A Promise at the Kitchen Sink
Making Liu Qianxiu go soft was no easy task.
By the time they left the basketball club, night had already fallen.
Mu Wan was exhausted. She slept through the entire drive, and when Liu Qianxiu stopped at the supermarket to buy groceries, she did not even have the strength to follow him inside.
By the time they reached home, some of her fatigue had eased, but her body still felt as though it had been taken apart and put back together. All she wanted to do was laze around.
Once inside, Liu Qianxiu carried the groceries into the kitchen.
Hearing the kittens meowing, Mu Wan went to the cat room to feed them.
More than two months had passed, and the three little kittens had grown considerably.
Their baby fur was still soft and fluffy, and after eating, their bellies became perfectly round. Beneath the light, they looked like three little balls of exploding fluff, plump and impossibly adorable.
Once they had eaten, Mu Wan picked up a feather wand and settled onto the carpet to play with them.
Kittens loved playing. The three little furballs chased the moving wand, tumbling over one another in their eagerness to catch it.
Nearby, Zhouyi lay sprawled on the cat tree, watching them with lazy indifference.
It was already past seven.
Mu Wan turned toward the window.
The city lights had begun to glow, and a bright moon hung in the evening sky. With the occasional kitten's meow drifting through the room, everything felt peaceful and beautiful.
Life seemed to have returned to the way it used to be.
Ordinary, warm, and fulfilling.
Stars glittered outside.
As Mu Wan thought about the little moments she had shared with Liu Qianxiu over the past few days, the heart that had seemed suspended in midair finally began to settle.
Everything about her life now felt wonderfully real.
As long as Liu Qianxiu remained beside her, she had nothing to fear.
She played with the kittens a little longer.
Eventually, their energy ran out. One wandered off to drink milk, while another curled up in its little bed and fell asleep.
Soon, the meowing stopped.
Only the tiny bell attached to the feather wand continued to ring.
Mu Wan got up and went to find Liu Qianxiu.
The moment she entered the kitchen, the delicious aroma of dinner greeted her.
Three dishes and a soup had already been arranged on the dining table, exactly what she had requested before leaving the basketball club.
Liu Qianxiu always washed his hands after cooking.
He stood beside the sink, tall and slender, his elegant back turned toward her.
Water flowed quietly from the faucet. One of his long, well-defined hands rested beneath the stream, while the other held his phone.
He was speaking to someone.
His voice was calm and steady, like the muffled beat of a drum traveling slowly through a field of wild grass.
“Mm. All right.”
The conversation ended.
Liu Qianxiu hung up, lowered his eyes, and turned off the faucet.
Silence returned to the kitchen.
Beyond the window, countless lights glowed in the surrounding buildings.
He turned around.
Mu Wan stood beside him, looking up with tiny reflections of light shimmering in her dark eyes.
Liu Qianxiu placed his hands on the counter on either side of her.
Then he lowered his head and kissed the corner of her mouth.
Mu Wan had come over intending to hear what he was saying on the phone. She had been listening so intently that the kiss caught her completely off guard.
His lips brushed hers, and his familiar, clean scent surrounded her.
She blinked and looked into his eyes.
“Something at work?”
She had caught fragments of the conversation.
It was not really eavesdropping. She had been listening quite openly, after all. There was no reason she could not ask him about it.
“Mm. Something came up.”
Liu Qianxiu took her hand and turned on the faucet.
Lowering his gaze, he began washing her hands for her.
Mu Wan watched his movements.
“Do you need to go to Austria?”
“Mm.”
Cool water flowed across her palms and between her fingers.
Mu Wan became a little more alert.
Looking down at the soap bubbles gathering on her hands, she answered quietly, “Oh.”
She said nothing else.
Neither her tone nor her expression revealed what she was thinking.
Liu Qianxiu rinsed the soap from her hands and turned off the faucet.
Then he spoke calmly.
“You'll come with me.”
Water still dripped from Mu Wan's slender fingers.
She raised her head.
Liu Qianxiu remained composed as he took a paper towel and enclosed her hands within his, patiently drying them.
When he finished, he intertwined his fingers with hers.
Looking down at her, he said in a low voice, “From now on, wherever I go, I'll take you with me.”
“I'll never lie to you again.”
“And I'll never leave you again.”
Liu Qianxiu had always known exactly how to say the sweetest things.
Mu Wan's heart, which had only just settled, stirred again.
But she kept her expression carefully neutral.
She glanced up at him.
“That's what you're supposed to do.”
A faint smile touched his lips.
When she tried to pull her hand away, he caught it and drew her back into his arms.
“Is that what a Daoist partner should do,” he asked, “or what a boyfriend should do?”
Mu Wan considered the question.
The answer was obvious.
But she had absolutely no intention of giving him the correct one.
She looked up at Liu Qianxiu and replied without changing her expression.
“A Daoist partner, of course.”
Liu Qianxiu laughed softly.
Mu Wan's heart gave a small jump.
She stiffened.
“Is there a problem?”
“No.”
Liu Qianxiu took her hand and led her toward the dining table.
“Let's eat.”
After dinner, Mu Wan waited for Liu Qianxiu to finish washing the dishes.
Then he brought her into the living room, where they sat beside the low table.
Only the little table lamp was lit.
Several books lay spread across the surface. There were works by Laozi and Zhuangzi, along with books on military strategy, all belonging to Liu Qianxiu.
Among them were several romance novels he had prepared for her.
The lamplight was soft.
Liu Qianxiu lowered his head to read, his profile sharply defined yet gentle in the warm glow.
Mu Wan found herself staring at him.
He noticed.
When he raised his eyes, she had no time to react before he leaned forward and kissed her.
The familiar fragrance of sandalwood filled her senses.
She knew that scent better than anything.
Yet his kiss still managed to catch her off guard.
Her heartbeat thudded against her ears. Heat spread across her face, and her fingers curled slightly.
Mu Wan began to feel that things could not continue like this.
She was not ready to forgive Liu Qianxiu so easily.
But looking back on their interactions over the past few days, especially after the question he had asked in the kitchen, she realized something rather troubling.
Their relationship was practically indistinguishable from that of an ordinary couple.
She kept insisting they were Daoist partners who practiced dual cultivation without emotional involvement.
But in reality?
Liu Qianxiu kissed her whenever he wanted.
They slept together whenever he wanted.
What kind of detached Daoist partnership was that?
They were clearly boyfriend and girlfriend, merely pretending their relationship was some sort of Daoist arrangement.
The realization made Mu Wan withdraw her arms from the low table.
She straightened.
Then she said seriously, “I want to go home.”
— To be continued in Part 2 —
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