Mu Suizhou lowered the umbrella, sheltering both Fu Jinglan, who was squatting, and Shen Lingxi, who was kneeling.
Shen Lingxi looked at Fu Jinglan’s face.
Modeling freak, if you won’t hug me, then don’t.
Shen Lingxi continued kneeling, her stubbornness quietly flaring up.
“Governor, what’s your relationship with your fiancée?”
Faced with Shen Lingxi’s sudden question, Fu Jinglan felt an inexplicable sense of pressure.
After all, since childhood, he had never truly feared anyone.
But was Shen Lingxi’s question even a valid one?
“No relationship,” Fu Jinglan replied.
Shen Lingxi had her own way of thinking. Fu Jinglan said he had no relationship with his fiancée.
“So, you admit she’s your fiancée.”
“?” Fu Jinglan slowly turned his neck.
“Unreasonable, twisting the facts. Shen Lingxi, why don’t you just say I took Li Hongzhang to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki?”
Behind them, Mu Suizhou let out a stifled laugh before quickly suppressing it.
At that moment, Jiang Qingyan, bundled in thick clothes and covering her face, ran over from nearby, sobbing and sniffling.
Pangpang tugged at her sleeve beside her. “Miss, did you remember everything?”
Jiang Qingyan nodded and cried even harder.
“Jinglan, you’re finally back.”
Fu Jinglan particularly disliked women who cried and whimpered.
No one should pull this act in front of him.
He squatted in front of Shen Lingxi and slowly glanced back.
“Miss Jiang, I don’t like people I’m not familiar with calling me by my name.”
“I don’t like being called by my full name, and I dislike being called by just my given name even more.”
Jiang Qingyan blinked, taking a moment to process this.
“Governor, I just arrived in Beizhou, unfamiliar with everything, and this girl scratched my face.”
Fu Jinglan stood up tall, watching as Jiang Qingyan removed her hand to reveal several bloody scratches on her face.
The wounds were deep, long, and thin.
What kind of claws could leave marks like that?
Shouldn’t it have been Jiang Qingyan’s cat that did it?
Fu Jinglan’s gaze fell on Shen Lingxi’s face.
His words, slipping from his lips, were cold. “Did you scratch her?”
He didn’t believe it.
Faced with the accusation, Shen Lingxi lifted her neck to look at Fu Jinglan, her eyes filled with defiance.
“If I scratched her face, then I must have burned down the Old Summer Palace.”
“Miss Jiang barged into the dining room, let her cat eat my yellow croaker, and tried to burn my face with a cigarette. We got into an argument, the cat got scared, and that’s how it scratched her face.”
Fu Jinglan’s brow suddenly furrowed.
Beneath Shen Lingxi’s knees, the white snow was stained with faint traces of blood.
To bully his little rabbit like this.
Very well.
Fu Jinglan turned his head, his profile sharp as he stared at Jiang Qingyan.
His dark eyes reflected the snow, chillingly cold.
“Miss Jiang’s cat is quite troublesome.”
His next words were directed at Mu Suizhou. “Secretary-General Mu, have that beast killed.”
“From now on, no cats are allowed in the Lu Manor.”
Some people speak in a calm tone, yet their presence alone is suffocating.
“That’s not what happened.”
Jiang Qingyan’s eyes flashed with panic as she quickly tried to flatter Fu Jinglan by reaching for his arm.
“Don’t touch me.”
Fu Jinglan raised his arm, casually brushing the snow off his shoulder.
“Secretary-General Mu, how are you holding the umbrella?”
“My mistake.”
Mu Suizhou shifted the umbrella away.
But he moved it entirely over Shen Lingxi’s head, leaving Fu Jinglan exposed to the snow.
Just so he wouldn’t have enough snow on his shoulder to brush off.
Jiang Qingyan, unable to grab his arm, had no choice but to stand beside Fu Jinglan.
Feigning grievance, she said, “Governor, this girl is incredibly strong. She held me down and slapped me several times.”
Shen Lingxi naturally had to clear her name.
With snow-drenched lashes trembling, she reached out and tugged at the hem of Fu Jinglan’s trousers.
“Governor, I swear I only slapped her twice, or else may I suffer retribution—may my husband be impotent for life.”
Fu Jinglan’s expression darkened further.
What did that have to do with her husband?
