She slept until around six or seven in the morning, vaguely hearing the attending doctor come in to hand things over to another doctor. Wen Tingli answered a few questions groggily, then rolled over and fell back asleep.

When she opened her eyes again, the sun was already high.

Wen Tingli stretched in bed, then, remembering last night’s events, quickly threw off the covers and got up, hurrying to the washroom to check the mirror. Perhaps because the treatment had been prompt enough the night before, the rash on her neck had already faded by more than half.

She let out a breath of relief and heard people talking quietly outside — it was the Lu family attendants.

She opened the door.

“Did we disturb you, Miss Wen?”

Wen Tingli smiled. “No, I woke up on my own. Were you here all night?”

“Young Master Lu was worried something might happen in the night, so he had us stand watch outside Miss Wen’s door the whole time. Oh, and here are your change of clothes — it was too late last night, and Young Master Lu was worried about disturbing Zhou Sao and the young miss at your residence, so he specially waited until this morning to send someone to fetch these.”

Wen Tingli took the bundle of clothes but said nothing for a long moment. The attendants, assuming she was simply being reserved, laughed. “There’s no need to feel awkward, Miss Wen. Mr. Lu has always known his manners, and Miss Wen has done Young Master Lu a great service before. Now that Miss Wen has fallen suddenly ill, Mr. Lu naturally takes it very much to heart.”

Wen Tingli’s smile faltered slightly. Wait — she didn’t like the sound of that. None of this was because “she had done Lu Shicheng a great service.” Lu Shicheng was doing this because he cared about her—

She studied the two men’s faces closely — she thought she had seen them before at the Lu Mansion, but from the fact that they hadn’t been assigned to guard her residence, it was clear they weren’t among Lu Shicheng’s inner circle.

Still, she said gratefully, “I don’t need anything else. You two gentlemen should go get some rest.”

“Mr. Kuang has already sent someone to relieve us. Young Master Lu never skimps when it comes to matters like this.”

Wen Tingli asked, feigning indifference, “Is Mr. Lu always this good to people?”

“Of course,” the man said, quite the talker, gesturing at his companion beside him. “Last time, this brother of mine here, surnamed Gao, came down with acute enteritis, and Young Master Lu specially arranged a private room for his treatment. I heard his mother was so worried about her son that she even had the old lady brought from Wuxi to stay in Shanghai for a while — and the arrangements for the old lady’s food and lodging were just as thorough and thoughtful as could be… You wouldn’t guess it from how young Young Master Lu is, but when it comes to dealing with people, there’s no one in the Lu family who isn’t won over.”

Wen Tingli looked at the burly attendant surnamed Gao, and found she couldn’t quite bring herself to laugh anymore.

Back in her room with the door closed, Wen Tingli changed her clothes while mulling things over privately. As for the matter of Lu Shicheng’s thoughtful courtesy toward others, she had already been quite clear on this from the very first time she’d dealt with him.

A man of mature character could never show one face to outsiders and another to his own people — if he was this good to strangers, he would only be better still to those close to him. So she wasn’t especially surprised to hear what the attendant had said.

But deep down, she still felt a small pang of disappointment — at the very least, this thoughtfulness and care of Lu Shicheng’s wasn’t reserved for her alone.

She took out from under her pillow the note Lu Shicheng had written her the night before. The paper had grown a little wrinkled, but the handwriting on it was still just as clear — Lu Shicheng’s way of expressing himself was always so simple and effective.

She should have been filled with sweetness, but at that very moment, she suddenly realized something was missing between them.

Even now, he had never once spoken his feelings to her aloud. The thought brought the attendant’s words echoing back into her ears. “Last time, this brother of mine surnamed Gao came down with enteritis, and Young Master Lu also…”

As the saying goes, “the onlooker sees clearest.” Could there be some misunderstanding in all this?!

Perhaps Lu Shicheng piling her favorite snacks into a mountain in her room wasn’t to win her favor, but only to repay the debt of gratitude for saving his life.

Perhaps his patiently teaching Xiao Taozi to read characters wasn’t to please her family, but only to repay her for these sleepless days of care.

Perhaps buying her these personal items according to her preferences wasn’t out of some special affection, but only in return for her having once specially bought him sleepwear.

These thoughts crept into Wen Tingli’s mind one after another.

He treated those close to him with such generosity — toward the person who had saved his very life, he would naturally be doubly attentive, attentive enough to give rise to misunderstanding.

She wasn’t sure whether Lu Shicheng had noticed the subtle undercurrents between them as they had spent time together. And even if he had noticed, who was to say he wouldn’t attribute it to some illusion born of the two of them having spent so much time together in close quarters?

In truth, up until now, the relationship between the two of them had remained in a strange state — he had shown her concern again and again, extended a helping hand to her time after time, but every time she began to think in that direction, he would draw back with a clear-headed, restrained distance.

She guessed she must hold some attraction for him, and that it was only because the Lu family’s circumstances were so complicated that he dared not easily give anyone his trust. And so, she had taken the initiative to make the first move — yet that night at Taotaoju, she had waited until ten o’clock and he still hadn’t come to meet her.

He had stood her up.

To this day he still owed her an explanation.

Though she had since learned that Lu Shicheng’s failure to show had been because he was in danger, so long as he hadn’t personally explained the reason to her, the two of them would still seem shrouded in mist, with something forever standing between them. Besides, there was no guarantee that even his agreeing to meet her that night had been out of any romantic impulse — perhaps he had only meant to make things clear to her face to face.

On further thought, Lu Shicheng’s attitude toward her had clearly shifted after that night of danger.

That brush with death had made him, from then on, regard her as someone he could trust and rely on.

She felt quite confused now — was he treating her with special care as his benefactor, or had gratitude given rise in him to some different kind of feeling?

