Early the next morning, Annie got up.
"Ah-oh..."
?(?′0`?)?
"Mm..."
(っ?-?)
"..."
(??′?`?)?
She had no choice but to get up.
After all, this was just a dilapidated temple. It was damp and full of mosquitoes and insects, spiders had spun webs all over the rooms, and the birds outside had been chirping and fluttering around the windows since before dawn. On top of that, the paper-thin doors and windows let in drafts and light from every direction. As far as the surroundings went, it was certainly no place to sleep in.
"Why'd you get up so early to go play the flute?"
(′~`●)
"Honestly!"
???(＿＿*)??
Besides, the moment Annie opened her eyes, she noticed that the pretty young lady she had casually rescued last night—Shi Qingxuan—was no longer on the other bed in the room. In her place, mournful, plaintive notes from a xiao drifted in from outside?
And there was no one else alive in this dilapidated temple on the mountain besides the two of them, so it was obvious who was making all that noise.
"Is she at the back of the mountain?"
(??????)????
"Well, all right!"
?(?)?
After figuring out where the "noise" was coming from, Annie pushed open the door and followed the sound, wandering toward the deserted back mountain behind the temple.
Soon!
"Huh?"
Σ(°△°|||)︴
Before long, the xiao fell silent. By a forest stream behind the temple, in the glow of the morning light, Annie saw:
The pretty young lady, Shi Qingxuan, was sitting at ease on a clean Blackstone by the stream, combing her long, damp hair, which seemed to have been washed only recently. At the same time, her bare feet were dipped in the chilly water, gently splashing it about, just as Annie, Her Majesty the Queen, liked to do.