Chapter 1121 — Valentine's Day Special: Xiao Ning's Story, Part 6
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
What gave him the right? Even if he had been sent to assist the Yu family in these negotiations, there was no need for him to act so high and mighty, was there?
Having smashed the snowman to bits, Yu Ning felt a pang of regret. She had spent half the day building it with her own hands, and in one fit of temper she had ruined it. What a waste!
The Yu family was based in Yanjing, where it hardly ever snowed, and Yu Ning had rarely seen white snow in her life, which was why she was enjoying herself so recklessly. Though the snowman was ruined, Yu Ning had no wish to build another one; instead she turned to other games, stamping footprints across the snowy ground.
Cold as it was outside, Yu Ning played on without a care, her little face flushed red with the chill. Yet it was the first time in her life she had ever played so freely, so utterly without a worry. At home, her days were given over to the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, or else to lessons in managing the family sect. She had simply never had time to play.
Wei Zhao ate next to nothing, merely stuffing into his mouth the scraps of bird meat Yu Ning had left behind. In any case, while cultivating, one had little need of food.
Before she knew it, evening had fallen. Darkness gathered outside, and from somewhere in the distance came the howls of wolves. Yu Ning grew frightened and ran back into the cave, though by then she was frozen stiff.
"So cold..." Yu Ning held her hands out over the fire to warm them.
Wei Zhao opened his eyes and casually picked up a few branches, tossing them into the fire, which blazed up brighter.
Watching Wei Zhao's cool, poker-faced expression, a sly little smile flickered at the corner of Yu Ning's mouth. So he did care about her after all. He had chosen that particular moment, while she was warming herself, to add wood to the fire - he must have been afraid she was too cold.
In truth, Wei Zhao did care about her. He simply had no wish to show it.
"This is the first time I've ever spent the night outdoors by myself..." Watching the blazing fire, Yu Ning found it all so novel and thrilling. In her sixteen years of life she had never once imagined she would spend a night in a cave.
Wei Zhao started, pointed at himself, then shook his head with a bitter smile. By herself? Was he not a person, then? The thinking of these great-family young misses really was peculiar.
Seeing Wei Zhao's astonished expression, Yu Ning realized her words had been somewhat amiss, and she corrected herself with some embarrassment. "What I meant was, spending the night with a stranger... no, that's not right either, he's not a stranger... I mean spending the night together with a boy..."
Watching Yu Ning flounder, so flustered she could not string two words together, Wei Zhao smiled faintly.
Lit by the firelight, Yu Ning's pretty face was even more delicate and alluring than it had been by day; it set the heart stirring. The scene was indeed romantic, and Yu Ning's words invited all manner of fancies. Wei Zhao gave a soft sigh, and only after a hard effort to master himself did he say, "It's nothing. Are you hungry?"
"No. I'm a little sleepy - I want to rest awhile." Yu Ning shook her head.
"Awoo—" Just then, from somewhere not far outside the cave came the howl of a wolf. By day the frontier was a silent place, but once night fell, every sort of wild beast came out to roam.
"I... I'm a little scared. You'll stay by my side and watch over me, won't you?" Instinctively Yu Ning shrank back a little before the fire. She was, after all, only a sixteen-year-old girl - when had she ever faced anything like this before?
True enough, spending the night in a cave before a fire was thrilling and romantic - but if there were wild beasts about, then the romance turned to terror.
"There's a fire here. The wolves won't come in," Wei Zhao said coolly.