(3) A Clever Ploy to Stay Longer

The weather was bright and clear that day, with a gentle breeze under a beautiful sky. In the garden of the General's residence, Guo Huilian and Xiaocui were flying a kite together in high spirits—a birthday gift Guo Sheng had made for his beloved daughter with his own hands.

Though Guo Huilian's mother kept a strict hand over her, Guo Sheng doted on this youngest daughter of his above all the others, largely because of her lively, spirited nature, which brought unexpected delight to a man who, by middle age, found most things in life settling into predictable routine. She was nothing like the well-behaved young ladies of Chang'an's noble households; her mischievous, innocent, bold, unconventional spirit had utterly captured Guo Sheng's heart. Whenever she got into trouble and her mother moved to punish her, Guo Sheng always stepped in to smooth things over. Even her tree-climbing habit he laughingly excused as "no tiger's daughter is a coward," which never failed to infuriate his wife, who always insisted it was Guo Sheng who had spoiled Huilian rotten.

For his other two sons and three daughters, Guo Sheng had never once made a kite with his own hands—this one was truly one of a kind, and Guo Huilian's delight was written plainly across her face.

The kite drifted through the sky in a riot of color, striking against the lush green all around. Guo Huilian pulled at the string, laughing and calling out happily, while Xiaocui stood nearby, brimming with envy. She longed to try her hand at it too, not just watch from the sidelines—but she was only a maid, after all, hardly in a position to treat herself as an equal to her mistress.

"Young miss, if your arms are getting tired, Xiaocui could take over for a while." After about half an hour had passed, Xiaocui finally couldn't hold back any longer, and timidly, delicately hinted at her own longing, testing to see how Guo Huilian might respond.

As it happened, Guo Huilian's arms were indeed starting to ache. She glanced at Xiaocui's eyes, so full of longing, and generously nodded her consent.

"All right! But you must be careful—don't let the string snap. Father made this with his own hands, you know."

"Xiaocui understands. Thank you, young miss."

Overjoyed at hearing this, Xiaocui ran over and took the spool from Guo Huilian's hands. But wouldn't you know it—just then a sudden gust of wind swept through, and the kite, not yet steady in Xiaocui's grip, was blown violently off course, veering sharply toward the garden wall.

"Ah!" Both mistress and maid cried out in alarm at the same moment.

"The tree... the tree..." They had thought the kite would sail clear out of the garden, but a tree stood directly in its path, and the kite's string became hopelessly tangled in the branches, the kite itself tumbling down to rest among the treetop. The two of them stared at each other, at a complete loss for what to do.

"Young miss..." Though the real culprit was that sudden gust of wind, Xiaocui felt this disaster had occurred on her watch, as though she too bore some responsibility, her heart flooded with guilt and the dread of being blamed.

"It's all my fault..." Xiaocui hung her head low, murmuring apologies under her breath—so low, in fact, that she completely failed to notice Guo Huilian had already begun circling the tree, tilting her head back to study the direction of its branches. Only when Xiaocui realized she'd gotten no response for a long while did she look up—and immediately sensed something was wrong.

"Absolutely not... young miss..." Xiaocui panicked, watching Guo Huilian pull off her shoes and socks—a gesture she knew all too well by now—and then toss her shawl aside as well. "It's broad daylight! Aren't you afraid someone will see you? If the mistress finds out, neither of us will hear the end of it!"

"Why are you shouting so loud? There's clearly no one around right now—do you want to draw attention? This tree isn't even that big; getting the kite down will be simple as anything, and no one will ever know."

The moment she finished speaking, Guo Huilian had already gripped the branches with both hands, planted her feet against the trunk, and with swift, practiced movements, shot up the tree in no time at all.

"Young miss, please be careful!" Xiaocui knew by now there was no stopping her young mistress once she'd made up her mind. With the deed already as good as done, all she could do was resign herself to it, though her heart remained uneasy.

