While Fu Yun walked away with reluctance, Yue Ji stood in place quietly. His gaze was still at the spot where the human hunter had vanished between the trees as if he could still see his figure there or expected him to reappear at any moment. It almost seemed as if he would stand right there until the next day when Fu Yun would return.

After a long time had passed, Yue Ji awoke from his frozen state. He raised his hands and covered his lips with his fingertips. “Was I wrong?” It was unclear what he meant but his gaze was filled with emotions that he hadn’t shown when Fu Yun stood in front of him. Clearly, there was more on his mind than only the encounter just now.

Only the wind answered Yue Ji’s question, not any different from before. With the hunter’s departure, the forest had fallen silent again, not even the birds chirping in this cold weather as if they were huddled together somewhere, fleeing the ice and snow.

Yue Ji himself hardly seemed to notice the temperature that had dropped further these days. He looked into the depths of the forest for a while longer until he finally turned around, stepping past the tree he had been hidden behind earlier when Fu Yun appeared.

A clearing came into view, the trees around it almost standing in a perfect circle. In the middle grew a cluster of roses, the petals covered with frost and the leaves buried in the snow. Only here and there did a hint of dark green or bright red shimmer beneath the seemingly endless white of this day.

Yue Ji walked to the roses and reached out, brushing off the snow. He had told Fu Yun that he was a plant spirit but hadn’t bothered to explain more. Humans usually didn’t get it. Unless they saw, they just couldn’t imagine it so it made little sense to give a long speech if it wasn’t going to be understood anyway. He had made that mistake often enough in the past.

While Yue Ji was in a daze again, the branches of the rose shook and finally, a fairy flew out. It shook itself when the cold air hit it and then wrapped its arms around its tiny body before flying up until it hovered in front of Yue Ji’s face. Seeing his gaze that exposed that his thoughts had long flown far away, the fairy sighed. “Yue Ji, Yue Ji! You wake up fast, ah!”

Yue Ji blinked his eyes and finally noticed the fairy. He reached up and cupped his hands, allowing the tiny creature to sit down. “What’s the matter, petal?”

The fairy pursed her lips. “That’s what I want to ask! Didn’t you go out to see the human that lost its way? You were gone for so long, I was really afraid you wouldn’t return at all.” She scrunched up her face and then reached out, hugging Yue Ji’s thumb as if her life depended on it.

Well, it also wasn’t wrong to say that it did. Just like plant spirits were born from plants, so were fairies. But in this cold weather, the latter were much less resilient. As for petal, she relied on Yue Ji to keep her alive now that the temperatures had dropped so much. His leaving for so long had really scared her.

Yue Ji smiled faintly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stay out for so long. It’s just … it has been so long.” His gaze turned nostalgic and he finally sighed. “Well, let’s not stay out here. He won’t return until tomorrow morning at the very earliest. So we might as well go home.”

Petal nodded and retreated between the petals. As a fairy, she had been born from one of the fruits of the plant so now, she could only stay outside and rely on the plant to keep her safe.

Yue Ji as the spirit of this cluster of roses instead retreated to the inside, making the branches shake slightly. He moved the leaves a little, adding a few layers of protection for petal. In such cold weather, it wasn’t much but it was the only thing he could do for her.

He thought of the fur around the hunter’s shoulders and how such a fluffy thing probably would have kept petal warm much better. It was a pity he hadn’t stayed longer so the two of them could meet as well. But then, remembering the coldness of Fu Yun’s cheeks when he touched them, it was probably better that he had left. Humans also couldn’t stand the cold even if they were stronger than fairies in that regard.

Thinking of the hunter again, Yue Ji’s mind strayed further. His eyes had been very kind and he had seemed worried for his sake while they spoke. His voice had also been nice, a bit deeper than expected and slightly husky although that might have been because of the coldness.

