"I will wait for you, Young Master," Wangchen whispered, his voice husky. "Count the seconds. Do not be late, and don't make me wait too long, hmm?"
Ji'an stood there, her mouth slightly open. Her brain was frantically trying to process the data and failing.
'He... he kissed my hand. Is this a custom in his village? Is this how disciples say goodbye? Why is my face burning? Why do I feel like I just signed a contract with a devil?'
She laughed nervously, a high-pitched, strangled sound.
"Ha... haha! Right! Counting seconds! Very precise! Okay! Good talk!"
She yanked her hand back, not violently, but with the desperation of someone pulling their hand out of a fire.
"I... I gotta go! Cultivate diligently! Reach the bottleneck! Bye!"
She turned and practically fled, activating her movement technique to blur down the mountain path, leaving a trail of panicked dust in her wake.
Xie Wangchen stood alone in the snow.
