Chapter 24 024 Pounce and Kiss
Shi Liu leaned against the railing, looking out at the fire dragon dance on the street. Suddenly, as if sensing something, she looked up the stairs and heard a sound at the end of the dimly lit staircase. She asked, "Did you hear anything?"
Green Bamboo, who was watching with great interest, fell silent for a moment. There seemed to be no other sound from above the stairs: "No, you must have misheard."
Compared to the bustling streets, the bookstore was indeed quiet, with only a few people coming and going occasionally. Shiliu, who was waiting for Lin Wan to bring down the picture book, sat there listlessly. When she looked up and saw Xie Huaiyuan suddenly appear at the entrance of the bookstore, she was so shocked that she stammered when she bowed. Looking back, she felt as terrified as if she had been caught doing something wrong.
Shi Liu glanced at the stairs, but couldn't see the top floor. She could only secretly pray that Lin Wan wouldn't argue with him. After all, Lin Wan was still angry about being publicly rejected at Yingkelou last time, and she would grit her teeth with anger every time she talked about him.
The top floor of the bookstore was even quieter against the backdrop of the bustling street noise.
It was so quiet that Xie Huaiyuan could almost hear Lin Wan's disordered breathing as she collapsed on top of him.
His brow furrowed, and he secretly regretted his impulsive decision to go to the bookstore today.
We shouldn't have reminded her to watch out for things she'd dropped.
"Give it back to me!" She breathed heavily, her soft body pressed against his, one hand supporting her against the front of his shirt, the other reaching out to grab it. The snow-white, soft flesh brushed against his chest, making his chest burn even hotter.
For a moment everything was silent, except for the sound of the picture book that had been accidentally thrown out spreading out and turning.
After seeing the beautiful and vibrant spring scenery in the picture book, Xie Huaiyuan's expression changed slightly. He lowered his eyes and remained silent, staring at Lin Wan until she felt a chill run down her spine.
"They are utterly shameless."
Xie Huaiyuan glanced at her, his usually indifferent face suddenly showing anger. Just as Lin Wan's fingertips were about to touch the edge of the picture book, Xie Huaiyuan yanked the picture book over, just in time to avoid Lin Wan.
"This isn't yours, give it back."
Xie Huaiyuan didn't give her a second chance to snatch it. Instead, his gaze swept over her, who was still lying in front of him, and his eyes darkened: "Miss Lin, do you really disregard the proper boundaries between men and women and approach me so casually?"
Lin Wan glared at him angrily, but since she was lying face down, she couldn't exert any force. Resigned to her bad luck, she got up from him and backed away until she was only an arm's length away from him.
"Please return the album to me, Your Highness."
Xie Huaiyuan straightened his clothes, which she had rummaged through, and while holding the picture album firmly in his hand and hiding it behind his back, he rebuked her mercilessly: "I never thought that Miss Lin would be so shameless!"
"Shameless again, Your Highness. Don't you have any other words?" Lin Wan glanced at him casually, took a half step closer, raised her fox-like, alluring eyes, and stared straight at him. "You can accuse me of shamelessness with just one glance? Could it be that Your Highness has already seen these kinds of picture books and knows what is depicted in them, so you can so skillfully determine that I am shameless?"
"Absurd, utter nonsense."
Lin Wan saw the mockery in his cold and indifferent eyes, and she became even angrier. She pressed on, "Doesn't Your Highness treat me as an outsider? If I am an outsider, an unrelated person, why does Your Highness still care what you think of me?"
She took another half step, approaching step by step, her eyes glancing at the sketchbook hidden behind Xie Huaiyuan's back. She pondered how to take it back discreetly. She knew that this sketchbook had cost a lot of money. When she first mentioned it to the artist, he refused repeatedly. Moreover, it featured a certain person in the painting. If she hadn't increased the fee again, how could the artist have agreed to paint this sketchbook for her?
Little did she know that her little actions had already been noticed by Xie Huaiyuan. He sneered, "She really won't give up and insists on taking it back." Xie Huaiyuan secretly clenched his slender fingers holding the picture book, pursed his lips, and turned to leave.
Lin Wan: "..."
She rushed forward, blocking Xie Huaiyuan's path, and said, "Young Master, you're really meddling! I confessed my love to you and you didn't respond. I wanted to see you but you rejected me, saying I was an outsider. Now you're interfering with my viewing of spring. Gong Tu, what exactly do you mean by this?"
Xie Huaiyuan clenched the picture album behind him and tucked it into his sleeve, saying calmly, "It means I threw it away for you."
Upon hearing this, Lin Wan was so angry that she had to do something to calm herself down. She hadn't even glanced at the portrait yet, and Xie Huaiyuan had taken it away. Not only was he not returning it, but he was also going to throw it away. Did he think the album had fallen from the sky?
She smiled and stepped forward, her eyes, brimming with autumn water, fixed on Xie Huaiyuan. The flickering candlelight made her look like a bewitching mountain spirit, and her crimson lips drew ever closer.
Xie Huaiyuan sensed something was wrong and tried to back away.
But Lin Wan didn't give him a chance to dodge. Her soft fingertips hooked onto his rumpled shirt and pulled him closer in the blink of an eye.
