Chapter 3 Startled Awake

After wandering about for half a month, Xue Zuining eventually 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.

Pushing open the window of their residence in Yunnan, one was greeted by the tranquil and serene Erhai Lake, guarding this magical land like a mother. In the distance, towering mountains nurtured thousands of rivers, sustaining the hardworking people of this earth.

When Su Yi arrived, he saw 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."

This brief evaluation made Xue Zuining turn her head abruptly, only to find Su Yi's enlarged face right within 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—suddenly appear before her, a strange feeling stirred at the bottom of her heart. She wanted to ask him for news about that man, but did not 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 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 what was on that page, and she stood up to snatch it back.

Su Yi, however, deliberately raised his hand higher, his peach-blossom eyes rolling upward as if exceptionally pleased at having caught someone red-handed. "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, explain to me why you were secretly drawing his portrait?"

Faced with his deliberate teasing, Xue Zuining found herself momentarily speechless.

Watching her tongue-tied expression, Su Yi was utterly delighted. This woman was simply all contradiction; look at her, clearly yearning for him deeply in her heart, yet putting on an indifferent front.

Fine, go ahead and be stubbornly defiant, he thought; there were always ways to make her obediently confess.

"Hey, tell me, why are you here just to provoke me? When did Lord Su ever get so ridiculously idle?" Xue Zuining sat down, took a sip of water to calm her nerves, and looked up at him leisurely. "Besides, if you're here to act as a lobbyist, you'd better watch out."

"Watch out?"

"That's right. Watch out for Grandpa stripping the skin and pulling the tendons of a good grandson like you who dares to disobey imperial decrees."

"Heh, probably not. You can rest easy. As for me, I'm not here to waste my breath." Composed and unhurried, Su Yi produced a red invitation card. "In a few days, it's Lu Huanning's wedding. I'm just here to ask if the old man will be attending. After all, the ties between the two families are right there; we can't afford to be discourteous."

"A wedding? Lu Huanning is getting married?" Xue Zuining bristled like an agitated cat.

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

Xue Zuining frowned, ignoring him entirely as she headed straight for the door.

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

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