Xie Wei really had no way to deal with her, and his voice carried several traces of helplessness.

Before, he had been in the heat of anger.

But after calming down over these past two days, Jiang Boyou and Yan Lin’s initial entreaties and entrustments surfaced in his mind again. Moreover, he had promised. Simply because of such a trivial matter with a cat, to speak harshly and severely to a young lady not yet twenty years old, hurting her dignity—it was ultimately excessive.

Not to mention he had been arbitrary first.

Young ladies with some temper needed to be coaxed—they probably responded to gentleness rather than harshness, right?

Xie Wei observed her expression.

But he saw her look up at him with some surprise, as if hardly daring to believe such words could come from his mouth. However, this emotional revelation lasted only an instant. The next moment it was all concealed, and she lowered her head, saying: “Teacher speaks too seriously. This student wouldn’t dare be angry with Teacher.”

Jiang Xuening originally hadn’t wanted to have dealings with Xie Wei. In her previous life, this person had left her with an extremely bad impression. In this life, the unexpectedly increased contact was also not within her control.

Reason told her the farther away the better.

Last night when she returned, she had thought about it. Although Xie Wei had thrown away the Admonitions for Women and was indeed not birds of a feather with the other teachers, and she also wanted to explain that she hadn’t refused to listen to Zhang Zhong’s lectures without reason, when she calmed down to think about it, the misunderstanding wasn’t necessarily bad.

It saved Xie Wei from constantly keeping her by his side under watch.

Suffer a bit of grievance, then suffer it.

So she still assumed an attitude of keeping people at a thousand miles’ distance. Turning around, she took the qin at an angle from the desk near Xie Wei and prepared to take her leave.

The young lady’s stature was already like a slender willow shoot pulling forth branches—delicate and soft. In a light purple Liuxian dress, the hanging hem swayed gently with her steps. Her bearing actually carried a natural gracefulness.

A world of difference from when she first came to the capital those years ago.

By rights, Xie Wei shouldn’t have remembered. But at this moment, her posture as she rose holding the qin strangely overlapped with that indelible scene in his memory.

Deep mountains under bright moonlight, wild grass growing thickly.

From within those dark, ghostly tree shadows came the faint night cries of mountain spirits. The rotting scent of leaves accumulated on the soil over the years mixed with the smell of surrounding vegetation.

He was burning with fever, delirious with illness.

Leaning against those few mountain rocks, he was about to fall asleep.

But at this time, uneven footsteps slowly approached, accompanied by a hoarse voice that couldn’t conceal its excitement and elation: “A village! Just over the next two mountains there’s a village! I ran ahead and saw cooking smoke!”

Xie Wei didn’t really want to open his eyes.

But those footsteps came to his side, and that voice came to his side. Someone forcefully shook him: “We’ll be able to get out soon. Wake up, wake up, don’t fall asleep!”

Xie Wei found her noisy again.

However, seeing he wouldn’t wake, that little girl became panicked and frightened. Timidly choking up, her voice carried a tearful tone: “Don’t sleep—Wanniang said sleeping like this means you won’t wake up. If you die, what will I do? I’m so afraid of dead people…”

Xie Wei had thought she might be worried about him, but unexpectedly it was that she feared his death would frighten her.

At that time, he had thought: when mountain bandits attacked and they fled, she wasn’t afraid; running through wilderness with mountain spirits crying at night, she wasn’t afraid; trapped in dangerous circumstances with difficulty escaping, she wasn’t afraid—what was there to fear about a mere dead person?

Dead people were the best people in the world after all.

They wouldn’t hide knives in smiles, nor engage in schemes and plots.

But hearing her cry so genuinely, crying more and more miserably, he ultimately still slowly lifted his eyelids. But the bloody taste he had swallowed earlier in his burning, painful throat kept surging upward, making it difficult to speak even a single word.

That little girl’s eyes were wide open, still hung with tear stains.

Seeing he wasn’t dead, after a moment of shock she became happy: “If you’re not dead, that’s good. If you’re not dead, then it’s not scary.”

At that time, though he wasn’t yet prominent, openly he was a young prodigy who had placed third in the palace examinations and handled affairs for the court. In secret, he had many arrangements and schemes in Jinling, supported by the Heavenly Doctrine behind him.

In either capacity, he wasn’t considered a minor figure.

Yet in this little girl’s mouth, not dying was his greatest use…

Xie Wei couldn’t help but cough.

But Jiang Xuening glanced toward that mountain wilderness and said: “I can’t find anything to eat anymore, and I can’t treat your wound or illness. There are traps set by hunters on the mountain, so there must be hunters in the village. If there are hunters, there’ll be people who can treat illnesses and injuries. We’ll leave now—by daybreak we can reach the village.”

