The candlelight in Wangshi was bright and clear.

Shen Xiling was sitting in Qi Ying’s chair again. At this moment, under the bright lamp, Qi Ying was applying medicine to the wounds on her face.

Qi Ying saw that the young girl’s facial skin was as white as porcelain, making the several bloodied scratches particularly striking. A few shallow ones had already begun to scab over, while one deeper one still looked somewhat bloody even now, causing his brows to furrow.

He recalled the contents of Qi Yun’s letter, and while applying medicine to the young girl, he asked with furrowed brows, “Zhao Yao injured you?”

The medicinal ointment was very cool, and Qi Ying’s fingers were even cooler, yet when they touched Shen Xiling’s face, they made her face burn hot.

She didn’t dare look at Qi Ying. Clearly, she had missed him greatly since he left Jiankang, but now that he had returned and was right here applying medicine to her, she didn’t dare look at him.

She responded carelessly, but her head unconsciously lowered more and more, prompting Qi Ying to lift her chin and scold her, “Don’t lower your head—I can’t see clearly.”

Once scolded, Shen Xiling had no choice but to steel herself and raise her face, her eyelids half-lowered, trying her best to avoid his eyes.

Then she heard him ask, “Why did she bully you?”

This question made Shen Xiling pause.

She actually hadn’t expected Qi Ying to ask this way. “Why did she bully you”—this phrasing seemed to indicate that in his heart he had already firmly decided the fault lay with Zhao Yao and not with her. This greatly surprised Shen Xiling. After all, Zhao Yao was his cousin, and he had watched her grow up—surely he should trust her more…

Restraining the joy that was gradually flowing through her heart, deeply afraid she might have misunderstood his meaning, she carefully asked him, “Young Master thinks… she was bullying me?”

Qi Ying had been looking down while applying medicine to her. Hearing her ask this, he looked up at her, his eyes revealing an expression that was half-smile, half-not, and asked in return, “Then could it be that you were bullying her?”

Shen Xiling was choked by his words and couldn’t speak for a moment.

Qi Ying smiled and sighed, saying, “It would be good if you knew how to bully others—then you wouldn’t let people torment you like this.”

So he truly believed her.

Shen Xiling became happy, but his trust somehow nurtured her sense of grievance, making her eyes red again. Seeing the young girl about to cry again for some unknown reason, Qi Ying felt quite helpless. Not wanting to scold her, he could only half-coax, half-persuade her, saying, “Don’t cry first, alright? I just applied the medicine.”

Seeing that after he said this the young girl kept sniffling and answered with a muffled “alright,” and in the end actually didn’t cry, he couldn’t help but be amused by her. With the hand not stained with ointment, he touched her hair and praised her, “Mm, good girl.”

Shen Xiling felt a bit embarrassed, pressed her lips together, and awkwardly let him continue applying the medicine. Then she heard him ask, “Why exactly did she bully you?”

He had already asked twice and had made clear that he believed her. Shen Xiling’s heart thus became more settled, and she told him the truth, explaining the whole cause and effect of how Zhao Yao had pulled her into cheating that day, only to end up being punished by Teacher Wang, and told him that Zhao Yao had misunderstood her, thinking she had deliberately let Teacher Wang discover them in order to harm her.

While speaking, Shen Xiling carefully observed Qi Ying’s expression, not knowing what his reaction would be, worried he might blame her for cheating. Unexpectedly, after hearing everything, he didn’t care about these matters at all and only asked her, “Did Teacher Wang hit you?”

Shen Xiling was stunned: “Huh?”

Qi Ying repeated it once more before Shen Xiling reacted, nodding somewhat bewildered.

Qi Ying had already finished applying medicine to the wounds on her face. At this moment he casually set the ointment aside, picked up a handkerchief to wipe his hands, and while wiping said to her, “He hit your palm? Let me see.”

Shen Xiling blinked, and after he finished wiping his hands, slowly extended her left hand to him.

This injury was several days old, but looking at it now it was still quite horrifying—not only were there crisscrossing purples and blues, but also mixed with bloodstains, and her entire palm was swollen.

Qi Ying’s brows furrowed again. He thought to himself that he had only left Jiankang for a few days—how had the young girl ended up covered in wounds like this?

After a moment of silence, he scolded her, “You were taking your own exam—why did you help her cheat?”

Shen Xiling knew she had been wrong, so she lowered her head without speaking, displaying an obedient attitude of admitting her mistake.

Qi Ying glanced at her, sighed silently, then asked, “Only your left hand was hit? Was your right hand hit too?”

Shen Xiling looked up at him and shook her head repeatedly.

