Comfortable or not?

Xie Zhifei was so angry his temples throbbed with pain.

“Miss Yan’s interests are certainly unique!”

“Of course!”

Yan Sanhe shook off the large hand on her arm and walked down with a cold face.

Thanks to this wastrel, her plan to test the coffin’s comfort had once again come to naught.

“Tangyuan, we’re leaving!”

“Miss Yan!”

Thinking of the troublesome Ji manor affair, Xie Zhifei quickly chased after her, revealing a perfectly calibrated smile.

“The capital is so vast—to run into each other must be fate. Let’s have a meal together!”

“…”

Yan Sanhe looked at him.

Xie Zhifei steeled himself. “There are some things that aren’t appropriate to thank you for openly. If you won’t honor me with your presence for one meal, I…”

Yan Sanhe: “You have something you need from me?”

Xie Zhifei: “…”

Did she really have the ability to predict the future?

Every time, before he could finish speaking, she would guess correctly.

Xie Zhifei simply decided to be frank. “Miss has guessed correctly. There is indeed a matter I’d like to inquire about.”

“Find a place then!”

Xie Zhifei: “…”

He’d originally thought he’d have to waste more breath, yet she agreed so readily?

Third Master Xie thought to himself: This really is uncomfortable!

…

Third Master Xie’s regular venue for treating guests to meals was Spring Breeze Tower.

After the server finished bringing all the dishes, Xie Zhifei glanced up and Zhu Qing and Ding Yi tactfully left.

However, Tangyuan hesitated without moving.

By rights she should leave too, but Miss Yan was after all a young lady, and Third Master was a man. Xie manor rules dictated that males and females past seven years shouldn’t share a table…

“Tangyuan, you go down too!”

Yan Sanhe knew that with outsiders present, this wastrel Xie wouldn’t be able to speak of the matter he’d sought her out for.

“Yes!”

The door closed, leaving a man and woman facing each other.

At first glance, the man was handsome, the woman beautiful—what a fine scene.

Looking more closely…

The light in the man’s eyes conveyed inquiry, while the woman’s eyes conveyed cold rejection that kept people a thousand miles away.

Xie Zhifei picked up his tea cup.

“With this cup, I’ll use tea in place of wine to thank…”

“Get to the point!”

What Yan Sanhe least liked about the Xie family was that they loved to speak in roundabout ways.

Take this wastrel Xie before her—clearly anxious to death inside, yet his face had to maintain a calm and breezy appearance. Everything about him reeked of falseness.

After several confrontations, Xie Zhifei finally understood that this master’s temperament could be summed up in one phrase: if you have business, speak; if not, get lost.

“It’s like this.”

He stopped beating around the bush.

“The old madam of the Ji family’s coffin lid did indeed crack open. I have some connection with the Ji family and want to inquire on their behalf—who is the expert you mentioned? How can we find them?”

“They believe it?”

“Having reached this point, it’s better to believe it exists than believe it doesn’t.”

“What point?”

“Ah?”

“The Ji family’s misfortune—to what point has it reached?”

Xie Zhifei didn’t conceal anything from her. “The great calamity of house confiscation and clan extermination.”

It had been dragged on too long and was already affecting children and grandchildren.

Yan Sanhe sighed inwardly. “I cannot say who the expert is, but I know the name of the intermediary.”

Xie Zhifei: “Who?”

Yan Sanhe: “Someone named Li Buyan.”

“Li Buyan?”

Xie Zhifei habitually offered praise: “What a fine name—you can tell at a glance it’s someone learned.”

Yan Sanhe lowered her gaze.

She felt guilty on Li Buyan’s behalf.

Xie Zhifei: “How do we find this person?”

Yan Sanhe: “After I left Yunnan Prefecture, I never saw this person again.”

Xie Zhifei: “Then where does he live?”

Yan Sanhe thought for a moment. “Yunnan Prefecture, Fugong County.”

Hearing it was Yunnan Prefecture, Xie Zhifei immediately stood up and pulled open the door.

“Go tell the Ji family to go to Fugong County in Yunnan Prefecture and find someone named Li Buyan.”

Ding Yi: “Yes!”

Xie Zhifei: “Tell them speed is essential—don’t delay any further.”

Ding Yi: “Master, rest assured.”

A weight lifted from his heart. The exhaustion from staying up all night digging up graves pressed down on him all at once. Xie Zhifei lazily leaned back in his chair.

“These dishes are quite famous in the capital—you can’t get them in Yunnan Prefecture. Try more.”

Xie Zhifei had no appetite and was too lazy to pick up his chopsticks.

Yan Sanhe ate in silence by herself.

Xie Zhifei was accustomed to this behavior of hers. While sipping warm tea, his gaze occasionally drifted to her, sweeping over once or twice.

After several glances, he suddenly felt something wasn’t quite right.

Whatever he asked, she answered—speaking freely without reservation. But she seemed far too compliant.

Where were this person’s barbs?

“Yan Sanhe.”

Yan Sanhe looked up at him.

Xie Zhifei had originally wanted to ask, “You’re not lying to me about this Li Buyan matter, are you?” The words were already on his tongue when his gaze swept over the dishes she’d set aside on her plate. His eyes widened in shock.

“Why aren’t you eating the mushrooms?”

“Is that not allowed?”

“Why aren’t you eating them?”

Xie Zhifei suddenly jumped up from his chair, his face stern as he demanded.

Yan Sanhe found this strange. “Why should I eat them?”

Xie Zhifei slammed both palms on the table with a “thwack,” leaning forward and staring intently at Yan Sanhe. “When did you start not eating them? Speak!”

“Is Third Master Xie interrogating a criminal?”

Yan Sanhe was angered, her delicate brows rising as she slowly stood up and said coldly, “May I ask what crime I’ve committed?”

Xie Zhifei: “…”

Yan Sanhe: “Tangyuan.”

The door opened and Tangyuan hurried in. “Miss?”

Yan Sanhe: “Go settle the bill.”

Tangyuan: “??”

Wasn’t it agreed that Third Master would treat? How had it changed to Miss Yan paying for her own meal?

“It’s better to pay for yourself.”

Yan Sanhe glanced lightly at wastrel Xie. “What you eat, what you don’t eat—no one dares to criticize you for it.”

Xie Zhifei: “Yan Sanhe, I didn’t mean it that way!”

Yan Sanhe: “Then what did you mean?”

Xie Zhifei was speechless.

A person’s heart lake is unfathomably deep.

What’s exposed on the surface is what others can see; what’s hidden in the depths is what others cannot see, and what one cannot speak of oneself.

Seeing the two at loggerheads, Tangyuan quickly escaped the private room to pay the bill.

The meal could no longer continue. Yan Sanhe walked to the doorway and paused.

“Are children from poor families not qualified to be picky? Not qualified to choose what to eat and what not to eat?”

Xie Zhifei dropped into a chair, supporting his forehead with both hands, his expression seeming pained, seeming regretful.

Zhu Qing outside the door struggled for a while before finally walking up to his master.

“Master acted somewhat excessively today. Usually when Miss Du doesn’t eat something, Master says nothing.”

“Am I talking about that?” Xie Zhifei slapped the table.

Zhu Qing was confused. “If not that matter, then what matter?”

Your master can’t tell you.

Your master can’t tell anyone!

Xie Zhifei sneered coldly. “How many days has it been since the people heading to Yunnan Prefecture departed?”

Though Zhu Qing didn’t understand why Master would suddenly ask this, he still answered seriously, “More than half a month.”

“Then it will be soon!”

Xie Zhifei’s breathing gradually grew heavier, as if suppressing something, though that incomparably handsome face revealed nothing.