A Revelation in the Night

It was a good while before Liuxia finally recovered from her weeping. The moment the girl composed herself, she was overwhelmed by a tidal wave of shame. ‘Oh, no… I cried in front of my junior again! How utterly disgraceful! What in the world is wrong with me today? My head feels so light, and my emotional control has become terribly poor. How many times have I cried today? Ugh… I can’t quite remember. Sigh… I must be so annoying right now, mustn’t I? The girl Chunsheng dreams of surely isn’t someone like me, is she? I’m so utterly embarrassed, I could just disappear.’ Liuxia pressed her lips together tightly, turning her head away, afraid to meet Li Chunsheng’s gaze. The girl spoke in a voice barely audible: “It’s getting late. I… I’ll go make dinner…” “…Don’t follow me.” With that, she fled towards the kitchen as if escaping. Li Chunsheng watched her somewhat frail figure recede in silence, wondering, ‘Is Senior… truly alright?’ Someone like Senior, always hesitant to anger others, never dared to lash out. Even when wronged, she would only swallow her grievances, slowly digesting them alone. Now that she had become a girl, however, tears flowed far more easily than before. Perhaps this was a good thing? At least, her emotions were now perceptible to him. Yet, for her to become so emotionally agitated, the suppressed feelings in her heart must have run incredibly deep. As these thoughts swirled, Li Chunsheng suddenly felt the need to find an opportunity to confide in Senior about his secret of infinite gold. After all, Senior was currently relying entirely on him, a time when she was most vulnerable, yet he consistently caused her to worry about him. However, Li Chunsheng also feared that revealing this secret might, conversely, endanger her. Following his recent experience of venturing to the city’s outskirts, he had become acutely aware of the many strange people and phenomena existing in this world. Abilities akin to mind-reading were not unheard of. Therefore, even if the most trusted individual vowed to keep silent, a moment of carelessness could still lead to the secret’s exposure. Was there a way to both reassure Senior and safeguard this crucial secret? In Li Chunsheng’s heart, an answer had already formed: lying. While he was deeply reluctant to lie to Senior, sometimes a white lie might be necessary. Given this, he needed to devise a lie that would allow her to understand his abundant use of gold without exposing his greatest secret. How should he phrase it? Li Chunsheng sank into deep contemplation. In the time that followed, Liuxia, busily preparing dinner in the kitchen, and Li Chunsheng, lost in thought in the living room, maintained a tacit understanding, refraining from further conversation. The deep understanding forged over their years together allowed them to realize, with just a glance, that the other needed some space for solitude. Consequently, from the end of dinner, through their individual routines of washing up and wishing each other goodnight before sleep, a quiet understanding permeated the apartment, with no further dialogue exchanged. The patter of rain outside the window sounded particularly lulling. Soon, both the man and the woman drifted into their respective dreams.

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The spring rain of the day had, in the end, ushered in a late spring chill. By midnight, the sleeping Li Chunsheng was abruptly roused by the biting cold. “Brrr… Why is it so cold?” he mumbled, sitting up in bed. Since he was awake, he might as well relieve himself. Li Chunsheng quietly exited his bedroom, intending to cross the living room to the bathroom opposite. As he passed through the living room, however, his steps faltered abruptly. He saw a familiar, small figure curled up on the sofa. Illuminated faintly by the streetlights outside the window, Li Chunsheng saw his Senior, clad only in thin pajamas, shivering uncontrollably in the frigid night. Her small lips continuously exhaled white mist, and her brows were tightly furrowed, indicating a restless sleep. In that instant, Li Chunsheng’s mind exploded. ‘I’m such an utterly hopeless idiot!’ He smacked his forehead, berating himself inwardly: ‘I should have realized sooner! Senior… she’s a delicate girl now! How could I let her sleep on the sofa like this, without even a blanket? Everyone says girls are generally more sensitive to cold than boys. The temperature had been gradually dropping for days. I hadn’t felt anything particularly unusual then, but Senior… she must have been feeling cold for a long time already, hadn’t she? Yet, she always rose earlier than me. What she presented to me was always a vibrant, energetic figure, busy with housework. Even when the topic occasionally came up in conversation, she would just smile and say the sofa was quite comfortable, and there was no need to buy new furniture or anything… I was so foolish! How could I have believed her? Given Senior’s gentle nature, she must have lied simply to avoid burdening me!’ In that moment, a tempest raged within Li Chunsheng’s heart, and a bitter ache surged through his nasal cavity. “Senior…” he couldn’t help but murmur aloud. Perhaps it was this sound that triggered a change in Liuxia’s dream. Her tightly knit brows furrowed even deeper, and she involuntarily uttered indistinct words in her sleep: “Chunsheng… run!” “Senior… I’ll hold them off…” Li Chunsheng’s heart jolted. ‘Even in her nightmare, Senior… she still…’ As he thought this, Liuxia’s dream seemed to shift again. The fragile girl began to tremble, her voice laced with pleading: “Don’t… don’t seize me… I haven’t done anything wrong…” “Wuwu… I don’t want to go… don’t go to that place…” “…So cold… so dark… Where is this place…” “Thank goodness… thank goodness… Chunsheng… isn’t here…” The moment he heard his name, Li Chunsheng could no longer hold back, his eyes turning crimson. ‘Senior, she… she never truly emerged from the shadow of that incident. Even now, she’s still terrified of being apprehended by the Paladins…’ ‘Why am I only noticing this now? I’ve never truly been able to empathize with Senior…’ ‘Her fears, her worries, I’ve never truly felt them myself…’ All this time, he had seemingly continued to view her as the strong, ambitious man he once was. The phantom of the past had consistently obstructed his proper perception of the real Liuxia before him. Yet, he hadn’t realized that Senior had already been slowly changing, unbeknownst to him—or perhaps, even before her transformation, this was always her true self. It was only to maintain the facade of the “big brother” and to set an example for the juniors at the orphanage that she had always deeply suppressed the fragile side of her heart. But even such a vulnerable Liuxia, even in her dreams, thought of her junior, striving with all her might to protect him. “I…” Li Chunsheng vigorously rubbed his stinging eyes, his gaze hardening with resolve. Hadn’t he already decided? He would stand by Senior’s side and support her. In any case, he absolutely could not let Senior sleep here any longer. Li Chunsheng took a deep breath, stepped forward, and gently called out: “Senior!” “Waaahhh! What’s happening?!” Liuxia was startled awake by the sudden sound, screaming as she shot up from the sofa, her face etched with fear. “Senior, come sleep with me!” Though he knew the words sounded strange, Li Chunsheng looked at her and spoke them, his tone imbued with an unprecedented resolve. “…”