"I thought you would understand." He looked into the distance, the mad killing intent in his eyes long gone. "If Mu Li and I really die there, the person who will suffer the most in this world will probably be you, right?"
Yin Wuxiao was speechless, never expecting such a reason.
She dared not face him when he woke up, so she immediately left Baili Mansion and returned to the capital, forbidding anyone in Baili Mansion from revealing a single word to him.
She hated him for promising to come back to her but failing to do so.
She resented that he treated her with such tenderness and care, yet never revealed his true feelings for her.
She hated him for using her to resolve the feuds in the martial arts world, yet not sparing her his life to explain things to her.
She hated him and her parents, who, like Aunt Nan, presumptuously sacrificed their own lives to fulfill her wishes.
It was this hatred that enabled her to quickly heal her injuries and save Baili Qingyi's life. She repaid everything she owed him, and from then on, the two had no further connection.
She thought she hated him, but as she hated him more and more, she truly didn't know what she hated about him. In that moment of falling off the Seven Cliffs, between life and death, hadn't she become indifferent to everything?
She thought she was afraid. She had always been the one who came and went freely, but Baili Qingyi had come and gone from her side repeatedly. She didn't know when he would leave again, whether he would only be gone for a short while, or if he would be gone forever.
All she knew was that she simply couldn't face Baili Qingyi at that moment.
Everything in this world has its traces, but the word "love" is something that can never be fully understood, no matter how hard one tries.
Suddenly there was a knocking sound outside the door; someone was knocking.
Yun'er would never knock on the door, and besides, she is always obedient and must already be asleep.
"Who?" she asked blankly, her hand clutching a delicate dagger from the drawer.
The voice outside the door was low and soft.
"Xiao'er".
Her jade-like face suddenly paled, and the hand gripping the dagger slowly relaxed, then tightened again, then relaxed once more.
Chapter Twenty-Six: Where is the Mirror Reflected? (Part Three)
Yin Wuxiao couldn't help but get up, his fingertips touching the door panel, but he quickly withdrew them as if he had been burned.
"What...what are you doing here?"
"Xiao'er, I want to see you." The voice outside the door was soft and gentle, yet extremely direct.
"Go away, I don't want to see you." She suppressed her racing heartbeat.
"Why don't you want to see me?" The person outside the door patiently played a question-and-answer game with her.
"It's too late."
Baili Qingyi stood outside the door, startled. She was truly panicked, even resorting to such a pretext.
"Xiao'er, I just wanted to see you, to see if you were doing well."
"I'm fine, you don't need to look anymore. I... I'm going to sleep now, young master in blue, you should leave quickly." Her tone became hurried.
Baili Qingyi remained silent for a moment.
"Xiao'er, are you angry with me?"
"Why would I be angry with you?" Yin Wuxiao forced a smile. His hand was clenched tightly in front of his chest. Didn't this person realize how much their conversation through the door resembled a young couple arguing?
"But you don't want to see me." There was a hint of resentment in her voice.
"..." After going around in circles for so long, we've come full circle. Yin Wuxiao was exasperated, and roared with a sharp, forceful aura:
"Do I have to give a reason if I don't want to see someone?"
It was quiet outside the door, and there was no response for a long time.
He's gone?
Yin Wuxiao's heart skipped a beat. On one hand, he felt much relieved because of his departure, but on the other hand, he blamed himself for being too harsh.
Just when she was certain that he had given up on leaving, another soft sigh came from outside the door.
"Xiao'er, don't you really want to see me? Don't you want to know if I'm alright, if I've fully recovered?"
“You…” Yin Wuxiao’s heart tightened at the weakness revealed in his words. After hesitating for a moment, she finally couldn’t help but ask.
"Are you fully recovered?"
She should be better now, Doctor Xuan assured her, patting his chest.
But... how long has it been since he woke up? How could he have appeared in the capital so quickly? And why isn't Physician Xuan by his side?
"Why don't you open the door and see for yourself?" Baili Qingyi coaxed, as if treating a vulnerable child.
Yin Wuxiao closed her eyes. Yes, how could she be at ease, how could she truly erase him from her heart, if she didn't see him with her own eyes? Just one look, just one look...
She flung the door open with a whoosh. She couldn't resist after all.
However, after just one glance, she froze, and tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
"You...your legs..." she said, her voice trembling as she pointed at his wheelchair. How could this be? Doctor Xuan clearly said there was no problem, that he could recover completely, so why is this happening now?
Baili Qingyi, however, was smiling. Her tears proved something, and that pleased him. He turned his wheelchair with both hands and entered the room with an air of grandeur.
Yin Wuxiao had long forgotten to stop him; she followed behind him, only to see him turn around and stare at her intently.
"Xiao'er, I am already blessed to have the life to watch over you here." He said this from the bottom of his heart, but that great blessing did not come from heaven, but from her.
“But…” Yin Wuxiao slowly knelt down beside him, her trembling hands wanting to touch his legs, but not knowing where to begin. She couldn’t accept him in a wheelchair. He was such a person with broad arms, such a towering figure, such a person whom everyone in the martial arts world wanted to rely on, yet now he had to rely on a wheelchair to support his own world.
"Xiao'er, I've come all this way and I'm exhausted. Can I stay here for the night?" Baili Qingyi remained as gentle and composed as ever, but her gaze carefully drifted to the side.
Yin Wuxiao hesitated for a moment. She wanted to tell him that she didn't intend to have any further involvement with him, that she planned to pretend she had never known him, but looking at him like this, she couldn't bring herself to say it, and instead, tears welled up in her eyes.
“Okay,” she said.
