But the light from outside only shone into the wardrobe for a brief moment. Qi Shu said something that drew Bian Yichen’s attention away.
Without even glancing at the wardrobe that had been slightly opened, he closed it with a backhanded motion.
Bian Yichen smiled and said, “I’ll go with you.” Qi Shu had said, “I want to go for a walk,” in her usual indifferent tone.
However, since Qi Shu rarely said such things proactively, Bian Yichen should have sensed something was wrong. Instead, he seemed immersed in the joy of her saying a few extra words, not thinking of anything else, just wanting to accompany her.
Bian Yichen supported Qi Shu as they left.
The door opened and closed in an instant, silently.
Curled up in the wardrobe, He Sui’an blinked. Although Qi Buyan was still curious about her little bundle of energy, he didn’t poke or prod her further. He opened the wardrobe door and jumped out.
He Sui’an imitated him, also jumping out like Qi Buyan did. The wardrobe was half her height, and the door wasn’t far from the ground. Her short legs barely reached, making her movements appear somewhat clumsy.
Qi Buyan didn’t look at He Sui’an, opened the door, and walked out by himself.
She followed closely behind.
Qi Buyan returned to his room, placed the large spider in his hand into a glass jar, then checked on his other insects and snakes, feeding them as if he had forgotten about He Sui’an following him.
He Sui’an tried hard not to look at the strange insects and snakes, anxiously watching Qi Buyan’s back. The little boy’s thin braid wasn’t very long yet, adorned with silver ornaments, just reaching his waist.
When he needed to raise his hand to feed the insects and snakes, the butterfly silver bracelet on his wrist jingled lightly.
He Sui’an got tired and squatted on the ground.
She propped her chubby cheeks with her hands, looking up at Qi Buyan, who was still standing.
The large spider in the glass jar had somehow crawled out. Its eight thin legs moved quickly, supporting its somewhat large body. Its black skin had ugly patterns.
The spider crawled to He Sui’an’s feet. She remained unaware, still rubbing her legs. She had curled up in the wardrobe without daring to move much, causing her legs to feel uncomfortable.
As she kept rubbing, she felt something touch her hand.
She looked down.
The spider had climbed up her leg, and if she hadn’t been rubbing her leg or if the spider hadn’t had to climb over her leg, she probably wouldn’t have noticed it.
He Sui’an, already timid, became even more fearful as she grew smaller. Her eyes went black, and she fainted instantly.
Five or six-year-old He Sui’an had been scared unconscious by a spider as big as her hand.
Some insects and snakes are terrifying even from a distance, let alone when they crawl on you. Not long ago, He Sui’an didn’t dare to look at the large spider Qi Buyan caught. Now, she had fainted directly.
While Qi Buyan was still feeding the insects and snakes, he suddenly heard a thudding sound behind him. Turning around, he saw He Sui’an lying motionless on the floor, the large spider still on her calf.
Qi Buyan removed the spider.
He Sui’an’s small face was deathly pale, her tiny hands hanging by her sides, utterly still.
He squatted down and gently pushed her, but she didn’t respond. Qi Buyan put the spider back in its place and then looked at her for a long time, his eyes carefully scanning her eyes, nose, and mouth.
There were some similarities between this person and the insects and snakes Qi Buyan usually saw. For instance, those creatures liked to follow him, and so did she.
Whenever this happened, he would catch the insects and put them in the glass jar.
Without exception, always the same.
Since she had followed him back, she was his now. But what about this little girl…
Qi Buyan glanced at the glass jar.
She wouldn’t fit.
He didn’t think about it for long and decided to move He Sui’an to the nearby Luohan bed.
However, they were both just a few years old, and Qi Buyan couldn’t lift someone his own age. He ended up dragging and pulling her over.
He Sui’an remained unconscious.
After moving her, he leaned over the Luohan bed to look at the still unconscious He Sui’an, his thin braid and loose hair falling over his shoulder, brushing against the bed and mingling with her long braid and red silk cord.
Qi Buyan suddenly raised his hand and pinched He Sui’an’s nose. She couldn’t breathe and instinctively slapped him, but she didn’t wake up.
He let go.
This person was still alive.
People Bian Yichen brought back would soon die, but she wasn’t brought back by Bian Yichen, so he didn’t know if she would survive. Qi Buyan, however, inexplicably wanted to keep her and wasn’t angry about her slapping his hand red.
He continued to watch her.
He watched for half an hour.
Being with a living stranger was normal for ordinary people, but very rare for him, at least for now.
The two children sharing a Luohan bed wasn’t cramped, after all, they were still small.
Qi Buyan, after watching for a while, closed his eyes and fell asleep, his breathing steady. He Sui’an unconsciously turned over, facing him.
With a “creak,” Qi Shu opened the door, her eyes anxious. She had just returned to the room, opened the wardrobe, and didn’t see Qi Buyan or the little girl, so she came here to check if they were there.
Qi Shu needed to send the little girl away before Bian Yichen returned to the wooden house.
She had lied to get him out of the way.
When Qi Shu pushed the door open, she saw them lying on the Luohan bed, asleep, just like ordinary children who had played together until they were tired, napping without a care.
This somewhat heartwarming scene made Qi Shu momentarily dazed, but only for a second. She decisively walked over, reaching across the Luohan bed where little Qi Buyan was lying, to pick up He Sui’an.
