Chapter 21.2

Substitute Marriage (7) – Haunted (2)

“Hello, Young Lady.”

Li Ruo Shui was embarrassed for a moment when she heard this title. She nodded her head and continued to walk outside.

If she wanted to catch the ghost, she had to find Lu Zhi Yao, but she had spent the last few days making up for her sleep in the daytime and being harassed by the “ghost” at night. Counting the days, she had not seen him for four days.

He couldn’t have left Cangzhou already, could he?

It was Li Ruo Shui who had dragged him to Cangzhou in the first place, so if he had left in the past few days, it would be more of a loss than gain.

Thinking of this possibility, Li Ruo Shui hurriedly lifted her skirt and ran, the more she thought about it, the more wrong it became.

She had actually let Lu Zhi Yao stay by himself for four days!

“Sister-in-law, wait!”

At the front door came a woman in a blue gauze dress with a graceful posture and dignified demeanour, but the end of her upturned eyebrows were a bit sharp and her pursed lips carried a bit of arrogance, she did not look good to approach.

This is Zheng Yan Qing’s sister, Zheng Mei.

Li Ruo Shui was a little anxious, but still stopped: “Sister Zheng, I have something to do ……”

Zheng Mei stopped her and spoke concisely.

“I just have one question. You said that the white-clothed gentleman you competed with last time was at the Fulai Inn, but why didn’t I see him when I went there this morning.”

“You didn’t see him?” Li Ruo Shui froze for a moment, then frowned, “I’ll go take a look.”

Li Ruo Shui didn’t care about Zheng Mei’s actions, she was preoccupied with the fact that he wasn’t at the inn, and lifted her skirt and ran away like a gust of wind.

She had slept too much a few days ago, and she hadn’t even gone looking for him once. Wasn’t this a proper loss in goodwill!

When she entered the Fulai Inn, Li Ruo Shui ran up to the second floor in one breath and pushed open the door. She was relieved at the sight of the white colour by the window, and her heart relaxed.

“I thought you were gone.”

Li Ruo Shui gasped and went to the table to pour tea.

She hadn’t rested well for a few days, and now that she suddenly ran so far, she felt a little dizzy for a while.

“Are you afraid of ghosts?”

Lu Zhi Yao sat by the window with his back to her, the sunrise casting a golden edge over him.

“I’m afraid.” Li Ruo Shui took a sip of tea and frankly admitted it.

“Is that so.” Lu Zhi Yao replied in a vague way.

Then something seemed to twist in front of him, causing him to lean his shoulders slightly, pressing his arms forward, and the fastened robe outlined his waist even more visibly.

So thin.

Li Ruo Shui silently put down the teacup and stood up, “What’s wrong with you?”

A half tail appeared in his arms, and then the thing jumped to the top of his head.

The short-haired cat had its ears hanging down, and its dark pupils were staring at her.

Li Ruo Shui: “……”

“You haven’t been playing with this cat for four days, have you?”

Lu Zhi Yao turned to face her. The cat also turned around on top of his head and continued to stare at Li Ruo Shui.

Although it was said that staring at a cat for too long would lead to an attack, Li Ruo Shui did not feel that it wanted to attack her, but instead it wanted her to go over and hold it down.

Lu Zhi Yao stroked the dangling cat’s tail with a pleasant expression, his eyes and eyebrows showing a kind of satisfaction and tenderness, and he pondered for a moment before speaking.

“I played with another cat for four days.”

???

Did he have a cat outside?

Li Ruo Shui forgot about ghost hunting for a moment, as all her attention was taken away by the cat. He was usually hated by everyone but there was a cat willing to play with him for four days?

“What kind of cat?”

“Long-haired, big-eyed, timid, and afraid of ghosts, but very good at pleasing people.”

There was no such cat.

Li Ruo Shui held back her laughter, saving face for him by not exposing it.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead and stepped forward to carry the cat off his head.

“Be careful not to make the cat anxious or it will scratch your face.”

The extremely nervous short-haired cat suddenly relaxed, cuddling Li Ruo Shui’s hand palm and meowing non-stop.

“Scratch my face?” Lu Zhi Yao tilted his head slightly, as if he suddenly remembered something.

“I forgot, you are a woman who looks at faces.”

Lu Zhi Yao uttered these words softly, but inexplicably with some mockery, which sounded new to Li Ruo Shui.

“You can actually be sarcastic, I thought you only had one intonation.”

Lu Zhi Yao’s eyes were closed, leaning his head against the window, “looking” at her against the light, and said with a smile: “What kind of intonation.”

“Just like smiling all the time, talking to people as if you are borrowing money, incredibly gentle and polite.”

“That’s an interesting metaphor.” Lu Zhi Yao pursed his lips and chuckled, returning to that intonation, “So you came to me to…?”

Li Ruo Shui was stroking the cat, leaning on the windowsill two centimetres away from him, and tilting her head to look at him.

“Looking for you to catch a ghost, that could be interesting, do you want to go or not?”

“I’m very expensive.”

“I don’t have any money.”

Li Ruo Shui shortened the distance by two centimetres, touching the corner of his clothes, and shoved her head into his hand, and spoke in a deep voice.

“As long as you go to hunt the ghost, feel free to stroke it.”

She remembered that Lu Zhi Yao was very fond of her hair. It was not a loss if she let him stroke it and could get a good night’s sleep.

Lu Zhi Yao’s fingers moved slightly and touched her cheek.

Warm, soft, unlike anything before, and even the smooth hair wasn’t as attractive as before.

His eyelashes trembled slightly as he pulled his hand out and touched the end of Li Ruo Shui’s hair as usual, and asked a question softly.

“Who looks better, me or Mr. Zheng?”