"Xueyi, what does the letter say?"
Seeing Xueyi suddenly behave this way, Xing Yan's curiosity surged, and he asked again.
At his question, the Plum Spirit, her face flushed with rosy clouds, grew even more nervous. Instinctively, she pressed the letter tightly between her hands and covered it firmly, as though terrified he might snatch it away.
"Er!"
Seeing her so embarrassed, Xing Yan instead felt a little apologetic. From her reaction, the letter clenched in her hands almost certainly contained private confidences from Ling Yier. If that was the case, it was hardly decent of him to pursue these girls' private matters so eagerly.
With that thought, he smiled awkwardly and prepared to turn away.
But just then, the woman who had always obeyed his every wish finally came to her senses. Remembering his question about the letter, she dared not truly defy him, despite her thousand shades of embarrassment and ten thousand feelings of shyness. Her face crimson, she edged toward him with painfully difficult steps, head lowered and face abashed, and handed him the letter with trembling, delicate hands. The instant Xing Yan took it, she startled as though stung by an insect, spun around, and suddenly became extraordinarily fleet-footed. She darted into the bamboo grove to the west and leaned against its tallest green stalk, covering her face with both hands, her lovely head lowered until it nearly buried itself against her chest!
"Er..."
"Now I really must see what's written in this letter!"
Feeling that Xueyi's behavior today was decidedly strange, Xing Yan put everything else aside, quickly unfolded the letter, and read it without standing on ceremony.
The sun had risen above the eastern ridge. Golden sunlight slanted down, illuminating the rocky cliff and its swaying bamboo shadows until they looked as lovely as