Miss Zhao

The night is silent and still, just right to go see a secluded soul.

Ye Shu muttered this off-key doggerel as he stepped onto the path in the courtyard.

Hey, where are you going in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?

Xiaobai sat on his shoulder and yawned grumpily. It is all your fault that I have to work overtime. Can you not just take a break?

Time waits for no one, time waits for no one.

Ye Shu shook his head and suddenly smiled. Did you not think it was strange? That childhood sweetheart of mine never came to find me.

If she will not come over.

Then I will go over.

Huh?!

Hearing that he was going to see Zhao Zhixia, Xiaobai's eyes widened. Her previous drowsiness vanished without a trace in an instant as she stuttered, You are going to find her? She definitely, definitely has been reborn! If you go to her now, she will absolutely hate your guts. You cannot beat her right now, and she even has a Soul Formation level guard behind her!

Hearing this, Ye Shu merely smiled calmly.

He strode forward with firm steps.

But she did not come looking for me at the very first opportunity, did she?

If she truly hated me enough, she probably would have made her move the moment I returned to the Ye family.

There are only two possibilities for why she has not acted.

The first is that she still remembers our past affection and is hesitating in her heart.

As for the second...

Seeing him suddenly pause, Xiaobai could not help but ask, What is the second?

Ye Shu did not speak, but suddenly looked up.

We are here.

In front of them was a rather small courtyard. On the right side of the courtyard wall was a large gap, exposing broken red bricks, looking as if it had been forcefully smashed open.

This... this is Zhao Zhixia's courtyard?

Xiaobai stared wide-eyed at the hole. Are you kidding me? What kind of female lead lives in a rundown courtyard like this? Even if she is hiding her identity, her talent ensures she gets top-tier VIP treatment in the Ye family. How could she live in a place like this?

This is no rundown courtyard.

Ye Shu smiled and brought her to the gap. The gap directly faced the window lattice of the main house.

It is even more rundown. Xiaobai frowned, not understanding his meaning.

Then look over there. Ye Shu turned around and pointed in the direction opposite the gap.

Xiaobai looked in the direction he pointed.

There was another wall, and that wall also had a gap. Looking through the gap, there was a window, and inside the window, a girl in a pink dress was sitting cross-legged in meditation.

That is... your bedroom?

Xiaobai muttered in disbelief.

Ye Shu looked at the opening, a look of reminiscence on his face. When I was very young, a little girl came to the clan. My late old man told me that she was my younger sister and told me to take good care of her, so I firmly fulfilled that duty.

But perhaps I fulfilled it a little too well.

The girl was not afraid of me, but she was afraid of everyone else. She followed behind me at all times. Wherever I went, she followed. She tagged along when I ate, drank, brushed my teeth, and washed my face, just like a little shadow, terrified that I would leave her sight. During the day, it was fine, of course, but at night, it became a problem.

The Ye family's rules are very strict.

Even for a brother and sister, no matter how young, they could not sleep in the same room. So every night, the girl would be very scared, clinging tightly to my clothes and refusing to leave.

So I picked up a hammer, smashed a hole in the wall of my courtyard, and smashed another hole in her courtyard's wall. I told her that my window would never be closed, so as long as she opened her window, she could see me anytime.

...

Hearing this, Xiaobai was stunned.

I did not expect a guy like you to be so romantic in the past, she said softly, sitting on Ye Shu's shoulder, her pale legs dangling back and forth in the moonlight.

She could almost picture a little boy swinging a hammer at a wall, surrounded by shocked and bewildered adults.

What a romantic thing that must have been.

Actually, I am still quite romantic now.

Ye Shu smiled, then turned and walked toward the gate.

Are you really going in? I just saw that the window through the gap is closed, Xiaobai said with some concern.

No matter how close they were in the past, under the erosion of the system's rebirth memories, she would change. Did Danxia, who had been nourished by Ye Shu's spiritual energy for years, not turn out the same way?

I have to see her eventually.

Rather than waiting for her to come over, it is better to go over myself.

Xiaobai stared blankly at Ye Shu's profile.

This guy was always like this. Even knowing that a dragon's pool or a tiger's den lay ahead, he dared to charge right in, yet he always maintained an appearance of having everything under control. She did not know who he learned it from.

Ye Shu walked to the door and knocked gently.

The courtyard gate was not locked. With just a light knock, it creaked open.

It was very quiet inside, and also very empty.

Only a few small blue flowers swayed in the moonlight.

He stepped through the front yard and arrived in front of the house.

Knock, knock, knock—

He tapped lightly on the door.

Come in.

A faint voice sounded.

Ye Shu pushed the door open.

The room was brightly lit. Moonlight spilled across the spotless floor like liquid silver, illuminating everything inside.

A table, two chairs, and a bed.

Other than that, there was nothing else.

It could not be any simpler.

By the window, a figure stood alone.

The young woman wore a green dress. Her waist-length hair was tied with a green silk ribbon, swaying slightly in the night breeze. The moonlight fell upon her cascading hair, casting a faint silver halo.

Just a profile view was enough to outshine a thousand colors.

Sensing the door being pushed open, Zhao Zhixia slowly turned around.

There was no expression on that beautiful face, only an indifferent calmness. The look in her eyes as she gazed at Ye Shu was no longer the same as before.

Ye Shu also raised his head and met her gaze.

The two of them just stood there, separated by a table, looking into each other's eyes without saying a word.

Silence spread through the air.

This oppressive atmosphere made Xiaobai wrinkle her little face. She hated this feeling; she felt that these two were acting very strangely.

It was as if they were wrestling with each other.

Hey! I am uncomfortable, say something, Xiaobai finally called out, giving Ye Shu's head a push.

Can you not let me act affectionate for a moment?

Ye Shu was speechless. He then cupped his hands toward Zhao Zhixia, revealing a faint smile.

I wonder, how should I address you now?

Sister Ye... or Miss Zhao?

Hearing this form of address, Zhao Zhixia's pupils shrank.

He... he knew all along?

But looking at Ye Shu's calm and composed smile, her fingers tightened slightly. Her expression, however, remained unchanged as she said indifferently:

What do you think?

I think...

Ye Shu's gaze fell on Zhao Zhixia's left wrist. Her slender wrist was as white as jade, but it was missing an item.

He took a step back and smiled faintly. The 167th generation disciple of the Ye family, Ye Shu.

Pays his respects to Miss Zhao.