His deep, moist eyes looked straight at Su Jinyang, which softened his heart. He couldn't help but agree, "Okay, but you must ensure your safety."

He knew that even if he didn't agree to let Song Zhiyu go with him to suppress the bandits, she would still secretly follow him. So, he might as well keep her under his watchful eye.

"Okay." Song Zhiyu nodded emphatically, the curve of her lips becoming even more pronounced.

She was right about one thing: she was the one who orchestrated the suppression of bandits at Mingyin Mountain, all to put an end to everything. She didn't want to drag it out any longer.

Su Jinyang's eyes softened, and he gently patted Song Zhiyu's head with his large, warm hand. "It's getting late, you should rest now. I'm leaving."

After saying that, Su Jinyang put away the sword tassel, leaped over the courtyard wall, and quietly left Songxi Courtyard.

Only after the person had gone far away did Song Zhiyu turn his attention away, intending to develop more poisons to put to use.

She turned around to go back to her room, but suddenly bumped into a hard, fleshy wall.

Song Zhiyu covered her forehead and let out a soft cry of pain.

"I'm sorry." A deep voice came from above her head. The next moment, a pair of cool hands gently touched Song Zhiyu's forehead, the calloused fingertips kneading it tenderly.

"Why are you here?" Song Zhiyu looked up, both surprised and expected by Zhou Xingzhi's sudden appearance.

Zhou Xingzhi took Song Zhiyu's hand very naturally, his voice gentle and tender, like a soft feather brushing against her heart, "I missed you."

Song Zhiyu keenly sensed that Zhou Xingzhi's mood was somewhat low, and his gaze seemed to drift towards the top of her head.

Before she could figure it out, the man's clear voice rang out again, tinged with a hint of gloom and jealousy, "That sword tassel looks really nice."

Song Zhiyu was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Of course it's great, that's my best embroidery. When my third brother was little, he loved sword dancing. When he was learning from his master, everyone else had pretty tassels tied to their sword hilts, but he didn't."

He said a good sword shouldn't be without a good tassel, and he kept pestering me to make him one.

At this point, Song Zhiyu laughed even more heartily.

"But my embroidery skills aren't very good either. The sword tassels I made were extremely ugly. But my third brother didn't mind. He always tied them to the sword like treasures, and I was teased about it a lot."

But he was proud of it, saying that no one else had a sword tassel embroidered by his sister, only he did. "My third brother lost his sword tassel, which he'd had for several years, on the battlefield, so I made him another one."

Zhou Xingzhi's slightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed. He knew that the relationship between the two was not romantic, but when he saw that scene just now, he couldn't help but feel a little jealousy and envy.

He felt like he was going crazy, but the thought of Song Zhiyu made him feel sweet inside.