When they returned to Fenghe Garden, the sky was already filled with stars. Qi Ying slept lightly, and as soon as the carriage stopped, he immediately woke up. He had been working hard recently and hadn’t closed his eyes for a long time. He had just napped for less than an hour, but his spirits had improved considerably—not like the fatigue he felt in the palace that afternoon.

Getting down from the carriage, Qi Ying remembered something and turned his face to ask Qing Zhu: “Have those maids by her side been brought back from the main house?”

Qi Ying was referring to Shuipei, Fengshang, and Zijun. That day when Shen Xiling was driven out by Old Madam Qi, she left alone, with those girls not by her side. They had been trapped at the main house for the past few days.

Qing Zhu naturally knew what the young master meant. Hearing this, he bowed and answered: “We’ve already sent people to fetch them. They should arrive in about an hour or so.”

Qi Ying nodded and turned to go up the mountain.

He hadn’t had dinner yet. After entering the mansion gates, Qing Zhu had the servants prepare the meal. Qi Ying’s diet was simple, and the ingredients he ate weren’t precious or rare—they were all common things that ordinary families would also have, and easy to prepare. Not long after Qing Zhu ordered the meal, the dishes were brought to the table in the flower hall. Qi Ying sat alone at the desk, ready to pick up his chopsticks, when he noticed there was an egg custard among the dishes.

The egg custard was one he had eaten before. Its color was fresh and beautiful, seeming to have milk added, with a layer of tender tofu spread at the bottom of the bowl. The surface was sprinkled with a few green onion flowers. When the porcelain cup’s lid was lifted, one could smell an appetizing aroma and see steaming hot vapors rising.

…It was made by Shen Xiling.

There were many various dishes placed in front of Qi Ying. He looked at them, but first took this cup of egg custard and scooped a spoonful into his mouth. He had missed this taste when he was in Nanling. Now he felt the egg custard was still as delicious as he remembered, carrying a comforting temperature and fragrance.

Qing Zhu stood beside Qi Ying. Seeing the young master’s expression was completely gentle at this moment, he heard him ask: “Where is she?”

Qing Zhu bowed and answered properly: “We’ve already sent someone to ask. Miss Fang has already had dinner and is now resting in her room.”

Qi Ying raised his eyebrows and asked: “This early?”

It was just past the Hour of the Rooster.

Qing Zhu answered: “I heard that Miss Fang felt somewhat unwell today.”

Hearing this, Qi Ying’s chopsticks paused in his hand.

She was unwell?

Shen Xiling was indeed unwell, but she herself didn’t know if she was sick.

Today she had been feeling weak and heavy all day. By afternoon, she also vaguely felt some abdominal pain. She didn’t know what was wrong with her and didn’t take these discomforts very seriously. After all, she had been continuously ill since around New Year’s Eve and hadn’t fully recovered since, so she was used to the intermittent physical discomfort. Therefore, she didn’t pay much attention to today’s unease.

But later in the evening, the abdominal pain intensified and she began breaking out in cold sweats. She had originally wanted to wait for Qi Ying to return and have dinner with him, but gradually felt so uncomfortable she couldn’t bear it. She only had time to warm a cup of egg custard for him before returning to her room to rest.

She lay in bed wrapped in blankets, feeling the abdominal pain spreading more and more. It wasn’t a sharp kind of pain, but a dull aching sensation. It wasn’t intermittent either, but continuous pain that made her feel like there was nowhere to hide.

Qi Ying hadn’t returned yet, and Shuipei and the others weren’t by her side. Shen Xiling didn’t know who to turn to for a moment, nor did she know whether this kind of abdominal pain warranted seeing a doctor. She thought perhaps if she endured it a bit longer it would get better, so she kept curled up in the blankets, waiting for the pain to pass.

When Qi Ying came to see her, he saw the little girl had curled herself into a small ball in the blankets, with a layer of cold sweat on her forehead.

Although he had always known Shen Xiling was taciturn, he didn’t expect her to be taciturn to this degree—to be able to suffer like this yet silently curl up alone in the blankets without making a sound. For a moment, he didn’t know whether to be worried or angry.

He hurriedly had Qing Zhu call for a doctor, while he walked to sit by her bedside and asked: “Is it the wound that hurts?”

Yao Shi had mentioned Shen Xiling’s illness today, making Qi Ying think now that her left hand wound hadn’t been properly treated and was causing fever again.

Shen Xiling was very surprised to see Qi Ying come.

She hadn’t expected him to return so early today, thinking he would come back late at night as before. Even more unexpected was that he would come to her room to see her, and now was sitting right by her bedside.

She felt somewhat shy.

Shen Xiling didn’t want him to see her disheveled appearance, so she instinctively pulled the blanket to cover most of her face, leaving only her eyes exposed, blinking at him. But before long, he pulled the blanket back down, exposing her face again, and she received his scolding: “Don’t pull the blanket.”

Shen Xiling pouted, feeling her appearance must look bad right now. Since he wouldn’t let her hide, she felt even more embarrassed. Then she heard him press: “Is the wound hurting? Let me see your hand.”

His expression was serious, with a tone that brooked no argument. Shen Xiling didn’t dare contradict him. While extending her hand to him, she said: “The wound doesn’t hurt…”

Qi Ying no longer quite believed what she said. He took her hand to look at it himself and saw that the hand that had been beaten, though still showing scars, had signs of improvement and didn’t look like it had worsened. The little girl’s small hand was also cool and clean, so it seemed she didn’t have a fever either.

Qi Ying put her hand back under the blankets and asked with a frown: “Then where do you feel unwell?”

