Liu Zhiheng hurriedly ran to the courtyard and saw Duan Wujiu standing under the willow tree by the gate. She quickly walked over, stopping at a moderate distance, maintaining a reserved demeanor.
Xie Tinglan observed Liu Zhiheng. In her haste, her casually tied hair bun had become slightly loose, and her flushed cheeks added a touch of innocent charm to her appearance.
Somehow, seeing her like this, Xie Tinglan felt the anger in his heart dissipate a little.
She had rushed out so urgently to find him—surely she still cared about him.
But Liu Zhiheng took a step back, increasing the distance between them, and stood there with her head lowered, appearing perfectly proper and respectful.
Then, as Xie Tinglan looked at her reserved demeanor, that anger flared up again.
“Before, you would always come up and cling to me when you saw me. Now, Miss Heng has become so steady and self-restrained.”
“Huh?” Liu Zhiheng looked at Xie Tinglan speechlessly, her expression innocent. “Didn’t you dislike it when I got too close?”
“I never liked it when you got too close before, but you still did it anyway. Why have you suddenly changed?”
…
The more Liu Zhiheng listened, the more she felt something was off. Did he want her to get close or not?
Seeing Xie Tinglan’s unpredictable expression, Liu Zhiheng decided it was better to be direct. She cut straight to the point and asked, “Young Master Xie, what did you call me out here to say? Can you be more straightforward? You know I’m not clever—I can’t guess your thoughts.”
Liu Zhiheng blinked, thought for a moment, and added, “If you want me to touch you, you can just say so.”
She could consider finding him a woman somewhere, but she herself was unwilling to touch Xie Tinglan.
Because Xie Tinglan always gave her the impression that he might hit women…
Xie Tinglan was almost infuriated by Liu Zhiheng. Was this something a young lady should say? No matter how much she pretended to be reserved, her true nature was hard to change.
But Liu Zhiheng’s words still eased his anger a little.
“Stop talking nonsense. It’s good for a girl to be reserved.”
“Oh…”
Liu Zhiheng nodded numbly, feeling that Xie Tinglan was being utterly unreasonable.
Xie Tinglan cleared his throat again and returned to the main point. “I ask you, is that so-called cousin of yours the reason you suddenly came to your senses?”
“Came to my senses about what?” Liu Zhiheng still didn’t understand what Xie Tinglan was talking about.
“Did you break off the engagement with me because of your cousin? Hmph, I never thought you’d like that pretty-faced type.”
“Of course not. How could you think that?”
Liu Zhiheng answered without hesitation, her expression extremely forthright.
Seeing her so candid, Xie Tinglan’s expression softened slightly. But Liu Zhiheng’s next words reignited his anger.
“When I decided to break off the engagement with you, my cousin hadn’t arrived yet. You saw it yourself—at that time, only my father, my brother, and I were at home. I hadn’t even met him, so how could I break off the engagement because of him?”
Xie Tinglan sneered, “So if you had met your cousin, you would have broken off the engagement for him, is that it?”
Liu Zhiheng was stunned. Was Xie Tinglan deliberately twisting her words?
“Is that what I meant? My decision to break off the engagement with you has nothing to do with anyone else.””Then why do you want to break off the engagement with me?” Xie Tinglan lowered his gaze, staring at Liu Zhiheng as he questioned, “You’ve never told me the reason you don’t want to marry me. Don’t say it’s because you’re afraid of holding me back. To get me, you were even willing to ruin my future. I don’t believe you’ve suddenly changed your nature.”
Liu Zhiheng felt utterly wronged, mainly because those past incidents weren’t her doing in the first place.
She pondered how to explain, but Xie Tinglan spoke first.
Xie Tinglan let out a self-mocking laugh, looking down at Liu Zhiheng with a prideful face that held a stubborn, forced expression.
“Liu Zhiheng, have you had enough of toying with me, is that it? After teasing me for two years like this, you’ve grown tired of me and now want to play with other men? You’re planning to throw yourself at another man, aren’t you?”
Liu Zhiheng: ???
