Liyu hadn't lied, he was, in fact, a boy.

Their ages weren't that far apart, as he was only older than Xie Zhen by half a year. But because he had been a sickly child since young, coupled with the fact that boys developed later than girls, he wasn't as tall as Xie Zhen. It was no wonder that Xie Zhen had wanted to call him little sister when she first saw him...

After the truth was revealed, the atmosphere between both of them became rather awkward.

After all, Xie Zhen was still a child. After carelessly groping him, she did feel sorry and put her hands behind her back saying, "Don't blame me, who asked you to look so pretty..."

It hadn't been easy for Li Yu's complexion to go back to normal, but after hearing her words, his face once again turned green,

"But you still shouldn't have..."

Speaking midway, he couldn't bring himself to finish his sentence.

He had come with Song shi as a guest, but feeling bored after sitting in the main hall for half an hour, he had wished to go to the toilet, and so followed the maidservant out of the hall. Unexpectedly, as soon as he walked out, he bumped into this unreasonable stinky girl.

Although Xie Zhen had been in the wrong, she was used to acting coquettishly and pretending to be innocent to get out of trouble. She went up and grabbed Li Yu's hand, smiling and saying, "Don't be angry, why not I sing a song for you?"

Her soft voice, coupled with her sweet smiling face, made Li Yu suddenly realise that she actually looked rather cute. Soon after, he snorted mentally, what's the point of looking cute, after all, she'd still groped him!

Seeing that he didn't reject her offer, Xie Zhen enthusiastically pulled him to down to the porch, and clearing her throat she began to sing: "White pea, I'm here again, I'll stay until the fire wood is chopped..."

This was something she learnt on the way to Qing Zhou. There had been a group of children amongst the crowd on the streets. At that time, they'd been singing this song and Xie Zhen had remembered it immediately. Her voice was soft and pleasant sounding. Despite being brought up in the capital, her voice was better sounding than girls in the south.

Li Yu's arm was still being pulled on by her. He was still unwilling to follow her, having had a bad impression of her.

Just then, he carefully looked at her face and caught her shining black eyes looking at him steadily. His face immediately reddened and he turned his head away.

"Where are you planning to go? Towards the river, where there are loaches."

The cooling wind breezed through the hall, bringing with it the smell of Iris petals from the yard, along with a whiff of sweet milk. Li Yu's neck was stiff and he had no choice but to turn his head once again. With a glance he saw her gazing intently at the irises in the yard. Her face was as fair as a freshly peeled boiled egg, different from other girls he had seen before. The other girls had not been as good-looking as her, her skin was sparkling and clear, soft, white and with no flaws.

She was good-looking, and that was a fact, it was just that she was a little not right in the head.

Feeling a pressure in his lower abdomen, Liyu suddenly remembered the purpose of him coming out. Wanting to push lightly away her hand, he pleaded, "I want to go..."

Xie zhen didn't let go of him, anxiously saying, "Wait a moment, I haven't finished singing the song."

Having been interrupted earlier, she wanted to continue singing.

Liyu really wanted to cry. Even though she sang well, he was really in a hurry!

He struggled for a while, but because he had just recovered, he didn't have much strength, so he finally was unable to forcefully break free from her claws.

Seeing this, the two maidservants at each side also felt conflicted. Both of these kids were the household's little ancestors, and both couldn't be offended, causing them to be in a dilemma.

Finally, Liyu's maidservant went forward and said, "Second miss, our young master..."

But she still said these words a bit too late, at this time, Liyu could hold on for no longer.

Before Xie Zhen could react to what was happening, Liyu in one movement pushed her away due to his embarrassment, and angrily exclaimed, "Don't touch me!"

Caught off-guard, Xie Zhen was forced back a few steps.

If not for Shuang Yu catching hold of her from the back, Xie Zhen would have fallen to the ground.

Seeing Liyu turning and leaving, Xie Zhen looked up at Shuang Yu, confused, and asked, "Why is he so angry?"

Shuang Yu sighed, even children had their own self-respect, and with just a glance one could tell that Li Yu was the kind of prideful and dignified child, so it was better if she helped cover up for him. "Young Master Li probably doesn't like listening to music."

Hearing this, Xie Zhen nodded, deep in thought. If he didn't like it then it was fine, but shouldn't he have just told her so?

It wasn't like her singing ability was that bad.

*

At the main hall, Li Yu had returned, his face pale.

The moment Song shi caught sight of him looking like that, she was stunned. Why did his facial expression look so unsightly? Hurriedly she asked the maidservants what had happened before, and as Leng shi was also there, the maidservant could only stutter unclearly, "The Young Master met Second Young Miss Xie..."

Li Yu looked at her, and quietly told her to stop talking.

Immediately, she stopped.

In front of Song shi, he looked down and said, "Ah Niang, let's go home, I'm not feeling very good."

Unexpectedly, as soon as he left their house it was like he'd changed into a different person. Both Song shi and her husband were perplexed. Hearing his words, they anxiously felt his forehead, asking, "Could the fever have returned?"

Not finding anything out of the ordinary, Song shi sighed in relief. Smiling at Leng shi, she said, "That child isn't sensible, please excuse his behaviour. If not for your medicinal herbs that day, he wouldn't have recovered so quickly."

At this, Song shi once again thanked Leng shi profusely.

