Chapter 363: Resistance

Seeing this, Mu Xi felt like the heavy stone lodged in her chest had finally settled, and even her breathing became noticeably smoother.

She raised her head again, looking at Ling Yue with a much more candid gaze.

At that same moment, Ling Yue happened to set down her knife and fork, picked up a napkin to gently dab the corner of her mouth, then lifted her eyes to meet Mu Xi’s. Their gazes locked.

Ling Yue’s eyes remained cool and distant, like two pools of bottomless autumn water—calm and unruffled, yet somehow capable of peering straight into one’s soul.

“What’s wrong?” Ling Yue’s voice carried the same crisp, clear quality as her demeanor. “Not to your liking?”

Mu Xi snapped out of her daze. “Huh? No, no.” She quickly shook her head, masking her distraction. “It’s delicious. Thank you for your concern, Teacher.”

“Mhm.” Ling Yue responded faintly, but her gaze didn’t waver. Instead, it took on a hint of scrutiny as it swept across Mu Xi’s face. “You look weighed down by something.”

Mu Xi’s heart skipped a beat.

Teacher Ling Yue’s powers of observation were as sharp as ever.

She forced a smile, trying to change the subject. “Maybe I’m just a little tired. I haven’t been here that long, so I’m still getting used to it.”

“Is that so?” Ling Yue raised an eyebrow slightly, her tone revealing neither pleasure nor displeasure.

Mu Xi’s cheeks instantly grew warm, as if someone had seen through her hidden thoughts, leaving her flustered and embarrassed.

“Teacher…” She opened her mouth, but didn’t know what to say. Admit it? Or deny it?

“Did that joke scare you?” Ling Yue voluntarily brought up their earlier topic, her tone still flat—impossible to tell whether she was explaining herself or probing.

Mu Xi froze for a moment, then instinctively nodded. Feeling that was inappropriate, she quickly shook her head. “N-no… I was just a little surprised.”

Ling Yue watched her flustered, helpless manner, and something that looked like the faintest trace of a smile seemed to flicker deep in her eyes—so quick it was impossible to catch.

“Surprised?” Ling Yue repeated the word, the corner of her mouth curving into a barely perceptible arc. “Surprised that Ye Lan and I have known each other for a long time? Or surprised by the relationship we once had?”

Her gaze locked tightly onto Mu Xi, carrying an invisible pressure.

Mu Xi felt her breathing grow strained.

Teacher Ling Yue’s tone was clearly calm, yet she couldn’t help feeling the air around her growing thin.

“A… a bit of both, I suppose.” Mu Xi averted her eyes from Ling Yue’s overly sharp gaze and spoke in a small voice. “Ye Lan… her personality is so…” She hesitated, searching for the right words to describe Ye Lan’s domineering, arrogant nature.

“So strong-willed, right?” Ling Yue finished the thought for her, a hint of inscrutable understanding in her tone. “And I seem like someone from an entirely different world compared to her.”

“Mhm.” Mu Xi nodded, but confusion only grew deeper in her heart.

Since you know that too, Teacher, then why…

“The world is vast, and the encounters between people are inherently full of endless possibilities.”

Ling Yue picked up her water glass and took a gentle sip, her posture elegant. “Some people may seem worlds apart, yet through some twist of fate, they can develop connections that others can’t comprehend.”

Her voice was soft, as if she were speaking to herself, or perhaps guiding Mu Xi.

Mu Xi listened in a daze, feeling that Ling Yue’s words were filled with Zen-like riddles that left her even more puzzled.

She looked at Ling Yue’s flawless profile, which seemed to be wrapped in a hazy halo under the light, making her appear even more unapproachable.

That joke about a girlfriend remained stuck in her throat like a fish bone. Mu Xi couldn’t hold back any longer. She summoned her courage and tried to ask more clearly. “Then… you and Ye Lan, in the past…”

Ling Yue turned her head, her gaze landing back on Mu Xi’s face.

This time, her eyes seemed to soften slightly, but the depths remained that unfathomable lake.

