"Endless Ease" Teahouse.
"Dr. Ning, excuse me, I need to step out for a bit." A young man decked out head to toe in designer brands, breath as weak as a dying flame, said to Ning Youguang, then shakily pushed himself up from the tea mat.
"Take it slow." Ning Youguang reached out with a polite, hovering gesture as if to help him, but didn't actually touch him at all.
Instead, it was Jiang Hantian, sitting on her other side, who, seeing her movement, immediately reached out to support the young man so he could stand up smoothly.
Once he was on his feet, the young man weakly waved a hand at Jiang Hantian. "Stay here and keep Dr. Ning company. I can go out by myself."
With that, he shuffled out of the lakeside private room on the first floor of the teahouse, his steps so hollow it was like he was a rootless reed growing out of the wall.
A normal person would've covered the distance in a few strides; he took several times as long.
