Chapter 54: Is This... Revealing Your True Colors?

After finishing breakfast, seeing dark clouds gathering once more, Bai Peiyu gave Bai Lixuan a few instructions before grabbing an umbrella and offering to walk Qiu Yiyao home.

The road was dotted with small puddles left behind by the torrential rain, and the grass on both sides was hung heavy with glistening water droplets.

They hadn't gone far before Qiu Yiyao's white canvas shoes were caked in mud, and the hems of her jeans were completely soaked through.

Noticing her trying to scrape the mud off her shoes against the grass as she walked, Bai Peiyu handed the umbrella to Qiu Yiyao, took two steps forward to stand right in front of her, and crouched down with his back to her.

"I'll carry you."

Qiu Yiyao was taken aback. She was no delicate young miss; surely there was no need to be carried?

She hurriedly declined.

Yet, just as she tried to step around him, Bai Peiyu reached out, wrapped his arms around her waist, and hoisted her directly onto his shoulder in one smooth motion.

"Hey! Bai, what are you doing?"

Panicked, Qiu Yiyao had never encountered such treatment in all her life. Even Qiu Shengming had never carried her like this.

She felt just like a pig waiting to be slaughtered.

Instinctively, Qiu Yiyao began to struggle, raising her fists to rain blows down upon Bai Peiyu's back.

With a sharp thump, she suddenly wondered if she had hit him too hard. Feeling a twinge of guilt, she leaned forward to gently rub the spot for him.

Yet she stubbornly muttered through her teeth, "I can walk on my own! If you don't put me down right now, I... I really will hit you."

Bai Peiyu couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, as long as your hands don't get too tired from rubbing, feel free to hit away."

A blush instantly spread across Qiu Yiyao's face, though thankfully Bai Peiyu couldn't see it.

The two walked like this for quite a stretch, until they finally reached the paved concrete road, whereupon Bai Peiyu set her down.

"You're the one who insisted on being carried this time. I certainly didn't force you."

Qiu Yiyao had no intention of letting him use today's incident as ammunition the next time they traded witty remarks.

Bai Peiyu let out a quiet chuckle. "Rest assured, it's just that I had too much idle time on my hands and felt empty without a weight on my shoulders."

"That's more like it."

Qiu Yiyao walked on ahead by herself, casting covert glances at him from the corner of her eye every few steps.

After walking a little further, she finally yielded to her surging curiosity, turned around, and asked, "Can I ask you something?"

Bai Peiyu came to a halt. He looked directly into Qiu Yiyao's eyes with a serious expression, as if he already knew what she was going to ask.

"No. You just need to remember one thing: in this town, no one wants to protect you more than Uncle Qiu."

"Even more than you?"

Bai Peiyu did not answer her question; instead, he raised his gaze toward the sky.

"People are always easily blinded by what is right in front of them. Sometimes, stopping to think things through carefully can benefit you far more than making decisions driven by impulse."

"You're starting to speak in riddles more and more."

Qiu Yiyao made no attempt to hide her confusion. For her, the twenty years leading up to the landslide had been defined by doing entirely as she pleased. Even when her mother passed away, she had chosen to run away rather than face the harsh reality.

Yet now, everything had changed. She wanted to be strong; she wanted to shatter those invisible shackles that bound her.

"Only through riddles does one grow."

Bai Peiyu suddenly reached out and patted her head. "Some things can never be undone, but we can strive to live the lives we truly desire."

Before she could fully grasp the meaning behind his words, Xiao Yi suddenly showed up at her doorstep.

Wearing dark sunglasses and a crisp white shirt, he looked respectable on the surface, but underneath lay a cunning, wretched, and smug countenance.

Qiu Yiyao was sitting alone on the living room sofa when she spotted him at the doorway. She let out a scornful huff and walked over to the entrance.

"Oh, well, if it isn't our dear town mayor's nephew! What kind of wind blew you in here today?"

Leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed over her chest, Qiu Yiyao looked Xiao Yi up and down.

Noticing that there was not the slightest trace of any bandages beneath his white shirt, she thought to herself that monsters really were built differently—after taking a stab wound like that, he was already acting as if nothing had happened.

