Chapter 2: Ling Xuance Awakens, A Blindfolded Pact

Chapter 2: Ling Xuance Awakens — A Blind Promise

That evening, Lin Yu sat by the stone bed as usual, a soft glow nourishing and repairing Ling Xuance's damaged meridians.

After a moment, Lin Yu withdrew his power and was about to rise to tidy up when his peripheral vision caught a slight movement from the figure on the stone bed.

A long, slender finger that had always been stiff and motionless twitched.

The movement was minuscule, yet in the deathly silent stone hut, it sounded like a thunderclap to Lin Yu.

Someone!

Ling Xuance had never moved before—Lin Yu could tell himself he was just a fixture.

But now!

The person who had been perfectly still had just moved!

A person!

A real person!

Lin Yu didn't dare turn around, didn't dare move, didn't even dare breathe loudly.

He instinctively stumbled backward, curling into the farthest corner of the stone hut, hugging his knees, shrinking into a tiny ball.

Meanwhile, on the stone bed, Ling Xuance's remaining consciousness registered every panicked, timid movement of the youth.

He had only made the faintest twitch of a fingertip—so subtle it was nearly imperceptible—yet Lin Yu's reaction was disproportionately intense.

The youth's taut body, his suppressed, ragged breathing—those were genuine fear and panic, not pretense.

What could he possibly be afraid of?

Outside the window, the night wind howled; the cliffside breeze moaned bleakly. The figure on the stone bed made no further movement.

All night long, Lin Yu remained curled up, enduring until dawn broke and morning light flooded the stone hut.

That faint twitch of a finger the night before seemed nothing more than a fleeting illusion.

Lin Yu lowered his eyes slightly, and after confirming the person on the bed was still, he let out a long, quiet sigh of relief.

Scared him half to death.

The fear in his heart gradually faded, leaving only a faint unease and anxiety. He knew the man would eventually wake fully.

There was no point in avoiding it. After much deliberation, Lin Yu slowly shuffled back to the edge of the stone bed, stopping half a step away.

His voice was soft and gentle, tinged with timidity—the first time he had spoken voluntarily in a long time. It was so quiet it sounded like he was talking to himself, or perhaps speaking to the sleeping figure.

"H-hi... hello, my name is... Lin Yu."

"I'm the one... sent by the Lin family for the marriage exchange."

He spoke slowly and carefully.

"I get scared easily. I'm afraid of strangers."

"It's very quiet here. I really like it."

"If you wake up... please don't startle me."

"I... I can get used to it slowly."

He paused, his gaze falling on the flickering oil lamp at the head of the bed, and made a cautious request.

"If you wake up, just move the oil lamp onto the table first."

"Let me get used to it first... before we actually meet, okay?"

His words trailed off softly in the silent stone hut, carrying the youth's hope and unease.

After speaking, Lin Yu belatedly realized that the man likely wasn't fully conscious and might not have heard his soft-spoken instructions.

He pursed his soft lips, lowered his voice even further, and tentatively added:

"I-I don't know if you can hear me... If you can hear and agree, just twitch a finger."

The stone hut was so quiet, the only sound was the faint wind outside.

On the stone bed, Ling Xuance's dormant consciousness was now fully alert.

So it wasn't wariness or scheming—just an innate shyness around others. This person wasn't afraid of desolation or lonely mountain solitude, but dreaded sudden eye contact and unexpected closeness.

To avoid startling the youth, Ling Xuance slowly, gently curled his index finger, then let it fall.

The movement was so slow it was nearly imperceptible, so gentle it didn't disturb anything.

Lin Yu, who had been staring tensely at the stone bed, felt his eyes widen. His body stiffened instantly, instinctively shrinking back an inch, holding his breath nervously.

He actually moved!

He really heard him. He agreed.

The stone hut remained quiet, and the figure on the bed still lay there peacefully.

As the tension gradually eased, Lin Yu's tense shoulders slowly relaxed.

He thanked him softly: "Th-thank you..."

From that day on, the silence of Thought Severance Cliff was broken by the occasional soft voice.

Lin Yu remained timid, but slowly let down his guard. He no longer stayed silent, and would say a sentence or two to the sleeping Ling Xuance every day.

