Lu Huaihai raised his brows slightly but said nothing. His gaze swept over the fully-prepared Xie Miao’er, waiting for her to open her mouth and beg him to take her over the wall.
However, this time, he miscalculated again when it came to Xie Miao’er.
Xie Miao’er looked at him expectantly and said, “Shaoye, can you teach me how to climb the wall?”
Every time she saw Lu Huaihai easily vault over the tall wall with just a few movements, she couldn’t help but admire him.
Scaling walls and walking on rooftops—if she could learn even a little of that, it would be amazing!
Hearing her words, a flash of surprise passed through Lu Huaihai’s eyes.
This delicate young lady, who would shed tears as easily as golden beans falling, was not asking him to take her over but actually wanted to climb the wall herself?
For a moment, he felt somewhat fortunate that he hadn’t presumptuously offered to take her over.
To his credit, Lu Huaihai was highly adaptable. Xie Miao’er’s whimsical thoughts no longer shocked him much. He didn’t say much, only responding indifferently with a rhetorical question: “You?”
Noticing that his eyes were fixed on her slender wrists, Xie Miao’er shrank her hands back and said timidly, “I… I want to give it a try.”
Lu Huaihai neither agreed nor objected. The next moment, he suddenly took two steps back, leapt into the air, kicked off the wall at an angle a few times, and in the blink of an eye, he was standing steadily on top of the wall.
Xie Miao’er stared blankly as he turned around, squatted down, and even casually plucked a blade of grass from a crack in the tiles, holding it between his lips.
He said, “I’ve demonstrated. You try.”
The morning sun had just risen behind Lu Huaihai. Xie Miao’er tilted her head to look up at him, taking in his clear silhouette and figure in their entirety.
Lu Huaihai, of course, was also watching her.
For someone like him, well-versed in martial arts, climbing a wall was naturally no big deal. But for someone like her, who couldn’t even wring the neck of a chicken, it was a daunting challenge.
Xie Miao’er took a deep breath and stepped back two paces, imitating his actions…
Next, she should have started scaling the wall. However, Lu Huaihai, squatting on the wall, suddenly saw her turn around and go back into the house?
And then, she and Yue Chuang came back out carrying a set of tables and chairs?
The two of them worked together to stack the furniture. Then, Xie Miao’er held onto the chair’s backrest and, wobbling unsteadily, finally managed to stand in front of Lu Huaihai.
Lu Huaihai was utterly astonished.
After watching how he climbed the wall, Xie Miao’er had only one thought.
There’s no way to learn this!
So, she chose a clumsy method.
The ground beneath the wall was uneven, causing the stacked furniture to wobble. Yue Chuang, standing below to support it, was trembling with fear. Xie Miao’er herself was equally terrified, not daring to straighten her back.
At this moment, this was already the most daring thing she had ever done in her entire life.
A hand reached out in front of her.
Lu Huaihai said, “If you don’t come up now, are you waiting to fall?”
Xie Miao’er had no time to think. The moment she placed her hand in his palm, he grasped her wrist firmly, pulling her upward in one swift motion. With the added momentum, Xie Miao’er kicked her legs against the wall a few times in a flurry and, somehow, managed to climb up as well.
Her hand was soft and delicate, like a fleeting cloud brushing past his palm.
Lu Huaihai quickly let go.
Standing steadily on the wall, Xie Miao’er took a deep breath of the air at this height and immediately thought of her next problem.
Climbing over a wall consisted of two steps.
Step one: getting up the wall. Step two: getting down from the wall.
She had managed to get up, but now… how was she supposed to get down?
Before Xie Miao’er could think it through, the world in front of her suddenly shifted direction—
Lu Huaihai stretched out his long arm, wrapped it around her waist, and tucked her under his arm as he leapt down from the wall with her in tow.
Before her heart had a chance to beat a couple more times, Xie Miao’er found herself already standing steadily on the ground.
Lu Huaihai calmly released her, took a couple of steps forward with his hands clasped behind his back, and said nonchalantly, “Let’s go.”
His sequence of movements was as smooth and effortless as flowing water. Meanwhile, Xie Miao’er, who had finally recovered and caught up to his pace, muttered, “That felt like a hawk catching a chick.”
Lu Huaihai: …
It seemed his earlier concern about her overthinking things had indeed been unnecessary.
It was still early, and there weren’t many pedestrians on the streets. At this hour, the shops that were open were mostly food vendors.
Street vendors and stall owners, seeing the two of them dressed in fine clothing, greeted them warmly:
“Freshly made rice cakes! Want to try some?”
“Yunshui wontons! Ready to eat, any portion you like!”
Even elderly peddlers without fixed stalls were pushing small wooden carts along the streets, selling tofu and soy milk.
The lively and bustling scene, filled with the aroma of all kinds of snacks, was something Xie Miao’er had never experienced before. The enticing smells were like tiny hooks, pulling her gaze left and right.
Lu Huaihai watched her, and she really did resemble a fledgling chick that had just left the nest.
He didn’t dwell on it much, simply assuming she had been cooped up in their small courtyard for too long. He thought to himself that he should let her come out more often in the future.
He asked her, “What do you want to eat?”
Lu Huaihai wasn’t usually interested in eating breakfast, but now that he had her with him, he asked anyway.
Xie Miao’er rubbed her growling stomach through her clothes and said, “Anything is fine.”
Everything smelled so good—she wanted to try it all.
So, the two of them casually found a small roadside stall, sat down, and ordered two bowls of rice cake soup. They also bought two rolls stuffed with bamboo shoots and wood ear mushrooms from a passing vendor with a pushcart.
Lu Huaihai ate with the appetite of a growing seventeen- or eighteen-year-old boy, practically devouring his food. He was at the age where he could eat three bowls of rice in one sitting if hungry, so this small breakfast wasn’t much for him.
