The sound of water trickling from the fountain in the secluded garden filled the sunroom. Leon knelt on the soft rug, his mother’s cool hands still cupping his face.
"What kind of place is this school at, Leon?" Li i asked in a shaky voice. "What are they making you do?"
Silence ruled, giving room for the burbling water to take charge.
Leon searched for words that wouldn’t break them. He remained by their side, enjoying their comfort and losing track of ti.
After a while, Lily tugged at his sleeve. "Leon, look what I managed to learn with Uncle Feng’s help." She thrust a sheet of paper into his hands.
Leon’s face turned pale when he stared at the complex mathematical calculations, equations, and the geotric proofs that were almost similar to what he rembered from his studies.
’This is sothing even I can’t do.’ The thought alone hit him like a thunderbolt. His eyes widened.
’She’s just nine years old. How can she do this?’ He looked from the paper to Lily’s proud face, then to his mother’s sightless expression.
A bittersweet relief washed over him, causing tiny drops of tears to fall from his eyes. ’She won’t suffer when she starts schooling. I have to make sure she starts.’
He gritted his teeth, closing his eyes as the urge to make her start school struck him like lightning.
The reunion lasted for a whole week. Leon moved between the rooms allocated to his mother and sister.
Throughout the days, the quiet maid brought als three tis a day, sothing he had never gotten the chance to experience.
All three of them sat around a large oak table in the sunroom and finished the als every day, every ti.
While feeding his mother, Leon made gas, describing the colors and shapes of the food, causing laughter that sounded like music after years of silence to burst from her.
He rubbed Lily’s hair until it stuck up in wild tufts, tickled her until she squealed with joy, and then held her when she cried from the sheer overwhelm of happiness.
For those days, the lingering scent of blood, the echoes of chittering screams, and the weight of the black book felt like soone else’s nightmare in Leon’s mind.
On the afternoon of the fifth day of the third week, outside the building, a black BMW halted on the gravel driveway.
From it, Darian exited and walked straight into the building. He t Leon sitting on a wide windowsill, staring at the trees and the birds flying above them.
"Leon, how are you doing now?" Darian asked, leaning on the doorfra.
Leon turned his head slightly, a calm smile appearing on his face. "So far as my mother and sister are not suffering and are in good condition," he paused and inhaled. "I am also good." He stood up and neared Darian.
For a split second, Darian’s face tilted into a strange, pitying expression as he studied Leon’s face.
Although he masked it quickly, Leon had already seen him wearing it.
"Zoe said I should send you her greetings," Darian said, trying as much as possible to shift the sudden tense atmosphere he had created.
Leon’s smile vanished. "I thought she would even visit. But all the sa, it’s okay." He turned his gaze back toward the cloud-dotted sky beyond the window.
After an hour of conversation about the estate’s security, the room Leon was allocated there, the prohibited library, and the needs of the Qing family, Darian handed Leon a heavy envelope.
"Use this for things you may need to do," he stated, tapped Leon’s shoulder, then left the room. He kissed the cheek of the maid, who reddened, and dashed out of the safe house in the BMW.
Back in Leon’s room, he sat on the bed and opened the envelope. "WHAT!" he scread at the top of his voice, staring at the neat stacks of cash.
"This is more than I have ever seen or held in my entire life!" He tilted his gaze toward the slightly opened door and quickly dashed forward, closing it.
’What did I do to be given this sum of money?’ He lifted the envelope, its weight way above his imagination.
’At least I can use this to secure a proper place for my family and myself.’ He whispered in his thoughts, then stared back at the sky.
’A real ho, not a safe house.’ He closed his eyes, the sweet air brushing his face as he imagined a small but clean apartnt in a part of the Thule country where people are respected.
The image wavered through his head, only to be replaced by the structure of the Qing estate. "Nah," Leon muttered aloud, shaking his head. "That will need a huge sum of money I can never have."
Then, just after his voice ended, a knock echoed from the closed door.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
’Is that Lily?’ he thought, and smiled, expecting to see her eager face.
He walked toward it, held the handle, then pulled it with a single swing of his right arm. Cool air mixed with a sweet aroma flashed over him like flas.
In the hallway, Mr. Lee and Feng stood there, wearing crisp military uniforms. There, the uniforms of the officials he saw in the great hall struck his mind.
’Are they not the sa uniform?’ he asked himself, shifting glances between them, one after another.
"Hey, Leon," Feng said, moving into the room without waiting for an invitation, and walked straight to the bed.
He sat down heavily. The mattress springs groaned in protest as he bounced himself slightly on it.
"How are you doing? I heard that among you and that Lieutenant Prince, you were the only one to survive the dangerous part of the Shattered Land?" Feng asked, tilting his head upward.
His assessing eyes flicked from Mr. Lee to Leon and back.
Leon froze by the door, watching Mr. Lee follow Feng in. After Mr. Lee moved past him, he broke free from the stillness and closed the door.
He walked and stood before them, clasping his hands behind his back. "I am doing good, Lieutenant Feng," he said, bowing.
"Don’t call by any title, just call Feng," Feng interrupted, waving a dismissive hand through the air.
He slamd his palm down on the mattress again, creating another loud creak. "Since you survived that part of the Shattered Land, I’m sure we are now on the sa level of strength, right?"
Mr. Lee chuckled faintly. "Yeah, I’m sure he would even beat you if you tried him."
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