Chapter 29: Cultivating a Habit

                   

To tame a person, you don’t chain their wrists—you shape their habits. A habit subtle enough to feel accidental, warm enough to be remembered, gentle enough to anticipate without strain.
So Mingyi chose to wait for him at the estate’s entrance.

The Ji family mansion sat at the far end of Erjiu Street, rarely disturbed by outsiders. Though grand, it was swallowed by darkness at night, with only a faint glow appearing ten zhang before the gates. Mingyi wore a frost-colored gauze dress draped with a thin silk robe, a glass lantern in her hand decorated with honey-gold blossoms and dangling pearls. She positioned herself where Ji Bozai’s beast-drawn carriage would catch her best silhouette at first glance.

Xun Momo followed behind, frowning as the evening breeze brushed past.
“Miss, you should wear something warmer.”

Mingyi laughed softly. “This is perfect. I’m not cold.”
In truth, the lighter the fabric, the more ethereal it looked under the wind and lantern light.

Ji Bozai did not need a dull, uninspiring woman waiting at his door. But a beauty bathed in warm glow, her sleeves fluttering like drifting clouds, her robe buttoned neatly with an air of quiet virtue—that could hold his attention. Mingyi lifted her face, her features glowing gently like jade under the orange light.

Every detail was crafted with him in mind.

So when Ji Bozai returned on his open-top carriage, his gaze shifted the instant he saw her. He straightened, staring more intently than he should. Before the carriage even stopped, he leapt off and strode toward her.

“Why are you here?”

“Sir sent word that you’d be returning late today,” Mingyi said, smiling like a blossom turning toward light. “I worried the stars would be too faint by now, and since your carriage is open, I came to brighten your way.”

She slipped her hand through his arm and offered him the lantern, teasing gently,
“I didn’t expect my luck to be so good—you arrived just as I stepped out.”

Her bright gaze rested entirely on him. For the first time, Ji Bozai felt… unsettled under someone’s attention. His tone remained steady, but his grip on her tightened.

“Don’t wait next time. It’s cold and dark.”

“Okay,” Mingyi agreed sweetly.

But the next night, she was there again.
And the next.
And the next.

By the fifth night, Ji Bozai stopped objecting and instead arrived with cloaks, hairpins, small gifts—anything to place into her waiting hands.

Those around him were baffled.
After drinking with Yan Xiao one evening, Ji Bozai paused before stepping into his carriage, glancing toward the silent street. Then he turned.

“Do you have any interesting trinkets lately?”

Yan Xiao raised a brow. “There are a few new girls from Feihua City…”

“I’m not talking about people.” Ji Bozai cut him off with an impatient wave. “I mean gadgets. Mechanisms. Jewelry.”

Yan Xiao stared. “What else besides women could possibly interest you?”

Ji Bozai gave him a cold look.
“Is your mind filled with nothing but women? I’m asking about gifts.”

A gift… for someone.

Yan Xiao blinked, confused. “You’ve never cared about that before. You don’t even touch the wine-serving girls anymore. Don’t tell me you’re settling down, as Shuzhong Lin claimed?”

Ji Bozai laughed. “Of course not.”
He simply felt a faint guilt when met with her expectant eyes—so a small token felt like proper compensation.

Mingyi was delighted every time, her eyes shining as she accepted the smallest trinket, always reaching to hold his hand afterward. Warmth rose inside him without warning.
What worth did a few gifts have, compared to that feeling?

“Anyway,” Ji Bozai said, tapping the carriage crossbar, “do you have anything?”

Yan Xiao shook his head. “Only herbs. Try the street.”

But at this hour, the shops were all closed. After half an hour of circling the area and finding nothing, Ji Bozai had no choice but to return empty-handed.

Then the skies opened.
Heavy rain poured down, drumming against the world.

Ji Bozai expanded his dark domain, shielding the carriage with ease. But his mind drifted to the girl who always waited. She had no Yuan Power. In rain like this, even an umbrella wouldn’t protect her.

She probably won’t wait today, he told himself.
I have no gift anyway. It’s better if she doesn’t.

Yet despite that logic, his eyes kept searching the darkness ahead.

The surroundings were pitch-black, the silver qilin stepping steadily through the mud, and the wind thick with rain. It should have been irritating—until a warm orange light flickered through the storm, piercing the downpour.

His heart tightened. Then expanded.
He turned sharply toward it.

Mingyi stood in the rain wearing a jade-colored wide-skirt dress and the green cloak he’d given her. She held a magpie-shaped octagonal lantern in one hand, gathered her skirt with the other, and anxiously watched the road. Xun Momo shielded her with an umbrella, but both were soaked through.

The moment she spotted him, she relaxed and waved with relief.

Ji Bozai’s pupils contracted. His hand lifted instinctively, enveloping her in a sweeping dark domain that cut off the rain entirely.

The sudden surge of power stunned her, but she quickly smiled as she approached.
“I was worried you didn’t bring an umbrella—but I forgot your Yuan Power is boundless.”

Rain clung to her hair like tiny pearls, yet she smiled.
“I didn’t expect to be so lucky to meet you just as I came out.”

A lie, of course. She hadn’t just stepped out—not with how drenched she was. She simply didn’t want him to feel guilty.

“I didn’t find anything to bring you today,” Ji Bozai murmured, unexpectedly troubled.

Mingyi waved away his concern.
“In weather like this, where could you even go? It’s enough that you’re home. I’ll go make you some ginger tea.”

He hadn’t been touched by a single drop of rain—why would he need ginger tea?
But her lips had gone pale, and she was shivering slightly.

Before she could turn, Ji Bozai moved.
He swept her off the ground in one fluid motion and strode forward.

“Ah?” Mingyi gasped, arms wrapping around his neck. “W-Where are we going?”

He didn’t answer.

He carried her back to Liuzhao Pavilion, removed her soaked clothes, and wrapped her in his embrace, pouring his Yuan Power into her like a steady tide. His Yuan Power was pure black—dense, powerful, enveloping—and it chased the chill from her body instantly.

Mingyi was stunned.
Practitioners guarded their Yuan Power carefully—yet he used a vast amount just to warm her, something a simple bath could accomplish.

His power, like the man himself, wrapped around her completely…
Steady, consuming, and impossibly warm.

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