Without that medicine, while Li Yu wouldn't have died, he definitely wouldn't have recovered so quickly either. Even worse, if the fever had continued the way it did before, there was no saying whether his brain cells would've been burnt or not. As such, Song shi was incredibly grateful towards Leng shi.

Shaking her head, Leng shi replied, "There's no need to thank me anymore. We're neighbours, and it was only right for me to help you." Looking down, she saw Li Yu bowing his head silently, and said, "Just now, Young Master Li said he was feeling unwell. Should we get a physician to look at him?"

Moved, Song shi stood up, pulling Li Yu up with her. "We are immensely thankful for Madame's care, but our Residence just so happens to have a physician. It's already quite late, so we will leave first."

They had visited for quite a while, till lunchtime.

Leng shi originally wanted them to stay and eat together, but unexpectedly they were insistent on leaving, so she didn't force them to remain.

When they were leaving, Xie Zhen suddenly came out of nowhere, clutching at Leng shi's thighs. Blinking her dark almond eyes, she looked at Song shicuriously.

The other time she hadn't visited the Li Residence with them, so Leng shi explained, "Little Lamb, this is Aunt Song."

Xie Zhen obediently greeted her, "Aunt Song."

A cute little dumpling suddenly appeared out of the blue, and Song shi almost couldn't bear to leave. The Xie Family was really blessed with good looks, every single one of them made other people feel ashamed.

Leng shi told her, "This is Young Master Li. He's older than you by half a year, so you should call him Big Brother."

Xie Zhen nodded, saying, "Big Brother Xiao Yu."

[The 'Yu' she uses is actually the 'Yu' for jade, which is not the same as the Yu in his name. 'Xiao' also means small, so she's actually making fun of him.]

Upon catching sight of her, Li Yu's face abruptly changed colour. He'd already embarrassed himself of her time after time, so he never wanted to see her again.

Seeing that her son was staying silent, Song shi laughed apologetically, saying, "Yu er has been reticent since young, and doesn't like talking to people that much. Second Miss shouldn't find it too strange, sooner or later, after he becomes more familiar with you, then he'll talk more."

Xie Zhen didn't mind it one bit. "Big Brother Xiao Yu is very pretty, even when he doesn't speak he's still good-looking."

Li Yu looked like a disgruntled cat whose tail had been stepped on, and immediately glared at her.

When Song shi had left, Xie Zhen stood at the door and laughed, seeming to be unbelievably cute. After promising to visit soon for them to play again, Song shileft for the Li Residence.

The moment Li Yu reached home, he went into his room alone and changed his clothes. From then on, he decided resolutely to never interact with the Xie Family ever again. Especially not with that smelly girl. Even if she looked adorable, and no matter how good her singing was, he still didn't like her!

*

After sending off Song shi and Li Yu, Xie Zhen happily bounced back into the hall with Leng shi.

They hadn't reached the hall before Leng shi stopped and turned around. With an unscrutable look on her face she asked, "Little lamb, what exactly happened just now?"

Puzzled, Xie Zhen blinked. "What do you mean?"

Leng shi recalled Li Yu's earlier attitude, and the unfinished sentence that the Li maidservant had spoken before cutting herself off. "Did you meet Young Master Li before that?"

Xie Zhen honestly nodded, and pointed towards the side hallway. "I met him there."

Ah, that explained why Li Yu's behaviour had been so strange earlier. Her daughter must have provoked him, and eventually angered him. Leng shisighed heavily. Little lamb had been different since young, and was mischievous and naughty. Ah, never mind, she would act innocent and pitiful anyway, and even if she wanted to teach her a lesson she herself couldn't bear to do so.

In the beginning, Leng shi had actually assumed that the two children had a simple fight. But after Shuang Yu told her the truth, she realised it had been entirely different from what she had thought.

This, this Little Lamb...

No wonder Li Yu's face had been so pale when he left!

Poor child, she reckoned that the incident had left him with a rather bad impression...

Leng shi's guess was correct. In the next two months, whle Song shi had visited a number of times, there had been no sight of Li Yu.

Xie Zhen had even disappointedly asked, "Aunt Song, why hasn't Big Brother Xiao Yu come?"

Song shi thought of Li Yu's unyielding rejection, and smiled politely. "His health hasn't been too good these days, so he needs to stay home to rest."

Xie Zhen nodded sensibly, and didn't ask again.

Two months later, summer turned into autumn, and the weather became much more cool.

When Xie Liqing had just arrived in Qing Zhou as an official, he had initially been very busy, but now that everything had been completed, he could finally spare some time to take a break. Just when he was thinking of bringing his whole family out to the countryside to look around, he received an invitation from the upper level of government. Gao Qing was a Military Scribe in the Central Governing Office, and his mother's 70th birthday celebration would be held in a couple days, so they had invited many officials in Qing Zhou to go.

They had just moved to Qing Zhou, and hadn't visited many places in the city. It just so happened that they could use this chance to network and get to know more people.

Xie Liqing informed Leng shi of this, and Leng shi immediately started making preparations for the gifts and clothing.

On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, she woke the children up early in the morning. Xie Zhen still looked half-asleep, and burrowed into her mother's arms, mumbling, "Ah Niang why is it so early..."

Leng shi pinched her face lightly, before having Shuang Yu and Shuang Yan bring her and Xie Xun to bathe. She then picked out some clothes from the closet. That day was her daughters' first appearance in front of the nobility, and they definitely needed to dress up beautifully for it.