Fu Miaoxue said: “Come on, open up — ah——”

Du Lai: “……”

He rubbed his now-clean-shaven chin and looked at Fu Miaoxue with an expression that defied description. “Everyone’s gone. You can drop the act.”

Fu Miaoxue blinked, all innocence. “Act? There’s no act. I genuinely want to feed you~”

Du Lai frowned slightly. “Alright — I just came to check on you. Since you’re clearly doing fine, I’ll find a way to leave in a few days.”

“You’re leaving?” Fu Miaoxue immediately objected. She set down the steak plate and glared at Du Lai through the cage bars. “No! You have to stay and keep me company — or else take me with you!”

“Take you with me?” Du Lai was thoroughly exasperated. “Miss, I may steal all kinds of things, but I’ve never stolen people.”

Fu Miaoxue crossed her arms, tilted her chin up defiantly. “I don’t care. If you won’t take me with you, then you won’t be going anywhere either!”

Du Lai rubbed his forehead. “If I actually took you away, your grandfather would skin me alive!”

At that, Fu Miaoxue’s eyes lit up, and a smile returned to her face. “So — if there were no grandfather, you’d actually be willing to take me with you, right?”

Du Lai: “……”

“Tell me! Are you willing or not?” Fu Miaoxue pressed.

Du Lai pulled at the corner of his mouth, his tone perfunctory. “…Willing.”

Fu Miaoxue let out a smug little hum. “You obviously like me — and you’ve finally admitted it. Hmph~”

Du Lai’s feelings were complicated. He didn’t know what to say.

Did he like Fu Miaoxue? …He really didn’t want to admit it. But if he didn’t like her, why would he have thrown tens of millions into sneaking onto the estate, and now be on the verge of losing his head altogether by thinking about taking her out of here?

“Out of here… that’s impossible.” Du Lai furrowed his brow and said quietly, “I’m a gardener right now — I can leave on days off. But your status is far too conspicuous. You come and go with so many bodyguards that even if you got out, you’d be dragged back quickly.”

Fu Miaoxue gave a haughty little sniff. “As long as you’re willing to take me out, I have a way.”

Du Lai looked at her skeptically. “What way could you possibly have?”

“Just say whether you’re willing~” Fu Miaoxue raised her chin and looked at him sideways, tilting her head. “If you’re willing, beg me. Say to me: I love you, I can’t leave you, without you I might as well not be alive, I’ll be with you forever and never part again.”

Du Lai: “……”

Fu Miaoxue: “……”

A while passed. Du Lai said nothing. Fu Miaoxue’s eyes slowly went red; she turned her head away with supreme haughtiness. “Fine. Forget it.”

She turned and walked toward the door.

“Hey…” Du Lai rubbed his temple. “Come back.”

Fu Miaoxue stopped in her tracks, still awkward and prickly, not turning around — just presenting the back of her head to the golden cage. “Why are you calling me back~”

Du Lai pressed his lips together, closed his eyes. “I… I… I lo——”

Fu Miaoxue perked her ears up to listen.

After a very long wait and still just the word “I,” she lost patience and spun around to glare at him. “I what?! Are you going to say it or not?!”

Du Lai was starting to feel a flash of irritation himself, and the words burst out: “This is so embarrassingly sappy, how am I supposed to get it out?!”

Fu Miaoxue was furious. “What’s sappy about it?! What is sappy about it?!”

Du Lai shoved his hands through his hair, and then in a fit of reckless abandon, let it all out: “Fine! I admit I like you — I love you, are you satisfied?! Ever since I got out of the hospital I’ve been thinking about you nonstop, but I didn’t dare ask about you! Didn’t dare look for you! Your grandfather’s reach is so wide, I could barely run fast enough with my whole family in tow — where would I find the guts to be in a relationship?! But I still came! I don’t know what came over me — I don’t know what I’ll be able to do once I’m here — but I came anyway! Are you going with me or not — just give me an answer! Stop wrestling with me over whether it’s love or not! This isn’t a TV drama!”

Fu Miaoxue: “……”

Now Du Lai was the one pressing her: “Young Mistress, can I at least get a reaction?!”

Fu Miaoxue pursed her lips and muttered: “Who confesses their feelings by shouting… you’re so gruff…”

Du Lai: “……”

—