When the White Moonlight Holds the Script - Chapter 39.2

Zhu Zhihan thought Second Senior Brother was truly remarkable.

“Speaking of which, Junior Sister, have you ever liked anyone? I’ve been through a lot, if you have any doubts, I can give you some advice!” After chatting with Zhu Zhihan for half an hour, Li Yihe had already regarded her as a close confidante.

Zhu Zhihan initially wanted to say no, but in an instant, a familiar face flashed before her eyes.

She wasn’t foolish in fact, she was exceptionally sharp but sometimes, she simply didn’t dare to delve too deeply into her thoughts.

She lowered her gaze.

Li Yihe noticed something and exclaimed, “There’s something going on!”

Zhu Zhihan tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Senior Brother, when you realized you liked the pheasant spirit, didn’t you find it hard to accept?”

Li Yihe’s drunken mind was as small as an almond, and his attention was immediately diverted. “Hard to accept? Why?”

“She’s of a different race. It goes against common sense and the judgment of others.”

Li Yihe thought for a moment. “Well, maybe a little. But I didn’t think that much about it.”

Zhu Zhihan rubbed her temples, wondering if she had gone mad to expect any answers from a drunkard.

Feeling somewhat disheartened, she prepared to stand up and leave.

But then, Li Yihe said, “Because liking someone is just that liking them. Seeing her makes me happy. Even if my feelings change later, in that moment, I was happy. What does it have to do with anyone else?”

Zhu Zhihan froze mid-movement.

After a moment, she heard her own voice, hoarser than usual, ask, “What about the other person? What if they can’t accept it.”

Li Yihe shrugged. “You said ‘what if,’ right? There’s always a chance. You have to confess and see. If it doesn’t work out, then just bury those feelings in your heart until they change.”

He turned to look at Zhu Zhihan, slurring drunkenly, “Little junior sister, liking someone isn’t something to be ashamed of.”

How could she describe the feeling that washed over Zhu Zhihan in that instant?

It was as if some deeply ingrained notion within her had been overturned and reshaped, like frozen earth cracking open.

She saw other possibilities.

“I understand, senior brother, senior brother?”

Before Zhu Zhihan could fully process her swirling emotions, she saw Li Yihe slump over beside her, completely unresponsive no matter how she called out to him.

There was no way she could carry the tall and sturdy Li Yihe back by herself. After a moment’s thought, she sent a message to Tu Meng she had considered contacting Luan Wu, but her mind was too chaotic, and it clearly wasn’t the right time.

Aunt Tu Meng was reliable as always, quickly arriving at the back hill. “This kid again.”

She hoisted Li Yihe over her shoulder. “Zhihan, thank you for your trouble.”

Watching Tu Meng’s efficient movements, Zhu Zhihan’s eyelids twitched. “It’s nothing. I gained something unexpected too.”

Tu Meng walked back with her.

Tu Meng asked, “What brought you all the way out here?”

“I was just clearing my mind and ended up here without realizing it,” Zhu Zhihan replied with a smile. “Sorry to trouble you, Aunt, having to come all this way so late.”

Tu Meng clicked her tongue. “I owe these little rascals. By the way, there’s something I forgot to mention at noon.”

“Oh?”

“Zhihan, you’ve only been here a few months, so you might not know that our sect celebrates Yuan Day.”

“Yuan Day? Like the one celebrated in the mortal world?”

“Yes. On Yuan Day, we have a tradition of drinking a wine called Qingsu. There’s a market nearby that sells it. Tomorrow or the day after, you and this troublemaker should go and pick some up, along with other necessities.”

Zhu Zhihan agreed.

Somehow, Tu Meng managed to sober Li Yihe up, and by the next day, he was back to normal.

As they descended the mountain together, Zhu Zhihan tested the waters and found that Li Yihe had no memory of his drunken state.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

After purchasing the wine and other items, she was about to return to the sect with Li Yihe when she suddenly received a message from Wan Mengchen via a paper crane: “Don’t come back! Our secret, Aunt Tu Meng found out!”

The sixth junior brother added, “Whatever you do, don’t come back!”

In the background, Tu Meng’s voice could be heard shouting, “…You little rascals, where do you think you’re running? Even the senior sister is covering for you!”

Wan Mengchen said, “That’s about how it is?” before his voice cut off abruptly.

The situation on their end seemed chaotic, with Wan Mengchen and the sixth junior brother sounding like tragic heroes at the end of their rope.

Infected by their panic, Zhu Zhihan felt a surge of anxiety: Aunt Tu Meng knows? How did she find out?

