The walk back to the Rest Courtyard should have felt like relief.
However, it didn't.
Qingmu Village had changed in the hour they'd spent inside the Bride's Residence—not in any way Lin Yue could point to and name outright, but in the accumulation of small, deliberate absences. The lanterns that had swayed cheerfully from eaves the morning before now hung dark and unlit, though the sun had not yet begun its descent. The stray dogs that had trotted along the road, sniffing at their heels with idle curiosity, were nowhere to be seen. Even the wind seemed to have grown careful about where it touched.
"It's too quiet," Zhou Ke muttered, hugging his arms to his chest despite the daylight warmth. "Yesterday there were kids playing by the well. Old men arguing over mahjong tiles. Now it's like... like the whole village is holding its breath."
"It is," Lin Yue said.
Zhou Ke glanced at him. "That's not comforting."
"I never said it would be."
