"Qing Qing~"
"Y-yes, Young Miss!"
Feng Yao turned around and noticed that Bai Qing's face was pale in fear.
Hmm? Oh, I see.
She must be terrified of being silenced after this event. After all, this was something that no servant was supposed to see.
Finally realizing what was wrong, Feng Yao laughed and patted Bai Qing's head.
"Don't worry. As long as you don't mention this event to any of the other maids, Ru Qiang won't come after you. Believe it or not, he's actually a pretty nice guy."
Bai Qing quickly nodded, her eyes still wide with shock.
Perhaps the realization that the Young Master that everyone in the Jun Estate made fun of was actually someone who could casually come back covered in blood was too much for her mind to process.
Deciding to switch the topic, Feng Yao allowed for a smile to appear on her face. "Come on, let's make a quick stop to the Winter Garden first."
When they finally reached the inner courtyard of the Winter Garden and made their way inside of Feng Yao's residence, Bai Qing seemed to have finally calmed down.
"Young Miss, weren't you going to visit the Young Master?"
"Mhm, I just wanted to pick something up before heading over there."
Feng Yao answered as she headed over towards the table with her dried flowers still on them. Scanning her gaze over them, she began to mentally count up the remaining ones in her head.
Seven remaining? That should be enough to make a new batch then.
With a satisfied smile on her face, her feet switched directions and went over towards the corner where her pile of rocks still soundly laid.
The pile had been created by placing them all together to create a tower with a large base on the bottom before gradually growing smaller as you reached the top. In a way, it resembled an upside-down cone with a hollow center. Of course, that also meant that the empty space inside hidden by the walls of the rocks was impossible to see without completely knocking down the entire structure first.
"Young Miss?" Bai Qing questioningly called out, but Feng Yao didn't answer as she squatted down in front of it.
Reaching out with a single finger, she applied just the slightest hint of pressure against one of plain gray rocks at the bottom of the pile. It looked no different than the other fifteen or so that helped create the tower, but as soon as Feng Yao saw that it moved with ease, a grin appeared on her lips.
With a delicate flick of her hand, her fingers had already nimbly pulled the single rock out and away from the structure.
Surprisingly, the entire structure remained standing with no sign of collapsing from the removal of one of its base pieces.
"Here, I'll give this stone to you, Qing Qing," Feng Yao slightly tilted her head to the side and smiled at Bai Qing as she reached out and handed the rock to her.
A look of confusion crossed Bai Qing's face as she hesitantly accepted the rock, not quite sure what her Young Miss was trying to do.
Meanwhile, Feng Yao had already reached in with her thin wrist through the small opening into the hollow center. Feeling something at the edge of her fingertips, she clasped the object in between her pointer and middle finger before pulling her entire hand out.
When the object was finally revealed, Bai Qing furrowed her brows.
"Ah? Young Miss, what is that?"
Feng Yao smiled at her question. "This? Nothing much. It's just a small container filled with a special medicine I made."
"Hm? A medicine?"
"Mhm. But the rest is a secret~"
Another carefree laugh escaped her lips as she swiftly pocketed the container within her inner robes, hiding it in between the folds of fabric against her waist. It was small and thin enough that it blended in perfectly without creating any additional wrinkles in her clothing.
When she stood up, she noticed that Bai Qing was still staring at the stone pile.
"Are you curious?"
Hearing Feng Yao's teasing question, Bai Qing scrunched up her brows as she nodded. "Why didn't the entire pile fall down?"
A cryptic smile appeared on Feng Yao's face as she looked at the young girl. "I don't know. Why don't you try too?"
Bai Qing stared suspiciously between Feng Yao's smile and the stack of rocks on the floor in front of her. Finally giving in to her curiosity, Bai Qing reached out and attempted to copy Feng Yao's earlier action by slightly pulling on one of the stones at the base of the formation.
But unlike her Young Miss, as soon as she touched it, the entire pile came crashing down. With loud thuds, the pieces that had been strategically stacked on top of each other came crashing down and tumbled across the hard floor.
"Eeek!" Bai Qing jumped backwards in surprise. "Young Miss, you should have warned me!"
Hearing her accusation, Feng Yao threw her chin back over her shoulder to look at Bai Qing. With innocently blinking eyes, she commented, "What do you mean? It's common sense that if you remove something at its base, the entire formation will fall."
"Young Miss!" Bai Qing whined as she hurriedly followed Feng Yao outside.