Yue Ji felt restless, not sure how he was supposed to wait until tomorrow. He knew he shouldn’t get excited. This matter, it wouldn’t have a good end. He already knew as much. After all, a human life was really too short. A hundred years at most and of those, some would be spent frail and weak. As a plant spirit that could live up to a thousand years without trouble, he could only accompany the other person until death and finally remain alone.

He knew and yet, even though he was aware, he couldn’t help himself. Maybe some things were just meant to be or maybe after taking one step and then a second step on a certain path, there was no way to return.

All his life, that seemed to be how it was at least. And now, he could not extricate himself. But then, maybe that was good. A long but lonely life wasn’t any better than what he had. At the very least, he could say that many years had been fulfilled, no matter how the ending would look like.

Yue Ji’s mind returned to a peaceful state when he thought until there. He knew life could have been easier if he had found one of his own people but life just wasn’t like that. You could not pick and choose. Since that was the case, he could only accept his lot and do what had to be done to make the most use of the time they had.

While Yue Ji slowly calmed down, Fu Yun couldn’t find his bearing for a long while. He barely paid attention to his surroundings while on his way back to the village. The prey he had originally been looking for was completely forgotten. In his mind, only Yue Ji was left.

He had never seen a person like him. Actually, could you even call a spirit a person or should you use a different word? He wasn’t sure but he felt that even though Yue Ji wasn’t human, he didn’t seem that different from him.

Yes, maybe his hair was snow white like that of an old person despite the fact that his face didn’t look any older than his own. And maybe his silvery eyes couldn’t be considered normal either. But at the end of the day, the appearance didn’t make the person, did it?

No, whether you were born with black or brown hair or whether your eyes were light or dark, it didn’t say anything about your personality, whether you were a good person or a bad one. If you had a birthmark or suffered some injury throughout your life that left scars, it wouldn’t change a thing about you. Since this was true for humans, why shouldn’t it be the case for spirits as well? No matter how different he looked, Yue Ji shouldn’t be judged because of that.

Well, even if he was judged for it, Fu Yun couldn’t see where there should be any bad implications. Old people with white hair were seen as wise because of their advanced age. And weren’t spirits said to be able to live for a long time? Then maybe this hair color was just a sign that he was especially experienced as well.

Even if not for that, the first thing he thought of when seeing Yue Ji was frost and snow. These two things, even if they made for a harsh living environment, they still felt pure. A blanket of white snow with no other color in sight simply meant that this piece of land had not been touched by human hand. What kind of bad thing was that supposed to say about Yue Ji?

Fu Yun had almost reached the edge of the forest at this time. His thoughts were still elsewhere but he was startled awake by the sounds coming from the village. He stopped in his tracks and rubbed his forehead, wondering if he had really been put under some sort of spell.

It didn’t seem likely. Yue Ji had seemed afraid of him from the beginning. Surely, he wouldn’t risk trying to bespell him. No, his current state … he was afraid he could only describe it as infatuation.

Fu Yun scratched his head, surprised when the realization finally hit him. In his village, he had always gotten along with everyone. Not being ugly, there had also been some girls who were interested in him in the past but he hadn’t cared for them that way and rejected them.

At that time, he hadn’t thought too much about it. Love, that kind of thing, he also had his own ideas about it: If it happened, then it happened and you shouldn’t hesitate and instead grasp the opportunity in your hand. But if it didn’t happen, then there was no way to force it. You couldn’t make yourself love another person back just because they liked you.

Since the feelings hadn’t been there for him, Fu Yun had only been able to express his regret. Save for one of them, all the girls had moved on without issue, soon finding somebody else they could find happiness with.

The last one took a longer time, trying to chase after him for a while in the hope that he would change his mind. Despite all her attempts, his heart had never moved though. When the others laughed about how cold-hearted he was to not react at all, he couldn’t help but wonder if his behavior was really that odd. Should his opinion of her have changed? He didn’t feel like it.

