Chapter 155 Heartbreak

Chapter 155: Heartbreak

The sun blazed overhead, but the wind felt like knives cutting right into people’s hearts.

Cheng Ge didn’t notice, and seeing that Lin Nanshu didn’t respond, he moved two steps closer, his eyes brimming with sincerity.

“I want to send some silver back home so my father can prepare more betrothal gifts. I can’t let the girl feel wronged…”

Everyone: “…”

The Star Frost on Yun Xunyu’s wrist suddenly lashed out, restlessly tightening its coils around its master’s arm.

Zhou Mingqi slowly set down his teacup, the bottom clinking against the stone table with a spine-tingling crack.

“The Scribe’s daughter?” Zhou Zhan’s chest heaved visibly, his tone sharp. “A sixth-rank official dares to…”

“It’s ninth-rank,” Cheng Ge corrected earnestly. “But her father is about to be promoted to eighth-rank!”

Dead silence filled the courtyard.

Lü Rou silently stepped forward three paces, carefully shielding Cheng Ge at her side.

Cheng Ge looked up at Lin Nanshu, who still wore a troubled expression.

He figured Lin Nanshu was usually generous, so if he wasn’t answering now, he probably didn’t have much silver to spare.

His eyes swept over everyone, wondering who else he could borrow from besides Lin Nanshu.

But after glancing around, why were all their faces so grim?

Cheng Ge picked at a hangnail while his mind raced.

Finally, he came to a reasonable explanation:

These people were after Sister Lü Rou now, so they must see him as their number one rival.

When rivals meet, their eyes burn with hatred. They’d only want to kill each other, not lend each other money.

Convinced he’d figured it all out, Cheng Ge cleared his throat, slowly lifted his chin, and swept his gaze over everyone.

He turned and grabbed Lü Rou’s sleeve. “Sister Lü Rou, please write a letter to Cui Ji for me.

Tell him to withdraw five hundred taels from the accounts for betrothal gifts. When I have silver later, I’ll pay him back with interest!”

Lü Rou was taken aback, looking at him as words caught in her throat. “Young master…”

“Don’t worry,” Cheng Ge patted his chest. “Cui Ji and I are good brothers. He’ll definitely lend it to me.”

Everyone’s faces grew even darker.

The air in the courtyard seemed to freeze, even the leaves on the treetops stopped rustling.

After a long pause—

“I recall I still have some memorials to review,” Zhou Mingqi said, still composed as he rose, his bright yellow robe immaculate.

Zhou Zhan looked at Cheng Ge, his expression unreadable. “I haven’t finished the Grand Tutor’s assignment. I should go back too.”

Zhou Yinyun immediately stood up. “I’ll go too—I happen to be headed the same way as His Highness.”

He moved too quickly, knocking over the teacup with his sleeve, and a thin stream of tea spilled across the stone table.

Cheng Ge: “???”

Damn! The moment I mention borrowing money, they all bolt? So heartless!

Lin Nanshu quietly watched Cheng Ge. Those eyes, usually warm with smiles, now seemed veiled in mist.

His fingers at his side curled slightly, knuckles white, but when Cheng Ge looked over, he subtly relaxed them.

“Yuli?” Cheng Ge sensed his unusual state and gripped his wrist.

Lin Nanshu came back to himself and replied softly, “Hmm, I’m here.”

“Why do you look so awful? Is it from that injury last time…”

He cut himself off as his fingertips met the icy skin of Lin Nanshu’s wrist. The cold made his heart jolt.

Lin Nanshu gently withdrew his hand, his lips curved into a perfect smile.

“It’s nothing,” he said softly, but his voice trailed off with a faint, barely audible hoarseness. “Probably just went to bed a little late last night.”

Sunlight filtered through the tree shadows, dappling Lin Nanshu’s face. Only then did Cheng Ge notice the dark circles under his eyes. His naturally fair skin now seemed almost transparently pale.

In those eyes that were always as warm as jade, it felt like a spiderweb had formed over them.

Lin Nanshu looked away, his long lashes casting a shadow beneath his eyes.

“I don’t have silver on me. I’ll have…” He paused, his Adam’s apple bobbing slightly. “I’ll have Qingwu bring a banknote later.”

Cheng Ge’s heart tightened inexplicably. He had never seen Lin Nanshu like this.

Standing before him now, smiling at the corners of his mouth, but as if all the life had been drained out of him.

“Yuli, are you really okay?” Cheng Ge was worried, feeling he was acting completely out of character.

“Really, I’m fine.” The wind in the courtyard suddenly picked up, swirling fallen leaves and swallowing the rest of his words.

Watching Lin Nanshu’s retreating figure, Cheng Ge felt a tightness in his chest and couldn’t tear his gaze away for a long time.

Just as he was staring after Lin Nanshu, a sudden cold touch brushed the back of his neck, as if something icy had barely grazed him.

He instinctively hunched his neck, and just as he was about to turn around, a whisper came from right beside his ear: “Is my precious unhappy?”

The voice was light and cold, with a hint of seduction.

Warm breath ghosted across his ear, making Cheng Ge shiver all over.

“Holy shit!” Cheng Ge jumped back two steps and turned his head to meet Yun Xunyu’s flirtatious eyes.

The man had somehow already appeared behind him, his long hair loosely tied up with a single hairpin.

A few loose strands falling across his forehead, making his face look even more uncannily beautiful.

Star Frost had somehow slithered up his arm from his wrist.

Its cold body coiled around his wrist, its head nuzzling affectionately against his fingertips.

Cheng Ge was silent for a moment.

He lowered his head to look at the silver snake coiled around his wrist. Star Frost tilted its little head up to look at him, its crimson serpentine eyes looking somewhat ingratiating.

On a whim, Cheng Ge reached out, pinched it by the vital spot, and lifted it up to eye level.

Star Frost offered no resistance; instead, it flicked its forked tongue, waving it lightly in front of his nose.

“Tch.” Cheng Ge wrinkled his nose in disdain, but still touched the tip of his own nose to the forked tongue.