Chapter 12 Knowing She Was Lying
Helan Wei's recent days are not too busy.
There were only a few days left before he set off for the Yuan House. After asking someone to put away the chess game, he went to the Xie family's library to look through the case files related to the Yuan House.
The vengeful ghost in the resentful house is extremely cunning, and one needs to read the case files carefully in order to figure out what means it will use to do evil next.
only,
The case file was spread out on the table, but Helan Wei didn't read much of it for nearly an hour.
It's very quiet around here.
The servants were serving beside him, but they didn't make any sound. The communication talisman was placed beside him, and the spiritual power inside did not fluctuate, which meant that no one was sending him a message.
In such an environment, it is easy for people to concentrate on reading the case files, but Helan Wei was unable to concentrate, and his thoughts revolved around the communication talisman.
It's almost an hour.
Xie Yanyu hasn't replied to him yet.
Why?
There was probably no other reason why Xie Yanyu didn't reply, it was simply because he didn't see the message.
He clearly shouldn't focus on a question with a definite answer, but the subtle sense of panic he had felt before came back, subtle but lingering, with a strong presence that was difficult to ignore, as if someone was grabbing his heart with a force that was neither light nor heavy, squeezing it from time to time, making him feel very anxious.
He even thought absentmindedly—
What was Xie Chengjin teaching her? Why had she not had the time to check the news for so long?
Realizing that his thoughts had strayed, he forced himself to suppress these irrelevant thoughts and once again focused on the case file.
His eyes swept across the text on the case file, line by line, column by column, taking in every word. However, after finishing a page, he recalled what he had just read, but he couldn't even put his finger on what was written on that page. Helan Wei rarely had such moments. It was like he was losing control. The more he tried to resist, the more irritated he became.
After a while,
He closed the case file and asked the library attendant, "Are there still some files with Brother Xie?"
The attendant nodded. "Yes. Is that part of the case file that Master Helan needs to see?"
Helan Wei's eyelashes moved, and he seemed to be thinking for a while.
Then he didn't answer, but said gently: "Please take me to see him."
The attendant was from the Xie Mansion. Upon hearing what he said, he respectfully took him to the courtyard where Xie Chengjin's study was located.
Helan Wei followed behind the attendant, his steps neither hurried nor slow.
But once I stepped into the yard,
He paused for a moment—
Far away,
The window of the study was half open, and I could see the figure inside.
Xie Yanyu and Xie Chengjin did not sit close to each other, nor did they communicate with each other. They were busy with their own things, and there was a strong sense of distance between them.
There is a barrier outside the study, which is specially used to block spiritual power and make the communication talisman ineffective.
Helan Wei was silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed softly.
He did not move forward, but stopped where he was. Then he moved his slender fingers slightly and quietly used some spiritual power.
From a distance, spiritual power silently hit the barrier.
*
The barrier was set up by Xie Chengjin.
If someone tried to break it, he could sense it no matter how light the movement was.
So when the spiritual power was about to hit the barrier, Xie Chengjin glanced sideways outside, then he had an idea and mobilized his spiritual energy to prepare to block the spiritual power back.
He made no sound while regulating his breathing, and it was difficult to detect that he was making a move; there was no expression on his face, no emotional fluctuations, and he didn't seem to care who was trying to break the barrier, nor was he curious at all why that person did so.
But the next second,
When he was about to block the spiritual power back,
There was a sudden knock on the study door.
Xie Chengjin heard the sound, and his eyelashes twitched as if he suddenly thought of something.
At this moment, the spiritual power outside seemed to notice that he was distracted, so it changed the direction of attack, but it did not shatter the barrier cleanly, but only knocked a crack in the barrier lightly.
This undoubtedly had a provocative flavor. Although they were playing chess from a distance and couldn't see each other's appearance or expression, they could still sense each other's attitude, which was casual and a bit frivolous.
It’s Helan Wei.
Xie Chengjin paused.
Then, his dark eyelashes moved slightly, and he subconsciously looked at Xie Yanyu.
Why did Helan Wei break the barrier he set up for no reason?
He pursed the corners of his lips slightly.
at the same time,
The attendant outside walked to the window and announced through it, "Sir, Master Helan is here. He wants to discuss the case file with you, but since you're busy, he'll be waiting for you in the tea room. Do you want to come over now?"
Xie Chengjin didn't answer.
His gaze still remained on Xie Yanyu.
The servant waited outside the window for his reply, but when he didn't get any response, he mustered up the courage to look into the room.
The window was open, allowing the servant to see what was happening inside the room. The servant immediately saw Xie Chengjin staring at Xie Yanyu with a cold and gloomy look in his eyes.
The servant shuddered and thought to himself, this is strange. Young Master Helan came to see you, why are you staring at Xie Yanyu without saying anything?
The attendant didn't understand, so he turned his gaze to Xie Yanyu.
That side.
