In the Western Residence after the Eastern Depot.

Qinger sat on the bed, weeping with her eyebrows drooping. The azurite feather narrow-sleeved blouse she wore turned wet with tears at this time, stained with spots.

The round bun on the top of her head had got loose, and messy hair fell on her forehead and temples. But she would rather sit in a daze than bother to raise her hand to fix them.

Just now, Xiao Xiaoshen still called her outside, while she just hid in the room without burning the candle. The door was locked tightly, and she pretended to have fallen asleep.

That day, she sneaked into the Mansion of Ming with Yuan Qian, the tenth captain, to rescue Gu Yunxi, but they failed. She was drugged and lost her senses later.

She had no recollection of the fact that she was besieged by the guards of the Western Depot.

When she woke up, she was already in the prison of the Western Depot.

At that time, she only wore an undershirt, and the fronts of that were messy. Her collarbone and arms were full of red and green bruises and scratches, which looked shocking.

Qinger was not stupid, and she immediately realized what she had suffered.

She had thought she was defiled, so when she was in the prison, she was so sad that she had wanted to commit suicide.

However, when she thought of her own girl and Xiao Xiaoshen, she turned strong again and made up her mind that no matter how hard it would be, she would wait for the persons she missed in her heart. She wouldn't commit suicide until she met them.

This morning, when Xiao Xiaoshen returned to Jing City with the five squads of the Eastern Depot and rushed to the Western Residence to meet her, she shut him outside the room for the whole day with a "closed door".

The reason was simple.

Qinger didn't know that she was still virginal. She thought she had been defiled by a gang of bastards. So when Xiao Xiaoshen came to meet her, she felt ashamed to face him again.

From morning till night, the sun had gone down and the sky had turned dim. Someone had sounded the night watches, and it was not early.

The porch became quiet somehow.

Xiaoshen must have left.

Qinger rubbed her red, swollen and moist eyes, straightened up and listened carefully to the movement outside the door.

Then she got out of bed and went to the table to light a candle slowly.

When she opened the door, she saw Xiao Xiaoshen sitting on the porch, dressed in court clothes.

Hearing the movement, he turned his head back. His handsome face was filled with lingering fatigue.

When they looked into each other's eyes, Xiaoshen's dull face suddenly became joyful.

His eyes flickered. He jumped up from the steps and rushed to Qinger.

"I... Qinger, I'm back!"

The boy was a little incoherent. When looking at the girl's round face with tears on it, he was no longer excited then. He put on a serious face, and his brilliant eyes turned dim.

"Qinger, it's my fault. I shouldn't have left Jing City with the Master without saying goodbye, but I..."

"Xiaoshen..."

Before he finished speaking, Qinger lowered her head, frowning slightly. She stared at the cold rock on the ground sadly. Her eyes flickered, and finally became resolute.

"You and I should stop meeting each other in the future!"

The boy's heart sank, and he looked startled.

"It's my fault. You can beat me or scold me, but don't ignore me."

The boy begged her. He bent over and turned his head aside, looking at the girl's eyebrows and facial features anxiously with exploration and uncertainty.

Their relationship began at the time when they and Yuan Qian went to Prefect’s Mansion of Qiling to spy on the way to relieve the people in Jiangan last year.

Xiaoshen left Jing City with the Master in a hurry, so he did not have enough time to go to the Master's Mansion to tell Qinger that he was going to leave, let alone participate in her and Yuan Qian's rescue of Yunxi.

Their plan failed. The tenth captain got physically disabled and Yunxi was missing, so Xiaoshen guessed that Qinger must be anxious. He thought it was reasonable for her to refuse to see him out of anger.

However, no matter how angry she was, how could she propose to end their relationship? Her words were difficult for the forthright boy to accept at the moment.

"Qinger? Tell me clearly! Why do you treat me like this?"

Emotions stirred up in Xiao Xiaoshen's eyes. He strode forward.

Qinger's face instantly turned pale. She took a step back intensely, and her heel hit the threshold hard.

Her face turned terrified at once, and her misty eyes shrank suddenly.

"Oh!"

At the moment when her lips were half open and the cry of fear broke through her throat, Xiao Xiaoshen stepped into the room quickly, hugged her waist with his long arm, and supported her leaning body firmly.

They looked into each other's eyes then. Xiaoshen's clear eyes suddenly softened, and then he lifted the girl's light body upright with his palms.

The handsome young boy looked up at the girl, pouring out his heart in a deep and soft tone.

"Qinger, I miss you!"

She looked shocked. Her long eyelashes soaked in tears trembled, and her melancholy eyes drooped in silence.

She could see that the boy's handsome face was also full of worry.

Her heart ached severely.

Suddenly, her whole body tautened.

She felt that the deep or shallow spots which had faded but stained her flawless skin before seemed to emerge again, clearly and deeply.

"Let me down!"

The girl frowned. Her voice sounded so solemn as if she was giving orders.

Xiaoshen's face froze. He let go of her then silently.

"What's going on earth?"

He looked so grievous and puzzled, which made her heart ache more.

Qinger closed her eyes heavily, and said harshly again.

"Just go. Don't come to me anymore! When the madam comes back and I see her, I will leave as well. "

Xiaoshen was stunned. His lips moved stiffly, and he showed a light and bitter smile then.

"Wherever you go, I will be with you."

The girl was always strong and eloquent when he saw her before.

After associating with her, he found out that she was really a kind, graceful and charming girl whose bark was always worse than her bite.

Since he had already fallen in love with her, how could he give up their relationship so easily?

"Qinger, tell me how you will forgive me!"

The boy followed the girl's wandering figure with scorching eyes, saying in a pleading tone.

Turning her back on Xiaoshen, Qinger's exquisite body was silhouetted against one of the walls with the help of the dim light of the candle. She trembled lightly like curling smoke, looking so delicate and fragile.

