The birds outside the treehouse were still chirping incessantly. He Sui’an quickly withdrew her foot as if caught in a mischievous act, stammering, “S-sorry.”
She averted her eyes.
Her gaze landed in mid-air, her expression became dazed, and her cheeks flushed with heat.
Qi Buyan showed no signs of embarrassment. Perhaps it was because he still lacked such emotions. Having just woken up, his eyes seemed slightly damp, as if covered with a mist, and the corners of his eyes were redder than usual.
He Sui’an knew that men might face this problem in the morning; it was normal. However, seeing it with her own eyes was a different matter.
Previously, Qi Buyan had reacted because she moved around in his arms.
It was also normal.
Again, this was a natural bodily response, which could be devoid of any emotions. Moreover, it was morning, so this reaction was even more devoid of any other factors—it wasn’t because of her.
Thinking this, He Sui’an felt a bit more at ease. However, she didn’t know how Qi Buyan would handle it—whether he would use his hands like last time or wait for it to subside on its own.
Regardless of the situation, it was better to wait for him below the treehouse.
He Sui’an scrambled to her feet.
She said she would wait for him downstairs.
Qi Buyan looked up, watching He Sui’an flee as if in a panic. He didn’t care much about his own reaction. After all, it had happened a few times before, but this time it took longer to subside.
He had just dreamed about He Sui’an.
In the dream, she kissed him intimately as she always did. When he woke up, he felt a slight discomfort. In other words, this reaction was also due to He Sui’an—once again.
Was his body becoming infatuated with her?
Qi Buyan blinked.
Infatuation was a very intimate term, and he felt it was acceptable to use it for He Sui’an.
Qi Buyan originally liked being close to her and could accept using terms that described intimacy and actions that demonstrated their closeness.
After about a quarter of an hour, Qi Buyan felt his body completely calm down. He stood up, bent down to pick up his outerwear and belt.
Once he was dressed, he stepped out of the treehouse and immediately saw He Sui’an squatting on the ground.
She seemed to be deep in thought.
He Sui’an hung her head, her gaze vacant, lost in thought, holding a dry yellow branch she had picked up, absentmindedly drawing in the dirt.
As Qi Buyan approached, he noticed she seemed to be writing his name: Qi Buyan.
Using the Great Zhou script, the character is written as: 硯 (Yan).
Previously, Qi Buyan had noticed that He Sui’an’s handwriting was slightly different from his, but he could still understand it by guessing.
“Why are you writing my name?” Qi Buyan walked over to He Sui’an, who was still squatting. He squatted down too, and due to their height difference, he still towered over her. “Are you thinking about me right now?”
The branch on the ground paused.
He Sui’an shook her head first, then nodded.
She said, “I was just bored and wrote randomly. I happened to think of you.”
She was telling the truth. After coming down from the treehouse, He Sui’an tried not to think about putting her foot up for him, but instead, a sudden memory came to her mind.
On the day she hit the tree, fragmented memories without her presence flashed in her mind. He Sui’an vaguely felt that she might have forgotten something important.
Something very, very important.
Qi Buyan had once asked her about her memories.
He Sui’an said that it was better to let things happen naturally. Some things couldn’t be forced, as forcing them would only bring pain. But now, she had changed her mind.
She wanted to try to recover her memories, to retrieve all the memories she had lost.
But how could she regain her memories?
This was a difficult problem.
He Sui’an thought that since she might have many memories related to Qi Buyan, what kind of relationship could they have had? One thing she was sure of was that they didn’t know each other before.
Their first meeting was in Weicheng.
If they had met before, Qi Buyan would have recognized her. Therefore, when they met in Weicheng, they were strangers to each other.
They were strangers, yet they had memories of each other’s past.
It was too strange.
Even stranger was that He Sui’an not only had memories of Qi Buyan but also of other people, such as Qi Shu and Bian Yichen.
Who was she before she lost her memory? Why did she have so many memories that didn’t belong to her but to others? This didn’t make sense, and the more He Sui’an thought about it, the more she had a bad feeling.
But she still wanted to find the truth.
While thinking about this, He Sui’an unconsciously thought of Qi Buyan.
Then, she wrote his name.
“You just happened to think of me?” Qi Buyan took He Sui’an’s hand and pulled her up, brushing away the remaining branch fragments on her hand with his thumb. “Your handwriting looks interesting. I like it.”
He Sui’an asked, “Do you want to learn?”
Qi Buyan let go of her small hand, picked up the same thin, dry yellow branch, and neatly wrote a few words on the ground: 賀歲安 (He Sui’an).
“How do you write your name?” He handed the branch back to He Sui’an, “Since you’ve written mine, I’d like to learn how to write yours.”
He Sui’an squatted down again and wrote her name in simplified characters: 贺岁安 (He Sui’an).
祁不硯, 祁不砚 (Qi Buyan).
賀歲安, 贺岁安 (He Sui’an).
The two different versions of the names quietly lay side by side, the fewer-stroked script elegant, the more-stroked script bold and unrestrained.
Qi Buyan stared at them for a moment, then wrote her name using her method.
He wrote slowly, one stroke at a time.
He usually learned things quickly, often just by watching once, and he had He Sui’an’s handwriting right next to him to copy.