His frowning appearance looked very stern, making Shen Xiling shrink back. Qi Ying noticed this and realized his tone was inappropriate—he had frightened the little girl. So he softened and asked again gently.

This method indeed worked.

Shen Xiling’s beautiful eyes looked at him as she answered hesitantly: “…My stomach hurts.”

Qi Ying made a sound of acknowledgment, was silent for a while, then asked her: “Did you eat something unsuitable?”

Shen Xiling had been eating either at the main house or at Fenghe Garden recently, and there was nothing wrong with her diet. Shen Xiling thought carefully all around and shook her head while looking at Qi Ying.

Qi Ying looked at her, thinking in his heart of his two younger brothers at home. When they were small and got sick, no matter where adults asked them where it hurt, they would all cry about stomach pain, when actually it wasn’t their stomach—it was just that children were too young to distinguish clearly and only knew to tell adults their stomach hurt.

Perhaps Shen Xiling was the same.

He glanced at her again, seeing the little girl’s face was pale now, listlessly curled up in the blankets like a powerless kitten. He couldn’t help but sigh that what his mother said was indeed right—raising a child was truly not an easy matter.

He sighed and was about to patiently guide this little girl further when he saw Shen Xiling’s face suddenly flush red, and her whole body wanted to burrow back into the blankets. Qi Ying didn’t know what was wrong with her and instinctively grabbed her slender wrist: “Wenwen?”

Shen Xiling looked at the hand with which Qi Ying grasped her wrist, feeling so anxious she was about to cry.

She… she didn’t know what had happened just now, but suddenly felt wetness below. She didn’t know what this was about, but suddenly had some shocking associations, and right now Qi Ying was sitting by her bedside. If he saw it, then…

Shen Xiling didn’t dare to think about it. Her face flushed red as she curled up in the blankets, using her other hand that he wasn’t holding to keep pushing him, saying softly: “Go out, go out…”

The little girl was so thin and weak, her strength for pushing people was also small—no heavier than a kitten scratching an itch—so naturally she couldn’t push him away.

But Qi Ying released the hand that was holding her wrist. Shen Xiling thought he was going to leave, but when she looked up, she saw him showing a stunned expression, looking down at her bedding.

Following his gaze, she looked down and saw… there were bright red bloodstains on the bedding.

Shen Xiling was completely dazed.

Thoroughly and completely dazed.

She had only suddenly thought of it for a moment, not expecting it to really be… But this was too sudden. She hadn’t prepared at all… and it had to be in front of him…

Shen Xiling’s heart was in turmoil, while Qi Ying was even more stunned.

Stomach pain… How had he not thought that this would be a young girl’s first menstruation.

At that moment, many thoughts flashed through his mind. He remembered his mother saying he was a man and couldn’t properly care for a taciturn little girl. He had thought at the time that although this matter would inevitably have some twists and turns, it wouldn’t cause too much trouble. He hadn’t expected that after just one afternoon, he would immediately encounter such a situation.

Moreover, from the first time he met Shen Xiling in the night snow on the long street, he had always considered her a child in his heart. Later, through various instances of looking after her, though he couldn’t be considered her proper elder, he could at least be counted as half a teacher to her. But now…

…he suddenly realized she was no longer a child.

Qi Ying felt somewhat at a loss for a moment.

Although each of them had experienced many ups and downs in their hearts, in reality, the moment they were stunned was very brief. After this brief daze passed, Shen Xiling began to feel an indescribable shame and fear.

Qi Ying immediately sensed the change in her emotions. He got up at once, took another blanket to wrap her up, then stood further away from her and turned his back to her, saying: “…Qing Zhu went to call a doctor, and Shuipei and the others will return from the main house soon to take care of you.”

His voice was consistently deep and pleasant, still steady as always. In the past, hearing his voice would make Shen Xiling feel calm inside, but now hearing it made her even more agitated. She felt her face had never been so hot before. Right now she was so ashamed and indignant she wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into and never see anyone again for the rest of her life.

She was immersed in her own emotions and didn’t respond to Qi Ying’s words. Qi Ying couldn’t see her expression with his back turned, but could imagine the little girl curled up like a kitten in his mind.

He didn’t hear her voice and worried she was secretly crying. If it were before, he would have turned to look at her, but now that he was conscious she wasn’t a child, he felt it was quite improper for them to be alone in the same room like this, especially… with her on the bed.

The young Master Qi, who could turn his hand to make clouds and turn his hand to make rain in the imperial court and wouldn’t even blink when personally wielding a sword to kill, was now troubled over whether he could turn back to see if the little girl was crying. Just as he was hesitating, he heard voices outside the door—it was Shuipei and the others returning, walking to Shen Xiling’s door to enter.

The few of them probably thought only Shen Xiling was in the room, so they directly pushed the door open. Unexpectedly, when the door opened, they saw the Second Young Master standing in the room. The maids were so frightened their faces turned white, and they hurriedly bowed to him.

Shen Xiling saw that her older sisters had returned. Her heart felt both relieved and happy, finally showing a smile. Then she heard Qi Ying say to Shuipei and the others: “Mm, you all go attend to her rest.”

Shuipei, Fengshang, and Zijun all responded with “yes,” and all vaguely felt the atmosphere in the room was somewhat subtle. But before they could think it over carefully, the young master had already walked out of the courtyard.

Author’s Note:

Yao Shi: Son, listen to me, raising children is very complicated. I don’t think you’re up to it.

Qi Er: Mother is overthinking. I’m sure I can…

—Two hours later—

Qi Er: …Mother was right.

There are about four more chapters until Wenwen grows up. Thank you angels for leaving comments~