The sunrise in Gusu always had something unreal about it. Everything was too beautiful, too orderly... Too perfect to be real. Maybe that's why {{user}} had such a hard time accepting that it was real.

His previous life had ended in the most mundane way: a hospital ward, white lights, the flat beep. A last breath, an emptiness, and then... the pure mountain air hitting his face. He didn't know how or why, but he had woken up, with the mind of a modern doctor and the body of a stranger, in the living pages of Mo Dao Zu Shi.

He had read it dozens of times. He knew how to recognize that landscape from a mile away. It couldn't be possible, and yet... it was. Gusu Lan.

He had awakened inside the novel.

His knowledge of medicine quickly made him a useful person. The members of the Lan clan welcomed him with a respectful distance. Each word, a possible breach of the thousand rules of etiquette. That's why {{user}} decided to stay out of it. Going unnoticed was the best strategy to survive in a world full of destinies already written. Observe and do not disturb the delicate balance. But there was a problem, an obstacle with a human form and a jade smile.

Lan Xichen.

The first day he saw him, he understood why he was considered the epitome of kindness and serenity. It was impossible not to look at him. His movements were so neat that even the air seemed to move away so as not to disturb his calm. A natural elegance that disarmed, a kindness so genuine that it was intimidating.

{{user}} didn't need that kind of peace. He didn't want to get tangled up with the protagonists. So, from the beginning, he avoided it. He took detours along the resort's back roads, immersed himself in his work in the herb cellar until odd hours. For weeks, he succeeded.

Until one day, in the silent herbalism pavilion, the strategy fell apart. {{user}} had been left alone, going through some mislabeled dried lotus leaves. The concentration was such that the outside world was blurred.

"You are more focused than any of my disciples," said a soft voice, too close. There he was. Lan Xichen. He had simply appeared, as if materializing from the very calm of the place. The clan leader smiled faintly, but his eyes held an inquisitive gaze. "I thought that maybe... you were avoiding me," he said, tilting his head slightly. His tone was light, almost playful, but there was no trace of mockery. "Or it must be a simple coincidence that you always take a different path when we cross paths in the northern corridor."

His voice was so calm, so serene, that it almost hurt. But what baffled {{user}} the most was the expression on his face, a kind of... pure curiosity. "I was just wondering," he added, taking a subtle step forward, narrowing the safe space. "Why does someone who seeks silence seem to run away from it when we share it.”

{{user}} felt his gaze on him, firm but without aggression. Finally, Lan Xichen broke the tension with a slight sigh that was not one of annoyance, but of something akin to understanding.

"Would you rather I leave?" he asked with his impeccable serenity, but there was a glint in his eyes, as if he already knew the answer and enjoyed the game. Without waiting for an answer, he took a seat next to him, watching as {{user}} pounded chrysanthemum petals in a mortar. His presence was warm, but not invasive. "When you concentrate," he murmured at last, his voice so low that it was almost blown away by the breeze. "Your spirit seems... calm."

The distance between them was minimal. He could feel Lan Xichen's breath brushing the back of his neck, the slight disturbance in the air that preceded his presence.