Xiao Yi removed his sunglasses, wiped them with the corner of his shirt, and slanted a look at her. "Little girl, don't think a sharp tongue is enough to intimidate me. I'm not buying it."

Qiu Yiyao found this amusing and let out a cold laugh. "You talk just like a fart."

Just last night, he had been frightened into fleeing by her mere words of "being struck by heavenly lightning," and now here he was putting on a fierce front again.

At these words, Xiao Yi's face flushed alternately green and red. He angrily demanded, "Where is Qiu Shengming? Tell him to come out, I have business with him."

"Looking to cast the first stone and play the victim, are you? Go find him yourself; I'm not your errand runner."

Unwilling to waste any more breath on him, Qiu Yiyao walked back to the sofa, sat down, crossed her legs, and leisurely cracked open some melon seeds.

Xiao Yi stepped into the house, but after taking barely two steps, he seemed to remember something. Without another word, he turned around and stormed off in a rage.

Watching his retreating back, Qiu Yiyao muttered a soft "coward" under her breath, yet a faint sense of unease lingered in her heart. After she had stabbed him the previous night, he surely wouldn't let the matter rest; he must be brewing some malicious plot.

Ten minutes later, Li Zhen hurried in through the back door, looking flustered.

"Yaoyao, where is your father?"

Her eyes darted restlessly about, constantly glancing toward the upper floor.

Qiu Yiyao sensed something was amiss. Li Zhen had shown up mere moments after Xiao Yi left—could the two of them have been discussing something?

"He went out on business."

"What about Xiao Bai?"

"He went with him."

Ever since the incident in the woods, Bai Peiyu's trust in Qiu Yiyao had grown significantly. Though he no longer hovered by her side every single second, he repeatedly urged her never to wander off alone at home.

Upon hearing this, Li Zhen's expression grew even more anxious.

With her quick wit, Qiu Yiyao guessed that something must have happened, and it likely concerned her.

"Sister Zhen, is something the matter?"

"No, no. You go on with what you're doing, Yaoyao. I'll come back later."

As Li Zhen turned in a rush to leave, Qiu Shengming and Bai Peiyu entered through the front door, one right after the other.

"Old Qiu, you're back."

Li Zhen hurried forward to greet them, but right as she was about to speak, she cast a nervous glance back at Qiu Yiyao.

This reaction completely confirmed Qiu Yiyao's suspicions.

However, if they didn't want to tell her, she simply wouldn't ask.

Acting as if nothing were wrong, Qiu Yiyao sauntered over to the sofa and grabbed a handful of melon seeds. "Sister Zhen, Congcong is at home, right? I'm going over to see him."

...

Congcong was sitting on the living room floor, holding a small plastic shovel and playing with sand in a bucket.

Upon seeing Qiu Yiyao, he beamed happily and offered to share his little shovel with her.

Delighted, Qiu Yiyao stuffed her melon seeds back into her pocket and took the shovel from him. "Even though your big sister hasn't played with sand in ages, I suppose I can act like a kid today just to keep you company."

She reached out to gently flick the tip of Congcong's nose, only to watch a large mucus bubble pop out from it.

"Oh my, Congcong, have you caught a cold?"

Instinctively, Qiu Yiyao placed her hand against his forehead; it felt burning hot.

Secretly cursing herself for not paying closer attention, she couldn't help but feel that Li Zhen was far too careless—how could she possibly find the mood to go visiting neighbors when her own son had a fever? No matter how huge the matter, nothing was more important than a child.

"Congcong, did you take any cold medicine?"

Congcong nodded, opened his small mouth to speak, but before a word could escape, he was seized by a fit of violent coughing.

Seeing the boy's little face flush bright red from coughing, Qiu Yiyao felt a pang of sympathy. She gathered him into her arms and gently patted his back, hoping to ease his discomfort.

Yet her efforts seemed entirely useless.

"Big Sister Yaoyao... Atishoo!"

With a resounding sneeze from Congcong, Qiu Yiyao felt the tiny body in her arms give a slight shudder. Looking down, she froze as she caught sight of a pair of fluffy white animal ears atop his head.

Had he... reverted to his true form?