Xie Yanyu suddenly heard Helan Wei's name, and before he had time to think about anything, he felt the fluctuation of spiritual power in the communication talisman.
She always felt that Helan Wei had replied to her message, so she reached into her sleeve pocket and tried to take out the communication talisman.
However, his fingers reached into his sleeves and his movements paused again.
Just now when she was looking at the communication talisman, Xie Chengjin disciplined her and asked her to concentrate on memorizing the text. It would probably not be a good idea to take it out in front of him now.
She is not the type of person who will accept discipline obediently, but she is clear-headed and knows her own status. She will not openly go against Xie Chengjin because of such a small matter.
So she raised her head, wanting to see what Xie Chengjin was doing, and prepared to take out the communication talisman to take a peek when he wasn't paying attention.
However, when I looked up,
He was meeting Xie Chengjin's gaze.
She paused with her fingertips.
Xie Chengjin saw her look up, and without looking away, he looked at her and asked, "What's wrong?"
Xie Yanyu: “…Nothing.”
Xie Chengjin nodded.
He looked away again.
Xie Yanyu was kneeling at this time. In front of her was a low table, about the height of her ribs, with several volumes of mental skills placed on it.
Her hands had been placed on her knees, just blocked by the edge of the low table. At this time, she lowered her head again.
Although Xie Chengjin had already looked away, she was afraid that he would suddenly stare at her again, so she used the low table as a cover and pulled the communication talisman halfway out of her sleeve.
Watch secretly.
*
Xie Chengjin had experienced this before. She was hypocritical and was never as docile and obedient as she appeared to be.
Pretending to obey but secretly disobeying, and secretly looking at the communication symbol in front of him was indeed something she could do.
He even deliberately looked away just now, just to test whether she would peek at the communication talisman.
The answer is yes.
As expected and reasonable.
But even so, he still felt a subtle displeasure.
He has always been indifferent, especially since Xie Yanyu was not an important person. Whether she was focused or not had nothing to do with him. He had no reason to waste his emotions on her. But this displeasure came for no reason, was not strong, and was even very mild. But even this little bit of displeasure was enough to make him uncomfortable.
Xie Chengjin clenched his fingers to suppress this inexplicable emotion.
He had guessed when Helan Wei broke the barrier that the message she received was from Helan Wei. Helan Wei came here today for a reason related to the case file, but it might also have something to do with her. He was like a quiet observer, taking in their unclear thoughts.
And he also knew,
She was interested in Helan Wei, and even wanted to climb up the Helan family ladder.
If that's the case, why did he bother to test her just now?
He himself felt puzzled that he had the idea of trying something meaningless and even took action.
Maybe the unhappiness comes from this.
He analyzed the situation calmly, watching Xie Yanyu peeking at the communication talisman below, and decided not to pay any more attention to her.
In short,
He wanted to prevent her from contacting him. These two people didn't see each other often, so what would happen if a few words were passed around?
Spreading a few pieces of news won't tarnish the reputation of the Xie family. If that's the case, there's nothing to worry about.
He doesn't like to meddle in other people's affairs.
Xie Chengjin thought very clearly. This time he completely shifted his gaze away from Xie Yanyu, leaving only a little spiritual power to cover the surroundings, to observe the flow of spiritual power around him. He could roughly calculate whether she had replied to Helan Wei, how many sentences she had replied, and at what frequency.
However, unexpectedly,
There is no interaction with the surrounding spiritual energy.
This means that Xie Yanyu just read the message but did not reply.
Xie Chengjin didn't know why she didn't reply. Maybe she was thinking about how to reply. He was not very curious. The thought flashed through his mind and quickly disappeared. He turned his eyes to look at the servant outside the window, preparing to tell the servant that he would go to the tea room soon.
But before he could speak.
Next second.
Then I heard another noise coming from Xie Yanyu's side.
He ordered himself not to see her, as long as she did not have any actual contact with Helan Wei, she could do whatever she wanted.
But the next second——
Xie Yanyu walked up to him with the volumes of mental skills.
Now it was difficult for Xie Chengjin not to look at her.
He paused, his tone cold: "What's wrong?"
Xie Yanyu bowed to him and said, "Thank you for coming today, brother. You have a guest now, so I won't keep you any longer."
She is very clear.
When I heard that he had guests, I took the initiative to say goodbye and not to trouble him. Xie Chengjin should feel comfortable and at ease.
If his guest wasn't Helan Wei.
But the guest was Helan Wei, and Xie Chengjin couldn't help but wonder, was she being considerate, or was she up to something else? She hadn't replied to Helan Wei's message just now, was she thinking of taking this opportunity to go out and talk to him?
It was true that Helan Wei was waiting for him to read the case file, and she probably wouldn't have anything to do with Helan Wei under his nose, but what about after he finished reading the case file? Would she make an appointment with Helan Wei to meet again then?
He didn't let her go, and asked slowly, "Have you memorized all the mental skills?"
