Just then, some sounds suddenly came from the direction of the living room.

Lu Shicheng and Wen Tingli both turned their heads at the same moment to listen, and then, at the same moment, turned to look at each other.

Without either of them noticing, some mysterious understanding and trust seemed to have grown between the two of them. The dimple at the corner of Wen Tingli’s mouth stirred, and she said quietly to Lu Shicheng, “Dr. Louis is awake — I’ll go take a look.”

Lu Shicheng, thermometer still in his mouth, nodded. Wen Tingli gazed at him, smiling, then picked up the empty bowl and other things from the table.

Louis sat on the living room sofa, rubbing his eyes.

“Miss Wen, how is Mr. Lu?”

Wen Tingli told Louis what had just happened, then went to the kitchen to brew Louis a cup of tea. When she returned to the inner room, she found Lu Shicheng had fallen asleep with his head tilted to one side, the thermometer still in his mouth.

Wen Tingli said worriedly, “It was the same just now — awake one second, asleep the next.”

“Don’t worry, he doesn’t have a fever.”

Louis took the thermometer out and looked at it, then explained to her, “It’s normal for Mr. Lu to sleep a lot. He suffered head trauma, and though we’ve been treating him with medication these past few days, the pooled blood can only be reabsorbed slowly by his own body. Also, the painkillers I’ve given him are fairly high-dose and contain some sedative components. On top of that, his nervous system is still recovering. Between the drowsiness and everything else, even when he’s awake he’ll be somewhat disoriented.”

Wen Tingli started, understanding now why he’d been so docile, sometimes even a little childlike.

Louis sighed. “Given how badly he’s hurt, sleeping well is a good thing. More rest means his wounds will heal faster.”

Wen Tingli nodded solemnly.

Just as Louis had said, over the following week or so, Lu Shicheng spent most of his time asleep, but each time he woke, his condition was noticeably better than before.

One morning, Lu Shicheng woke to find the room empty.

He turned his gaze toward the door and waited patiently.

Soon, footsteps sounded outside the door, but to his surprise, it was Louis who came in.

“Awake?” Louis said lightly. “You’ve got more color in your face today.”

Lu Shicheng looked at him with disappointment, but Louis walked over to the bedside on his own and said seriously, in a low voice, “Mr. Kuang got back to Shanghai last night. This morning’s message says everything went smoothly.”

Lu Shicheng nodded slightly. Louis fed him something to eat, then helped him get up and walk around.

Every time they passed the doorway, Lu Shicheng would always stop and turn his head to listen. Louis, guessing at his thoughts, asked, “Does Mr. Lu want to contact Mr. Kuang?”

Lu Shicheng shook his head.

Louis supported Lu Shicheng back to bed, and while changing his bandages happened to look up and catch Lu Shicheng staring fixedly at the doorway.

“Mr. Lu?” Louis couldn’t help asking again.

Lu Shicheng, as if nothing were the matter, shifted his gaze back to Louis’s face.

【Isn’t Miss Wen home?】

Louis’s expression showed sudden understanding.

“She went out first thing this morning — she said her new production is about to start filming, and today the crew is holding some kind of preliminary meeting. She’s the lead actress, she couldn’t miss it.”

Having said this, Louis finally sensed Lu Shicheng’s disappointment. He seemed about to say something, then held back — Lu Shicheng didn’t seem inclined to talk anymore, so he simply carried the plate out. Just then, Xiao Taozi and Zhou Sao returned from the market. Seeing the door open, Xiao Taozi shook off Zhou Sao’s hand and dashed straight into the room.

“Come out at once, don’t disturb Mr. Lu’s rest,” Zhou Sao said anxiously, chasing after her, but Louis stopped her.

He gestured for Zhou Sao to look inside — Lu Shicheng was listening to Xiao Taozi with evident interest.

“Good morning, Mr. Lu,” Xiao Taozi said, imitating the way her sister greeted him, though as usual she pronounced “Lu” as “Ru.”

