Engagement Annulled? Now The Husbands Kneel and Beg for Her Favor

On Saturday afternoon, sunlight streamed through the glass, landing on her pale blue skirt.

Jiang Qingli sat in the back seat, watching the scenery speed past the window as the tension in her heart gradually eased.

Ever since her Superpower Level had increased, she was swarmed by media reporters wherever she went, with all sorts of hovering cameras circling nearby.

It wasn’t so bad at the academy, but she’d been tailed by paparazzi several times on her way home.

Jiang Qingli could handle the negative press just fine; what really annoyed her were the paparazzi tailing her car. But there was no getting rid of them, so all she could do was wait for the attention to eventually fade.

Before heading out today, Jiang Qingli had braced herself to be surrounded by a swarm of cameras. After all, afternoon tea with His Majesty the Emperor was a story with more than enough buzz.

But from the moment she left home until now, there hadn’t been a single hovering camera tracking her, no professional camera lenses aimed her way. All the cars on the road seemed normal.

A lucky smile touched Jiang Qingli’s lips, but as her gaze swept across the rearview mirror, she suddenly paused.

She leaned back against the seat, her eyes narrowing slightly. Suddenly, she spoke. ”Yi Nuo.”

At the sound of her voice, the wolf ears on the Gray Wolf Butler’s head suddenly shot up, twitching in the air.

Yi Nuo’s ears burned.

’This behavior is utterly humiliating, and completely unbecoming of a butler.’

He quickly retracted his ears and replied in a prim and proper tone, ”Yes, Miss.”

Fortunately, Jiang Qingli hadn’t noticed his strange reaction. Staring into the rearview mirror, she asked, ”Do you see that black car behind us?”

Yi Nuo’s voice was stiff. ”Miss.”

”That car has been following us this whole time.” Jiang Qingli tapped her knee with her fingertip. ”You noticed a while ago, didn’t you?”

It wasn’t a question.

Yi Nuo pursed his lips. ”I’m sorry, Miss.”

Glancing at the car that was still tailing them, Yi Nuo confessed in a low voice, ”It’s Marshal Xie’s car. Perhaps... we’re just on the same route.”

Jiang Qingli said nothing.

The young butler grew apprehensive, his fingers tightening slightly on the steering wheel.

In truth, Yi Nuo had noticed Xie Youchen’s car following them from the moment they left the Jiang Family’s garage.

But he wasn’t sure if Xie Youchen wanted Jiang Qingli to know.

Most of the time in the past, whenever Yi Nuo received orders to look after or help Jiang Qingli, Xie Youchen would always say calmly, ”Don’t let her know.”

Xie Youchen had cast himself in the role of a guardian.

Xie Youchen would rather his deeds go unknown than risk them becoming a burden to Jiang Qingli.

So, Yi Nuo hadn’t said a word to Jiang Qingli the entire trip.

Perhaps it was out of habit. Or perhaps... he had his own selfish reasons he couldn’t bring himself to admit.

He glanced at the rearview mirror.

After a two-second silence, the girl suddenly said, ”You don’t call him ’Young Master’ anymore.”

After a moment of silence, the car stopped at a red light.

The other car slowly pulled up on their right.

Jiang Qingli turned toward it. She saw her reflection on the glass of her own window, and beside it, the other car’s closed window.

Her finger rested on the button to lower the window. She wanted to press it several times but kept pulling back.

’I want to see him, but I don’t know what I’d say.’

Just the thought of his face made her mind feel like a handful of hot desert sand—scalding and hopelessly blank.

While she hesitated, the light turned green.

Jiang Qingli raised the partition to the back seat. After a moment of internal debate, she pulled out her terminal and quickly typed out a message.

His status quickly changed to ”Typing...” The next few seconds were agonizing. ’Is he using a Superpower?’ Jiang Qingli wondered. ’How else could time be passing this slowly?’

’It’s almost as bad as the minutes Baili Jing was silent after I confessed to him.’

’Wait, why am I thinking about my first love?’

’This is a totally, completely different situation!’

Jiang Qingli was left speechless by her own rambling train of thought.

The vibration of her terminal cut through her thoughts.

Jiang Qingli looked down at the conversation on her terminal.

Jiang Qingli: [I saw you.]

Especially Annoying Person: [Mm.]

’Mm.’?

’What does ’Mm’ mean?’

’What the hell does ’Mm’ mean?!’

’He was typing for so long, I thought he was going to say something important! How could it just be one word!’

Jiang Qingli wrinkled her nose and unhappily typed out: [I. Said. I. Saw. You.]

Again, the ”Typing...” icon appeared. After more than ten seconds, Xie Youchen finally replied: [Are you angry? You could say we’re on the same route.]

Jiang Qingli: ”...”

’The Xie Family estate, the military headquarters, and the Imperial Palace are all in completely different directions. What ’same route’ is he talking about?’

His obvious lie annoyed her, and she called him out on it directly: [So I guess chasing away all those paparazzi was ’on your route’ too?]

’She refused to believe the paparazzi had a sudden crisis of conscience. Xie Youchen must have held a gun to their heads and forced them not to follow her.’

’The way he does things sometimes... he really does act like a supervillain.’

But as soon as she sent the message, Jiang Qingli felt a pang of regret. It made her sound ungrateful after he’d helped her.

Her thumb hovered over the message, about to unsend it, but Xie Youchen’s reply came through before she could.

His reply was instant, as if he’d asked on pure instinct, without a moment of thought—

[Do you want it to be on my route?]

[Ah Li.]

Jiang Qingli’s fingers trembled. The terminal slipped from her grasp, tumbling into the gap beside her seat.

She bent down to retrieve it, and as her arm brushed her cheek, she felt it burning hot.

From her ears to the corners of her mouth, no part of her face was spared.

-

Afternoon tea was scheduled for three o’clock sharp.

Jiang Qingli arrived at the Imperial Palace’s private guest garage at two forty.

Once the car came to a stop, the door opened. A lady-in-waiting, who had been waiting for her, stepped forward with a smile. ”Miss Jiang, this way, please.”

”One moment. I need to have a word with her.”

In her peripheral vision, a tall, slender figure approached.

Jiang Qingli’s fingers went stiff. She felt as if a freezing spell had been cast on her, her body involuntarily locking up.

The lady-in-waiting naturally recognized Xie Youchen and nodded with a smile. ”Of course. I will wait for Miss Jiang at the entrance.”

With that, she took her leave with elegant steps.

The garage was brightly lit. Jiang Qingli could feel him staring at her, and the fingers hanging at her sides unconsciously tightened, twisting themselves into knots.

But he seemed to have no intention of looking away; his gaze remained fixed on her face.

Jiang Qingli had never been good at meeting his eyes. It always made her feel like she’d done something wrong.

Her breathing grew difficult. She took a step back, not knowing what to say, her only thought to put some distance between them.

This time, however, he didn’t acquiesce as he usually would. He suddenly reached out, his hand moving with practiced ease through her hair to cup the back of her neck. He tilted her head up as he lowered his own.

The young man’s stern, handsome face filled her vision. Jiang Qingli’s eyes flew open, her breath catching in her throat. She was almost voiceless, unable to utter a single word of refusal.

All she could do was watch as he drew closer and closer.

Jiang Qingli raised her arm, as if to push him away.

But instead, she obligingly tilted her chin up slightly.

As if in fear, Jiang Qingli squeezed her eyes shut.

The next second, she felt something cool press against her forehead.

The young man’s voice, laced with worry, sounded out:

”Why is your face so hot?”