Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Qin Zhiâai stared at the screen for a while, until she couldnât help but look up secretly and peek at Gu Yusheng.
Just as she was about to look away, Gu Yusheng set aside his documents, closed his eyes, and rubbed his fingers between his eyebrows.
Qin Zhiâai glanced at his water glass on his nightstand. It was empty, so she hesitatingly stood up and walked to the nightstand.
Hearing someone approach, Gu Yusheng opened his eyes and looked at her without saying anything.
She picked up the glass, turned to fill it with warm water, and then gently placed it back on the nightstand. When she saw the roasted chestnuts that heâd asked her to buy earlier that day, she said, âMaster Gu, I put the chestnuts here.â
Gu Yusheng turned his head and stretched out his arm.
Qin Zhiâai picked up the chestnuts and put them in his hand.
Gu Yusheng opened the paper bag and took out a chestnut. As he was preparing to shell it, Qin Zhiâai suddenly worried that he might pull the muscle around his injuries. âMaster Gu, let me help you.â
Gu Yusheng stopped for a moment without replying.
Confused by his silence, Qin Zhiâai eventually moved a stool next to him, reached in the bag for a chestnut, and started to shell it.
The room was silent except for the sound of shelling.
After Gu Yusheng had eaten several chestnuts, Qin Zhiâai reminded him to slow down. âBe careful about eating too many of these before you go to sleepâitâll make your stomach upset.â
But she didnât stop shelling.
She found an empty bag in the room and put the shells in it. âMaster Gu, Iâll shell them for you first, and you can eat them tomorrow.â
Gu Yusheng answered âhmmâ in a low voice. He then turned away and stared out the window for a while. He could not help but fix his eyes on her reflection in the window.
Qin Zhiâai didnât notice Gu Yusheng staring at her, but she felt a womanâs intuition that the energy in the room had changed.
Whenever the atmosphere between them had become strange, she had always become extremely nervous, a symptom of loving him.
Qin Zhiâai nervously shelled two chestnuts. To ease her nervousness, she looked up at him and said, âMaster Gu...â
After she had called his attention, she realized that she hadnât known what she was going to say, so she said, âThank you.â
Concerned her words were too abrupt and confusing, she added, âThank you for that night. If it werenât for you, I might have...â
She stopped talking because she assumed he understood what she was trying to say.
When she called out âMaster Gu,â he had broken his gaze on her reflection and focused on a streetlight.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
Hearing her thanks, he eventually replied, âWell, it doesnât matter.â
âMaster Gu, why would you...â Qin Zhiâai hesitated before continuing, â...hit the man who had hurt me so viciously?â