Aunt Wen took the freshly baked cookies out of the oven and carried them to the living room.
Xie Ziyu was playing with a remote control car in the living room.
"Ziyu, where is your brother?"
"In the empty room."
Xie Ziyu, being young, only knew that the room was empty and did not know whose room it was.
"He hasn't come out yet?" Aunt Wen looked towards the room's door.
It was nearly five o'clock, and Xie Shang had been expected to arrive just after one.
The incense seal in the bridge ear incense burner had burned out, and the Sutra of Sins had been fully transcribed.
He closed the book, moved the scroll table aside, and rose from the cushion. Having knelt for so long, his knees had lost all sensation. He placed the hand-copied sutras next to the portrait.
He looked at the portrait: "Do you hold a grudge against Wen Changling?"
The portrait could not answer him, and he did not need an answer.
