Aunt Liu felt her vision darken. She raised her tear-filled eyes, looking at the man before her with disbelief.

“Father!”

Xie Buhuo was frantic. He crawled forward on his knees two steps: “Aunt could never do such a thing. Your son guarantees it with his head.”

Xie Daozhi flew into a rage, grabbing the teacup from the small table and smashing it to the ground: “How could you possibly know?”

“Because… because…”

Xie Buhuo gritted his teeth and threw caution to the wind: “Because I told Aunt that I’m willing to marry Miss Yan as my wife. She’s always been fond of me—she would never harm her behind my back.”

“You, what did you say?” The Old Madam stood up trembling, leaning on her cane.

Aunt Liu slowly straightened up.

“Second Master mentioned his feelings a few days ago, and this concubine brought it up to Master. Master said he would think it over. Old Madam, if this concubine truly had such intentions, may heaven strike me down with lightning—may I die a terrible death.”

The Old Madam was somewhat stunned, slowly turning her gaze to her son.

Xie Daozhi met her eyes. “Mother, Liu-shi did indeed mention this.”

…

At Quiet Contemplation Residence.

Yan Sanhe had drunk a bowl of calming medicine and fallen into a deep sleep.

Li Buyan fanned her while occasionally pulling back her sleeve to check if the red welts on her body had subsided even a little.

Tomorrow she really should go burn incense at the temple—this girl had been plagued by disasters lately, with nothing going smoothly.

The curtain lifted and Tangyuan poked half her body in, beckoning to Li Buyan.

Li Buyan stood and walked over. “What is it?”

Tangyuan’s eyes were red and swollen—she’d clearly been crying. “Zhu Qing has urgent business with Miss. I’ll watch the room.”

“Not going!” Li Buyan refused without a second thought.

Hearing this, tears fell from Tangyuan’s eyes again. She felt so guilty!

It was all her fault for trying to play matchmaker and making Miss drink that soup—otherwise tonight’s incident would never have happened.

Although Miss hadn’t said a harsh word, she hadn’t allowed her to serve in the room either, and now Li Buyan wouldn’t even let her watch over Miss…

Did they suspect her?

Seeing her tearful eyes, Li Buyan knew the girl was overthinking. “You watch then. Don’t leave this room.”

“Yes, this servant won’t take even half a step away.”

Tangyuan was overjoyed and quickly sat by the bed, picking up the fan to cool Miss. As she fanned, tears kept sliding down her face. It was still her fault for speaking out of turn.

In the silence, footsteps approached.

“Miss Li, you returned so quickly?”

Tangyuan quickly wiped her tears and stood up. Suddenly there was sharp pain at the back of her neck. Her hand instinctively grabbed the bed curtain. As the curtain fell gently, her body went limp and collapsed.

A single lamp burned like a bean.

Xie Zhifei stood in the candlelight, watching the swaying bed curtain, motionless.

After a long while, he reached out to pull back the curtain, but somehow his heart suddenly became chaotic and his hand withdrew abruptly.

It was as if behind the curtain slept not a beauty, but a giant beast that would devour him.

He suddenly thought of many years ago, at the Zheng household, in that unremarkable Crabapple Courtyard, in a small western side room.

There had been powder-yellow bed curtains with tassels hanging down. When the night wind blew, the tassels swayed gently.

This was Huai You’s boudoir.

Huai You was curled up under the covers, revealing half of her small head.

“Brother, tell me another story about the heroes from the Three Kingdoms.”

“I’ve told you everything I heard from Father. The well’s run dry.”

“Then how about a story about demons and ghosts?”

“Little ancestor, let your brother off the hook, will you? Your brother only has so much learning—demons and ghosts?”

“That’s why you should read more books instead of practicing martial arts all day.”

“Hey, now you’re lecturing me?”

She reached a slender little hand out from under the covers and grasped his index finger. “One more, just one more, please?”

How could he refuse?

That little girl’s palm was so soft—he felt his heart soften too, like it had been soaked in warm water.

After finishing another story of a talented scholar and beautiful lady, she yawned, her eyes watering.

“Brother, the story you just told isn’t right.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“A poor scholar can’t marry a noble young lady.”

“Who says he can’t? It’s written right there in the story books!”

“They’re lying. The walls around our house are so high—if a poor scholar tried to climb over, he’d either fall to his death or get caught and beaten to death.”

He couldn’t help but laugh: “What goes on in that little head of yours?”

“Wisdom.”

Her long lashes slowly closed.

Thank heavens, he’d finally coaxed this little ancestor to sleep.

With his other hand, he felt under her pillow and pulled out a handkerchief, stuffing it bit by bit into her hand. Then he slowly withdrew his finger, blew out the candle, and tiptoed out of the boudoir.

This was something he did every night without fail.

Father said that when the girl was born, she’d been frightened in the womb. Every night she had to clutch Father’s finger before she could fall asleep.

For the first few years, Father coaxed her. Later, as the little girl grew older and Father couldn’t conveniently enter her boudoir, the job fell to him.

He didn’t have that kind of patience.

As soon as her eyes closed, he’d slip the handkerchief into her hand to replace his finger.

Eventually, she could fall asleep just holding the handkerchief.

This was a secret only the two siblings knew.

Over the years he’d never dared think about it carefully. Whenever he did, it stung his eyes and burned his heart. There was a wound in his chest that had never healed, blood constantly flowing from it.

But today, he exposed this wound. The reason was simple: Huai You also couldn’t eat mushrooms. At best she’d have an allergic reaction; at worst, they could kill her.

In this world, there were no coincidences that happened again and again.

Leaving just a bite of food—that was a coincidence.

Being able to climb trees—also a coincidence.

Nearly dying from mushrooms—still a coincidence.

But if that girl also clutched a handkerchief while sleeping, that was no coincidence.

Xie Zhifei listened to his own heartbeat as he slowly pulled back the bed curtain, bit by bit.

If Yan Sanhe were awake at this moment, she would surely see the rapidly changing expressions on his face—tension, fear, anticipation…

As if standing at the edge of a cliff, one step forward could mean either an abyss or level ground.

The moment he finally looked down, all his expressions froze instantly.

In the dim gauze curtains, the young woman was curled up, her long black hair scattered by her ears, making her small pale face appear even whiter.

Her excessively long lashes were like folded butterfly wings, covering those cold and profound eyes.

A wrist like frost-covered moonlight rested on her chest. Below the wrist were the young woman’s slender, delicate finger bones.

A white handkerchief embroidered with bamboo leaves—half exposed, half clutched tightly by five finger bones.

Xie Zhifei began trembling violently, his mind a foggy expanse of white.

In that white light, his trembling hand lifted the blanket and looked down at her left big toe—two brown moles, arranged one above the other.

“Father, why do I have two moles here?”

“That’s a mark the Buddha made so you wouldn’t get lost.”

“Why doesn’t Brother have them?”

“Him? Who could possibly lose him!”

Xie Zhifei desperately suppressed the wetness in his eyes, but it surged out anyway, blurring his vision and forcing him to open his mouth wide, gasping for air.

But it was no use. A giant wave crashed over him, engulfing him completely. Just when he thought he would suffocate and die, the wave lifted him up again.

Xie Zhifei’s legs went soft and he collapsed onto the edge of the bed.

He wanted to reach out and touch that person, but found he didn’t even have the strength to move a finger. He could only choke out in his heart:

Huai You, is that you?