Jiang Qingyan failed to gain the slightest advantage and was so furious that she crossed her arms.
“Shen Lingxi.” She called out to Shen Lingxi. “You’re wearing so little. Anyone can tell you’re deliberately pretending to be pitiful.”
Shen Lingxi would have liked to put on a coat, but Fatty had dragged her around until she had been rolling and crawling all over the place. Where would she have found the time?
She lifted her chin, looking just a little proud and petulant.
“I did it on purpose.”
“I’ll freeze myself into a cold, and then make Fu Jinglan worry about me. Hmph~”
“You’re shameless!”
Jiang Qingyan stamped her foot viciously, repeating Shen Lingxi’s name over and over in her mind.
She had never heard of anyone by that name.
What Jiang Qingyan didn’t know was that the Shen family dealt in arms. Risk was inevitable in that business, so they had protected their descendants exceptionally well. All the names they revealed to the outside world were fake.
Even when Shen Lingxi went to and from school every day, she was driven in cars worth no more than a million.
She kept a low profile and never advertised her background.
Shen Lingxi turned and left, while Jiang Qingyan’s mood plummeted.
She had to cling to Shen Lingxi like a vengeful ghost and find fault with her.
So she chased after her, cursing, “You scheming little stray cat!”
“Scheming? This is called an excessively high wisdom density.”
Shen Lingxi stopped, wiped the snow water from her face, and made two little cat fists with her hands. In an utterly adorable manner, she faced Jiang Qingyan and went, “Meow~”
Then she silently stuck her tongue out at her.
Finally, she pinched both cheeks, rolled her eyes, and made several different faces in rapid succession.
With this entire routine, Shen Lingxi had once managed to anger a mischievous child into stamping his feet and bursting into tears.
Let’s see how Jiang Qingyan would respond.
But who could have known that Fu Jinglan would turn around at that very moment?
Up ahead, his long legs came to a stop.
Half of his handsome face turned back—and, as luck would have it, met Shen Lingxi’s string of grotesque faces head-on.
Fu Jinglan’s expression froze for several seconds before he asked in a deep voice:
“Shen Lingxi, what are you doing? What happened to your face?”
Jiang Qingyan quickly took advantage of the situation, pinching her voice into a delicate whine.
“Governor, just look at her. She keeps giving me dirty looks for no reason. How am I supposed to establish myself in Lu Manor?”
Fu Jinglan’s cold gaze swept over Jiang Qingyan without the slightest trace of concern.
“Miss Jiang, you’re overthinking it. We’re simply not fated to get along.”
The green-tea expression Jiang Qingyan had put on froze completely.
Fatty had insisted that men all liked girls who acted like green tea, and that the more of it there was, the more addicted they became.
But even if Fu Jinglan really were that kind of man, she simply wasn’t cut out for it.
Her upbringing had shaped her into someone who had to fight and compete for everything, protecting herself with her overbearing nature.
Fu Jinglan turned his gaze back to Shen Lingxi, who had already stopped making faces.
“I asked what happened to your face.”
Shen Lingxi immediately put her expression under control. Her voice lacked confidence because she felt guilty.
“Nothing happened. Maybe… maybe I was suddenly possessed by a ghost~”
What a fine case of ghost possession.
But when Fu Jinglan recalled that string of grotesque faces, why did he suddenly feel like making her do them again?
Even so, he kept his face taut, maintaining the steady composure befitting a Governor as he turned back around.
“If you two keep bickering, you can both go kneel outside for the entire night.”
At the mention of kneeling, Shen Lingxi finally realized that her knees already hurt terribly.
She clenched her teeth. The farther she walked, the more it hurt, until her legs even began to tremble.
On top of that, her feet were stepping on snow. She suddenly slipped, and it looked as though she was about to fall backward.
“Careful! You can hold on to me.”
Mu Suizhou reacted quickly and instinctively extended his arm, letting Shen Lingxi use it for support.
He couldn’t take the initiative to have physical contact with her.
Shen Lingxi was the person Fu Jinglan had nodded his approval to send into the manor.
The final right of possession, as well as the right to explain the situation, both belonged to Fu Jinglan.
Holding on to Mu Suizhou, Shen Lingxi managed to stand upright and thanked him, still shaken:
“Thank you.”
Her voice was polite yet delicate and pitiful.
It was also crisp and sweet, carrying precisely through the wind and snow into Fu Jinglan’s ears.
