Yunmeng had secretly observed that the way her cousin looked at Su Gege was clearly unusual, as if it contained tenderness, yet was restrained and controlled. Even without knowing the entanglement between them, Yunmeng could guess that Su Gege and her cousin must have a story, and the Fourth Prince should also know about it, which is why he was so resistant and unwilling to have a banquet with her.
Unfortunately, Fifth Master was unaware of the situation and insisted that everyone join the banquet, which naturally displeased Fourth Master. However, some things are better left unsaid; what if one says something wrong and gets embarrassed? Even if one is right, it could still bring trouble upon oneself. Therefore, Yunmeng remained silent.
Seeing this, Su Yushan, who was walking on the side, knew that Hongli was angry again. But she hadn't done anything wrong, so why was he angry with her?
Su Yushan was too lazy to coax him, so she kept quiet. As a result, the atmosphere was very tense during the midday banquet. Hongli kept drinking alone and ignored Hongzhou when he spoke to him. Hongzhou was puzzled and couldn't understand what he had said wrong.
After the luncheon, they had planned to continue their sightseeing, but after this incident, Hongli lost all interest and made an excuse that he had to return to his residence.
Hongzhou felt disappointed, but he couldn't go against his fourth brother's wishes, so he could only follow him onto the carriage for the return journey.
Around noon, Hongzhou personally poured wine for Su Yushan. Su Yushan couldn't refuse the Fifth Prince's request, so she drank a few cups. She didn't drink often, but her alcohol tolerance wasn't bad. She didn't feel a headache after drinking several cups, just a little dizzy. So after getting into the carriage, she leaned against the window without saying a word and closed her eyes to rest.
Hongli waited for a long time but didn't get a clarification, which made him even more annoyed. "Shouldn't you give me an explanation?"
The autumn sun felt warm on her skin, making her drowsy. Just as she was drifting off to sleep, she suddenly heard a question. Su Yushan, confused, lazily opened her eyes, her gaze full of doubt.
"Explain what?"
She asked the question knowing the answer already, and Hongli's expression grew even darker. His deep, dark eyes could not hide his coldness as he patiently reminded her, "About your affair with Zheng Lin."
Su Yushan didn't seem to care, leaning against the window and lazily saying, "Don't you know everything about me and him? What else is there to say?"
"How did you two meet? Don't tell me it was a coincidence!"
His questioning and suspicious expression made her very uncomfortable. After sitting up straight, Su Yushan looked directly at him and truthfully recounted what had happened. "It really was just a coincidence! I accompanied Miss Yunmeng to Dengdong, and while waiting outside, I met my sister and Zheng Lin. That's all. What do you think?"
If that were all, Hongli wouldn't suspect anything. But when he thought about the previous details, he felt something was amiss.
"You stood at the bow of the ship for a while, and your expression changed noticeably after you went into the cabin. You then bumped into Zheng Lin as soon as you disembarked. Is this what you call a coincidence?"
It turned out that Hongli had also noticed her change. Su Yushan didn't answer immediately; her hesitation was obvious to Hongli, which only deepened his suspicions.
"What's wrong? Can't answer? What are you hiding?"
With things having come to this, Su Yushan had no choice but to reveal the truth: "There was nothing there. I was looking at the scenery at the bow of the boat when I vaguely saw someone on the shore who looked a lot like Zheng Lin. I didn't want to run into him again, so I turned around and went inside."
Just as he expected, she knew Zheng Lin was there all along. Her reaction was so obvious that Hongli couldn't help but think deeper. "Didn't you already forget him? Why are you unhappy to see him?"
“I’m not upset, I’m just worried that if he’s really nearby, I won’t be able to enjoy myself. And if we run into him later, you’ll start overthinking things. And what I feared came true; we ran into him again as soon as we got ashore.”
Everything she said was true, but Hongli still found it strange. "Then why did you say he was your cousin?"
"If you don't say cousin, then what about fiancé? If he's a stranger, why would my sister be with him? To make it logical and avoid arousing suspicion, we can only say it's a kinship relationship."
Her explanation seemed plausible, but he was still unhappy. "If you really have nothing to hide, why didn't you dare dine with him and were in such a hurry to send him away?"
He had so many suspicious points, and Su Yushan answered every question, but she got annoyed after being questioned so many times.
"You're already suspicious just from a chance encounter. If I dined with him, who knows what you'd think? I see it all. If I dine with him, you suspect I still have feelings for him; if I don't, you assume I'm hiding something. Whatever I do is wrong, and you're always right. Since you're convinced I have a problem, why ask me? Whatever you think is right!"
The problem is with her now. He was trying to reason with her while suppressing his anger, and she dared to throw a tantrum? "What kind of attitude is this?"
Su Yushan's attitude was initially very gentle, but even the most good-tempered person cannot remain calm in the face of such repeated questioning.
"We agreed to trust each other, but now you're being suspicious. How good a attitude do you expect from someone who doesn't trust me?"
"I want to believe you too, but it's really strange that so many coincidences have come together."
"Then what do you think?" She really couldn't understand what he was thinking. "You don't think I conspired with him beforehand to meet here, do you? Don't forget, you decided to take me out of the manor on a whim today. I had no prior knowledge of it. How could I have conspired with Zheng Lin?"
Staring intently into her eyes, Hongli seemed to see through something; his gaze became unusually grave.
“I don’t suspect you of colluding with him. I think you’ve regained your memory and remembered your past. You acted very unnaturally as soon as you saw him. You may not realize it yourself, but I can see it clearly.”
She could never possess the original owner's memories, so Su Yushan denied it very decisively, "If I really regained my memories, I could just tell you directly, why would I need to hide it?"
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