Having drunk half a gourd of water, Xiao Shu opened her eyes; the scorching heat on her forehead eased slightly, and the wound on her knee began to mend. A Li and I sat beside her, exchanging a look of shared relief. The young girl patted her chest with one hand and said, "Thank heavens, I'm finally alive again!"

Xing'er, sitting on the rock, continued to kick the ground. Seeing that we had finished the critical task of saving a life, he interjected abruptly, "When are you letting me go?"

Hearing this, I remembered his very existence. Handing the water gourd to A Li, I rose and walked over to Xing'er, crossing my arms, and asked with annoyance, "What do you want?"

The half-grown child, sensing my poor attitude, tilted his head back, adopting an air of supreme arrogance, and declared, "Freedom!"

"Who chained you to that rock?" I intentionally steered the conversation away.

"My mother," he mumbled, not even looking at me, dismissing my question with two casual words.

"Why did she lock you to the rock?" I pressed on.

"Hmph!" Realizing I had touched a sore spot, he lifted his head even higher, staring fixedly at the stalactites on the cave ceiling, letting out a sound through his nose—a response to my question, which he clearly considered rhetorical.

"Fine. The day you stop drinking blood, I'll remove your chains." Seeing his arrogance, I lost the desire to spar with him. I left those words hanging and returned to Xiao Shu’s side to continue tending to the patient. By then, Xiao Shu was mostly recovered.

"Pah! Liar!" Xing'er spat out three harsh words through clenched teeth, adding dismissively, "You can't undo these chains at all."

"Then why did you ask me to release you?" I countered, returning his tactic against him.

"You’ve seen my mother. Didn't she tell you when she’s coming back to release me?" Xing'er threw out an unexpected line.

That Xing'er actually knew I had met Yingzi! This revelation struck me and Xiao Shu like a thunderous boulder! Xiao Shu, sensing the hidden meaning in our exchange, her eyes darted back and forth as she propped herself up on her elbows and sat upright.

I had planned to keep it from Xiao Shu, but this little imp had spilled the secret, nearly driving me mad. I straightened my posture, forcing a stern expression onto my face, and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch what you said. When I went to fetch water, I didn't meet anyone, and no one mentioned you to me."

"Give it a rest. With your level of lying, your face changes before the falsehood even leaves your mouth," Xing'er sneered.

That child was surprisingly perceptive! I stiffened my back, sitting perfectly still, pretending to examine Xiao Shu's wound while observing Xiao Shu’s expression with my peripheral vision. At that very moment, Xiao Shu stared at me, unblinking, as if questioning what I was hiding from him. The tension in the air became incredibly rigid.

Seeing my continued silence, Xiao Shu picked up the water gourd Yingzi had given, turning it over and over with careful scrutiny, and then spoke, "This isn't the gourd we brought. And the water inside doesn't taste like the Water of the Spirit Sea. Xiaoyu, who did you meet?"

His question brought on a profound awkwardness—the embarrassment of stirring up trouble where there was none. I made a face at Xing'er, then turned to Xiao Shu and said, "I don't know who I met. There was a woman sitting by the Spirit Sea. When she saw me approaching to draw water, she handed me this gourd and then vanished without a sound." I deliberately pretended not to recognize Yingzi, only mentioning that a woman had given me the water.

"That’s my mother," Xing'er exclaimed excitedly, hopping down from the rock when he heard a piece of the truth. He rushed toward me and asked, "Didn't she tell you when she’s coming back to release me?"

Hearing that Yingzi might return, Xiao Shu sprang up as if injected with adrenaline, grabbing my wrist and demanding, "She’s really coming here?"

At that moment, one standing, one sitting, Xiao Shu and Xing'er surrounded me completely, as if they would never let me go unless I revealed exactly when Yingzi would appear.