Chapter 42 Xue Minglan
"Ah He! You are here!"
The sound came from far away, accompanied by slightly messy footsteps.
A green figure hurried around the corner and appeared in front of the simple wonton stall.
The man was in his early twenties, wearing a green brocade robe. Although the material was of ordinary quality, it was covered with a lot of dust and his hair was a little messy. It was obvious that he had been traveling for a long time.
It was Xue Minglan, the son of the Xue family, who was quite famous in the capital and had always been on good terms with Shen He.
His tone was filled with familiar concern, and his eyes fell on Shen He with undisguised worry.
"It's so late, why are you alone in a place like this..."
He was halfway through his words when he noticed the tall man opposite Chen He, who exuded a cold murderous aura and a strong smell of blood.
And... the document on the table, held down by the scabbard.
There was also the spilled wine and the glaring bloodstains on the man's wrist.
The concern on Xue Minglan's face froze instantly, turning into astonishment and vigilance.
Chen He's face was still as calm as a still pond.
It was as if Xue Minglan's sudden appearance and the familiar concern in his tone did not cause the slightest ripple in her heart.
However, the moment she lowered her eyes, hiding the emotions in them—
A bone-chilling chill, like the sharpest ice spike, flashed quickly in her eyes!
Almost too fast to catch.
It wasn't displeasure at being interrupted, but rather... disgust and vigilance from the deepest part of her heart! She remembered! She remembered it all!
But this fleeting cold light did not escape the pair of sharp eyes like an eagle on the opposite side.
Zhou Yan'an kept staring at Chen He.
He clearly caught the moment Xue Minglan appeared, the instant that Chen He's eyes flashed and then disappeared, which was completely different from her calm expression... a bone-chilling chill!
Chen He's heart was indeed as cold as iron at that moment.
It was him! Xue Minglan! In her previous life, she treated him like a brother and a friend, trusting him more than most people around her, even second only to Mr. Yan.
Ridiculous! How ridiculous! It wasn't until the Shen family was annihilated and she and her family were tragically buried in a mass grave that she realized that this gentle and polite Xue Minglan, who always protected her, was actually the Queen's most hidden chess piece planted by her! He was an undercover agent who had been lurking beside her for years!
How much information had he passed on? How many times had he misled her judgment? Behind her back, how much fuel had he added to the Shen family's downfall?!
The deeper the trust in the previous life, the stronger the hatred at this moment!
Those buried scenes of betrayal, like poisonous snakes, bit at her memory!
But... not now.
It's not the time to fall out yet.
Chen He slowly raised his eyes, and a faint and decent smile appeared on his face again.
It seemed as if the momentary chill just now was just an illusion caused by the flickering lights.
Disguise! A perfect disguise! Now that we know his true identity, perhaps this "hidden chess piece" can be used in reverse!
She looked at Xue Minglan, her tone containing just the right amount of surprise and a hint of alienation.
"Brother Minglan? How did you find yourself here?"
Xue Minglan's gaze did not directly answer Shen He's question.
He seemed to have completely ignored Zhou Yan'an beside him, and didn't care about the weird atmosphere.
His eyes gently fell on the bowl of cold wontons.
To be more precise, it fell on the remains of the wonton, only half of it was left, lying alone in the spoon.
He stretched out his slender fingers and picked up the half wonton stained with red oil in Chen He's bowl without any hesitation.
His fingertips moved slightly, as if feeling the remaining warmth.
This action is too intimate and too natural!
He had a gentle smile on his lips as he looked at Chen He, his eyes filled with undisguised familiarity and... a hint of barely perceptible inquiry.
"Sister He's taste is still the same as when she was little, she loves spicy food."
Love spicy food? Haha.
Chen He's heart seemed to be crushed by these light words!
All the tenderness and affection, the false appearance of brotherly love and respect related to him in the past life, now turned into the most vicious irony, scratching her internal organs!
The overwhelming hatred almost broke through the carefully maintained disguise!
Hate! Bone-eating hatred! The deeper the trust in her past life, the greater the disgust she felt now! Every bit of familiarity he had with her reminded her of the pain of betrayal!
But she suppressed it.
Her nails dug deep into her palms, and the sharp pain allowed her to maintain the last bit of clarity.
He even forced a faint smile on his face, which was filled with just the right amount of curiosity.
"Brother Minglan was in such a hurry just now. Where did he just come from? How did he know I was here?"
The smile on Xue Minglan's face deepened a little.
There seemed to be something hidden in that smile, but it also seemed to be just pure gentleness.
He did not directly answer Shen He's question.
He simply put the half wonton back into the bowl, as if he had just done something very ordinary.
Then, he raised his eyes and looked at Chen He with a scorching gaze, so sharp that it seemed to penetrate her soul.
"I just went to the palace to pay my respects to the Queen Mother, and I heard some interesting rumors."
His voice lowered a little, carrying with it an inexplicable sense of oppression, as if an invisible net was slowly covering him.
"Ah He, they said...you asked the Queen Mother for permission to marry the Sixth Prince, Xiao Jingchi?"
The air seemed to freeze at this moment.
Even the wonton stall owner, who was wiping the table in the distance, was a beat slower.
Zhou Yan'an remained silent, but his deep eyes quickly swept between Shen He and Xue Minglan with a barely perceptible scrutiny.
Chen He met Xue Minglan's gaze that almost pierced through her without dodging at all.
So calm, as if he was just stating an ordinary fact.
"yes."
One word! Decisive and unequivocal! No hesitation, no explanation! This frankness, this decisiveness, made all the probing and arguments Xue Minglan had prepared choke in his throat!
"yes?"
Xue Minglan seemed to have not expected that she would answer so directly, and the gentle smile on her face finally could not be maintained at all, and shattered into pieces!
Instead, there was a layer of coldness, disbelief and strong reluctance!
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