Li Yihe noticed her odd expression and, maintaining his usual stoic face, asked sparingly, “What’s wrong?”

Zhu Zhihan snapped back to reality. “Nothing. I need to go back and check there might be trouble.”

Li Yihe: ?

So when Zhu Zhihan returned, she was met with the sight of Aunt Tu Meng standing with her arms crossed.

Li Yihe was dismissed with a few words, and Zhu Zhihan lowered her eyes, adopting a meek, apologetic stance.

Aunt Tu Meng scolded, “You all, you’re just too reckless! If it weren’t for my friends happening to see and sending me a message, I wouldn’t have known about your little escapade!”

But Tu Meng didn’t stay stern for long. Facing the young girl, she couldn’t treat her the same way as the rough-and-tumble boys.

“Zhihan, I know you mean well for the sect, but Auntie doesn’t want you to shoulder such burdens as soon as you join, alright?”

Zhu Zhihan nodded.

Tu Meng waved her hand. “Enough. Just be more careful in the future.”

Surprised by how easily she was let off, Zhu Zhihan was still in disbelief when Tu Meng smiled and said, “You must be tired from your outing. Go rest now.”

Zhu Zhihan nodded again, thinking to herself that her senior brothers had exaggerated things in their message.

It wasn’t until she returned to the disciples’ quarters and found no one there that she began to wonder.

She went to ask the fourth and fifth senior brothers, who had stayed behind in the sect, and learned, “Oh, them? They’re sweeping the fallen leaves outside the library pavilion now.”

So Zhu Zhihan headed to the location her senior brothers mentioned.

When she arrived, she truly felt that Aunt Tu Meng had indeed been lenient with her.

The ground was covered in a thick layer of dry leaves, crunching underfoot with every step.

The eldest senior brother, Wan Mengchen, the sixth junior brother and Luan Wu each held a broom, with piles of leaves stacked not far away.

Hearing the noise, the sixth junior brother looked up and, upon seeing Zhu Zhihan, tearfully exclaimed, “Junior sister, why are you here too? Did Auntie go down the mountain to catch you?”

Zhu Zhihan felt too embarrassed to admit that Tu Meng hadn’t asked her to sweep. “No, I came back on my own.”

The sixth junior brother came over and patted her shoulder. “You’re a true friend, junior sister!”

Zhu Zhihan also picked up a broom. Turning around, her gaze drifted over the tall piles of leaves and settled on the figure in the distance, diligently sweeping with her head bowed.

It had only been a day, but seeing Luan Wu again felt different somehow.

Just then, Luan Wu lifted her eyes and looked at her.

Zhu Zhihan instinctively smiled, only to realize afterward how silly it might have seemed.

At that moment, Luan Wu suddenly started walking toward her.

A wave of unexpected fluster surged in Zhu Zhihan’s heart.

“Come here,” Luan Wu said as she passed by.

Zhu Zhihan followed Luan Wu to a spot somewhat distant from Wan Mengchen and the others, feeling both nervous and curious.

Then Luan Wu reached into her sleeve, pulled out an object, and handed it to her.

“What is this?”

She took it and found it to be an exquisitely crafted fox-faced mask.

Luan Wu explained, “It looks like this, but it’s actually an illusion mask. Once you wear it, it can take on the appearance you imagine in your mind, and it can even change your hair color.”

She turned her head slightly away. “I heard before that you seemed troubled by this.”

Zhu Zhihan was momentarily stunned, the lightweight mask feeling unexpectedly heavy in her hand.

“Master, why did you suddenly think to give me this?”

Luan Wu fell silent for a moment, then looked at her and slowly, somewhat awkwardly, expressed, “This is what I should do. I originally intended to find it for you, but there were some complications along the way, so it took a while to get it.”

“I’m also someone’s master for the first time. If there was anything in the past that made you unhappy, even if you don’t want to talk about it, just know that whenever you’re ready to speak, I’ll always be here to listen, alright?”

Zhu Zhihan abruptly lifted her gaze.

She stared blankly at the person before her.

How could this person be so good?

That long-suppressed seed finally broke through the soil and began to grow.

Zhu Zhihan felt as though she might lose herself in the evening breeze of this moment.

“It’s not your fault, Master. The reason I avoided you before was because of me.” She paused, lowering her head as if to hide her expression, her fingers unconsciously tracing the patterns on the mask’s surface.

It wasn’t the right time yet.

Neither for her, nor for Luan Wu.

She kept her head down until she had suppressed the stirrings in her heart, then looked up and smiled. “I really like it.”

“Master, since I’ve accepted the mask, let’s consider the matter in the past, alright?”

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