Chapter 42 042 Nestled in his arms
After finishing his paperwork, Xie Huaiyuan stepped back into the courtyard, without making a fuss about walking quietly.
A full moon in the sky, a beautiful woman in the pavilion.
In a daze, Xie Huaiyuan recalled the moments he had shared with Lin Wan last year.
At that time, he was preoccupied with the case. The sudden appearance of Lin Wan helped him conceal his identity, allowing him to continue investigating the case secretly while recovering from his injuries.
He was not a heartless or indifferent person; he knew all the kindness and joy in the world. Even though he could not see clearly that day, he could still feel the ambiguous flow hidden in the care and companionship.
That day, she encountered the Holy Empress of Chinese Medicine. She stayed in her inn room, her words veiled, but she never actually said them.
At this moment, Xie Huaiyuan gazed at the beautiful figure of the woman in the moonlight in the pavilion from afar.
A strange certainty settled in my heart; I knew the words she hadn't spoken that day.
……do you like me?
Once he understood what Xie Huaiyuan meant, he paused for a moment, then forced himself to remain calm before stepping into the pavilion.
Lin Wan, who was in the pavilion, visibly swayed, like a startled rabbit. Her innocent and bewildered eyes stared straight at him. She quickly withdrew her hand from where she was reaching down to look for something, and while looking up at him, she quietly covered the teacup on the table with the lid and smiled, "Young Master, have you finished dealing with things?"
Xie Huaiyuan noticed her attempt to cover up her misunderstanding. He found it amusing but didn't want to expose her, so he nodded helplessly in the end, "It's just some trivial matter, nothing to worry about."
After saying that, he walked straight into the pavilion, glanced down at the teacup that had been hastily covered, and seemed to realize something: "You poured tea for me?"
Lin Wan's eyes darted around, not having time to think it through, afraid that the young master would notice something amiss. She immediately said softly to Xie Huaiyuan, "I saw the servants put the things away and then I smelled the aroma of tea. I wondered how long you would be busy, so I thought I would brew some tea and wait for you."
Xie Huaiyuan smiled and said gently, "Thank you, it is indeed a very fragrant tea."
Without saying another word, he picked up the teacup and drank it all in one gulp.
Lin Wan, still looking astonished, stared blankly at the person in front of her. After he put down his teacup, she tentatively asked, "...How does the tea taste?"
" not bad."
"Does it have any strange smell?"
"No," Xie Huaiyuan said with a puzzled look, then asked with a smile, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with this tea?"
Since I didn't taste any other flavors, it probably didn't fall into his teacup.
Lin Wan was initially distracted, worried that the aphrodisiac pill she had just taken out might fall into his teacup. However, seeing that he had drunk all the tea and hadn't noticed anything, she figured it probably hadn't fallen into the teacup, and her tense mind relaxed a little.
She was still worried, so she took the opportunity to look down, but still couldn't find it. She didn't even see a trace of the aphrodisiac pill, so she had to give up. She didn't want to tell the person next to her.
It wasn't until the moon rose above the willow branches that Xie Huaiyuan sent someone to prepare the carriage.
Lin Wan forgot about her foot injury, and was somewhat taken aback when she heard Xie Huaiyuan say that he would personally escort her back to the Su residence.
Tonight feels like a dream, so unreal, not to mention the strange thing about the aphrodisiac pill that I was holding but then dropped.
She stood up, stumbled and lost her balance, and fell straight into Xie Huaiyuan's arms.
Xie Huaiyuan suddenly raised an eyebrow, but still firmly supported the person: "Does your foot still hurt? Should we take another look and see if it's alright?"
Upon hearing this, the hairpin in her hair trembled slightly. "It's nothing serious, I'll be fine after a couple of days of rest."
"Well, if you still feel pain in a few days, you can send someone to find Doctor Hua. His medical skills are second to none in the capital. If he takes a look at you, you will feel much better."
"You're going out on a case without him?"
“This case involves a wide range of people, and it is inconvenient to reveal our identities. If we take him with us and go with him, wouldn’t that be telling others that someone from the capital is here to investigate the case? Wouldn’t that be a good reminder to those people to conceal their crimes?”
"really?"
Xie Huaiyuan roughly guessed what she meant, but still smiled slightly. Then he sighed softly, saying with some helplessness, "Since what happened last time, you should know that there are many shady dealings in the capital that seem glamorous on the surface. With him staying in the capital, I feel more at ease. If you encounter any trouble, at least he can protect your health to the greatest extent possible."
Lin Wan swayed, her startled cry swallowed back down. The next moment, she was pulled into the man's broad embrace, and the faint sandalwood scent wafted into her nostrils.
"It's still quite a distance to the parked carriage. You shouldn't move around too much with your injured foot, lest you aggravate the injury."
Xie Huaiyuan spoke in a grand and dignified manner. Then, he exerted his strength, hugged her back, and lifted her onto his body. After that, he didn't make any other movements, just held her steadily.
