Outside the walls
The people were already awake and lively,
Some were laughing loudly, some seemed to be arguing while others were trying to attract customers.
He couldn't quite make out the words that were being said, he could only make out the gist of it from vague voices that were muffled out as he covered his head with the blanket drowning out the noise.
Buried inside the warmth of the blanket, he felt like he was somewhere else, maybe floating for all he knew
The covers dropping on him, pressing him heavy on the soft bed like he was being pressed back onto the ground
Well, one thing was for sure,
Xue Hua absolutely did not want to wake up just yet
But unfortunately, from the moment he started pondering on all those silly thoughts his brain had already grown conscious of his surroundings having drifted out from his dreamland
Being snapped out of his dream, one that he wanted to continue for just a couple longer had already left without a trace a while ago,
He couldn't quite recall the dream now, but he was sure, it was a very pleasant dream, one where he was in a very warm place with someone...who seemed to have been smiling at him.
Happiness still lingered in his mind even with the dream now gone,
But he did not open his eyes, half trying to fall back into it and half fearing that once he did he'd have to face the harsh north once more
His eyes were heavy, it felt bothersome to even lift his finger within this warm bundle of covers, so he laid completely still hoping that he'll just fall back into sleep without realising,
But that of course was not possible as when he did try to focus on sleeping longer he found himself unable to rid himself of his consciousness and all that mental efforts woke him up further
His brows scrunched in annoyance as his brain kept rebelling against his desire for more sleep
It still felt too early to wake up, and he didn't wanna be walking around while it was so cold after all, if he got up, the chances of going back to bed before night was almost none
And he himself was the one who wanted to walk around the city yesterday even talking about it in front of Yue Ran
He didn't want Yue Ran to think he was someone who would go back on his words but...he really wanted to sleep a bit more...
However, he only found it increasingly difficult to fall back into sleep that the back of his neck starting to tense up from laying flat for so long
he squirmed here and there underneath the covers but that did nothing to help
Trying to find a better position ended in vain since all that squirming and turning only made sleep more distant.
Finally, groaning, he opened his eyes
Annoyed at himself
He opened and closed his eyes multiple times, trying to recover his sight staring straight at the ceiling while doing so, and soon the blurred lines soon became clear
He laid there for a couple of moments before he finally sat up pulling the blankets along with him,
But as his legs hung exposed from the bed a chill ran down as he shivered for a moment
After a short yawn escaped his mouth he was fully awake-
Feeling his entire body waking up, he turned towards the door,
It was closed, no sign of it having opened during the night as well.
He had a pout as he did so, looking sullen that he hadn't been visited at all, he had hoped and fantasized that Yue Ran would secretly enter while he was sleeping and check on him, and maybe he would "wake up" after pretending to be asleep or maybe continue with it,
And then...maybe they could've chit chatted for a while
Which he knew was something Yue Ran would never do, but a child could dream.
The wind now seemed less cold than Yue Ran who threw him inside this room alone
Somehow Xue Hua had picked up a habit of exaggeration from somewhere, perhaps it was an influence from the woodcutter they met before.
The entire room was cold, despite the window being closed it didn't stop the winds from coming in somehow, this was to show just how stubborn the cold was here.
Then he was reminded of where he was once more, as he heard loud chatters from outside.
Qingxue city
That was what Yue Ran told him before they entered the city gate,
Soon after they entered the city, Yue Ran almost as if he was familiar with the place promptly found them and inn not too deep into the city, despite it being further away from the market it was still noisy, but the food here was good
It felt like his stomach would start growling again as he thought about the food he ate for dinner the previous day.
Still busy with his thoughts, he got up, dropping the blanket onto the ground carelessly as he walked towards the chair where he had thrown his cloak the night before in a fit of childishness.
He put his cloak and outer robe over his shoulder underneath the cloak he pushed his hands through the sleeves, rubbing his eyes, he then turned towards the wall, it was the very wall that was separating their rooms from each other
He looked around for a moment, rubbing his neck while tapping the floor with his foot before he swiftly walked over and leaned onto the wall
Yue Ran slept in the other room just next to him, maybe he was still inside....
Yesterday Xue Hua was taken off guard as Yue Ran asked for two rooms in front of the register, that he was in dazed after that till they each entered their room to retire for the night, he even forgot the tastes of the dinner he had after that
(For a while)
It wasn't that they had to be together all the time, but it still felt weird, almost a sense of betrayal since they had been sharing a single room till now, not that caves or sleeping in the open could be called a "room" but even so-!
Even when they were at the village they shared a room when they could've had separate places so he had thought that they'd continue sharing rooms for at least a longer time than now-
But... If he thought about it, it could only be because Yue Ran wanted to further add to the siblings facade, but thinking of it Xue Hua couldn't help but grumble just a little,
After all it made ...sense
He could only justify Yue Ran begrudgingly
Xue Hua's cheeks pressed harder onto the wall, as he tried to make out any sounds from inside, but it was awfully quiet,
Maybe the soundproofing was annoyingly good or Yue Ran was still sleeping but with how he could hear everything from outside no way the soundproofing would have been good anyway so maybe he was sleeping--
Without any warning a sharp sound sounded behind him,
*Creaaak*
"If you're awake let's get breakf.....ast"
Yue Ran's voice strayed unconsciously as he saw the boy's face pressed onto the wall but quickly turned his head away,
Overlooking it as covered his mouth
Xue Hua didn't even have a second to even pretend to have been doing something else, he was caught red handed,
Like a thief who was caught while reaching for goods by the owner, so after processing the situation immediately he looked around and then quickly moved away from the wall
"Ah-"
He got flustered, as he saw how Yue Ran had turned his head away, embarrassed he immediately tried to think of an excuse
but he wasn't good with them and what could he even say in this situation?
