“So it was you.”

A handsome young man walked out of the bamboo grove. He also wore an ivory-white long brocade robe with silver thread trim, which, compared to the pure white little rice ball, looked extremely elegant and slender on him.

He stopped in front of Shen Miao, looking down at her from his height, his gaze filled with inquiry.

This young man was extremely tall; Shen Miao barely reached his chest. As if looking at a small child, the corner of his mouth habitually curled into a mischievous smile, but because of his handsome face, it wasn’t at all displeasing. If it had been an ordinary young girl, she might have had a racing heart and flushed face by now.

However, Shen Miao was certainly not truly in the flower of her youth. She glanced at him without saying a word.

The young man smiled, and somehow a delicate short knife had appeared in his hand. He pointed the sheathed end toward himself and used the hilt to lift Shen Miao’s chin, forcing her to look up.

Shen Miao had no choice but to look at him.

The young man was about sixteen or seventeen years old, with sword-like eyebrows and star-bright eyes. His eyes seemed to contain autumn waters, and his half-smiling expression was very captivating. Yet deep in his gaze was a coldness—those were sharp eyes that could almost see into one’s heart. Such a person, no matter how carefree his exterior might appear, probably had a heart as difficult to penetrate as a block of ice.

She took a deep breath, stepped back, letting the knife’s hilt leave her chin, and said politely: “Young Marquis Xie.”

Xie Jingxing laughed and said in an ambiguous tone: “You know me?”

“Everyone in the capital knows Young Marquis Xie’s name,” Shen Miao said calmly. These words seemed to carry a hint of sarcasm, but coming from her, they sounded extraordinarily proper, making it impossible to discern her tone.

“I don’t know you,” Xie Jingxing glanced at her, then at the trembling rice ball on the ground. “It was you who had Su Minglang deliver a message to the Su family.”

“Deliver a message?” Shen Miao looked at him, suddenly smiling slightly. “I merely taught him a way to avoid his father’s scolding, just to divert attention. How does that amount to delivering a message? The Young Marquis is overthinking.”

“Overthinking?” The young man savored the words playfully, then suddenly moved closer, almost forcing Shen Miao back against the huge tree trunk behind her. His expression was ambiguous, but his tone was quite clear: “If I hadn’t thought more deeply, I would have been deceived by you.”

Shen Miao frowned.

Although Ming Qi was not overly strict about interactions between men and women, such behavior between unmarried young people in broad daylight was truly lacking in propriety. Especially outside Guangwen Hall, which was filled with the children of nobles—if someone saw them. She didn’t mind ruining her reputation, but she feared that Shen Xin would be disgraced because of her. In her previous life, the Shen family was destroyed because of her, and only then did she understand her parents’ good intentions. In this second life, she would protect the family—how could she allow others to speak ill of the Shen family? Especially if it was because of her.

Thinking of this, Shen Miao became somewhat impatient and said: “Young Marquis Xie, what exactly do you want with this accusation?”

Xie Jingxing stared at the young girl before him.

He had always had an extremely keen intuition about everything. From the surface alone, he could detect the undercurrents. This was something he had developed over more than a decade of life—having killed on the battlefield, navigated the treacherous struggles beneath Dingjing’s surface, and survived plots from those with malicious intentions in the inner quarters. He had not grown to his current age so arrogantly solely due to luck. Among the many noble children of Ming Qi, those who were no longer in this world for various reasons had never been few.

He would never take anything lightly.

Su Minglang’s words—Su Mingfeng wouldn’t have associated them with anything else, and Old Master Su also thought it was just his son’s inadvertent reminder. But to him, it was different. The timing was too perfect, and true coincidences in the world were too rare. Many apparent coincidences were deliberate.

He could determine that someone had instigated Su Minglang to say these words, but what the purpose was remained unknown.

He planned to meet this person.

However, when he met this person, it surprised him greatly.

Xie Jingxing had originally thought that someone who could speak such meaningful words, and was from Guangwen Hall, must be the son of some court official or a youth about to enter official service. Perhaps to win over the Su family, or perhaps as a strategic move. But when he saw this person, he almost thought Su Minglang was deliberately misbehaving. Only when the young girl called out to Su Minglang did he confirm that he was right.

The girl before him was not tall, barely reaching his chest. Her face could not be called beautiful, at most cute. She looked to be only eleven or twelve years old, with her hair in a double bun. Her face was round, her eyes were round, and her lips were small. Standing there, she was like a little deer lost in the forest. Yet she stood straight and dignified, speaking each word slowly, as if she were a matron trained in the palace. Could it be that she wanted to become the empress? If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Xie Jingxing might have choked on his saliva.

Looking her up and down, left and right, she was just a young girl.

Until after he had spoken with her for a few sentences.

Her face was childish, but her tone was steady. Not only did she not show any panic, but she seemed somewhat impatient. For Young Marquis Xie, this was a first. Other girls, seeing him approach like this, would have already blushed with embarrassment, but her expression was bland, truly uninteresting.

Perhaps she was too young and didn’t understand anything. But then why did she understand how to speak to the Su family?

He placed one hand on the tree trunk behind Shen Miao, almost encircling her in his embrace from an outside perspective. Xie Jingxing lowered his head, getting very close to Shen Miao.

“You’re not afraid of me.”

“The Young Marquis is not a man-eating monster; what is there to be afraid of?” Shen Miao said calmly. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll return to the classroom now.” With that, she made to leave.

“Stop.” Xie Jingxing raised his hand, and Shen Miao’s hair brushed past his palm, causing an itchy sensation like ants crawling. He withdrew his hand, stepped back, and leaned against the tree, folding his arms across his chest, returning to his previous carefree demeanor.

“What was your purpose in warning the Su family?”

His words were as sharp as his gaze, never concealing their piercing directness, yet containing infinite deeper meaning.

Shen Miao sighed inwardly.

Xie Jingxing was even smarter than she had imagined. From Su Minglang’s one sentence, he could track her down. And having found her, he could ask about her purpose. In her previous life, she had only known him to be a man of great vision, but now she saw that he was also a person of penetrating insight.

How does one hide one’s true intentions when dealing with a clever person? Unfortunately, she had never wanted to hide.

“Nothing special, just self-preservation.”

After saying these words, she gave Xie Jingxing a slight curtsy, ignoring everything else, and turned to leave.

Six words—Xie Jingxing would understand.

Behind her, the young man curled his lips into a smile, playing with the short knife in his hand.

“Su Minglang, what is her name?”