Mr. Jia said in a low voice, “I wasn’t there at the time, so I didn’t see it with my own eyes. I heard from Deputy Lin that Chen Rui was shot dead on the ground. Lady came out of the room, came close to him, and wanted to ask him about something, but she saw he was already dead. Then, she told Deputy Lin to dig a pit and bury him as a whole body. But then, Chen Rui came back to life. The other people were unprepared, and he jumped over to catch and bite the Lady’s foot, said a word, then died ……”

“What did he say?”

Mr. Jia was not courageous enough to speak out for a while.

“What did he say?!”

When he heard the roaring and harsh voice of the Marquis, Mr. Jia’s hot sweat rolled down his forehead: “From what Deputy Lin said, he seemed to say that …… the Lady is beautiful and he was willing to die under her… …body ….. ……”

Mr. Jia finally stammered the shameful and offensive words he had never forgotten since he heard them. His heart thumped as he lowered his head, not daring to look at Marquis’s expression again.

Wei Shao’s figure stood frozen for a moment, then suddenly drew his sword and unsheathed it. Mr. Jia felt a harsh wind on his face. The sharp sound of the Marquis’ sword cutting a foreign object almost pierced his ears. In a flash, sparks flew everywhere. The Marquis’ sword slashed the head of the stone beast standing on the side of the second door to the inner house, and “bang!” smashed to the ground. The stone rolled out seven or eight steps away, then finally stopped.

No more sound around. The air of the twilight spring night seemed to freeze as well. Mr. Jia knelt beside the decapitated stone beast, not daring to breathe heavily.

“Go and dig that bastard out for me! Wait for me to cut him into pieces!”

Word after word seemed scrounged out from Wei Shao’s teeth. Mr. Jia answered yes.

Wei Shao turned around and strode inside. Mr. Jia’s cold sweat was pouring out, soaking through his undershirt. Until the back of Marquis disappeared from his sight, he looked at the severed head of the stone beast on the ground and exhaled a long breath.

……

It was already the end of April and almost a month since that incident.

Xiao Qiao has been sleeping with Chun Niang at night until now. Her illness due to frightened was getting better after she had found Yuan.

She was happy and had taken calming medicine for a few days. The other day, she had a nightmare because of the weather changing, then had a fever again that night. Chun Niang anxiously consulted a doctor and then nursed her, and only in the past two days did she get better. But she was still sick and did not want to move. Chun Niang was afraid to leave her, so she made a bed beside hers and accompanied her personally.

Xiao Qiao took her medicine this evening and went to bed early because it had taken effect. Chun Niang did the needlework for the knee pads in her room, and while doing it, she looked back at Xiao Qiao lying in bed from time to time.

The night was getting late. Chun Niang told the maids to go to bed. After making a knee pad, she put down her needlework and pounded her waist. She was about to sleep when it occurred to her that she had forgotten to tell the cook to soften the silver fungus she wanted to cook for Xiao Qiao tomorrow.

After looking back at Xiao Qiao again and seeing she was sleeping heavily, Chun Niang gently opened the door and went to the kitchen. After choosing the fungus and soaking it, she returned to the room. She was about to lock the latch when she suddenly heard the sound of footsteps coming from the courtyard.

At this late hour, no one could enter the inner courtyard without a summon unless there were urgent matters. Besides, listening to the footsteps, it seemed to be a man.

Chun Niang had doubts in her heart. With Mr. Jia and the others guarding the house day and night, surely nothing won’t go wrong again. But remembering the accident a month ago, she was also afraid, so she opened the door slightly to look outside.

The lantern hanging in the corridor illuminated a figure walking the steps.It was Wei Shao.

Chun Niang was surprised and happy, looked back at Xiao Qiao, and saw that she was still asleep, so she gently opened the door and greeted him. She made a silent gesture towards the oncoming Marquis, then guided him to a place further away and apologized: “Lady is asleep. I was afraid of disturbing her. I troubled Master to say a few words over here. Don’t blame me for being rude.”

Wei Shao looked at the lighted windows and doors and whispered: “How is she?”

Hearing his tone, Chun Niang guessed he should already know about the incident a month ago. Then she said, “At first, the Lady was frightened and fell ill. Originally, she was already well. But some days ago, she had a nightmare and got a fever again that night. Luckily, the fever had gone down in the past two days, but there was still some coughing. After drinking the medicine, she went to bed early and is still asleep.”

“When did Master return?” Chun Niang asked respectfully.

Wei Shao did not answer. Standing there, he lost in thought for a moment, then said: “I understand. These days must have been hard on you. You can go and rest.” After saying this, he turned around and went inside.

Chun Niang hurriedly called him: “Lady was quite frightened. Until now, she can not sleep peacefully at night. Master must be gentle and mindful, do not frighten her again.”

She hesitated for a moment. Her love for Xiao Qiao finally outweighed anything else. She softly admonished Wei Shao.

Wei Shao said nothing, only turned around, walked to the door, gently pushed it open, and stepped inside.

……

Xiao Qiao’s sleep was not comfortable. She felt a tickle in the throat, coughed a few times, and woke up. She felt some distension in her belly. Without opening her eyelids, she subconsciously said, “Chun Niang, I want to urinate……”

She indeed has come to the point where she still feels creepy when she enters the bathroom alone at night. Even when relieving herself, she had to be accompanied by Chun Niang at the door. The word only came out half a sentence, and the brain suddenly woke up. Realize that it was late at night. Chun Niang had nursed her for a month, doing everything herself, and was tired enough.

She rubbed her eyes and was about to get up quietly when a pair of solid arms reached behind her and gently lifted her out of the blanket.

It was not Chun Niang’s arm. She didn’t have such strength either. Xiao Qiao froze and completely woke up. Her heart instantly jumped up wildly. She was about to open her mouth to scream when a man’s whispering sounded in her ear: “It’s me. I’m back. Don’t be afraid.” This voice was very familiar to her. But this gentleness was something she had never heard before. She slowly opened her eyes and met Wei Shao’s eyes that were looking down at her, and their eyes intertwined.