Chapter 39: The Beginning of Twists and Turns

“Why does Sir Qi ask this?” Li Ruantang slightly knitted her brows and looked at him.

She had always been taciturn. At this moment, her eyes turned cold, suddenly exuding an oppressive aura. Qi Yun pursed his lips in embarrassment and shook his head, “Ruantang, don’t misunderstand. I was just saying it casually, it was a joke.”

“By the way, I heard that you returned to the capital together with Young Master Meng, you two…” He hesitated for a moment, “Do you get along well with each other?”

She didn’t remember too clearly how they had interacted these past few days.

However, Li Ruantang frowned slightly. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the extra lotus leaf on the wall. She couldn’t help sighing in her heart, how could he be so silly, he didn’t even know how to hide properly when eavesdropping.

She reached out, picked up the teacup, and moistened her lips with it. The fragrance of the tea penetrated the tip of her tongue, slightly astringent followed by sweetness, like a spring dew, extremely relaxing.

Li Ruantang tasted it a few times before smoothing out her brows and replying vaguely, “No different from the past.”

He still tends to get teary-eyed at the slightest provocation, like a little racoon slave about to get riled up. If there’s any difference, it’s not that there isn’t any.

The corners of her lips curled up in an almost imperceptible smile, for example, his courage had indeed improved.

Hearing the expected answer, Qi Yun wasn’t worried that Li Ruantang would fall for Meng Jun in these short few days. If she was that easy to sway, she wouldn’t have dragged it out until now without having an engaged gentleman.

Moreover, he had also seen that young master from the Meng family. Every time he saw Li Ruantang, he looked like he wanted to stay far away from her. These two could at most be considered neighbors, there was no way they could develop any romantic feelings.

However, just in case.

Qi Yun pondered for a moment, but in the end, he was still a little worried. After all, that Young Master Meng had a beautiful appearance, delicate features, and especially those ink-stained phoenix eyes that always seemed affectionate at a glance, truly possessing the charm to topple mountains.

Previously during the spring outing, Qi Yun had taken a glance from afar. The frosty elegance complemented him perfectly, like an immortal descending from the heavens.

Such a person must be guarded against.

Thinking of this, Qi Yun said again, “I don’t mean anything else, it’s just that you fell off the cliff together with him, and now you’ve safely returned together. It’s only right for me to visit Young Master Meng.”

He slightly curved his lips and hooked the strands of hair falling beside his temples with a single finger, tucking them behind his ear, “But I’ve never had much contact with Young Master Meng. Visiting abruptly, I don’t even know his name clearly.”

“Ruantang.” Qi Yun’s eyes were natural, “Do you know Young Master Meng’s name?”

He asked casually, but his palms hidden in his sleeves had already broken out in a layer of cold sweat.

Li Ruantang was the Meng family’s old neighbor, they grew up together, so she naturally knew his name. But if Li Ruantang couldn’t remember—

Qi Yun secretly gritted his teeth, a trace of displeasure flashed through his lowered eyes before vanishing. He raised his eyes, his smile dazzling, “Don’t say you don’t know. I heard that you two had a good relationship when you were young.”

He turned his face, looking somewhat regretful, “If I could have known you when I was little, I definitely wouldn’t have easily discarded this friendship.”

“It’s all in the past.”

Li Ruantang’s face remained calm, her lowered eyelids concealing the fatigue from the journey. The warm sunlight slanted across the back of her hand, her slender fingers like the finest jade, lustrous and smooth, inexplicably making one want to hold it in their palm, grasping it tightly, never letting go for a lifetime.

Qi Yun thought this way, his fingers resting on the table slightly moved. Before he could touch the phantom image of her hand left on the table, it was like a stone entering rippling water, startling away that beautiful dream.

Li Ruantang said indifferently, “Meng Jun.”

She gracefully stroked her sleeve, her hands folded on her knees, only briefly passing over a vivid red when lowering them.

Qi Yun was stunned for a moment, but soon dismissed that slight suspicion. He must have seen wrong.

In the end, she still remembered Meng Jun’s name and hadn’t forgotten him. The heavy stone in Qi Yun’s heart fell. He said that the cold-hearted Li Ruantang definitely couldn’t develop feelings.

“Sir Qi, if there’s nothing else.” Li Ruantang’s eyes were calm, “I’ll have someone send you back to the residence, lest Grand Tutor worries.”

An unmarried man and woman, even sitting outside, would give rise to many rumors.

Moreover, there were already many rumors about the two of them in the capital. Li Ruantang glanced at the wall. Under the shade of the trees, the lotus leaves had visibly wilted quite a bit. Her steps to send off the guest paused, and she turned to have Wei Dan accompany Qi Yun out.

She strolled back slowly, taking two steps with her hands behind her back.

The head hiding under the lotus leaves immediately shrank by a section, only revealing a leaf stem. Li Ruantang found it amusing and became intrigued, wanting to see what trick this Young Master Meng was playing.

The footsteps under the wall slowly faded away.

Meng Jun listened attentively for a while before cautiously standing up straight. Those jet-black phoenix eyes peered over the wall, looking around. Where was Li Ruantang’s figure?

The young gentleman’s heart tightened. He hurriedly supported himself on the wall with his hands and looked inside again. It wasn’t right. Even if she walked fast, he should have at least seen her back.

Under the verdant lotus leaves, a puzzled handsome face was revealed.

A slight breeze came, rippling the clear water in the pond and ruffling the new leaves on the trees. Along with it, the lotus leaf the young gentleman used for concealment rolled and fluttered down from the top of the wall.

“Ah!”

The Su Qing Prince Residence had never planted lotuses. If this leaf fell, it would expose him.

Meng Jun subconsciously reached out to catch it, frightening Zhi Qiu and Zhi Dong who were holding the ladder. Their faces turned pale as they hurriedly hugged his legs, “Young Master! Please be careful.”

They called out in low, anxious voices.

The young gentleman who lowered his eyes to look down only felt his heart stop, dazedly meeting Li Ruantang’s gaze as she looked up.

She stood in the shadow of the corner of the wall, her expression indifferent and extremely quiet, like a solitary green bamboo or cypress, upright and aloof.

“Li, Li…” The young gentleman’s eyes twitched. Afraid that she would ask about the reason he was lying there, he stammered for a long time, unable to come up with a good excuse.

His nervous eyes even widened a few degrees.