9

Lu Zhiyao naturally heard the approaching footsteps. He turned to face Li Ruoshui, his expression relaxed, lips curled into a smile.

“You came?”

The young girl looked up and saw Li Ruoshui. Her emotions were complicated. Of course, she’d seen the scene between Lu Zhiyao and Li Ruoshui—but even so, she couldn’t let it go.

Li Ruoshui caught the look in the girl’s eyes and instantly understood.

“No, I’m just passing by.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Li Ruoshui turned and walked away without hesitation. She had no intention of engaging with a girl who had clearly been misled by appearances—after all, she herself had once been fooled too.

This one would probably be frightened off by Lu Zhiyao’s true nature soon enough.

Watching Li Ruoshui walk away so cleanly, the girl’s planned words—half probing, half provocative—stuck in her throat. She felt stifled and frustrated.

She’d already brewed the tea, ready for her performance… yet Li Ruoshui wasn’t even playing along?

Taking a breath, the girl shifted her attention back to Lu Zhiyao.

“Lord, my family lives here in Yun City. We’re fairly well-off. If you wouldn’t mind—”

“You still haven’t answered me,” Lu Zhiyao cut in, still listening to the sound of Li Ruoshui’s fading footsteps. He smiled and toyed with a knife in his hand, about the width of a finger, gleaming coldly under the light.

“If I marry you, do I also have to marry the others?”

“That won’t do,” the girl replied, glancing at the others lying nearby. She bit her lip. “I was the first to see you. I was the one who made a silent wish in my heart. No matter how you look at it, it should be me by your side.”

Lu Zhiyao nodded slightly, as if something had clicked.

“So, you were the first to see me.”

The knife in his hand glinted under the sun. The girl narrowed her eyes at the light and quickly nodded. “Yes, it was the gleam from your knife that caught my eye.”

Lu Zhiyao sighed softly, a trace of regret in his voice. His face, though still gentle, now looked faintly troubled.

“Since you saw me, why didn’t you call out sooner? I thought no one had noticed.”

His expression shifted—gone was the warmth, replaced by a distant, almost detached air.

But that distance didn’t last long. A smile returned, faint as the apricot blossoms of early spring, tinged with something just slightly off.

“Still, I suppose it’s a good thing you didn’t call out. Otherwise, how would I have witnessed Li Ruoshui shaking with jealousy?”

He turned to her again, the curve of his smile deepening, turning that gentle expression just a bit strange. It made the girl uneasy.

“Have you ever seen Li Ruoshui trembling from jealousy? Like a little bird shivering in the cold. Only, she wasn’t cold—she was sour with envy. Isn’t that amusing?”

“…No, I haven’t.”

The girl withdrew her hand from where it had been tugging at his sleeve. His smile was still warm and radiant, but to her, it had started to feel… off.

Lu Zhiyao nodded and stood, as if to leave, but suddenly paused. He turned slightly to look at her again, golden light playing across his long lashes. His smile remained soft.

“Still planning to take care of me for the rest of my life?”

Dappled sunlight filtered through the trees onto his face, the shadows flickering, his smile blurred by a veil of mist—distant now, and faintly cold.

She shook her head and spoke hesitantly, “If you’re unwilling, then… I won’t force it.”

“How boring,” Lu Zhiyao chuckled lowly. The little knife spun a few times between his fingers as he stepped toward her. “You said you’d take care of me, and now you’re backing away? But Li Ruoshui has always stood her ground.”

She sat trembling on the ground, trying to inch backward, but her body hadn’t fully recovered—she could only weakly shift a little.

The cold glint on the knife’s tip was no longer a symbol of hope in her despair. It was now a harbinger of death, a grim omen.

The blade crept closer and closer. She wanted to speak, to say something, but her mouth only opened soundlessly—no words came out.

Suddenly, a flash of pale yellow blocked her view.

“What are you two talking about?”

The girl looked up and saw Li Ruoshui, who had returned. She stood in front of her protectively, eyes filled with a touch of sympathy, and reached out to help her up.

The girl lowered her lashes and slowly stepped behind Li Ruoshui.

“Nothing much. Just thanking a benefactor.”

Li Ruoshui slung an arm around her shoulders and let out a hearty laugh. “Come on, those two over there are your real benefactors. Next time, you better keep your eyes wide open.”

Still laughing awkwardly, Li Ruoshui led her toward Lu Feiyue, not daring to look back.

The girl bit her lip and glanced over her shoulder—only to see him standing in the shadow of a tree. The light and dark danced over him, making him look thin and lonely.

But no longer did she see him as a hero. She quickly turned away, silently admitting to herself that yes, she really should learn to look more clearly.

“Miss Li,” she asked softly, “about that gentleman earlier… Are you close to him? He doesn’t seem like what he appears. You should be careful.”

Li Ruoshui paused, then smiled and gently patted her on the shoulder.

“You’ll get used to it.”

Just then, Li Ruoshui suddenly remembered the system reward—the one she got from accidentally kissing him, the memory reward.

“System, when can I use that reward?”

This was perfect timing. A gift from the system, just when she needed it most.

[HE System at your service.]

[Would the Host like to use it now?]

“Go ahead.”

[Understood. Activating now.]

“Wait—!”

That wasn’t an instruction, just an exclamation! Shouldn’t there be a prompt to schedule it or something?

“Miss Li!”

The soft-bodied girl beside her was unprepared when Li Ruoshui suddenly collapsed, and the two of them tumbled to the ground together.

Lu Feiyue rushed over and quickly pulled Li Ruoshui up, while Jiang Nian helped the girl who’d been used as a cushion. Together, they moved the two to a nearby resting spot.

Jiang Nian checked Li Ruoshui’s pulse and sighed in relief, flashing a grin with his white teeth.

