She didn’t need him to finish his sentence to understand what he meant by “his answer.” However, she still found it hard to believe. “You’re saying… your answer is yes?”
“You heard me right,” he said.
He put down the wooden figure and reached out to touch her cheek, his gaze growing darker and more intense. “That question you asked me—it wasn’t just a momentary whim, was it? It meant something lasting, didn’t it?”
“…Yeah.” A chill ran down her spine. With him looking at her like that, how could she possibly say no?
A faint smile appeared on Si Jia’s face. When he smiled, it was like snow melting on a glacier—clean, quiet, and cold. Fengguang felt dizzy, utterly convinced that when faced with this kind of devastating good looks, her willpower was hopelessly weak.
“Fengguang…” he asked suddenly, “Do you want to live forever?”
The unexpected question caught her completely off guard. For a moment, she just stared at him. Then her reaction exploded. “No!”
Si Jia fell silent for a moment. “Why not?”
“What’s so great about living forever? All your friends and family would eventually die, and you’d be left alone in the world. How could that ever be a happy life? At the very least… I wouldn’t want a lonely kind of immortality.” After saying all that, she paused, then clutched the edge of her skirt and added, “Living forever does sound tempting… but unfortunately, I have no desire for that kind of immortality.”
“I see,” Si Jia said calmly. Though it was impossible to tell what exactly he understood.
Fengguang grabbed his hand nervously and asked, “Si Jia, do you want to live forever?”
“It was just a passing question. Since you don’t like the idea, we’ll never bring it up again.”
“…Okay.” The tension in her heart eased a little.
The idea of immortality felt too vague and faraway. She didn’t like it and didn’t want anything to do with it. Why? Maybe there wasn’t a reason—maybe she just instinctively hated the idea.
Then Si Jia said casually, “There’s a lantern festival tomorrow. Would you like to go?”
He switched topics so naturally, it was as if the conversation about immortality had never happened.
“A lantern festival?” she asked, intrigued. “The kind where they hang up tons of beautiful lanterns in the streets?”
“Exactly. The streets will be bustling with people, and there’ll be plenty of vendors selling sweets.”
If the lantern festival piqued her curiosity, then the word sweets was downright irresistible. Her hand shot up. “I’m in!”
Because she was so excited about the festival, she spent the entire day in a good mood. When night finally came, and she was all dressed and ready to leave, Si Jia brought her an outfit—a beautifully made red dress that matched the one she was already wearing.
“Put this on,” he said.
“Oh…” Fengguang wasn’t sure why he was giving her a dress, but she obediently returned to her room to change. When she stepped back out to the doorway, she couldn’t help but ask, “Why are you giving me this?”
He replied in his usual vague way, “I’m always looking for things I find interesting.”
“Giving me clothes… is interesting to you?”
“Watching you wear what I give you—that’s what I find interesting.”
It was like how girls couldn’t resist buying cute outfits for their dolls or dressing up adorable children.
To Si Jia, Fengguang was beautiful, no matter what she wore. But especially so when she was wearing something he had chosen.
For once, Fengguang didn’t know what to say. Not that it mattered—he took her hand and said, “Let’s go.”
His voice, usually so cold and distant, now carried a tenderness so subtle, it was almost impossible to detect.
Lucien On ABRWF Chapter 34.1