37 Adding rocks to the mountain (1/2)

A cold breeze brushed against Suyin's face, causing her to close her eyes for a second. She was leaning on the wooden railing next to Junli's room. After giving him the medicine, Suyin had decided to go outside to get some air.

”The Prince had no room for compassion besides himself!”

The face of Qin Fuhua popped up in her mind, which made her frown. Everything that he had done up to his point, she felt like at times, Suyin was a pawn of his. It was pure coincidence that she may have accidentally intertwined her fate with him.

Suyin suddenly heard whispers nearby Junli's room, causing her to slowly creep up at the corner of the wall.

”Young Master. But I finally found the item that I have been looking for.” Jiayi said. Suyin could barely see the face of Jiayi. She was facing Junli outside of his room where no one could see them. Suyin happened to be near just to hear little whispers and tried to get close to the two to listen to their conversation.

”Stop it! I told you! I don't believe in the nonsense!” Junli was angered that she had risked her life for a key. ”No one knows where this place is at, or even if this place even exists!” He was baffled at the maid's belief.

”Young Master, wait! But the key is in my possession!”

”And that will only bring you danger because other people are looking for the key also. You know that already.” Junli escorted himself, upset that she would put herself in danger for him. ”I'm going to go take a bath.”

Suyin hurried back to sit down at the pavilion in the courtyard. Was this the item that Qin Fuhua wanted?!

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Junli had finished taking a bath after taking his medicine. He slowly strolled down with a beautiful light blue robe. The moon was lit just perfect to show Suyin's figure and face in the darkness. Junli lifted his hands to excuse Jiayi who followed behind him. She calmly bowed and excused herself, leaving Junli's courtyard.

Junli calmly approached next to her in the pavilion so he could take a closer look at the side of her face. Her eyes were blank-- as if she was staring off into the distance down at the ground.

”Miss Suyin?” Junli softly said, staring at her. There was no one around the two so he could call her that (or at least, freely).

Suyin felt troubled deep down inside but couldn't brush off what Junli had mentioned about Qin Fuhua earlier.

”Miss Suyin.” Junli raised his volume enough for her to at least hear him.

Suyin perked up and looked at him blankly.

”Oh. Yes?” Suyin finally replied, turning to him. He smiled at her, chuckling for a second.

”Are you alright?” Junli wanted to make sure Suyin was not feeling uncomfortable after he told her about his past and the incident with his uncle.

”Ah... yes.” Suyin paused for a second. For a while, there was a long silence. They didn't utter a single word until Suyin broke the stillness. She played with her hands, avoiding eye contact with Junli.

”Um... Thank you for telling me about yourself... and your uncle.” She stopped, worried that she would believe he was the same as his uncle, ”Don't worry about your uncle! I know that you are not like him at all.” She stated with a worried expression.

Junli stared off through the courtyard, looking at the silhouettes of the trees. It looked as if there were an endless amount of stars in the sky.

”Thank you for listening,” Junli responded. He turned to her and smiled. ”For someone who I just met, you are a pure, kind, and genuine person. I've never met someone like you before.” He declared.

Suyin could only smile at him, unable to say anything. Knowing that she is the wife of ”Tienzheng” in this town, it was important for her to not cross the line between friendship.

”I'm going to go inside and rest up.” Junli excused himself, a bit embarrassed with his confession. ”Go get some sleep soon, okay?”

Suyin only nodded with her head. ”Mn.”

Junli slowly headed back to his bedroom, with Suyin staring at the back of Junli until he disappeared into his room.

Suyin noticed something at the corner of her eye-- Jiayi's head bobbing up and down behind the bushes outside of the courtyard gate. Perfect! This was the perfect opportunity for her to follow the servant girl to see where she hid the key.

She carefully and quickly ran near the courtyard gate, standing behind the wall as she slowly peeked down the corridors in the main hall. Jiayi kept looking from the left and right hall, making sure that no one noticed her as she scurried down the hall.

Suyin chased after her cautiously and trailed behind her.

Jiayi quickly ran into a room, closing the door as quietly as she could so there would be no squeaking. Suyin followed behind through all of this, observing the servant maid in the bookroom where they had bookshelves filled with wooden and paper books in them.

Jiayi pulled one of the books out of the bookshelf. It was a crimson red book that had a print of a butterfly on it.

Suyin tried to take a better look but due to her rash actions, a book from one of the bookshelves fell to the ground,

*THUD*

Suyin's eyes grew bigger with a surprised expression. Why was she being so clumsy at an important moment like this right now?! Suyin picked up the book to put back on the bookshelf, not realizing that Jiayi was standing in front of her.

Jiayi crossed her arms, a bit angry at Suyin as she smiled. ”J-Jiayi! What are you doing here?” Suyin tried to change the topic to try to distract her from thinking she was following her.

”I could ask the same thing. What are you doing here, young sir?” Jiayi interrogated Suyin.

Ah right. Suyin had forgotten that she was dressed in a pair of male clothing as a medicine man. She grabbed a random book on her hand, quickly defending her actions.

”I.... was already in here when you barged in and scared me!” Suyin had opened the book already by the time Jiayi saw her. Suyin closed the book, glancing at the faded Chinese characters that were written in front of the cover:

”GENERAL OF THE QIN”

”I was researching on young master Junli's history to see if there was any medical history on his father.” Suyin blurted out, trying to add rocks to the mountain*.

(*Meaning Suyin had to make it up at the spot. [Adding rocks to the mountain] meant that a person believes that rocks come from pieces of the mountain itself, so a person adding rocks to the mountain would make it appear to look like it resided there, but in reality, those rocks did not belong there and it was all made up.)

Jiayi frowned at Suyin, holding the book close to her chest. ”Mister Shu is very dedicated to helping my master.” She calmly said. She glanced at the crimson book and then looked at Suyin. ”Did you... see anything?” Her head was lowered, questioning the suspicious Suyin who immediately shook her head.

”You were the one who scared me instead, coming in so quietly like that.” Suyin nervously laughed, lying in front of the young maiden. ”But a beautiful book like that, I have not seen before. Does it have a special meaning to the young maid?” Suyin fixed her voice, hoping to gain some answers from her.

”No. Um...” Her face began to turn a little red, her eyes were darted down on the ground with a small smile on her face. ”Young Master taught me how to read... so this is all I know how to read. It's a collection of poetry.” Jiayi replied, placing the book down on a small, rectangular table next to her.