu Ruoxue was just so!
She lacked verbose language, excessive explanations; what remained was merely silent giving.
Indeed, silent giving.
Whether it was her taking the initiative to undergo special training, asking Shangguan Yu to come out of seclusion to protect Tang Mengyun, or even undertaking this mission to meet him—
Qiu Ruoxue had never been one for many words in all she did for Zhu Fei.
Considering this, did those so-called oaths, those declarations of love, matter at all? Did they?
At least in the eyes of the current Zhu Fei, all those conventional, mundane things were unimportant!
Thinking, reminiscing, Zhu Fei’s gaze, in this moment, grew warmer and softer.
About half an hour later, it was almost one in the morning.
Finally, the door to Qiu Ruoxue’s ’bath’ room clicked open.
"Ah, Zhu Fei, why haven’t you gone to rest yet?"
Wearing a knitted pajama set, Ruoxue dried her hair with a towel as she approached Zhu Fei, looked at him, and a beautiful smile appeared on her stunning face.
"You should rest up; we have to catch a flight tomorrow, don’t we?"
As she said this, Qiu Ruoxue suddenly slapped her forehead as if she remembered something, and reluctantly continued:
"Almost forgot to tell you, I might not be able to take the same flight with you tomorrow. I received a call earlier; they want me to return to the special training headquarters right away, so... haha."
Hearing this, Zhu Fei felt an inexplicable tightness in his heart.
For the first time, he instinctively felt a tinge of reluctance at the thought of parting from Qiu Ruoxue.
After a moment of silence, Zhu Fei spoke with a touch of unwillingness: "Do you really have to go?"
Qiu Ruoxue nodded, her expression tinged with helplessness.
Seeing this, Zhu Fei finally gritted his teeth, suddenly stretched out his hand, and scooped Qiu Ruoxue into his arms.
"Since that’s the case, let’s sleep together tonight then. Even if we can’t do anything else, it’s nice just to have a chat."
As soon as he finished speaking, before caring about what Qiu Ruoxue thought, he directly carried her into her room.
The next morning, as the first rays of dawn filtered through the window and onto Zhu Fei’s face,
Zhu Fei’s eyelashes gently fluttered, and he promptly woke up.
This was the first time in a long while that he had truly slept in the conventional sense.
Before, he had always spent his nights in meditation and Qi Refinement.
But last night, he didn’t know what happened; while chatting with Qiu Ruoxue, he simply fell asleep .
Zhu Fei reached out and suddenly realized that the ’bed’ was empty - he was the only one left.
Where was Ruoxue? Had she already left?
Zhu Fei was mildly shocked and quickly sat up, extending his Divine Sense from the room outward.
No one! Impossible – there was no one!
He, a Qi Refining Eighth Level Cultivator, had not even noticed when Qiu Ruoxue had left.
Zhu Fei was somewhat angry with himself; it seemed that because he had fallen asleep in the same room as Qiu Ruoxue the previous night, he had overly relaxed and completely lost awareness of his surroundings.
Finally, after Zhu Fei covered the entire presidential suite with his Divine Sense once more, he discovered a note left by Qiu Ruoxue on a coffee machine.
With a gesture, the note flew into his hands.
"Zhu Fei, you were sleeping so soundly that I didn’t want to wake you. My flight was at six this morning, so I’ve taken my leave for now. Wait until the next time we meet, and I will fulfill the promise I made last night. Love, Ruoxue."
The message ended there—simple and straightforward, without unnecessary words or added instructions.
But Zhu Fei could see the warmth hidden beneath the surface in Ruoxue’s words.
Especially the phrase "wait until the next time to fulfill the promise made last night," which showed that Qiu Ruoxue was telling him to take care of himself and looking forward to their next reunion.
Suddenly, Zhu Fei felt surrounded by a sense of warmth, subdued yet real, silent yet intense.