Before long, with Guo Huilian's left hand gripping a thick branch, her legs nearly split in a wide stance, and her right hand steadily reaching for the kite, the prize seemed almost within her grasp—when suddenly, a sharp, cracking sound rang out as the branch snapped. Before Guo Huilian could react, she plummeted straight down from the tree, along with the broken branch, its leaves, and the kite, all tumbling after her, striking her across the back as she fell, drawing several sharp cries of pain from her. But almost immediately, something felt strange. She had clearly fallen face-first, hurtling down from such a height, yet the only pain she felt was where the branch had struck her back—otherwise, it was as though nothing at all had happened to her. Beneath her body seemed to be some sort of soft cushion, and she could hear a low, muffled groan.

"Ah..." Realizing there was a person beneath her, Guo Huilian froze on the spot in shock, momentarily forgetting to even get up.

"You... you... who are you? How did you get here? There's no one in this garden except me and Xiaocui—are you a person or a ghost? This is absurd! Don't tell me ghosts wander about even in broad daylight?"

"Young master..." Yueying rushed forward in a single bound, equally alarmed by the scene before him. He reached out to help Tian Xu up, but with Guo Huilian still sprawled on top of him, there was simply nowhere for him to take hold.

Indeed, the unfortunate soul that Guo Huilian had landed on after her fall from the tree was none other than Tian Xu. At that moment, he lay on his side, one hand braced against the ground, the other pointing at Guo Huilian to indicate she was still on top of him, his brow furrowed tightly, his face twisted in obvious pain.

"Young miss..."

Xiaocui, having been thoroughly startled by the sudden accident, stood frozen for a good while before finally coming to her senses. Terrified at the disaster she felt sure had just unfolded, she stumbled forward on trembling legs, her scalp prickling with fear, and with shaking hands helped pull up Guo Huilian, who was still sprawled atop Tian Xu, complaining loudly all the while.

"Young miss... are you hurt anywhere? He must be the young Master Tian who's been recovering in the western wing..." Xiaocui found herself growing more and more flustered with every word, her voice thick with worry. Seeing that Guo Huilian's feet were still bare, she quickly pulled her aside to help her back into her shoes and socks, and did her best to straighten out her rumpled clothes and disheveled hair.

Meanwhile, Yueying had finally made his way to Tian Xu's side. He saw Tian Xu clutching his ribs with one hand, his expression dark and pained—then suddenly caught the young master shooting him a meaningful look, followed by several coughs, his brow furrowing even further.

"Young master, are you all right? Is it your ribs?" Yueying understood the look at once, and deliberately raised his voice, putting on a show of deep concern.

Tian Xu nodded weakly and coughed a few more times, looking altogether unwell—a state of affairs that was, in fact, entirely Guo Huilian's doing. Once she had her shoes and socks properly back on, Guo Huilian hurried over and anxiously asked, "That... um... Tenth Brother... are you all right?"

At this point, Tian Xu, now half-sitting up and leaning against Yueying, gave Guo Huilian a helpless look, coughing again while clutching his ribs, appearing as though the pain had left him unable to speak.

"My young master must have been injured when you fell on him, young miss. It looks quite serious!" Yueying chimed in.

Guo Huilian stepped closer to examine Tian Xu's injury more carefully, and it was only then that she got a proper look at his face for the first time. But with his brow knitted so tightly and his eyes narrowed, most of the natural brightness usually present in Tian Xu's features had faded, leaving him looking sickly and frail, one hand pressed to his ribs, coughing intermittently—clearly, the pain in his chest was making it hard for him to breathe properly.

"Tenth Brother, can you still walk?" As she spoke, Guo Huilian reached out to try to help support Tian Xu—only for Xiaocui to swiftly pull her hand away.

"Why did you pull me away?" Guo Huilian demanded, confused. She was the one who'd injured him, after all—shouldn't she at least help him now?

Xiaocui drew Guo Huilian a short distance from Tian Xu and his attendant before speaking in an urgent whisper. "He's so much bigger than you, young miss—if you try to support him and something goes wrong, you might end up crushed... and besides... there's the matter of propriety between men and women. Just now you already had... physical contact with him. They saw your bare feet, too. If the mistress finds out, won't she force that Master Tian to take responsibility for you? Make him marry you with a hundred bridal carriages?"

