The door in front slowly opened, and Su Mingyu walked out.
She raised an eyebrow and looked at Gu Ruobai. "If you talk like this, will he report you to the emperor?"
"I've never been on good terms with others." Gu Ruobai held his head up proudly. "Otherwise, do you think why so many people would come to take advantage of my misfortune when they heard I was in trouble?"
Su Mingyu pursed her lips. "Learn from the King of Yu. He knows how to get along well with everyone. That's so good."
Saying so, Su Mingyu sat down beside Gu Ruobai, peeled an orange for herself, and said, "Let's go out for a walk. Although I do like a quiet life, I still have Sinnan Pavilion and Wu Wang. I should go and check on them."
Gu Ruobai nodded and stood up, propping himself on the stool. "I haven't been out for a long time. It'll be good to stretch my legs."
When Su Mingyu appeared in Sinnan Pavilion with a veil on her face, Xia Mian and July were both shocked. Especially July, whose eyes turned red with excitement.
"Master! You scared me to death. You just disappeared all of a sudden. We wanted to go looking for you, but we were afraid of being too conspicuous and being recognized. So we could only look for you secretly, but we couldn't find you. We were so worried."
As she spoke, July's eyes suddenly kept scanning back and forth on Gu Ruobai. "Master, why do you have a new lover after just a few days?"
"This won't do. The King of Ruixian may look cold, but he's actually very vicious. If he finds out that you're getting so close to another man behind his back, I'm afraid he'll drown you in the river."
July kept chattering. Su Mingyu rubbed the space between her eyebrows. "I got it. Let's go upstairs and talk."
After all, there were so many people in the shop, and Gu Ruobai wasn't in his wheelchair today. It would be bad if someone with ulterior motives made wild speculations.
The four of them went upstairs. Su Mingyu glared at July. "This person was sent by the King of Ruixian to protect me. His identity is special, so I won't introduce him to you in detail. I'm here today. One is to let you know I'm safe, and the other is to see how July has been learning these days."
After Su Mingyu finished speaking, she turned her gaze to Xia Mian. Xia Mian slightly squinted her eyes. "I think July is almost ready to handle things independently."
"What do you think?" Su Mingyu raised an eyebrow and looked at July. July was quite confident. "Although I'm not very good at drawing the production diagrams of clothes yet, there should be no problem in running the shop."
Hearing this, Su Mingyu nodded. "Okay. Come to the Mansion of the King of Ruixian to find me tomorrow. I have something to tell you."
July didn't ask any more questions. She just nodded. "I got it."
"Alright. You can go down first. I have something to talk to Xia Mian alone." Su Mingyu sent July away, then came in front of Xia Mian and suddenly reached out to lift Xia Mian's face.
Her sudden action startled both July and Xia Mian. Then Gu Ruobai calmly stood aside, smiling as he watched Su Mingyu seriously look at the scars on Xia Mian's face.
"This is already the second box of the ointment, right?" Su Mingyu suddenly asked.
Xia Mian nodded, a bit confused. "My Lady, what's wrong? Are you worried that the ointment will run out?"
Before Su Mingyu could answer, Xia Mian continued. "Actually, Miss Mei Qing left me quite a lot of ointment before she left. It should be enough until the scars disappear."
"I'm just thinking..." Su Mingyu lowered her eyes. "Are you ready?"
Xia Mian was stunned at first, then suddenly shocked. "My Lady, have you found that official from back then?"
Su Mingyu didn't answer. She just looked deeply at Xia Mian. "Have you thought it through? The scars are almost gone. Although I've said to forget the past, if that man tracks you down, are you ready to face him?"
Su Mingyu believed that with Gu Ruobai's ability, he could surely make the man who bullied Xia Mian disappear silently in the capital. But Su Mingyu didn't want to do it this way.
She wanted Xia Mian to completely get out of the shadow of that official.
Xia Mian lowered her head, seemingly thinking very seriously. "I... I hope my face can recover... But I still can't face him."
The memories from back then were too deep, as if engraved in her bones. Xia Mian couldn't just leave them behind.
Su Mingyu understood her difficulties, so she didn't force her. She just said calmly in a measured tone. "The capital isn't small. He should have known you're here for a long time. The reason he hasn't taken action may be because of the scars on your face."
"Xia Mian." Su Mingyu looked at Xia Mian seriously. "I can protect you well, but I don't want such a scumbag to be your shadow for a lifetime."
Saying so, Su Mingyu paused for a while and then said, "Do you understand what I mean?"
"I know..." Xia Mian nodded. She knew that Su Mingyu was always a person who wasn't good at expressing herself but always thought about her.
"Then..." Xia Mian pursed her lips, as if making a great determination. "I'll give it a try, but don't let me be alone with him."
Seeing Xia Mian nod, the expression on Su Mingyu's face softened a lot. "Don't worry. I'll send someone to protect you all the time."
Although Xia Mian was still very scared, she finally gritted her teeth and said yes.
Su Mingyu smiled at her. "Don't be so nervous. If he comes to look for you, I'll definitely know first. You can go down first. I'll check the accounts."
After watching Xia Mian leave, Su Mingyu frowned. "Although I wanted to help Xia Mian take revenge, I didn't expect it to be such a coincidence that that pervert is actually Shi Minglong."
Gu Ruobai, who had been looking at Su Mingyu, also nodded. "Do you want Xia Mian to meet Shi Minglong?"
Su Mingyu frowned. "We'll have to wait. Shi Minglong must be eliminated, but I don't want him to die so comfortably."
"Then it's up to you." Gu Ruobai came beside Su Mingyu, put his arm around her shoulder, and pulled her into his arms. "You have to believe that Xia Mian will get through this."
Sure enough, this person understood her very well.
Su Mingyu squinted her eyes. "Okay."
When the two of them came out of Sinnan Pavilion again, it was almost evening.
Su Mingyu and Gu Ruobai discussed and decided to just eat outside before going back. So they came to a newly opened inn.
After ordering a private room, Su Mingyu took off the veil on her face. "It's been several days, and Leng Ziyue still hasn't come to look for me. What on earth is he thinking?"
"Maybe he really doesn't want to see that person again." Gu Ruobai had never been interested in matters between men and women.
"Do you care a lot?" Gu Ruobai lowered his eyes and looked at Su Mingyu. There was no sign of joy or sorrow in his pair of dark eyes.
Seeing this, Su Mingyu quickly explained. "No, I don't. I'm just curious about who he had such a love affair with that made him retire from the world. Mainly, I want to know who the person collaborating with Shi Minglong is."