Oh. My. Fate?! (BL, Volume 12, Part 1)

195 Watching from Afar

At this moment, Qiu Ling was only just returning to the room. He didn't like spending time there and stayed in the Heavenly Emperor's study for as long as he could every day. It wasn't that there was anything objectively bad about the room but ... he just felt incredibly desolate as soon as he closed the door behind himself.

While in the study, he could chat with the Heavenly Empress or the God of War, work on whatever Xiang Yong sent him from the dragon realm, or even talk to An Bai to find out how the progress on the research over in the Tower of Wisdom was. Here though ... there was nothing to do so every moment reminded him of the fact that Jing He wasn't at his side and wouldn't be for a long time.

He sighed deeply, unaware that the person he thought of was currently watching him. His gaze flitted to the spot over the table where Tian had projected Jing He's state at the time he originally woke up. Unfortunately, there was no sign of a water mirror there.

To be honest, he wasn't surprised. Tian hadn't shown him anything since that night. It made him wonder if the supreme sovereign had felt too insulted by his words and had decided to teach him a lesson that way. Of course, it could also be that Tian had simply intended to do him a one-time favor that night from the very beginning. His actions might not have influenced the outcome at all.

Qiu Ling walked over to the window and looked outside for a while. It was already too dark by now to see more than a few silhouettes out there but at least the night wind was blowing, carrying the scent of the flowers that grew behind the Heavenly Emperor's palace. It reminded him of Jing He's palace even though the scent here was more subtle as the plants were fewer and spread out much farther as well.

What was Jing He doing right now? He didn't know. He couldn't help but worry that his state might not be good though. There was actually no basis to make any guesses either way but ... he was simply afraid that this might be the case.

Maybe finding out that he was now a fallen god had been a harsh blow to him and he had a difficult time getting over it. Maybe he was working on becoming a trueborn god again but the lack of progress frustrated him. Well, he had never seen his beloved frustrated but surely, even Jing He couldn't keep his temper even under such circumstances.

Qiu Ling closed his eyes and took a deep breath, slowly exhaling before he closed the window and went to sit down at the table. He took out a scroll of paper and ground the ink that had been standing on the table since the day he wrote his first letter. Dipping his brush into the freshly ground ink, he started yet another letter.

[My beloved Jing He, yet another day has passed since we last saw one another.]

Unbeknown to him, the person the letter was addressed to watched him write intently. He had missed Qiu Ling so much that he hardly even dared to blink now that he finally saw him again for fear of missing even the shortest moment.

From the moment Qiu Ling appeared, Jing He's gaze followed him closely, taking in the familiar features, the somewhat downcast expression they displayed, and also his movements which seemed a lot less energetic than he was used to.

Jing He couldn't help himself and stretched out his hand, brushing the lines of Qiu Ling's face with his fingers. "You seem tired." He knew Qiu Ling couldn't hear him but just being able to see his state and say a few words made him feel more at peace himself. "Have you not been sleeping well these days? You should really go and take a rest."

An Xin stirred in his arms, raising its head to look at what Jing He was doing. Seeing the familiar person in the water mirror, it felt a little confused but then, it knew that there was some type of relationship between Qiu Ling and Jing He so it only made a soft sound in the end before plunging back into Jing He's arms.

Jing He patted An Xin's head and then continued to stroke its fur but this was simply a subconscious action. His focus was completely on Qiu Ling. After taking in his current appearance and guessing how his state might be, he finally noticed what he was currently doing.

His lover was completely immersed in writing but took a break every now and then, staring off into the distance while he seemingly pondered something. Jing He wasn't sure what was going on and couldn't help but glance at the letter a few times more.

The scroll was already filled with many lines of densely written characters, making it difficult to read what had been written through the reflection on the water mirror. He also couldn't bring himself to focus the projection on the letter itself, still not wanting to miss even a heartbeat of the time he could use to see Qiu Ling. Thus, the content of the letter remained a mystery to him.

Hours seemed to pass by and finally, Qiu Ling stopped writing and put down the brush with a sigh. "I wonder when I will be able to give these to you." His brows furrowed as he spoke but he only shook his head in the end, folded the paper scroll up, and put it into an envelope, adding Jing He's name on top once again.

Seeing this, Jing He blinked his eyes. He had received such a letter on the day after he woke up in the High Heavens and compared to the densely written lines on the inside, his name on the outside stood out. Realizing that this meant that Qiu Ling had spent the last few hours thinking of him, Jing He couldn't help but feel sweet.