In the courtyard, Xiaoqing let out a satisfied burp.
Just moments earlier, Xiaoqing had thoroughly indulged her appetite.
The dozen or so mice living nearby had all gone down her throat, one gulp apiece.
Just as Xiaoqing, full and content, was happily thinking about bed—
suddenly she saw her own sister come running back out of the night.
"Sister, you..."
"Xiaoqing, I'm going to bed!"
Before Xiaoqing could finish, Bai Ruxue had fled into her room as if escaping, leaving Xiaoqing standing there in the dark, utterly thrown.
What's with Sister?
And where's Brother Xiao?
Didn't he go looking for her?
Xiaoqing waited in the courtyard, and roughly half an incense stick later, Xiao Mo finally came back.
Xiaoqing hurried up to him. "Brother Xiao, what's wrong with Sister? Did something happen between you two?"
"Emmm..." Xiao Mo thought for a moment. "Something did happen between your sister and me, but it's nothing serious. Ruxue's really fine, don't worry."
"Okay."
Since Brother Xiao had said so, her sister probably was fine.
"Get some rest early. I'm heading back to my room," Xiao Mo said to Xiaoqing.
Xiaoqing nodded. "You rest early too, Brother Xiao."
"I said it. I actually said it..."
Bai Ruxue lay on the bed, ankles stretched taut, her shapely calves drumming up and down against the bedding.
She pressed the pillow tightly over her head, leaving only her pair of peach-blossom eyes peeking out.
"I noticed... I think I've fallen for you..."
Recalling what she had just said to Xiao Mo, Bai Ruxue burned with shame all over again, and her tender white calves beat against the quilt even faster.
A long while later, the shyness in her heart slowly faded, and Bai Ruxue gradually calmed down.
"Wait... why am I so embarrassed? And why did I have to run when I was up on the mountain?"
Now that she had cooled off a little, Bai Ruxue realized she seemed to have done something wrong.
At the time, after she got that sentence out, she had been so overwhelmed with shame that all she wanted was to run down the mountain as fast as she could.
But really, there had been no need to be shy.
Liking someone was liking someone, and not liking them was not liking them.
I like Xiao Mo. That's all there is to it...
I only said out loud what was already in my heart.
I didn't even wait for Xiao Mo's answer—I just ran straight down the mountain.
"Honestly, why did I run..."
Bai Ruxue buried her head in the pillow again, annoyed with herself.
After a bout of fretting, Bai Ruxue turned over and lay flat on her back.
She stared at the ceiling, hugging the pillow to her chest, her mind churning.
Does Xiao Mo like me?
He should like me, shouldn't he?
He said it himself last time—once I understood what real liking is, he'd marry me.
This should be real liking, right?
Then will he marry me?
Does what he said back then still count?
The more she thought, the more restless Bai Ruxue became.
She wanted to go find Xiao Mo, but she didn't dare go ask.
In her heart she longed for the answer, and yet she dreaded it.
"So annoying, so annoying, so annoying..." Bai Ruxue rolled back and forth on the bed like a rolling pin. "I was never like this before..."
"Sister, what's wrong?"
When Xiaoqing came into the room, she found her sister rolling endlessly around on the bed.
"Xiaoqing..."
Bai Ruxue sat on the bed hugging the pillow like a duck, her peach-blossom eyes darting.
"I feel like I'm not myself anymore... What am I supposed to do?"
In his room, Xiao Mo lit a candle and read.
In the past, when Xiao Mo read at night, he had to rely on the moonlight; if the moon was poor, there was no night reading to be had.
But after becoming a xieyuan, Xiao Mo no longer needed to do that.
Now, even if Ruxue stopped raising silkworms and stopped catching wild pheasants and rabbits, Xiao Mo would still never be short of silver.
Even so, Ruxue kept raising her silkworms and still went out now and then to catch pheasants and rabbits to sell, saying that a little more money was still a little more money.
A quarter of an hour later, Xiao Mo set down the book in his hands.
He found he simply couldn't keep reading.
Everything filling his mind was Ruxue.
Xiao Mo truly had not expected Ruxue to say such a thing.
Ruxue had said "I like you" before, of course.
But Xiao Mo knew this time was completely different.
Ruxue's feelings for him were the real thing between a man and a woman.
Xiao Mo had frozen for a moment, and before he could answer, Ruxue had already run off...
"This girl..." Xiao Mo shook his head with a smile and gently blew out the candle.
Looks like I'll have to make a trip to town tomorrow.
Can't keep them waiting too long.
The next morning, Xiao Mo woke up and walked out into the courtyard.
Bai Ruxue had been wiping down the table; the moment she saw Xiao Mo, she was like a startled little bird and hurried into the kitchen.
At breakfast, Bai Ruxue did not say a single word, and did not dare look at Xiao Mo.
Whenever Xiao Mo came even a little closer, she would flush and hurry away.
Xiaoqing felt certain something had happened between her sister and Brother Xiao; the air between the two of them was strange in a way she couldn't describe.
"No! I can't keep going on like this!"
In the afternoon, Bai Ruxue patted her own cheeks.
She felt she couldn't keep hiding from Xiao Mo forever, and deep down she wanted to know his answer.
Only, Bai Ruxue really was too embarrassed to go ask him herself.
So that afternoon, Bai Ruxue summoned her courage and swept the courtyard, deliberately staying near Xiao Mo.
But Xiao Mo acted like a man with nothing on his mind, as if last night had never happened; he just sat there reading his book.
Seeing how calm he was, Bai Ruxue puffed out her soft pink cheeks, a little huffy.
Bai Ruxue kept walking back and forth beside Xiao Mo, trying to attract his attention.
But Xiao Mo still showed no reaction—Bai Ruxue even began to suspect he had lost his memory of last night.
"Stinky Xiao Mo, stinky Xiao Mo! I said something like that last night, and today you act like nothing happened. Fine, I was the one who ran, but you could still give me an answer now.
Stinky Xiao Mo! You said you'd marry me, and now you won't say a word! Stink-egg, stink-egg! I'm never talking to you again! Big stink-egg!"
In her room, Bai Ruxue clamped the pillow between her round, plump thighs and raised her little pink fists, pounding it again and again, as if she were pounding on Xiao Mo's chest.
"Sister... are you all right?" Xiaoqing came into the room and saw her sister making the pillow heave; it looked like she was about to beat the cotton stuffing right out of it.
"I'm fine!" Bai Ruxue pouted angrily, her chest heaving. "Is Stinky Xiao Mo still studying?"
"No." Xiaoqing shook her head. "Brother Xiao went out."
"Huh? He went out?" Bai Ruxue blinked. "Where did Stinky Xiao Mo go?"
"He went to Qingshan Town."
Xiaoqing said.
"Brother Xiao said he's going to fetch something, and told you not to worry—he'll be back in a couple of days."