Chapter 139 Is Aheng a spy?
Almost instinctively, the scene flashed through Xue Han's mind: the two fought, the thief raised his leg to kick him, he grabbed the thief's ankle with all his might, and finally they fell towards the roof together...
He immediately realized that the thief was a woman from that intimate contact.
The boy stared intently at Qiu Heng's right ankle.
Why are there bruises on Ah Heng's ankles?
"Xue Han—" Qiu Heng called out with her eyes closed, her eyelids heavy.
Although the shout was soft, Xue Han was startled and quickly withdrew his gaze from Qiu Heng's ankle.
"I am here."
He tried his best to keep his voice from sounding off, even though Qiu Heng was the one being suspected, he felt inexplicably guilty.
"Did you bring a handkerchief? Could you please wipe my face? My face is covered in blood, and I'm not feeling well..."
"Oh, okay." Xue Han quickly reached into his pocket and took out a handkerchief.
The handkerchief was already soaked through along with her clothes. Xue Han rubbed the handkerchief a few times in the lake water, then approached Qiu Heng and gently wiped the bloodstains from her face.
The white handkerchief was stained crimson, and the girl's face returned to its fair color.
The boy holding the handkerchief watched her quietly.
Because her eyes were closed, her eyebrows were relaxed and long, and her thick, delicate eyelashes trembled slightly, making her look exceptionally vulnerable.
It was hard for him to associate Ah Heng with that petty thief.
Ah Heng, what kind of person are you?
Could it be... a foreign spy?
If so, what should he do?
Xue Han gave a self-deprecating laugh.
He never imagined that his excuse of visiting the Yongqing Marquis's mansion to confirm that Ah Heng was the little girl who gave him red bean cakes ten years ago, and that he suspected that the found Qiu Liu was a spy, might actually come true.
"Xue Han." The girl, who had been keeping her eyes closed, suddenly opened them, her gaze gentler than autumn water. "Are you daydreaming?"
Xue Han was momentarily distracted, her thoughts swirling, but her tone remained gentle: "Yes, I was spacing out."
"What are you thinking about?"
"I was thinking—" Xue Han looked at the pale-faced girl with a smile on her lips, "I was thinking that your attack this time seems much more severe than before. Has your old illness changed?"
Could this old ailment be a kind of poison?
Using poison to control spies or assassins is a common practice.
"Maybe, I'm not sure either," Qiu Heng said honestly.
She didn't know how long Heaven would tolerate her being an outcast. Perhaps when Heaven truly changed the fate of the Great Xia Dynasty's demise, it would take her away from the world.
Qiu Heng stared intently at Xue Han, her eyes softening.
She wanted to take a closer look at Xue Han while she had the chance.
She thought she knew him well, but there were unreadable emotions in his eyes.
"Sixth Miss Qiu".
"Um?"
“I know a retired imperial physician who is highly skilled in medicine. If you need, I can take you to see him.” Xue Han paused slightly as he said this. “This imperial physician is very ethical and will not disclose a patient’s condition to others.”
"I won't waste the doctor's time with this strange illness." Afraid that Xue Han would try to persuade her again, Qiu Heng raised her hand. "I've recovered a bit, I'll go in and change my clothes."
Xue Han helped her up, and she turned her back to the cabin to look at the lake.
The lake water was crystal clear, with ripples that kept spreading, reaching deep into his heart.
The boy took a copper coin from his money bag and threw it onto the lake in a fit of rage.
The copper coin bounced a few times on the lake's surface, creating tiny splashes, before finally sinking back into the water.
"Lord Xue, you skipped stones so well!" A girl's cheerful voice came from behind.
Xue Han turned around abruptly and saw Qiu Heng with her hair tied up and dressed in dry clothes.
In just a moment, she changed her clothes, and she looked completely different from before. Although her face was still pale, her eyes were bright and full of life.
Xue Han was momentarily dazed.