“Are things from the past really that important?” Ling Yue asked in return, her voice gentle yet carrying an undeniable weight. “What matters is the present, isn’t it?”

Mu Xi was struck speechless.

She was right. What mattered was the present.

What Ye Lan liked now was her.

Was Teacher Ling Yue’s remark a hint that she shouldn’t dwell on the past?

Or was there a deeper meaning?

Mu Xi felt like her brain was about to tie itself in knots.

Talking with Teacher Ling Yue really drained one’s brain cells.

“Teacher is right.” Mu Xi gave up pressing further and nodded along with her words.

Perhaps Teacher Ling Yue really had just made a casual joke, and she was overthinking it.

Or perhaps, even if they really did have something in the past, it was already completely over.

Dwelling on these things truly had no meaning.

Having come to this realization, Mu Xi felt considerably lighter, and even her appetite improved.

She picked up her fork and began eating the food on her plate in small bites.

The dining hall fell into silence once again, broken only by the soft clinking of utensils.

The two servants nearby continued standing with their heads bowed and eyes lowered, though the occasional glances that slipped beneath their drooping eyelids betrayed their inner curiosity.

This meal was eaten somewhat absentmindedly, with undercurrents stirring beneath the surface.

Mu Xi tried not to think about all those messy things and focused on savoring the food.

She had to admit—Ye Lan really did put genuine care into what she was served.

Halfway through the meal, Ling Yue suddenly spoke up again.

Mu Xi was startled and looked up to see Ling Yue gazing at her hands.

“Your hands—have you been practicing recently?”

That gaze was focused, intent, even carrying a trace of fascination.

Mu Xi’s heart inexplicably jumped, and she instinctively wanted to hide her hands.

She remembered that during lessons in the past, Teacher Ling Yue had been especially fond of her hands, always saying her hand shape was beautiful and that she was born to play the piano. Back then, she had secretly been pleased about that.

But now, being stared at by Ling Yue with such an expression, she felt a strange discomfort—even a creeping sense of unease.

Was it her imagination?

“N-no…” Mu Xi shook her head, her voice slightly hoarse. “So many things happened… I haven’t touched them in a long time.”

Those instruments that once symbolized elegance and beauty had long since become distant, vague memories to her.

“Is that so? What a pity.” Ling Yue let out a soft sigh, a note of regret in her voice. “Such beautiful hands shouldn’t be left to waste.”

Her gaze lingered on Mu Xi’s hands, as if appreciating a rare treasure.

Mu Xi felt her fingertips begin to tingle.

She forced herself to look away, staring down at the food on her plate, but her heart was treacherously racing.

Teacher Ling Yue seemed a little strange.

Was she just being too sensitive?

Mu Xi forced herself to lower her head, poking at a remaining piece of vegetable on her plate with her fork, pretending to be deeply focused.

Ling Yue had already set down her utensils, sitting upright with her back straight, her posture impeccable. She no longer looked at Mu Xi’s hands, her gaze instead turning toward the deep night outside the window, as if admiring some view. But the corner of her eye kept unconsciously drifting toward the person across from her.

The atmosphere in the dining hall grew stagnant.

The servants quietly cleared the table, their movements gentle, trying not to make any sound, but their very presence imposed an invisible pressure on Mu Xi.

Maybe she really was overthinking it.

Teacher Ling Yue had always been cool and aloof by nature. It was only natural that she’d pay a bit more attention to beautiful things—like music, or a pair of hands suited for playing the piano. Right?

Mu Xi tried to convince herself.

But that look from earlier—that gaze so focused it bordered on obsession, carrying a barely perceptible hint of predatory desire—was that really just simple appreciation?

She shook her head and stuffed that piece of vegetable into her mouth, chewing it like wax.

“If you ever feel like practicing again,” Ling Yue’s voice rang out once more, calm and unruffled, as if she’d merely mentioned it in passing, “the instruments here look quite good. Practice can help calm the mind.”

Practice again? She had no such intention right now.

“Mhm…” Mu Xi gave a vague response, her mind elsewhere.

Besides, the very thought of playing the piano under Ling Yue’s watchful gaze stirred an unexplainable resistance within her.