She came forward to support him.

The shoulders of a fifteen-year-old girl were thin and weak. Xie Wei felt that with one careless lean, he could crush her.

The qin lay at the other end of the mountain rocks.

He swayed as he stood up, turned his eyes to glance at it, and despite the severe pain in his throat, reached out a finger and spoke with difficulty: “Qin…”

But that girl looked at him somewhat angrily: “Saving you alone is already very difficult—I can’t carry the qin!”

Xie Wei didn’t listen and bent down to pick up the qin.

That girl seemed to finally become furious. She rushed forward a step and scooped up the qin in her arms, then retreated several steps. Pressing her lips tightly together—perhaps the dissatisfaction accumulated along the way had finally exploded—she actually turned around and without hesitation smashed that qin against the mountain rocks!

“Tzeng—”

The sound of snapping strings accompanied by the splintering of the qin body immediately rang out!

A fine qin shattered on the mountain rocks.

He could hardly believe what she had done.

But the girl gazed back at him resolutely and said: “A person is about to die yet still thinks of useless objects. Someone like you doesn’t deserve to live!”

That night’s frosty moon was bright and clear, shining on her as if covering her with a layer of snow.

Xie Wei had crawled out from mountains of corpses and seas of blood. For over twenty years, he had to rack his brains just to survive in the cracks, yet this was the first time someone had smashed his qin and even cursed that he “didn’t deserve to live.”

Truly an unprecedented event.

Later they really reached that village and by fortunate chance encountered the officials Jiang Boyou’s side had sent to search for them, finally managing to truly escape danger.

But in the capital, the struggle for succession was surging with undercurrents. Court and country were at drawn swords. He worked in secret with little time even to rest, throwing himself into that field of profit and power for most of the year.

Only after Shen Lang legitimately ascended the throne and the overall situation settled did he finally have leisure time.

One day, he paid a visit to the Jiang manor.

But passing through the corridor, he unexpectedly saw that little girl, now dressed in fine brocade, kick down a maid not much older than herself beneath a flower stand. Her expression was cunning and harsh, even revealing a trace of obsessive malice…

Truly extremely unfamiliar.

Xie Wei couldn’t help but recall the various events during that secret journey to the capital, but the more he thought about it, the more distant it seemed. In a daze, it was like a dream, making one doubt whether those things had truly happened.

He had mentioned a few words to Jiang Boyou, but Jiang Boyou felt guilty toward this legitimate daughter who had suffered so much wandering outside and couldn’t bring himself to strictly discipline her.

Not to mention she later got involved with Yan Lin.

The young man was hot-blooded and didn’t know restraint, even less understood the principle that going too far was as bad as not going far enough. He indulged her willful and domineering behavior. The capital’s prosperity ultimately corrupted people, slowly wearing away that bit of her old shadow and temperament.

Xie Wei rarely thought of those events again.

Only extremely occasionally would they emerge inadvertently.

But there would be no particularly deep feelings.

The girl of that time and the girl of later times had clearly already become two different people.

He thought that whether it was Jiang Boyou’s entrustment or Yan Lin’s request, he could have refused both.

So why did he agree?

Perhaps he wanted to teach her? Sometimes people inevitably go astray, but if someone could tell her what was good and how to be good, she might not be unable to return to the right path and recover her original nature.

But after this period of contact, what he had seen with his own eyes and heard with his own ears made Xie Wei feel that this little girl’s kind heart remained. Though her temperament was still somewhat bad and volatile, compared to previous years it was much better.

It was rather puzzling.

He didn’t know if it was as Jiang Boyou said—all taught by Yan Lin. Nor did he know if she had simply grown up and become more sensible. But in any case, she wasn’t as bad as he had thought.

The brocade handkerchief pressed beneath his fingertips, dampened with water marks, was slightly cool.

Xie Wei withdrew his hand. Seeing her turn to leave, his heart softened and he said: “Very well. I was the one who first misunderstood you without asking for reasons. Your anger at me is justified.”

This was—admitting fault?

Jiang Xuening was simply stunned. She widened her eyes slightly and looked back at him.

Xie Wei smiled at her. His eyes were deep and dark, yet held a scattered sprinkling of stars: “Moreover, I should be the one who owes you.”

I should be the one who owes you.

These words were spoken lightly, yet fell with heavy weight.

Jiang Xuening felt oppressed in her heart by these words. She only thought of the previous life’s events, one after another, piece after piece. She actually felt it was both absurd and melancholy: More than just owing me—you, Xie Wei, owe me far too much.

She wanted to directly take her leave.

But at this moment, her footsteps seemed nailed to the ground, very difficult to move even once: the Xie Wei before her eyes truly subverted her understanding of this person…

He was a devil wearing a sage’s skin, a rakshasa from Yama’s hall come to collect debts.

