Dinner was the wild pheasant Xiong Batian had cured. Wen Ning had been craving it ever since the last time he had tried it.
As for Zhang Siyu, she polished off two heaping bowls of rice. This was probably the most satisfying meal she had ever eaten.
She looked much more energetic once she was full.
But Wen Ning noticed that she still seemed a little distracted while eating.
Her thoughts were probably still at war. Everything she had seen that day must have reshaped her entire view of the world.
After dinner, Wen Ning and Xiong Batian sat talking in the courtyard.
Xiao Ya cleaned up the dishes in the kitchen.
Zhang Siyu sat on the doorstep for a while. With no one talking to her, she grew terribly bored.
She stood up and said she wanted to go for a walk and spend some time alone.
Wen Ning glanced at her.
"You don't know the mountain paths. Don't go too far."
Hearing her, Xiao Ya poked her head out of the kitchen and wiped the water off her hands.
"There's a bamboo grove to the south and a Pond to the north. Neither is far. Don't go deeper into the mountains. Some of the paths are hard to navigate at night."
Zhang Siyu nodded, shouldered her backpack, and pushed open the courtyard gate.
The moon was bright that night, lighting the mountain paths clearly.
Zhang Siyu walked slowly along the gravel path Xiao Ya had mentioned, her mind a jumble.
She remembered everything her master had taught her, then recalled how cautiously Xiong Batian had served her food at dinner, how Xiao Ya had casually wiped the soup splashed on the edge of her bowl while filling it, and how Granny Hedgehog had gently pushed mountain raspberries toward