Chapter 852
Shen He is Jealous! He'll Get Wendy!
Once you start, there's no going back.
In the evening, the setting sun bathed the pine branches in a warm golden hue in the backyard of the Rebirth Hall.
Shen He sat alone on the veranda. The cup of tea she had brewed for Su Chen on the stone table had gone cold, but she didn't touch it.
She didn't know how long she had been sitting there.
I just felt a tightness in my chest, like there was a heavy blockage of ice that wouldn't melt.
She had seen Su Chen being gentle to many people.
He listened patiently to Hu Tao's lively and energetic movements.
He carefully protected Qiqi's innocent dependence.
Ke Qing was eager to learn, and he shared all his knowledge with her.
He treated Gan Yu with gentle warmth upon their long-awaited reunion.
Even when the Radiant Star of Tianquan arrived, adorned with jewels and brimming with ambiguous wit, he remained composed, his eyes always holding a smile she couldn't decipher.
Shen He is not jealous.
She wasn't even sure what "jealousy" was.
This word had never appeared in her emotional dictionary during her thirty years as a fairy.
She just felt stuffy, felt the wind in the corridor was too still, and felt the tea was getting colder than usual.
Footsteps sounded.
She didn't turn around, but subconsciously hid the cold teacup in her sleeve.
"The tea's gone cold," Su Chen's voice sounded from behind, tinged with a knowing smile. "Have you been waiting long?"
Shen He pursed his lips and did not answer.
Su Chen sat down beside her, naturally picked up the cup of cool tea, and slowly drank it all, as if it had been specially brewed for him and was at the perfect temperature.
Shen He watched his Adam's apple bob, and suddenly felt that feeling of suffocation rise up again.
“You went to see Ningguang,” she said, her tone flat, as if stating the weather.
"I did go to Qunyu Pavilion this morning." Su Chen put down his teacup, turned to look at her, and said, "We discussed the promotion plan for the new business of Wangshengtang."
"Ah."
silence.
Shen He gazed at the deepening twilight in the distance, his fingers unconsciously curling up on his knees.
She wanted to ask, "Why is there that light in your eyes every time I see her?" and "Do you also tell her stories, and tell her 'I believe in you'?" But the words that came out were surprisingly bittersweet: "She understands you... better than I do..."
Su Chen turned his head and looked at her intently. In the twilight, Shen He's profile remained as cold and aloof as if sculpted by frost and snow, but beneath his long eyelashes, the edges of his icy blue eyes were tinged with a very faint, almost imperceptible red.
He understood.
This eccentric immortal disciple, who was oblivious to human relationships, finally tasted the first bitterness of human life.
"Shen He." His voice was very soft, as if afraid of startling the snow falling from the branches, "Look at me."
She slowly turned her face to meet his gaze.
“Ningguang truly understands me,” Su Chen said. “She is worldly-wise and can read the unspoken meaning from a few words. Keqing understands me; she can comprehend the logic and ambition behind my theories. Ganyu understands me; she remembers every word I said twenty years ago.”
With each name he uttered, Shen He's eyelashes drooped slightly, and a hint of bitterness almost welled up in his eyes.
“But Shen He,” Su Chen paused, her voice softening with a gentleness she’d never heard before, “they understand ‘Mr. Su,’ ‘Guest Su,’ ‘Su Chen.’ They understand me as the person I interacted with, the person I taught, the person I shared stories with. And you…”
He reached out and gently brushed away the silver hair that had been ruffled by the evening breeze from her forehead.
"The Su Chen you know is the one who watched the sunrise and sunset with you amidst the clouds and mist, the one who was clumsy in speech and much more silent."
You don't need to understand my theories, my past, or my strategies. Just your presence, standing beside me, makes me feel that the world isn't so cold anymore.
Shen He stared at him blankly, his eyes, clear as an icy lake, reflecting the last rays of the setting sun and his own clear image.
"Are you still feeling down?" he asked.
She remained silent for a moment, then gently shook her head. The heavy, icy feeling had somehow melted into warm water, which rippled across her chest.
Su Chen smiled. He didn't say anything more, but slowly approached.
His breath landed on her brow and paused for a moment.
It was an inquiry, a respect that was gentle to the extreme.
Shen He didn't dodge, and he didn't even know if he should dodge.
She simply opened her eyes, looking at his eyelashes so close to hers, at his deep, calm eyes, and suddenly a pebble was thrown into the warm waters of her heart.
