17:32

Now it was dusk. The hour tasted of cooling ash and long shadows.

The blaze roared like a dying sun, painting the sky a sheet of ember red.

The black-haired girl rushed to the window, then stilled like a stone post. She stared at that strip of ruin-red, let the firelight wash her face, and said nothing.

"Big Sis!" Behind her, Lidashi hurried up, bare feet pattering like rain on tiles.

"Big Sis, what happened?"

"Lidashi, this isn’t your fight. Go back and rest," she said, voice flat as still water.

"B-but..."

Through the glass, Lidashi saw the building on fire, a place etched in his bones like old bark.

"T-that’s... F-Father’s company?"

"Don’t worry. Everything’s moving as planned," she said with a wan smile, kneeling like a willow bending. Her hand settled on his shoulder. "From now on, you’re free. You don’t owe Teng Feiyang’s favor, and you don’t owe that company. I’ll send you to a safe planet."

"Big Sis, what’s going on!"

"Go rest. Don’t chase this thread tonight," Teng Ying said, shaking her head like a bell in wind.

She stood there like a lone utility pole in a storm field, out of tune with the room’s air.

"B-but..."

"Relax. Father’s fine," Teng Ying said, and she took his hand, tugging him away like a tide.

LittleSnow only watched, eyes like still pools, and kept quiet.

"What is even happening..." Little Rose began, but Yue Liuyi pinched her sleeve like a sparrow’s beak and held her back.

Yue Liuyi set a finger to her lips and gave a small shake of the head, a hush like falling snow.

Not now—don’t speak.

She was confused, and she wanted answers, but now wasn’t the season to dig out roots, only to listen to wind.

...

As expected, by the river channel, Yue Liuyi found the black-haired girl crouched in the grass like a shadow among reeds.

The foxtail stood a meter tall, swaying like green tails in the breeze, yet finding Teng Ying was easy; the wind carried soft sobs like a thin flute.

Stepping through the newborn blades, Yue Liuyi walked up beside her, each step a ripple on damp earth.

"Miss Teng Ying..."

"Eh? You..." The black-haired girl flinched like a startled deer, tears tracing down her cheeks like rain on inkstone.

Arrived.

"Here’s a towel..." Yue Liuyi fished one from her pocket, hands unsure as leaves, because wiping tears with a sleeve invites cold like night dew.

But the black-haired girl refused. She scrubbed her face with her palm, sprang up, and snapped like a struck string. "I’m washing my face here! What do I need a towel for!"

"Huh...?" Yue blinked, eyes round as moons. "B-but... if you’re washing your face, don’t you need a towel...?"

"I—I like using my hands! Mind your own business!" Teng Ying tossed the towel aside like a fallen petal and gave Yue Liuyi a shove.

"Huh...?"

Teng Ying hadn’t expected Yue to be that light, like a bird. Yue hadn’t expected the push, like a sudden gust.

So even that small force tipped her off balance, and Yue slid toward the river slope like a dropped leaf.

"Oof!"

Sliding there was deadly; one kiss of stone could end a life like a snuffed lamp.

Seeing it, Teng Ying dove, a swallow to water—her hand shot out and caught Yue Liuyi’s.

"Hold on!"

"Waa—!"

...

It helped that Yue Liuyi truly wasn’t heavy—far lighter than Teng Ying—so the fall’s hunger was split between them, and the riverbank’s rough grip ate the energy like sand.

They didn’t roll into the river. They lay there spent on the slope, clothes smeared with dust and mud like storm clouds.

Especially Teng Ying—tear-washed cheeks now streaked with earth, a clay-doll face under dusk.

"Whoa, that was close! Uh... I almost went in! Thank you, Miss Teng Ying!" Yue patted the dust from her clothes, then sat up, sturdy as a sapling after wind.

"You’re thanking me? Isn’t this where you scold me?" Teng Ying clenched her fists and stood, breath like coals.

"Huh? Why would I blame you, Teng Ying?" Yue tilted her head, bright as a bluebell.

"For that fall!" Teng Ying barked, voice sharp as a pebble on glass.

"Oh... that was me not standing firm! Besides, as the—mm—the child of Dreamwood Star, taking a spill now and then is fine," Yue said. She stood and showed her palm. The skin had been grazed, but the World Tree Maiden’s healing closed it like moss over stone.

"You..." The black-haired girl’s mouth opened wide, but seeing Yue’s smooth skin, words died like wind in reeds.

"I’m really fine. But Miss Teng Ying, if you need help, tell me," Yue said, tone gentle as river light.

"Help? Even if it’s wiping out Fu Pi—can you do that? Give it up. You’ve got no odds," Teng Ying said, eyes cold as iron.

"It’s just Fu Pi! I’ll wipe them out for sure!" The blue-haired girl’s answer rang like steel on frost.

"What!?"

"Lidashi’s sister—who’s also my friend—will help with everything she’s got," Yue said, eyes clear as sky.

"You and Lidashi... what are you, exactly?" The question hung like mist.

"Strictly speaking, we were partners—back then," Yue said. She spread her arms and looked to the distance, a gull on wind.

The breeze came with rippling light, lifting her hair tips and skirt hem like small flags.

"Partners? Only partners from before...?"

"Not only. It’s a piece of memory that can’t be replaced," she said, voice soft as twilight.

The sunset dyed the river red, and the moment held still like lacquered paint.

After all, back then by this riverside slide, it wasn’t just me playing there...