Li Xinyuan was going to slip away, taking the opportunity to do so when their sombre conversation halted.
He was going to.
Was.
"Xinyuan," Bai Huiqi called out from behind him, voice dry, shaking, "why did the fire burn me?"
Fuck. He had been hoping the white-haired fox spirit would have forgotten about that by now. Right. I have yet to answer that question. Briefly, he considers forgoing a response entirely, hoping he would get away with putting on a show of not hearing.
However, yet again his damningly loud conscience stops him dead on his tracks, freezing his feet to the ground entirely. In the end, against his own better judgement, Li Xinyuan lost the mental fight.
Fingers clenching on the bowl, the surgeon drew in a deep breath and turned around slowly, the movement entirely too stiff and back ramrod straight. Aggrieved and helpless, he glanced down at the fox spirit, expression taut. "Ah…"
