Before Mo Ran could react, Chu Wanning had jerked his hand away and struck him across the face with a backhanded slap. “You idiot!” He scowled furiously. “How did you die too?! ... Get the hell out.” Chu Wanning turned his face away, a thousand layers of heartbreak hidden under that veneer of brittle coldness. “You’ve got some nerve, coming to see me after dying so young.”

“Shizun…”

“Out.” Chu Wanning’s face turned away even further. “You’re no disciple of mine. I don’t take anyone so useless as to end up dead in his prime.”

Dead in his prime…

Mo Ran had originally been dejected, but after being reprimanded so seriously like this, he felt warmth flood his heart like trickling spring water. He raised a hand and clapped his palm to his forehead before dragging it down to cover his eyes. Then, unable to help himself, he began to laugh, bitter and sweet and sour all mixed together.

The light sound of his laughter made Chu Wanning angrier still. He whipped his head around to chide, “What’re you laughing about, you—” In a fit of rage, he drew his arm back slap Mo Ran again, but Mo Ran swiftly caught his hand.

The young man’s gentle eyes blinked, slow. Without a word, he solemnly brought Chu Wanning’s hand to press against his own chest.

Thump, thump, thump. A slow, steady heartbeat. Chu Wanning blinked. Surprise, joy, awkwardness, and embarrassment all flitted through his eyes in the space of an instant. But this was the Yuheng Elder after all: calm and cool as ever, singularly adept at schooling his features into unruffled composure, sweeping those extraneous emotions under the rug in a trice as if the one who’d admonished Mo Ran in despair just now had been someone else entirely.

“What’re you doing down here if you’re not dead?” Chu Wanning regretted the words as soon as they’d left his mouth. It was obvious that Mo Ran had come to save him. But Chu Wanning was afraid that, if Mo Ran really were to say that, his heart might beat right out of his chest. He was so nervous he completely forgot he was already dead and had no heart to speak of.

But Mo Ran gazed at him without saying any such thing. He likely knew Chu Wanning would be embarrassed if he were to say, I came here for you. Mo Ran thought a bit, then pressed his lips together and lowered his lashes. “Shizun,” he asked gently, “can you guess why I’m here?”

A long pause. “You came looking for trouble.”

“Since when did Shizun change his name to ‘Trouble’?” Mo Ran grinned. “Should’ve told me.”