After that incident, over the next few nights, Shen Qingqiu didn’t know if it was just him, but Luo Binghe seemed to be especially energetic. Meanwhile, his own old waist, hips, and legs were suffering even more than usual.
They returned to Cang Qiong Mountain every two months to “visit the family.” Because of this, no one was surprised whenever they showed up again. Instead, they enthusiastically surrounded them while munching on their Dragon-Bone Cantaloupe seeds.
“Eh? Who is this?” Qi Qingqi started. “Isn’t this the Qing Jing Peak Lord? You’re back again? A rare guest!”
“It is he,” said Shen Qingqiu.
“Did you bring any local specialties from the Demon Realm? Aside from that one next to you.”
Luo Binghe clearly grew from the Human Realm’s soil; he shouldn’t count as a demonic specialty either way, should he? Shen Qingqiu thought. “Even if I did, no one would want to eat them, so I didn’t bring any.”
Suddenly a young man walked over, dangling something in his hand.
Shen Qingqiu called out, “Liu-shidi, long time no see, I—what is this?!”
Liu Qingge expressionlessly caught the feebly gasping thing Shen Qingqiu had thrown back at him and tossed it back. “A short-haired beast,” he said. “It’s edible.”
Shen Qingqiu chucked it at him again. “I’m not eating it! I still have the one you gave me years back—it’s grown enormous, and it spends all day gnawing on the bamboo on Qing Jing Peak. I don’t want another!”
The two of them tossed the short-haired beast back and forth as it shrieked in midair.
“Shen-shixiong, I think you should just take it,” Wei Qingwei cut in. “If one of them is male and the other is female and you put them together, maybe they’ll be drawn to each other and won’t gnaw on the bamboo anymore.”
“But what if they’re both males?”
Silence.
In the past, when Liu Qingge walked over, Luo Binghe would have begun to emanate an icy aura and make all sorts of snide remarks, enmity on full display. But today he seemed to be in a bit of a daze, standing by Shen Qingqiu’s side and not saying a word. Shen Qingqiu found this rather strange.
Not only did he find it strange, everyone else found it strange too. Whenever the sect siblings from Cang Qiong Mountain got together, the conversation never stopped, and any little remark could get played on forever. But today, their conversation was extremely short. They usually headed off to Zui Xian Peak to have a meal together, but seemingly because of Luo Binghe’s strange aura, no one brought up doing so.
Before everyone scattered, Qi Qingqi dragged Shen Qingqiu to the side and asked, “What’s up with your disciple?”
“What do you mean what’s up?”
“Today, your disciple, hmm… Did you have an argument?”
“We didn’t.” Shen Qingqiu didn’t show anything on his face, but his hand tightened around his fan.
“Oh, then that’s good. But I feel like your disciple was so odd today. Like he was holding something in.”
Shen Qingqiu felt it too.
When they returned to the Bamboo House, Luo Binghe was still in that strange state.
Shen Qingqiu had just sat down on the bamboo couch when a huge crash came from the doorway. He rushed around the screen only to see Luo Binghe sprawled on the floor, with Ming Fan, Ning Yingying, and the other disciples gaping at him in shock.
Shen Qingqiu went to help Luo Binghe up. “What happened?”
“It’s noth—”
Before Luo Binghe could finish speaking, Ming Fan yelled, “Shizun, Luo Binghe tripped over the threshold!”
Shen Qingqiu had no words.
Luo Binghe glared at Ming Fan, and Ming Fan shrank back in fear.
“Be on your way,” Shen Qingqiu said hurriedly. “Go prepare for morning reading tomorrow.”
As he closed the door, Luo Binghe silently sat down next to the table.
Shen Qingqiu looked at the red spot where his forehead had smashed into the ground and sighed. “What’s been up with you these past few days?”
Luo Binghe was still silent.
“Sit, and don’t move; this master will get you a hot compress.”
He turned to go to the water basin, but just when he had wrung out a strip of cloth, he heard another huge crash behind him. He startled and turned around only to find Luo Binghe sprawled on the floor again.
Confusion written on his face and worried that Luo Binghe was too dizzy to sit or stand, Shen Qingqiu rushed over. “Are you—”
But as soon as he reached him, Luo Binghe grabbed his arm. “Shizun, marry yourself to me, won’t you?”
Shen Qingqiu’s expression cracked, just a bit.
Having noticed how unusual Shen Qingqiu’s expression was, Luo Binghe hurriedly said, “Shizun, if you don’t want to marry yourself to me, I could also marry myself to you!”
When Shen Qingqiu didn’t reply, Luo Binghe’s voice went monotone, and he asked again, “Shizun, are you willing to…to…”—his Adam’s apple trembled more and more, and his voice began to quiver as well— “…marry…me?”
Shen Qingqiu still didn’t say anything.
Bit by bit, the fire in Luo Binghe’s eyes dimmed. After a long time, he said in a hoarse voice, “If Shizun is unwilling, I… I…”
“Slow down,” said Shen Qingqiu. “You…” He struggled for a while. “So, these past few days, you were acting so odd because…you wanted to ask me this?”
Luo Binghe stared at him, then carefully nodded twice.
Shen Qingqiu found the next few words difficult to get out of his mouth. “So you’re…pro…pro…?”
Luo Binghe helped him finish. “This disciple is…proposing to Shizun.”
Shen Qingqiu was speechless. He sat down at the table and buried his face in his right hand. He didn’t know what he should say or do.
He should have found it absurd. Even though he and Luo Binghe had confirmed their relationship a long time ago, he had never imagined that Luo Binghe would actually… How should he put it? Propose to him.
Holy shit, he had proposed to him. This word was profoundly frightening when applied to a young man like him.
And who knew how many times Luo Binghe had practiced in private just to say these few words? Not to mention how he had been so nervous that he’d been completely strange and abnormal, unable to even talk—he’d tripped over the threshold just trying to walk inside. And he’d even stuttered!
But Shen Qingqiu didn’t want to make fun of him at all, nor did he want to play hard to get.
Yup, Shen Qingqiu was terrified to realize that the scariest part was that he was actually—just a little bit—happy.
Luo Binghe was clearly still nervous. His throat bobbed up and down. When Shen Qingqiu removed his face from his hand, he took the chance to say, “Shizun, if you don’t want to, you don’t need to answer my question! You—if you don’t answer, I’ll still understand what you mean. Please don’t say it out loud; it doesn’t matter. If you think it’s too much trouble, you can just ignore me. Just pretend I was making a joke, it’s fine…”