One had to wonder, what would even be a valid reason for someone who was caught obviously eavesdropping?
His face turned beet red, as he realised that he couldn't think of a single excuse
And Yue Ran had his face turned away, not knowing what expression he was making Xue Hua's imagination filled in all the gaps,
Yue Ran did not even say a single word further, maybe it was out of consideration for him, because no way could he bear to look at his eyes right now but it still didn't feel right for him.
Just as he was starting to spiral, and before the silence got too awkward,
Yue Ran let out a soft cough, as he said,
"I'll be heading down first"
Then soon he turned around and walked out the door, remembering to close it softly, as his footsteps descended the stairs
Xue Hua stood frozen in the room, and when he could no longer hear anything, certain that he had left
Xue Hua let out a deep breath and--
"Ahhhhh"
He dropped on the floor covering his face
Why did I have to do that?!
He was so sure he hadn't heard anything either!
he wanted to beat himself up and crawl down into a deep hole and bury himself,
He couldn't even feel the coldness of the floor as his entire body heated up,
The moment their eyes met was like a moving image that kept repeating in his mind despite his wishes against it,
Yue Ran's eyes widened for just a moment before he turned his face away
Xue Hua trashed his legs as he covered his face trying hard to think of something else but despite his best efforts,
He couldn't shake it off, it felt as though he could cry out of sheer embarrassment
It was not surprising that he only had Yue Ran in his memories and every part of his memory became a trigger to this embarrassing moment,
since losing his memory the only thing he's known was that ridiculously pretty immortal-
While he was probably less than a fraction in his memories
How unfair
He wanted to dig into his mind and tell it to shut up.
'I'll be heading down first'
He sniffed as he remembered Yue Ran's words,
As if on cue-
he heard his stomach growl out
He cursed it, despite everything he had to fill it as it seemed to have no regard for him,
Pressing his palms hard on his face he got up and trudged downstairs
His ears and face were still flushed as if he was running a high fever, his hair a complete mess just like when he had woken up,
He still didn't know what to make of his atrocious bed hair, he didn't need to since Yue Ran always did it for him and he had no memory of what he did before that, so it became natural that he depended on Yue Ran for it.
He walked with shame and a bird's nest on his head with his hands behind his back
spotting the immortal sitting in the corner of the inn he walked towards that table and sat down, his head lowered as he chewed lightly on his lips
He had given up on trying to think of excuses after all, what could he even say?
His dignity was being buried piece by piece, with the shovel he himself held, he thought of all the various embarrassing moments he had in front of Yue Ran, his mind right now was like a theatre playing all the embarrassing moments and he was being forced to watch through it all whilst sitting in the best place
He could hear Yue Ran clearing his throat slightly as he called for the server,
He muttered some things to the waiter which Xue Hua usually would've been paying attention to but with this play forcing itself on his mind he filtered everything out trying to get himself out in some way.
While he was still mulling over the morning event, his stomach growled, hammering the nail to the coffin,
The awkwardness was so thick that it could be tied into a rope and used for jumping
Xue Hua made his body smaller looking shocked as he wondered just how much his body disregarded him,
The red that was finally starting to fade returned once more, much brighter too
Even Yue Ran felt slightly embarrassed for the kid, so much so that he overlooked his hair
Thankfully, the waiter arrived soon with a bowl of soup and rice,
Xue hua immediately dived into the food hoping that it could ease the embarrassment just a little
Yue Ran himself decided to eat porridge since it was on the lighter side, he didn't know what to say or tell the kid who was obviously guilty,
He didn't know what he could even say, silence seemed the best choice so, he simply shut his mouth, and played ignorant since he knew that it was the thing he was best at
And in the silence that they shared their meal, a pair of men came in to have some food, they sat pretty close to their table
Ordering food before they began talking
"So how's your wife?" One of the men asked, it was the guy with a beard and a bulky frame, like someone who was used to doing heavy labour throughout his life.
"Did that lady actually heal her?"
He added that line with a hint of skepticism in his voice,
Yue Ran listened in while eating, not that he could not hear them anyway, since they talked rather loudly despite trying to be quiet,
Then the other man threw his hand on the table leaning closely,
"The rumours weren't exaggerating!"
"Ziqi's legs were as good as ever after only a few days of taking her medicine!" He exclaimed with genuine awe,
The inn was quite empty this morning, only a handful of people eating breakfast here, including them, others seemed to be engrossed in their talks as well, so only Yue Ran paid attention to them, and the contents of the conversation
A physician?
It really didn't seem much too extraordinary to Yue Ran, however Yue Ran had been planning to visit a physician so it intrigued him,
And to be spoken in such a high manner it would seem that she had done quite a lot of healing around this place
He tapped the table twice with his index finger before glancing over at the kid
Maybe he should look for her, physicians- especially women were known to be good with kids
And with what happened in Siquan Xue Hua could still be affected by the after effects of almost being swallowed by that "thing"
He had already checked for physical harm and internal harm, but other than his energy being deflated everything seemed okay
...but it was still better to consult with an actual physician or healer after all, Yue Ran was no healer, and especially with things that could affect a kid's mental...
Xue Hua was already quite unique there was no need for more "quirks"
This all reminded him, just how bad he was with kids... despite his master being someone who loved them
It seemed that this was one of the things he had failed to learn from him,
He couldn't say that he hadn't tried being better at dealing with kids but...
Safe to say he really wasn't good with them.
And especially him,
He just couldn't figure him out