As dawn's light crept in, he would softly say: "Good morning."

Late at night, when the cliff wind grew cold, he would tidy up and quietly add: "Good night."

The days passed peacefully. One night, Lin Yu sat by the stone bed as usual, releasing a soft glow to heal Ling Xuance's injuries.

As the light slowly faded, he withdrew his fingertips. After sitting quietly for a long while, he twisted the hem of his clothes and spoke softly toward the bed.

"You... you've been awake this whole time, haven't you?"

There was no accusation, only a soft, hesitant question.

"If you're awake, remember what we agreed on. Move the oil lamp to the table first."

With that, he stepped back and waited obediently, his heart pounding, caught between hope and dread.

He waited all night, but the stone house stayed silent. Eventually, his eyes grew too heavy to keep open, and he drifted off to sleep.

The next day, dawn broke through the stone window, streaming morning light into the room.

Lin Yu looked up and saw that the oil lamp, which had been placed at the head of the bed, was now sitting right in the middle of the stone table.

The flame was dead, and the lamp had moved.

Even though he had braced himself for it, Lin Yu's heart lurched in fear. After steeling himself, he shuffled forward in small steps and crouched down just beside the stone bed.

He crouched there for a long while before finally speaking, his voice barely a whisper, laced with pleading.

"I... I'm still a little scared... Would you mind if I covered your eyes first?"

"And when you're awake, please don't talk, okay?"

"If you agree... just move one finger."

A moment after he spoke, the slender fingers on the stone bed curled slightly, then slowly relaxed.

It was a sign of consent, a gesture of indulgence.

Lin Yu's heart relaxed slightly, and he raised a hand to remove the plain, soft white hairband from his hair.

The hairband was soft to the touch, carrying the faint scent of grass and wood that clung to him.

Holding his breath, he carefully placed the hairband over the other's eyes, wrapping it around the back of his head and tying it in a knot.

The white soft band concealed those once sharp and piercing eyes, blocking any possibility of eye contact, and easing most of Lin Yu's fear.

Meanwhile, Ling Xuance lay still, letting the young man gently tie the band for him.

The faint, clean, and tender fragrance from the young man lingered around him, refusing to fade.

After tying the band, Lin Yu shuffled out of the house, crouched down outside, and quietly waited for the person inside.

After a long while, a very soft sound came from within the house, as if to let Lin Yu know he was about to come out.

A moment later, the man who had been lying still all this time stepped out with a slow, measured pace and sat calmly on the stone stool. His eyes were covered by the white silk, obscuring his gaze, yet the noble and aloof aura around him still radiated from him.

This was the first time in Lin Yu's two lives that he had faced such a real, living stranger face to face.

Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around his legs, crouching at the stone house's entrance, not daring to approach, not daring to move, his eyes full of nervousness and unease.

After watching quietly for a long time, he confirmed that the other man was blindfolded, silent, and made no move to interact. He remained calm and composed. Lin Yu slowly stood up, falling back into his usual calm routine. He walked to the vegetable garden as usual to pick fresh produce, used the faint light at his fingertips to extract the essence of the ingredients, and placed them into a clean stone bowl.

Holding the warm stone bowl, he shuffled over to the stone table and set the bowl in front of the other.

"It's warm, not hot. Go ahead and drink."

Through the plain white hairband, Ling Xuance could not see the young man's timid, gentle demeanor, but he could clearly sense the nervous energy radiating from the person in front of him.

He raised his arm very slowly, deliberately slowing every movement, afraid that even the slightest motion might startle the already timid Lin Yu.

The warm, life-giving broth slid down his throat, flowing into his damaged but healing meridians, the warmth dispelling the lingering chill.

After finishing the bowl of broth, Ling Xuance was about to say thank you, the words already at the tip of his tongue, but he paused.

He recalled the young man's extreme shyness, remembered how he had curled up all night in fear at the slightest movement.

In the end, he kept his mouth shut.

Lin Yu watched the blindfolded man sitting quietly, lips slightly parted, then pressed tightly together. His fingers, which had been clutching the hem of his clothes, loosened slightly. After a long pause, he finally said—

"You... you can speak."

"Just keep your voice low and slow, and it'll... it'll be fine."