“Where did Jinglin go?” Ren Yaoqi asked softly.

“Just now, that silly girl suddenly ran down, and Jinglin was afraid she would cause trouble, so she went to chase after her,” Xiao Jingxi also said in a low voice.

Ren Yaoqi wanted to ask why he hadn’t told her, but when the words reached her lips, she swallowed them back down.

Ren Yaoqi didn’t speak, and Xiao Jingxi didn’t speak either, just standing there looking at her. Although the eighth floor of the tower was much brighter due to the windows, because it was surrounded by bookshelves, standing in the tower didn’t make one feel particularly spacious.

Xiao Jingxi stood only half an arm’s length away from her. Ren Yaoqi felt her heartbeat quickening. After a while, she shifted her gaze away to look at the surrounding bookshelves: “I didn’t look carefully just now. What kind of books are stored here?”

Taking this opportunity, Ren Yaoqi walked two steps to the side, increasing the distance between them.

“The eighth floor is all Buddhist scriptures,” Xiao Jingxi said in a low voice, casually pulling out a book from the nearest bookshelf and handing it to Ren Yaoqi to look at.

Ren Yaoqi took it and looked down to flip it open, only to discover that it was entirely in Sanskrit. She shook her head and smiled, putting the book back in its original place: “I don’t recognize Sanskrit. What about the floors below? Are they all Buddhist scriptures, too?”

The corners of Xiao Jingxi’s lips curved slightly upward: “No, there are all kinds of books. Only this floor has Buddhist scriptures.”

“Oh.”

The two fell silent again. Ren Yaoqi felt that this place seemed somewhat stifling. Although when they spoke, there was an echo that made it seem a bit noisy, she subconsciously felt it was better not to remain quiet, so she made conversation: “What books are on the ninth floor?”

However, Xiao Jingxi didn’t answer. Just as Ren Yaoqi was about to look up at him, she heard him say softly: “Let’s go up and take a look.”

Ren Yaoqi thought that rather than waiting here for Xiao Jinglin, it would be better to go upstairs and see. Being alone in a room with Xiao Jingxi was awkward, whether they talked or not—it felt very strange.

“Alright.”

Hearing Ren Yaoqi’s answer, Xiao Jingxi headed toward the stairs first. Ren Yaoqi followed behind him, and after looking up, she discovered that the ninth floor seemed narrower than the eighth floor, while the stairs were much steeper and more difficult to climb.

As Xiao Jingxi climbed the stairs, he kept an eye on Ren Yaoqi, reminding her to be careful. When Ren Yaoqi was climbing the last step, Xiao Jingxi suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her up.

Ren Yaoqi was stunned, feeling the warm touch in her palm. A tingling sensation spread from her left palm, making her feel as if she had been severely burned by something.

Coming to her senses, Ren Yaoqi immediately tried to pull her hand back, but this time Xiao Jingxi gripped her hand very tightly, and she couldn’t pull it free at all: “You…”

Xiao Jingxi acted as if he hadn’t heard Ren Yaoqi’s words. He nonchalantly led Ren Yaoqi to the top floor of the tower, then turned back to smile gently at her: “The top floor is locked.”

When Xiao Jingxi smiled, he had a unique and irresistible charm. Ren Yaoqi felt her hands and feet going weak, and she even forgot to struggle. She subconsciously glanced at the locked moon gate door in front of them.

Xiao Jingxi held Ren Yaoqi’s hand with one hand, while a key appeared in the palm of his other hand. He inserted the key into the lock with one hand, then paused.

Ren Yaoqi felt a bit dizzy: “Can’t you open it?”

Xiao Jingxi turned his head to smile at her again, then continued in his gentle voice: “Would you like to open it?” If Xiao Jinglin were here at this moment, she would certainly severely criticize Second Young Master Xiao for his coaxing!

Ren Yaoqi thought he couldn’t open it, so she nodded, then realized her left hand was still in Xiao Jingxi’s grasp and said with some shame and anger in a low voice: “Let go of me first!”

Xiao Jingxi said softly, “Use your right hand to open it.”

Ren Yaoqi: “…”

Ren Yaoqi felt that Xiao Jingxi must have been possessed by something today—his face was as thick as a city wall. But since Xiao Jingxi was forcibly holding her hand and she couldn’t break free no matter what, and making too much commotion wouldn’t be good either, she could only blush and use her right hand to open the lock.

Ren Yaoqi didn’t think carefully about it. If the person forcibly holding her hand wasn’t Xiao Jingxi but any other man, she would probably prefer to fall down the stairs rather than let someone lead her around like this. She had never been the type to submit meekly to others’ manipulation.

The copper key still retained the warmth from Xiao Jingxi’s hand. Xiao Jingxi stood close enough that she could hear his breathing, holding her hand while looking down at her without blinking, his gaze gentle, revealing his inner feelings silently and without disguise for the first time, catching her completely off guard.

Ren Yaoqi’s heart was in complete turmoil. With a movement of her finger, there was a soft “click,” and the lock opened. Ren Yaoqi glanced at Xiao Jingxi, somewhat puzzled why he couldn’t open such an easy lock.