With a sorrowful expression, Qinger recalled what happened to her in the Mansion of Ming that night. Her hands clenched her clothes tightly in conditional reflex.

"I, I don't want to meet you anymore! Xiaoshen, you are the close guard of the Master. You are a rank-fourth official and you have a promising future."

"But I'm just an incompetent maid in the Master's Mansion. We are different people. We, we don't match."

"Are you mad at the Master or me?"

Her excuse to end their relationship was too far-fetched!

The boy was in the green, and it was difficult for him to agree with that.

He strode towards her, and she turned around at that moment. Her eyes met his face which was so close to her.

Qinger was so frightened that her facial features were completely out of shape at once. She looked pale, and she held her body with her arms uncontrollably.

"What are you doing?" She screamed sharply.

Xiaoshen was shocked.

He really hated himself for being so careless.

She and the tenth captain entered the Mansion of Ming at night to save Yunxi and set fire, so Ming Lan must hate them so much.

The guards in the Western Depot broke the hands and legs of the tenth captain, so how could those beasts show mercy to a young girl who was not able to resist then?

The girl in front of him looked humble. Her round face was so pale, and she looked extremely frightened.

He saw that and then understood everything then.

A blazing flame rose from his chest, while he still put on an ordinary calm face.

"Qinger, I like you. I like you when you are always cheerful, when you laugh, and when you quarrel with me."

"No matter what your status is or what happened to you before, I don't care."

"From now on, you will have only one identity. My girl, my wife. And it will never change. "

"..."

The girl turned silent and lowered her head. Her eyebrows trembled, and she was sobbing.

His rough fingers pressed her chin to lift her head slightly.

Her tearful eyes reflected his soft smile. His face was gentle and vigorous. He looked at the crying and sad girl, seemingly inspiring her.

Suddenly, the girl's heart was touched. Her melancholy expression gradually faded away.

Her once frozen heart was cared for by the tender and affectionate warmth of the boy, and finally the ice and snow in her heart melt.

The girl looked firm then. Exciting brilliance in her eyes reappeared, and she looked into his scorching eyes bravely, calling his name with deep feeling.

"Xiaoshen!"

Then her slender arms raised up high.

Under the leaping candlelight, the figure on the wall was no longer monotonous. It overlapped with another robust figure, nestling closely together.

The breeze was blowing, permeating through the gaps in the window lattices into the room, wafting sweet and light feelings like the ripples of drizzle.

...

Gu Yunxi suddenly woke up from another long dream again.

It was still the golden veil which came into her eyes first.

She tried to move her body. She didn't feel all the sorrow and discomfort she had before. She just felt weak and light as if the body was not her own.

With memories in mind, she quickly pieced together the fragmented scenes.

She was detained by Ming Lan in Mansion of Ming, she fled in disguise, encountered captain Yuan, and then she was drugged by Ming Lan and carried into the carriage...

Then what happened?

Gu Yunxi sensed that some memory was almost completely blank. She was so startled that she began to sweat, then she stretched out her hands to grab the edge of the bed with all her strength, and sat on the bed with difficulty.

She peeked into the space outside the bed curtains carefully with surprised and bewildered eyes.

It was a small room, but tables and chairs, dressing table and storage cabinets were all available here.

A pair of stone-carved eagle-head wall lamps were set on each of the two walls, and the lit tung oil swayed with a subtle light.

Gu Yunxi got out of the bed cautiously, and stepped onto the cold brick floor with her bare jade-white feet.

Suddenly, a cold air rushed to her body. She trembled ceaselessly and held herself with her arms out of freezing chill.

She walked slowly to the table.

The round gray stone table was just big enough for four people to sit opposite each other. The rounded edges and legs of the table were all carved with beautiful auspicious clouds.

She looked around, just to see that the beams of the roof were actually made of hard blue-gray stone, with elaborate and delicate carvings on them.

On the other side of the wall, the borders of the two windows were also made of stone. The double-sash carved window lattice, which performed practically no function and couldn't be opened and closed, was also a hollow stone sculpture.

Gu Yunxi approached curiously. Through a patterned gap in the window lattice, her white fingertips could touch a deep and inexplicable darkness. In the boundless silence, there was a creepy feeling.

Gu Yunxi was shocked. She didn't know where this weird stone house was.

And who would live in such a stone house that seemed to be always dark?

Thinking about that, she walked to the front of the dressing table. A face was reflected in the brass diamond makeup mirror.

The entire head was tightly wrapped by a white wound band, and only the eyes, nostrils and lips were exposed.

Gu Yunxi screamed loudly as she was frightened by the shocking scene that suddenly rushed into her eyes.

"Ahh!"

At the same time, the door opened wide, and a dark figure wearing a black cloak and a hood flashed into the room.

"Oh!"

Gu Yunxi was startled by the ghostly figure, and at the moment when she shouted again, she picked up the bronze mirror on the dressing table to slam it at him.

The dark figure turned dexterously to avoid her attack. In the blink of an eye, he had been close to Gu Yunxi.

His freezing palm got close to Gu Yunxi's belly with a gloomy and cold air of the hell.

The pain in her lower abdomen was unbearable, as if she had been pierced by a sharp blade for a moment.

She rolled her eyes and lost consciousness then.

The black figure sighed, picked up the fainted girl and walked to the bed step by step.

He put her on the bed, tucked her in and straightened himself.

Under the mysterious iron mask, a pair of sharp eyes looked into her wrapped face. He said to himself coldly.

"Be patient. It's not yet time for you to go out. Now you are the man of the hour in Da Yi. The Eastern Depot, the Western Depot, the western tribes, and tens of thousands of cavalries are all looking for you non-stop. I have to hide you well."