Chapter 104: Frank Meeting
Shen Jingxuan looked in the direction where the voice came from and saw Xie Lingxiao walking towards her.
Sensing a pair of eyes staring at her, Xie Lingxiao looked up nonchalantly, and for a moment their eyes met and stared at each other.
After a while, Shen Jingxuan shifted her gaze, raised her foot and continued to walk forward with Yun Qingmo and Li Luo.
Just as the two passed each other, Xie Lingxiao tried to pull Shen Jingxuan's arm, but she easily dodged it.
Shen Jingxuan continued to move forward as if she was unaware, but was blocked by Xie Lingxiao.
"Are you pretending not to know me? Hao Lin?" Xie Lingxiao said angrily.
No matter what his identity was, he didn't want Shen Jingxuan to pretend not to know him.
He pulled Shen Jingxuan towards the private room, and Li Luo and Yun Qingmo blocked their way.
"Regent, let go." Li Luo quickly reached out and grabbed Xie Lingxiao's other arm, preventing him from taking Shen Jingxuan away.
Yun Qingmo took the opportunity to brush away Shen Jingxuan's hand and put Shen Jingxuan behind him.
When Xie Lingxiao saw the two of them protecting Shen Jingxuan like this, his face instantly turned gloomy.
"Hao Lin, is this how you treat your friends?" He suddenly turned his head to look at Shen Jingxuan, waiting for her to give him an answer.
Shen Jingxuan pretended to be calm and looked at him: "We are not friends."
It was indeed as Shen Jingxuan said, she, disguised as Hao Lin, had always refused to be friends with Xie Lingxiao and only wanted to draw a clear line with him.
Xie Lingxiao didn't expect that he would take good care of Shen Jingxuan and constantly lower his bottom line.
But in Shen Jingxuan's eyes, all he did was not even enough to be considered a friend.
"Stop them." Xie Lingxiao gritted his teeth and shouted at the people behind him.
He pulled Shen Jingxuan to the reserved private room.
"Bang" the door was slammed shut.
Xie Lingxiao had not expected that when he went out to do business, he would meet Shen Jingxuan and her group.
But even so, he still felt uncomfortable seeing her with other men.
He didn't understand. He had done so much for Shen Jingxuan, but what was wrong with him that made her act like this?
She left without saying goodbye, pretended not to know him, and even tried to avoid him as if he were some kind of ferocious beast.
Obviously, no matter what, she was the only one in his heart and he treated her sincerely, but she seemed to know nothing.
Cruel. This was the only word that Xie Lingxiao could think of. Shen Jingxuan was too cruel. It was as if she had no heart.
And every time she avoided him, or even stayed away from him, it was like torture to him.
Xie Lingxiao looked at Shen Jingxuan: "Should I call you Hao Lin? Or Miss Shen?" After he finished speaking, he turned and looked out the window.
When Shen Jingxuan heard this, her eyes narrowed slightly. It turned out that he knew everything.
Shen Jingxuan stood behind him, and when she looked up, what caught her eye was the bean-sized mole behind his ear, which was as charming as the red mole at the corner of a woman's eye.
She stared at the mole, her vision becoming vague, and she still remembered that when they were in Zhuangzi, they slept on the same bed.
Every time she woke up, it was the first thing she saw. At that time, she had curiously asked him why this beauty mole grew behind his ear.
Xie Lingxiao’s answer was that his mother also had one behind her ear, and he inherited it from her.
Thinking of this, Shen Jingxuan's thoughts returned: "When did you know?"
She was in disguise, and only those close to her knew about it. Even when Xie Lingxiao took such good care of her in the village, she never told anyone about it.
Xie Lingxiao stood in front of the window, not looking at Shen Jingxuan: "I already knew it when I was in Zhuangzi."
"But at that time, I was afraid that exposing you would cause you trouble, so I kept it to myself."
Shen Jingxuan was a little shocked. On the Zhuangzi? That was her first time in disguise, and she was discovered.
"And then? What do you want to do now that you have revealed my identity?" she asked.
Xie Lingxiao turned around suddenly: "Do you still want to pretend that you don't know me?"
He would never allow such a thing to happen again, no matter what, no matter who she was.
Shen Jingxuan glared at him: "You've seen through it, what's the point of me pretending?"
"If you had told me the truth at the manor, then the following incident would not have happened."
Shen Jingxuan knew what he was angry about. It was simply because Zhuangzi left without saying goodbye and the people in the Red Flame Temple pretended not to know him.
