"Mnh..." Haoren slowly stirred from his sleep. Even as he sat up, his body was crouched, and his head was lowered as if he might nod off at any time.

"Mmhh..." He groaned slightly, feeling hair tickle his face. "Uhhh..." He shook his head from side to side in an attempt to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling, yet to no avail. His silver hair, usually well-kept, were now messy and puffed up like a strange cotton ball. The sight of him performing such actions was truly... interesting, to say the least.

"..." He slowly opened his heavy eyelids, blinking a couple of times before staring at his room for a moment. The room had various adornments, mostly of the color red, furnishings made of wood that had a calming scent, and a few swords placed neatly in a corner. It was a room that held great meaning. It was—

"...?!"

All of a sudden, Haoren's body jolted awake as his eyes opened wide.

"...!"

He mentally let out a silent scream, creating a scene of him with his jaw completely agape, which was quite a hilarious one. Both his hands covered his face as memories came pouring in. "Ah... ah... What have I done?"

"It's just like our first meeting..."

"Haha."

"Ah~"

The memories of his dazed-self acting "cutesy" made him cringe in embarrassment. He even tried to do an "Ah~" to get fed by Li Feng! Thankfully she didn't notice.

"..." A thought ran through his mind... What if she had noticed... What if she...

"Here~"

An image of Li Feng carefully bringing up the spoon to his mouth while smiling came to his mind.

*THAK!*

A sharp slap landed on his face as he tried to erase that thought from his mind. 'WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!' His cheeks reddened from the slap, and soon the redness spread to his ears.

"Urk!" He committed to a tactical retreat to the white blanket that had been covering him, wrapping around himself until only thing that was left was a white caterpillar. Minutes passed with the caterpillar twitching every now and then with a groan until it finally broke through the cocoon to emerge as a completely new self.

"Ha...."

A teenager who has realized that he has created his own dark history that will haunt him till death or at least a year. Truly a marvelous growth!

With his head finally exiting the cocoon, Haoren, with his tomato-like red face, looked towards the door of his room. His shadows stretched out and locked the door before he finally fully emerged from his blanket cocoon.

"Phew, let's calm down first..." Letting out a breath, he sat up. "Okay, so first things first, I have to say thank you to..."

His face instantly reddened, and he shoved his face into the bed's surface as he recalled the face of the person he needed to express his gratitude to. Her dark hair was the complete opposite of Haoren's silver hair, and her brown eyes reminded one of autumn leaves. A face that was not exceptionally pretty but was still attractive.

While she wasn't the type to smile all the time, and most of her smiles were fake and strangely crooked (which she herself didn't seem to be aware of), but when she let out a genuine smile, she looked...

"Beautiful."

*Thak!*

Haoren smashed his head into the bed. The cushioning made the sound muffled, but it was still quite loud because of the sheer force behind it.

"Damn it..." His muted grumbling spread throughout the room. Even though his head was buried in the bed, his blood-red ears were all one needed to know the current condition of his face.

"Ah..." Haoren wasn't some dense rom-com protagonist, he could somewhat tell what was going on but...

"B-but what if it's not that?"

He stuttered. It was quite strange. He'd had (relatively) great control over his emotions ever since he became Gongsun Haoren, but there were times when he lost control, and it was always somehow related to her.

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"Let's just do what I need to do right now and try to confirm it for now."

Even if he possesses two sets of memories, both of them don't exceed the age of 17, and neither had any romantic relationships.

One was obsessed with his revenge, and the other, while not seeking vengeance, also drowned himself in his past. Moreover, the previous Gongsun Haoren simply never felt the desire for a relationship.

"Hm..." Just as he wondered about his next move, his eyes moved towards an unassuming cabinet that seemed to be nothing special. That was where Haoren hid his greatest treasures—his master's belongings. Robes, her sword, her hairpin, and other ornaments.

His master's presence was well imbued within each of them. Even now, after so much time, he could still feel her existence through these items.

"Maybe I should get her something... She does still wear my clothes..."

*Thak!*

Once again, Haoren crashed his head into the bed as he imagined her in feminine clothing. "Damn it..." He mumbled, his voice barely audible, yet it held a strange warmth to it.

...

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...

And all that brought us to the current situation.

'Where do we get clothes?'