"But..." Baili Qingyi was still not satisfied, "I am extremely hungry..."
“But… Yun’er has fallen asleep, and the cook doesn’t live in the mansion either…” Wiping away his tears, Yin Wuxiao twisted his hands in distress.
"I see..." Baili Qingyi looked like she didn't want to make things difficult for him.
Yin Wuxiao softened again. "You rest for a while, I'll go to the kitchen and make you some porridge."
"You?" Baili Qingyi's eyes lit up as she looked at the mountain of account books. "But those..."
"It's alright, we can look at it later." Yin Wuxiao forced a smile.
"But..." Baili Qingyi looked at him with distrust, "You really know how to do it?"
Yin Wuxiao glared at him: "I'll eat you to death!"
Waking up amidst a pile of account books in the early morning, Yin Wuxiao's first reaction was to rush to the bedside.
On the single bed prepared for her to rest in the study, a man in a blue robe was curled up in a slightly crowded manner, his eyes closed, his eyelashes thick and long, and his thin lips slightly parted with his breathing, as sleepy as a child.
Yin Wuxiao let out a soft breath, then suddenly frowned. How could the thin blanket she had personally covered him with last night have vanished? Looking back, she saw a pile of blankets wrapped around her under the chair behind the desk.
Could it be that after she fell asleep at her desk last night, this idiot secretly got up and covered her with the thin blanket?
She shook her head, turned around and called Yun'er over.
Yun'er brought in a basin of water to wash her face and saw a man sleeping on her young mistress's bed. She was so startled that she almost knocked the basin over.
"Miss!" She knew that her mistress was no ordinary person. Before entering the manor, she had heard many shocking rumors about her mistress, but this was the first time she had ever seen such a scene!
Yin Wuxiao quickly took the basin of water from her hand, glared at her to signal her not to disturb Baili Qingyi's sleep, and then pulled her out the door to give her detailed instructions.
"Have Aunt Zhou make some warm and nourishing porridge and soup and send it over later. Also, when Steward Li comes to pick up yesterday's report, let him wait in the hall and don't invite him into the study."
Yun'er nodded, suppressing the myriad questions in her heart.
"But..." There was one question she had to ask. "Miss, what kind of nourishing porridge or soup?" Although she was still a young girl, she had heard her aunts and older women talk about it... "Is it something like tiger penis or bull penis?"
Yin Wuxiao was taken aback, and after a moment, she realized what she had done, her face already flushed red. "I'll beat you up, you little brat who talks nonsense!"
"Huh?" Yun'er took a step back in fright, looking utterly innocent.
Yin Wuxiao glared at her, but couldn't really vent his anger on her: "It's just... a regular tonic! If you don't know, ask Aunt Zhou!"
This girl, I wonder what she's thinking!
She pushed open the door and returned to the room, only to see that Baili Qingyi had already gotten up and was sitting properly in her wheelchair, smiling at her.
Had he overheard their conversation outside the door? Yin Wuxiao blushed again.
"How are you feeling?" He spent the night on the small couch without any cover; I wonder if he caught a chill.
“That would be perfect.” Baili Qingyi replied calmly, his dark eyes fixed on her, staring at her without any restraint.
Yin Wuxiao felt very uncomfortable under his gaze and quickly changed the subject again.
"Why didn't you call me when you wanted to get up? Wasn't it extra hard for you to move from the couch to the chair by yourself?" Last night, it took her a lot of effort to move him from the wheelchair to the bed.
A thought suddenly struck her.
So, last night when he covered her with the blanket, he had to get into his wheelchair first before he could reach her and cover her with the blanket. Given how inconvenient he was last night, how could he have gotten in and out of the wheelchair without waking her? Besides, he looks completely relaxed now, showing no signs of the effort he had put into getting off the bed.
Was all that hard work just an act for her, and was he actually not that inconvenient? Or... did he completely deceive her?
Yin Wuxiao turned her face away, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. It's not that she's suspicious; it's just that most people in this world are untrustworthy, and men even less so.
"Sigh, I can do it myself, why bother you?" Baili Qingyi sighed softly at this moment.
Yin Wuxiao stared at him; his attitude was extremely sincere, yet seemingly genuine. She happened to see the leftover bowls and plates from last night's porridge still on the coffee table, and a plan formed in her mind.
"Look at me, I forgot to ask Yun'er to take away this bowl and plate." She reached out to pick up the leftover porridge, but accidentally dropped it, causing the bowl to fall off the plate and spill the porridge onto Baili Qingyi's clean blue robe.
"Ah!" Yin Wuxiao exclaimed, watching helplessly as Baili Qingyi was splashed all over, with a few drops even hitting her usually calm and gentle face.
"You..." Why didn't you dodge? She didn't say the words out loud. Looking at his disheveled appearance, she felt a pang of annoyance and quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe him.
"Xiao'er, do you suspect that I'm faking my disability to gain your sympathy?" Baili Qingyi let her wipe her face without flinching, but her words were sharp and to the point.
"I...I'm sorry." Even though she still harbored doubts about him, seeing him like this, she couldn't help but feel extremely guilty. If he wasn't faking it, then what she did would indeed hurt his pride.
"Miss, Miss! The porridge is here!" Yun'er shouted as she entered, holding a steaming bowl of porridge in her hands. She felt uneasy. Sure enough, she tripped over the threshold as soon as she entered.
"Ouch!" Yun'er screamed as the bowl of porridge hurtled right towards their young mistress. She couldn't bear to watch...
The bowl of porridge crashed to the ground, but the expected cry of pain from being scalded did not rang out.