"How have these six months in the Divine Capital been?"
"...Pretty good, Senior Ying. I've been working under His Highness the Crown Prince."
Ying Suyu nodded and looked up at him. Her voice was clear and lovely. "When you first arrived in the Divine Capital, I exchanged letters with her. I knew you wanted to stay here. If ever you're unhappy, come join the Shenxiao Sect. Yin'er is my only successor. It would be good for you two to be senior brother and junior sister."
This was their first meeting. Pei Ye was still unfamiliar with this face when he suddenly heard those words. They ought to have felt somewhat forward, but her tone was gentle and calm, her sincerity unmistakable, and the bamboo grove in the little courtyard was so quiet that, for a moment, Pei Ye felt an illusion of great closeness.
Pei Ye nodded. "No... Senior Ying, I'm not unhappy. These days in the Divine Capital have been wonderful. His Highness the Crown Prince treats me very well, too."
Ying Suyu nodded, then studied him again, as though trying to find some trace on this wholly unrelated face.
In the end, however, she found nothing. She withdrew her gaze and gestured. "Please sit."
She turned her head. "Yin'er, go on ahead. I have some things to discuss with your family friend."
"Yes."
Jiang Yiner left. Pei Ye sat down on a round stone seat. There was neither a table nor tea; he simply sat beside this Shenxiao Dao Chief.
"I thought you would be more handsome. Yin'er said there were a great many girls around you." Ying Suyu smiled gently.
"..." Caught off guard, Pei Ye stammered, "No, no... They're all, all friends... Yin'er knows that, too."
"I know. I wasn't calling you a dissolute young master.