Lu Shicheng smiled faintly and extended his uninjured hand to shake Xiao Taozi’s chubby little hand. Xiao Taozi, sensing his friendliness and encouragement, laughed happily, “heh heh.”

Seeing that Xiao Taozi knew her limits, Zhou Sao relaxed and went off to attend to other matters.

Xiao Taozi pattered back and forth by the bed. Passing by the storage cabinet, she gripped its edge with both hands and stood on tiptoe to look at the top.

She was curious what Lu Shicheng ate that was different from her own food.

She soon spotted something and turned to look at Lu Shicheng, confirming he had no objection to her taking something down, then pulled down a can-like object from the top of the cabinet.

“Nutritional paste,” Xiao Taozi said, patting the lid. “Sister bought it at the big pharmacy, very expensive, only Mr. Lu can eat it. Mr. Lu is sick, Xiao Taozi doesn’t need it.”

Having said all this, Xiao Taozi generously held the can out to Lu Shicheng.

Lu Shicheng wrote the word “thanks” on the bed rail, then looked at Xiao Taozi after finishing.

Xiao Taozi looked blank — she was only three years old, and not even familiar with characters written in ink on paper, let alone this invisible sort traced with a finger. She tilted her head to think for a moment, then went pattering out and soon came back hugging a stack of textbooks.

“Sister teaches Xiao Taozi characters,” Xiao Taozi said, pointing proudly at the page with her chubby finger and reading aloud, “Mountain, middle, big, small.”

Lu Shicheng looked at the little book. The left column was clearly copied out by Wen Tingli — all in neat, square-shaped regular script, an entire notebook of it, every character written very large.

Judging by the crooked scrawls on the right side, Xiao Taozi had only gotten to the fifth page.

By the sixth page, Xiao Taozi got stuck, as expected.

It was the character “water” (水).

Lu Shicheng glanced around, then pointed to the water cup nearby, gesturing for Xiao Taozi to look inside.

Xiao Taozi lowered her head to look but still seemed puzzled. Lu Shicheng made a gesture of tilting his head back to drink water, then pointed at the water in the cup, and then indicated the character “水” in the book.

Xiao Taozi finally seemed to grasp it a little, staring blankly at the character and saying, “Water.”

Lu Shicheng raised his eyebrows.

Each time Xiao Taozi said “water,” Lu Shicheng nodded approvingly.

Xiao Taozi grew thoroughly excited, grabbing the notebook and running out to find Zhou Sao. “Water, Zhou Sao, water.”

Zhou Sao and Louis, mistaking this for Lu Shicheng wanting water, rushed over, and once they figured out Xiao Taozi had just learned the character “water,” Zhou Sao came into the room somewhat at a loss. “It’s so kind of Mr. Lu to be this patient. She pesters her sister like this all the time too — this could go on forever. You must be exhausted, I’ll take Xiao Taozi out right away.”

Lu Shicheng only shook his head. Xiao Taozi grew even more enthusiastic, running back to the bedside to have Lu Shicheng teach her another character.

This time it was “flower” (花).

Lu Shicheng thought for a moment, then looked up toward the window. The pot of peanut sprouts Wen Tingli had planted stood quietly in the morning light, several thick green leaves reflecting bright white light.

He pointed at the windowsill and encouraged Xiao Taozi with his gaze to say what it was. Sure enough, Xiao Taozi said loudly, “Sister’s peanut sprouts.”

Lu Shicheng then pointed at the character “花” in the book, thinking that with the previous experience Xiao Taozi would quickly learn it, but instead Xiao Taozi said, “Sister!”

Or else, “grass.”

He taught her many times over, but she just couldn’t learn it. Lu Shicheng scanned the room and suddenly noticed the two celluloid flowers embedded on Xiao Taozi’s baby shoes.

He propped himself up and edged slowly toward the side of the bed, gesturing for Xiao Taozi to look down at her own shoes.

Xiao Taozi crouched down slowly and stroked the soft flower petals with her small hand. “Flower flower.”

Lu Shicheng immediately gestured for Xiao Taozi to look at the character “花” in the book, and this time she got it right: “Flower!”

