It was just as before, so faint it seemed it might stop at any moment.
The clamor of discussion from the side hall was so loud it threatened to blow the roof off.
Ji Qingwu furrowed her brow. She gently pulled the blanket higher, tucking his large hand back under the brocade quilt.
She didn't dare touch him with her fingertips again, instead tracing the outline of his features with her gaze.
After watching for a long while, Ji Qingwu pressed her lips together and walked out of Zhaoyang Hall.
Little Dongzi was keeping watch at the entrance, his eyes bloodshot. Seeing her emerge, he forced himself to look alert.
"Miss Ji, is there anything you need?"
Ji Qingwu's peripheral vision caught sight of something. "Eunuch," she said in a low voice, "please ask Mr. Duan to come here for me."
A voice spoke from the shadows beneath the hall's eaves. "Will asking him to come be of any use?"
The man stepped out from under the eaves, his face moving from shadow into light.