At the very front, he slowed slightly without turning his head.
“Secretary-General Mu, what’s tomorrow’s schedule?”
Mu Suizhou carefully withdrew his arm and steadily caught up with Fu Jinglan.
“Governor, tomorrow’s schedule is as follows. At eight in the morning… eleven o’clock…”
Behind them, Shen Lingxi bent down and warmed her knees with her palms.
“There, there. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
The Shen family had truly raised her too well.
She had never suffered any real physical hardship.
After kneeling for a while in the freezing weather, she had worn her skin raw.
Shen Lingxi walked alone, stopping and starting, falling farther and farther behind in her loneliness.
When she bent down again to ease the pain and catch her breath, a pair of custom-made black leather shoes with red soles suddenly appeared beneath her eyes.
The man’s tone was extremely forceful.
“You’re dragging your feet.”
“What great things will you ever accomplish in the future?”
Shen Lingxi had just raised her head when a pair of strong hands clamped around her waist.
The next moment, Fu Jinglan hoisted her over his shoulder.
“Mm-ah~”
The pressure made Shen Lingxi let out a soft moan. Her orchid-scented breath brushed against the man’s ear.
Like a spring breeze blowing past, it made Fu Jinglan’s throat itch.
A string of taut sensations shot through his waist and abdomen as well.
But Shen Lingxi did not settle down.
With both arms wrapped around Fu Jinglan’s solid shoulders, she twisted restlessly back and forth.
Fu Jinglan grew irritated from her rubbing against him.
His body felt hot and numb.
No woman had ever entangled herself with him so closely before. He was profoundly unaccustomed to it.
Fu Jinglan half-turned his face and sternly scolded the person over his shoulder:
“Shen Lingxi, can’t you keep still?”
“I-I can.”
Shen Lingxi found it rather difficult to say.
“But you… you’re poking my chest.”
No wonder.
Fu Jinglan paused for a moment, then gripped Shen Lingxi and moved her into his arms at his waist.
The distance between them grew even smaller, their breaths tangling together.
Shen Lingxi wrapped both legs around Fu Jinglan’s narrow waist, and he resumed walking.
Like this, it felt rather like being tossed in a wok.
To make herself more secure, Shen Lingxi slipped her arms around Fu Jinglan’s neck and cautiously tightened her embrace bit by bit.
Then tightened it further.
A snowflake drifted down and landed right on Fu Jinglan’s lips.
It instantly melted into a drop of water, glistening brightly.
Why did it look so tempting?
She wanted to lick it away and wipe it clean.
Shen Lingxi stared at it eagerly. Yes, it was this mouth that had spoken up for her today.
The cold-faced Big Bad Wolf didn’t seem quite so bad after all.
Logically speaking, she had caused trouble today, but Fu Jinglan hadn’t said a single word blaming her for provoking the Southern State’s Second Princess.
Now Shen Lingxi wanted to coax Fu Jinglan into a better mood as thanks.
Although she had no idea what he liked, Shen Lingxi knew that everyone needed emotional validation.
She rolled her eyes.
Resting her chin on Fu Jinglan’s shoulder, she asked him in a coquettish voice:
“Governor, what’s your blood type?”
Fu Jinglan lowered his eyes and saw a pair of limpid, inquisitive eyes.
Her lashes, clearly damp from crying, were still wet.
“AB.” Fu Jinglan answered without emotion.
“No.” Shen Lingxi flashed a playful smile. “You’re my ideal type.”
Fu Jinglan had never heard a cheesy pickup line before.
It was incredibly corny, yet somehow, wonderfully, it gave him a faint sense of secret satisfaction.
After observing his expression, a trace of delight flashed through the corners of Shen Lingxi’s eyes.
“Governor, I took some medicine before lunch. Can you guess what it was?”
Fu Jinglan kept his face stern. “I’m not guessing.”
But in his heart, he had already begun guessing involuntarily. First, he ruled out contraceptives.
There was no such thing in the manor.
“Aw, fine, I’ll tell you.” Shen Lingxi giggled. “It was… you’re very important.”
Fu Jinglan was thoroughly greased up by the line.
Shen Lingxi continued chattering:
“Governor, I want us to be the best friends in the whole world.”
“I’ll always stand on your side. In the next election, I’ll vote for you again.”
Fu Jinglan: Shen Lingxi was so noisy.