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After leaving Shitou Village, Wei Ruo did not head into the city but instead returned to her own estate.
The moment she stepped down from the carriage, she was surrounded.
Her heart tightened, but then she saw Zhu Zongyu, his face hidden beneath a bamboo hat.
Recognizing him, Wei Ruo relaxed slightly and asked coldly, “Young Master Zhu, what is the meaning of this?”
Chu Lan dismounted and walked up to her. “I wanted to see just how long you could keep avoiding me.”
He had come several times already, but Xu Heyou was never there. He left messages with Steward Yu, yet never received a reply.
Xu Heyou didn’t want to see him, but he insisted on seeing Xu Heyou.
“If I remember correctly, Young Master Zhu,” Wei Ruo said, “I have shown you kindness, not enmity.”
“Since you have shown me kindness,” Chu Lan countered, “why do you avoid me as if I were an enemy?”
“I showed you kindness, and you have already repaid it. There’s no need for further entanglement,” Wei Ruo replied. “As for avoiding you, that’s nonsense. It’s currently the busy farming season, I’m occupied from morning till night and simply have no time for anything else. It has nothing to do with you.”
After speaking, Wei Ruo walked past him and headed straight for the estate gates.
Just as she was about to pass Chu Lan, he suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm.
“Since you found out I’m not a merchant, you’ve been cold to me. What does my status as an official mean to you?”
Wei Ruo lifted her gaze and glanced at Zhu Zongyu. Unfortunately, she couldn’t see his face—otherwise, she would have liked to see what kind of irritating expression was on the face she was about to cure.
“You’re overthinking it, Young Master Zhu,” she said coolly. “I simply feel there’s no need for any interaction between us. What I don’t understand is why you’re so determined to see me. You’ve already repaid the favor, and as for your face, I never said I’d stop treating it. I’ve given you the medicine on time.”
Her words left Chu Lan speechless.
He didn’t know why he was so insistent on seeing Xu Heyou. When he realized she was deliberately avoiding him, an inexplicable irritation rose within him.
The colder she was toward him, the more unsettled he became.
This was a feeling he had never experienced before. In his past twenty years, no one had ever left him at such a loss.
And that person was a teenage boy.
Why did he care so much about that boy?Was it because the boy had saved his life?Or because, during his weakest days, they had shared a period of quiet, gentle companionship?
Chu Lan stared into the clear eyes of the man before him, trying to find an answer there.
He didn’t find one.Instead, some invisible string deep in his heart was stirred by those eyes, for reasons he couldn’t explain.
Chu Lan loosened his grip on Wei Ruo’s arm.
Seeing him let go, Wei Ruo paused for a moment. In the end, unwilling to provoke or offend him further, he softened his tone and said,“Young Master Zhu, I simply don’t want to invite trouble. If you were a merchant, an attack on you would only involve petty thieves. But if you are an official, and one of no ordinary status, then the people behind such an attack wouldn’t be ordinary either. That kind of trouble is something a mere commoner like me cannot afford to provoke.”
Wei Ruo’s words sent a shock through Chu Lan’s heart.
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