Even adults shouldn’t stay here for long.
Let alone children.
A defenseless child is no different from an animal brought in to be slaughtered.
The moment she picked up He Sui’an, Qi Shu noticed something was wrong. Looking down, she saw that He Sui’an’s hair was tangled with Qi Buyan’s. More precisely, it had been braided together, clearly his handiwork.
Since Qi Buyan could remember, he had been teaching himself how to braid hair. Today, it seemed, in his boredom, he had braided the little girl’s hair together with his own.
Qi Shu had no time or patience to untangle their hair, so she decided to cut it with scissors.
As Qi Shu put down He Sui’an to find the scissors, Qi Buyan woke up. He looked at Qi Shu, then at He Sui’an, who was still oblivious to what was happening around her.
Qi Shu returned with the scissors to the Luohan bed. Seeing Qi Buyan’s open eyes startled her, causing her to hesitate briefly, but she quickly raised the scissors to cut their hair.
Suddenly, Qi Buyan grabbed her hand.
His small hand could only hold half of hers.
Qi Shu whispered, “Let go.”
Qi Buyan didn’t let go.
Unbelieving and impatient, she shook off his hand and resumed cutting.
Out of nowhere, Qi Buyan snatched the scissors from her hand and held them to He Sui’an’s delicate neck. “She’s mine. You can’t take her away, mother.”
Qi Shu hadn’t expected Qi Buyan to take the scissors, otherwise, she wouldn’t have let him get them.
“What are you doing?” Qi Shu cried out.
Qi Buyan, with his youthful face, simply repeated, “She’s mine.” Just like the insects in the glass jar, she was his.
Qi Shu took a deep breath, trying not to hurt him, showing rare patience with her son, “Give her to me. Your father… Bian Yichen will be back soon.”
He refused.
Qi Buyan would rather stick the scissors into He Sui’an’s neck and let her die than let Qi Shu take her. When a child wants something, they can become stubborn, and he was even more so.
Seeing the scissors pressed tightly against He Sui’an, Qi Shu’s eyebrows twitched violently, “Qi Buyan, I’ll say it one more time, give her to me.”
“Not giving her to you.”
Qi Buyan didn’t obey her.
His childish voice was soft and gentle, but it was also very aggravating.
Qi Shu, already frail, felt so angry that she could barely stand. She wished she could throw him out. After all, Qi Buyan had always had a tough life; no matter how she had neglected him in the past, he had miraculously survived.
If it weren’t for Qi Buyan holding the scissors to He Sui’an, Qi Shu would have forcibly taken her away.
Just as Qi Shu was feeling helpless, the door opened again. Her heart sank, and her body went stiff. She couldn’t speak and, for a moment, didn’t want to turn around to see who had entered.
But who else could it be?
There was no one else within miles.
There was only one possibility left—Bian Yichen, who had returned.
Though the weather was hot, Qi Shu felt a chill rise from her feet, spreading through her entire body, freezing her in place.
Bian Yichen casually closed the door and walked over to her side, seemingly ignoring the little girl on the Luohan bed. “Ah Shu, why are you in his room? Didn’t I tell you to wait in our room for me to come back?”
Qi Shu’s eyelashes trembled, her gaze fixed on the Luohan bed, unable to look away.
Qi Buyan put down the scissors.
At that moment, He Sui’an woke up. She raised her chubby hand to rub her eyes, still groggy, and looked blankly at Qi Shu and Bian Yichen standing in the room, like a confused little doll.
When He Sui’an realized that Bian Yichen was also there, she quickly tried to move further into the Luohan bed, but her hair seemed to be pulled.
Turning her head, she saw a braid made from both her hair and Qi Buyan’s hair.
Part of the hair was naturally hers.
The other part was Qi Buyan’s.
He Sui’an only remembered fainting from the large spider. She had no idea what happened after she fainted, including when their hair had been braided together.
But that wasn’t the main issue. The main issue was that Bian Yichen had discovered her.
She was scared.
He Sui’an looked at Qi Buyan.
Qi Buyan was looking down at their intertwined braid. Feeling her gaze, he slowly raised his eyes, his pupils reflecting her clearly, filled with curiosity about this new situation.
Bian Yichen seemed to notice the little girl in Qi Buyan’s room for the first time. He chuckled softly, sounding both reproachful and indulgent, “Ah Shu, did you send me away because of her?”
Qi Shu remained silent.
He continued slowly, “Your actions truly hurt my feelings.”
Bian Yichen’s gaze swept over the Luohan bed. He was outwardly attractive and highly deceptive; his good looks concealed his inherently malicious nature: “A-Shu, are you afraid I’ll do something to her?”
Qi Buyan seemed not to hear their conversation, sitting on the Luohan bed like a delicate doll, emotionless, next to the bewildered He Sui’an.
He played with her fingers.
Could they be broken?
Would they make a sound, like when he broke the limbs of insects?
But they were so soft, almost boneless.
Probably not.
Qi Buyan interlaced his fingers with He Sui’an’s and brought their hands up to examine them closely. He often developed sudden interests.
He Sui’an: “…”
Bian Yichen walked towards them.
Qi Shu wanted to move, but Bian Yichen quickly struck a pressure point, immobilizing her. He then tidied her slightly disheveled hair and took a few steps to the Luohan bed.