Xie Yanyu couldn't imagine that he had so many things to do.
She didn't want to stay under his watch any longer. He had been acting strangely these past two days, and she always felt like she was being watched. Especially just now, when she had taken advantage of his inattention to peek at the communication talisman and saw Helan Wei's reply. Just as she was about to take a closer look, she felt his gaze shift back to her.
Being stared at by him, she couldn't even read clearly what Helan Wei sent her, let alone replying to him.
So she came over to say goodbye to him, planning to wait until she got out to check and reply to the messages. However, he didn't even say he would let her go, as if he wanted to trap her here.
She was already a little impatient, but after a pause, she lowered her brows and said, "I've memorized them all."
Xie Chengjin said calmly: "Recite it to me."
Xie Yanyu's eyelids twitched.
She suppressed her impatience and recited a few sentences to him. However, he continued one sentence after another without saying stop, as if he really wanted to hear her recite the whole article.
But how could she memorize all of them?
She had just sat there, and to kill time, she had memorized some of the verses, but only the first few sentences. After all, she didn't really need them, and she hadn't even looked at the rest. Now that she had finished memorizing the first few sentences, she stumbled more and more as she went on, and by the dozen or so sentences, she was completely silent.
Xie Chengjin: "Continue."
Xie Yanyu fell silent.
Xie Chengjin said after a while, "You told me you memorized it all, were you lying?"
His voice was cold, so cold that it seemed to freeze, and the room was so quiet that it suddenly created a sense of oppression and tension.
Xie Yanyu was indeed lying, but even clay figures have tempers, not to mention that she was not a soft-hearted person to begin with. His aggressiveness made her temper rise as well. She was unwilling to follow his words and instead raised her head, looking at him with dark eyes, and said slowly, "I'm not lying. I have recited it all."
Still lying.
Why are you in such a hurry to go out? What on earth do you want to do?
Xie Chengjin met her gaze, and she didn't shy away. She just stared at him, seemingly gentle and polite, but beneath that gentleness lay a hard thorn. The displeasure she had suppressed earlier suddenly returned with a vengeance, threatening to intensify. For the first time, a tiny spark ignited within his otherwise calm chest.
He picked up the ruler on the table, walked closer to her, and leaned over coldly: "Xie Yanyu. Do you know that when the Xie family practiced, lying to the teacher would result in a spanking?"
Xie Yanyu's tone was still gentle, but a hint of chill was already visible: "Brother is brother, not teacher."
"I'm teaching you how to practice now," Xie Chengjin said in a flat voice, "Stretch out your hand."
Xie Yanyu's eyes were already cold. She lowered her eyelashes to hide the darkness in her eyes and reached out her hand as she was told.
With his palm spread out, he didn't hit her hand, but just placed the ruler on her palm.
The ruler is made of spiritual jade, with spiritual energy surging on it. It feels cold when placed on the palm of your hand, and can give people goose bumps.
"Keep reciting. If you make a mistake, you'll be punished."
Xie Chengjin's voice was so cold that ice chips seemed to fall off: "If you can't finish reciting it, don't leave today."
His attitude was very oppressive. If he had just exposed her and slapped her on the hand, it would have been fine. However, he knew she was lying, but still asked her to recite it. If she got it wrong, he would hit her. He was almost forcing her to admit that she had lied. This was fundamentally different from directly slapping her on the hand. One was a punishment, while the other was aggressive and had a bit of a domesticated feel.
Xie Yanyu was ready to be slapped on the hand.
This time,
The anger she had been suppressing was ignited. Being pushed to this point, there was no reason for her to continue to bow her head and give in. She moved her lips, but could not utter a single word. The moment he raised the ruler to hit her hand, she suddenly closed her palms, grabbed the ruler and pulled hard.
Caught off guard.
Although Xie Chengjin was holding a ruler to hit her palm, he didn't use much force. When she pulled it, the ruler was easily pulled out.
The palm of my hand suddenly felt empty.
Then,
He heard her whisper to him, "What if I can recite it? What will brother do? Will the punishment be changed into a reward?"
The tone was not gentle, as if the soft thorns that had been hidden in the dark place under the skin had grown out at this moment.
Xie Chengjin was somewhat clear about her nature. Like a high-ranking observer, he watched her reveal her soft thorns without any ripples. They were too far away from each other, one in heaven and the other in hell. Since he didn't take her seriously, her thorns naturally couldn't hurt him at all. Why should he have any ripples?
However, although she pretended to be docile, it was surprising enough to see her sharp thorns exposed so openly as she did now.
Xie Chengjin looked at her and didn't take the ruler back: "How do you want to reward me?"
Xie Yanyu said bluntly: "If I recite it, first of all, brother can't keep me here any longer."
She showed him her thorns,
The first request made was that she go out.
Why do you want to go out? Helan Wei?
Suddenly, Xie Chengjin seemed to be stung by her thorn.
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