Seeing Xiao Yunying's expression, Luo Sheng simply finished explaining everything in one go.

"Before he died, he had his two guards bring me two letters. They were letters he wrote when he first arrived in the south, but they never got through."

After his death, the other two guards could not carry his body on their journey, so they could only bury him on a nearby mountain.

One of the two letters was for that Miss Xiao, and the other was for me. He wanted me to let him leave the Luo family after this incident. From then on, he would no longer be a secret guard of the Luo family. He wanted to return to Xiaqu Village as an ordinary person and live a good life with Miss Xiao.

It's a pity, fate is cruel, neither of them lived to see the light of day…

Knowing the whole story, Xiao Yunying felt a tightness in her chest, making her feel uncomfortable but unable to vent her frustration.

After a long while, she murmured softly, "It really is... a love-hate relationship."

The man was a secret guard for the Luo family. As long as he lived, he had to prioritize the interests of the Luo family in everything he did; this was his responsibility and mission.

From his perspective, back then, when he was outnumbered and isolated, he was willing to pay any price as long as the Luo family's descendants were safe and sound.

It's just marrying a peasant girl; it's nothing special.

To put it bluntly, if he could exchange this peasant girl's life for the safety of several children, he would probably kill her without hesitation.

However, he wasn't cold-hearted enough, which led to his own death. The original owner also suffered a lot because of his decision and lost her life as well. This made Xiao Yunying feel that this person was both pitiful and hateful.

Xiao Yunying asked, "Have you read the other letter?"

Luo Sheng shook his head: "No, the other letter was written by Xiao Yunying. It was addressed to that Miss Xiao, so I didn't read it."

The more Xiao Yunying thought about it, the more upset she felt.

What kind of situation is this?

Luo Sheng gripped Xiao Yunying's hand tightly: "Yunying, perhaps Shi Sheng shouldn't have dragged that Miss Xiao into this in the first place, but he's not the kind of heartless person. He still cares about that girl, otherwise he wouldn't have risked coming back to visit her with all his injuries."

Xiao Yunying whispered, "I know... I'm just... feeling sad..."

The original owner had waited for so long and never gave up. How could she know that this person had already passed away, or that he met with misfortune because he wanted to come back to visit her?

The man had feelings for her.

But it was precisely because of this that he lost his life.

If she knew about this, should she be happy or sad?

Xiao Yunying had many questions: "Shouldn't the bodyguards here be cold-blooded killing machines?"

Luo Sheng explained, "Perhaps other families have secret guards, but not my Luo family. They call them secret guards, but in reality, apart from being more skilled in martial arts than ordinary guards, they are no different from others."

"We never intentionally trained them to be cold-blooded killing machines. Look at Wei Xun, he's also one of my Luo family's secret guards, yet he's still impulsive and often says things he shouldn't to provoke me."

Xiao Yunying could sense this. There was still something she didn't understand: she didn't have many memories of the guard and the original owner getting along. How did they develop feelings for each other?

Did he mention in his letter to you how he met the original Miss Xiao?

"This... no, how could he possibly tell me about his feelings for Miss Xiao?"

Xiao Yunying belatedly realized that it made sense; if she were in a relationship, she would never tell her boss.

Luo Sheng asked, "Don't you have any memories of the two of them spending time together?"

Xiao Yunying shook her head: "She has too many memories. Maybe I didn't recall them in enough detail. I haven't found them yet."

In the past, she would not carefully recall the original owner's memories unless necessary, always feeling that doing so was like invading someone else's privacy and was somewhat immoral.

Luo Sheng hesitated and asked, "I saw you build a cenotaph for that Miss Xiao on West Mountain before. Some time ago, you sent Wei Xun to find a burial place for Shi Sheng, wanting to bring his remains to be buried with Miss Xiao. What do you think?"

After thinking it over, Xiao Yunying finally agreed: "Alright, after all, they are both interested in each other, and I suppose the original Miss Xiao is also willing."

Luo Sheng explained everything he knew, and felt relieved: "Yun Ying, now... what do you think?"

"Me? What am I thinking?"

"Now that their situation has been clarified, what about the two of us?"

"Us?" Xiao Yunying suddenly became a little nervous: "So when you came up from the bottom of the cliff, you said you wanted to tell me something, is this what you meant?"

"Yes, this is a knot in your heart. We must clear it up before we can continue talking about our business."

Luo Sheng released her hand and was about to put it in his pocket to take something out when there was a sudden knock on the door.

Xiao Yunying quickly responded, "Who is it? Come in."

Luo Xin first followed Madam Luo's instructions and knocked on the door before gently pushing it open a crack. She then peered through the crack into the door.

After confirming that the two were not asleep, she pushed open the door and came in: "Mom, Dad, dinner is ready. Mom, Aunt Yunwan asked me to ask if you need me to bring your food into the room."

Luo Sheng clutched the brocade box in his arms: "Xin'er, you go out first..."

"No need to bring it over, Xin'er, wait for your mother. We'll go out to eat together."

Before she could finish speaking, Xiao Yunying interrupted her. She quickly put on her shoes and socks, didn't even glance at Luo Sheng, and directly pulled Luo Xin out of the house.

Luo Sheng was left sitting there alone, annoyed that the little girl had come at the worst possible time.

During the meal, she avoided Luo Sheng's gaze. Whenever he showed any sign that he wanted to talk to her, Xiao Yunying would either put food on Luo Xin's plate or speak to Luo Xin first.

After finishing my meal and taking my medicine, I quickly washed up and went back to my room, where I lay down on the kang (a heated brick bed).

When Luo Sheng finished washing up and came in, Xiao Yunying was pressed against the wall, motionless, as if she had already fallen asleep.

Luo Sheng listened to the other person's deliberately soft but somewhat rapid breathing and knew that she was pretending to be asleep and trying to avoid the situation. He did not expose her, extinguished the candle, and went to sleep on the other side.

Xiao Yunying then slowly poked her head out from under the covers and took a few breaths of fresh air.

She really didn't know how to answer Luo Sheng or how to face this relationship.

She admitted that she was somewhat tempted.

But she was a sensitive person by nature, with too many concerns and worries. She really hadn't figured out whether she should accept Luo Sheng, this "old-fashioned" man whose thinking was thousands of years older than hers.

Although this man treats me very well now, what if we spend more time together and our life philosophies clash, leading to friction? Will we end up hating each other? Will he hit me?

When Xiao Yunying felt irritable, she wanted to kick off the blanket, but then she remembered that Luo Sheng was sleeping next to her, so she could only suppress her urge and shrink back into the blanket.

Never mind, let nature take its course, time for bed.