Chapter 40: Hiding

She stiffly reached out and took the handkerchief, examining it carefully. It was definitely her handkerchief, the pattern was still the one she had embroidered herself.

Why did Ling Xiao take her handkerchief?

A thought popped into her head, she was becoming more and more confused, more and more coincidences, a pile of clues, suddenly, it all seemed to make sense.

Yao was startled, her face turned pale, she stood there frozen, unable to recover for a while.

“Madam.”

Jian’s voice came, Yao hurriedly took the handkerchief and put it in her sleeve, closing the drawer.

“What is it?” Yao forced herself to stay calm, but she was already flustered.

“Madam, please have some tea, the Marquis will be back soon.” Jian brought the tea over and placed it on the table.

Yao couldn’t wait any longer, she hid her panic: “I have something to do, I’m afraid I can’t wait.”

“Ah?”

She handed Jian two posts: “Please send these two posts to the Marquis, let him decide.”

…

Yao didn’t stay any longer, she hurried away.

Jian scratched his head, looking at the two posts in his hand, he was a little confused.

After Yao left, Jian waited at the front gate of the mansion.

A quarter of an hour later, a horse galloped towards him, the man in black on horseback dismounted gracefully, and walked in.

Jian greeted him: “Marquis, Madam was here just now.”

Ling Xiao’s footsteps paused: “What’s the matter?”

Jian handed him the two posts: “Madam said that these two posts need the Marquis to decide personally. She was going to wait for the Marquis to come back and tell him personally, but she had something urgent and left first.”

Ling Xiao casually took them, he said: “Now, Er…”

“Go to the Xuan Pavilion.”

Ling Xiao snorted: “She’s really in a hurry.”

“She couldn’t even wait for a while.”

“She wants to tell me personally.”

Jian was stunned: “Do you want me to invite her now?”

“Of course.”

Jian immediately responded: “This subordinate will go right away.”

Ling Xiao didn’t go back to his own courtyard, he went directly to the pavilion at the corner of the garden to wait.

This pavilion was a good place to look out into the distance, from here he could see the long corridor leading to the inner courtyard, Jian hurried along the corridor, heading straight for the Xuan Pavilion.

Ling Xiao sat on a stool, he took a carved box made of yellow pear wood from his sleeve, he opened it, and inside lay a string of beads.

They were beautiful blood amber beads, each bead was crystal clear, smooth and delicate, they were a tribute from a vassal state, it was said to be very rare, so he had…

They were the perfect size for her wrist.

Looking at the string of blood amber, the corner of his lips curled up, a hint of warmth leaked from his usually cold eyes.

After a quarter of an hour, Jian hurried back.

Ling Xiao closed the box, he looked up, but he only saw Jian, he frowned slightly.

“Marquis, I went to the Xuan Pavilion just now, Er said that Madam is busy right now, she’s afraid she won’t have time to tell the Marquis personally, she asked the Marquis to decide, these two banquets, or… they just need a decision, then tell Wang Guan Shi.”

“Busy?”

Jian stammered: “Yes, I know, anyway, Er said she was busy, she must be really busy.”

Ling Xiao’s eyes turned cold, “She’s really gotten used to being spoiled, she’s become even more arrogant!”

“She’s too busy to even spare a moment to see me?”

“She just sent a maidservant to deliver a message and dismissed me.”

“This woman always takes advantage of every opportunity, she’ll climb to the top if you give her an inch.”

Seeing that his face was not good, Jian said again, “This subordinate will go and invite her again.”

Ling Xiao took a deep breath, he still hadn’t calmed down, he looked at Jian: “Forget it.”

“She’s busy with her precious shop, I don’t want to bother.”

“Anyway, it’s nothing, these two posts don’t matter, I don’t even want to look at them.”

“As for this string of beads, it’s the same whether I give it to her or not.”

“Let her be this time.”

Ling Xiao picked up the box and got up from the pavilion.

Jian hurriedly picked up the two posts that had been left behind, he chased after him: “Marquis, these two posts…”

“Deal with them.”

