Chapter 11 A faint, almost imperceptible touch of his true feelings brushed against her wrist, sending a tingling, warm sensation through her…
Xie Wenlang reacted almost immediately: "Big brother, you've finally arrived!"
She propped herself up with her hands and cried, half-jokingly, "You have no idea, my parents are keeping me under control this time and don't care about me at all. You're all I have left."
Upon seeing him, Madam Xue's expression became subtle: "When did you arrive?"
"I had just arrived and knocked on the door when I saw no servants in the courtyard."
Xie Chengyan spoke frankly, as if he had nothing to hide, which put Xue at ease: "Erlang always likes to stick to you. Since you've finally come back, you two can chat slowly. The medicine is simmering on the fire, and I have to go check on it, so I won't stay any longer."
Xie Wenlang naturally had no objection: "Mother, go quickly. My elder brother is here, so don't worry about it."
After Xue left, Xie Chengyan sat down on the round stool by the bed and examined the wound on his back. It was a bloody mess, and his father really showed no mercy.
"Why have you sought me out?"
He hadn't had much free time lately and didn't want to stay at the Duke of Wei's residence for too long, so he went straight to the point.
Xie Wenlang understood what he meant and hurriedly stepped forward to lower his voice: "Brother, I have a favor to ask of you. If you have some free time, could you find a way to invite Xi'er out for a walk? We can go anywhere, as long as there are people around."
Upon hearing the familiar name, Xie Chengyan hesitated for a moment: "Why?"
"Xi'er has a reserved nature and always keeps to herself. I want her to..."
But that wasn't what he asked: "What about her close friends?"
Xie Wenlang is most skilled at eating, drinking and having fun. Even when he is under house arrest, he can still find many old friends to keep him company. When will he ever need to ask him for help?
Xie Wenlang scratched his head with a hint of melancholy. After hesitating for a long time, seeing that Xie Chengyan had no intention of helping, he finally spoke, his tone unusually low.
"Xi'er... she doesn't have many friends. The first time I saw her was five years ago at the Lantern Festival. Everyone at the festival, if not in groups, was at least clustered together. Only Xi'er was all alone, without any friends or relatives around her. She didn't try to guess the riddles on the lanterns or watch the lantern shows. She just wandered around aimlessly, drifting with the tide. At that lantern festival, or rather, not just that one, she always lived like an oddball who didn't fit in."
“That back view made me very sad, like a piece of my heart was missing. But she was clearly a very, very good young lady, gentle, considerate, smart and kind. After spending more time with her, I found that she also loved to laugh, especially the pastry shop in the east of the city. Every time I gave her something, she didn’t say anything, but I could tell that she was very happy.”
“I’m under house arrest, and she’ll probably be stuck in her little courtyard all alone again, feeling depressed all the time. But I want to protect her, to make her happy every day, to always be smiling, and not to be all alone anymore.”
"I'm only happy if she's happy."
Listening to his long-winded rambling, Xie Chengyan's eyes darkened, and his fingertips rubbed together slightly.
So that explains why she always hangs out with Wen Lang.
"Big brother, please help me this once. I'll do anything you ask after that."
Xie Chengyan lowered his eyes, letting him say all the nice things and beg in every way.
Unexpectedly, his usually unreliable younger brother had fallen completely for Shen Xi without anyone knowing, constantly pushing himself to grow up, protecting her, and sharing her joys and sorrows.
*
The cause was just that, and Xie Chengyan only conveyed it to Shen Xi in a concise manner, naturally omitting some unspeakable details.
Upon hearing this, Shen Xi's first reaction was to refuse, but Xie Chengyan did not give her the chance.
"Wait here for a moment."
He had barely finished speaking when he pushed open the door and left, disappearing without a trace.
Shen Xi certainly wouldn't obediently listen. If they didn't leave now, it would be even harder to find an excuse to leave when he came back later.
So he immediately followed him out the door, walking away without looking back.
But as she was going downstairs, a little boy bumped into her carelessly. Seeing that he had bumped into her, he didn't dodge or apologize. Instead, his eyes lit up, and he grabbed Shen Xi's clothes and hid behind her.
"Good sister, please help me!"
Shen Xi was almost pulled off balance by him, but Qing Qiu helped her steady herself. She didn't care and planned to snatch the piece of clothing from his hand and leave quickly.
