I couldn't believe him. I should ask the teacher. He actually guessed it and told me not to go. He said if I went, he would tie me to the ceiling by my pigtail.

"Yuancheng~" I leaned against him, "You're just too competitive. If only I could help you."

“You have already helped me a lot. I don’t need a loyal subordinate. What I need is a daughter like Ying’er. I can’t find one like her anywhere else.”

"How annoying, all he does is try to make me happy." I'm completely captivated by his charm. Tonight, he must have deliberately used the sound of chimes to tell me about the past, making me so restless.

"It's really annoying. Making you unable to leave me is not an easy thing." Before I even felt it, Xie Yuancheng had already removed the silver needles.

"It's time to sleep. Don't overthink it. I'll stay with Ying'er." Xie Yuancheng's voice was so gentle. I held him tightly and couldn't let go. I could smell the fragrance in my arms. It was definitely not the scented sachet he claimed to wear for a long time.

"Ying'er~" Xie Yuancheng called me, but I ignored him. Just as he was about to let me lie down, I hugged him tightly. "You really can't walk, you should go to sleep."

I couldn't possibly sleep; I just clung to him and wouldn't let go. Xie Yuancheng patted my back and blew on my skin, but I acted like I didn't notice.

"Your eyes are twitching, you can't keep up the act. Get up, I'm telling you." I knew he couldn't hold out any longer, so I quickly looked up at him. "You, you're always the one causing me trouble."

"You said you'd tell me, what if you don't?" I gripped his wrist, preventing him from moving.

"Okay, tell Ying'er everything. I won't miss anything. Come into my arms, or I won't tell you anything." Xie Yuancheng stretched out his arms, and I quickly snuggled into his arms, my eyes wide open.

“No wonder Yu’er looks like you every time you see him. Their eyes are so alike. Xi’er looks most like you, but she inherited my eyes. Su’ling looks more like her father. If he were still alive, he would definitely raise her as a boy.”

"Stop talking nonsense and get down to business." I looked into Xie Yuancheng's eyes, who was very close to me. "Ying'er, do you know that when you look at me like that, I lose all sense of direction?"

"Hmm~ I know you love me the most, but you still have to tell me." I was really afraid he would feed me rice porridge, which would definitely distract me.

"I really can't fool you anymore. It's just an ordinary matter, nothing good." Xie Yuancheng pulled the blanket around me before telling me about his journey from the Western Regions.

Thankfully, it wasn't as painful as I had imagined. He must have gone through a lot to get here. For a whole month, even during his breaks, he was worried about me, afraid that I would fall into the hands of bad people.

Fortunately, he had a will to hold him together. He had almost missed going to Misty Abode, but in his confusion, he remembered that I had followed Ling Wu. Coincidentally, while in the small town, he saw Lu Fengjun. Luckily, he didn't harm him, but only asked about me the whole way. After a long journey, we arrived at Misty Abode. On the way, we encountered the bandits we had met, and we almost couldn't open our eyes. Fortunately, our reinforcements arrived.

"I'm such a bad guy." I hugged his arm tightly. "Did they hurt you? I'll definitely draw circles and curse them for you!"

"Ying'er~" Xie Yuancheng hugged me tightly. "I've told you everything. Go to sleep now. I was injured when I was in the Western Regions. I searched all the way here and wanted to see you, but I was also afraid to see you. I didn't dare to sleep for fear of missing you."

"I never want to leave you again, I'm so bad." I wanted to pinch my own head in frustration. How could I not have thought that he would get hurt when facing so many enemies?

"Alright, pinch my cheek if you want, I won't let you pinch it randomly." Xie Yuancheng held me tightly and wouldn't let go. I was about to cry, but he still leaned closer. "When I saw you, you still dared to run away. I was so scared that I almost lost my mind. From now on, no matter what happens, you can't jump off a cliff unless I jump with you."

"None of us jumped. I was just scared at the time. I didn't think about anything else." I don't want to think about it anymore. The more I think about it, the more I feel like a jerk. How could I have left him all alone?

“Ying’er~ You even came with me to soak in the medicinal pool back then, which wasn’t good for your health. But that’s enough. We don’t have to have everything go smoothly every day. We need some hardships sometimes. But last time we wiped out a group of bandits, which can be considered a good thing for the locals.”

"They have local officials too, let them handle it, so you won't get hurt." I didn't care about all that. It wasn't like I had to do anything big to ensure Xie Yuancheng would live a peaceful life.

"That's right, let them do their thing, we'll just stay in Linyang." I nuzzled his neck, thinking, "I shouldn't be so willful in the future, it really can get me killed."

"Ying'er, go to sleep soon, it will be dawn soon."

"I won't let you leave, you have to sleep with me." I clung to him possessively, refusing to let Xie Yuancheng get up, even though my back was aching.

"Where could I go during the Lunar New Year? Of course, I'd stay with Ying'er. I just wanted to tell you that you can sleep in today and not overthink things."

Xie Yuancheng picked me up, but I held onto his arm tightly, making sure he was pinning me down before I felt relieved. Xie Yuancheng was so considerate of me; he didn't even pull away.

He was fine when making vows, but when he went out of the courtyard in the afternoon and saw Yu'er and the others, he immediately felt awkward. Xi Zhi, perhaps taught by Yu'er, spoke a lot of nonsense in a mixed accent.

"Your brother must have taught you, right?" I crouched down to listen to Xizhi speak. He leaned against me with a smile as he spoke, "Did you hold your brother's hand, little sister?"

"Brother wants brother~" Xi Zhi pouted at me, and I kissed him before he smiled, "Little sister is fierce, she wants brother~ hehe."

I held him in my arms, and Yu'er ran over to hug me too, saying, "Mommy wants a hug, wants to hug Yu'er, otherwise Yu'er will be unhappy."

"Okay, I'll take care of both of you." I put Xizhi down, and Yu'er tried to squeeze into my arms. Luckily, he didn't forget to bring Xizhi along.

"My sister-in-law really spoils her kids. They started nagging as soon as they woke up this morning, and they kept nagging for a long time, wanting to see you dance." Li Ruowei also joined in the fun, pulling Su Ling and Yan'er along. I had two little ones in my arms, so it was hard for me to stand up.

"Sister~ Don't make fun of Ying'er. She's shy. If you want to talk about someone, talk about me instead. But I can see Ying'er's face the clearest. You can only see a little bit of her."

Who praises someone like that? I was so embarrassed. Luckily, everyone just laughed, or I would have wanted to disappear into the ground.

"Yu'er, come to Daddy. Your mother is going to make a set of chimes for Daddy and dance for you all in the future~" Xie Yuancheng, that scheming little man. I turned around to look at him and knew I couldn't show weakness to him. I guess he was already gloating at dawn.

He doesn't show his emotions on his face, except when he's with me. But sometimes when he's unhappy, I can only guess, and I can't see any anger on his face.