Chapter 32 Fate
Xiao Yuan lowered his eyes and glanced at her slender white fingers. He pursed his thin lips and pulled her up with force. At the same time, his other hand pinched the woman's waist, flew in the air, drew an arc, and fell to the ground.
Shen Anan covered his chest with lingering fear, his face pale and frightening.
They were unaware that their posture was inappropriate.
Xiao Yuan's gaze was fixed on his hand that was pinching her slender waist, his dark eyes flickered slightly, as deep as the abyss.
The crowd was still retreating and was being rushed towards this side. He stretched out his arms and subconsciously protected the woman.
A wailing suddenly sounded from the other end of the bridge, followed by the crackling of uneven firecrackers, sparks shooting into the sky and exploding everywhere.
Shen Anan finally recovered and looked towards the other side of the bridge. The place where the firecrackers exploded should be a vendor.
"It must be sparks from the firecrackers."
He protected her in front of him, trying to restrain her in his arms, in a safe position, "Follow the flow of people and retreat."
"My eldest brother is still there, and so is Mo Xiang."
Shen Anan looked forward anxiously.
Xiao Yuan's eyes were gloomy. He grabbed her wrist and took her out directly. People were frightened and were running around. He could only follow the direction of the crowd and take her to the corridor of a restaurant.
“Mr. Shen is highly skilled in martial arts, he will be fine.”
He said this stiffly, as if to comfort her.
As for the maids, the safety of their masters is more important to them at any time.
Shen Anan stared at the messy bridge with cups and plates, her red lips tightly pursed.
"Thank you for that."
Xiao Yuan was slightly startled. He lowered his eyes and only saw the woman's black hair. He remained silent.
"Are you trying to say that you are the prince and you will help no matter who it is today, so that I won't be so self-indulgent, right?"
He lowered his eyes and remained silent. His right hand retracted into his sleeve without a trace. The glass lamp on the corridor emitted a dim light, and the shocking redness on his curled fingers could be vaguely seen.
Not hearing anyone's response, Shen Anan raised her eyes and looked at him, her clear almond-shaped eyes carrying an ambiguous emotion.
"You owe me that, which offsets it a little."
Xiao Yuan frowned and asked the question that he had always been confused and curious about.
"I never remember offending you, why are you so cold and disgusted with me?"
Shen Anan didn't say anything, her eyes searching for familiar figures in the crowd. At this time, most people had left, and she took a step forward to leave.
Her wrist bone was grasped again, still in the same position as before. She hissed in pain and subconsciously curled her arm.
He immediately let go of her hand and fixed his eyes on her slightly red and swollen wrist. His eyes were deep and no emotion could be seen on his face.
"You haven't answered my question yet."
Shen An looked at him quietly, with a slight curl of the side of his lips, “If I say that you have appeared in my nightmares many times, would you believe it?”
"Or rather, I have known you for a long, long time."
Her eyes fell on his tightly pursed thin lips. She was stunned, thinking that he would sneer at her and say that she was talking nonsense.
"I'm leaving now."
"What dream?" He grabbed her wrist again, "What was I like in your dream?"
There was an incomparable urgency in his eyes as he stared at Shen Anan, and the gentle almond eyes that were so real that they seemed to have appeared thousands of times appeared in his mind again.
So it wasn't his illusion, everything had a traceable path. Was she the same as him, or did she know more than he did?
Shen Anan raised her eyes and brushed his hand away calmly and coldly, "There are all kinds of things, but not the way you look now."
She turned around again and walked resolutely into the crowd.
In the previous life, she had been servile and begged humbly, but he never even looked at her. Now, even if he were placed in front of her, he would not arouse the slightest emotion in her.
He stood in the corridor with his hands behind his back, gazing deeply at the slender figure. An inexplicable emotion he had never experienced before lingered in his chest, both familiar and strange.
For a moment, he seemed to feel that this scene had happened before, a long, long time ago. It was not until the figure disappeared that he realized that the emotion was called a sense of fate.
Not long after, Li Huaiyan and Ling Chenyi came over, and they both looked at his right hand curled up in his sleeve.
"How's your hand?"
"No problem."
He spoke calmly.
"How is this possible?" Li Huaiyan still felt frightened when he thought about how he had forced his way to the other side through the exploding firecrackers.
"Who is on the other side? Don't you even want to live?"
"Okay, let's find a doctor to check the injury first," Ling Chenyi noticed Xiao Yuan's abnormality and said in a calm voice.
He saw the firecrackers explode in his hands with his own eyes.
Xiao Yuan stood there without moving.
Looking into the distance at the huge crowd of people, it seems as if I am seeing more through the crowd.
"Do you believe in past lives and present lives?"
Li Huaiyan was startled, and raised his hand to touch Xiao Yuan's forehead, "You must have been shocked and lost your mind, right? Please don't, I am counting on you to help me turn things around and take charge of the Duke's Mansion."