Unexpectedly, the child held on tightly, and even after two tugs, they couldn't pull it off.
Before he could let go, another child chased after him, shouting, "Give it back to me! It's mine!"
The little boy behind him saw someone trying to snatch it and immediately shouted, "Brother, you're bullying me! I've got my eye on this one!"
The other one wouldn't give up either: "Give it to me!"
"Brother is stingy! Mother always said that the eldest brother should give way to the younger brother!"
Shen Xi was dizzy from the noise of the two little boys. After taking a closer look, she realized that they should be a pair of brothers. The younger brother was hiding behind her, and the one with the more confident voice was the younger one. The one in front of her, who looked more upright and steady, should be the older brother.
The older brother had a stern face and his lips were tightly pursed: "Stop messing around. This thing should have been mine all along."
"Why can't you give it to me? Mother always talks about brotherly love and respect, but your brother has forgotten all about it. You're so mean!"
"This is the first wooden horse I carved myself, I can't give it to you."
After listening to their commotion for a while, she finally figured things out.
To get away as soon as possible, Shen Xi turned around and squatted down to be at eye level with her younger brother: "Since this belongs to your older brother, why don't you give it back to him? I'll give you a new one later, how about that?"
The younger brother, however, wouldn't listen to reason and stubbornly crossed his arms, saying, "No! I want my brother's. Sister, why don't you give the new one to him? They're all the same anyway!"
Shen Xi's gaze fell on the wooden figurine in his hand, where the outline of a little pony could be vaguely seen. The carving details were not very exquisite and could even be considered rough. It was not a particularly fine item, but for a child, the first piece he carved with his own hands was of extraordinary significance.
"Of course it's different. It's different from any other pony because it's my brother's most treasured possession, and it belongs only to him."
After hearing this, the younger brother lowered his head, fidgeting with his fingers, and stammered, "But, Mother said..."
"Brotherly love and respect, right? But you stole your brother's beloved possession first, so how can you talk about respect or friendship?"
"I, I'm not..."
Seeing that he was wavering, Shen Xi pressed on, "Besides, even though your brother is so angry, he has never hit or scolded you. Yet you insist that your brother is bad. Doesn't that make your brother very sad?"
The younger brother pouted, stroking the little wooden horse in his hands for a couple of minutes before reluctantly handing it to his older brother: "Brother, I was wrong. I shouldn't have taken your things and called you bad."
After saying that, she took out a few more pieces of candy and put them in her brother's hand: "These are the candies that the teacher gave me as a reward yesterday. I'll share half with you."
The older brother still had a stern expression, but when he took the candy, he took his younger brother's hand and said, "It's okay, if you like it, I can carve a new one for you."
Children's tempers come and go quickly, and in the blink of an eye, the two were holding hands and happily going home.
Shen Xi straightened the hem of her clothes that her younger brother had crumpled, and was about to leave.
"You're quite good at coaxing children."
As the words fell, a figure suddenly leaned in from the side, bringing with it a faint scent of ebony.
Shen Xi suddenly turned around, only to find that the person behind him had taken another step closer, their noses nearly brushing against his chest.
She was startled and instinctively moved aside until her lower back touched the railing. Only then did she glance up and see who it was.
It was indeed Xie Chengyan; I wonder how long he had been watching from the side.
Before he could figure out how to explain why she had suddenly appeared and was acting like she was running away, Xie Chengyan spoke first, his gaze sweeping over the backs of the two brothers who were walking away hand in hand, his voice gentle, as if he were having a casual conversation.
“I thought you would advise him to give it to his younger brother.”
Shen Xi was taken aback, tilted her head slightly in hesitation, but quickly became serious and chuckled: "Are you surprised that I couldn't go along with General Xie's idea?"
"I had heard Lang mention it before, and I thought you were the most virtuous and filial."
He didn't even feel guilty saying this, after all, he had personally witnessed her and Shen Wangchen's argument at the Xue residence.
However, Shen Xi did not show it on his face, but instead took the opportunity to flatter him: "General Xie must be a good elder brother who would follow the example of sharing pears and dates."
Seeing that Shen Xi consistently avoided answering and only engaged in verbal exchanges with him, Xie Chengyan took a half step closer: "Then it depends on what you're giving away, don't you think?"