Whichever it was, neither was something her heart could accept!

The man she loved had to be won over by her own charm alone — appreciating her, infatuated with her, pursuing her, tolerant of her, fond of her virtues and accepting of her flaws. But if their affection were mixed with any other factor, then in her heart, it couldn’t be called love at all.

No, she couldn’t go on muddling along like this with Lu Shicheng. She needed to get to the bottom of his feelings as soon as possible, or she would only sink deeper and deeper into this murky situation. At the very latest, today, she would hear him say it “with his own mouth” — what exactly she was to him.

She was a naturally free-spirited person, and once her mind was made up, she stopped torturing herself over it. She tidied herself up and went to find Lu Shicheng, running into Kuang Zhilin right as she stepped out — he was in the corridor asking her attending physician about her condition.

“Feeling better, Miss Wen?” Kuang Zhilin came over at once.

Wen Tingli smiled. “Much better, thank you for your concern, Mr. Kuang.”

Just then, Kuang Zhilin handed the food box in his hands to the two attendants and opened the lid — inside were two large bamboo steamers of freshly bought pan-fried buns.

“Young Master Cheng bought these for you all.”

There, Lu Shicheng really was impeccably good to his own people. Watching the burly attendant surnamed Gao happily accept the food box, Wen Tingli truly didn’t know what to say. Accompanied by Kuang Zhilin, she went to the back building to visit Lu Shicheng.

At the doorway, she looked in to see Lu Shicheng sitting in his wheelchair by the bed while a doctor changed the gauze on his forehead.

“Miss Wen is here,” Kuang Zhilin said with a smile, knocking on the door.

Lu Shicheng quickly looked toward the door. The doctor too turned and said, “Well, Miss Wen looks much better than last night.”

Wen Tingli walked in, smiling. Lu Shicheng sat with his back to the light, wearing the plainest of hospital gowns, and yet the whole of him looked so clean and handsome — only his untrimmed short hair looked a little disheveled, and several of his wounds were still shocking to look at.

She shifted her gaze to his face, and was surprised to find Lu Shicheng studying her closely as well, evidently gauging whether her condition had improved. His gaze first fell on her neck, then moved up to her face.

Unexpectedly, their eyes met in midair. Wen Tingli looked straight into those eyes, deep as pools of water.

Kuang Zhilin, seeing this, smiled and instructed the attendants, “You can bring in breakfast now.”

Everyone in the room withdrew in silent understanding.

Wen Tingli organized her words in her mind — she needed to ask the question she wanted answered in a way that seemed perfectly natural, leaving no trace of intent.

She couldn’t be too direct — that would make her seem too eager. Nor could she be too blunt — that would leave even her own face burning with embarrassment.

Absorbed in her thoughts, head lowered, she walked the short distance unusually slowly.

Watching her, Lu Shicheng felt a flicker of confusion — she was rarely this listless. Could it be she hadn’t slept well last night? Before she reached him, he braced his hands on the armrests of the wheelchair and stood up on his own.

The moment he rose, Wen Tingli could tell his condition had improved considerably — his body was steady now, no longer wobbling the way it used to whenever he stood up in those earlier days.

Still, she instinctively stepped forward to support him.

“Does it still hurt?” The question slipped out almost before she realized it.

Lu Shicheng had seemed about to shake his head, but instead, all at once, he looked at her and nodded.

He pointed with his other hand at his own ribs. Here, it still hurt very much.

But Wen Tingli, her head lowered, missed this gesture of his entirely — she was too busy regretting her own momentary loss of composure. Before she was certain of Lu Shicheng’s feelings, what exactly was this between them?

She quickly withdrew her hand and sat down across from him with reserve.

This left Lu Shicheng even more puzzled. He studied her for a moment, but in the end asked nothing, simply pushing plate after plate of pastries toward Wen Tingli’s side of the table.

Watching everything pushed all at once to her side, Wen Tingli couldn’t help but laugh. “I can’t possibly eat all this!”

Lu Shicheng, in response, pushed the steaming bowl of clear porridge toward her as well.

Wen Tingli cleared her throat lightly. “Yesterday you suddenly had someone buy all those Lufeini cookies — was that because you knew I loved them, Mr. Lu? Are you this good to everyone around you?”

By the last two sentences, her voice had dropped, as if scattered by the wind, low almost to a whisper.

But she believed Lu Shicheng could hear her.

For an instant, the room fell so silent you could have heard a pin drop. Lu Shicheng, already afflicted with muteness, was even quieter than usual in this moment — so quiet that even the air around him seemed to have frozen still.

Lu Shicheng had indeed heard her. Only he himself knew how fast his heart was suddenly racing.

Wen Tingli was faring no better than him.

To answer this question clearly, Lu Shicheng would have to face his own feelings head-on. There was no room to evade, no room to brush it aside.

He — surely he must be able to work out what he truly felt for her? No, given how clever he was, she believed she would soon know the answer.

Sure enough, she sensed his gaze fall to the side of her face, and it made her eyelashes flutter several times, though she stubbornly held her ground.

She had no idea how much time passed before, from the corner of her eye, she saw Lu Shicheng turn to look out the window and smile faintly. Unable to help herself, she looked up, and saw Lu Shicheng gazing at her with an extremely earnest expression. Then, solemnly, he took out the fountain pen from his pocket.

Wen Tingli felt all the blood in her body rush straight to her head — not only because he hadn’t avoided her question, but because of the unusually grave look on his face right now.

She watched, wide-eyed, as he touched the pen tip to the notepad, watched the black foreign ink flow from the nib onto the white paper.

Her heart could no longer be described as merely racing or in turmoil — she could hardly catch her breath.