[Xie Residence · Outer Corridor]
A night breeze drifted through the estate. Lanternlight spilled across the vermilion pillars of the covered walkway, casting two shadows—one ahead, one behind.
Xie Wenyun had been dragged out by Cangyuan with no room for protest. Warmth still lingered on her wrist where his palm had gripped her. She shook her hand once, breath uneven, cheeks flushed—half startled, half indignant.
"Lord Cangyuan!"
She finally couldn't hold it in. Her voice trembled slightly from pent-up frustration.
"What you did just now—dragging me away in front of everyone—was far too improper!"
Cangyuan stood with his back to her. His plain robes fluttered faintly in the wind.
He was silent for a moment before turning slowly. His eyes were deep, his voice pressed so low it seemed meant for her alone.
"You can't drink."
Wenyun froze, staring at him blankly.
Her chest was still rising and falling from being hauled out so abruptly. After a long beat, she bit her lip and lifted her gaze, lowering her own voice as well.
"But just now… I was going to substitute tea for wine. Father was toasting the craftsmen—of course I had to follow etiquette. I know I can't touch alcohol outside anymore. Why would I actually drink?"
Her eyes flickered. Embarrassment sharpened into a small, stubborn edge as she added under her breath—
"Besides… why were you in such a hurry, Lord Cangyuan?"
Cangyuan's mouth tightened. He didn't answer at once—only watched her in silence.
—Why?
Even he couldn't fully say.
At the banquet, the instant she lifted her cup, something in his chest had tightened on its own, as if an invisible hand had gripped his heart.
I'm worried she'll get drunk again—say nonsense, cling to people, kiss whoever's in reach.
He told himself that.
And yet another voice rose immediately after—
Or… is it that I simply don't want anyone else to see her like that?
He remembered the moonlit wine, her carefree laughter, her bold, unrestrained movements—like a true wandering heroine. Nothing like the composed, proper eldest daughter she was by day.
That version of her… was vivid. Real. Alive.
So alive it pricked at a dream in him that had long been buried.
If others saw it—
Wouldn't that mean the most genuine part of her drunken self… would no longer belong only to him?
His fingers tapped lightly against the ribs of his folded fan. His gaze sank, and he sighed inwardly.
Ridiculous… that I would be so urgent over something this small.
He looked up at Wenyun. Outwardly he remained warm and composed—only the complexity in his eyes, carefully hidden, betrayed anything at all.
Half a step apart, neither spoke first.
At last, Wenyun gathered her courage. Her voice was soft.
"Lord Cangyuan… what were you thinking just now?"
Cangyuan studied her, calm and restrained. The fan in his hand stilled.
"I was thinking—" He paused, his lips curving into something that was almost a smile. "Drunk Miss Xie is very different from her usual self."
Heat rushed to her ears. She immediately looked away.
"That… was just drunken nonsense. You don't have to take it seriously."
"Drunken words," he replied quietly, tone light but somehow landing straight on her heartbeat, "are often the truest."
When she didn't respond, his teasing finally receded. For the first time, he spoke more plainly.
"I don't want others to see you like that."
Wenyun stared, as if something had brushed her heart—gentle, but undeniable.
"Why?" she asked.
After a long moment, Cangyuan said, "Because that you is real." His voice dropped even lower. "Real enough… that I don't want it to be seen by anyone else."
Her pulse nearly slipped out of rhythm. Biting her lip, she blurted—almost without thinking—
"Then what about you? That 'dead water protection' you spoke of… do you also have someone you want to protect?"
The night seemed to deepen by half a shade.
A shadow passed through Cangyuan's eyes—like a face remembered from far away, and yet tangled with the person standing in front of him. His voice slowed.
"I did. Once."
Wenyun's chest tightened. Her fingers clenched the edge of her handkerchief.
"And now?"
"Now—" He looked at her, not avoiding her gaze anymore. "Water may not be willing to stop again." He smiled—a smile threaded with self-mockery, but also something decided. "But if it does stop…"
It should be for the right shore.
Their eyes met. The air turned hot in a single breath.
Just then, hurried footsteps approached from the far end of the corridor.
"Miss! The lord requests you return to the banquet—he says there are still canal matters to discuss with Lord Cangyuan!"
The moment shattered.
Wenyun jolted back to herself, answered quickly, and turned to leave. After two steps, she stopped. She looked back once, voice as faint as a mosquito's wings—
"…I didn't go to the riverworks for Ding Fourth."
And with a turn of her skirt, she fled—her back hurried, nearly panicked.
Only Cangyuan remained in the corridor.
He lowered his gaze and chuckled softly, tapping the fan ribs twice with his thumb.
"I know."
Wind stirred the hanging shadows. He lifted his eyes, gaze sinking—
—If it isn't him, then I won't retreat again.
[Xie Residence · Boudoir]
The night was deep. Lamplight dimmed to a warm yellow.
Wenyun sat alone at her vanity, handkerchief clenched tight, heart thudding wildly.
"Why do I always lose my composure in front of him?"
She stared at her reflection in the bronze mirror—her cheeks still faintly red—and let out a small sigh.
She wanted to stay calm. Yet every time she saw him, her thoughts collapsed into chaos.
And that sentence in the corridor—
I don't want others to see you like that.
Just remembering it made her face burn.
"How did I… so inexplicably… start liking him?"
Her voice was so soft, as if she feared even the walls might overhear.
"Could it be… just because he's handsome?"
She couldn't help laughing at herself and patted her forehead.
"Am I really that shallow? I don't even know what kind of person he truly is… what he's hiding in his heart…"
And yet no matter what—his smile, his protection—had already left its mark on her.
Wenyun slumped onto the desk, sighing again.
"But it's exactly someone like him… who's thrown my heart into disorder."
[Xie Residence · Guest Courtyard]
The night was still. Moonlight spilled over the stone steps in the courtyard, and bamboo shadows swayed with the breeze.
Cangyuan pushed the door open. His plain robes still carried the chill of the night wind. He set his folded fan on the table—yet didn't sit for a long time.
The scene in the corridor kept looping in his mind:
Her flustered panic when he pulled her away.
Her quiet accusation.
The way her ears reddened—yet she still dared to ask him back.
And finally, that whisper—
…I didn't go to the riverworks for Ding Fourth.
His fingers tapped lightly on the fan ribs.
He lifted a hand to cover his eyes, a soft laugh forced from his throat—helpless, almost unwilling.
Why does she make it so easy for a man's heart to fall into chaos? Is it because she and I share the same dream—of walking the world freely, unbound?
It shouldn't be like this.
He'd always been cautious. Since youth, he'd learned to bury emotion deep—never letting joy or anger show.
But since meeting her, his calm and restraint had been broken again and again.
Her drunken freedom was the very image of the wandering hero in his boyhood dreams.
Her sober composure was a high wall—one he couldn't easily step across.
And yet both were her.
And yet he couldn't ignore either.
Cangyuan tilted his head, staring at the moon beyond the window, eyes heavy.
"Xie Wenyun…" he murmured, lips curving into something that almost looked like a smile—yet carried quiet self-mockery. "I was never meant to be water that stops for anyone."
He exhaled, voice sinking into the night.
"But now… I'm afraid my thoughts have already begun to move."
He reached out and extinguished the lamp.
The room fell into silence.
Only moonlight remained—resting on the faint crease between his brows—
Restraint and longing locked together in the dark, neither willing to yield.