Shen Xi lowered her eyes, about to answer.
Xie Chengyan glanced at her expression and added calmly, "Don't lie, I can tell."
After a long silence, Shen Xi's long eyelashes cast a small shadow under her eyes, blocking out all the light. After a long pause, she slowly spoke: "I just feel that when faced with something you love, it is more in line with your heart to hold on tightly and not give up an inch than to give it up to someone else."
"It is wrong to advise others to go against their nature and abandon their true selves."
Xie Chengyan's eyes darkened slightly, and he stopped pressing the matter, changing the subject: "Didn't I tell you to wait in the room? Why did you come out?"
In the end, he couldn't escape it.
Shen Xi forced a smile and replied, "Those two little boys were making quite a racket. I had nothing else to do, so I came out to take a look."
Xie Chengyan didn't expose her, and went along with her words: "Now that the argument is resolved, do you still want to stay outside?"
His voice was calm, yet his question was irresistible.
With things having come to this point, Shen Xi had no way out and could only follow Xie Chengyan into the private room again. Only then did she see clearly what Xie Chengyan was carrying: he had returned with his medicine box.
"sit down."
Shen Xi sat back down as instructed, quietly watching Xie Chengyan take out silver scissors and other items from the medicine box. But when his figure loomed over her, Shen Xi still unconsciously tensed her shoulders and back, instinctively wanting to avoid him.
"Don't move."
Xie Chengyan stopped her restless movements in time, then grabbed her wrist and pulled it in front of his eyes, the force was not strong but there was no room for her to refuse.
He slowly cut the gauze off his hand, revealing the wound that had not yet healed. Xie Chengyan had been fighting for many years and was already very skilled at treating these minor injuries.
He moved very gently, carefully washing the wound before applying a new ointment.
The window behind Shen Xi was ajar, letting in a bit of cold wind that ruffled her hair and occasionally brushed against Xie Chengyan's arm.
He brushed aside a stray strand of hair, as if remembering something: "After you recover, come with me to train on horses."
Upon hearing this, Shen Xi naturally refused, saying, "Why bother the general? Erlang is just acting on a whim."
As he spoke, his hand unconsciously withdrew.
Xie Chengyan immediately noticed and increased his strength before Shen Xi could succeed, managing to restrain her wrist in time, and frowned slightly.
But he didn't say anything, he just slowly continued to wrap the gauze around her wrist, his fingertips lightly brushing against her wrist bone, a tingling and warm sensation.
After the last wrap of gauze was wrapped, Xie Chengyan glanced at her and said calmly, "As your equestrian instructor, I don't think you're ready to graduate."
Shen Xi was speechless; she certainly had no right to refute that.
During their conversation, Xie Chengyan had already re-bandaged her wound and gently placed her hand on his knee.
"I will be waiting for you here in seven days."
Shen Xi stared at her hands with a hint of melancholy. For the first time, she hoped that the wounds wouldn't heal so quickly, and that they wouldn't be fully healed before Xie Wenlang's confinement was lifted.
In this way, she wouldn't need to go to Xie Chengyan.
Thinking about this, an idea came to mind.
If her injuries haven't healed in seven days, then...
But Xie Chengyan seemed to have read her thoughts and calmly put away the medicine bottle.
"The imperial medicine should heal you in seven days. If you are not healed—"
Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly leaned forward, his fingers reaching over Shen Xi's shoulder to touch the window frame behind him, and with a "click," the drafty gap was tightly closed.
"So he trained despite his injuries."
As the distance suddenly closed, she could even smell the ebony scent on his clothes.
Shen Xi's breathing hitched slightly, and he subtly shifted his body backward, but the next moment he heard a meaningful voice coming from above him.
"Or are you afraid of me?"
Her movements abruptly halted. Shen Xi looked up to meet his gaze, her eyes wide, trying her best to appear innocent: "No, how could this be..."
"That's good." Xie Chengyan's lips seemed to lift slightly upon seeing this, but he straightened up and said seriously, "Remember, be here at Chenshi (7-9 AM) seven days from now. I'm always punctual."
He paused, then casually added, "If you don't come, I'll personally go to the Shen residence to fetch you."
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