Catching up to her, Bai Qing asked, "Why didn't it fall when you removed a piece then?"
"Ehhh?" Feng Yao pretended to not understand and instead scratched her cheek. "What do you mean? It did fall down. Didn't you see?"
Her shameless and obvious lie made the young girl speechless. Huffing underneath her breath, Bai Qing turned to the side and began muttering in exasperation underneath her breath.
Feng Yao simply grinned before turning her attention back towards the front.
It was common sense that she knew which spots were the weakest and the strongest. She was, after all, the one who had built it.
Of course, there had also been a deeper purpose to her stone structure, but luckily, it hadn't come to that outcome.
Plus, playing with rocks is so fun! You can hit people with them, build towers with them, cook food on them...
Wait a minute...Am I a rock-fanatic? Is this what people call being...strange?
Feng Yao shuddered. It seemed like recently, she was learning a bit too much about her own personality. It was starting to scare her. Really.
Glancing behind her, she noticed that there was a pout on Bai Qing's face as they continued walking down the corridors.
"Qing Qing~"
"Hm? Yes, what is it?"
Feng Yao suddenly stopped in the middle of her tracks and turned around. Her movement was so abrupt that Bai Qing almost ran straight into her.
"Ah, my apologies--!"But her words cut off as she looked up and saw Feng Yao waving away her apologies.
"No no, it's no problem. But you know," Feng Yao calmly began.
Bai Qing tilted her head in confusion as she continued.
"If you continue to let me lead, I'm just going to get us lost." A carefree laugh escaped Feng Yao's mouth. "Hahaha, I have no idea where Ru Qiang's study is."
It was true. Although she knew the general layout, she didn't where specific rooms where.
Bai Qing blinked before sighing. "Sigh...Right this way, Young Miss."
Bai Qing no longer tried to understand her Young Miss' personality. It was as if the young woman who could create such an elaborate tower out of simple stones was no longer the same as this person in front of her who could laugh so happily about getting lost.
With Bai Qing in the lead, the both of them wandered along the corridors while taking a few turns along the way. Silently, Feng Yao turned their directions into a song into her head.
Hum~ Right, right, left, right, left~
How far away does Ru Qiang like to stay from other people? His study is so secluded...
"The Young Master's study is right ahead. If you turn right at the end of this corridor, his study is through those double doors. This is as far as I, and any other servant, am allowed to go. The Young Master doesn't like us coming too close."
"Mhm, thank you Qing Qing. I'll be back late tonight, so don't stay up waiting for me. Go to sleep, okay?"
Bai Qing nodded. "Yes, Young Miss! Let me know if you need anything."
With a bow, Bai Qing retreated and left Feng Yao alone in the corridor. Without the companion of another person by her side, it suddenly felt so much lonelier than before.
I wonder what Ru Qiang is doing?
Taking steady steps, her feet carried her all the way to the front of the double wooden doors. There was clearly someone inside by the way that soft candlelight spilled out through the paper windows.
Her knuckles knocked twice on the wood. But after waiting a few moments, she didn't hear anyone answer making her lips turn downward into a frown.
"Ru Qiang...?"
Softly, she called out as she quietly pushed open the two doors and stepped in, looking around to make sure that she wasn't disturbing him during a bad time.
The space inside was much smaller than she'd expected. It was practically the same size as the room she was staying in with only enough space to fit several shelves of books and a large table.
Scattered around her were stacks and stacks of books and loose papers. The black ink of Chinese characters peeked out at her from underneath the countless layers of manuscripts.
When she shifted her eyes forward, she noticed that Ru Qiang was sitting alone at the center of his desk with a single white brush in his hands, black ink staining the end of the bristles.
His hair was still slightly wet, evidence of him just finished with bathing. Soft strands of black fell messily across one side of his beautiful face before cascading freely down his back, causing some parts of his outfit to become damp with water.
He had also changed from his earlier black outfit into a simple blue robe, the color complementing his milky skin quite well. The thin fabric, however, had already become carelessly scrunched up in the front, showing off just the slightest outline of the well-defined muscles on his chest, but oddly, he didn't seem to notice.
Feng Yao tilted her head as she studied him. When she looked closer, she noticed that he was blankly staring at the piece of paper in front of with with a dazed look in his lowered eyes. It was obvious that he hadn't heard her knocking earlier.
Struck with the sudden curiosity of what he was doing, she lightly called out, "What are you writing?"
