"Elder Ling, am I being too overbearing?"
Xiao Xun'er tilted her head slightly, gazing at the patch of azure sky above the Small Courtyard as she murmured to herself. A barely perceptible trace of conflict and unease lay hidden in her gentle voice.
Half a year had slipped quietly past, like a white steed flashing through a crack.
Yet the Small Courtyard where the two of them had lived for ten years seemed forgotten by time, remaining just as it had always been.
Every blade of grass and every tree, the stone table and stools-all stood quietly in their old places, holding countless memories of the past.
But now, without that familiar figure, the Small Courtyard felt especially desolate, its silence so deep it made her heart uneasy.
Xiao Xun'er sat alone beside the stone table. Her slender figure looked as frail in the wind as an autumn leaf that might fall at any moment, as though a slightly stronger gust could easily knock her over.
She lowered her head a little, and a few strands of hair slipped down beside her cheeks, hiding her somewhat forlorn expression.
Her hands toyed unconsciously with the hem of her clothes, while her thoughts had long since drifted away to the person who stirred her every emotion.
Whoosh!
Just then, Ling Ying's black-clad figure appeared behind her without a sound, like a ghost.
His entire body was shrouded in a black robe, and a mask concealed his face, making his expression impossible to discern. He seemed not to belong to this world at all, but to be merely a shadow hidden in the darkness.
"Miss, according to my investigation, this was not Young Master Xiao Qian's intention. The Nalan Family acted on their own."
Ling Ying bowed slightly and spoke softly, lowering his