Turns Out I'm the Real Monster?!

Seeing Yuan Ahqing still frozen in the doorway, looking at her helplessly, Bai Xiang gestured with her hands:

[What are you standing there for? Come and eat.]

"Oh..."

Yuan Ahqing walked into the house, looking dejected.

Perhaps it was a trick of the flickering candlelight, but she felt that Sister Xiang’s eyes looked a little red. Yet, upon closer inspection, her face was as cold and calm as ever, no different from any other day.

As Bai Xiang ate the dishes she had poured her heart into preparing, she suddenly felt that tonight’s meal tasted far worse than usual.

It wasn’t the least bit delicious.

’Good thing that guy didn’t show up,’ she thought with some relief. ’He would’ve just started nagging again.’

As she continued to eat, she suddenly felt a cold wetness on her cheek.

She raised a hand to gently wipe it away, and her fingertip came away with a glistening streak of moisture.

Bai Xiang froze.

Staring at the teardrop on her finger, she felt a daze come over her before she expressionlessly picked up another piece of food.

’So, I am sad after all.’

’Why am I sad?’

’Probably because that bastard started building things up a long time ago. Day after day, he was whispering in my ear like a child begging for candy, and without realizing it, I got swept up in the anticipation.’

’The feelings just kept piling up, higher and higher.’

’Then, at the very last moment, he casually pulled the foundation out from under it all.’

’And everything came crashing down.’

’That sense of letdown... it really hurts.’

But Bai Xiang knew that wasn’t the only reason.

What truly broke her was the fact that...

Today was also her birthday.

Jiang Mu didn’t know. It was a complete coincidence.

But when Jiang Mu had proposed celebrating a birthday, she had quietly gotten her own hopes up as well.

So the anticipation had been twofold.

’It was as if... they were celebrating my birthday, too.’

She didn’t care about gifts or surprises.

She just wanted someone to share a meal with on this special day, here in this quiet little courtyard in a foreign land.

Even if that person was infuriating, shameless, and always making her angry.

But as long as he was here, the house felt alive. It wasn’t lonely. And in her heart, she was always happy.

But now...

All her expectations, all her hopes... everything had come to nothing.

"It doesn’t matter anymore."

Bai Xiang took a deep breath, swallowing the lump in her throat.

She glanced at the empty bowl she had set out for him. After a moment’s thought, she picked up a piece of tofu—his favorite—and gently placed it in the bowl.

’There. I’ll just pretend he’s here.’

BANG—!

Just then, a tremendous bang shattered the silence.

The two women inside jumped in fright.

Before they could even process what had happened, the night sky outside their window suddenly blazed with light.

Brilliant fireworks burst one after another, blooming across the jet-black night sky like dancing golden serpents and silver-flowered trees of fire!

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Bai Xiang shot to her feet and rushed out of the hall.

She looked up.

The sky was a cascade of brilliant colors, bathing the small courtyard in light as bright as day.

"So? What do you think? This birthday celebration your master here painstakingly prepared is pretty great, huh?"

A triumphant voice drifted down from the courtyard wall.

Bai Xiang whipped her head around.

Jiang Mu was perched atop the wall, though she hadn’t seen him get there.

His hands were on his hips, his brocade robes shimmering in the fiery light, and his face wore a roguish, wicked grin.

He had the smug look of someone dying to be praised.

Bai Xiang watched him in silence.

The reflections of the endless fireworks bloomed in her eyes, so brilliant they seemed to hold the entire Milky Way, glittering and fading with each burst.

Beside her, Yuan Ahqing was already staring, dumbfounded, her mouth hanging open.

Jiang Mu leaped, landing lightly in the courtyard. He walked up to Bai Xiang and grinned.

"So? Am I amazing or what?

When you heard I wasn’t coming home earlier, did you go hide under the covers and cry your little heart out? Ha ha!"

Staring at the infuriatingly smug man before her, Bai Xiang’s fists, hidden inside her sleeves, clenched tightly.

’I really want to...’

’...punch him right in the face! Twice!’

Suddenly, Jiang Mu’s arm snaked around her slender waist, pulling her into his arms.

Caught off guard, Bai Xiang stumbled into his chest.

The clean, slightly sweaty scent of him washed over her.

She snapped back to reality, her expression turning cold. She instinctively began to struggle, but he just chuckled softly in her ear.

"Don’t move. I’m going to show you something amazing."

His warm breath on her earlobe made her go rigid.

Without giving her a chance to refuse, Jiang Mu pushed off from the tips of his toes.

Before his words had even faded, they were soaring through the air, landing on the roof.

Bai Xiang sighed and gave up the struggle.

’Fine. Let him hold me.’

’Just this once.’

’It’s not like... he’s crossed any lines, anyway.’

Jiang Mu looked down and shouted to Yuan Ahqing, who was still craning her neck in the courtyard, "Hey, third wheel! There’s a ladder over there! Climb up yourself!"

"Oh! Okay!"

Yuan Ahqing snapped out of her daze and obediently ran toward the ladder.

The wind was a little chilly on the rooftop.

Jiang Mu let go of Bai Xiang, pulling her down to sit beside him on the ridge of the roof.

"Just wait, the best part is coming up. I honestly didn’t think they had the skill for this in this backwater place. I was surprised the craftsmen here were so good—they actually pulled it off. Even I was shocked."

Bai Xiang watched his profile, illuminated by the fireworks, before her gaze drifted back to the sky.

WHOOSH—

A massive firework shot into the air.

It was as brilliant as the rest.

A moment later, another one rocketed upwards.

But this time, when the firework exploded, the fiery sparks didn’t scatter and fall. Instead, they slowly began to gather in the air.

They faintly outlined the character for "Jiang."

Then, another firework blossomed, forming the character "Xiang."

The two enormous characters unfurled in the night sky, their golden light flowing as if they were gently connected by invisible threads...

At times they drew close, at others they drifted apart.

As points of light rained down like stars, the characters themselves grew hazy, like flowers seen through a morning mist—so close, yet impossibly far away.