At the sound of her voice, he immediately whipped his head upwards. His eyes widened in surprise before his fingers quickly fumbled around to throw the brush down to the side of the desk and snatch the piece of paper to hide behind his back. Ru Qiang had been so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed her arrival until she had already started to walk over towards him.
Feng Yao raised an eyebrow at his suspicious behavior just as she sat down opposite of him at his desk, taking into account the slight pink that was slowly starting to color his cheeks.
As she stretched her neck and tried to look behind him at the paper he was shielding, he twisted his body so that she wouldn't be able to see. When she tried to look on his other side, he immediately repeated the same movement.
"Ru Qiang~" An overly sweet smile appeared on her lips, but he refused to reply.
She tried again. "Hubby~ What are you hiding?"
"...Nothing."
He finally answered, but his eyes stubbornly stayed glued on the brush he had thrown down earlier. The black ink from its bristles had created small stray dots across the top of the desk resembling little pebbles in a pond.
Is he embarrassed?
Feng Yao watched him carefully with the smile still on her face, noticing that he was beginning to fidget underneath her gaze like a young child who had just committed a wrong. Combined with his pink cheeks, he really did look quite adorable.
Although she was curious, she eventually decided to not pursue it further. With a sigh, she pretended not to notice as he quickly slid the mysterious paper underneath his desk where she wouldn't be able to see.
However, as soon as he slightly shifted in position, a certain scent in the air wafted over towards her. Smelling this, her eyes slightly narrowed, but Ru Qiang didn't seem to notice as her expression immediately returned back to normal with its usual smile.
Abruptly, she leaned in closer, making him stiffen with surprise. Ru Qiang's eyes flickered up and met with hers that were now only a few inches away.
"You..." Feng Yao slowly spoke, letting the single word casually roll off of her tongue.
A chill ran down Ru Qiang's spine. Every time this happened, it usually meant that she was going to do something bad for his poor heart again.
Like right now... Although he could see a smile on her face, why did it suddenly seem so threatening?
He tried to shift in position just in case he needed to run away. But just as he tried to, he realized that he couldn't move. Stiffly, he looked down and noticed that she had already read his mind and was holding tightly onto the fabric of one of his sleeves.
...An ominous feeling...it has arrived...
After realizing that she hadn't continued speaking, he hesitantly answered back.
"...Me?"
"Mhm. You."
Feng Yao's pleasant expression abruptly morphed into a full-on death glare as she pointed an accusing finger straight towards him, letting the very tip of her finger stab mercilessly into the the skin of his bare chest that was revealed by his messy attire.
The sudden change in her expression made Ru Qiang flinch. But just as he tried to say something, her next command made him immediately freeze as the feeling of absolute fear petrified him into a living statue.
"Strip."
The room was thrown into an deathly silence as Ru Qiang's mouth fell open into a perfect "O".
Facing her intense expression, he realized that his mouth had gone numb with fear. It felt like he was looking straight into the eyes of a predator waiting to pounce on his poor soul.
"W-w-w-what do you mean?"
Hurriedly, he tried to scoot away from her angry face that was slowly inching closer, but she had already wrapped his robes multiple times around her fingers. This made it so that even if he tried to run away, his robes would be undone by her anyways.
Ahhh, he wanted to cry. His grandmother had always told him not to take advantage of women. But now, a woman was clearly taking advantage of him. How was he possibly supposed to survive in a world like this?
Meanwhile, Feng Yao had already slowly inched closer until their noses were just about to touch. Ru Qiang could only watch helplessly with wide eyes.
"Take. It. Off."
Her breath softly fanned across his cheeks that had already transformed from a delicate pink to a bright red. If he hadn't been blushing before, he most definitely was now.
In a desperate attempt to preserve his manly innocence, he quickly shook his head back in forth, resembling a child protecting his precious candy.
"N-no! I can't!"
Feng Yao was stubborn though and didn't give up.
"Take off your robes."
"No!"
"..." She fell silent as she cocked her head at him.
Finally, she heaved a sigh as she slightly leaned back away from him. "Fine then."
A brief moment of relief overcame Ru Qiang as he thought that she had thankfully given up.
Her angry expression had already become replaced with a faint smile. She even reached out to gently tuck a strand of his damp hair out of his face and behind his ear as if trying to comfort his soul after scaring the living daylights out of him.
But just as Ru Qiang thought that it was all over, her next sentence that she casually threw out was like throwing a bucket of ice water over his short-lived relief.
"Then I can strip instead."