Even though everyone said he was peaceful and gentle, with a gentleman’s bearing, she didn’t believe half a word.

Yet at this moment he gazed at her warmly, admitting his mistake to her.

Was she crazy, or had this world gone mad?

Or perhaps—

Had she never truly known the real Xie Wei?

But Xie Wei assumed she had been moved by his words. He stood up and walked over, also taking down his own qin from the wall, and explained to her: “What that Chief Compiler of the National History Bureau, Zhang Zhong, did—I didn’t know at first, so I was presumptuous, thinking you were obstinate and immature, not thinking of improvement. Yesterday when I saw that book, I learned he had acted on his own initiative. I know you dislike it, and I know this person overtly complies but covertly defies. So from now on, he won’t enter Fengchen Hall or lecture anymore.”

Jiang Xuening said instinctively: “He’s not teaching anymore?”

Xie Wei lowered his eyelids and only said flatly: “Zhang Zhong is already advanced in years. Compiling history is already beyond his strength. To have him lecture for the Grand Princess would truly be making things difficult for him.”

These words were truly too obscure and euphemistic. If Jiang Xuening were still a foolish and ignorant girl, she might even think Zhang Zhong himself had grown tired of them and didn’t want to teach them to read!

But just the other day, Zhang Zhong had lost his temper at her and spoken harshly.

Yesterday Xie Wei threw away his books, and now he said casually that this person wouldn’t come anymore. One could imagine that Zhang Zhong had offended him and hadn’t gotten off well!

But…

Actually a bit happy?

If that old man didn’t teach them, that would truly be wonderful!

Jiang Xuening bit her lip, feeling she had already decided to draw clear boundaries with Xie Wei, yet at this moment an arc still couldn’t be suppressed from curving at the corner of her lips.

Xie Wei watched her quite patiently: “Now I’ve admitted my mistake, Zhang Zhong won’t come anymore, and I wrongly blamed you, but you also brought a cat to frighten me. This should count as even, and you should stop being angry, shouldn’t you?”

It did sound like that…

But Jiang Xuening only felt this person was talking as if coaxing a child. Her brow furrowed, and she became a bit prideful: “I’m not.”

Xie Wei saw she was being stubborn, but knowing young ladies always needed face, he raised his refined long eyebrows and didn’t expose her. Thinking they had finally turned hostility into friendship, he relaxed somewhat.

He only said: “But what I said to you at the time wasn’t a joke either. Don’t fool around with certain things in front of me…”

As he spoke, he turned around and picked up the pot on the table to pour himself half a cup of tea.

He was probably referring to the matter of how he didn’t fear cats but rather detested and even abhorred them.

But Jiang Xuening always felt it was very strange.

Her gaze flickered slightly.

At this moment, Xie Wei had just picked up the tea to take a sip and was preparing to say they should take their qins back to the main hall of Fengchen.

Unexpectedly, a sound suddenly came from behind—

“Meow.”

Trembling and chills instantly crawled up!

His hand shook and the teacup nearly fell from his fingers. Though the tea had already spilled out and fallen onto the desk, Xie Wei’s scalp truly exploded. He whirled around to look.

But the side hall was clean and empty—where was even half a cat’s shadow?

Only Jiang Xuening stood alone behind him, looking at him thoughtfully. Then she slowly curved the corners of her lips, as if discovering something interesting. She gently raised one hand, curled it loosely like a little cat’s paw and pointed it forward. Tilting her head to one side, she said with great interest: “Yes, Teacher Xie doesn’t fear cats. But sometimes, you see, hatred and fear don’t seem very easy to distinguish, do they?”

Xie Wei’s face went cold.

But the next moment, Jiang Xuening lowered her hand and said lightly before he could explode: “Now I’m not angry anymore!”

“…”

Xie Wei gripped that celadon teacup, nearly crushing it with the force.

After restraining himself, he said: “My temper is not as good as Second Miss Ning thinks it is.”

Jiang Xuening was startled. She lowered her eyelids, truly unable to describe the feeling in her heart. When she raised her eyes again to look at Xie Wei, she smiled, but her eyes held more seriousness: “Teacher Xie’s temper is extremely good.”

Xie Wei laughed in exasperation.

He threw down the teacup, took the brocade handkerchief to wipe his hands, and only said: “With your mischievous nature that loves to tease people, who will be able to handle you in the future?”

Jiang Xuening raised an eyebrow and snorted: “That’s not for you to worry about, Teacher.”

Xie Wei thought about it—that was true.

He stopped, lowered his eyes to look at the water marks on the brocade handkerchief, and smiled. In the end, he let her off, only picking up that Emei qin and saying: “This will not happen again.”