Xie Jingci arrived at the Meng residence just as noon approached.
She wanted to surprise Meng Xiaoting, so she hadn't sent word ahead. After bidding farewell to Pei Du, she had come straight here.
The Meng family was in business. Though not the foremost wealthy household in Cloud Capital City, they could still be described as immensely rich. It was a pity that the younger generations had grown increasingly incapable with each passing one, leading to a steady decline. Their influence was now greatly diminished.
Looking in from the outside, one could see vermilion gates set against whitewashed walls, with deep, graceful shadows of bamboo. Two sturdy-looking young attendants stood guard at the entrance, both with unfamiliar faces she had never seen before.
Xie Jingci felt a flicker of curiosity and gave the two a brief once-over.
The Meng household was managed by Meng Liangze, a man notorious for his indolent disposition, weakness, and incompetence. Constantly overwhelmed by business dealings, he had no time whatsoever to properly manage his household affairs. Consequently, many maids and servants in the residence slacked off and muddled through their days.
Before her long slumber, Xie Jingci had often visited the Meng residence. She clearly remembered that the attendants at the gate were frequently absent, either hiding inside to escape the heat or going off to who-knows-where to catch crickets. More often than not, there was no one to be seen.
These two before her stood ramrod straight and, by the look of them, were even Foundation Establishment stage cultivators. Had Meng Liangze finally seen the light and decided to use his brain for once?
One of them noticed her pause and looked over.
"Gentlemen," Xie Jingci got straight to the point, taking a few steps forward. "I am Xie Jingci from the Xie family in the north of the city. I'm a friend of Meng Xiaoting. It's been a long time, and I wished to see her. I wonder if she is still at home?"
They might not recognize her face, but they would certainly have heard of the "Xie family of the north city" and the name "Xie Jingci." Upon hearing this, their expressions shifted slightly, showing a hint of surprise.
Given the Xie family's widespread fame, such a reaction wasn't strange.
Yet, for some reason, when Meng Xiaoting's name was mentioned and Xie Jingci stated her wish to meet her, the surprise on their faces abruptly intensified, turning into a look of almost bewildered confusion.
She quickly sensed something was wrong, her heart giving a heavy thud. "Has something happened?"
A moment of silence hung in the air.
"I heard Miss Xie has been in a deep slumber for many days. Could it be you still don't know..."
The young man on the left coughed lightly, carefully choosing his words as he asked cautiously, "...about the incident from two years ago?"
Two years ago. That would be one year after her spiritual consciousness was damaged.
His tone was off, making Xie Jingci's unease grow. She unconsciously clenched her sleeve. "What incident? Meng Xiaoting... what happened to her?"
She rarely felt this tense, anxious, and conflicted. She both desperately wanted to know the truth of the past and dreaded the answer that was coming. A buzzing noise filled her head, leaving her feeling utterly dazed.
The two attendants exchanged a glance. The one on the right was silent for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Two years ago, a rather bizarre case occurred in Cloud Capital City. People met with misfortune one after another. The victims didn't die but fell into endless nightmares. Not only could they not wake up, but they also endured torment beyond ordinary imagination."
He paused, glancing at Xie Jingci's expression. "Later... our young lady went missing. It was only much later that we learned the mastermind behind the case was a creature called 'Nightmare,' an extremely rare evil entity. The reason it took her was to use a young maiden's body as nourishment to achieve eternal life."
A throbbing pain pulsed at Xie Jingci's temples, her fingers clenching the sleeve even tighter. "Missing? A full two years have passed. Could they still not have found her?"
As she said this, she frowned slightly.
Perhaps it wasn't a matter of "couldn't," but of "wouldn't." Meng Xiaoting's position was awkward. As Meng Liangze's illegitimate daughter, she had lived in the Meng household all these years but had never received any real regard.
Her father had taken her in solely to save face, to avoid being labeled a heartless scoundrel. If something truly happened, he would undoubtedly wash his hands of her.
Lin Yunrou, as the mistress of the Meng household, had never been close to her. There were even rumors that, given that woman's decisive and ruthless nature, not secretly killing Meng Xiaoting and thoroughly removing this thorn in her side would already be considered an act of great benevolence.
She was an outsider in her own home and had few friends at the academy. The cliques of young masters and misses from prominent families, each arrogant and aloof, looked down on an illegitimate daughter of dubious origin. If one had to name her best friend, Meng Xiaoting only had Xie Jingci.
