Perhaps because the pain was severe, Shen Qiyuan walked particularly slowly along this entire journey, so slowly that Ruyi had started counting how many ants she could step on and kill.

With great difficulty, they finally reached the carriage, but how to get him up became another problem. The carriage shaft was quite high, and lifting his leg would inevitably pull at his shoulder.

Shen Qiyuan pressed his lips together: “I’ll just stand outside.”

“What nonsense are you talking about? We wouldn’t even be this harsh to livestock.” She scolded with a reproachful tone, then suddenly bent down, hooking one hand under his knee hollow and embracing his waist with the other, lifting his entire person horizontally.

Shen Qiyuan’s complexion instantly turned ugly: “Liu Ruyi.”

“Don’t shout, don’t shout.” She held him tightly, lightly leaping onto the carriage shaft, bending down to enter the carriage compartment.

Then the two of them met a pair of clear eyes.

The little girl they had rescued earlier had somehow awakened and was holding the bedding, looking at their posture with confusion.

The atmosphere in the carriage compartment stiffened for a moment.

Shen Qiyuan’s ears turned red as he struggled free from her embrace and sat down by himself, his fists clenched so tightly they made crackling sounds. Ruyi, however, quickly recovered her smile, crouching in front of the little girl to ask: “Are you hungry?”

The little girl nodded confusedly.

“Call me good sister once, and I’ll give you some tea cakes.”

The little girl looked at her with disbelief, hesitated for a long while, then turned toward Shen Qiyuan and called out: “Big brother.”

Ruyi:?

Shen Qiyuan turned around, his expression having already returned to normal. He opened a drawer and took out a piece of tea cake, saying seriously, “Tell us about your background, and this thing will be given to you to eat.”

It was a fragrant lotus root cake with some minced meat inside.

The little girl’s eyes went straight, reaching out to grab it, but Shen Qiyuan pulled his hand back.

So she could only speak: “My name is Heye. My father worked as a long-term laborer at a wealthy family’s house in the city, and my mother has always been in the village. A few days ago, people from the city came saying my father had died and told my mother to go identify the body. After my mother went, she never came back, leaving only me.”

After she finished speaking, she snatched the lotus root cake and stuffed it into her mouth.

Ruyi listened with furrowed brows: “Went to identify the body and never came back? Was she also harmed by someone?”

The little girl wolfed down the food, finishing the lotus root cake in two bites, licking her fingers and looking at her, answering obediently: “No, my mother took her own life. She said without my father, she couldn’t live on either.”

Their feelings were indeed deep, but unfortunately, this child had no one to care for her now.

Shen Qiyuan asked one more question: “What was your father’s name? If we can find the employer, perhaps we can still seek some compensation for you.”

The little girl thought for a moment and shook her head: “I haven’t learned to read yet, so I don’t know father’s formal name, but I know the employer – it’s the Liu family on Dongqing Street. Father said that was an extremely prestigious household, and he also said when I turned ten, he would take me to see the world.”

Ruyi’s eyelid twitched.

She asked hesitantly: “Did your father die on Cang’er Mountain more than ten days ago?”

The little girl looked at her curiously: “Sister, how do you know?”

“…” Her heart inexplicably sank, and Ruyi opened the drawer, placing all the remaining tea cakes in front of her.

The little girl happily kowtowed to the table: “Thank you, sister!”

“It’s nothing.” She waved her hand vaguely, gesturing for her to eat quickly.

After distributing the items, the convoy was going to the next village. Throughout this bumpy, swaying journey, Ruyi didn’t say another word.

She gazed out the window in bewilderment, her ears filled with the conversation between the little girl and Shen Qiyuan.

“Was your father a good person?”

“Yes, he was so good to me and my mother.”

“What did he like to eat?”

“He liked to eat roasted meat and also liked to drink alcohol. He could also perform sword dances – his mother loved watching him most.”

Through these words, an ordinary face gradually took shape in her mind.

That’s right – when she had acted then, she only felt that those facing her were all ant-like shadows. Since they had wanted to kill her first, sending them to the afterlife was just a matter of convenience.

But now, hearing about this person’s life, that face glimpsed between sword strikes suddenly became vivid.

So this person had a wife and child. So this person also liked drinking alcohol and performing sword dances.

Indeed, attacking her was detestable, but as Shen Qiyuan had said, if she had been lighter with her hand at that time, only knocking them unconscious or perhaps scaring them away, wouldn’t this little girl have avoided falling into today’s situation?

Ruyi lowered her eyes, her long lashes trembling slightly.

Wind blew in through the window, brushing past the stray hair at her temples, gently swaying the yellow jade magpie hairpin in her hair bun.

Shen Qiyuan quietly watched her without disturbing her.

When they were about to reach the new village, she suddenly spoke: “Lord Shen, you had me come today – it wasn’t to teach me to learn compassion, was it?”

“So did you learn it?” He answered her question with a question.

Ruyi lifted her chin, recovering her previous pride and languidness: “What a joke. Having compassion for all living beings is a god’s affair. Even gods don’t show compassion – what would I learn it for?”

As she spoke, she maliciously pinched her fingers again: “Next time there’s such a situation, I’ll still do the same thing. My lord, just wait and see.”

Shen Qiyuan glanced at her and nodded methodically: “Good, I’ll wait.”

The little girl couldn’t understand their conversation. Having filled her belly, she became drowsy again, her head nodding back and forth, clearly about to knock against the table corner.

Ruyi quickly extended her hand, grasping that sharp table corner in her palm. The little girl’s forehead rested against the back of her hand, smacking her lips and nuzzling a bit before falling asleep just like that.

The person across from her chuckled softly.

Liu Ruyi picked her up and tossed her into the bedding, looking irritably at the laughing person: “Adults and children surely can’t be mentioned in the same breath.”

“Mm, I know. Don’t be anxious.”

“I’m not anxious!”

“Good, not anxious. First, don’t pinch me.”

Ruyi was so angry she gritted her teeth.

The horse carriage arrived at another desolate village. She jumped down from the carriage and walked toward Zhou Tingchuan: “Young lord, take me along.”

Zhou Tingchuan was holding a bamboo basket and turned around with difficulty: “Miss Liu, the mud on this ground is both abundant and deep. You’d better not come down.”

“No matter.” She stepped forward, easily taking the bamboo basket from his arms and lifting it effortlessly above her head.

Zhou Tingchuan was dumbfounded.

He looked at his own hands, then at Ruyi’s hands, couldn’t help but swallow: “Miss truly has great strength.”

Realizing she had forgotten to disguise herself, Ruyi reluctantly tried to cover: “It’s also quite heavy.”

She showed no sign that it was heavy at all!

Zhou Tingchuan’s eyes were full of admiration: “It would be wonderful if Miss could teach me a move or two sometime.”

Ruyi glanced at him sideways and hooked her lips: “Young lord is carved from powder and jade – what a pity it would be to train until you’re burly and crude.”

Lord Shen, who was slowly following behind, stumbled in his steps.

He lowered his head to glance at his solid arms and pursed his lips in displeasure.

What do you mean burly and crude? This was powerful. If it were Zhou Tingchuan, forget about carrying her downstairs – he couldn’t even out-twist her wrist. What use would that be?

“Tingchuan.”

“Ah, my lord?”

Shen Qiyuan handed him a bamboo basket with one hand, then took the basket from Zimao’s arms and stuffed it into his embrace as well, nodding encouragingly: “You carry them all over together.”