Haoren had never purchased any clothes here. If he wanted anything, he'd just ask the city lord, who'd gladly answer his demands. After all, Haoren was more or less like a guardian deity in the eyes of the city lord.

There was no way he'd feel bothered by something like this, or at least he wouldn't show that he was bothered.

'Ha... why can't I just think straight? Even if I did fall in l-love, isn't this still too sudden?!'

He internally complained as he still couldn't understand this sudden influx of emotions, but even as much as he grumbled, he was having fun, just walking together with Li Feng. Yet, he didn't wish to admit this fact.

Anyways, to not make a fool of himself, he discreetly made use of his abilities to find a place where he could get "good clothes," and that ended up being a shop that sells cloth, not clothes, just simple cloth.

'I guess that makes sense...'

In a world without mass production of goods and standardized sizes for ready-made clothes, it was only natural that the cloth had to be purchased and then tailored into the clothing that would be worn.

"Can you show some cloth for her that would be appropriate for a woman? The price isn't a concern."

As Haoren spoke this in a voice that did not resemble his inner restlessness, Li Feng seemed somewhat "troubled," whereas the shop owner, the middle-aged man who had a stern expression until a second ago, now had a warm smile as he looked at the pair before him with an expression that seemed to be reminiscing about his sweet past.

"???"

...

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...

'Did I buy too much?' Haoren truly wondered so for a moment, but then he shook his head. 'No, are only only a few clothes. Moreover, she would also need some for when she's cultivating and some for sleeping... Next time, let's buy some more comfortable clothes!'

Haoren had gotten a bit carried away while buying the cloth. While this wasn't the same as those romance novel chapters where the female lead changes into different clothes and the male lead buys them all, but the different cloth with different colors and embroidery caused Haoren's imagination to run wild, and he bought a bit more than he had planned.

Now, he was just convincing himself that this was necessary. Meanwhile, Li Feng was having a slight panic attack from the cost of all these. But Haoren just paid for it all without any trouble.

And while he was given a pretty good discount, even without the discount, he'd not even need to worry about spending this much. His wealth had accumulated quite a bit over the years, especially since he never really spent most of the money the city lord "gifted" him...

"Do you know any good place to get her clothes tailored?"

Haoren decided to just ask the man instead of wandering around, to which the shopkeeper smiled and said, "Just right by this shop, there's a seamstress who's quite famous in the entire city."

The man's expression was a bit strange. It was as if he was boastful, and there was a hint of pride and joy in the air, but Haoren decided to ignore it. "Thank you." He lightly bowed his head and left, carrying his purchases.

...

"I want clothes to be tailored for her."

Upon Haoren's bland voice, the seamstress looked towards the feminine cloth with flowery embroidery that Haoren had handed her and then to Li Feng, who was in men's clothing.

"Ah~" Then, as if she understood everything, she looked towards Li Feng with a smile. "You must have arrived here from somewhere far, right?"

"Yes?" It was true that Li Feng had originally been from another city a bit far from here, but she didn't understand how this woman knew that. "Why might you be asking that?"

"Hoho~" The seamstress chuckled as she had a nostalgia-filled look on her face. "The grumpy old man from the next shop is my husband. Back when we were young, we were traveling merchants, so I understand your situation quite well."

"???" This only fueled Li Feng's confusion.

Looking at the confused Li Feng, the seamstress let out another chuckle. "We ran off from our families who opposed us being together, all so that we could be together. Back then, we had to travel around a lot, so I had to dress as a man to avoid trouble... I get your situation quite well. Don't worry! This city, while a bit isolated, is quite safe! Even if things get tough, as long as you rely on each other and trust each other, everything will be great! Ah, to be young again~"

"N-no, we—"

Li Feng tried to clear the misunderstanding but couldn't as a certain someone intervened. "That's wonderful."

"???" Li Feng looked at him as if asking, 'What the hell are you saying?' However, Haoren who didn't notice any of that continued calmly.

"To be able to travel together, and even now work in a way that's intertwined with one another, I think that's truly wonderful."

The seamstress was shocked for a moment, however, she soon broke out in a wide smile as she laughed. "Haha! You sure are more of a romantic than you look! If you ever need any advice, just look for this Auntie Lin of yours!"

And thus, Haoren found the person who he'll bother soon enough to learn more about his feelings, his first love.