Chapter 36
Mu Qinhan was stunned: "What did you say?"
Mu Yulu's breathing was unsteady, her chest heaving violently: "I said that wasn't our first meeting, or rather, that day was just the first time you saw me, but not the first time I saw you."
Mu Qinhan looked at her suspiciously: "Why do you say that?"
Mu Yulu gritted her teeth and continued, "Yes, that's right. I have been in love with Prince Xinyue for a long time and have tried every means to find out your whereabouts, just so that I can catch a glimpse of you from afar."
"So actually, long before that day, I had already spied on you many times. Every time I saw you, I would take many notes, recording what you ate and did, and even use a paintbrush to depict your clothes and appearance that day. Day after day, of course I became extremely familiar with your figure, appearance, and even your voice and tone."
Mu Qinhan listened in silence.
He remained silent for a while before continuing, "Then why did you run away when you saw me at the World's Number One Restaurant?"
Mu Yulu also fell silent.
It seems he is indeed very concerned about her running away from him the day she was reborn. If she doesn't give a reasonable explanation today, he won't let her off the hook.
Mu Yulu forced herself to say again, "That's because you saw me too. We even made eye contact. I was shy."
She couldn't keep up the argument any longer, and with difficulty, she dragged out her words, "So I ran away."
Mu Qinhan narrowed his eyes: "Your explanation makes a lot of sense."
However, once this problem was solved, a new one arose.
Although he was smiling, the smile didn't reach his eyes: "Then how do you explain our second meeting?"
His thumb traced her taut jawline, the movement as gentle as if handling a fragile piece of porcelain, a stark contrast to the coldness in his eyes: "That night, your attitude clearly kept me at arm's length, even going so far as to threaten me with a dagger to your own throat. To this day, I still don't understand where your hatred for me comes from."
At this point, he suddenly thought of a crucial question: "And why would you keep a dagger under your pillow for no reason?"
Mu Yulu sighed inwardly and closed her eyes helplessly; there was no way to explain this.
The courtyard was quiet, with only the rustling of leaves in the wind.
Mu Yulu could hear her own rapid heartbeat and Mu Qinhan's steady breathing.
She opened her eyes again and saw the moonlight shining down, casting a hazy glow on his sharply defined profile, while also illuminating the dangerous undercurrents in his eyes.
In front of this living devil, she had no choice but to explain even if she couldn't explain it clearly. She wasn't afraid of death, but she was afraid of living a life worse than death.
“The Prince saw how my aunt’s servants bullied and harassed me that night.” She decided to play the victim: “I have the status of a legitimate daughter in the Mu family, but I am someone that everyone can bully and trample on. Although our family is not royalty, we are still a large family. The Prince knows better than I how deep and murky the water is in the big houses and courtyards.”
Mu Qinhan asked her, "So you keep a dagger under your pillow for self-defense?"
Mu Yulu nodded: "The struggles in the mansion involve not only open attacks but also covert ones, so I have to be on guard."
Mu Qinhan asked again, "But judging from the situation that day, it seemed that you had the upper hand, didn't you?"
He put it mildly, but Mu Yulu's performance that night was valiant and far more than just had the upper hand.
She nearly scared the servants half to death.
Mu Yulu coughed awkwardly twice, and defended herself indignantly: "Even a rabbit will bite when cornered, and a dog will jump over the wall when cornered! It's precisely because they bully me every day and push me to the brink that I fought back so hard."
Mu Yulu's reaction was quite amusing to Mu Qinhan. He observed her vivid expression without making a sound, and then suddenly said, "Your expression is neither like a rabbit nor a dog, but more like a wild cat that refuses to admit defeat."
What the heck?
Mu Yulu glared at him, holding back for a while, but finally couldn't hold back: "This is the fearless courage that comes from being driven to the brink of despair. Please show me some respect."
Mu Qinhan replied cooperatively, "I didn't expect that Miss Mu's living conditions in the Mu family were so difficult. You are very courageous. I was disrespectful to you."
Mu Yulu stared at him warily, wondering what trick this man was up to now.
Mu Qinhan praised Mu Yulu a few times, but it was unclear whether he was genuinely praising her or being sarcastic. After praising her, he suddenly changed the subject: "Sometimes I really can't tell whether you love me or hate me. I still remember the look in your eyes when I was taking care of you at the Mu residence that day when you were seriously ill."
Before Mu Qinhan could finish speaking, Mu Yulu had already begun to tremble.
She knew that she must have been delirious from her illness that day, mistaking this life for her past life, and Mu Qinhan for him from her previous life.
But she couldn't remember exactly how confused she had been, what she had done to Mu Qinhan, or what she had said that made him so obsessed with her, insisting on coming to ask her about it even after so long.
