At that shout, they were all scared out of their wits.

In a blink of an eye, Li Sinian had already come inside the house.

As soon as he entered, he took off his coat, hanging it carelessly, and walked through.

So many people standing at the entrance, yet not seeing Xiao Man—something was off.

"Where is she?"

"Mr. Li," someone replied in fear, "we’ve been calling out here for ages, and Miss Xiao just won’t come out from inside, we are so anxious!" 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Li Sinian also stood in front of the kitchen door, looking through a transparent window to see what was going on inside.

Xiao Man, donning an apron, was bustling about in the kitchen, busy with something.

"Knock knock knock—" He knocked on the door with rare politeness, "Open the door."

Seeing that he wanted to come in, Xiao Man didn’t dare delay for a moment, put down what she was doing, wiped her wet hands on her apron, and turned around to open the door.

It was Li Sinian, and she dared not let him wait. Because he was the kind of person who, if too impatient, would just break down the door; their house had seen no shortage of damaged doors, with lock repairs needed from time to time.

The moment the door opened, Li Sinian’s tall figure almost completely blocked her entire line of sight.

"Mr. Li, you’re back?" She smiled, almost like she was trying to please him.

However, the next second he pulled her out of the kitchen, displeased, "Who allowed you into the kitchen?"

"It wasn’t me!" Everyone was shaking their heads and waving their hands, then it was the turn for today’s housemaid, who hurried into the kitchen and locked the door just like Xiao Man had done.

Ever since then, they had been shadowed by this event, locking the kitchen door during meal times, preventing Xiao Man from entering.

The housemaids dispersed.

Xiao Man, watching their retreating figures, said: "Don’t blame them, it was my own choice to go in. Work was over, I had nothing to do at home, so I wanted to make you a delicious meal."

"There’s no need for you to cook."

"I have nothing to do at home... I’m nearly bored sick."

He was always like this.

But he did not understand that his kindness would eventually bring her what kind of destruction in the future.

The more she looked at Li Sinian like this, the more frightened Xiao Man became.

"What happened to your hand?" Xiao Man was lost in thought and suddenly his voice called her back.

He had already grabbed her hand and saw the still somewhat damp fingertips wrapped in a Band-Aid.

"How did you get injured?"

Xiao Man pinched her two fingers together: "A small cut, less than a centimeter long. Don’t blame Lake, it was me who told him not to tell you, it’s really nothing."

Fearing he wouldn’t agree, she directly hugged his waist and pressed up against him.

She wasn’t looking at him, and spoke in a soft voice: "Mr. Li, don’t make a fuss over me all the time. I’m not that fragile. And don’t always scold everyone over my matters, I’ll feel guilty."

Li Sinian was about to speak, Xiao Man looked up, her clear eyes gazing at him, "And lastly, please don’t be so nice to me."

"Why." His eyes showed no emotion as he asked indifferently.

Xiao Man shook her head, "No reason. You can’t be too good to me, I’ll lose my sense of direction. The more you hold something up, the more that thing will take itself seriously over time."

"It’s fine."

Xiao Man lowered her head again, her cheek pressed tight against his chest, "Mr. Li... If one day in the future, you find that I’ve done something wrong, will you be angry?"

Li Sinian didn’t even ask what it was, he replied without hesitation: "No."

Xiao Man was somewhat surprised.

Because over these years, she hadn’t done anything wrong, and thus he had never been angry with her.

But if he knew...

"I mean, if it’s a serious, unforgivable mistake, you wouldn’t be angry?"

"Not angry."