He had just raised his hand to mid-air when Xiao Yuan slapped him down with a heavy slap, and his cold eyes swept towards him.
"It's fine." Li Huaiyan pointed at him and said to Ling Chenyi.
“…”
"If you feel uncomfortable, go see a doctor. Don't delay."
Xiao Yuan's lips sank, "I'm not sick."
He refused to leave, so Li Huaiyan and Ling Chenyi could only wait on the side. Amid the rush of people, the three of them stood in the corridor, like a motionless scroll.
Shen Anan went to the other side of the bridge along the place where they had just dispersed. At this moment, everyone had dispersed, the ground was a mess, and the smell of sulfuric acid in the air was so pungent that people could not open their eyes.
Mo Xiang and her elder brother would definitely return the same way to look for her. She looked around and finally turned back and stood in the middle of the bridge so that her elder brother and Mo Xiang could see her first.
The weather wasn't very cold, but after what happened just now, her palms and back were covered in cold sweat. When the wind blew, the cold air penetrated into her bones.
After a while, Li Huaiyan and Ling Chenyi also noticed something and, together with Xiao Yuan, they stared at the graceful figure on the bridge not far away.
That is the girl from the Shen family.
Ling Chenyi seemed to smile, "That girl seems very cold."
"Yeah, I'm shaking just looking at it."
Xiao Yuan kept his eyes calm and said nothing.
He knew that even if he went there, the woman would not accept his kindness.
Annoyance was growing wildly in my heart, "Shut up."
The two of them pursed their lips and were silent for a moment.
Li Huaiyan felt that the three of them were like fools, accepting gazes and scrutiny from all directions. There was even a girl holding a lantern who wanted to come over here, but was finally scared away by Xiao Yuan's aura.
Suddenly, he saw two people walking through the crowd onto the bridge, and said happily, "Oh, here comes the hero to save the beauty."
They can go.
Ling Chenyi looked over and saw the scholar who had just rejected him sternly and Shen Anan's maid Mo Xiang.
He raised his eyes and subconsciously looked at Xiao Yuan beside him, and clearly felt that the air pressure around him had dropped a lot.
It was noisy and far away, so they couldn't hear what the people on the bridge were saying, but they could see the faint smile that the Shen girl gave to the scholar. Under the reflection of the cold moon, it was gentle and elegant.
At this moment even Li Huaiyan noticed something was wrong and stood silently behind him without saying a word.
Xiao Yuan stared at the two people, his cold and sharp eyes were like ice, and black swept across his entire vision, as if he wanted to embed the figures of the two people into his mind.
Several images suddenly flashed through his mind. The woman's expression and smile were almost the same as now, and she even looked affectionate towards him.
The gap was like something that originally belonged to him being snatched away by someone else. The emotion called jealousy flooded his body like an overwhelming tide, tightly gripping his heart.
"Li Huaiyan, has there been any result regarding the Second Prince's refugee issue?"
"It's almost there, almost there." Li Huaiyan was unable to react in time.
"Do as I said before. I want to see the results within three days."
After saying that, he walked down the stairs and into the crowd. If you looked closely, you could see that his steps were messy.
Li Huaiyan and Ling Chenyi took one last look at the bridge frame before turning around and following.
"Thank you, Master Zhang, for saving my maid."
Zhang Yeyang smiled shyly, looking at Shen Anan’s smile with obsession and restraint, and said softly.
“It’s just a small favor, Miss Shen, you don’t have to be polite.”
Shen Anan nodded and asked Mo Xiang.
"Brother, have you seen him?"
"The eldest master went that way, in the opposite direction from me, so we didn't meet him."
It was a mess just now, and Shen Anan was really a little worried. Zhang Yeyang took the lead and said, "Mr. Shen is skilled in martial arts, so he should be fine. Why don't we split up and look for him, and then meet here in two quarters of an hour."
"Thank you, Master Zhang. It's been a great help."
"It's okay." Zhang Yeyang said, and took the lead to look in the direction pointed by Mo Xiang, while Shen Anan led Mo Xiang to the other side.
As she turned around, she subconsciously looked towards the corridor not far away. It was empty. She withdrew her gaze and searched among the crowd.
After crossing the street and searching for a while, about a quarter of an hour later, she still couldn't find Shen Changhe. Shen Anan was about to turn back to the agreed place when a person suddenly blocked her way.
The visitor bowed and saluted, "Master Shen saved a girl who accidentally fell into the water. She should be in Beihu Lake now."
Before Shen Anan could ask anything, the man had already turned around and merged into the crowd and could no longer be found.
"Mo Xiang, go to the bridge and inform Master Zhang to go back and rest and not to worry about anything else. I'm going to Beihu to look for him."
"Young lady, be careful. If the eldest master is not here, you should wait for me there. I will be there soon."
"Okay." Shen Anan nodded and turned to the direction of Beihu.
Although she had never seen the man just now, she could tell a person's character by watching him play chess. The master and the servant had similarities, and that man had the shadow of Xiao Yuan.
