The outside world’s opinion of Lu Beicheng was that he was scheming, cold, unfeeling, and ruthless in his methods.

Qiaoqiao had once analyzed it for her — offend Ninth Master, and the consequences would be severe. Qiaoqiao had even planned ahead: if things ever came down to a last resort, she’d run away together with her.

Truth be told, that girl Qiaoqiao really did care about Zhen Jiu’er with all her heart.

But after spending a few days with Lu Beicheng, Jiu’er found herself wondering — was this Ninth Master of the Lu family a little too easy to get along with?

Perhaps outsiders simply didn’t understand him.

The higher one stood, the colder the wind — and he never gave anyone else the chance to understand him either.

Jiu’er looked at Lu Beicheng. Lu Beicheng looked back at her.

“I did suspect you.” That was the answer he gave her.

Warmth spread through Jiu’er’s chest, and she smiled. “So you don’t suspect me anymore, is that it?”

Lu Beicheng said nothing.

He had no interest in answering meaningless questions.

“Don’t worry, for now I really don’t mean you any harm.”

“For now?” Lu Beicheng raised an eyebrow — those two words carried quite a bit of meaning.

Zhen Jiu’er shrugged and spread her hands. “Of course it’s ‘for now,’ because I have no idea whether Ninth Master might have some scheme against me later.”

“What if—”

“Go on then, tell me — what could you possibly have that would make me want to scheme against you?”

That question from Lu Beicheng caught Zhen Jiu’er off guard, and she found she had no answer.

Fine.

It really did seem like she wasn’t worth Ninth Master Lu scheming over at all.

No money, no background, and no looks or figure to speak of — well, she was actually quite pretty, but a man worth hundreds of billions like Ninth Master must have seen no shortage of beauties.

She really wasn’t anything special.

“Fine, then I really don’t mean you any harm either, Ninth Master. I just want to go see Ying’an City.”

“What you want to see is Beimu City?” That night, that was what she had asked about — Beimu City.

Ordinary people didn’t even know those three words.

A faint, strange light flickered across the depths of Zhen Jiu’er’s eyes; her thin lips parted slightly, as if she wanted to say something, then stopped.

Lu Beicheng withdrew his gaze and decided not to ask further.

He had never been a man of many words.

Jiu’er packed away the mushrooms and hurried after him. “Ninth Master, I don’t want to lie to you, but I…”

“But you don’t want to say it, so I shouldn’t ask — is that it?” It seemed he was starting to get used to the way she spoke.

Zhen Jiu’er’s face flushed, and her voice dropped. “I just don’t know how to explain it. Besides, even if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”

“Why not give it a try?”

A try? Jiu’er stared at his back, suddenly unsure what he meant by that.

Give it a try?

No — something like transmigrating through time, how could he possibly believe that if she told him?

People in ancient times didn’t hold science in such high regard; they might still believe in things like a soul borrowing another body to return to life. But Lu Beicheng was a modern man.

No modern person could possibly accept an explanation like that.

Jiu’er let out a long breath and was just about to catch up to him when a sudden chill swept in from behind her.

“Ninth Master!” Her eyes snapped open, and she threw herself toward Lu Beicheng at top speed. “Watch out!”

Unexpectedly, Lu Beicheng seemed to have sensed something was wrong even before she did, and slapped the armrest of his wheelchair.

The wheelchair instantly spun around.

With a whoosh, a streak of silver light shot past.

But Zhen Jiu’er, moving too fast to stop herself, crashed straight into Lu Beicheng’s lap.

“I didn’t mean—” She hadn’t even finished speaking when Lu Beicheng slapped the armrest again, and the wheelchair carried the two of them swiftly out of the way.

Where they had been standing a moment ago, three small objects struck the ground with a series of soft thuds.