Perhaps the image of Ah Heng, who was on the verge of death and suffering, was just his hallucination, and the shocking blue marks on her fair ankles were also his hallucination.
Xue Han flicked the other copper coin that was between his fingers and lowered his eyes to hide his mockery.
He's really good at deceiving himself.
Qiu Heng handed over the neatly folded clothes: "You should change too."
Xue Han silently took the bag and went into the cabin, quickly changing his clothes before coming out.
“It suits you well,” he said, his tone enigmatic.
Qiu Heng replied calmly, "It was prepared for you in the first place."
A look of doubt flashed in Xue Han's eyes.
"Lord Xue always appears when my old ailment flares up, which makes it easy for him to get his clothes wet, so I prepared a set for you."
"Thank you," Xue Han replied haphazardly, turning his gaze to the lake.
"What did Lord Xue use to skip stones just now?" Qiu Heng asked, sitting next to Xue Han.
Xue Han reached into his money pouch and pulled out a copper coin: "Use this."
"You actually used copper coins?" Qiu Heng took the copper coin and played with it. "Lord Xue is so generous."
Xue Han stared at the girl who was teasing him and said in a low voice, "Not usually."
"That's true, you only suddenly become interested when you're looking at a lake."
Xue Han twitched the corners of his lips, thinking to himself: It's not that I'm interested, it's that my mind is in turmoil, and I don't know what to do with you.
"I can too."
Qiu Heng tossed the copper coin out, and it bounced on the lake surface like a lively little fish.
"It's better to jump with stone pieces."
Xue Han smiled and said, "Sixth Miss Qiu knows a lot of things."
"Lord Xue is also very knowledgeable."
“When I was a child, I played on the streets, and skipping stones was something that ordinary children often did.”
Qiu Heng smiled and said, "Me too. Climbing trees to catch fish, skipping stones, and playing football are all games that country children love to play."
Xue Han fell silent.
He caused her to be separated from her loved ones and forced her to wander in a foreign land. If she were to become a spy in a foreign country, it would be his own doing.
"I should go back now." Qiu Heng supported herself on the deck with both hands and leaned back slightly.
She wasn't as good as she looked.
After this attack, I still feel a lot of pain and fatigue.
But she didn't want Xue Han to worry.
Xue Han...won't he worry about her?
Qiu Heng didn't want to deceive herself. Even though she was not in a clear mind when she was in unbearable pain, she could still sense Xue Han's loss of composure.
You only lose your composure when you care about someone.
"I will have to trouble Lord Xue to row the boat for me."
Xue Han gave the girl, whose face was ashen, a deep look.
Her eyes were so bright that they made people subconsciously forget the pain they had just suffered.
Such determination is rare, one in a hundred.
The suspicion of being a spy grew stronger in the boy's mind, but he couldn't bring himself to hate him; he only hated himself for being unable to control his emotions.
Xue Han picked up the bamboo pole and headed towards the lake in the small boat.
"Lord Xue, please wait a moment." Qiu Heng stopped when they were almost at the Earl's residence.
"Take care, Miss Qiu Liu."
Xue Han watched Qiu Heng enter the Earl's Mansion through the side gate before rushing back to the Imperial City Guard.
"Hu Si".
"Your humble servant is here." Hu Si glanced at Xue Han and casually said, "Sir, you've changed your clothes. The color suits you well."
Xue Han paused for a moment, then said calmly, "From today onwards, select two people who are tight-lipped and good at keeping secrets to keep an eye on Miss Qiu Liu."
Hu Si was shocked: "Who are you staring at?"
Staring at the red bean cake? Did he mishear?
"Sixth Miss Qiu, Qiu Heng."
Hu Si blinked.
You heard right.
That's because he misunderstood; he subconsciously thought he was going to spy on spies.
"Sir, isn't this inappropriate?"
Even if you want to know about red bean cakes, you can't just stare at a girl's tail!
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