1781 His Heart Skipped A Beat
Long Yin took the painting from him and remembered their conversation in Hexin’s courtyard earlier that day. His heart beat a little faster as he slowly opened the painting.

He was taken aback to see the person depicted in the painting.

It was really him!

His gaze suddenly froze as he read the words written on the side of his portrait. For a long time, he was unable to snap out of it.

Long Yin’s heart skipped a beat. His slender fingers slowly brushed across the person in the painting.

He could tell that the painter had put a lot of effort into it.

The lines on the figure and the expression on the person had been drawn with extreme detail.

He’an took an apple from the table and bit into it. He poked his head out and took a glance as he said, “My sister took three full days to paint this. She used up many pieces of paper and was not satisfied until she was done with this one.”

Long Yin’s mind drifted off when he heard this. He rolled the parchment up again after a while and asked with a smile, “How do you know so much about this?”

He’an felt a little proud at the mention of this. He said with a chuckle, “I was feeling quite bored at home and had nothing to do, so I began to wander about. I wanted to get my sister to play with me but I saw her painting instead. When I realized how focused she was, I snuck a look while leaning against the window. She didn’t notice me there.

“When I saw her paint again and again without stopping, I got a little bored and left. I didn’t expect her to still be painting when I returned on the second and third days. This is probably the best painting I’ve seen her make.”

A gentle look flashed in Long Yin’s eyes when he heard this.

He never expected Hexin to do something like this in secret.

She had painted him and kept this quietly. Those words…

He’an crunched on the apple and said with his mouth full, “Big Bro Long Yin, I’ve never seen my sister paint something so seriously. When she rejected you in her courtyard today, she wasn’t being truthful about it. If she didn’t like you, she wouldn’t have done this.” At this point, he felt a little puzzled. “But my sister isn’t someone who doesn’t say what she thinks. Why is it when it comes to you, she would…”

Long Yin turned silent too.

If not for this painting, he would not have found out Hexin’s feelings for him. She had actually painted his portrait in secret. Also, those words on the painting…

He was no longer at that young, innocent age when he had no idea of what went on in a relationship between a man and a woman.

A girl who would repeatedly paint a portrait of a man in private was not someone who would have done it out of boredom.

That would mean that Hexin… had feelings for him.

Otherwise, she would not have written those particular words.

This realization astonished him, but at the same time, he felt a happiness that he could not really understand.

However, at the thought of Hexin being unfriendly toward him after their first meeting in two years, he frowned again.
What exactly was bothering Hexin?

If he did not find out that she liked him, he would really have thought that she hated his guts.

It would be even more complicated and troublesome for him to marry her if that were true.

However, things did not seem as terrible as he had thought. The only thing he could not fathom was what exactly was bothering Hexin.

Long Yin frowned and could not figure it out no matter how hard he thought about it.

“Big Bro Long Yin, why do you want to marry my sister? Our countries are very far apart and my parents probably can’t bear for her to be married so far away.”

He’an’s voice pulled Long Yin out of his thoughts.

“It’s because your sister and I are a good fit.” Long Yin rubbed his head and explained.

He’an tilted his head to the side and glanced at him. “Only because you are a good fit?”