Xie Lingxiao looked at her without blinking: "Are you serious? Then will you still hide from me?"
"Can I hide? You break into my boudoir day and night, where can I hide?" Shen Jingxuan said.
After hesitating for a moment, Shen Jingxuan continued, "Aren't we going to get married? Won't it affect you?"
I think, even if she didn't avoid Xie Lingxiao, he would avoid her.
After all, how could a girl who likes him be willing to see her beloved go to another girl's bedroom every night?
Xie Lingxiao looked at her deeply and said, "It's not a lifelong event. I just want to know if you have someone you like."
Afraid that Shen Jingxuan would overthink it, he told her the truth.
Xie Lingxiao stared at Shen Jingxuan intently, as if trying to see what she was thinking at the moment.
To his surprise, Shen Jingxuan seemed a little unhappy.
"No." Shen Jingxuan was extremely angry. She turned around, slammed the door and left.
Going to her boudoir in the middle of the night just to find out if she has someone she loves? Shen Jingxuan felt that Xie Lingxiao might be seriously ill.
Otherwise, who could possibly have such a thing happen to them?
Xie Lingxiao looked at the closed door and laughed.
Now, there are no more secrets between them, and he will no longer be upset about the past.
If he had known this earlier, he would have told her her identity in the village, so that there would be no unpleasantness later, right?
As the sun set, Shen Jingxuan ran all the way back to the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion.
She came to Mr. Shen’s Fufeng Courtyard, went to his study, and sat there in a daze.
"Xuan'er, do you have nowhere to go? Why are you standing here in a daze, grandpa?" Grandpa Shen teased.
Shen Jingxuan came back to her senses and realized that she had unknowingly come to her grandfather's yard.
"Grandfather, don't you want me to come over?" Shen Jingxuan said somewhat aggrievedly.
Mr. Shen glanced at her and said, "Humph, no one comes to see you for no reason. Tell me, what is it?"
There was nothing wrong with Shen Jingxuan. She only came here because she was distracted by Xie Lingxiao's affairs.
But now she couldn't tell the truth, so she had to negotiate with Mr. Shen.
Mr. Shen asked gloomily, "Xuan'er, is there any progress in the cause of your father's death?"
Seeing that he had become serious, Shen Jingxuan stopped thinking about it and said seriously, "There was a clue before, but there was no progress."
In fact, ever since she took over the Scarlet Flame Temple, the third elder and the people in the temple have been helping her investigate the matter.
However, due to the lack of results, the Third Elder and Shen Jingxuan later thought of another way to investigate, which was to start with the people his father trusted.
But after several investigations, although they knew that the guard was not dead, he seemed to have disappeared and they could not find him.
The people at the Scarlet Flame Temple knew he was alive because they went to his house to search without success. They then asked nearby neighbors and learned that he had secretly returned home a few years ago.
But when he sneaked into the village, he was discovered by the villagers. They thought he was a thief and followed him secretly. The villagers recognized him and left.
But he did not stay for long. He went home and stayed for half an hour. Then he left in the dark and there was no news of him since then.
Old Master Shen frowned tightly and said, "There has been no progress. I wonder if Grandfather can live to see An'er's injustice being vindicated."
Mr. Shen's words deeply hurt Shen Jingxuan's eyes, and her eyes instantly turned red: "Grandfather, you will live a long life. We will definitely find out everything. Don't be sad."
Old Master Shen also realized that his emotions had affected Shen Jingxuan. He flicked Shen Jingxuan's head fiercely and said, "Your grandfather is more than a hundred years old. I'm still waiting to hold my great-grandson."
When Shen Jingxuan saw that Mr. Shen had recovered, she asked about Old Madam Shen. She hadn't seen her grandmother for some time.
But her good grandfather got angry and pointed at her nose and yelled that she was his wife and he despised her for not going to look for her husband and kept asking him what his wife was doing.
Not only that, he didn't even let her say a word. He pushed her out of the yard and locked the door.
Shen Jingxuan looked up at the sky in silence. Why did she suddenly become unpopular?
He had clearly pulled her aside a few days ago and asked her what she liked, as he wanted to prepare a gift for her.
The yard was locked, so Shen Jingxuan had to go to her master.
Ever since several old men gathered together that day, they asked to live in the same yard, saying that they like the hustle and bustle as they are old.
She came to the yard and found no one there. Shen Jingxuan came to her master's door, but couldn't open it.
But she clearly heard someone in the room.
Shen Jingxuan was puzzled. What on earth were they doing secretly?