Morning.

When the first strand of sunlight quietly spilled across the windowsill, the girl lying on the bed slowly woke.

The first thing she wanted to do after waking was go to the bamboo grove at the foot of Elementary Learning Peak to see Xiao Mo.

Even though Tushan Jingci had been comforting herself in her heart all along, telling herself over and over, Xiao Mo will definitely come out of seclusion without a hitch. Nothing will happen to Xiao Mo.

Deep down, however, that worry and longing simply would not go away.

So just after daybreak, Tushan Jingci quietly changed clothes, planning to sneak off to Xiao Mo’s courtyard.

The result, naturally, was exactly what one would expect.

Tushan Jingci was caught red-handed by Yueshi.

“Sister Yueshi, just let me go...”

“Sister Yueshi...”

“It’s not like anything would happen if I went.”

“Anyway, Xiao Mo has already entered seclusion...”

“I know Mother is worried there’ll be bad rumors about me and Xiao Mo.”

“But Xiao Mo is already in seclusion. Right now he’s basically like a rock, just sitting there without moving. What bad rumors could possibly come from that...?”

As she spoke, Tushan Jingci gently shook Yueshi’s arm, acting spoiled with her the way she always did.

Her voice was soft and sweet, tinged with a note of pleading.

“...”

Faced with that pair of eyes full of entreaty, and hearing her young lady beg again and again, Yueshi’s heart softened little by little.

Privately, Yueshi thought that what her young lady said did make some sense.

After all, no matter how one looked at it, Xiao Mo was currently in seclusion. The two of them would not have any contact at all. Her young lady only wanted to go see him once. It really did seem harmless.

But then Yueshi remembered Madam Tushan’s instructions, and a troubled look returned to her face.

“Sister Yueshi, if you don’t say anything and I don’t say anything, Sister Xiaoyin and the others definitely won’t dare say anything either. Nothing will happen, really.”

Seeing that Sister Yueshi seemed to be wavering a little, Tushan Jingci continued in that soft, coaxing tone. By the time she reached the emotional part, a faint mist had already begun to gather in those beautiful eyes.

Before long, the glistening tears at the corners of her eyes seemed barely able to hang on, trembling as though they might spill at any moment.

“No, Young Lady.”

In the end, Yueshi took a deep breath and forced her heart to harden again.

“From now on, I will stay with you at all times, Young Lady. If you go to the hall for lessons, I will go with you. In any case, I cannot allow you to go see Xiao Mo.”

If it had been in the past, Yueshi would not have thought this was such a serious matter.

But her young lady was growing up now. How could she spend all day with her mind fixed on a single servant?

That absolutely would not do.

“Hmph! I’m never talking to Sister Yueshi again!”

Seeing that Sister Yueshi refused to budge no matter what, Tushan Jingci let out an angry huff, turned, and ran back into her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

“Ah...”

Looking at that tightly closed door, Yueshi sighed, helplessness in her eyes.

Inside the room, Tushan Jingci lay sprawled over the table, both little hands stretched straight out, her chin pressed against the cool tabletop, looking like a frostbitten little fox, completely listless.

Even the fluffy fox tail behind her drooped weakly, the tip hanging over the edge of the chair without moving at all.

“How is Xiao Mo right now?”

“He’s probably already started seclusion by now...”

“Nothing could have happened to him, right?”

The more Tushan Jingci thought, the more uneasy she became, and the stronger that urge to go see Xiao Mo grew.

Before, even when Sister Yueshi would not let her go see him, at least Xiao Mo could still accompany her to the lesson hall when she went to class.

But now? Xiao Mo could not even go to the lesson hall with her anymore. Didn’t that mean she would not get to see him for many, many days...?

“No!”

Tushan Jingci suddenly sat upright, her little face full of determination.

“If I want a chance, I have to fight for it myself! If Sister Yueshi won’t let me go, then I just have to sneak there even more!”

Once she made up her mind, she acted immediately.

Half an hour later, Tushan Jingci guessed that Sister Yueshi had probably relaxed her guard by now, so she quietly activated her innate divine ability, concealing both her figure and her aura completely.

She had plenty of confidence in her spell art.

After all, among the Tushan clan, what they were best at was illusion art and arts involving the soul and mind.

She opened the door as lightly as possible, stood on tiptoe, and quietly slipped out.

However, she had only taken a few steps into the courtyard when a soft cough sounded behind her—

“Ahem... where is Young Lady planning to go?”

Tushan Jingci froze from head to toe. Slowly, she turned around and saw that Sister Yueshi had appeared behind her at some unknown point, calmly watching her with a jade pendant pinched between her fingers.

“Sister Yueshi... I...”

Tushan Jingci’s eyes darted from side to side as her mind spun furiously, trying to come up with some excuse that could fool Sister Yueshi.

“Do not trouble yourself thinking any further, Young Lady.” Yueshi sighed softly, her tone gentle but leaving no room for argument. “Madam personally gave me this jade pendant. It is an excellent treasure for detection, specifically to prevent you from secretly slipping out.”

She paused. Looking at the disappointment written all over her young lady’s face, she felt a little reluctant, but she still continued:

“Young Lady should rest properly. You should pay more attention to your own cultivation, not to a servant.”

“Hmph!”

Knowing there was no hope of sneaking out, Tushan Jingci marched back into her room like a little hen puffed up with anger, and the door slammed shut behind her once again.

“I don’t like Sister Yueshi anymore! And I don’t like Mother either!”

From inside the room came the girl’s voice, thick with grievance.

After being caught trying to sneak out, Tushan Jingci seemed to behave herself a good deal more. She stayed quietly in her room all morning, as though she had finally given up on the idea.

And yet, in the afternoon, she still refused to give up and tried once more to slip out in secret.

The result was that the moment she opened the door, Yueshi was already standing outside, calmly looking at her.

That evening, after bathing and changing, Tushan Jingci waited until the dead of night, when everything was silent and no one was around. Then she quietly activated her spell art again and transformed into a little snow-white fox, slipping lightly out through the window.

This time, she finally made it outside the courtyard.

The white fox trotted briskly along the path. Moonlight spilled over her fluffy tail. She covered her little fox mouth with one forepaw, secretly delighted, convinced that this time she would definitely succeed.

And yet, after she had run less than a mile down the path, she looked up.

Yueshi was once again standing quietly ahead, as though she had been waiting there all along.

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