Qing Shan's face calmed her a little, looking at the watch Zhi Ruo noticed it was just around 4 AM in the morning. Her throat felt dry, s. he tried to grab the water gla.s.s kept at her bedside table and drink some water to relieve her itchy throat. Zhi Ruo tried to stretch her body a little bit to reach near the gla.s.s, just as she was about to grab the gla.s.s she felt her waist being clasped by a strong force. She quickly turned her head to look at the reason behind it. Removing the duvet she realized it was nothing else but Qing Shan's arm which was holding her waist tightly. Trying to loosen his grip she stretched again to grab the water gla.s.s.

"What happened?" Qing Shan opened his eyes and asked in a hoa.r.s.e voice.

Grabbing the gla.s.s of water, Zhi Ruo showed it to him and drank it. Qing Shan noticed it was early morning and there were sweat beads on Zhi Ruo's face. Getting up he gently wiped them with his thumb asking, "You are sweating. Nightmare?"

Zhi Ruo shook her head, "Not a nightmare. A dream."

Remembering the dream Zhi Ruo felt a little sad. She did not remember everything in the dream, she just remembered that everywhere it was dark, she seemed to faintly hear some voices. Her mother said her she has to stay alert, but she did not say from whom.

Zhi Ruo sighed, looking at Qing Shan's handsome face she buried in his arms saying, "I saw mom in the dream."

"What did she say?" Qing Shan adjusted both of them and covered them with a duvet and started to rub her palms which were lightly cool due to the dream.

"She said she likes you."

"And you?" Qing Shan abruptly asked, startling Zhi Ruo.

"What me?" Zhi Ruo asked looking at Qing Shan with her innocent eyes.

Covering her eyes with his big palm, Qing Shan kissed the crown of her head before patting her back rhythmically thinking, 'Silly girl, what about you? Do you like me?'

Qing Shan wanted to ask but was scared of the answer, making those questions stay buried in his heart. He was worried about how he will feel if she rejects him. Will he be able to leave her if she feels going away from him. He had a lot of fear, fear of losing her. Fear of not being able to keep her happy. He had to grow stronger, much more than he was at the moment. Only then can he protect her from those unknown forces.

---

"Do you know what you are doing?" Old man s.h.i.+ asked

"This was the only way." Old lady Zhu spoke.

"What if she suffers the same fate?" Old man s.h.i.+ asked in a soft voice.

Old lady Zhu became agitated, glancing at old man s.h.i.+ with red eyes she spoke,

"This time I will trade my life in exchange then."

"Will this reduce your guilt? Will this reduce her suffering? Will this makeup for those years? Will this makeup for her youth?" Old man s.h.i.+ asked after hearing the ridiculous suggestion from the old lady Zhi.

"Look, there are movements." Old lady spoke pointing towards a well. Both of them went to look at it and noticed the patterns of water in the well.

"She is alive." Both Old lady Zhi and Old man s.h.i.+ spoke at the same time with surprised expressions.

"Let's try to catch her." Old man s.h.i.+ spoke while trying to do something with his hands

Catching his hands so that they are unable to move, the old lady scolded him, "No, it's not the right time yet."

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