Lu Shicheng patted Xiao Taozi’s head. She ran out excitedly and returned in no time hugging a large box, which she opened to reveal all kinds of candy.

Among the pile of snacks, there was one kind — gold-foil-wrapped chocolate balls — that Xiao Taozi liked best of all. She specially picked one out and offered it to Lu Shicheng.

“Mr. Lu, eat.”

Lu Shicheng apologetically pointed at the wound on his own head, indicating he couldn’t eat it.

Xiao Taozi simply set two pieces down by his pillow anyway, telling him generously, “Not now, eat when you’re better.”

Then she unwrapped a piece for herself and, treasuring it deeply, placed it in her own mouth, chewing slowly for a while. Then she rummaged in the box again and pulled out a few paper-wrapped cookies, explaining to Lu Shicheng, “Sister likes these. Chocolate is Xiao Taozi’s, sister has no money, saves carefully. When sister makes money from filming, she’ll buy Xiao Taozi lots and lots of chocolate, and buy herself lots and lots of cookies.”

She spread her chubby arms wide, drawing an infinite circle in the air for Lu Shicheng.

Lu Shicheng paused, then took the cookie from Xiao Taozi’s hand and studied it carefully for a few moments.

Xiao Taozi had only eaten one chocolate before deciding she couldn’t bear to eat more. She carefully closed the lid and ran out with the tin, then came back holding her little notebook again, asking Lu Shicheng to teach her more characters.

At this very moment, Wen Tingli was in a meeting at the production division of Huangjin Studios.

The shoot had originally been scheduled to begin Tuesday, but for some reason Huang Yuanshan had gotten into a dispute with Liu Menglin, the head of Huangjin Studios, causing the start date to be delayed yet again. But the studio took this production extremely seriously — Huang Yuanshan had called in the leading cast members one by one to discuss the script, and had even personally taken Wen Tingli to the studio’s sound stage to familiarize her with the set ahead of time.

The stage was rented in Caojiadu, a space of five or six hundred square meters. The camera was the latest model, a “Bell,” purchased from an American merchant, and equipment like mercury lamps and carbon arc lamps was all fully stocked (note). Once inside, Wen Tingli found everything dazzling — though she often performed on stage, this was her first time inside a film studio, and she had no idea how to hit her mark or find the camera. Huang Yuanshan had barely explained a few things to her when a newspaper reporter came to interview him, and shortly after, several stage hands arrived saying a batch of newly made props needed his personal inspection.

A little later, the head office called — the producer had several important matters to discuss with Huang Yuanshan in person, so he immediately abandoned the stage hands and left.

This happened over and over, leaving Wen Tingli dumbfounded. She had never known filmmaking to be this troublesome. Given how things stood, it was clear Huang Yuanshan had no time to teach her, so she turned instead to seek guidance from the veterans on set, but everyone in the studio was a stranger to her, and everyone was busy with their own business — no one had time to pay her any attention. After being rebuffed several times, Wen Tingli could only sit in a corner with her script, puzzling over it alone. Just before dark, the assistant director came running over. “Quick, get moving — the crew for ‘Sands of Time’ needs to shoot a night scene here.”

Wen Tingli was practically chased out of the sound stage.

She hardly knew how to describe her day. She stood at the entrance for a long while, then found her own way to the dressing room in the back to remove her makeup. As she wiped it off, she suddenly realized that she hadn’t seen a single one of her co-stars all day.

She knew the male lead of this production was the popular young star Wu Sheng, with veteran actors Wen Guanhua and Lin Shaoyun playing supporting roles. In front of these seniors, she was a complete newcomer through and through. That morning she had specifically arrived first at the studio, planning to greet each of the seniors in turn as they arrived, but even by ten o’clock she hadn’t managed to see any of them. After that she’d spent the whole day on set, and this crowd still hadn’t shown their faces even once.

Wen Tingli was muttering to herself, troubled, when voices came from outside.

“Hey, what do you make of it?”

“What?”

