"You go on."
"You said there was a beetle on the ground..."
"And then?"
Xie Chuchu looked curious.
Xiao Xiao's lips curled.
"Then, so it could leave the shop safely, I gave it a little help."
Huh?
Help?
Xie Chuchu froze.
A flash of insight struck Chi Xiuke.
"So Master Xiao helped it by holding the door open?"
"Mm."
Master Xiao nodded slightly.
"I thought the shopkeeper wouldn't be happy with it in the shop."
"And it wouldn't be happy either."
"So I helped it get out."
Xie Chuchu: ...
She couldn't help rubbing her ears.
Had she heard that right?
That reason...
Was he really not brushing her off?
But Master Xiao's expression was so natural and casual...
And she couldn't think of any reason he would lie to her...
Besides, even if Master Xiao really was hiding something from her, so what?
What right—or, rather, what standing—did she have to demand that he tell her the truth?
After all, whatever he was hiding surely had nothing to do with her.
Uh...
Of course.
The idea that Master Xiao was hiding something was only her guess.
Maybe what he'd said really was the truth.
Though it sounded like a joke...
"Oh..."
Xie Chuchu replied rather awkwardly.
"So that's what happened."
"Master Xiao..."
"...you're such a kind person."
After racking her brains for a while, she finally managed to come up with that one heartfelt comment.
He'd actually held the door for a beetle.
It sounded... like something you'd hear as a joke in a conversation between neighbors.
And yet it was true.
Putting aside her doubts, Xie Chuchu decided to believe Master Xiao.
"Thank you."
Xiao Xiao's lips curled. "It was nothing."
Xie Chuchu pinched her cheek.
This sort