Left with no other choice, Lin Wan nestled closer to him in his arms, her cheek pressed against his warm chest. Through his clothes, she could hear his steady and powerful heartbeat, but her heartbeat inadvertently became disordered. Their position was ambiguous and intimate.
Her gaze slowly shifted upwards, and what came into view was his sharply defined jawline. His pale lips were right in front of her, and she suddenly remembered that although those pale lips looked inconspicuous, when they touched her lips, the intent to steal her breath almost completely. Her ear tips suddenly turned red.
"What are you thinking about?" His whispered words woke Lin Wan from her reverie.
He smiled slightly, a knowing smile playing on his lips, and gently held her close in his arms.
After a long while, Lin Wan heard the man's somewhat somber voice: "When I am not in the capital, if you encounter any problems that you cannot solve, you can write them down and give them to Hua Yisheng. He has a way to find me and can help you deal with some tricky problems."
The carriage stopped at the side gate where she had been picked up earlier, and it was still the same coachman from the Su family driving the carriage.
Coachman: "Young Master, are you heading back to the Su residence?"
Surprisingly, he was very easy to talk to tonight, with a smile in his eyes, and nodded in response.
Xie Huaiyuan personally escorted her back to the Su residence. Su Furong, who had been sent to deliver a message that Lin Wan was returning at this time, happened to be waiting at the gate of the Su residence when his carriage stopped. She wanted to wait for Lin Wan to return so that they could go in together and avoid gossip.
The house in Pear Blossom Lane appeared even more secluded under the moonlight. Xie Huaiyuan returned to the pavilion in the courtyard. As he stepped into the pavilion, his toes seemed to bump into something hard. Looking down, he saw that it was a small brocade box that had fallen from the spot where Lin Wan had been sitting. He guessed that she had dropped it.
Xie Huaiyuan didn't pay much attention to it. He simply picked it up and was about to place it on the stone table when he happened to see a small pill in the crevices of the teapot. If you didn't look carefully, you would hardly find where it was hiding.
There was no sound in the courtyard. The servants who were guarding the place stood with their heads bowed to one side. It was so quiet that even the sound of breathing could be heard.
He raised an eyebrow and carefully examined the pill in his palm. It was extremely small, with a fragrant aroma and a hint of something alluring.
Xie Huaiyuan rubbed his temples, and after a long while, he finally opened the small brocade box on the table. Inside was the same kind of pill, and he noticed that the words "Charm Fragrance Pill" were written in small Western Region script inside the box.
He recognized the script of the Western Regions and immediately understood what was inside the brocade box.
Finally, she smiled slightly with resignation, lowered her eyelashes, put the aphrodisiac pill she had picked up back into the brocade box, and then put the brocade box in her bosom.
-
Did you sprain your ankle?
Su Furong was surprised, then suddenly reached out and helped Lin Wan walk slowly towards the courtyard where they lived.
The moment Su Furong approached Lin Wan, she caught a whiff of familiar sandalwood. Although the scent was faint, it lingered on Lin Wan's clothes.
But why does this taste so similar to that person's?
She paused for a moment, then noticed the expression on Lin Wan's face and seemed to understand. As she helped her up, she smiled and said, "I didn't expect there to be so many people to see the lanterns this time. After we got separated, I thought I would walk back to look for you, but there were just too many people. No matter how I walked, I couldn't find you. Later, I met the Prince, and I thought that perhaps more people would be able to find you faster. I asked him to help me out, and in the end, it really was the Prince who found you."
Lin Wan's eyelashes trembled slightly, but she didn't say much about how she had seen Xie Huaiyuan and Princess Zhaoyi strolling together on the street.
Su Furong didn't press the matter further, but smiled and said to her, "Seeing that the young master personally went to find you today and even personally escorted you back, he must have some feelings for you. If you are also interested, why don't you find an opportunity to ask him for a definite answer?" As Su Furong spoke, she thought of some things about her family and couldn't help but mention, "I heard from my brother that the court is unstable these days and there may be some big moves. If you get involved in the factional disputes in the court, you can use the young master's influence to get out of trouble and get protection."
Su Furong's words came from the bottom of her heart.
Previously, she did dislike Lin Wan getting close to Xie Huaiyuan because of family matters, as her father and brother were on different sides from the heir. However, Lin Wan was still family, and had even fallen into the water for her sake. Now, she hoped that Lin Wan could be protected by Xie Huaiyuan and avoid being implicated.
Su Furong paused for a moment, then said, "Oh right, have you met the Princess Consort of Xiangyang's mansion alone? Since the old prince passed away many years ago, almost all the princes are princess consorts. Everyone in the capital says she is a kind person, but I don't think so."
Lin Wan asked, seemingly casually, "Why did you suddenly bring up the Princess?"
“If you wish to go with the Crown Prince,” Su Furong said, then paused for a moment, “then naturally you will need the Princess’s permission.”
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