Elsewhere, at the same time—
Dan Feng sat facing Jingliu across a tea table. Early that morning, out of concern for his friend's "romantic situation," he'd specifically invited her out.
Steam curled from the teacups.
Dan Feng, pretending to be casual, brought it up: "After Wei Qing walked you home last night… nothing happened, right?"
Jingliu's hand holding the cup paused—so slightly it was almost invisible.
"What could he possibly do?" she replied.
After a beat, as if to make it sound more credible, she added, "He was… well-behaved."
Dan Feng raised an eyebrow. He knew Jingliu too well.
Jingliu had spent the night at Wei Qing's place. If she was reacting like this, something absolutely happened.
Not bad, Wei Qing.
He'd only given the guy a tiny nudge, and Wei Qing actually went for it.
Dan Feng lifted his cup to hide the smile at the corner of his mouth. "Is that so? Then Wei Qing is… unexpectedly impressive."
Jingliu lowered her gaze to the tea's surface. "He is… somewhat special."
"Oh?" Dan Feng leaned forward, suddenly interested. "Special in what way?"
Jingliu stared at him for a long moment, then looked up. "Why are you asking so much?"
"Ahem." Dan Feng coughed. "I'm just curious how far you two have gotten."
After all, Wei Qing had explained to him last night that Jingliu likely misunderstood something.
But it was precisely because of that misunderstanding that Jingliu—this walking iceberg—had actually started pursuing someone.
And honestly, judging by her reaction last night, Jingliu was definitely the one who'd asked Wei Qing out.
"…How far could we possibly have gotten?" Jingliu sounded faintly embarrassed to admit anything.
Dan Feng waved it off. "Stop hiding it from me. I'm not Yingxing—that idiot can't read a room to save his life."
He took a sip of tea, then added lightly, "Relax. Mara isn't the end of the world. With your current spirit, you can last another five hundred years, easy."
Then he narrowed his eyes. "I'm just curious what he did last night that has you this distracted today."
"What could he do?" Jingliu repeated—then, in a quieter voice, she added:
"…He washed my feet."
"..."
Dan Feng went completely silent.
He set his cup down, inhaled slowly, and tried to process that catastrophic piece of information.
Wei Qing, you bastard—so you act carefree all the time, but when it matters you're this good? Washing feet? What kind of intimacy play is that?
"Jingliu," Dan Feng asked cautiously, "you're serious?"
Jingliu looked him dead in the eye, expression severe. "When have I ever not been serious?"
Dan Feng cleared his throat again. "Then… have you exchanged any tokens? A jade pendant, a sword tassel—something like that?"
"When we met last night," Jingliu said, "I prepared a gift for him."
"Oh?" Dan Feng's curiosity kicked in. "What gift?"
"I gave him…" Jingliu said carefully, "a voidranger's heart."
"???"
"It was wrapped with silk ribbon," she added earnestly, as if that made it normal. "I picked the most intact one."
Dan Feng's face froze.
He stared at Jingliu's unchanged, icy expression and suddenly realized a horrifying truth:
These two might genuinely be made for each other.
What kind of sane person gives a corpse part as a romantic gift?!
"Why," Dan Feng asked, rubbing his temples, "did you think giving him a voidranger's heart was appropriate?"
Jingliu didn't understand why this was even a question, but she explained patiently:
"For a Cloud Knight, a heart from a voidranger I personally slew should carry more meaning than ordinary gifts."
"I also considered giving him the heart of an Abundance abomination," she added, "but I worried it might be taken as provocation—so I decided against it."
Dan Feng: "..."
So you were worried Abundance would be provocative, but a voidranger heart is perfectly fine?
At that moment, Dan Feng finally understood why Wei Qing had said there was "some misunderstanding" between them.
This wasn't a misunderstanding.
This was two people with deeply abnormal brain circuits achieving spiritual resonance.
Dan Feng forced himself onward. "Then what did he give you?"
Jingliu—rarely—looked slightly awkward. "…He washed my feet?"
"Just that?"
"And… it felt very comfortable," she admitted quietly.
Dan Feng's teacup slipped from his hand and shattered on the floor.
He genuinely never imagined he'd live to see the day Jingliu went love-brained.
"Are you alright?" Jingliu frowned.
"I'm fine." Dan Feng drew a long breath. "I just suddenly feel… like I might still be too young."
Jingliu continued, ignoring his dramatics. "Last night, I realized I might have misunderstood something between us."
"Misunderstood?" Dan Feng asked, intrigued.
So Jingliu recounted, in full, Wei Qing's absurd "simp speech" from last night.
Even if Jingliu wasn't good with social nuance, she'd known Wei Qing for years. Combined with his reaction afterward, she'd figured out she might have been getting ahead of herself.
But she wasn't discouraged.
Since she'd already made the first move, she would simply keep pressing the attack.
At minimum, judging by last night's results, Wei Qing didn't reject her closeness.
"So…" Dan Feng chose his words carefully. "You want to ask me how to interact with Wei Qing next?"
Jingliu nodded slightly. Her usually cold eyes carried a rare hint of uncertainty.
"I'm not good at… this."
Dan Feng looked at her troubled expression and found the situation bizarrely novel.
He coughed once, then decided to help.
"First, giving gifts is good," he said. "But next time, consider something… more normal."
Jingliu frowned. "Is a voidranger heart not normal?"
"..." Dan Feng pressed his fingers to his forehead. "For normal people, no."
"Wei Qing isn't normal," Jingliu said with absolute seriousness.
"And last night, I asked him to go watch a movie—then you and Yingxing interrupted."
"Ahem, that was an accident." Dan Feng scratched his nose, embarrassed. "But don't worry. From here on, I'll give you support. Capturing a mere Wei Qing will be effortless."
Jingliu leaned in slightly, eyes shining with genuine curiosity. "Then what suggestions do you have?"
"..."
Dan Feng stared at the rare intensity in her face and suddenly felt an immense weight settle on his shoulders.
Helping Jingliu pursue someone might be the most dangerous mission he'd ever taken on.