But at that time, Xie Jingci was gravely injured and unconscious. Let alone helping her, she couldn't even open her eyes.
At that moment of life and death... not a single person remained by her side.
Xie Jingci didn't dare to imagine what Meng Xiaoting must have felt then.
The Meng residence was clearly unreliable. Anger and self-reproach rose in her heart. Without waiting for the two attendants to speak further, she hurriedly asked the next question: "Are there any leads on the Nightmare?"
The two men were taken aback for a moment.
Soon, Xie Jingci heard a low chuckle.
"Miss Xie, you may have misunderstood our meaning."
The young man on the left scratched his head. "Although the Nightmare uses humans as nourishment, it doesn't eat them as food. Rather, it seizes their sea of consciousness and takes control of their bodies to act. So when the young lady was rescued, aside from being unconscious, she hadn't suffered any major harm."
"If her sea of consciousness was seized, wouldn't that mean—"
Xie Jingci responded without thinking, stopping mid-sentence as she suddenly realized something. Her eyes blinked rapidly. "Xiaoting was rescued? By whom?"
"That person is also in Cloud Capital City. Miss Xie should know him."
The young man on the right grinned, his eyes suddenly lighting up as he gestured with his chin toward a spot behind her. "Young Master Long!"
Xie Jingci's back stiffened instantly, a very familiar face surfacing in her mind. As she turned her head following his gesture, the name escaped her lips: "Long Xiao?"
"Back then, that case had no leads, and the culprit left behind not a single trace. Almost everyone had resigned themselves, believing it impossible to uncover the truth. It was all thanks to Young Master Long, who devoted himself to investigating for a full year. He finally managed to locate the Nightmare's lair based on the slightest clues and rescued quite a few people."
The attendant finished speaking with a smile and added, "Our young lady was one of them."
"Miss Xie," Long Xiao looked her over from head to toe, left and right, a flicker of surprise appearing in his eyes. "When did you wake up?"
Xie Jingci was also staring intently at him. "Last night."
She had some recollection. Back at the academy, Long Xiao had once been interested in Meng Xiaoting.
He kept it to himself, only ever quietly being good to her. For instance, secretly teaching a lesson to those young masters from prominent families who bullied Meng Xiaoting, or stealthily following behind the two of them in secret realms to prevent the girl he liked from coming to harm.
Even when Long Xiao challenged Xie Jingci to a spar, he would always make sure Meng Xiaoting was present.
Xie Jingci hadn't paid much attention to it back then.
His presence was too low-key; he often only showed up once every few days. Because she saw him so seldom, even his affection seemed faint, as if it could vanish at any moment.
She would never have imagined that the one who ultimately went to such lengths to rescue Meng Xiaoting would be him.
"Miss Xie, you've come to visit her too, right?"
Long Xiao quickly shed his astonishment, returning to his usual calm demeanor. "Why not come with me to see her?"
And so, Xie Jingci followed him into the Meng residence.
"Miss Meng possesses a unique constitution; her consciousness realm happens to perfectly align with that of the Nightmare, making her an ideal vessel for its possession. By the time we found her, a full year had passed since her disappearance."
She was unaware of many things. As they walked, Long Xiao explained in a low voice, "Her consciousness was invaded and significantly damaged by the Nightmare. Later, the Nightmare was utterly destroyed, but the wounds it left are difficult to heal. To this day, Miss Meng remains in a deep slumber."
This was, unfortunately, the best possible outcome—at least her life was spared.
Meng Xiaoting lived in a quiet, secluded courtyard. In the past, there were no maids or servants by her side; aside from Xie Jingci and herself, no one ever lingered there.
Unexpectedly, when Xie Jingci went to visit today, she saw two delicate, pretty young maids sweeping the courtyard.
Xie Jingci drew a sharp breath, her eyes filled with disbelief. "Since when did Meng Liangze become so generous?"
"Meng Liangze?"
Long Xiao was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head with a wry smile. "I forgot to tell you. Among the followers of the Nightmare, there was one whose entire family had been wiped out by him. The Immortal Alliance suspects his involvement in several similar massacre cases. They have already taken Meng Liangze into custody. Now, the entire Meng household is under Aunt Lin's management."
