Be Gentle, My Master

No, I can’t let Uncle know about this, can’t let him say such hurtful words.

I can’t destroy the relationship that they’ve finally mended so easily.

But now, I’m pregnant, and as time goes by, my belly will grow bigger day by day.

Eventually, there’s no way to hide it.

What should I do?

What can I do?

Embracing herself tightly, her cries grew louder, and soon, Baili Xia began to sob uncontrollably, no longer caring about her appearance.

Occasionally, a passerby would see a young woman squatting on the grass, crying.

Thinking of going over to ask, but were halted by her solitary figure.

Such despair, such a sorrowful girl—what on earth had happened to her?

Why was she crying so miserably?

Baili Xia didn’t know how long she had cried for; eventually, her cries waned.

Her throat was almost hoarse, and her eyes were red and swollen like two inflamed walnuts.

Crying hadn’t improved her mood at all.

She still felt so lost, still couldn’t see the direction ahead.

Is there anyone who can tell her what she should do?

Suddenly, a soft sigh came from above her head.

Startled, she jerked her head up.

In her blurry sight, a tall and lean figure appeared.

He stood before her, looking down at her, and then slowly squatted down.

His large hand touched her cheek, gently wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes.

“This is the second time, the second time I’ve seen you crying alone. What’s hurting you so much? Can you tell me about it?”

Baili Xia trembled her thin lips, just looking at him, as tears burst forth like a breached dam.

Finally, she choked up, lunged forward, and wrapped her arms around his neck, calling out in a hoarse voice.

“Jin, I don’t know what to do? I really don’t know what to do?”

…

Just like the past two years, whenever she felt down, Dongfang Jin would buy her a pile of snacks to cheer her up, and it was the same now.

He didn’t ask why she was crying or what had made her unhappy, because seeing her like that, he knew she didn’t intend to say.

So, he just coaxed her for a while, pacified her with a few words, and after she stopped crying,

He promptly went to a nearby supermarket and brought back two big bags of snacks for her.

The two sat on the grass, Dongfang Jin peeled pine nuts one by one, placing the peeled kernels in her palm.

Baili Xia was not shy at all; after taking the pine nuts, she looked up at Dongfang Jin and sniffled before stuffing them into her mouth.

Because when she was sixteen, her favorite thing was to spread out her palm and wait for Jin to place the shelled snacks into it.

Then, she would pop them into her mouth.

He and she were like an older brother and his little sister – the affection they shared those two years, from initially seeing him only as a brother, to gradually, under his guidance, seeing him as a future husband, someone she would marry.

He had said that he would marry her when she grew up.

But life is unpredictable, and just because of Lu Xuening’s vile plan, their two years of affection had been completely extinguished.

To this day, Baili Xia couldn’t clearly define her feelings for Dongfang Jin.

Maybe, more than ever, she just saw him as her big brother, as before.

Because other than a brother-sister relationship, nothing else seemed suitable for them anymore.