Chapter 22: Guilty

Ms. Fang had been used to Eldest Uncle trying to appease everyone in the past. She simply snorted and felt nothing inside her heart. She was worried that Qiao Xuan would get bullied again, so she said to her son, “Yunduan, take your wife back to the room. I will tell you when it is time for dinner.”

Shao Yunduan also did not have any interest in hearing them babbling any further, so he nodded. “Okay.”

Ms. Ma did not seem happy about this. She let out a fake smile. “Sister-in-law, you love your daughter-in-law, and don’t want her to do anything…”

Ms. Fang threw a superior look at her. “My son is a Cultivated Talent, and soon he is going to take the village examination. He needs someone to take care of him!”

Ms. Ma thought of how her own son failed the imperial examination that he had attended with Shao Yunduan. She became angry and glared at her.

Both Third Uncle and Sixth Son were not looking good either after hearing this.

Ms. Fang did not care about how they felt. She turned around and went into the kitchen.

Shao Yunduan and Qiao Xuan went back to the room as well.

The door closed and Qiao Xuan let out a sigh of relief.

It was quiet in the room. Shao Yunduan looked at her and felt that he should say something. So he thought for a while and asked her. “You… are you okay?”

Qiao Xuan threw a look back at him and smiled. “I am okay!”

Okay…

Shao Yunduan had no idea how to respond to it…

He did not know what to say next.

“Okay, good that you are okay!” He paused and added. “They are always like this. You can just… stay away from them. Don’t take what they say to your heart. If they go over the top, tell me or Mom.”

Shao Yunduan told her all this and gave a complicated look to Qiao Xuan. It was really a difficult situation for her right now…

Qiao Xuan saw how he was behaving and burst out into laughter. She looked at him with her head tilted and teased him. “You are feeling a little guilty?”

Shao Yunduan was startled. He responded in a small voice as he moved away his gaze in an awkward way. “I didn’t expect that they were going to behave like this. Anyway, stay away from them.”

Qiao Xuan let out an even deeper smile. “You are worried that I will be bullied?”

It was a question, but Shao Yunduan seemed to feel that she was saying that she was not at all scared and that she did not care about his concern!

He felt a bit angry inside his heart, and he was about to reply when Qiao Xuan nodded and said, “Yes, you are right. I will stay away from them.”

In fact, she had no interest in those people. As long as they did not come to her causing trouble, she would not care about what they were doing.

Teasing this man in front of her was a lot of fun!

So, she turned to him and said with a look of sincerity and expectation, “If you are feeling guilty, how do you think that you should compensate me?!”

Shao Yunduan. “…”

He felt as if he had been trapped by her. But he wasn’t sure about it.

The feeling of being both trapped and helpless in front of her arose inside him again!

He answered in a muffled voice, when facing her gaze and this hard question. “What do you want?”

Qiao Xuan chuckled inwardly, thinking that this man was really so much fun!

She inclined her head and thought for a while, smiling. “What about taking me to the mountains tomorrow!”

“To the mountains?!” Shao Yunduan was startled.

Her answer was beyond his expectation. She was the daughter of the County Magistrate. What was she going to do in the mountains? He could not help but get curious. “What are you going to do there?”

“Take a walk!”

Shao Yunduan. “…”

He felt as if he had become an idiot!