Crows scatter in chaos, the jade screen stands empty,
A pillow of cool breeze, a fan's gentle sigh.
Awake to autumn's whispers, nowhere to be found,
Moonlight bathes the steps, where plane leaves lie.
……——
Nan'an City.
The sunlight was radiant.
Xiao Chaoyan stood at the door, gazing up at the cloudless sky, and smiled. "Today marks the Start of Autumn, and the weather is clear. The harvest back in Homeland must be bountiful."
"Is there such a saying?" Su Muyu walked up beside her.
Xiao Chaoyan nodded eagerly. "Yes, yes! Brother Yu, you’ve never done farm work, so you wouldn’t know. If the weather is clear on the Start of Autumn, farmers rejoice."
Su Muyu shook his head. "I wasn’t aware of that. I only knew about eating eggplants on this day..."
"Eating eggplants?" Xiao Chaoyan looked puzzled.
"Eating eggplants." Su Muyu nodded seriously. "I’ve already bought some."
"Fresh ones?" Xiao Chaoyan asked again.
Su Muyu nodded once more. "Fresh."
"Master!" Xiao Chaoyan shouted.
"Coming." Bai Hehuai pushed the door open, rubbing his bleary eyes, and let out a big yawn as he looked at the two in the courtyard. "What’s the matter?"
"Save... save me." Xiao Chaoyan grimaced.
"Huh?" Bai Hehuai blinked in confusion before scanning the courtyard for a weapon. Spotting a wooden stick in the corner, he hurried over and picked it up. "Su Muyu, are you planning to cook again?"
Su Muyu chuckled awkwardly. "Isn’t it a tradition for the Start of Autumn?"
"Tradition? What tradition?" Bai Hehuai frowned.
"Eating eggplants on the Start of Autumn!" Su Muyu replied.
"I’ll give you a taste of this stick!" Bai Hehuai raised the stick and swung it at Su Muyu.
By then, over ten days had passed since Su Muyu’s Sword Challenge to Unrivaled in Peerless City. Su Muyu, Bai Hehuai, Xiao Chaoyan, and Su Zhe had returned to Nan'an City, while Su Changhe had gone back to Dark River. The Crane Rain Medicine Manor reopened, and Su Muyu resumed his culinary experiments.
It was as if the events of the Sword Challenge to Unrivaled were nothing more than a fleeting dream, as though they had never happened.
"Sigh, if only Brother Changhe were here. We could eat out," Xiao Chaoyan lamented.
Bai Hehuai sighed even more deeply. "I doubt Su Changhe ever imagined there’d be a girl who misses him just because she could dine out with him."
Dark River.
Moon Shadow Pavilion.
Su Changhe sat upright on a long chair, leaning forward as he listened to reports on recent events in the martial world. Though Dark River had gradually faded from the public eye, no longer accepting assassination contracts, they still kept tabs on major happenings. Su Muyu could stay in Nan'an City and tend to his Medicine Manor, but Su Changhe would always return here.
"So, Tang Lingyue returned to the Tang Sect and never left again," Su Changhe mused, stroking his beard after hearing the report.
Mu Qingyang nodded. "That’s correct."
"As the Black Tortoise Envoy, though he holds no official rank, he bears the duty of guarding Tianqi. Yet he returned to the Tang Sect and never came back..." Su Changhe smiled faintly. "Interesting."
A woman in purple robes emerged from the shadows and asked softly, "What has he been doing since returning to the Tang Sect?"
"Yumo," Su Changhe chuckled. "You were once part of the Twelve Zodiac Shadows. Try to control your emotions."
Mu Yumo retorted impatiently, "I won’t!""Ha ha ha ha! Originally, you wanted to go to Heaven Revelation City to find him, didn't you?" Su Changhe asked leisurely.
Mu Yumo nodded. "Yes. Last time I went to Heaven Revelation City, I wanted to find him, but he hadn't returned then."
"Never mind. Returning to the Tang Sect has its advantages too. After all, the Tang Sect is Tang Lingyue's sect. If we went to Heaven Revelation City, we couldn't very well propose marriage at the Langya King's residence, could we?" Su Changhe maintained his faint smile. "Dark River proposing marriage at the royal residence—even the Langya King would be shocked speechless."
Mu Qingyang tossed a Peach Blossom Coin into the air, watching it flip before catching it again. "Interesting, interesting."
"So, let's go propose marriage at the Tang Sect instead." Su Changhe slowly descended the high steps and finally stood beside Mu Yumo, leaning in to whisper with a smile, "What do you think?"
Five days later.
Nan'an City.
Sunset at dusk.
Xiao Chaoyan lay on a long chair. The autumn evening sun warmed her body, and occasional breezes swept through, bringing a refreshing coolness. Having worked all day, Xiao Chaoyan lay there with her eyes closed, undisturbed—a rare moment of leisure. Except...
"If only I could go eat the Thirteen Banquet at Fushou Lou again," Xiao Chaoyan sighed sincerely.
"Sure." A voice tinged with amusement sounded beside her ear. Startled, Xiao Chaoyan leaped off the long chair and instinctively gripped the short sword hidden beneath it.
"Nice reflexes." Su Changhe grinned at her.
Xiao Chaoyan blinked. "Brother Changhe."
"Good, good. That's a nice way to address me. Unlike some people who call me 'that troublemaker' as soon as they see me. At least all those meals at Fushou Lou weren't wasted on you." Su Changhe nodded approvingly.
"You're here again!" Bai Hehuai walked into the courtyard, eyeing Su Changhe.
Su Changhe chuckled. "See? I was talking about her!"
But Bai Hehuai immediately switched to a bright smile. "You have no idea how much we've missed you!"
"Huh?" Su Changhe's ever-present smirk—as if it had been etched on his face since birth—finally faltered. "Miracle Healer Bai, you've left me at a loss for words."
"Take us to Fushou Lou," Bai Hehuai demanded at once.
Su Changhe spread his hands. "I know I'm rich, but your Crane Rain Medicine Manor is now Nan'an City's most renowned medicine manor. The name 'Miracle Healer Bai He' is known throughout the city. Rumor has it wealthy merchants pay you a hundred taels of silver just for a single house call. Can't you afford Fushou Lou yourself?"
Bai Hehuai sighed softly. "Someone won't let me."
Xiao Chaoyan echoed the sigh. "Someone won't let us."
"Who won't let you?" Su Changhe asked.
"I won't." Su Muyu stepped in. "Fushou Lou may be delicious, but it's still an outside restaurant. Eating there too often isn't good for your health."
"And your cooking is good for our health?" Su Changhe rubbed his forehead. "If not for the miracle healer here, we'd have been poisoned to death long ago."
Su Muyu shook his head. "You have no idea how much I've improved lately."
"I don't want to know." Su Changhe took a step back.
A glint of excitement suddenly flashed in Bai Hehuai's eyes."Miracle Healer, oh Miracle Healer, was this your plan to keep me from returning?" Su Changhe had completely lost the imposing demeanor he'd arrived with. "You came up with this scheme to drive me away."
Xiao Chaoyan hastily waved her hands. "I swear, that's not the case at all."
"How unbelievable," a figure in purple robes swept past the group as Mu Yumo landed beside Su Changhe. "That the Head of Dark River and a family leader would be deadlocked over whether to dine at a restaurant."
Her radiant smile could topple cities.
"They all say Su Muyu's cooking is terrible, but I don't believe it. Let me have a taste," Mu Yumo said with a laugh. "I want to see just how bad it really is."
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