Chapter 14 Thankless Effort

After tossing and turning for half a month, Xue Zuining finally followed Elder Su to Yunnan.

Ever since the incident where their vehicle was tailed and tracked, everyone had been on high alert. Unless absolutely necessary, Xue Zuining had to stay quietly in her room, which was the safest course of action.

Their residence in Yunnan offered a view right outside the window of the quiet and serene Erhai Lake, guarding this magical land like a mother, while the towering mountains in the distance nurtured countless rivers that nourished the hardworking people of this earth.

When Su Yi arrived here, all he saw was a focused yet lazy woman leaning against a rattan sofa, her pen sketching something. Stepping closer, he realized Xue Zuining was copying the distant scenery.

"Not bad."

The brief evaluation made Xue Zuining turn her head abruptly, only to find Su Yi's magnified face right in her field of vision.

"Why are you here?" Seeing this man—who had been as elusive as a dragon whose tail is seen but never its head lately—suddenly appear before her, Xue Zuining felt a strange sensation in the depths of her heart. She wanted to ask him for news about that man, but she didn't know how to bring it up.

Su Yi raised an eyebrow, took her sketchbook, and flipped through a few pages. Most of the works were landscapes, but when he turned to the last page, his gaze shifted abruptly from the drawing to Xue Zuining's face.

At first, Xue Zuining didn't understand the look in the man's eyes, but soon she remembered some of the content in the drawing, stood up, and tried to snatch it back.

Su Yi, however, deliberately raised his hand, his peach-blossom eyes turning upward as if exceptionally pleased at having caught someone's weakness. "Didn't you say you wanted a clean break? Didn't you say you would never pay attention to that man again? Well then, beautiful Xue, care to explain to me why you were secretly drawing portraits of him?"

Faced with his intentional teasing, Xue Zuining was momentarily at a loss for words to retort.

Seeing her lost for words, Su Yi was utterly triumphant. This woman was simply all contradiction. Look, clearly she missed him intensely, yet on the surface, she insisted on putting on an indifferent act.

Fine, she could play the stubborn duck with a dead mouth. There were ways to make her obediently admit the truth.

"Hey, tell me, why did you come all the way here just to provoke me? Since when has Lord Su been so bored?" Xue Zuining sat down, took a sip of water to calm her mood, and looked up at him leisurely. "Besides, if you're here to act as a lobbyist, you'd better watch out."

"I need to watch out?"

"That's right. Watch out for Grandpa coming after you, this good brother of mine who dares to disobey imperial edicts, and skinning you alive."

"Heh, probably not. You can rest assured about that. Me? I didn't come here to waste my breath." Su Yi, completely composed and taking his time, pulled out a red invitation card. "In a few days, it's Lu Huaining's wedding. I'm just here to invite the old man to see if he'll attend. After all, the two families have long-standing ties; we can't afford to be discourteous."

"A wedding? Lu Huaining is getting married?" Xue Zuining bristled like an angered cat.

"You didn't know?" Su Yi crossed his arms and looked at her. "He proposed in America a week ago. The bride-to-be is rumored to be Ning Caier. You've met her before, you know."

Xue Zuining frowned, ignored him, and strode straight toward the door.

Su Yi quickly blocked her path. "Hey, where are you going? The man is finally stepping into the sacred hall of matrimony—you're not planning to go and snatch the groom, are you?"

"Of course not." Xue Zuining glanced at him and suddenly smiled. "I'm just going to skin him alive, that's all."