When Bai Ruyi returned to his residence, he had expected to find it half in shambles and in much need of repairs. All winter, he had taken immense care not to fall sick again and had never once stepped foot outside.
He now went in prepared to work hard to put things back to rights as much as he could, starting with the garden.
But he found that nearly everything was as it was months prior, as if he had never left.
Though he didn’t need any confirmation to know who had done this for him, it still brought warm tears to his eyes when he found a letter tucked inside a book that had been left on his writing desk.
In a language few people in their part of the world knew, the short message read: “Please do not be angry with me. I had made certain not to be spotted in my comings and goings.”