Ru Qiang's eyes bulged out as he almost choked on his panic.
"W-w-wait--!"
But Feng Yao had already reached down towards her own robes and was beginning to calmly undo the sash around her thin waist.
Ru Qiang only became more flustered, immediately bringing his hands up to cover his eyes. How was it that this girl was so unreasonably hard to understand?
"W-wait! I'll do it! I'll do it!" He spluttered out random words from behind his hands in an attempt to make her stop. "I'll take it off, okay?"
"Mhm, go ahead~"
Her calm response left him speechless for a moment before he finally plucked up enough courage to peek out from between his fingers.
The first thing that he noticed was that she was calmly sitting in front of him, lazily resting her chin in her propped-up arm. The warm laughter in her sparkling eyes only served to make him more determined to hide in a hole after this ordeal.
Noticing that he was watching her, Feng Yao motioned towards his clothes with her hands.
"Go ahead then, take it off." A teasing grin played on her lips. "I'm waiting."
He gaped at her as she began humming while drumming her fingertips lightly on his desk.
"...Are you serious?"
Hearing his question, a look of indignation crossed her features. "Of course! Did you think I was just playing around?"
"..."
Seeing that Ru Qiang didn't answer, Feng Yao let out a sigh before standing up. Her movement made him flinch again, but she ignored it as she walked over behind him before sitting down facing his back.
"Here, let me help you." Her voice was noticeably much more gentle, as she urged him to take off the fabric of his robes that covered his torso.
Ru Qiang hesitated before finally resigning to her wishes, knowing what she intended to do. With a small sigh, he began undoing the knot that held his robes closed before slowing pulling his arms out of the sleeves. The entire time, Feng Yao watched with unreadable eyes.
She had known that he'd been injured ever since she had seen him earlier in the woods. Despite claiming that the blood covering his black robes wasn't his, she had noticed that when the sun hit it at a certain angle, the blood on his back was thicker and newer than the rest anywhere else on his body.
Plus, his personality was quite similar to hers. How could she not see that he'd been trying to hide his situation from everyone?
As the top part of his garment fell down and pooled around Ru Qiang's waist, his entire back was finally revealed. Feng Yao was slightly stunned into silence as her quiet eyes scanned across his skin.
Countless scars, both little and big ones, decorated almost every single inch, leaving no space to see the pale skin underneath. A few parts had healed quite nicely, leaving only a faint mark behind. But for the most part, his past injuries looked like they had been painfully neglected by the way that they formed jagged and uneven marks.
A few of them looked to be like old sword wounds while others seemed to be caused by whips or arrows. Judging by how big they were, however, they all seemed to have been quite serious and deep at the time that he received each one.
Her eyes slowly navigated up towards the middle of his back, back to the main problem at hand.
White bandages stained with blood were messily wrapped around Ru Qiang's back, but they were so badly done that they had already started to become unraveled to show deep crisscrossing bloody wounds peeking out from underneath.
Whip marks? Just what exactly was he doing?
Each mark cut deep into his skin, showing red and bloodied flesh that resembled chopped meat. Just by looking at it, she could feel her heart slowly start to squeeze in pain.
Using a touch as light as a feather, Feng Yao reached out with her hand and rested her fingertips near the inflamed skin on his back. Feeling that his skin was burning hot underneath her fingertips, the corners of her lips turned down into an unhappy frown.
From underneath her touch, a painful shudder went through Ru Qiang's body. Immediately, she removed her hand although her eyes never once left his injuries that he had attempted to cover with his pitiful bandaging.
"Did you wrap it this yourself?"
"...En."
Being as gentle as she could, she slowly began to undo the bandages that had already begun to stick to his wound because of the oozing blood. Ru Qiang stiffened in pain, but he didn't stop her actions, so she continued to take off the strips of cloth.
"You know...you really suck at bandaging."
Her teasing tone made Ru Qiang immediately frown as he mumbled underneath his breath.
"Shut up...It's hard bandaging wounds on your back..."
His defensive tone made Feng Yao let out a soft laugh. "Haha, all right all right. I won't criticize you anymore, so relax..."
She finished unwinding the bandages and placed them in a small pile next to her on the floor, making sure to not let it contaminate anything else around her before returning her attention to his back.
"Have you gotten Doctor Yi to look at it yet?"
Ru Qiang shook his head. "No, he won't be back for a while."
His answer made her sigh in frustration. "Sigh...Seriously, Ru Qiang. What were you planning to do then? Hide this from Li Yue and Xi'er?"
