cold clothes

"..."

Qingyou was speechless, but still repeated with an icy expression, "I will only demonstrate once."

With a hint of grievance in her clear, innocent blue eyes, Leng Yi said, "But I didn't see it clearly. If it had been any longer, I would have forgotten everything."

"...So what do you think should be done?"

“You’re the teacher, you should make the decisions,” Leng Yi said, puffing out her cheeks and putting her hands on her hips. Her confident tone made Qing You seem somewhat insecure; he had only demonstrated once after saying it twice, and it was really embarrassing to contradict himself… so he came up with a good idea.

"I'll teach you the sword moves one...three times, step by step. If you can't remember them, you won't be sleeping tonight."

"Huh? Teacher, do you have to be so strict?"

"My task is to get you to master a sword dance within a month. I must make you complete it. No need for further explanation—"

Qingyou resumed his usual cold and aloof demeanor, grasping Lengyi's hands from the side and guiding her through the movements. Lengyi felt like a puppet being pulled around by Qingyou, finding the learning extremely painful. Throughout the process, Lengyi kept yelling:

"Hey, slow down, I can't turn my wrist!"

"Teacher, you could have spoken to me when you asked me to lift my leg, instead of just kicking it directly..."

"Ouch, the sword hit my leg."

"—! Teacher, are you alright? I didn't mean to poke your eye!"

"..."

Qingyou covered her eyes and took a few steps back. Lengyi quickly threw away the wooden sword, but her hands were empty and she didn't know what to do.

"What a chaotic scene! Disturbing my sleep late at night. Qingyou, what are you and this—the young lady from Zhuoyu Pavilion—doing?"

Suddenly, a hoarse male voice rang out. A few steps away, a section of the floorboards was lifted, revealing a handsome man in a single layer of clothing standing there, his face as round as jade and his figure elegant as a tree. He initially sounded weary, but when he noticed Leng Yi, his voice paused, his eyelids drooping slightly, conveying a gloomy and languid air. He was undeniably handsome and refined, but Leng Yi's heart skipped a beat upon seeing him.

Isn't this Huai Lou, the one who did *that* with Yun Qiu? The strange, fishy smell I caught when we brushed past each other that day still seems to linger in my nostrils…

"Mother Hu asked me to teach Ningbi Sword Dance, and I taught her every night for the next month," Qingyou said weakly, still recovering from Leng Yi's "serious injury."

"It's very noisy," Huai Lou coldly uttered.

"If you can't sleep, you can play music for us."

Lengyi: Pfft.

When both men looked over, Leng Yi pursed her lips and pretended to be invisible.

The two men continued arguing, their faces expressionless.

Huai Lou thought it was inappropriate for Leng Yi to come to Langxuan Pavilion, while Qing You said he didn't want to go out to see her every night. The two held their own opinions but it was like a casual chat. They argued for several rounds without reaching a conclusion, while Leng Yi thought the conversation was extremely childish.

“In that case, let her come through the secret passage,” Huai Lou said.

A secret passage? Leng Yi pricked up her ears.

“She’s not qualified to know the location of the secret passage,” Qingyou replied.

"Have her wait at the entrance. You shut down her five senses and brought her here, otherwise it would be too risky for her to enter and leave Langxuan Pavilion."

Qingyou remained silent, then agreed to Huailou's compromise.

Leng Yi finally understood. It turned out that Huai Lou was worried about her safety, not about people dancing upstairs every night. He really was... She was devastated. As for Qing You, he was truly speechless. Why didn't he just find a quiet place to practice his sword? He had to create all this trouble.

"What's your expression?"

Qingyou, perched high above, asked from afar.

Could it be that her disdain was unconsciously showing? Leng Yi quickly pretended to be stupid.

"what?"

"Alright, enough nonsense. Do the exercises I'll teach you a hundred times, and I'll take you back to Zhuoyu Pavilion after you're done."

"what?!"