No sooner had Xiaocui finished speaking than both Tian Xu and Guo Huilian's eyes flashed with alarm at the very same instant. Xiaocui had assumed she'd kept her voice low enough, and that the distance was sufficient that Tian Xu and his servant wouldn't hear a word—but she failed to account for the fact that both of them had practiced martial arts since childhood, possessing exceptional skill and remarkably keen hearing, so every single word had carried clearly to their ears. Yueying caught a glimpse of his normally composed and steady young master's face flickering with a rare look of panic, hands waving even as he coughed—and this time, the cough was entirely genuine, the result of choking on his own saliva from sheer shock, not the performance from a moment ago. As for Guo Huilian, upon hearing Xiaocui's alarming words, she immediately raised a hand to swat at the top of Xiaocui's head, exclaiming, "What nonsense are you talking about?" Even so, she couldn't help glancing down instinctively at her own bare feet, looking thoroughly flustered.

Seeing this, Tian Xu tried desperately, between coughs, to communicate something, but with his breath so ragged, he could only gesture with his hands—waving them, then pointing at his feet, then at his own face and clothes, sweat beginning to bead on his forehead in his urgency...

Watching his young master's uncharacteristic fluster, Yueying realized this was likely a first in his entire life. Privately, he found himself wanting to laugh—amused that his young master finally seemed like an ordinary thirteen-year-old boy for once.

Since Yueyue Manor had never had many women among its ranks to begin with, and aside from Auntie Gui, there wasn't a single woman there who behaved in the conventionally feminine way. If they weren't exceptional in martial arts, striking with ruthless precision, they were sharp and capable like Steward Han, managing every affair of the manor, inside and out, with meticulous order. Even Auntie Gui, who had come from humble beginnings, had made her way through skill in tailoring and embroidery—working from her teenage years at the silk shop the lady of the manor ran, making garments for the nobility of Chang'an, and eventually accompanying the lady as she built her business empire. As a result, the young master genuinely lacked a proper grounding in the etiquette expected around well-bred young ladies of noble families; though he understood, in theory, the strict rules governing propriety between men and women, his grasp of it was far from complete. With his Cold Affliction nearly cured, and desperate to find some way to extend his stay at the General's residence by another ten days or half a month, Tian Xu had been racking his brains over the problem. Just now, having walked around to the other side of the garden wall, he had spotted Guo Huilian climbing the tree to retrieve her kite, and inspiration struck at once—sensing this was an opportunity too good to pass up, he immediately snatched up a stone from the ground and, using his lightness skill, dashed toward the tree in a few swift bounds. At the same time, channeling his internal energy, he hurled the stone at a branch just behind Guo Huilian, snapping it clean off with the force of his throw. By the time she began to fall, Tian Xu had already positioned himself silently beneath the tree—as a martial artist, he naturally knew exactly how to avoid any truly dangerous injury. And with his internal energy bracing his body, though absorbing the full weight of Guo Huilian's fall with his own body might hurt somewhat, it would cause no real harm at all. This little deception was more than enough to fool two innocent, martial-arts-ignorant young girls—but it could never fool Yueying.

At the time, the two girls had been so focused on the kite that they never noticed Tian Xu approaching at all.

"My young master only saw the young lady's face, not her feet, and as it happens, wherever the young lady landed on my young master's body, there was fabric between them the entire time—there was no actual skin-to-skin contact. Please, young lady, do not trouble yourself over this."

Yueying badly wanted to laugh, but forced himself to hold it back, since this little performance had to keep going—otherwise, all his young master's efforts would have been for nothing.

Hearing Tian Xu's coughing grow so severe it nearly choked him, Guo Huilian hurried back to his side at once, worry written plainly across her face.

"This is no time to be fussing over proprieties between men and women—someone's life is at stake here! Besides, Master Tian was only hurt because of me. I can't just stand by and do nothing while he suffers, can I?" The moment she finished speaking, she took off running toward the garden gate, calling out that she needed to find help. Seeing this, Xiaocui hurried after her at once.

"But if the mistress finds out, young miss, you'll be in for a beating..."

"Would it really be better to abandon him and run off to hide instead? Wouldn't fleeing the scene of the crime only make my punishment worse?"

As Guo Huilian's voice faded into the distance and finally out of earshot, Yueying glanced over at Tian Xu and gave him a discreet thumbs-up in approval. Perhaps it was her father's influence, but even at only ten years old, this little girl already showed the same open-hearted integrity and sense of loyalty as Guo Sheng himself.