“Didn’t you hear them just now? The Bailong Gang’s been searching for someone lately.”

Wen Tingli’s ears pricked up.

“The strange thing is they don’t dare make a big show of searching — they only dare to look around quietly.”

“Oh my, could they be looking for someone important?”

Wen Tingli grew more and more alarmed the more she listened. As alert as Lu Shicheng was, his injuries were still far from healed. Zhou Sao and Xiao Taozi had no weapons, and she wasn’t sure if Dr. Louis even carried a gun. If the Bailong Gang came knocking, they would surely be in grave danger.

She went out to look, but the two people in the corridor had already walked far off. Wen Tingli hurriedly called a car to rush home. As she neared the apartment, something felt off — there were more suspicious-looking people along the roadside than usual, and about a dozen cars parked along the way.

Wen Tingli quietly gripped the gun in her bag and had the rickshaw puller circle around to the other side. There was a telephone exchange nearby; she got out immediately to call home.

Louis answered the phone.

Wen Tingli held her breath and asked, “Doctor, is everyone all right at home?”

“Miss Wen?” Louis quickly recovered. “Oh, there’s no need to worry, everything’s fine at home.”

As they spoke, she could faintly hear Xiao Taozi laughing in the background — that relaxed atmosphere didn’t sound put on. Wen Tingli let out a breath of relief.

She hurried home, and the moment she entered, Louis happened to be coming out of the inner room. “Miss Wen, what word did you hear out there today?”

Wen Tingli said urgently, “I heard Lu Sanye and the Bailong Gang are searching everywhere for Mr. Lu. On my way back I saw a number of suspicious-looking people.”

Louis laughed. “Don’t worry, those are all Mr. Lu’s own men. Mr. Kuang came with a group this morning — there are Lu family men stationed all around the neighborhood now. Lu Sanye and the Bailong Gang wouldn’t dare show their faces. As for the Nanyang side, Old Mr. Lu has gotten word too — apparently he’ll arrive in Shanghai within the next couple of days.”

Wen Tingli’s anxious heart settled. Suddenly she remembered what Lu Sanye had said to Lu Shicheng that night, and thought that Old Mr. Lu’s urgency to return might not be out of concern for his eldest grandson. A wave of sympathy for Lu Shicheng washed over her, and she glanced toward the room. “Is Mr. Lu asleep?”

“He fell asleep half an hour ago,” Louis said, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Mr. Kuang, seeing that Mr. Lu can’t move around easily, has sent someone to buy a wheelchair. Miss Wen, please go watch over him a moment — I need to make a couple of calls.”

Xiao Taozi came running out from the other room carrying a large box, and the moment she saw Wen Tingli, dashed over like a gust of wind and stuffed the box into her sister’s arms.

Wen Tingli was startled — it was a tin of her favorite cookies. Years ago, Qiao Baoxin had brought a tin from home to share with her classmates, and she had loved them from the first bite — rich, fragrant, melting in the mouth. But because they were so expensive, she hadn’t been able to bring herself to buy them from the foreign goods store since her family’s troubles began.

What Xiao Taozi had given her was a brand-new tin, the seal on the lid not yet broken.

“Where did this come from?”

Without a word of explanation, Xiao Taozi dragged Wen Tingli toward the main bedroom.

The moment she entered, Wen Tingli was startled.

Her bedroom was piled up like a mountain with all sorts of snacks — the chocolate Xiao Taozi loved, dried fruit, milk powder, nutritional paste, some newly released foreign delicacies, plus a stack of newly bought picture books and literacy primers.

And piled up in front of everything else were the cookies she liked best of all, neatly stacked — no fewer than fifty tins.

Xiao Taozi bounced around the pile of snacks like a little rabbit. “This is sister’s, this is Xiao Taozi’s, this is…”

Zhou Sao came in, smiling as she explained, “Mr. Lu had someone buy these. This morning, a Mr. Kuang came with some men — I don’t know what Mr. Lu said to him, but when he came back he’d bought this whole mountain of things. I looked, and it’s all things Miss and Xiao Taozi love to eat — even I got something. That Mr. Kuang was so pleasant when he spoke, said all sorts of gracious things, insisted we simply must accept it all.”

