A little over an hour later, dawn was just beginning to brighten the sky. When Zhang Tie pushed the meal cart back to his room, before he had even entered, he heard faint sobbing from inside. The sobbing stopped abruptly only when he opened the door.
Bai Suxian sat on the bed, hugging a pillow, her face streaked with tears like rain on pear blossoms. She turned her head in startled confusion to look at Zhang Tie as he pushed the cart into the room.
Zhang Tie glanced around the room curiously. There was no one else; everything was exactly as it had been when he left.
"What's wrong?" he asked Bai Suxian in surprise.
"I... I thought that after learning about my past... you despised me, so you left... and didn't want me anymore!" Bai Suxian said, somewhat embarrassed.
"What are you thinking?" Zhang Tie laughed. "I just woke up early today and realized you'd never tasted anything I made, so I went to prepare breakfast for you myself. When I got to the kitchen, the servants in the manor had only just woken up. I made all of this myself, so it definitely can't compare with the manor's chefs..."
As he spoke, Zhang Tie pushed the cart to the bedside and lifted the covers from its compartments. The breakfast he had prepared for Bai Suxian was a fragrant bowl of noodles, some pancakes, and a glass of fruit juice. There was not much, but he had put great care into every item.
Looking at Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian's tears began flowing again. She had never expected that, just when she thought this man had left because he despised her past, he had actually risen early and, for the first time, personally made her breakfast. That thoughtfulness moved her