Wu Long and Ye Ling sat on a porch overlooking a gorgeous garden that was beginning to bloom with flowers and had a tranquil pond in the corner.
Wei Lan took Hua Ziyan, Luo Mingyu, and Shen Min on a tour through the sect. Although its days of glory were now in the past its scenery still held a lot of history and stories. It seems that Shen Min quickly bonded with the two who were already quite close while she learned the movement technique and while they traveled here. Despite her being higher in the realm, being close in age possibly was why it was easy for them to band together and form kinship over being Wu Long’s women despite knowing each other not too long.
“How did you know I was beginning to miss you?”
“Hah, do you think I have known you for some months? When I heard your voice through the communication talisman message about Shen Min, I instantly saw through your cheerful tone”
“Haha, you really know me well, despite the fact that I changed so much”
“Hmm, I think you exaggerate how much you changed” 𝙚𝙙𝙤𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝒎
“But…”
“Oh don’t give me that”
She said with a chuckle.
“Do you think when we were together I never noticed those interested eyes of yours when you looked at some women?”
“…you…?!”
“Haha, seems like I can tease you after all”
She chuckled as she was greatly satisfied with his reaction to the revelation she held in before. She was far older and widely more experienced than him in their past lives and found his ‘hidden’ interest in other women cute. But she never mentioned it for the same reason Wu Long did not want to interfere with Hua Ziyan’s development. This was a crucial realization he had to make on his own at that time, as he was still quite young to her then.
He really was surprised, as he never thought that he was seen through at the time.
“You may have become more experienced, more mature…”
She said as she looked at him.
“…more skillful in bed…”
She then smiled with a smile that made Wu Long want to stop their conversation and drag her to the bedroom.
“…more powerful and knowledgeable, but you are still fundamentally you. Your mental realm grew and you became wiser, but you are still the same man I met on that day of the first snow, the man I fell in love with, and the man I fell in love with again without any memories of the past”
She said to him, and he looked at her slightly dazed at her words.
“Which is why I can instantly notice that you are trying to make the same mistake again”
“Huh?”
“You met me and are trying to limit your pursuit of women again, you think I did not notice that girl looking at us with envy and how you talked with her?”
She said as she noticed that Wu Long did not pursue Wei Lan despite being quite visibly to her very interested. He only teased her a little, but that was more because he genuinely was entertained by her responses.
“I may have not said anything in the past but you are already not that green young man I should be careful to not harm with advice”
Ye Ling chuckled at his astonished gaze as he realized that he really was subconsciously trying to distance himself from pursuing women, as he would have probably already made a real move when they talked with Wei Lan after the sect disbandment if it was usual.
‘You can’t hide who you are, huh?’
He recently caught himself several times trying not to give meaning to his attraction to women, as he did with Cai Yin in the Tingren Kingdom or Wei Lan here, but he realized that it was a futile attempt at changing the fundamental part of him.
He was not completely aware of it, but it all stemmed from the fact that once he met Ye Ling, a part of him that was dead for very long was revived, and there was a chance that another part that died with his first love would revive too. Those parts were what made him not so fearful of meaningful connections. It was a part of him that allowed his women not to be kept at a distance because of fear that he might lose them and lose the last barely pieced-together part of his soul. Thus he started craving real relationships instead of casual ones he preferred in his past life.
But now that he was healing in a true sense, a new fear rose in him, which was the fact that he was different from the time he was with the women he now had the possibility of holding in his embrace again. He was now not someone who restrained his desires for other women, which was why his confession to Ye Ling started with the words “I am a selfish man” and not the words of love. And there was a possibility that this might cause rejection from the women he could finally meet again.
But what he realized at this moment thanks to her, despite not seeing the change that occurred in him so clearly and only vaguely recognizing it, was that it was futile for him to try and change the fact that time had passed and that he was different, it was also futile to deny who he was.
Hiding that would only make him disingenuous towards the women he cherished, which was a behavior he despised, and also make his women unhappy, as he did not believe they would accept him not being happy. He could only hope that the women he still did not meet again but held dear to his heart would be as accepting of his change as Ye Ling.
Once he realized that, there was a light of clarity in his eyes.
“Thank you”
He said sincerely, looking her in the eyes.
“Anytime”
Ye Ling replied with a gentle gaze, as her hand went onto his cheek caressing it. In the bedroom, it was always Wu Long who led her. But in the matters of his heart, she seemed to see even deeper than he could himself, and she was also the one who he relied on when he became exhausted in the past. Now that he was more mature and those times passed very long ago he gradually forgot what it meant to lean on someone, but it seemed she was not so inclined to let him weather everything by himself while his women were only cuddled and protected.
He gently embraced her and they kissed, tenderly, lovingly, and without any care for the beautiful scenery as only each other existed at this moment in their world.
Some time passed as they sat down beside each other again, looking forward into the garden and enjoying this peaceful moment. They listened to the sound of silence, as it cuddled them in its embrace, helping them feel each other’s existence even more vividly and clearly.
—
Later in the day, they all sat down for a meal, which Wei Lan surprisingly prepared herself. She was proud and excited to introduce her cooking, which was to everyone’s delight very delicious. As Wu Long saw her wearing a plain white apron over her robes a glint appeared in his eyes that made Ye Ling laugh uncontrollably while everyone except Wu Long looked at her with slight confusion.
She really knew him well, and as soon as his instincts woke up thanks to her the places his mind went to when he looked at something were instantly affected.
After the meal, Wei Lan led the trio for another tour as they only covered some of the sect before, while Wu Long and Ye Ling went to his living quarters again, but as soon as they arrived, instead of the garden porch they sat on before, she took his hand and tugged in the direction of the bedroom.
He looked at her with a smile, and she lightly blushed, looking to the side. It seemed that there was another part of her that missed him, and she could no longer wait. She also noticed how excited he was from seeing them.
“You really know me well”
He said to her with a smile as he swooped her into a princess hug and carried her like that into the bedroom.