But she shook her head too quickly, which instead made Qi Ying suspicious. He glanced at the young girl’s right hand, seeing that tonight her right hand had been tightly clenched the whole time, and couldn’t help suspecting that her right hand had also suffered some injury that she was now hiding and didn’t want him to see. He thus looked at her with examining eyes.

The young girl couldn’t withstand intimidation. Being looked at this way by him, she immediately showed a somewhat guilty expression, but still stubbornly hid her right hand behind her back, mumbling, “Really, really didn’t hit the right hand…”

With this appearance of hers, how could Qi Ying not see that there was something suspicious about her right hand? Seeing that reasoning with the young girl wouldn’t work, he simply put on a stern face and said seriously, “Wenwen.”

His expressionless appearance was truly frightening. Shen Xiling couldn’t bear him like this. After hesitating for a while, she finally had no choice but to slowly extend her right hand in front of him as well.

Her right hand was clenched into a small fist, tiny and delicate. Qi Ying took her small hand and glanced at her again. The young girl pressed her lips together, her face flushing red, as her palm slowly opened.

Qi Ying looked down and saw that her right palm was white and delicate, without any wounds—only with a clump of messy grass lying in her palm.

He raised his eyebrows and looked carefully, only then seeing that the clump of grass still vaguely retained its original outline.

…It was the little grasshopper he had woven for her.

Qi Ying was stunned, not expecting that she was clutching this thing in her palm.

“You…”

He had just begun to speak when he looked up to see the young girl had already pursed her lips, her eyes rimmed with red, tears pattering down, crying while looking at him, her voice thin and weak as she said to him, “I, I broke it…”

When she said this sentence, her eyes held grievance and sadness, tinged with regret and guilt. And that was clearly just a small thing woven from grass, not precious at all, yet she had been holding it in her hand the whole time, keeping it even in this broken state without throwing it away.

She was so careful and treasured this thing—it definitely wasn’t something she had accidentally broken herself. It was probably Zhao Yao’s or grandmother’s handiwork. Clearly it wasn’t her fault, but when she looked at him she still carried guilt, her beautiful eyes shimmering with tears.

Qi Ying already felt pity for her, and at this moment being made even more uncomfortable by this trace of guilt in her eyes, seeing her cry again made his heart feel as if someone had squeezed it. He quickly reached out to pull her into his arms, comforting her, “It’s not your fault—what are you crying about?”

Shen Xiling nestled in Qi Ying’s embrace, surrounded by the sweet pine fragrance from his body, yet feeling in her heart that she had never been so grieved before.

The little grasshopper he had personally woven for her, his first birthday gift to her, something she loved and treasured so much, had been trampled and ruined by Zhao Yao just one night after reaching her hands, broken into its current state.

Before being brought to Rongrui Hall by the matron beside Old Madam Qi, she had secretly collected the little grasshopper that had already been trampled by Zhao Yao into her palm. These past few days she had been trying to restore it to its original state, but some parts were already broken beyond repair. She felt this was a keepsake and couldn’t bear to throw it away, so she had kept it in her palm until now.

If Qi Ying hadn’t discovered it, she wouldn’t have felt so wronged, but now that he had found it and was comforting her like this, she became petulant. Tears began flowing out again—the more he comforted her, the more she cried incessantly, pulling at his sleeves in his arms without settling down.

Qi Ying didn’t understand the young girl’s subtle psychology, but he also discovered that this indeed seemed to become harder to resolve the more he comforted her. In the end he ran out of options, feeling that since meeting Shen Xiling, he had been sighing increasingly more. Now he asked her somewhat helplessly, “What exactly will it take for you to stop crying? I’ll weave you another one, alright?”

Shen Xiling was nestled in his arms when she suddenly heard him say this. Her sobbing stopped for a moment, and she looked up at him from his embrace, sniffled, and her eyes unconsciously brightened, but with tears still hanging on her small face, she asked in a hoarse voice, “…Really?”

Qi Ying’s phoenix eyes flashed with amusement, marveling that she was indeed still a child. Just now she had been crying so sadly, but hearing this, she immediately became happy.

His expression gentle, he wiped away her tears and said, “Really, I can also weave grass rabbits. How about trading a rabbit for that grasshopper of yours?”

“No!” Upon hearing this, Shen Xiling immediately shook her head, her fingers gripping Qi Ying’s lapel tightening, her tone very firm, “I still want that grasshopper.”

She paused, then thought about it and added, “Then add a rabbit on top of that.”

The young girl’s bargaining manner was quite adorable. Qi Ying was amused by her again, his features filled with warmth as he answered, “Fine, add a rabbit—but you can’t cry anymore. If you cry again, there won’t be any.”

Hearing him say this, Shen Xiling blinked, then without needing further coaxing began wiping away her own tears, both obedient and endearing.