This was precisely why the household staff had undergone a complete overhaul.
"As for Aunt Lin, many say she is ruthless and stops at nothing to achieve her goals, but that's not entirely true. If she truly despised Miss Meng, she would have made things difficult for her long ago, leaving no room for retreat."
Long Xiao continued, "She once told me that the fault lay solely with Meng Liangze himself. Neither the woman he deceived nor the child born from that deception should be objects of hatred. After Miss Meng's incident, many of the medicinal herbs were gifts from her."
Lin Yunrou did not love Meng Liangze; her marriage into the Meng family was solely due to a clan alliance.
She didn't have deep feelings for Meng Xiaoting either. Her willingness to help stemmed from a moment of kindness, standing from a completely objective standpoint.
Perhaps for Lin Yunrou, the only truly important thing in the world was figuring out how to earn more money.
The two maidservants in front of the room recognized Long Xiao and led them to open the bedroom door. Xie Jingci stepped inside, greeted by a strong scent of medicinal herbs.
Meng Xiaoting disliked drinking medicine; she must have hated this smell permeating her room.
Long Xiao stopped right at the doorway, not taking a single step inside. Curious, Xie Jingci looked back and heard his voice transmitted directly into her mind: "After all, it's a young lady's bedchamber. Without her permission, I won't enter."
Judging by what the little maids implied, he must visit here often. So, Long Xiao... had he always been standing at the doorway, gazing from afar at Meng Xiaoting's figure?
The room was extremely quiet. The window was half-open, allowing a few brilliant, golden sunbeams to stream in. Meng Xiaoting lay motionless on the bed, as if the very air around her had frozen solid.
Compared to the boisterous girl from memory, she now appeared much frailer. Her bloodless cheeks were terribly pale, and she had grown so thin she seemed like a piece of thin paper.
A heavy feeling of discomfort settled in Xie Jingci's heart. She reached out and gently touched the tip of Meng Xiaoting's nose. Unable to fully articulate her thoughts, her fingers twitched, and she suddenly transmitted her words to him: "Do you still have feelings for her?"
This was likely the first time in his life Long Xiao had ever been asked such a question.
His daze didn't last long. He soon replied, "...Yes."
Precisely because of this, he had nearly gone mad after her disappearance. And it was why, not knowing whether she was dead or alive, he had investigated desperately day after day for over three hundred days, clinging to that incredibly slim hope of seeing a living Meng Xiaoting again.
When admiration for someone takes root, it's often uncontrollable and defies clear explanation.
As a scion of a prominent family, Long Xiao was accustomed to wearing a gentle, smiling facade, avoiding any and all trouble. In contrast, Meng Xiaoting was like an elusive gust of wind.
Without a clear origin or destination, unbound by worldly conventions, she came and went freely, at ease and content, making him yearn to draw closer, unable to resist the pull.
"I've heard she never liked young masters from prominent families."
Long Xiao paused, carefully choosing his words. "I was afraid of scaring her off. I originally wanted to approach her slowly, to make her dislike me a little less—"
But he never imagined he would nearly miss his chance altogether.
Xie Jingci smiled. "You've come to visit her time and again. When she wakes up and the maids and servants whisper in her ear about it, won't she find out everything?"
As she spoke, she turned her head, her clear gaze falling on the tall, shadowy figure by the door.
During countless days and nights before, Long Xiao had stood just like that at the doorway, silently and cautiously watching the figure by the bed.
The sunlight blurred his features slightly. Xie Jingci sensed his nervousness and, amidst the shimmering light, heard Long Xiao's voice: "Then... before that happens, I'll tell her myself."
The right hand clenched in his sleeve slowly relaxed.
She let out a soft sigh.
Meng Xiaoting had once said half-jokingly that in this life, she just wanted to be an ordinary person—cultivate when she felt like it, sleep when she wanted, free and unfettered, never noticed by anyone else.
She was actually a girl without much confidence, wrapping herself in a small shell, believing she had no particular merits or strengths, ordinary and inconspicuous.
But that wasn't true at all.
No one is truly ordinary or commonplace in the absolute sense. Perhaps even Meng Xiaoting herself would never know that during many moments she remained unaware of, in the silent eyes of a certain someone, she was extraordinarily unique, shining with her own light.
—At least for Long Xiao, she was the one and only Meng Xiaoting.