"..."
Ru Qiang stayed silent as he tried to avoid answering, but it only ended up backfiring on him as a faint trace of anger sudden flickered to life in Feng Yao's eyes.
Without warning, she had already slapped him on the shoulder, making him flinch in both pain and surprise.
"What--?"
But as he turned around to look at her incredulously, his words seemed to melt off of his tongue and evaporate from his mind as he was faced with her furious eyes. It felt like they were burning his skin.
...Is she angry?
What strange realm of reality have I wandered into now?
Ru Qiang had to blink multiple times to make sure that he hadn't accidentally started to hallucinate.
"Um..." He cautiously tried to test out the waters but quickly shut up when her eyes sharpened into a piercing glare.
"You're such an idiot for trying to keep this to yourself! A stupid and stubborn idiot! Even I know where to draw the line between staying silent and asking for help!"
Ru Qiang was so frightfully taken aback by her sudden outburst that he had even forgotten to close his mouth. Feng Yao, however, didn't even seem to care that he had been scared out of his wits as she continued to angrily scold him, her dark eyes shining with intensity.
"Weren't you the one who yelled at me in the first place about hiding bad injuries? Were you or were you not?"
The death glare that she gave made Ru Qiang immediately begin to furiously nod, knowing that that'd be the best move in his interest to preserve his life.
Feng Yao continued scolding him. "And what exactly are you doing right now? Hmmm?"
"Hiding my injuries..." Ru Qiang mumbled underneath his breath, but Feng Yao pretended not to hear.
"Huh? What was that? I couldn't hear you."
"...I hid my injuries..."
Feng Yao nodded. "Yes. Yes you did. So what should you not do anymore?"
"No more hiding injuries."
Ru Qiang quickly nodded back that he understood, afraid that he'd be scolded more by her wrath if he didn't agree.
He had seen many sides to her. The happy-go-lucky Feng Yao. The carefree Feng Yao. The hungry Feng Yao.
But angry Feng Yao was something that he'd never seen before.
It was super, duper scary.
Seeing that he agreed, Feng Yao finally regained her smile.
"Good. Now turn around so that I can see your back again."
He obediently listened, although he was still afraid of being smacked by her again. As he turned so that his back was facing her, he hesitantly asked, "What are you doing?"
But just as he finished asking his question, a sudden cooling sensation was felt against his burning skin, instantly helping soothe away some of his pain. It was similar to the sensation one might feel when drinking mint water on a hot day.
As he tried to turn his head to look at what she was putting on his wound, his cheek immediately was squished by her tip of her finger. When his eyes traveled past the pale finger poking at his cheek, he was met with Feng Yao's glare.
Immediately, he understood the unspoken command in her narrowed eyes and decided to meekly turn back around to let her finish her work.
The both of them quietly stayed like that as Feng Yao continued to smear her special medical ointment on his wound. Her gentle touch combined with the natural cooling properties of the medicine made Ru Qiang subconsciously let out a breath of contentment as his shoulders slowly relaxed.
"This is a little ointment that I made," Feng Yao softly began speaking, and Ru Qiang's ears perked up at her warmer tone that held no trace of her anger from earlier.
Letting out a little chuckle, she admitted, "Actually, I kind of stole the ingredients from around your estate, haha. Did you know that some of the flowers planted here are actually herbal plants? Some of them do resemble flowers though."
She had initially been planning on taking her little jar of ointment with her just in case her own leg wound had flared up in the future. But knowing that Ru Qiang was just like her in terms of never asking for help, she'd much rather use the medicine on him.
Finishing up with her work, she glanced around the room in search for new bandages.
"Do you have more bandages that I could use?"
Ru Qiang thought for a moment before nodding. "En. Over there."
Feng Yao followed the direction of his finger towards the drawer near their side. Pulling on the wooden handle, a small stash of basic medical supplies was revealed.
Reaching inside, her hand felt around until she found clean and unused white bandages. But just as she pulled them out, she felt her hand bump into a small jar inside.
Hmm?
With her other hand, she reached in and pulled out the small white jar that had been tucked into the corner.
Isn't this another type of medical ointment? It's different than mine, but it's definitely usable.
She gave it a strange look before placing it back inside. With one small push, the drawer slid shut and she scooted back over behind Ru Qiang.
As she began re-bandaging his wounds, she casually asked, "Ru Qiang, if you had your own medical ointment, why didn't you use it on your wound?"
