Chapter 39.2

The Mantis Stalking The Cicada (8)

The task of catching the culprit and looking for the letter were all thrown aside. She had to go to the inn to ask for a clarification.

For people like her with an abnormal train of thought, her imagination would only run wilder as time dragged on.

Zheng Yan Qing saw Li Ruo Shui and hurriedly picked up the travel guide he had just written down from the table. “Ruoshui, this is the second volume of Four Times I just wrote.”

Li Ruo Shui smiled apologetically and said hurriedly, “I have something to attend to at the moment. I will read it when I return.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she hurriedly headed outside.

Zheng Yan Qing was quiet for a while and put the book back, smiling a bit forlornly.

She had probably gone to find Lu Zhi Yao. Right, she’ll be leaving here in a few days. They are the real pair.

*

“Miss, do you want to lodge or eat here?”

A staff had been watching this “guest” pace around the entrance for a long time until it was almost time for lunch. Seeing that she was still sighing, he couldn’t help but go out and ask.

Li Ruo Shui looked at him, then shook her head. She held her chest and continued to pace back and forth.

She had arrived at the inn a long time ago, but didn’t dare to go in, fearing that she would be stabbed as soon as she pushed open the door to his room.

The system wasn’t much use anymore, so it was all up to her.

“Is the blind gentleman who lives upstairs still here?”

“Oh, I see.” The staff had a realization and said, “So you’re also here to see that gentleman.”

Li Ruo Shui was stunned and somewhat curious. “There are other people visiting him?”

“Yes.” The staff answered without any wariness, “Although this gentleman doesn’t often stay at the inn, many of the girls in the neighborhood know about him. They often come and wait at the entrance of the inn for a chance to see him.”

Li Ruo Shui nodded her head. It was not surprising when she thought about it. After all, it was for him to attract attention with the way he looked. Nobody would dislike a good looking person.

“In the past, he leaves early, but he’s in for the whole morning today and never left. You came at a right time.”

Li Ruo Shui frowned and put down her hand covering her heart. “He didn’t eat breakfast?”

“I don’t know. In any case, he never ate here.”

It’s almost noon, there’s no way he’d also skip lunch, right?

“Send lunch to his room later.” Li Ruo Shui made up her mind and suddenly remembered something before going upstairs, “Oh, and don’t casually divulge your guest’s information to strangers.”

The staff was confused.

Under the staff’s puzzled gaze, Li Ruo Shui took a deep breath and rushed into the inn with her head lowered. In a single breath, she went up to the second floor and knocked on the door of Lu Zhi Yao’s room.

But the door to the room was not locked and clicked open in with a single knock.

With a creak, the door opened a crack. Through which a corner of a white robe could be seen, but there was little movement.

“…… Can I come in?”

After asking, Li Ruo Shui gently pushed open the door of the room and saw Lu Zhi Yao lying on the bed.

It was only then that she realized that after coming to Cang Prefecture, it seemed like she rarely came to him, and most of the time it was him who went to the Zheng residence.

Li Ruo Shui slowly walked over to the bedside and called his name softly, “Lu Zhi Yao?”

As if he had a nightmare, Lu Zhi Yao’s whole body trembled for a moment. Then, his tightly furrowed brow loosened, and his fingers slightly flexed. It looked like he had woken up.

What a surprise. He wasn’t pretending to be asleep?

Li Ruo Shui froze.

Lu Zhi Yao had always been a light sleeper, so he would wake up to the tiniest movement. They were together for so long, and she has never seen him asleep.

Li Ruo Shui held her chest and came up to him to touch his forehead. “Are you sick?”

The temperature she felt on her hand wasn’t hot, so it shouldn’t be a fever, but before she could feel the temperature properly again, Lu Zhi Yao pushed her hand away.

“Why are you here?” he asked.

He sat up, and the sash on his body loosened, revealing the part below his collarbone.

Li Ruo Shui suddenly remembered the scene in her dream where he took her hand and plunged it into the left side of his heart.

She averted her eyes and moved her hand behind her back first before she abruptly covered her own heart in a panic.

“I came to meet you for lunch,” Li Ruo Shui said.

She actually wanted to ask him directly what was wrong, but her instincts told her it was best not to.

Lu Zhi Yao arched his eyebrows as he stood up and walked over to the table, gingerly pouring himself a cup of tea.

“I thought you were supposed to be eating with Zheng Yan Qing right now.” He turned his head and laughed, “You are a couple after all.”

Huh? What does he mean? Why is he bringing up the matter of being husband and wife?

“But we are a fake couple, and you know it. You even took a lot of wedding candies back then.”

Li Ruo Shui sat down next to him, vaguely feeling like she understood something but never quite catching the exact nuance.

“I heard a story at the teahouse earlier. It’s called the Legend of the White Snake.”

“And?” Li Ruo Shui was curious to know what strange epiphany he had gotten from the story again.

“Aren’t you going back to the Zheng residence?” Lu Zhi Yao asked with a smile as he changed the topic.

Li Ruo Shui’s eyes widened, and she clenched her fists in disbelief that he’d actually learned how to disengage at a critical point.

“I came to meet you for lunch.” There was no way in hell she was going to leave now for the sake of her life. She had to find out what was wrong with him.

The timing was just right, as a knock sounded outside.

“Sir, may I come in?”

“Please enter.” Li Ruo Shui answered before Lu Zhi Yao did and stood up to take the lunch.

The staff looked at her with even puzzled gaze. His whisper could still be heard as he closed the door, “Why would she sneak around outside if she knows him?”

Li Ruo Shui was speechless when she heard it.

But she told Lu Zhi Yao. “It’s time to eat.”

“I’m not hungry,” he replied.

Li Ruo Shui did not get discouraged even after receiving a blatant rejection. This much isn’t a problem to her.