He finished early, with nothing else to do, and, out of boredom, began watching Xie Miao’er eat.
Xie Miao’er’s eating habits were far more refined. She scooped a spoonful of rice cake soup, chewed quietly without even puffing her cheeks, swallowed, and then took a bite of the stuffed roll. This cycle repeated itself, and from Lu Huaihai’s observation, the amount of rice cake soup in her bowl seemed to perfectly match the pace of finishing one stuffed roll.
She was like a meticulous little squirrel, rhythmically nibbling on pine nuts and seeds in an orderly fashion.
Of course, Xie Miao’er noticed him watching her. However, since it wasn’t proper to speak while eating, she didn’t ask. When she finally finished eating, wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, and looked up, she asked, “Shaoye, why have you been staring at me this whole time?”
Lu Huaihai idly tapped his knuckles on the table. “Xie Miao, you eat so slowly.”
Xie Miao’er didn’t think so. She replied, “You just eat too fast.”
Hearing them bicker about who was faster, the proprietress of the food stall chuckled.
The proprietress said, “You two are quite amusing as a young couple. Newlyweds, aren’t you?”
Xie Miao’er wanted to explain, but Lu Huaihai had already taken out some silver coins and placed them on the table. “Close enough. Keep the change.”
The rice cake soup only cost a few coins, so the proprietress was all smiles as she pocketed the silver. Seizing the opportunity, she cheerfully called out as the two stood up to leave, “Wishing you a lifetime of happiness together! Come back often!”
Having spent most of her life among the composed and reserved servants and maids in her family’s estate, Xie Miao’er wasn’t used to such warm and lively remarks from a common woman. She felt slightly flustered, her face growing warm.
She asked Lu Huaihai, “Why didn’t you correct her?”
Lu Huaihai had initially wanted to say, “Why would I need to correct her? Was there anything wrong with what she said?”
But he swallowed those words, let them circle around in his mind, and finally said, “It’s too much trouble to explain.”
Xie Miao’er let out a soft “oh.”
Indeed, explaining their relationship to an uninformed passerby would be a hassle. It was easier to let it go.
Lu Huaihai then asked, “Do you still remember how to get to your family’s fabric shop?”
Last night, Xie Miao’er had already sorted through her fuzzy memories, so she quickly nodded and said, “I remember—it’s in the western part of the city.” The Lu family estate was in the east, which was quite far away.
Lu Huaihai said, “Let’s hire a carriage.”
Xie Miao’er followed behind him. Just as they reached a nearby carriage shop and were about to step inside, she suddenly heard someone calling her from behind.
“Miao’er!”
Lu Huaihai turned around at almost the exact same moment as she did.
It was a gentle-looking woman. Xie Miao’er thought for a moment before recalling who she was.
Lifting her skirt slightly, Xie Miao’er smiled as she walked toward her. “Sister Wen!”
The Wen family were neighbors of the Xie family in the alley. Wen Ying, the second eldest daughter of her family, was a few years older than Xie Miao’er. The last time Xie Miao’er sent money to her stepmother in the countryside, it was Wen Ying who had helped deliver it.
Seeing Xie Miao’er unexpectedly, Wen Ying looked her up and down. Noticing her hair styled high in a mature manner, Wen Ying couldn’t help but feel emotional.
Wen Ying said, “You’re…”
She had originally wanted to ask if Xie Miao’er was doing well, but recalling her young neighbor’s circumstances and seeing the tall young man approaching from behind, Wen Ying swallowed her words.
Good or bad, things were as they were now.
Changing the topic, Wen Ying said, “I almost didn’t recognize you when I passed by earlier. You’ve certainly picked up some of the grace of a prominent family.”
Her words were not entirely false. She had indeed hesitated to recognize her just now. But speaking this way in front of Lu Huaihai carried a deliberate note of flattery.
After all, Zhang Duan, that wretched man with merely a hundred-household official for an uncle, had already caused such trouble for the common folk. How much more daunting must a truly powerful family like the Lu family be?
Thinking of Xie Miao’er marrying into the Lu family as a concubine, Wen Ying couldn’t help but feel anxious for her.
The speaker was unintentional, but the listener took it to heart. Wen Ying’s words were carefully registered by Lu Huaihai.
She said she had almost failed to recognize Xie Miao’er.
Lu Huaihai didn’t think Xie Miao’er had undergone any dramatic changes over the past month that would make her unrecognizable, especially to an old acquaintance. To him, the Xie Miao’er he met for the first time and the one he saw this morning felt no different.
He didn’t link his observations to anything supernatural or unusual, but instinctively, he felt something was amiss.
Lu Huaihai couldn’t quite figure it out for the moment and chose to dismiss Wen Ying’s words as mere flattery.
Xie Miao’er, unaware of the thoughts running through his mind, mimicked the way her former self used to speak and said, “I think Second Sister looks even more charming than before.”
Wen Ying had been somewhat boyish in her childhood, often playing the “father” role during pretend games.
Wen Ying laughed softly, feeling amused. However, noticing the subtle expression on Lu Huaihai’s face, she assumed he disliked his concubine lingering with others. She decided not to engage in further pleasantries and instead lowered her voice to share some news directly with Xie Miao’er.
“Did you know? Last night, that scoundrel Zhang Duan died!”
Xie Miao’er knew of Zhang Duan. She had been pondering ways to bring the villain to justice and avenge her father in the future.
And now, he was already dead?
Instinctively, Xie Miao’er turned to glance at Lu Huaihai’s expression.
His face was stern, and a flicker of surprise flashed in his pupils.
Recalling the deed of sale he had handed to her last night, Xie Miao’er’s thoughts stirred, and a suspicion began to take shape in her mind.