Jinzhou, Taoyuan Vale.
It was late autumn, gradually turning into winter, yet a peach tree was blooming brilliantly. Petals, carried by the slightly chilly autumn breeze, drifted down lightly and landed in a pair of slender, soft hands.
"Once the Yaoguang broke through the frost, if not for you, my lord, the seasons would struggle to repay their debt."
Following those flawless white hands, the view slowly moved upward to a pink-and-white dress, then to a graceful jade neck adorned with tassels.
Further up was a refined face as cold and clear as the moon, paired with soft, snow-white hair held in place by a cloud-shaped hairpin.
"Spring comes and years pass—who shares them with me? The peach blossoms bloom radiantly, stirring the heartstrings."
Jinhsi leaned against the peach tree, tilting her head slightly. The affection in her eyes seemed to transform into rippling autumn waters.
Not far away, beside the Taoyuan Vale beacon, a familiar figure gradually emerged from white light. It was Noah, who had been teleported back by the Shorekeeper.
Jinhsi finally smiled gently.
The timing was exactly as the Sentinel had predicted—not a second off.
"Welcome home, hero of Jinzhou."
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. She had too many thoughts and longings she wanted to express to him personally, and too many questions to ask.
Why did he leave without saying goodbye back then? Why did he have such close interactions with the second young lady of the Montelli family in Rinascita? Why did he carry an unknown woman and fly across all of Rinascita...
Had Noah really gotten together with another woman in just these short twenty-odd days and cuckolded her?
As the Magistrate of Jinzhou, Jinhsi might not have been able to travel far with Noah, but if she truly wanted to gather information, obtaining some intelligence was as easy as flipping her hand.
All the questions she couldn't ask in the letters, she wanted to ask him face-to-face and get clear answers.
Beside the beacon, Noah turned his head. The surprise in his eyes turned into delight:
"It's Xixi! You look really beautiful today!"
With those words, Jinhsi's heart instantly bloomed with joy. All the previous questions in her mind were thrown to the back of her head, leaving only one thought.
He praised me for looking beautiful!
A woman dresses up for the one she loves. Receiving Noah's praise was enough to make Jinhsi feel that all the time she spent carefully dressing up was worth it.
Looking at Noah again, he had just finished his greeting when the Pangu Terminal suddenly started emitting various message reception signals nonstop like it was broken, making quite a noisy racket.
"Huh?"
Noah subconsciously picked up the terminal and glanced at it. The number of unread message notifications in red was skyrocketing.
[Yangyang sent five unread messages.]
[Chixia sent eleven unread messages.]
[Zhezhi sent eight unread messages.]
[...]
The moment he returned to Jinzhou, all the messages accumulated over the past month were transmitted to his terminal in one go, causing the notification sounds to be completely unstoppable.
[Unread messages: 99+]
He casually tossed the nearly frozen terminal into his backpack. The annoying noise finally disappeared. Noah quickly took a few steps forward and soon reached Jinhsi.
"Xixi, you're so lucky. As the first person I see upon returning to Jinzhou, I'll reward you handsomely."
"Re-reward?"
Jinhsi leaned back against the peach tree, her delicate body trembling slightly. A few pink peach blossoms fell and landed on her head. Noah casually reached out and plucked them away.
The intimate action caused the girl's face to gradually flush with a red hue. Her shy and charming demeanor was very endearing, and a few dragon scales faintly appeared on her slender arms beneath her robes.
He had just touched her head, right?
And something about a reward... could it be...?
"Look, a big Rinascita gift package."
Noah pulled out a large cubic gift box with sides about one meter long from behind him like magic and shoved it into Jinhsi's hands without explanation:
"Inside are specialties I brought back from Rinascita—things like perfume, dresses, accessories, and many finely crafted artworks. I carefully selected them all."
What the... he's such an idiot. Jinhsi took the gift box, looked at the beautifully wrapped package, and her thoughts swirled. She turned her head slightly and let out a soft laugh.
At least he was thoughtful. She thought so.
"Thank you, Noah. I also prepared a gift for you."
A small card was handed over. Noah took it, his expression turning to surprise:
"Huh? A driver's license?"
"That's right."
Seeing Noah's surprised look, Jinhsi couldn't help but curve her eyebrows in a smile:
"Last time you took the driver's license exam and then left without saying goodbye. Now that you're back, I've prepared the license for you. This matter can finally have a proper beginning and end. In the future, you are not allowed to leave again without a word."
"Well... last time I had something urgent. Now that it's resolved, I can explain it to you slowly."
Listening to Jinhsi's final slightly reproachful words, Noah smiled awkwardly and then asked:
"But since you even prepared the driver's license, that means you weren't just passing by here by chance, right?"
"Yes, I was waiting for you here."
"Huh? How did you know I would come here?"
"I asked the Sentinel."
To learn about matters related to Noah, she would ask the Sentinel many, many questions from time to time.
This was also how she could accurately predict the time and place of Noah's return and make preparations in advance.
Her outfit was carefully chosen, the peach tree was adjusted with time manipulation, and the area around the beacon had been specially cleared of people by dispatched patrollers.
"By the way, Noah, how did you suddenly appear near Taoyuan Vale?"
"I asked the highest administrator of the Black Shores, the Shorekeeper, to teleport me back. She originally wanted to send me directly to the central beacon in Jinzhou, but I thought keeping a low profile would be better, so I changed it to here."
"Jinzhou has indeed received quite a few orders related to the Black Shores these past two days. I didn't expect them to suddenly reappear after disappearing for four months."
As she spoke, Jinhsi observed Noah's expression. The Black Shores matter was definitely related to him.
"Hey, let's not talk about that for now. It's getting dark. Let me treat you to dinner."
Noah didn't think too much about it and invited Jinhsi:
"In my previous letter, I mentioned that if there was a chance, I would take you flying together. Now I've borrowed the power to enable flight from Rinascita."
Flight? This had actually already been successfully developed and piloted in Jinzhou.
Jinhsi was about to explain when she heard Noah's next words:
"Give me your hand. I'll fly you back to Jinzhou."
Upon hearing this, the words Jinhsi wanted to explain stopped at her lips. The corners of her mouth uncontrollably curved upward.
She shyly extended her hand and held Noah's tightly.
The warmth from his palm seemed to spread along her arm to her cheeks, making even her earlobes feel hot.
She—she—she was holding Noah's hand! This progress was too fast!
Today it was holding hands. She didn't even dare to think about what tomorrow would bring.
They were also going to have dinner together later. Wasn't this basically the same as dating?
"Hold on tight. I'll make you fly right away."
Noah reminded her, then switched to his role as Jinhsi, releasing several points of Dawnlight to step into the air. In just a few steps, he carried Jinhsi with him as they leaped into the sky and spread their wings to soar.
Two pairs of spatial power-formed wings unfolded behind them. Noah began patiently teaching:
"Flight is a convenient way to travel, but it might be a bit difficult for beginners to get the hang of. First, we need to master balance..."
He gradually closed his mouth, looking at Jinhsi who remained perfectly stable at the same speed as him while still holding his hand. His eyes widened bit by bit:
"Wait—what the—why are you so skilled at this!"
As he spoke, two Jinzhou patrollers also deployed their flight wings, flew over to them, and shouted through a loudspeaker:
"Comrades ahead, stop immediately for inspection! Your wings do not meet specifications. We now suspect you of illegally modifying flight wings and flying without a license!"
...