Liu Zhiheng was full of question marks as she looked at Xie Tinglan. Seeing him glaring at her, gritting his teeth, his face flushed with anger, his handsome features tinged with shame and indignation, she was completely bewildered.
What kind of direction was this?
Was he jealous?
Liu Zhiheng thought it over. Based on her understanding of Xie Tinglan’s character after reading the entire story, she could conclude that Xie Tinglan did not love her. In fact, he could be said to be quite ruthless toward her. Aside from their intense physical encounters, there was no emotional connection between them.
Moreover, despite Xie Tinglan having many relationships in his life, he didn’t truly love anyone. Women were merely ornaments on his list of achievements.
So Liu Zhiheng wouldn’t delude herself into thinking Xie Tinglan had fallen in love with her.
Then what was with his jealous-like reaction?
Soon, Liu Zhiheng figured it out. Men, even if they don’t like someone, tend to view any woman who has been associated with them as their possession.
This was possessiveness at play.
He felt she was cheating on him.
…
Liu Zhiheng breathed a sigh of relief and quickly explained, “I never toyed with you in the past. The reason I want to give up the engagement is simple: you don’t like me, so I’m letting go. It’s not as twisted as you think.”
Liu Zhiheng’s expression was open and honest. Seeing her so straightforward made Xie Tinglan feel like he had become the unreasonable, nagging woman.
“And,” Liu Zhiheng continued, “that really is my cousin. His family had some trouble, so he came from Yongzhou to stay for a while. He’ll leave soon and won’t come back.”
Liu Zhiheng wasn’t entirely lying—the Prince of Yan’s residence was indeed in Yongzhou.
Hearing that the cousin would leave, Xie Tinglan’s tightly furrowed brow relaxed slightly. “When is he leaving?”
“He’ll leave when spring comes.”
“You’d better not lie to me,” Xie Tinglan snorted coldly.
Liu Zhiheng patted her chest and said, “We’ve known each other for so many years. Don’t you trust my word? Of course, I’m not lying. You’ll see after the New Year.”
Seeing Xie Tinglan’s expression soften a bit, Liu Zhiheng also relaxed. She didn’t want Xie Tinglan to hold a grudge against her forever.
However, even though she didn’t want to offend Xie Tinglan, breaking off the engagement was still a must.
So, just in case, to prevent Xie Tinglan from suddenly going crazy and developing some idea about her, she decided to add another layer of insurance.
Liu Zhiheng deliberately took a coy, affected step closer to Xie Tinglan, attempting to test and provoke him.
“Young Master Xie, why do you care so much about my cousin? Could it be that you don’t want to break off the engagement anymore and actually want to marry me?”Xie Tinglan choked back his words, looking embarrassed.
Liu Zhiheng put on an exaggerated show of surprise, clasping her hands and swaying dramatically in place as she exclaimed, “Could it be that my sincerity has finally moved you, Young Master Xie? Have you fallen in love with me?”
“Don’t flatter yourself!” Xie Tinglan denied without a second thought, his face filled with anger. “I’ve told you before, as long as you bear the title of my fiancée, you must not embarrass me. Otherwise, do you really think I’d bother with you?”
That’s fine then…
Liu Zhiheng feigned a hurt expression, muttering, “Oh, I see… I’ve overthought things again…”
Seeing her like this, Xie Tinglan softened his tone a little and handed over the basket of charcoal he had been holding for a while.
“Take it. I came to see you today to bring you this charcoal.”
Certainly not to catch you in the act.
Liu Zhiheng took the basket and examined it—it was indeed high-quality charcoal.
Wow, tonight I can cook hotpot with Xuelang in the house!
Seeing Liu Zhiheng’s delighted expression, Xie Tinglan’s expression eased slightly, but he quickly put on a stern face again and warned, “You’d better behave yourself during this time. I’ll have someone keep an eye on you and that so-called cousin of yours. I’ll also have the village head check on your house every few days. You’d better not do anything shameful behind my back.”
With that, Xie Tinglan once again turned and left with a flourish.
Liu Zhiheng watched his retreating figure and couldn’t help but click her tongue.
Tsk tsk, as expected of the male lead—always putting on a show.