What did she remember? Shen Mingzhu instinctively wanted to play dumb, but unexpectedly, the man in front of her just looked at her half - smiling, giving her no chance to escape. So she instinctively looked back at him, her eyes involuntarily tinged with a touch of indescribable shyness.
"Still can't remember?" Xie Lang leaned forward slightly, looking at her with a faint smile in his eyes. He continued, "Or are you just pretending not to remember?"
As he said this, he moved closer to Shen Mingzhu, his eyes burning with intensity. He reached out to tuck the loose hair from her temples behind her ear, then stared at her without blinking, waiting for her answer.
[Hahaha, Shen Mingzhu must have remembered, but she's still pretending not to know.]
[Tsk, this time we mustn't let her get away with it!]
A warm sensation brushed against her earlobe, as if a little animal's tail had gently caressed it. His fingertips were warm and soft. He patiently tucked her loose hair away, and inadvertently grazed her earlobe, sending a tingling sensation through her body.
Shen Mingzhu instinctively wanted to dodge, but suddenly remembered that she didn't want to show any sign of timidity in front of this man. So she continued, "I don't remember."
"You're so stubborn." Xie Lang raised his eyebrows, a look of 'I knew it' in his eyes. Then seeing the tips of her ears turn slightly red, he couldn't help but let out a soft laugh.
Shen Mingzhu was annoyed by his laughter. Finally, she glared at him angrily with wide - open eyes. Then, like a complaining child, she turned her head away and averted her gaze.
How embarrassing... Shen Mingzhu suddenly realized how ambiguous the action of constantly tousling Xie Lang's hair to hear his thoughts was. It was even more bewildering than interlocking fingers. The touch of fingertips on her ears and face brought back the memories of last night's flirting.
She instinctively avoided his gaze, only to feel that the originally spacious carriage had suddenly become cramped and even a bit stuffy, squeezing the two of them tightly together. The jasmine fragrance on Xie Lang's body filled her nostrils.
Shen Mingzhu shifted uneasily to the side, but Xie Lang shifted with her. Their thighs were pressed together. Even through the not - so - thick fabric, it felt as if they were clinging to each other.
Suddenly, she felt parched. Just then, she heard the rustling sound of fabric rubbing against each other. She turned to look and saw Xie Lang, who had been sitting beside her, suddenly stand up and then crouch in front of her, a faint smile in his eyes.
"You..." Shen Mingzhu didn't understand what Xie Lang was up to. At this moment, she looked down at him.
Xie Lang had a well - defined and smoothly contoured face. In the dimly lit carriage, his features carried an indescribable beauty.
Looking at her, he tilted his head slightly, took Shen Mingzhu's hand, and intertwined their fingers. Then he said naturally, "Let me warm your hand. It's so cold."
Hearing this, Shen Mingzhu was slightly stunned. She said to Xie Lang, "Why are you crouching? Isn't it uncomfortable?"
"If you just want to hold my hand, you can sit. You don't have to crouch."
A faint smile appeared on Xie Lang's face. Looking at the confusion and a hint of uneasiness in Shen Mingzhu's eyes, he said, "But you don't want to look at me, so I have to crouch in front of you."
Shen Mingzhu was stunned, caught in an indescribable mood. When she met his gaze, she felt that this was no longer a cramped carriage, but some other place, with a hint of ambiguity floating in the air around them.
"Ouch!" The carriage wheel ran over a small stone. Shen Mingzhu watched in disbelief as Xie Lang, who had been raising his eyebrows at her just a moment ago, suddenly fell onto her lap, and his chin hit her leg.
Shen Mingzhu couldn't help but let out a muffled groan, then exclaimed, "Xie Lang! Be gentle! Get up quickly! It hurts so much!"
Suddenly, it became completely quiet both inside and outside the carriage.
"Slow down," Chun Tao whispered to the coachman. "Drive back slowly and take a less - crowded road."
"… Yes."
Coming back to her senses, Shen Mingzhu realized that her words just now might have been too ambiguous, so Chun Tao and the servants outside had all misunderstood.
Ah— Shen Mingzhu's face instantly turned bright red. She stammered, trying to explain, but finally swallowed her words back in the face of Xie Lang's smiling face. She looked at the man in front of her, extremely aggrieved, and silently screamed in her heart.
How could this happen! Xie Lang was propping himself on her lap with a very light force, but they were extremely close.
Shen Mingzhu instinctively wanted to push him away, but was worried that if she got up, she would knock Xie Lang backward. So she could only whisper sharply, "Get up quickly!"
Seeing the shyness in Shen Mingzhu's eyes that could no longer be concealed, Xie Lang couldn't help but let out a soft laugh. Raising his eyebrows, he looked at her and said, "Your Highness, why are you suddenly so shy? I just suddenly remembered what happened the first time we met in a carriage."
What happened? Shen Mingzhu couldn't even remember for a moment. When she came back to her senses, her already red face became even redder, as if it had touched fuel. She was steaming all over and didn't dare to look at Xie Lang.
Wasn't it the time when she took Xie Lang back to the Xie Mansion? The carriage jolted, and she accidentally pressed on... there!
Seeing that Shen Mingzhu was so shy that she wanted to bury herself, Xie Lang couldn't help but burst out laughing. He took a small step back, stood up, sat beside her, and placed her hand on his own.
Seeing that Shen Mingzhu was silent, Xie Lang played with her hand, rubbing her knuckles. He looked at her hand very seriously, with a barely - contained smile in his eyes.
When the carriage arrived at their residence, Shen Mingzhu jumped out of the carriage without saying a word and rushed into the mansion in a hurry.
Chun Tao was startled by Shen Mingzhu. Seeing her rushing in a hurry, she instinctively looked into the carriage and saw Xie Lang lift the curtain, get up slowly, and then slowly catch up with Shen Mingzhu.
"Knock, knock, knock." Xie Lang knocked on the door and said to the person inside, "Open the door. I'm coming in to change my clothes."
Shen Mingzhu's voice came, muffled as if she was under the covers. "No. You have other rooms. You're not allowed to come in."
Hearing this, Xie Lang frowned and said to Shen Mingzhu, "Oh."
"But I don't want to change clothes. I just want to see you."
"You're the only Shen Mingzhu here. If I leave now, where else can I see you?"
Shen Mingzhu had buried her head under the covers, gradually calming the rapid beating of her heart. But the moment she heard these words, her heart that had just calmed down started beating wildly again.
She was stunned and motionless, her thoughts in a mess. For a moment, she didn't know what to do, so she just wanted to suffocate herself under the covers in an evasive manner.
"Not going to open the door?" Xie Lang's voice came again, a bit deep. "Then I'll leave first?"
Then, he seemed to knock on the door one last time. After a moment's pause, he turned around and left.