She sighed helplessly, "Your Highness, this is what I'm thinking. Please listen to my thoughts and see if they make sense. I think your obsession is still too deep..."
"The way you looked at me that day, I knew your feelings." Mu Qinhan looked down at her, interrupting her. "But why did you refuse my marriage proposal? Why are you unwilling to marry me?"
Mu Yulu sighed helplessly again. She was really annoyed and was about to lose her patience. Mu Qinhan was still asking questions, so she shouldn't blame her for speaking rudely.
She regained some strength and was finally able to turn her face away, avoiding Mu Qinhan's gaze: "Your Highness, that's because people can fall in love with others."
She was going all out tonight, not caring what she was saying: "I later fell in love with Sanzhou Jinse at first sight, so I don't want to marry you anymore, which is reasonable, right?"
Mu Qinhan seemed to laugh out of anger.
He leaned down, completely enveloping Mu Yulu in his shadow, and even their breaths were filled with his cold aura.
Before Mu Qinhan could speak, Mu Yulu gritted her teeth and continued, "And Your Highness, do you even know what it means to marry?"
"If you want me to come to the Prince's mansion as a concubine, that's just taking me into the mansion. How can that be considered marrying me? If you really want to marry me into the mansion, you should at least make me a secondary consort, right?"
At this point, she quickly added, "However, I, Mu Yulu, am neither willing to be a concubine nor a mistress. If you really want to marry me, then you should bring me into the palace as your principal wife in a grand sedan chair. Only then will you show some sincerity."
In fact, Mu Yulu knew perfectly well that asking Mu Qinhan to bring a merchant's daughter into the palace as his principal wife was more than just a token of sincerity; it was practically tantamount to laying his heart bare for her to see.
But she insisted on saying it that way, wanting to make Mu Qinhan back down.
As she expected, Mu Qinhan remained silent.
The moonlight was momentarily obscured by the floating clouds, plunging the courtyard into brief darkness. Mu Qinhan suddenly stood up and took half a step back.
The oppressive aura emanating from him gradually dissipated, and Mu Yulu finally breathed a sigh of relief. As the moonlight poured down again, she mustered her courage and looked Mu Qinhan in the eye: "I know you can't do it, Your Highness, but what you can't give me, Sanzhou Jinse can."
Under the moonlight, Mu Qinhan's features were exquisite, yet he exuded a chilling aura. His dark, tight-fitting clothes accentuated his pale skin, making him resemble a drawn sword.
He remained silent for a long time, until Mu Yulu lowered her head guiltily, before slowly speaking: "Actually, you know yourself that Sanzhou Jinse will not come back to marry you."
Mu Yulu suddenly raised her head: "You have no idea about what happened between him and me, so what makes you say that?"
A knowing glint flashed in Mu Qinhan's eyes: "I truly don't know what deal you made with him to get him to agree to snatch your embroidered ball. But I know him well, and I know he won't come back to marry you."
Mu Yulu's breath hitched.
Only then did she realize why Mu Qinhan's reaction was so calm on the day the embroidered ball was thrown. Even though Sanzhou Jinse snatched the embroidered ball, he still remained calm and composed.
It turned out that he knew San Zhou Jinse's personality very well and knew that she would definitely not come back to marry him.
"What do you think Sanzhou Jinse's motives are for approaching you? You don't actually think he likes you, do you?" Seeing Mu Yulu's stunned expression, Mu Qinhan continued, "I do have a guess about why he approached you. Would you like to hear it?"
Mu Yulu continued to stubbornly deny it: "If I have a question, I will ask him myself. Why should I listen to your guesses? If there is any misunderstanding, we will communicate properly. Don't even think about sowing discord."
Mu Qinhan turned his head to observe her expression: "There is a limit to pretending to be stupid. You are a smart person and you are definitely not as stupid and brainless as you are now."
Mu Yulu fell silent.
She sat there helplessly, remaining silent for a while before speaking again. When she spoke, her voice was a bit colder: "I know he came to the Mu residence for a reason. We first met on the roof of the Mu residence's library. From the beginning, I knew he wasn't just there to look at the moon from my rooftop."
As she spoke, she raised her head and stared intently at Mu Qinhan: "Just like when Your Highness broke into my room last time, it shouldn't have been for me, right?"
"Your Highness, you didn't come to the Mu residence tonight dressed like this just to ask me these questions, did you? You didn't come here to watch the moon and count the stars with me in the courtyard, did you?"
Since things had come to this point, she decided to be completely open: "I know the Mu family has something you want, but that thing has nothing to do with me, and I don't know what it is. Even if you deliberately try to get close to me, you won't gain anything."
She shrugged: "As you can see, I have no say in this mansion, and I know absolutely nothing about what my father has been doing outside."
"So neither you nor Sanzhou Jinse will get any benefit from me."
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