Li Xiu, who had been thinking for half the afternoon, had fallen asleep right there at his desk. When Zhou Lian returned from school and saw him sleeping hunched over like that, her eyes immediately reddened. She tilted her head back slightly, trying to stop the tears from falling.
She gently picked up a small blanket from the lounge chair behind the screen and draped it over Li Xiu. Perhaps it was because he was too exhausted and mentally drained, or maybe he was simply used to Zhou Lian's presence. In any case, Li Xiu, who was usually startled awake by the slightest disturbance, didn't stir at all.
Quietly, she sat down on the nearby sofa and just watched Li Xiu, her heart aching with a bitter pang. As the person who shared his bed, how could she not know how hard things were for him? But she couldn't say anything, couldn't do anything. She even had to pretend to be oblivious so he wouldn't have another thing to worry about—her.