Qi Ying smiled gently. Seeing that her earlier crying had caused some of the ointment on her face to smear, he took the medicine box again to reapply it for her. While applying it, he asked, “And why did grandmother punish you?”

Shen Xiling had been secretly praying all evening that he wouldn’t ask about this matter, but she knew herself that this couldn’t be avoided—sure enough, he still asked. Panic arose in her heart. Her lips pressed tightly together, and both hands clenched into fists. Qi Ying saw her whole person stiffen and furrowed his brows, asking, “What’s wrong?”

Shen Xiling looked at him, wanting to speak but finding it hard to begin. After a long silence, she said to him gloomily, “…Can I not say?”

Qi Ying raised his eyebrows.

He could see that Shen Xiling was very resistant to this matter—there was even some fear revealed in her eyes. He furrowed his brows and was about to speak when he heard the young girl say urgently, “I didn’t do anything bad! I didn’t hurt anyone either! I just… just…”

She didn’t continue speaking and lowered her head.

Shen Xiling’s fingers twisted together, her heart full of fear and unease, afraid that Qi Ying would press further—what would she say then? Say that she had secretly kept his outer garment? Say that she had worn that garment to sleep one night? Say that after Old Madam Qi discovered it, she scolded her for having improper thoughts?

She herself hadn’t even figured out the cause and effect of all this. Although she did feel this was something shameful, at her age she was still innocent and confused, and truly didn’t know how to tell Qi Ying about it.

While her heart was struggling with difficulty, she heard Qi Ying say, “Alright.”

Shen Xiling was stunned and looked up at him, seeing his expression completely casual, those beautiful phoenix eyes lowered, seemingly without any intention of investigating to the end.

He had agreed so readily that she couldn’t believe it, and couldn’t help asking him, “Young Master… won’t ask me anymore?”

Qi Ying glanced at her and asked in return, “Didn’t you say you didn’t want to talk about it?”

Shen Xiling was tongue-tied. After thinking, she nodded, then saw him say lightly, “Then let’s not talk about it.”

His breezy and calm manner gave Shen Xiling some hope again, feeling that perhaps he wasn’t very interested in this matter. After thinking, she tentatively asked, “Then can Young Master also not ask others about it?”

Qi Ying looked up at her. Shen Xiling shrank back, secretly blaming herself for speaking unwisely—this would only invite his suspicion and questioning. But unexpectedly, after hearing this, he only looked at her for a while, then nodded and cleanly answered with a “good.”

So straightforward that it left Shen Xiling stunned, not knowing what to say for a moment.

Her bewildered appearance carried a bit of foolishness along with some childish innocence. Qi Ying’s eyes were gentle as he helped tuck a strand of loose hair behind her ear, telling her, “I won’t ask others either, so don’t be afraid.”

So don’t be afraid.

Looking at him, Shen Xiling felt that this person’s eyes held the clarity of wind and bright moon, more magnanimous and open-minded than anyone she had ever met, making her heart feel unprecedentedly peaceful and secure.

She believed that since he had said this, he truly wouldn’t ask again.

So she truly wasn’t afraid anymore, and nodded at him.

Qi Ying smiled and turned to ask, “When grandmother drove you out, how did you end up coming to Fenghe Courtyard?”

Speaking of this matter, she had Yao Shi to thank.

That day in Rongrui Hall, she had intended to protect Shen Xiling, but unfortunately couldn’t withstand Old Madam Qi’s intimidating pressure. Later, Old Madam Qi had the matron beside her take Shen Xiling to the accounting office to withdraw a sum of silver, then put her on a carriage, saying she would send her back to Ba Commandery.

Shen Xiling had been startled at the time. She had simply thought the old madam was going to send her away from the Qi family, but hadn’t expected to send her to Ba Commandery. She wasn’t really Fang Jun—Ba Commandery naturally wasn’t her homeland. If she really went to that place where she knew no one, that would truly be difficult at every step.

Her heart was both panicked and frightened then. Just as the carriage was about to drive out of Jiankang City, it was stopped midway by someone else—also a person from the Qi family whom she had seen beside Yao Shi, a kind-faced aunt. That aunt had brought her to Fenghe Courtyard and told her this was Yao Shi’s arrangement. Yao Shi had the aunt relay a message, saying to let her hide in Fenghe Courtyard until Qi Ying returned, and decisions about what to do next would be made after he returned.

This had saved her.

Shen Xiling told Qi Ying this whole sequence of events. He didn’t show any surprised expression, presumably having already guessed that her appearance at Fenghe Courtyard was his mother’s handiwork. Now hearing Shen Xiling finish speaking, and having just finished reapplying the ointment, he simply tidied up and said to Shen Xiling, “I understand—it’s already late today. You should go back and sleep first.”