Jian: “…”

“He’s making such a casual decision, why does he have to let Madam come and listen personally?”

Yao couldn’t sleep again last night.

She closed her eyes and saw Ling Xiao’s face, which made her tremble, his bottomless black eyes locked onto her, her dreamlike eyes were completely filled with fear, cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

It turned out that all these coincidences weren’t accidental, it turned out that every kiss wasn’t a misunderstanding.

As the truth was revealed, all the doubts that had been piling up in her head were cleared up.

Yao suddenly opened her eyes, she almost screamed.

“How could he, he’s coveting me!”

The next morning.

Ling Xiao went to see Lin Shi as usual, but Yao didn’t come today.

“Madam seems to have overslept, she hasn’t gotten up yet, she said she would come to see Old Madam later.” The maidservant reported.

Lin Shi was worried: “It must be because she’s too busy managing the shop, she’s been so busy lately, this huge Marquis’ mansion doesn’t have anyone to help her manage it, Mother is also very tired.”

Lin Shi naturally knew Yao, she had never been lazy, she had never been late for her morning and evening greetings, she must have overslept today because of something.

Ling Xiao’s eyes darkened slightly, but he didn’t say anything, he just accompanied Lin Shi for breakfast, then he left first.

He was busy today, he would return to the mansion in the evening.

“Where is she?”

The Marquis was used to asking about Madam’s whereabouts, Jian was also always paying attention: “Madam left at noon, she said she was going to the shop, Chi is following her, the Marquis let her go.”

Ling Xiao’s footsteps paused, he suddenly asked: “When did she go to see Old Madam?”

Jian was stunned: “I heard Chi say that the Marquis just left, and Madam went out, it was a coincidence, they just missed each other.”

Ling Xiao’s eyes narrowed slightly, he felt something was wrong, “It’s a little too coincidental.”

“Come back and tell me.”

“Yes.”

It was already this time, she should be back by now.

Jian had specially sent someone to the shop, so he could pass on messages quickly.

Ling Xiao returned to his study, he was inexplicably restless, he suddenly felt something, he pulled open the drawer of the study desk.

The handkerchief was inside, it was still there.

Ling Xiao’s eyes narrowed slightly, he immediately understood.

Half an hour later, Jian hurried over to announce: “Marquis, Madam has returned to the mansion, she should be here in a quarter of an hour.”

Ling Xiao lowered his eyes, he closed the drawer, then he asked: “Did Madam come to the study yesterday to wait?”

“Yes, this subordinate invited Madam to wait here… ” Jian saw that the Marquis’ aura was faintly directed at him, he was also nervous.

“This subordinate thought that it was rare for Madam to come, so I had to entertain her well, so I invited her into the study, I poured her some tea, when I came back, Madam said she had something to do and left first.”

If it were someone else, Jian wouldn’t dare to let them into his master’s study, but after all, it was Madam, it was different.

Ling Xiao didn’t say anything, he just got up from the study and walked towards the front gate of the mansion.

A quarter of an hour later, the carriage hadn’t arrived.

Jian was a little flustered: “She should be here by now, what’s going on…”

Ling Xiao’s expression was indifferent: “If something happens, Chi will send a signal.”

“Why…”

Ling Xiao turned and entered the front gate, he walked towards the east corner gate of the mansion.

“She must be back, she didn’t come through the front gate, she must have come through the back gate.”

The east courtyard was still empty, he had only asked someone to take care of it, this Marquis’ mansion was really big, if she came back from the east corner gate to her courtyard, according to her pace, it would take at least half an hour.

“She’s really patient.”

Ling Xiao walked through the garden, a quarter of an hour later, he arrived at the east courtyard, he looked up and saw Jiang Yao walking towards him along the corridor.

She was walking towards him, her head was lowered, she seemed to be preoccupied, she didn’t notice him until she passed through a bright gate, she looked up, and suddenly saw Ling Xiao right in front of her.

Her pupils contracted, she instinctively took two steps back, then she forced herself to stay calm: “Marquis.”

He raised his foot, his black eyes were filled with emotions, they were only locked on her, his tone was casual: “Hiding?”