"I figured it out."
Xie Xinghan set down the note, her expression calm.
Xiao Ning's voice trembled with astonishment:
"You really figured it out, my lady?!"
Xie Xinghan lowered her lashes, her fingers tightening slightly:
"I should have figured it out long ago. This riddle was meant for me in the first place, with just the right difficulty. That fellow deliberately made it tricky so I couldn't solve it ahead of time. Only after hearing the details of the delegation's ambush could I uncover the answer. It's just..."
Xie Xinghan stopped speaking.
Xiao Ning asked curiously, "It's just what?"
It's just that my earlier guesses had worn away my confidence. Then the terrible news threw my heart into chaos, and all I could think about was how to save him. I had even less attention to spare for riddles. Otherwise, it wouldn't have taken until today...
Xie Xinghan decided to lie and said softly:
"It's just that he made the riddle too hard, so I couldn't work it out right away."
Xiao Ning looked puzzled. "Huh? You just said the difficulty was exactly right-"
Xie Xinghan raised her voice:
"Do you want to hear the answer or not?"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
Xiao Ning immediately stopped asking questions.
Xie Xinghan gently smoothed the creases in the note with her fingertips and read it out, word by word:
"'Dew hangs heavy; let it turn back, unlike light catkins flying past the curtain.' 'Dew hangs heavy; let it turn back' has two layers of meaning. In the first, dew stands for tears. So it means tears hang heavy; let them turn back-telling me to hold back my tears and not cry. Hmph! Who would cry?" Xie Xinghan snorted.
"But earlier, my lady-"
"Do you want to hear this or not?!"
Xiao Ning immediately