Tushan Jingci ran on without stopping.
The evening sun behind her cast a long, long slanting shadow that swayed gently with the rhythm of the young girl's running figure.
And the moment she ran into the bamboo grove, her steps slowed of their own accord.
"What did I even come running here for?"
Tushan Jingci felt herself suddenly uncertain, not quite knowing what she was doing.
She had only felt a panic in her heart, a need to see Xiao Mo, an unwillingness to leave Xiao Mo and Elder Sister Liu Shui together but now that she had actually run to the bamboo courtyard, a twinge of regret rose in her.
Tushan Jingci suddenly realized, even if she went in, what then?
What if Xiao Mo and Elder Sister Liu Shui had truly come together? What could she do?
Was she going to stop them?
She walked forward without quite meaning to, her thoughts tumbling over one another.
Without realizing it, she had arrived at the outside of Xiao Mo's bamboo courtyard.
Tushan Jingci raised her head and caught sight of Xiao Mo and Liu Shui inside at a single glance. She gave a start and immediately darted behind several bamboo stalks, using her innate divine ability to conceal her presence.
The young girl's slender hand rested lightly against a bamboo stalk, her body hidden in the shadows of the bamboo, watching the two people in the courtyard with unblinking eyes. Her heart knocked away inside her chest, each beat faster than the last.
Her hands around the bamboo stalk tightened and tightened, the tips of her fingers going faintly pale, afraid that Xiao Mo and Liu Shui might do something intimate.
Tushan Jingci very much wanted to hear what the two of them were saying, but a formation had been laid in the courtyard that prevented divine sense from detecting anything inside. She could not hear a single word, and the anxiety in her heart grew worse and worse, like a flame being fanned.
A short time later, Tushan Jingci saw Xiao Mo step back, and give Liu Shui a deep, respectful bow.
Liu Shui, standing before Xiao Mo, looked dazed and fixed to the spot, her small hands gripping her sleeves tight, as though quietly waiting for Xiao Mo to say whatever he was going to say.
And when Xiao Mo seemed to have finished speaking, Tushan Jingci saw clearly that Elder Sister Liu Shui's eyes shifted slightly, as though something had struck her in the heart, and she did not come back to herself for a long while.
In the end, Tushan Jingci only saw Elder Sister Liu Shui cover her mouth with one hand, then turn and run out of the courtyard.
As Liu Shui ran out into the bamboo grove, she happened to be heading in precisely the direction where Tushan Jingci was hiding.
Liu Shui came face to face with Tushan Jingci and could not help giving a small start, her steps coming to a halt.
"Elder Sister Liu Shui..."
Tushan Jingci looked at Liu Shui's gently shaking eyes, and the reddened corners of those eyes where a glistening teardrop still clung, on the verge of spilling over, and found herself momentarily unable to think of a single thing to say.
She did not know what had passed between Elder Sister Liu Shui and Xiao Mo but it did not seem to have gone well.
"My respects to Miss Tushan." Liu Shui gave a bow, her trembling voice carrying a barely suppressed catch of tears. "I... Miss Tushan, I still have something to attend to, so I will... take my leave."
With that, she gently raised a hand and dabbed at the corner of her eye, then could not help glancing once more in the direction of the courtyard, her eyes filled with reluctance. Only then did she turn and run away, her figure disappearing gradually into the bamboo grove.
After Liu Shui had gone, Tushan Jingci's gaze returned to Xiao Mo in the courtyard.
She saw Xiao Mo looking in the direction Liu Shui had left, a measure of guilt in his expression, his brow furrowed slightly, as though he had done something that troubled his conscience.
After some time, Xiao Mo drew his gaze back, turned his head, and saw Tushan Jingci standing outside the courtyard gate. He gave a faint smile and said gently, "Young Miss, what brings you here?"
"I... I..."
The young girl's eyes shifted, her mind moving quickly, thinking of how to explain her presence.
"I have just come out of seclusion in the Confucian Wind Grove. I did not have anything pressing to do, so I thought I would come and see how you are getting on, and also I was worried you might be sitting here with nothing to keep you occupied."
As she spoke, she walked into the courtyard of her own accord, looking here and there, touching the stone table one moment and reaching for a bamboo branch the next, affecting an air of casual indifference then she raised her beautiful eyes and looked directly into Xiao Mo's, her throat moving, with something unsaid, but in the end she opened her mouth and asked.
"Speaking of which, Xiao Mo, why did Elder Sister Liu Shui run out in tears like that? Did you do something unkind to her?"
"That... I would not say it was unkindness, exactly." Xiao Mo shook his head, sat down on the stone bench, and something complicated and difficult to name showed in his expression.
"Then why was Elder Sister Liu Shui looking as though she was about to cry?"
Tushan Jingci clasped both hands behind her back and bent slightly at her slender waist, her tone carrying a quality of defending Liu Shui's dignity, yet deep in those beautiful eyes, an unnamed nervousness was hidden away.
"It was nothing much." Xiao Mo smiled with quiet composure and did not speak of Liu Shui's private matters. He rose to his feet, a trace of tiredness showing in his expression. "I am a little weary and am going to rest in my room for a while. I am afraid I will not be good company for the Young Miss today. Perhaps the Young Miss should head back for now."
With that, he turned and walked toward his room.
Looking at Xiao Mo's retreating back, Tushan Jingci bit lightly at her lip, hesitation and inner conflict woven together in her eyes, both hands tightening of their own accord around her skirt.
Just as Xiao Mo was about to step through the doorway, Tushan Jingci suddenly raised her head and called to his back, "Xiao Mo!"
"Mm?" Xiao Mo stopped walking and turned around, his gaze resting on her with a gentle warmth.
Tushan Jingci took a deep breath, as though gathering her nerve, and her voice softened without her meaning it to. "Elder Sister Liu Shui... told you how she felt, did she not?"
Xiao Mo gave a small start. "Young Miss, how did you..."
He had not expected Jingci to have guessed this.
"I... when I came out of the Confucian Wind Grove today, I ran into Elder Sister Liu Shui coming back." Tushan Jingci lowered her gaze, a faint flush on her cheeks, her voice growing quieter. "She asked me... asked me... whether you would like a woman like her."
She paused, as though it took considerable effort to get the next words out.
"So Elder Sister Liu Shui really did tell you how she felt? You and her... the way Elder Sister Liu Shui looked, did you not..."
"That is the way it was."
Though the young girl had not finished her sentence, Xiao Mo understood what she was asking. He gave a slight nod and did not deny it.
"I declined Elder Sister Liu Shui."
"Why?" Tushan Jingci lowered her head, her slender fingers working against each other without purpose. "Elder Sister Liu Shui is such a wonderful person..."
Her voice grew smaller and smaller, until it was barely audible.
The young girl felt stranger and stranger inside.
She was genuinely sad for Elder Sister Liu Shui, and yet somewhere deep inside her, an undeniable thread of relief was quietly present and she knew clearly that this kind of feeling was not right.