Bai Ye occupied himself with those books immediately after we returned. And remained so occupied, in fact, that he spent the next few days buried in them and barely remembered to cook.
Knowing that whatever suspicion on his mind must be quite serious to deserve his attention like this, I didn't want to distract him. So I reassured him that missing a gourmet meal or two wasn't going to weaken my health, and with the excuse of foraging for myself, I slipped outside the cabin during each mealtime, leaving him a quiet space for his search.