He instantly knew which jar of medicine she was talking about, and his face immediately morphed into a childish scowl.
"That one hurts." He adamantly shook his head. "I don't like it."
Feng Yao blinked for a moment as his words sunk in. Suddenly, she burst out into laughter, her bright eyes sparkling with unshed tears as she fell to the floor with uncontrollable laughter shaking her body.
"Hahaha! So you don't use it just because it stings? Pfft, what are you? A kid? Hahaha!"
Her bright laughter only made the scowl deepen on Ru Qiang's face as he turned around to glare down at her figure still rolling around and clutching her stomach from laughing cramps.
An evil thought popped into his head as he contemplated rolling her out of his room like a rock. But just as he was actually about to do it, he noticed that she had already stopped laughing and was now tilting her head upwards to look at him from where she was still laying carelessly on the floor next to him. A few black strands of her hair intertwined with his, but he didn't mind.
"So you don't like medicine, huh?" She chuckled. "I'll tell you a secret then."
Pushing off of the floor with her hands, she returned to sit upright next to him.
"I actually don't like using medicine either." Her face scrunched up as if even thinking about it was unpleasant. "Most of them smell weird."
She reached inside of her waistband to pull out her small container of medicine. With a proud look on her face she showed him the container that was still over half-full.
"But this one doesn't! I made it myself, so it's the only one I really like to use."
Reaching out, her fingers grasped Ru Qiang's hand and pulled it over in front of her before placing the container into his palm.
"But since you seem to like this one too, I'll let you have it. Think of it as a gift from a fellow stubborn individual to another." She grinned. "In exchange, you have to promise not to ignore your injuries anymore. Deal?"
Her fingers gently curved his own over the container before she returned his hand to his lap.
Ru Qiang stared at the item in his hand, unable to figure out what to say at being given such a precious gift. After thinking for a moment, he finally slowly nodded as his fingers tightened protectively around the item she had given him.
"En, I promise. I'll listen to you." He slightly hesitated before his voice softened. "Thank you."
Feng Yao blinked at his words before laughing. "Haha, you're always so serious. But you know..."
Her teasing look faded as she tilted her head at him, a softer smile playing on her lips. A few stray rays of golden light streaming in through the windows lit up her figure, making her features glow with a gentle warmth.
"I actually quite like that part about you."
Her warm encouragement seemed to take him off guard, a look of surprise flashing in his eyes and chipping away at his poker face.
But before he could even blink, she had already stood up and begun walking towards the door.
"You haven't eaten yet, right? Eating it important, you know! Especially for foodies like us," she laughed, lightly placing her hand against the wooden frame.
Turning her head back once more to look at Ru Qiang, whom of which had not yet moved, she smiled, "I'll go and let Li Yue know that you're hungry."
Ru Qiang didn't know how long he sat there staring blankly at the doorway. Her figure had already completely disappeared from view, but it felt as though he could still hear her words echoing warmly around him.
Slowly, he looked down towards his own stomach. It seemed like she was correct once again. He hadn't even realized until now that his stomach was painfully aching.
How was it that she knew what he needed before he did?
A deep sigh escaped his mouth as he began to quietly slide his robes back onto his body, placing the gift he had just received safely into an inner pocket.
As his fingers worked to securely tie the fabric around his torso, he suddenly remembered about the paper he had hurriedly shoved underneath his desk from earlier. His gaze flickered over towards its hiding place, but as soon as he remembered what was on it, he quickly averted his eyes.
Thankfully, Feng Yao wasn't here to witness the blush that he could feel burning his cheeks.
* * * * *
Author's Note:
Hello again!
I actually updated this chapter much earlier today, but I'm not sure if it notified anyone? It didn't show up in my newsfeed, so I'm re-publishing it now again just in case because it's been so lonely not seeing any comments...sniff sniff, hellooo? Is anyone out there?
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Anyways, how is everyone? I hope you've all been well! ^_^
Hopefully, no one has been too bored with the slower pace in these chapters...but if you are, don't worry! It's all part of the plan, fu fu fu~
Once we get the ball rolling, it'll be pretty hard to stop, so let's enjoy this peace with Feng Yao while it lasts~ *secretively smiles*
And hmm...I do wonder what Ru Qiang seems to be hiding with that suspicious paper of his... *innocently blinks*
Fu fu fu, oh how I do love when an ice cube slowly starts to melt~
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But anyways, thank you all for reading! I'm super excited for the upcoming chapters, so be prepared!
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