Xiao Bao'er was being protected, and her view was blocked. She couldn't tell what was going on. But the sudden appearance of a person in Mr. Qi's yard really gave Xiao Bao'er quite a fright.
This person held her tightly. She could hear this person's strong and powerful heartbeat. After a brief pause, Xiao Bao'er felt that there was no more danger around, so she forcefully pushed away the person holding her.
By the moonlight, Xiao Bao'er made out the face of the person who had come.
"General Xie! What are you doing here?!"
Xiao Bao'er never expected that she would meet Xie Yumo in Mr. Qi's yard. Moreover, this was the Xiao Mansion. What on earth was his intention for sneaking into the residence of a high - ranking official at night?
After thinking about it, she looked at Xie Yumo even more warily. Did the Xie family detect the tricks that Prime Minister Xiao had played with the military pay and come here to investigate?
Hundreds of possibilities flashed through Xiao Bao'er's mind, but she still couldn't figure out why this person had appeared here. Seeing that Xie Yumo didn't answer for a long time, she looked up, intending to question him, but saw shock in his eyes.
Why was he looking at her in such an incredulous way?
Xiao Bao'er subconsciously touched her face and found that her veil had fallen to the ground at some point. The dark spots on her face had been seen clearly by Xie Yumo.
She nervously picked up the veil from the ground and put it back on her face. Without caring about anything else, she then asked, "General Xie, what's your purpose for sneaking into the prime minister's mansion at night?"
Xie Yumo suppressed the surging emotions in his heart. Realizing that his behavior just now had been overly impolite, he said, "Miss Xiao, I was impolite. Just now the situation was urgent. To save the young lady's life, I had no choice but to protect you first. So I offended you."
Seeing that there was no trace of disgust in Xie Yumo's eyes, only surprise, the knot in Xiao Bao'er's heart loosened a bit.
She bowed to Xie Yumo warily and thanked him, "I thank the young master for saving my life." Then she questioned again, "So, General Xie, what on earth is your purpose for breaking into the prime minister's mansion at night?!"
Seeing Xiao Bao'er looking like a cat about to puff up its fur, Xie Yumo didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
He couldn't very well say that Xie Yi had investigated the matter of the Sheng family in Zhuying Alley in the west of the city, which made him a bit concerned. So he had called Xie Yi to secretly protect her. When he saw her climbing through the window in the middle of the night and was worried that she might be in danger, he had rushed over to protect her.
He couldn't say that since he saw her again at the flower - viewing banquet that day... he just couldn't let go of those memories...
So Xie Yumo's eyes flickered, and he resumed his nonchalant look. "It's all because of your maid."
Xiao Bao'er frowned. "What's wrong with my maid?"
Xie Yumo crossed his arms in front of his chest and raised his eyebrows. "I have a guard named Ji Feichen. He's Pan'er's childhood sweetheart. He found out that Pan'er had been taken a fancy to by your grandma's maid and was going to be forced to marry that maid's stupid son. So he begged me desperately to find a way."
"Since I've always cared about my subordinates, Ji Feichen wanted to ask the girl's opinion in person, but he couldn't see her. So I had to come to the Xiao Mansion. If the girl didn't want to marry either, I would have someone beat up that fool so that he would never dare to have such thoughts again."
"Unfortunately, your Xiao Mansion is too big. I got lost accidentally and accidentally saved you."
Xie Yumo lied seriously. Of course, he knew that Pan'er's matter had already been resolved. He also knew that Pan'er was now in Xiao Bao'er's courtyard and had changed her name to Ling Chu. But he had to find a seemingly reasonable excuse to get through this.
Xiao Bao'er let go of the sleeve arrow in her hand and looked at Xie Yumo half - believingly. "Are you sure you're here to find Pan'er? Didn't Pan'er's elder brother, Guanyan, tell Ji Feichen that the matter had been resolved?"
Xie Yumo felt embarrassed under her gaze. He touched his nose guiltily. "I don't know about that. If I didn't value Ji Feichen, I definitely wouldn't have come here. Moreover, if I wanted to investigate your Xiao Mansion, why would I come to this gloomy and narrow yard? It doesn't look like an important place at all."
Although Xiao Bao'er intuitively felt that Xie Yumo was lying, she didn't sense any malice from him. Coupled with her natural trust in the Xie family, a noble military family with generations of loyal soldiers, she didn't ask any more questions and temporarily believed his words.
"Hey, you're a girl. What are you doing dressed like this in the middle of the night?"
In response to Xie Yumo's question, Xiao Bao'er replied perfunctorily, "I'm too idle. Can't I just want to experience what it's like to be a thief since I can't sleep?"
Xie Yumo nodded, indicating his agreement. "That's totally okay. To be honest, I have this hobby too."
Seeing that Xie Yumo kept following her and had no intention of leaving, Xiao Bao'er directly issued an order to evict the guest. "General Xie, since you've accomplished your purpose for coming to the Xiao Mansion, you can go back. Staying any longer would be a bit impolite."
Xiao Bao'er's directness didn't make Xie Yumo leave. He smiled proudly at Xiao Bao'er, pointed at the three locks on the door and said, "You can't open this, can you?" Then he pointed at himself. "I can pick locks."
Xiao Bao'er was indeed troubled by these three locks, but she didn't want others to know her purpose for this trip. She was just about to decline when...
She saw Xie Yumo smiling. "It's almost dawn."
Xiao Bao'er stopped in her tracks and asked suspiciously, "You can help me pick the lock?"
Xie Yumo looked confident. "Of course. But... I want you to call me Brother Yumo once, and then I'll..."
"Brother Yumo."
Xiao Bao'er quickly called out and then pushed Xie Yumo to the door of the study, indicating for him to open it.
Xie Yumo helplessly took out a wire from his sleeve and inserted it into the keyhole. That "Brother Yumo" from Xiao Bao'er just now made Xie Yumo's heart skip a beat. Now, Xiao Bao'er was slowly overlapping with the cute little girl in his memory.
But unexpectedly, after the little girl grew up, her face was covered with terrifying dark spots. He tried hard to restrain himself from thinking about what had happened to Xiao Bao'er in these years...
Xie Yumo hid the heavy darkness in his eyes and seriously picked the lock.
After fiddling with the wire a few times, the lock clicked open. Xie Yumo pushed open the door. After making sure there was no other danger inside for Xiao Bao'er, he let her in.
Xiao Bao'er hesitated at the door for a while and looked at Xie Yumo somewhat hesitantly.
Xie Yumo seemed to know what Xiao Bao'er was thinking. He gave an understanding smile. "I'm a bit tired. I'll just take a rest at the door."
After saying that, he turned around and left, sitting down on the steps.
Seeing that Xie Yumo could understand her thoughts and still maintain propriety, Xiao Bao'er developed quite a favorable impression of him.
She withdrew her gaze from Xie Yumo and rummaged through the desk.
In the drawer of the desk, she found several letters written to Mr. Qi by people who claimed to be his students.
The letters were about discussions on fate. The earliest one was from seven years ago, when the writer's handwriting was still a bit immature.
Xiao Bao'er suddenly had a feeling that maybe everyone except herself knew about the matter of fate.