Suddenly she stopped and tilted her head up to the side. "Brother Pei, are you going too, going to eat?"
"Yeah, I'm going with your eldest sister."
"Then, then can you hold my little fishing rod for me?"
"Huh?"
"I want to fish in Taiye Pool after dinner." Li Wuyan swung her little legs, looking rather happy. "I can fish for ages."
A long, heavy banquet full of grown-ups could be touched into a world of color by a little fishing rod.
"Wouldn't it be fine to carry it yourself?" Pei Ye laughed.
"My instructor won't let me."
"Haha, all right." Pei Ye grinned. "I'll hold it for you."
"..."
"..."
"Brother Pei."
"..."
"Brother Pei!"
"Hm?"
"If I come tomorrow, will I still be able to find you?"
"...I don't know either. I have things keeping me very busy. Sometimes I'm here, sometimes I'm not." Pei Ye was very honest.
"What, what are you busy with? I can be busy with you," Li Wuyan said. "I can help you remember the pools' names."
Pei Ye laughed. "The more you help, the more trouble you make."
"I don't!"
"I'll busy myself with grown-up things, and you busy yourself with little people's things. That's nice."
"What are grown-up things?"
Pei Ye lowered his head to look at her. The little girl's two eyes took up almost half her face. For a moment, he felt dazed: this innocent, unsullied child and all the darkness he was studying in his mind actually existed in the same world... even in the same Palace City.
After a while, he raised a hand and rubbed her head. "Grown-up things mean beating all the bad people away, so all the good people can be happy."
Li Wuyan frowned and nodded. "Where are the bad people?"
"I'm fighting