Shi Lingyi’s voice was choked with tears, and tears glimmered in her eyes.
Shi Youlan had been brought to tears by her as well. Hugging her around the waist, she refused to let go. “Sister, don’t go. Stay a few more days.”
Shi Lingyi patted her head, her gaze so gentle it seemed almost unreal. But standing to one side, Shi Huai saw her pupils contract ever so slightly.
It was like she was scrutinizing something, weighing its value.
The feeling she gave off was that of a butcher sizing up the pig or sheep about to be slaughtered.
Shi Huai’s heart sank. Without revealing anything, he stepped forward.
“Eldest Sister, be careful on the road. Send us a message when you arrive at the Shen residence.” His voice was as clear and smooth as if it had been washed by spring water, carrying the distinctive allure of 【Voice Resonance】.
Shi Lingyi turned to look at him. Her gaze lingered on his face for a moment, and her pupils contracted again.
“Little Brother, your sister is leaving. You must take good care of Father and Second Sister.” Shi Lingyi’s voice was impossibly gentle, but there was not a trace of warmth in her eyes.
Shi Huai nodded and took a step back, watching her climb into the carriage. He watched as it swayed slowly out through the gates of the Marquis’s residence.
Shi Youlan stood at the entrance and cried for quite some time before a maid finally persuaded her to go back inside.
Shi Huai remained where he was, staring in the direction the carriage had disappeared. His brows drew tighter and tighter.
Qinghe approached from behind and draped a fox-fur cloak over his shoulders.
“Young Master, it’s cold. Let’s go back inside.”
Shi Huai nodded and turned to walk back.
Days passed one after another. Winter gave way to spring, and new leaves sprouted from the old locust tree in the courtyard.
Shi Huai’s appearance rating increased by one point every month. It had already surpassed ninety-five.
“Ding! Current appearance rating: 96. Facial symmetry increased to 99%, skin smoothness increased to 98%, hair luster increased to 81%, eye-color saturation increased to 76%. Passive effect unlocked: 【Aura Field】. Within a five-meter radius around the host, others’ trust in the host increases by 50%, while hostility automatically decreases by 30%.”
Shi Huai stood before the bronze mirror and remained silent for a long while.
The person in the mirror wore a bamboo-green robe. His raven-black hair was tied up with a white jade hairpin, revealing a smooth forehead and a pair of eyes brighter than the stars.
The lines of his features had already shed the childish softness of early youth and were beginning to take on the sharpness of adolescence.
His skin was so pale it was almost translucent. In the sunlight, one could see the fine blue veins beneath it.
The arch of his brows was steeper than it had been six months earlier. His nose was higher, and the contours of his lips more distinct.
His eyes had become an almost pure, ink-like black, with the ring of gold around the edges of his pupils more pronounced than before.
When the light shifted across them, they seemed to hold flecks of golden powder drifting within—a beauty too extraordinary to belong to a real person, as though he had stepped out of a painting.
“Young Master, it’s time to pay your respects to the Marquis.”
Qinghe pushed open the door. The bronze basin in her hands hit the floor with a loud clang, spilling water everywhere.
Shi Huai turned around and looked at her stunned expression. With a helpless sigh, he said, “Sister Qinghe, how many times have you dropped that basin now?”
Qinghe crouched down to pick it up, her hands trembling and her face flushed bright red.
“I... I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Every time I see Young Master, I just feel... I just feel...”
“Feel what?” Shi Huai walked over and bent down to help her pick it up.
Qinghe caught the faint scent of soapberry soap on him, along with a cool, indescribable freshness. Her heart pounded like a drum, and the tips of her ears turned red enough to bleed.
“I just feel that Young Master is too good-looking. So good-looking that you don’t seem real.”
Qinghe’s voice was as soft as a mosquito’s hum. The moment she finished speaking, she regretted it and wished she could bite her own tongue off.
Shi Huai smiled. His smile was like snow melting beneath the spring sun, carrying a magical quality that put people at ease.
“Sister Qinghe, you see me every day. Aren’t you tired of looking at me yet?”
Qinghe shook her head, then nodded, then shook her head again. In the end, she simply refused to answer, clutching the bronze basin as she fled.
Shi Huai watched her retreating figure and gave a wry smile. After straightening his collar, he left to pay his respects in the main courtyard.
To get from the Hall of Longevity and Peace to the main courtyard, one had to cross nearly half the Marquis’s residence.
Every maidservant and servant he encountered along the way froze without exception, their mouths hanging open wide enough to swallow an egg.
One person dropped the broom in their hand without even noticing. Another carrying a tea tray collided with a veranda pillar. Someone else was so stunned that they stepped off the stairs and tumbled down.
“Ding! The combined effects of 【Intermediate Charm】 and 【Aura Field】 have been detected. The surrounding crowd’s favorable impression has increased by an average of 45%.”
Shi Huai quickened his pace, almost breaking into a run as he crossed the garden. He had no desire to cause an even greater commotion.
In the main courtyard, Shi Yuanzhi was eating breakfast. When he saw Shi Huai enter, his chopsticks paused, and his gaze remained on Shi Huai’s face for several seconds.
“Huai’er, have you grown taller again?”
Shi Yuanzhi set down his chopsticks and looked Shi Huai up and down.
“Father, I’ve grown half a cun.”
Shi Huai performed a proper bow before taking a seat in the chair beside him.
Father and son sat facing each other in silence.
After leaving the main courtyard, Shi Huai ran into Shi Youlan in the garden.
Shi Youlan was twelve years old now, and she had grown taller quickly.
She wore a pink beizi jacket, with several fuzzy fabric flowers adorning her hair. She looked as fresh and delicate as a peach blossom in spring.
“Little Brother!”
Shi Youlan called out from a distance and came running over with a radiant smile.
But when she reached him, she suddenly stopped. Her entire body froze, her eyes widening and her mouth parting slightly as if someone had cast a spell of immobilization on her.
“Second Sister, what’s wrong?” Shi Huai tilted his head and looked at her in confusion.
Shi Youlan’s face reddened at a visible speed, the flush spreading from the base of her neck all the way to the tips of her ears, as though she had been set on fire.
She opened her mouth, then closed it. She opened it again, but in the end, she managed to force out only two words:
“N... Nothing.”
“Are you sure? Why is your face so red? Do you have a fever?”
Shi Huai reached out to touch her forehead.
Shi Youlan recoiled as if scalded. Covering her face with both hands, she cried out in a voice so shrill it nearly broke, “I said nothing’s wrong! Don’t touch me!”
Shi Huai withdrew his hand, his brows drawing together slightly. Her reaction today was far too strange.
She had blushed before, but never like this. Her face was red as a boiled shrimp, and she could barely get her words out.
“Second Sister, what’s really wrong?” Shi Huai softened his voice a little, giving it the clear, soothing quality unique to 【Voice Resonance】.
Shi Youlan covered her face and peeked at him through her fingers, only to hurriedly cover herself up again.
“D... Don’t talk to me. My heart beats so fast whenever you speak.”
Her voice was muffled and tinged with tears.
Shi Huai sighed helplessly, then took two steps back to widen the distance between them. “Is this better?”
Shi Youlan peered at him through the gaps between her fingers, then looked at the distance separating them. She shook her head, then nodded, and finally crouched down and buried her face in her knees.
“Little Brother, are you some kind of monster in disguise?”