The moment the ripples spread, his lips landed on her brow.
It's very light.
However, it brought about an emotion different from that of previous spiritual practice.
Shen He closed his eyes.
She didn't know if this was right or wrong, whether a disciple of the immortals should overstep such boundaries, or what this sudden, overwhelming emotion was.
She felt that, in that instant, the wind and snow that had raged in the mountains for a thousand years stopped, the world was silent, and only the temperature of his breath was clear as a brand.
Then, that temperature disappeared.
She opened her eyes, somewhat bewildered, as if she had just woken from a long dream.
Su Chen looked at her, at her ear tips slowly turning blush, her eyes gradually becoming watery, and her lips slightly parted, as if she didn't know what to say.
That face, untouched by worldly dust and as serene as the moon, now resembled clouds bathed in the glow of the sunset, breathtakingly beautiful.
"Do you understand?" he asked in a low voice.
Shen He shook his head, then nodded, then shook his head again, finally lowering his gaze and speaking in a voice so soft it was almost inaudible: "...a little."
"What do you understand?"
She didn't answer, but gently placed her hand on his chest, feeling its steady and strong beating.
Then, she raised her eyes, and for the first time, her usually quiet eyes held a shy, dependent light, the light of a woman from the mortal world.
“…You are special,” she said, emphasizing each word as if she had grasped some extremely precious truth, “to me.”
Su Chen's heartbeat finally skipped a beat under her palm.
He looked at her.
Looking at her face flushed with the glow of first love, and at the innocent yet sincere and unreserved trust in her eyes.
Having spent many years cultivating in the mountains, keeping everyone at arm's length, he now handed over his only weakness to him without any warning.
He wanted to see more.
Different.
I want to see this face, sculpted by ice and snow, melt into even more vibrant colors because of him.
I want to see those empty eyes filled with more shy shimmer because of him.
He moved.
His hand landed on her waist, and with a gentle pull, Shen He turned to face him.
She was somewhat at a loss, but she didn't resist at all. She just looked at him with her wet eyes, like a fawn waiting for guidance.
Su Chen leaned down and kissed the corner of her lips.
It was very light, and they separated at the slightest touch. Shen He's breath hitched slightly, and his fingers gripped the fabric of his sleeve, but he didn't let go.
So he kissed her again.
This time it lingered a little longer, a slow, tentative caress between lips, like the first breath of spring breaking the ice.
He tasted the lingering, clear, snow-like fragrance of tea on her lips, and he also tasted her clumsy and awkward yet incredibly sincere response.
She didn't know how to respond, so she just stiffly and obediently let him take her.
Su Chen stepped back slightly and looked at her.
That cool and aloof face was now completely flushed with crimson, from her cheeks to her neck, and even the corners of her eyes were tinged with a thin pink.
She was slightly out of breath, her long eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings, and her lips glistening with moisture from the light kiss she had just received.
"Su Chen..." she called his name softly, her voice carrying a hint of helplessness, but more so a gentle dependence that even she herself did not understand.
He didn't answer, he just stared at her.
Gazing at this shyness and beauty that seemed to have been created just for him, a tenderness, almost greedy, welled up in his heart.
He wanted to see more.
His hand slid down her waist, gently covering the rounded, soft curves that were subtly outlined by her white fairy robe.
Through the fabric, he could clearly feel the body beneath his palm tremble slightly. That forbidden place, which had never been touched by anyone before, tensed up because of him, and then gradually softened.
Shen He's eyes widened, his icy blue pupils filled with genuine bewilderment and shock, yet he did not flinch, and even subconsciously softened his waist even more.
He patted it gently.
The crisp sound was particularly clear in the quiet backyard.
Shen He froze completely.
Then, the blush that spread from her ears, like a bursting dam, instantly flooded her entire face, even reaching her neckline and turning her long, swan-like neck pink.
“You…” She opened her mouth, her voice so low it was almost broken, with a trailing tone that was hard to tell if it was an accusation or a coquettish plea, “…bad.”
The two words she uttered carried no reproach, but rather felt like the gentle scratch of a newborn kitten, softly landing on his heart.
Su Chen smiled.
He watched her blush so much she almost buried her face in his chest, her long eyelashes trembling slightly with shyness, her tightly pursed lips that couldn't hide the upward curve, and her eyes that, though seemingly restless, stubbornly gazed at him.
That chill shattered completely, breaking into a sky full of warm, gentle rays of light.