But now he wrote very slowly, as if he were meticulously imitating He Sui’an’s handwriting.
In just a short while, he finished.
The handwriting was identical.
It was normal for Qi Buyan to learn to write He Sui’an’s name in simplified characters; any average person could do it.
But for his first time writing, to be able to mimic her handwriting exactly as if she had written it herself, He Sui’an was slightly surprised.
“It’s done.”
Qi Buyan tossed the branch aside.
He Sui’an leaned in to take a closer look, trying to find any slight differences between the two sets of handwriting that appeared identical but were written by different people.
There were none.
The “贺岁安” they wrote had strokes and weights that were indistinguishable from each other. He Sui’an had to admit, his ability to imitate was impressive.
From a distance, Zhong Liang saw the young man and woman standing close together, looking at the ground. He didn’t ask what they were doing, just placed the food on the wooden table and called them over for breakfast.
Before eating, they went to wash their hands. Without any towels, water dripped from their fingers in unison.
He Sui’an was very eager to eat.
She immediately sat at the table.
Qi Buyan sat to He Sui’an’s left, and the silver ornaments in his hair made sounds in the morning air.
Today, he wore a dark blue headband with complex and mysterious embroidered patterns similar to his clothing, with dangling silver ornaments gently swaying on his forehead, making him look even more striking.
His long hair was still unbound, with only small silver ornaments at the ends.
Wherever Qi Buyan appeared, there were always Gu insects.
At this moment, the trees around were covered with Gu insects belonging to Qi Buyan, but he had not commanded them nor shown any intention of doing so. The Gu just lurked nearby.
He Sui’an was entirely focused on the food and didn’t spare any attention to the surrounding trees.
As a result, she didn’t notice the insects.
Perhaps because they were leaving the next day, Zhong Liang prepared a very sumptuous meal today, with a variety of meats: two pieces of chicken, several slices of pork, and a freshly caught fish.
These types of meat are quite ordinary for wealthy families; with money, they could easily get them at a restaurant. However, for Hongye Village, such a feast was only prepared on significant occasions.
Zhong Liang himself rarely ate so well.
He Sui’an naturally understood this.
She was very grateful for Zhong Liang’s care during this period. Even though his relationship with Qi Buyan was purely transactional, He Sui’an could feel that he acted sincerely, including towards them.
Zhong Liang had always wanted to make acquaintances outside.
Due to his appearance and the reputation of Hongye Village, he never had the chance. Meeting them fulfilled his wish to try interacting with outsiders.
The three of them ate this meal together. The real reason Zhong Liang had previously declined He Sui’an’s invitation to join them for meals was not that he needed to take care of his father or accompany his mother.
Zhong Liang was afraid that his presence would ruin their appetite because of his hideous appearance.
The people of Qingzhou once insulted the villagers of Hongye Village, saying their looks were so disgusting that one might lose their appetite upon seeing them.
Zhong Liang remembered this remark.
That’s why he had previously declined He Sui’an.
Today, he made an exception, as he could tell she was genuinely inviting him to join them for a meal.
Zhong Liang sat across from them.
He Sui’an served him a bowl full of rice. “Brother Zhong.”
“Thank you, Miss He.” Zhong Liang received the bowl with both hands and couldn’t help but glance at Qi Buyan. The young man neither invited him to stay for the meal nor showed any displeasure about the situation.
Qi Buyan seemed rarely concerned with other matters or people, prioritizing transactions above all.
He could smile gently at you but would remain unyielding and detached, doing what needed to be done regardless of sentiment—a unique kind of aloofness. He wasn’t emotional, fundamentally cold-hearted, yet very committed to his promises.
Zhong Liang didn’t want to lie to Sanshan Zhenren, but thinking of Qi Buyan, he decided to lie anyway, because he believed Qi Buyan would keep his word.
Qi Buyan truly wouldn’t consider any pleas for mercy and could mercilessly cut off his father’s lifeline.
He might even punish him for breaking his promise.
Zhong Liang stared blankly at Qi Buyan.
Qi Buyan felt Zhong Liang’s gaze, paused slightly with the bamboo chopsticks in his hand, stopped eating, looked at him, and smiled. “Do you have something to say?”
He Sui’an was still absorbed in her meal. Upon hearing Qi Buyan speak, she looked up at them with a mouthful of meat.
“It’s nothing,” Zhong Liang replied.
Facing Qi Buyan’s perpetually smiling face, he quickly lowered his head to eat, fearing he might hear the young man say something like, “You’re too ugly; don’t look at me like that, I can’t eat.”
They ate quickly, and after finishing, it was still early. Zhong Liang, bypassing He Sui’an, started to clean up the dishes but glanced at Qi Buyan, seemingly wanting to say something but unsure how to start.
He Sui’an noticed.
She glanced at Qi Buyan and then said to Zhong Liang, “If you have something to say, just say it.”
Zhong Liang tightened his grip on the bowl, finally summoning the courage to ask, “Young Master Qi, you ate so little just now, was it because of me?”
Qi Buyan was looking down at a red snake that had crawled to his feet, which then started to climb up his boot. Hearing this, he looked at Zhong Liang’s face. “Why do you think I ate little because of you?”
“Watching me would ruin your appetite.”
Zhong Liang’s voice was barely audible.
