Phoenix Rising Over the World Chapter 16

Chapter 16 – The White Shadow Within Abandoned Book Pavilion
Murong Tianchen slowly made his way over and pulled Zi Moyan into his arms. With his head resting on Zi Moyan's thin shoulder, he asked softly: "What's wrong Yan'er? Not happy?"
As a result of suddenly falling into a warm embrace, Zi Moyan was momentarily fraught with panic. But upon seeing Murong Tianchen, she very quickly controlled her frame of mind, her face returning to that of tranquility. "What are you doing here?"
Seeing Zi Moyan's expression changing this quickly, Murong Tianchen almost thought what he saw seconds prior were but an illusion. "Who is Yan'er thinking about? That Zhou family's little miss must have been used to fool them, right?"
He hadn't wanted to ask, but he still couldn't help but open his mouth.
"En."
Murong Tianchen didn't know why, but he felt delighted at that moment. He patted Zi Moyan's head, his voice carrying a certain affection that even he wasn't aware of. "Yan'er, are you tired?"
"En." It was still a single utterance from Zi Moyan – no more, no less. However, the eyes she used to look at Murong Tianchen were of suspicion.
Murong Tianchen lifted her up in one fell swoop, carrying her inside and gently placed her on her bed. "Then Yan'er should go to sleep, good night."
Zi Moyan watched the man's retreating back that carried joy, her face showing confusion. Just what was he happy about?
In the early morning, after Zi Moyan woke up, she didn't go straight to the First Study but she didn't go the Imperial family's library either. Instead, she headed out of the Imperial Palace, and came to the Zi residence. She had felt that she should say a word to Xiao Ya, otherwise, that little girl would definitely become depressed.
"Ah!!!" Came a woman's shriek.
Zi Moyan was briefly startled, recognizing this voice to be Xiao Ya's. Could it be that something has happened to her? She was inwardly somewhat worried upon that thought, so she rushed towards the courtyard's abandoned book pavilion, where Zi Moyan had heard the voice from.
The moment she reached the destination, Zi Moyan saw Xiao Ya stumbling and sitting on the floor, her tiny face paled enough to scare people and in her eyes were of deep fear as if she saw something extremely frightening.
"Xiao Ya, what's the matter?" Zi Moyan speed-walked to her side, supporting her up as she asked gently.
Coming back from her trance, Xiao Ya was somewhat startled as she turned her head and saw Zi Moyan. The moment she saw the concern in Zi Moyan's eyes, her heart trembled, her emotions sobering up. She threw herself into Zi Moyan's arms in the next second, tearing up. "Young Master, you finally came back! Wuwu, Xiao Ya thought Young Master didn't want her anymore!"
For the first time, the always insensitive Xiao Ya was behaving just like a normal, delicate little girl and crying in such grief.
"What's wrong? What happened exactly – Xiao Ya, you should calm down first." Zi Moyan's eyes softened, her voice carrying warmth for the first time. "I'm right here so you can take your time to tell me."
Xiao Ya, under Zi Moyan's consoling, slowly calmed her frame of mind. She was somewhat red in the face as she left Zi Moyan's embrace. "Sorry, Young Master. I got your clothes dirty."
"It's fine," Zi Moyan saw that she was much better so she continued to question: "Xiao Ya, what's wrong? What did that book pavilion have inside?"
Once Xiao Ya heard the phrase 'book pavilion', her face paled instantly. She cowardly answered, "There seemed to be a real ghost inside that book pavilion. I just saw…… saw inside, there was a white shadow flashing by……"
"White shadow?" Zi Moyan creased her brows, could it be that there was someone inside this book pavilion? As far as the modern educated Zi Moyan was concerned of, she never believed these kind of unscientific things!
She said to Xiao Ya: "Wait here for me, I'll go into the book pavilion to take a look. Finished with the instruction, Zi Moyan marched towards said pavilion.