“I’m just that bad,” he whispered, gently lifting her chin with his fingertips so she couldn’t avoid his gaze. “My Shenhe looks so handsome when he’s shy, I want to look at him more.”
"My Shenhe."
These four words completely disarmed her. The pent-up, inexplicable feeling of "suffocation" that had been weighing on her mind finally found a name.
That's not jealousy, it's wanting to possess something exclusively.
She wanted him to only see her.
I want to be the kind of person who can be referred to as "my family".
She lowered her eyes, her eyelashes casting a small, trembling shadow beneath them. After a long while, she gave a very soft "hmm".
The voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz, yet it was an unreserved tacit approval and indulgence.
Su Chen looked at her.
Shen He watched as the ice and snow completely melted, revealing the soft spring water beneath.
He could no longer restrain himself, and leaned down to pull her into his arms, his chin resting on the top of her head, an irrepressible smile playing on his lips.
Shen He rested his head on his chest, listening to the steady yet slightly erratic heartbeat, and recalled what he had just said: "They understand Mr. Su, Su Keqing, and Su Chen."
The person holding her tightly at this moment has no title, no prefix, just a warm mortal whose heart races, who is greedy, and who laughs as he admits to being "bad."
She raised her hand, hesitated for a moment, and finally gently wrapped her arms around his waist.
The evening bell of the Hall of Rebirth tolled softly, startling the birds that had been roosting under the eaves.
The twilight under the eaves deepened into a gentle blue, and the two figures embracing each other finally merged into an inseparable whole in the growing darkness.
Shen He closed his eyes, letting the unfamiliar, warm tide of what he called "ordinary human emotions" engulf him.
So this is what the human world is like.
With him around, it's not cold anymore.
For Su Chen, the thread of time no longer flows in a single direction.
While Ningguang's huge investment brought about earth-shattering changes to Wangshengtang, and countless absurd "adjustments" ensued.
That vortex of time originating from the depths of his soul would still, unknowingly, lead him to a completely different "shore," where he would encounter figures who had not yet intersected with him on the current timeline.
He was used to this kind of thing and was actually looking forward to it.
After all, besides Ningguang and Shenhe, there are other people in this world that he likes.
For example, the Yae no Miko (Eightfold Divine Child).
We cannot let this opportunity slip by.
This subsidence was accompanied by the fragrance of grass and Cecilia flowers, and a wind that was free to the point of being almost unrestrained.
Su Chen stood on the hillside by the Fruclaw Lake outside Mondstadt, where windmills turned slowly in the distance and the sky was a clear, deep blue.
A green figure, holding a lyre, leaned crookedly against a large tree, with several empty cider bottles scattered around him. His cheeks were flushed with contentment, his emerald eyes were half-closed, and he was humming an old, off-key tune.
The bard Wendy, or rather, the wind god Barbatos.
No, why is it a man?
I have absolutely no interest in dating men.
You can't blame him for thinking that way; Ningguang and Shenhe had stirred up another idea in his mind.
But we encountered it.
We'll always have to come into contact with each other.
He's been wanting to complain about it for a while now.
There are quite a few men in this world, and you can't tell they are men just by looking at their appearance.
He felt like she was a woman.
For example, Xingqiu.
Su Chen understood immediately, walked straight over, sat down next to him, and magically produced two simply packaged bottles of cider, handing one over.
Wendy opened one eye, glanced at the wine, then at Su Chen, this unfamiliar stranger, a barely perceptible glint flashing in her eyes.
That wasn't wariness, but more like curiosity at seeing something interesting.
He accepted it with a grin: "Oh my, stranger, you've come at the perfect time! My 'source of inspiration' has just dried up!"
Without any hesitation, he uncorked the bottle, took a big gulp, and squinted his eyes in satisfaction. "Hmm~ The taste is mellow, with a quality that Dawn Winery doesn't have... Hmm, the sense of time's sedimentation? Interesting."
"Passing by, I heard the poet's song and felt that it should be accompanied by good wine." Su Chen also took a sip, gazing at the peaceful outline of Mondstadt in the distance.
"Singing? Was that singing just now?"
Wendy chuckled self-deprecatingly, plucked a few scattered notes on the strings, and said, "They're just fragments of old tunes. New poems always need new winds to stir their inspiration."
His gaze fell on Su Chen, filled with a certain inquiry. "You... don't seem to be from Mondstadt. There's a very special feeling about you, like winds that have blown through different seasons and different mountains, finally converging together." (End of Chapter)