“She’s fine—probably just too exhausted and fell asleep.”

Lu Feiyue let out a breath and relaxed her furrowed brows, guiding Li Ruoshui to sit by the table and rest.

“If something had happened to her because we brought her here, I’d be carrying a heavy guilt.”

Jiang Nian sat on a stool, glanced up at the rising sun, and leaned on the table to eat a biscuit.

“When are the reinforcements coming? Your Patrol Division people really don’t cut it.”

Lu Feiyue looked at him and let out a helpless sigh. She cradled Li Ruoshui with one arm and poured herself a glass of water.

Suddenly, a shadow fell across the table, and the snowy hem of a robe appeared in the corner of her eye.

“Lord Lu.”

He tilted his head and smiled, quietly standing off to the side. To anyone watching, he appeared warm and approachable—though that impression came solely from his appearance.

“Is something wrong with Li Ruoshui?”

“No, she’s fine. Just exhausted, I think. She fell asleep.”

Jiang Nian helped him over to sit beside him, giving his shoulder a friendly pat. The two of them now sat with only one seat separating them from the sleeping Li Ruoshui.

“I see.”

Footsteps suddenly echoed nearby—armored soldiers rushed in, several of them wielding the same gilded sabers as Lu Feiyue.

Lu Feiyue wanted to step forward and explain the situation, but with Li Ruoshui leaning on her, she had to carefully lay her down on the table first. Cradling her saber, she then hurried over to the soldiers, Jiang Nian naturally following close behind.

At the small square table, only two figures remained: the unconscious Li Ruoshui and Lu Zhiyao, calmly pouring tea.

Suddenly, the sleeping figure murmured a few words—soft, dreamlike.

Lu Zhiyao leaned in, intrigued.

He caught fragments of her mumbled speech—not quite clear, just bits and pieces. But the name she whispered at the end left him frozen in place for several long moments.

“…Ah Chu…”

….

The sun was high, the heat stifling, and the air heavy with the earthy scent of damp soil. Cicadas shrieked relentlessly beyond the courtyard walls—undeniably, this was the height of summer.

Li Ruoshui stood in the middle of an oddly shaped courtyard. It was long and narrow, no more than three or four meters wide but stretching at least ten meters in length. The house and gate sat at opposite ends—north and south—making for the longest possible distance between them.

All around her stood potted plants blooming with flowers, each about waist-high. A few butterflies danced through the air, flitting among the blooms as if drawn to the maze-like arrangement.

In front of the house stood a stone table, and seated at it was a child in white, his back to her as he stared up at the sky, completely absorbed in whatever he saw.

Li Ruoshui looked up too but was immediately blinded by the sunlight. It took a moment for her vision to return.

She lowered her gaze and noticed her own hands—slightly translucent. She sighed.

“I thought this was supposed to be a memory. Why does it feel like I’ve actually time-traveled?”

[Host, this memory was originally meant to be accessed through your own recollections—just enter a dream and observe. But Lu Zhiyao is congenitally blind. He doesn’t dream, and he can’t visualize memories. So we sent your soul here instead.]

“…”

She was running out of reasons to trust this system. It was silent most of the time, but whenever it spoke, it was always up to something.

“This courtyard is so strange. Why are the flower pots arranged like they’re trying to trap someone?”

Dozens of pots were scattered across the yard in no discernible pattern. The blooms were bright and dazzling, enough to make anyone lose their bearings.

Muttering under her breath, she passed through the maze-like arrangement effortlessly—her intangible body phasing through the flowers—and arrived at the stone table. She wanted to see if this child was Lu Zhiyao as a boy.

Circling to the front of the table, she finally got a clear look at the child’s face.

He was as delicate as a porcelain doll—soft-featured and adorable. His long hair had been neatly cut to shoulder length, and around his wrist hung a string of white jade prayer beads, clearly too large for his small arm. They kept slipping down to his hand. His white robes didn’t fit him either, hanging loosely like he had stolen an adult’s clothes to play dress-up.

That beautiful face bore about seventy to eighty percent resemblance to the grown-up Lu Zhiyao. The difference wasn’t in his expression—but in his eyes.

His eyes were open.

Little Lu Zhiyao had large eyes, but they lacked any real light. They looked as though they were covered in a faint, misty haze—dull and heavy.

Just as Li Ruoshui leaned in to get a closer look, the boy suddenly turned his head. His gaze swept directly toward her, startling her into stumbling back a few steps.

“Is someone there?”

His voice was soft and childlike, but he spoke clearly, facing her direction.

Li Ruoshui clutched her chest, trying to calm herself. She couldn’t help but sigh—no wonder he was described as the strongest fighter in the book. His senses really were on another level.

Before her heart rate had even returned to normal, a string of prayer beads suddenly flew through the air—right through her forehead—and landed on a rosebush behind her, pressing the flowers down from the impact.

Little Lu Zhiyao lowered his hand, his voice tinged with doubt, though he still looked in her direction.

“Just my imagination?”

Li Ruoshui: “…”

He was this aggressive even as a child? Should she have just stayed completely still?

But really, with this courtyard so cluttered, how was he supposed to walk around safely when he couldn’t see?

Li Ruoshui turned around and scanned the area. As she was still puzzling over the layout, the courtyard gate opposite the stone table suddenly opened.

A woman stepped inside, dressed in a simple white gown with a peach blossom hairpin in her hair. She carried a food box, and the smile on her face was that of a carefree, innocent girl untouched by the world. Her voice was as sweet and clear as a lark in the woods.

“Ah Chu, Mommy brought you something to eat.”

Mommy?!

This was Bai Qingqing, the woman who, according to the story, remarried and abandoned Lu Zhiyao afterward?!

=^_^=