Chapter 25 Substitute

After wandering about for half a month, Xue Zuining ultimately 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 calm and serene Erhai Lake, which guarded this magical land like a mother. In the distance, towering mountains gave birth to countless rivers, nourishing 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 or other. Walking closer, he realized Xue Zuining was copying the distant scenery.

"Not bad."

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

"Why are you here?" Seeing this man, who had been as elusive as a dragon whose tail could never be grasped, suddenly appear before her eyes, Xue Zuining felt a strange sensation deep in her heart. She wanted to ask him about that man, but she didn't know how to broach the subject.

Su Yi raised an eyebrow, took her sketchbook, and flipped through a few pages. Most of the works were focused on landscapes, but when he turned to the very last page, his gaze suddenly shifted 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 contents within the drawing and stood up to snatch it back.

Su Yi, however, deliberately held his hand high, his peach-blossom eyes rolling upward, looking exceptionally pleased as if he had caught someone in the act. "Didn't you say you wanted a clean break? Didn't you say you would never pay attention to that man again? Well then, my beautiful Xue, care to explain why you were secretly sketching portraits of him?"

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

Watching her speechless expression, Su Yi was utterly overjoyed. This woman was simply a bundle of contradictions; look at her—she was clearly missing someone terribly, yet she deliberately put on an indifferent expression on the outside.

Fine, let her stubbornness run its course; there were plenty of ways to make her obediently confess.

"Hey, tell me, why did you come all the way here just to provoke me? Since when has someone as important as you, Master Su, been so bored out of your mind?" 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 skinning and deboning a fine grandson like you for disobeying his imperial decree."

"Heh, probably not. You can rest easy. As for me, I'm not here to waste my breath." Calculating his timing, Su Yi leisurely produced a red wedding invitation. "In a few days, it's Lu Huaining's wedding. I'm just here to invite the old man to attend—after all, the ties between our two families are right there, so we can't afford to be discourteous."

"A wedding? Lu Huaining is getting married?" Xue Zuining bristled like a frightened cat.

"You didn't know?" Su Yi crossed his arms and looked at her. "He proposed in America a week ago. Word has it the bride is Ning Cairong, whom you've met."

Xue Zuining frowned, ignoring him entirely as she turned to walk straight out.

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

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