Xiao Xiao found a spot behind a tree and sat down, then set the bag of books beside him.
"Lord Xiao Xiao, the letter!"
Du was already getting impatient. It rose up and craned its neck, peering at the envelope in Xiao Xiao's hand.
"All right."
Xiao Xiao understood how Du felt.
He said nothing more, simply reached out, took out the letter, and unfolded it.
"I want to see! I want to see!"
Du kept wriggling, almost bouncing with excitement.
Xiao Xiao placed the letter in front of Du.
Du stretched out its head. "Du."
It recognized the first character.
"What's wrong?"
Noticing that Du seemed somewhat dispirited, Xiao Xiao asked in confusion.
Du nudged the letter with its head and lowered its own. Its voice grew even quieter, tinged with embarrassment and awkwardness. "Lord Xiao Xiao, could I trouble you to read this letter to me?"
"I don't know many human characters."
The few characters it did know were ones the old man had taught it over the years.
But when the old man had taught it to read, he had always used characters printed in newspapers.
Each stroke had been clear and distinct.
The handwriting in this letter, however, was very messy.
Du had stared at it for ages and still couldn't make out more than a few characters.
"All right."
Xiao Xiao's eyes curved slightly.
He picked up the letter.
The handwriting was terribly messy, almost like a bunch of random scrawls.
But when he remembered that the old man had written the letter while in extremely poor health, the handwriting was easy enough to understand.
Just managing to finish the letter had already been no small feat for the old man. It was impressive.
"Du..."
Xiao Xiao began softly.
"I'm very sorry