Xiao Jingxi reached out to push the door open, then led her into the final floor of the Echo Tower.

After entering, Ren Yaoqi was stunned.

Because this was the tower’s peak, the interior formed a cone shape after entering, making this floor higher than any of the floors below. Moreover, the ninth floor had no bookshelves—it was empty inside.

The tower’s top had many tiny circular holes. With today’s clear weather, light filtered through these small holes from above, creating countless tiny circles of light inside the tower, dotted like stars, as if the room were filled with fireflies.

Xiao Jingxi led Ren Yaoqi to stand in the center of the room: “People outside call this place the Star-Picking Tower, which is quite fitting.”

Ren Yaoqi recovered from her amazement and carefully examined the ninth floor. Soon she discovered that although this floor had no bookshelves, the walls were covered with patterns.

Seeing Ren Yaoqi’s curious expression, Xiao Jingxi led her to the wall to look more closely. Only when Ren Yaoqi got close did she realize that the dense covering on the walls wasn’t patterns at all, but characters.

Each character was only as large as those in books, yet they covered all the walls, even extending to the cone-shaped tower top, three or four people’s heights above ground. However, Ren Yaoqi couldn’t recognize a single character—she only realized they were all in Sanskrit.

“Are they Buddhist scriptures? How were they carved up there?” Ren Yaoqi asked in surprise.

Not to mention how much time it would take to carve so many tiny characters throughout the tower, reaching the tower top at such a height would be extremely difficult even with a ladder.

Xiao Jingxi touched the characters on the wall, turned to smile at Ren Yaoqi, then began reciting softly. Ren Yaoqi discovered she couldn’t understand a single word.

However, Xiao Jingxi’s voice, like the man himself, had an intoxicating attraction. Especially now, as he spoke word by word with a gentle tone and deep voice, even though Ren Yaoqi couldn’t understand anything, she couldn’t help but listen.

Xiao Jingxi held her hand like this, looking at her while softly reciting sentences Ren Yaoqi couldn’t understand. Ren Yaoqi stood there quietly. She didn’t withdraw her hand from Xiao Jingxi’s grasp, even though his grip wasn’t tight now, and she could break free if she struggled.

Although Ren Yaoqi couldn’t understand what Xiao Jingxi was saying, she vaguely felt she understood what he meant.

Ren Yaoqi didn’t know how long she stood there listening to Xiao Jingxi recite—one hour or two hours. Although this place wasn’t dark, it felt like a different world from the outside, a world containing only Xiao Jingxi and Ren Yaoqi.

After Xiao Jingxi stopped, it took Ren Yaoqi a long time to come to her senses. Meeting Xiao Jingxi’s gentle, smiling gaze, she couldn’t say a word, but her eyes felt stinging.

Xiao Jingxi stood before Ren Yaoqi, then carefully embraced her.

Ren Yaoqi’s forehead pressed against Xiao Jingxi’s chest, listening to the “thump thump” sounds coming from his chest cavity. She only recalled later that Xiao Jingxi’s heartbeat seemed somewhat irregular at that moment, even though Second Young Master Xiao appeared completely composed on the surface, showing no signs of nervousness, unease, or shy embarrassment.

They remembered to go downstairs when Ren Yaoqi felt hungry. Although she had eaten quite a few pastries in Xiao Jinglin’s carriage on the way here, she still felt hungry.

She separated from Xiao Jingxi’s embrace and said softly with lowered head: “Shall we go down?”

This time, Xiao Jingxi didn’t continue holding onto Ren Yaoqi. With a pleasant smile at the corners of his mouth, he said: “Alright.”

When the two exited the ninth-floor tower top, Ren Yaoqi wanted to ask Xiao Jingxi what this place was, what was written on the walls, and who had left it behind, but in the end, she didn’t ask.

Xiao Jingxi locked the door again. He looked at Ren Yaoqi, then handed her the key. Ren Yaoqi took it in a daze, waiting for Xiao Jingxi to explain his intention in giving her the key, but he said nothing and simply gestured for her to follow him downstairs.

Neither spoke when descending from the Echo Tower. It seemed nothing more needed to be said—some things had been made clear today, and no one could pretend to be ignorant anymore.

After leaving the Echo Tower, Ren Yaoqi asked: “Where’s Jinglin?” She looked at the sky. She and Xiao Jingxi had stayed in the tower for at least an hour, yet Xiao Jinglin hadn’t appeared at all.

Xiao Jingxi paused, then said: “Don’t blame her. It’s the Xiao family rule—she couldn’t go up.”

Ren Yaoqi wanted to ask why Xiao Jinglin couldn’t go up while she could.

But when the words reached her lips, they became: “What you said earlier about ‘just an empty tower, the reason people aren’t allowed in is simply fear that the tower is too high and going up would be dangerous’—where was that?”

Xiao Jingxi: “…”

Ren Yaoqi glared at Xiao Jingxi and went to look for Xiao Jinglin.

Xiao Jingxi followed behind Ren Yaoqi, feeling both helpless and secretly delighted.