The night breeze was cool.
Jiang Yanchuan stood in the courtyard, which had fallen quiet again, and gazed silently into the deep night sky beyond, his eyes flickering with the starlight.
After a long while, a faint sigh sounded in the courtyard, barely audible and almost indistinguishable from the breeze drifting past.
He could still see traces of Jiang Silin in Guan Zhili's face.
Especially when half his face disappeared into the darkness of night, revealing contours so much like Jiang Silin's.
Looking at that face for too long inevitably brought back memories of when they had all been half-grown children.
Jiang Silin had once loved clinging to him, too, just like the little one did now. Wherever he went, a tiny figure would stumble along behind him.
Those once-hazy memories had grown vivid again in recent days, and he could not help feeling a little sorrow.
Creak-
The sudden sound of a wooden door opening behind him broke the silence. Jiang Yanchuan gathered his emotions and turned to look at the woman by the door, her eyes red from crying.
Qiu Suxin wiped away her tears and bent to kneel. "This commoner, Qiu Suxin-"
Jiang Yanchuan raised a hand, stopping the rest of her words.
Qiu Suxin paused briefly, but still insisted on completing her kneeling obeisance.
Jiang Yanchuan turned back. "Rise."
When she remained kneeling, looking at him with reddened eyes as though she wanted to speak but could not, Jiang Yanchuan sighed softly. "I know what happened between you and Jiang Silin."
Qiu Suxin's lashes trembled slightly. Only then did she lift her head and look at him, her expression dazed.
Jiang Yanchuan's gaze passed over the woman's tear-reddened eyes and settled on the half-shadow cast onto the ground through the gap in the door. A barely