Without having time to think about Xiao Yuan's abnormal behavior tonight, she quickened her pace and went to Beihu.
By then, the people who were surrounding her were evacuating. She saw Shen Changhe, who was soaked but did not forget to cover the girl's figure with his robe.
"Brother."
Shen Changhe turned around, and the worry in his eyes immediately dissipated, "An An, are you okay?"
"fine."
She looked at the girl who was wrapped by her eldest brother. The cold moon was hanging high in the sky, the candlelight was flickering, and she could vaguely see half of her profile, which looked a little familiar.
Shen Changhe bent down and picked up the girl, walking towards the remote and dark place opposite. The girl huddled tightly in Shen Changhe's arms, her body trembling slightly.
"Don't worry girl, no one can see your face and it won't damage your reputation."
"Thank you very much, sir."
Shen Changhe glanced at the pearl hairpin in her hair and the corner of the silk and satin that was exposed, and pursed his lips slightly.
With such attire, he must be either rich or noble, or from an official family. Even if it is to save someone, they will not allow their girl to get wet and touch skin with a man from another family.
Mo Xiang came over at this moment, and Shen Anan hurriedly told her to get a set of clean clothes from the carriage.
She stood at the entrance of a remote alley and did not go in, but could vaguely hear the woman's soft sobs.
Shen Changhe carried the person into the dark and put her down immediately. "I am eager to save people. If I have offended you, I hope you will forgive me."
The woman stopped sobbing and raised her head from her robe. The moonlight was bright, casting a few beams of light into the alley. Shen Changhe was distracted for a moment. For the first time, he deeply experienced what it meant to be "whiter than frost and snow."
The woman's face was pale and almost bloodless, her eyes were filled with clear gratitude, clean without a trace of impurities, "Master, I should be unable to repay you for saving my life. In the face of life and death, rules and etiquette are nothing."
"The girl is open-minded."
But with such a character, why would he be so desperate as to seek death?
Perhaps she guessed what the man in front of her was thinking. She curled the corners of her lips sarcastically, with hatred and helplessness in her eyes.
"I had an argument with my sister at home. She pushed me in a fit of rage. Maybe... she didn't expect this to happen."
Shen Changhe's eyes narrowed.
"But when I rescued the girl, I didn't see anyone else on the shore. This shows that the sister who accidentally pushed you into the water didn't intend to save you."
The woman shivered with cold and lowered her head silently without saying a word. She felt that standing on the shore was even colder than when she was in the water just now. Her heart seemed to be wrapped in a layer of ice and snow, and it was painful to the bone.
Shen Changhe stopped asking and changed the subject.
"Today, the news of someone falling into the water has spread everywhere. It may not be appropriate for you to go back dressed like this, so I will go find you a set of my sister's clothes to change into."
"As long as you don't say anything after you return home, I'm sure your sister won't mention it in front of the family, which will also protect your reputation."
The coldness seemed to be dispelled a little, and she bowed, "Sir, you are thoughtful. I will remember this great favor in my heart."
Shen Changhe turned and walked out of the alley. Before he could say anything, Mo Xiang had already handed him the clothes.
"It's not convenient for me. Please go in and help the girl change."
"Yes." Mo Xiang walked into the dead end holding the clothes. The alley was very narrow, and except for a few faint beams of moonlight, the rest of the place was almost pitch dark.
The woman said nothing, but just glanced at Shen Changhe, who was standing at the entrance of the alley with his back to her, and began to change her clothes without any hesitation.
Shen Anan glanced at her brother's curled fingers and pursed lips, which showed his nervousness.
"That girl trusts you very much."
Shen Changhe's face flushed, and his fingertips and palms seemed to be stained with lake water. He unconsciously rubbed them back and forth and opened and closed them.
"Don't talk nonsense."
Mo Xiang said nothing, but quietly wiped the water stains on the girl's head and combed her hair with a hairpin.
When everything was ready, Fu Shen stepped out.
Shen Changhe turned his back to the woman and said calmly, "Miss, do you have any way to contact your family?"
"Yes, my maid will come to find you."
The two fell into a brief silence. After a moment, the woman stood up first and bowed deeply to Shen Changhe's back, "Thank you very much for today, young master."
Shen Changhe did not respond, and tried to speak in a calm voice, "Girl, it will be safer to go where there are more people. There are patrolling soldiers not far from Beihu Lake. If you can't wait for your family, you can go there for help."
"good."
Shen Changhe stopped talking and turned his head to look at Shen Anan, "It's getting late, let's go."
Shen Anan raised an eyebrow and glanced into the alley.
"good."
The brother and sister left side by side. The girl took two steps forward, but finally swallowed back the words in her mouth.
Rescuing someone from the water inevitably involves skin contact, and a more respectful family would demand responsibility, but don't let the young man think that she is ungrateful.
It is better not to ask for someone’s name so as not to cause trouble and distress to others.
But this kindness is destined to never be repaid.
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