Lin Wan's arms, like vines, tightly wrapped around his neck, and she pressed her delicate lips to his, gently rubbing them against his cool lips.
"Hmm..." Xie Huaiyuan's mind went completely blank for a moment.
His usual gentlemanly demeanor was almost completely shattered in an instant. He had never encountered anything like this before, nor had anyone dared to offend him so frivolously. So much so that when that soft, rosy cheek pressed against him, he froze, unable to push her away in time.
Their warm breaths clung to each other, making Xie Huaiyuan's mind a jumbled mess. As their lips rubbed together, Xie Huaiyuan's brief blankness gradually returned. He wanted to push the other away, but found it difficult to do so anywhere. The person nestled in his arms was so soft and delicate.
Before Xie Huaiyuan could fully recover, Lin Wan, as if nothing had happened, had already slipped away from his empty arms, just as she had accidentally fallen into his embrace earlier.
In the quiet stairwell, she avoided Xie Huaiyuan's gaze, whispering an apology for accidentally falling, and muttered, "I... I have to go back."
Xie Huaiyuan's arms were suddenly empty. His gloomy gaze fell on Lin Wan, who was stumbling downstairs. He watched her departing figure with a dazed look in his eyes.
Xie Huaiyuan, who had been standing frozen for a long time, gradually came to his senses. The sweet and cloying fragrance of her body seemed to still linger in the air. His trembling fingertips slowly rose, trying to wipe away the traces left on his lips. His movements were extremely rough and ruthless.
Her lips, which had been wiped until they were even redder, looked as if they had just been ravaged and tormented.
Suddenly, Xie Huaiyuan heard the sound of something falling to the floor beside him. He turned around and saw that it was a picture book that had fallen out of his sleeve. A gust of wind blew by, and the candlelight, which was swaying in the night wind, reflected on the fallen and opened pages.
The delicate and clear brushstrokes depict an extremely beautiful scene. The man, half-naked, reveals his handsome face in profile, and his face even looks seven parts like his!
Xie Huaiyuan's gaze darkened, and his lips curled slightly, revealing neither joy nor anger, but a barely suppressed aura of hostility emanating from him.
After a while, he slowly picked up the picture book from the ground, moved it close to the lit candle on the nearby table, and let the hot flames ignite the picture book. The blazing flames danced before his eyes.
Lin Wan, you are truly skilled!
On the first floor of the bookstore, Shiliu waited anxiously, and finally saw Lin Wan walking quickly down the stairs. She rushed down the stairs in a panic, not even noticing the green bamboo beside her, and hurriedly ran out as if there was a fierce creature chasing after her.
Green Bamboo watched as the beautiful figure quickly disappeared into the crowd on the street. After a while, he saw Xie Huaiyuan, with a gloomy face, slowly descend the stairs from upstairs. The ruthlessness and sinister look in his eyes was something he hadn't seen in a long time. Green Bamboo was terrified of Xie Huaiyuan with this expression. What made him even more afraid to say a word was the strangeness on Xie Huaiyuan's face.
On the way back to the manor, Green Bamboo was terrified, afraid that she might accidentally anger him.
Xie Huaiyuan, filled with hostility, remained silent even after returning to his residence, his face so gloomy that no one dared to approach him.
After returning to his room, Xie Huaiyuan drank the tea that had gone cold on the table in one gulp before instructing Green Bamboo to prepare water for bathing and changing.
Green Bamboo was afraid of offending him if she was not careful, so she quickly led the servants to prepare bathing clothes in the inner room one by one. After they were ready, she carefully closed the door and went out.
Xie Huaiyuan got up and went to the inner room. As he was about to take off his clothes to bathe, a piece of paper, tattered from being burned, fell from his sleeve. The picture on it was extremely suggestive and ambiguous.
This tattered piece of paper survived the last moment before the album was burned. Xie Huaiyuan bent down to pick it up, his fingers clenched into a fist, the paper crumpled and unsightly in his hand, before finally letting go.
The thin lips that had been pressed tightly together finally let out a soft sound.
"Lin Wan!"
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The Su residence.
In a fit of anger, Lin Wan kissed Xie Huaiyuan and ran away. She hurriedly returned to the Su residence and happened to run into Su Furong. She noticed that her expression was not right and was questioned for a long time, but fortunately, she did not get any other information out of her.
Although she kissed him on impulse, she was still a little scared. He was the heir of the Prince of Xiangyang. She had dared to offend him. If she was punished, she would probably suffer a terrible fate.
Lin Wan spent the night in fear and trembling. Even after the next day had passed, the Su residence remained calm and peaceful, and there was still no sign that Xie Huaiyuan had sent anyone to question her.
However, Lin Wan stayed at the mansion obediently for half a month until Princess Li sent someone to deliver an invitation, inviting her to the banquet that Princess Li had prepared.
Unexpectedly, the person Lin Wan wanted to avoid, Xie Huaiyuan, whom she dared not see again for the time being, would meet her when she was at her most disheveled.
Lin Wan noticed that she didn't know many of the people at the banquet, so she decided to stay quietly to the side until the banquet ended.
Unexpectedly, this idea was thwarted when a tea-serving maid accidentally wet her dress.
Just then.
Lin Wan looked up and saw Xie Huaiyuan walking past her.
A note from the author:
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