Today, after meeting Yue Ji, he felt that there had been a reason for his disinterest before. He didn’t know if this was fate or if he just had ridiculously high standards but he knew for a fact that he was head over heels for the beautiful spirit in the woods.

Fu Yun turned to look over his shoulder. The place where he met Yue Ji had long disappeared far behind him but it was still clear in his mind. Tomorrow morning, he’d go back there at the same time or maybe a little earlier so they could spend more time together and get to know each other. Then in the future … well, he had some expectations but he knew he shouldn’t fantasize too much. Yue Ji was a spirit and he was a human. Something happening between them shouldn’t be that easy to happen.

He reached up and scratched his head again, his expression suddenly lost. In fact, how did one woo a spirit? After all, while he was already enchanted, he didn’t think the same should be true for Yue Ji. If he wanted to be with the spirit in the future, he’d have to do his best to win him over first.

Fu Yun had no idea how to find out. He could only hope that it would be the same as it was for humans. If that was the case, he already had some ideas. After all, even if he hadn’t tried it himself yet, he had watched his friends and seen who was successful and who wasn’t.

To sum it up, he should first make sure the other side had positive feelings toward him and then show that his interest was romantic. If Yue Ji requited them, it would work. If he didn’t … well, he’d have to live with that.

Fu Yun felt a bit depressed thinking about this and sighed to himself. Anyway, he couldn’t do anything right now. He’d have to wait until tomorrow morning at least. He picked himself up and then walked the rest of the way out of the forest and into the village.

His expression probably still didn’t look that good as the others watched him with concerned looks and one of his friends even came running over. “Ah Yun, what’s the matter?”

Fu Yun stopped in his tracks and then smiled awkwardly. Most humans feared spirits and would do anything they could to get rid of them if they found traces of one close by. Even though he had never watched it happen in his own village, he had still heard some stories and the others never seemed to have thought that there was anything wrong with that behavior. Thus, if they knew about him, Yue Ji might suffer for the worse. He couldn’t do that to him.

Fu Yun looked down and then raised his empty hands before looking up at his friend. “No prey again. It’s the second day in a row. This winter will really be hard.”

His friend sighed. His own results hadn’t looked much better. Even with the whole village coming together, they would barely be able to make it until spring if the weather continued like this. Still, he reached out and heavily put a hand on Fu Yun’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it! We’ve managed to make it every time. These days, it’s hard but we’ll get through this in the end. It’s three or four months at most anyway.”

“Yeah.” Fu Yun nodded and then motioned to his house. “I’m almost frozen stiff so I’ll go in and warm up for a bit.”

His friend nodded and went back to the others while Fu Yun returned to his own place, closing the door behind him. He leaned against the wood and stared up at the ceiling in a daze.

“Yue Ji …” The name sounded beautiful and he couldn’t help but wonder if the spirits got their names in the same way as humans did. In fact, what about their families? Was there someone like that for Yue Ji? And was there a village with friends and neighbors where he lived? There shouldn’t be, right? If there was, he should have heard a lot more about the spirits throughout his life.

Fu Yun closed his eyes and took a deep breath before slowly exhaling. No matter how much he tried to recall everything about the spirits he had ever heard, he had to admit that he knew nothing about them save for some unsavory rumors.

At this moment, he regretted deeply that he hadn’t been more curious and tried to find out. Why had he never stopped to ask further? Why had he never ventured out to figure out the truth by himself? Now, it was too late. Tomorrow, he might make a fool of himself in front of Yue Ji if he said or did anything strange.

He furrowed his brows and finally opened his eyes again, some determination entering his gaze. Well, since he didn’t know, he didn’t know. Rather than worrying about something he couldn’t change, he should see it as an opportunity. After all, wasn’t there a spirit he knew now? He could just ask Yue Ji himself! Showing interest in his people and patiently trying to understand should show him that he wasn’t to be feared and could be trusted. This was basically a chance given to him so he should make full use of it tomorrow morning!