Shen Xiling blinked and nodded, then looked at Qi Ying.

He looked very tired and travel-worn, yet he had taken care of her all evening. Now although he was telling her to go back and rest, from his appearance she could tell he had no intention of resting himself. So after thinking, she asked him, “What about Young Master?”

Qi Ying put the lid on the medicine box and put it away, answering casually, “I still have some matters to handle—you go back first.”

After speaking, he looked up at Shen Xiling, seeing the young girl looking at him eagerly. Thinking she was still worried about the Qi family matters, he comfortingly smoothed her hair and said gently, “You don’t need to worry about this matter anymore. I’ll handle it. Rest well today, and I’ll talk to you about it in a few days.”

At that time, Shen Xiling actually wasn’t thinking about this—she just… didn’t want to part from him.

These two days alone at Fenghe Courtyard, she hadn’t been able to sleep peacefully for a single moment. Every time she closed her eyes, she would recall her experience that day at Rongrui Hall. She even found it difficult to be alone by herself, constantly hoping for his return. Later she couldn’t help but run to wait at the entrance of Wangshi, hoping to see him sooner.

Now that he had returned, she felt like she had finally found someone to rely on and didn’t want to part from him at all.

But she couldn’t say this to him, so she could only nod and then stand up to walk toward the door.

Shen Xiling walked to the doorway and opened the door. Outside, the night rain was still pattering without stopping. She turned back to look at Qi Ying, seeing that he had already sat back down under the lamp, lowering his head to read through documents at his desk. Seeming to sense her gaze, he looked up toward the doorway, seeing that Shen Xiling still hadn’t left, and asked, “What is it?”

Shen Xiling looked at him, pressed her lips together, stood by the door holding onto it, and asked in a low voice, “…Can I stay here today?”

She lowered her head, her fingers twisting again as she said, “I won’t disturb you—I’ll just stay quietly by myself on the side, alright…”

Qi Ying looked at her. Behind her through the open door was the sound of pattering rain, and she stood alone before the curtain of rain, looking particularly lonely.

She must be very frightened.

The two of them were silent in Wangshi for a long time. After quite a while, Shen Xiling finally heard Qi Ying say, “Alright, then come here.”

Upon hearing this, Shen Xiling looked up to see Qi Ying’s gentle features, the warm lamplight making where he sat very bright and giving off a feeling of warmth.

Shen Xiling couldn’t help but smile, immediately turned around to close the door, then ran back to his side like a wisp of smoke.

Qi Ying smiled and looked at her, saying, “Then entertain yourself. If you’re bored you can find a book to read, and when you’re tired just go back to sleep on your own.”

Shen Xiling’s eyes were bright as she obediently nodded at him.

He was truly very busy. After instructing her, he paid her no more attention and lowered his head to begin handling official business. Shen Xiling was also well-behaved, sitting quietly without disturbing him, finding herself a chair at a distance that was neither too close nor too far from him.

At first she was somewhat restrained, not quite daring to move around, afraid of making noise that would disturb him. But after a while she discovered that Qi Ying was very focused when working and wouldn’t be distracted by surrounding disturbances, so her courage gradually grew.

Having nothing else to do, she secretly went to his bookshelves to look for books.

She had long admired the tall bookshelves on all four walls of Wangshi and had always wanted to know what books Qi Ying usually read. Tonight she finally got her wish, quietly browsing through his bookshelves, seeing that he not only had an abundant collection but also great variety—classics, histories, philosophical texts, and literary collections were all present.

Shen Xiling searched around and found an illustrated geographical record—exactly the kind of book she had always liked best. She settled on this choice, hugged the book back to her seat, and began flipping through it.

At first she sat very upright, but later when she grew tired of sitting, her posture relaxed. She secretly glanced at Qi Ying and, finding that he wasn’t paying attention to her, simply curled up entirely in the chair like a cat with its tail curled, both comfortable and content.

Sometimes she read her book, sometimes she looked at Qi Ying. Each time she saw him bent over his desk under the lamplight, that sense of being at a loss that had persisted for over half a month since his departure would diminish somewhat.

She gradually began to feel at peace, and thus drowsiness gradually rose.

In the end, she actually fell asleep curled up in the chair.

Author’s Note: Qi Ying: Actually I only know how to weave grasshoppers, but in that situation I could only choose to bluff. Now thinking about it, why didn’t I use something like a little mantis to divert her attention? A mantis looks quite similar to a grasshopper, but a rabbit I’d have to learn from scratch. Poor strategy.

Thanks to the lovely angels who left comments, voted, and sent nutrients~