“Shen Lingxi, if you have reason, state it; if there’s a matter, address it. No mentioning irrelevant people.”
Jiang Qingyan was nudged again by Pangpang and quickly chimed in:
“Governor, you must stand up for me, wuwu.”
Fu Jinglan acted as if he hadn’t heard.
Instead, he bent down, the hem of his coat dipping into the accumulated snow.
His large hand brushed the snowflakes from Shen Lingxi’s head with such tenderness.
“Jiang Qingyan, I’ll stand up for you,” Fu Jinglan glanced back, “but who will stand up for my little friend, hmm?”
Fu Jinglan’s voice grated like snow, carrying a gritty, deep quality.
“The one kneeling here is barely twenty in nominal age, precisely only nineteen years old.”
“Shen Lingxi is still young. I won’t allow anyone to bully or slander her.”
“Even if she committed a grave offense and deserves punishment, they must first ask whether I permit it.”
“But—” Jiang Qingyan tried to speak again, only to be cut off by a sharp, piercing cry from a cat that tore through the sky.
Instantly, the entire Lu Manor seemed shrouded in heavier snow and colder winds.
Jiang Qingyan’s fingers trembled, her expression frozen, unable to utter another word.
Shen Lingxi was also startled.
Fu Jinglan lowered his gaze again and patted the top of her head.
“Won’t get up unless I help you? Enjoying kneeling?”
Then, Fu Jinglan slid his hands under Shen Lingxi’s armpits, gently attempting to lift her.
He kept his head bowed, his profile close to Shen Lingxi’s ear.
His breath was warm as he spoke, mingled with a cool, refreshing fragrance.
“Shen Lingxi, from the moment you resigned yourself and bent your knees, you deserved to kneel.”
She needed to taste the bitterness of being bullied and not daring to fight back, so she would remember next time.
“But if kneeling for just this short while is too much, you’ll have a hard time ahead.”
Amid the biting frost and snow, Fu Jinglan’s voice was low and magnetic.
Possessing a fatal allure.
Shen Lingxi’s ears, likely frozen, suddenly felt hot and numb.
Damn it.
The turbulent scene from the tablet suddenly flashed into her mind—kneeling.
Shen Lingxi bit her lip, her voice faint and weak.
“Governor, you said I’m still young, and no one is allowed to bully me. You… you can’t bully me either.”
Fu Jinglan let out a silent chuckle by her ear.
His thin lips brushed ever so lightly against Shen Lingxi’s earlobe.
“Young? But aside from your age, nothing about you is small.”
“Shen Lingxi, I have no interest in raising someone for free.”
“You know better than anyone who you should be to me and what you should do with me.”
Shen Lingxi knew that Fu Jinglan’s year of meals wouldn’t come so easily.
He would sleep with her sooner or later.
Seeing Fu Jinglan about to lift her, Shen Lingxi wrapped her arms around his neck and nestled her snow-dusted head against the crook of his neck, nuzzling softly.
She wouldn’t withhold the gratitude she owed.
Shen Lingxi whispered softly, “Thank you for protecting me… d—^^y.”
But the next moment, her feet touched the ground.
Fu Jinglan turned his head, his long fingers wiping away the melted snow from his neck, first murmuring:
“Little bunny, no calling me that in front of outsiders.”
Then, “I said I wouldn’t carry you. Your injuries have displeased me. Walk on your own.”
Shen Lingxi’s expression froze, her eyes fixed intently on Fu Jinglan’s lips.
Beautiful yet heartless, every word from those lips was colder than 36 degrees.
She wondered how much it would hurt to suck on them.
Fu Jinglan paid no further attention to Shen Lingxi, stepping calmly to stand before Pangpang.
He asked her with apparent calm, “Do you enjoy good food?”
Never before had someone so strikingly authoritative spoken to her. Pangpang’s ears flushed crimson instantly, burning like fire.
She dared not meet Fu Jinglan’s deep, captivating eyes.
Instead, she fluttered her lashes frantically, her gaze fixed on his broad chest.
Nodding vigorously, she replied, “Yes! I love it!”
“Excellent.” A cold, crisp fragrance emanated from Fu Jinglan, mingling with Pangpang’s hurried breaths.
“From this moment on, you are forbidden to eat a single bite or drink a single sip until you starve to death.”
With that, Fu Jinglan turned sharply and strode toward the villa.