Well, the moment she heard that, how could Qiuju not realize that the young man before her was the Zhang Xiaohua from back then?
She covered her mouth and laughed, stepping aside as she said, "Xiaohua, hurry in."
Zhang Xiaohua smiled and entered Qiuju's room.
The layout of the Inner Courtyard rooms was clearly different from the little room Zhang Xiaohua had lived in before. If one entered the room and immediately found a heated brick bed for sleeping, Qiuju naturally would not have let Zhang Xiaohua come in so late at night. This was plainly a small room resembling a sitting room, with a little table in the middle and stools arranged around it. Zhang Xiaohua came in and casually found a stool to sit on. Qiuju picked up a teapot from beside her, poured him a cup of hot tea, and handed it over with a smile. "Xiaohua, have some hot tea first and warm yourself up."
Zhang Xiaohua reached out and accepted it, took a small sip, and was about to set it down when Qiuju said, "Don't put it down. Just hold it like that—it'll warm your hands too."
Zhang Xiaohua froze for a moment, then smiled. "Sister Qiuju really is thoughtful."
Though he was unaffected by heat or cold, he still held the cup in both hands. Just as he was about to speak, Qiuju said, "Xiaohua, where have you been these past few years? I remember, five years ago, Sister Qiutong said you had gone missing and were killed by a band of mountain bandits. Hee hee, I'm not trying to mock you, Xiaohua, but you studied martial arts under Captain He for quite some time, and yet you couldn't even beat a bunch of bandits?"
Seeing Zhang Xiaohua return safely without missing an