As she spoke, Xiao Taozi again shot off like an arrow. Wen Tingli and Zhou Sao hurried after her, but Xiao Taozi had only run back to her own room to fetch a notebook, which she pressed into her sister’s hands.

Opening the pages, Xiao Taozi read aloud in her babbling voice, pointing at the characters, “Water, flower, sky, wood…”

All characters Wen Tingli had not yet taught her.

“Mr. Lu taught her,” Zhou Sao said, full of admiration. “Over and over, patiently. This morning he taught her a whole page. At noon I was afraid Mr. Lu needed rest, so I dragged Xiao Taozi out by force, but this afternoon I let my guard down for just a moment and she ran back in, and Mr. Lu just kept teaching her. He managed to teach her a whole three pages of characters.”

Wen Tingli didn’t know what to say. “You little troublemaker.”

Xiao Taozi tilted her little head up, waiting for her sister’s praise. Wen Tingli kissed her little sister’s cheek. “Our Xiao Taozi is the smartest, but don’t bother Mr. Lu again next time — wait for sister to come home and teach you.”

Zhou Sao said, “You haven’t eaten yet, have you? There’s food on the table, still warm.”

Wen Tingli agreed and tiptoed into the inner room.

The sun was about to set, and the room was somewhat dim. Lu Shicheng was sleeping soundly on the bed.

She sat by the bed watching him sleep, unable to imagine what method Lu Shicheng had used to teach Xiao Taozi, but she knew it must have taken no small amount of patience.

She turned the scene over in her mind and nearly laughed aloud. Looking down, still holding the tin of cookies, she propped her chin in her hand and asked very quietly, “How did Mr. Lu know I love these?”

It must have been Xiao Taozi who told him. That little traitor!

Of course, Lu Shicheng had no way to answer these questions of hers right now.

He was sleeping very soundly.

He didn’t seem to like sleeping squarely in the middle of the bed; instead, he always buried his face in the pillow, as if that way he could sleep more soundly and safely.

Just as Wen Tingli was about to set the cookie tin aside, she unexpectedly noticed the little notebook by his pillow was open, a line written on the blank page.

【Did everything go well today?】

Something stirred in Wen Tingli’s heart.

He must have written this in advance, meaning to show her when she got home, but had fallen asleep before she returned.

She couldn’t help but laugh softly to herself.

She had always been the type to share good news but hide the bad. Facing his concern, even though she knew perfectly well he couldn’t hear or see her right now, she still picked up the pen and wrote, word by word, on the paper:

【Everything went wonderfully, wonderfully well. I went into the studio for the first time today, everyone was very helpful, and Sister Huang said I could get used to the set for a few days before we start filming.】

Just then, Louis arrived with two of the Lu family guards, each carrying a food box. They nodded silently to her at the door, and Wen Tingli hurried out.

The two men said politely, “Miss Wen hasn’t eaten yet, has she? This afternoon Young Master Cheng mentioned Miss Wen enjoys food from this restaurant, and specially asked us to buy it for her. Please, Miss Wen, do eat.”

They opened the food boxes and laid the dishes out on the table one by one — four dishes and a soup, clearly bought from Guangyaju, the very place where she had first invited Lu Shicheng to dine.

Wen Tingli’s heart felt sweet all over. She asked Louis and the guards earnestly, “Have you all eaten?”

Having received an affirmative answer, she pulled Zhou Sao and Xiao Taozi over to eat together too. The first sip of the dried bamboo shoot and tofu skin soup warmed not only her stomach but chased away all her fatigue as well.

Wen Tingli finished her meal in full contentment, then went back into the room to look after Lu Shicheng — he still lay in the same position as before, without having turned over once.

Estimating he would sleep a good while longer, she quietly took her script out of her book bag and sat down at the bedside, reciting her lines under the fading glow of the setting sun outside the window.