Fuchen was gone.
Xiaoqing sat on the stone bench in the courtyard, staring at the pill in her hand while Fuchen's words echoed over and over in her mind.
"Xiaoqing."
Her sister's voice drifted in from beyond the courtyard wall.
Xiaoqing jumped, and hastily tucked the pill back into her sleeve.
"Sister, you're back," Xiaoqing said, getting to her feet, a flicker of guilt passing through her eyes.
"Xiaoqing, is something the matter?" Bai Ruxue had noticed that her little sister seemed a little strange.
"Nothing," Xiaoqing said, shaking her head. "Let me help you hang the laundry."
Xiaoqing stepped forward, took the basin of clothes from her sister's hands, and helped her drape the garments one by one over the bamboo pole.
"Sister..." Xiaoqing glanced at her sister's profile and called softly.
"Hm?"
"A woman Daoist named Fuchen came by just now," Xiaoqing said, wanting to know whether her sister really knew her.
"Daoist Priestess Fuchen came?" Bai Ruxue was a little surprised.
"You know her, Sister?"
"I do. Daoist Priestess Fuchen came to see me once before, saying she wanted to take me as her disciple, but I refused. Xiao Mo says she is a good Daoist priestess.
Later, Sister heard Xiao Mo say that the Tianxuan Sect has an elder whose true form is a Vermilion Bird, named Fuchen—so it must be this elder."
"I see..." Xiaoqing nodded, pressing her thin lips together, and felt somewhat reassured about who Fuchen was.
"Did Daoist Priestess Fuchen say something to you, Xiaoqing?" Bai Ruxue asked.
"Well..."
Xiaoqing looked her sister straight in the eyes.
"Sister, Elder Fuchen says you must hibernate soon this time, and that when you do, you'll transform into a boa. If you force yourself to hold it off, it won't just damage the very root of your great Dao—you may well lose your life."
"Sister!" Xiaoqing gripped Bai Ruxue's wrist. "Sister, let's go up the mountain and hibernate. Otherwise, when Brother Xiao comes back, if something has happened to you—what are we supposed to do?"
"Then, Xiaoqing, did the priestess say how long I'll sleep this time, while I transform into a boa?" Bai Ruxue asked.
"..." Xiaoqing lowered her head, her expression complicated.
Looking at her sister's manner, Bai Ruxue knew the answer even without being told.
Sure enough, it was just as she had felt.
This hibernation would likely last a very, very long time...
"Xiaoqing, I'll be fine. I want to wait for him to come back." Bai Ruxue had made up her mind.
"Sister... this is your life we're talking about..." Xiaoqing's eyes looked as though she were about to cry.
Bai Ruxue shook her head with a smile. "But Xiaoqing, Xiao Mo matters more to me than my own life."
Xiaoqing was silent.
"All right, Xiaoqing, don't think about all that anymore. Your sister has always been lucky—maybe nothing will happen to me at all. And as for realms and spiritual constitution, when have I ever cared about those?"
Just as Xiaoqing was about to say something more, Bai Ruxue pressed a soft white fingertip gently against her sister's lips. "Not another word about this. I'm going to cook."
Bai Ruxue headed for the kitchen.
Watching her sister's retreating figure, Xiaoqing clutched the pill in her hand.
Xiaoqing knew how important Brother Xiao was in her sister's heart.
Xiaoqing also knew that this one sleep could well be the whole of Brother Xiao's lifetime.
And Xiaoqing knew even better how desperate her sister would be when she woke, if Brother Xiao were no longer there.
If the price had been only her realm, Xiaoqing would not have been so torn.
But this was a matter of her sister's life.
Her sister's complexion had grown worse and worse of late.
If this goes on, can Sister really hold out?
It was deep winter now, and she herself was growing drowsier and drowsier; she truly was on the verge of not being able to hold on much longer.
If something happens to Sister while I'm hibernating, what am I supposed to do?
No! Nothing can be allowed to happen to Sister—not the slightest chance!
Xiaoqing gripped the pill tightly in her hand, her gaze growing more and more determined.
That afternoon, Bai Ruxue sat in the courtyard, making shoes for Xiao Mo.
Xiaoqing ground the pill into powder and dissolved it in water, then carried the bowl out. "Sister, have some water."
"Mm-hm." Bai Ruxue took the cup.
Under Xiaoqing's anxious gaze, Bai Ruxue drained the bowl of warm water in one go.
The water tasted faintly sweet, but Bai Ruxue paid it no mind.
Bai Ruxue set the clay bowl down and went on making Xiao Mo's shoes.
Xiaoqing sat beside her sister, seeming to read a book but in truth watching her sister anxiously the whole time.
Half an hour passed, and Bai Ruxue felt sleepier and sleepier.
Bai Ruxue shook her head, washed her face with cold water, and, once she had revived a little, sat back down on the stone bench.
But soon Bai Ruxue began to nod off again.
She picked up a chili from the table and took a bite.
Bai Ruxue, who had always feared spice most of all, screwed up her face in misery—but the chili only helped for a moment.
The drowsiness weighed heavier and heavier on Bai Ruxue.
This drowsiness was far stronger than it had ever come before.
Bai Ruxue could feel that she was about to give out...
Even when she tried to pinch herself hard, she barely had the strength.
Sitting off to the side, Xiaoqing watched her sister try every trick she had to stay awake, and her heart twisted with pain.
"Xiaoqing..." Bai Ruxue took her sister's hand. "Pinch me. Hard."
"Sister..." A film of mist rose in Xiaoqing's eyes.
Seeing that Xiaoqing could not bear to do it, Bai Ruxue stayed on the stool, picked up the coarse needle from the table, and made to stab herself.
Xiaoqing snatched it away. "Sister... just sleep..."
"I can't..."
Bai Ruxue forced her head up, her breath as faint as a gossamer thread, her consciousness like a strand about to snap.
"These shoes of his... I still haven't finished them..."
"He's still in the capital... I haven't waited for him to come back yet..."
"I can't sleep... I can't..."
"I can't break my promise. He'll blame me..."
Bai Ruxue's voice grew fainter and fainter, her head heavier and heavier, her awareness blurrier and blurrier.
Watching her sister, Xiaoqing's heart ached as if bitten by ants. She pulled her sister into a tight embrace. "Sister... Brother Xiao won't blame you, it's all my fault, I'm sorry, Sister... I'm sorry..."
Xiaoqing's voice came to Bai Ruxue's ears fainter and fainter.
In Bai Ruxue's mind, like a revolving lantern, one fragment after another flashed past.
The first time she met him.
The first time she rode an ox with him.
The first time she had him teach her to read and write.
The first time he praised the food she cooked...
"Xiao Mo, what does 'growing old together' mean?"
That spring, the young girl had asked him that.
"Growing old together means two people spend a whole lifetime side by side and grow old to the end," the man answered.
"Then will we grow old together?" the girl asked on.
The man was briefly taken aback. Then he raised his hand, stroked the girl's hair lightly, and smiled. "We will."
"I promised him that we'd grow old together."
Leaning in her sister's arms, as Bai Ruxue's last words fell away, her eyes slowly closed.
In her final field of vision, she seemed to see his figure:
"He's back..."
Xiaoqing froze, then lifted her head to look at the empty space beyond the courtyard. Her tears fell, pat-pat-pat.
"Yes... Sister..."
"Brother Xiao has... come back..."