"...How are you?" Qiu Yunru coughed, correcting himself quickly. He'd gotten into friendly mode and been too casual! "Ahem...how is young Lord Li?"
Thankfully, Li Chenyuan didn't seem to notice his slip-up.
He merely stared at the bed and the demonic summoning circles written in blood, his eyes clouded with unreadable emotions. It was like seeing the MC of a melodrama bleakly stare out over a stormy landscape, considering the reason for their existence.
"Bad person," Li Chenyuan suddenly muttered under his breath, seemingly to himself. "Uncle was a bad person."
It sounded like he was reassuring himself.
How tragic!
Qiu Yunru was very familiar with this kind of thought. After all, hadn't he been the one who had poisoned Li Fengguang for life to get this kid out of that situation? Even though Li Fengguang had been a horrible person, it still felt uncomfortable to look at someone he had direly injured.
Li Chenyuan, poor kid--a he must be feeling all sorts of conflicting things. Seeing the person who abused and tormented you die must be a relief--but wasn't it also horrifying to see them die by their own hand? Some might even feel a little guilt.
Qiu Yunru reached out and put a hand on Li Chenyuan's shoulder with an empathetic expression in an attempt to comfort him. He couldn't exactly pat him on the head, could he? So, this was the most he could do.
At the touch of Qiu Yunru's hand, Li Chenyuan went stiff as a board.
Seeing this, Qiu Yunru immediately took his hand back, embarrassed.
He had definitely gone too far! Even though that was the most he could do without being disrespectful, it had still been too much. He should have expected such a cold and lofty kid would be offended!
"Can I have a hug?"
Qiu Yunru froze.
A...what?!
He stared at Li Chenyuan incredulously. This kid was asking for a what?!
In the modern world, it might make sense for someone to ask for a hug in this situation, if they were close friends. After all, showing such affection privately or publicly wasn't a big deal. If someone's family had died or they were in a dire situation, a hug would make sense as a means of comfort. Who didn't need a hug every now and then?
But in a proper xianxia setting like Spring Blossoms, Autumn Fruits?
Absolutely not!
Hugging a young lord was like touching a lady's waist. Even with permission, it was scandalous and startling!
Seeing the shocked expression on Qiu Yunru's face, Li Chenyuan quickly grew cold and retracted his question. "Never mind. I'm not myself. Forget that I said anything."
Qiu Yunru felt like he had been punched in the gut. That expression on Li Chenyuan's face--cold and lofty, and yet so clearly a mask--it made a wave of pity wash over him! His heart ached. This poor kid--should he really go without a hug just because he was the young lord of a house? There weren't even many people around--just Fang Hai. There wasn't too much face to lose, was there?
Qiu Yunru's composure broke, and he cleared his throat loudly.
"All right," He said, raising his voice so that Fang Hai could hear. "Since you asked, I'll give you a hug. I'm sure this has been distressing, and we all ask for unusual things in times of distress."
This was to ensure that Fang Hai didn't look over and think he was doing something crazy like grabbing the young lord and hugging him without consent. If Fang Hai even thought such a thing was happening, and that Qiu Yunru was destroying the Jade Cloud Sect's image by acting so improperly...
Qiu Yunru didn't want to imagine what his reaction would be!
Awkwardly, he then held out his arms to Li Chenyuan.
In truth, he hadn't given or received many hugs in his past life.
Being a loner in college, he hadn't had many close friends, but rather acquaintances he would occasionally see and go out to eat with. He wasn't a girl, so he'd rarely hugged anyone; that would be a little improper, wouldn't it? What's more, being an only child of parents with wills and minds like iron, he had barely received hugs from his own parents once he was past the age of being cute with cheeks that were easy to squish and squeeze.
So, he wasn't quite sure how to go about it.
Li Chenyuan's icy face turned red as soon as he held his arms out. This kid slowly walked up and buried his head in Qiu Yunru's shoulder like a kid seeking comfort from a mother, wrapping his arms around him.
It was a rare thing for Qiu Yunru to become flustered, but even his face turned a little pink at this.
He felt like a mother duck comforting her child! But he wasn't, and he didn't know how! Was he supposed to wrap his arms back around this kid? Just stand here like a board? He really didn't know!
What's more, he could feel Li Chenyuan's breath tickling his neck, and he had to hold back the urge to squirm.
After a long moment, Li Chenyuan finally released Qiu Yunru with a flushed face, stepping back and not looking at him. "Thank you."
Qiu Yunru cleared his throat again, feeling off-balance. "...It's no worry."
Across the room, Fang Hai gaped with a white face.
_____
The affairs at the Li household were cleaned up throughout the rest of the day after that.
The demonic summoning circles were cleansed and wiped, and Li Fengguang's room was fitted with temporary talismans to ward off any potential remaining demonic qi or spells. Jin He City was swept through by the Jade Clouds Sect disciples in search of any remaining monsters and demons, declared clear, and the city's state of emergency was closed, much to the joy of the common people. That room filled with sticky Binding Ink was also cleaned up. That impressive and terrifying statue of Xie-Jie was moved to the courtyard, where it made a rather nice decoration.
By sunset, every affair had been sorted out, and Fang Hai looked like a rag that had been wrung out a thousand times, having run this way and that without a break for hours.
Since he was on the verge of passing out, he sent Qiu Yunru to go and notify Li Chenyuan that they would be departing.