Chapter 24: Can Ninth Master Dish Out PDA Too?

Yun Manxia noticed the Old Madam studying her, but she paid it no mind. She let the older woman look as much as she pleased before turning toward Xiaomei, who had collapsed onto the floor.

Without thinking, Yun Manxia tugged on Bai Hedu’s sleeve again.

“What should we do with Xiaomei?”

Bai Hedu’s gaze paused on her hand.

Against the dark fabric of his shirt, her fair, slender fingers looked especially striking. For one brief moment, he felt the urge to turn his hand over and capture hers in his palm.

His large, well-defined hand moved slightly, but he forced the impulse back down.

His deep voice carried a trace of indulgence.

“What do you want to do?”

Yun Manxia failed to notice the brief change in him. The moment he asked, she immediately began airing her grievances.

“I already gave her a chance yesterday. I told her that if she did it again, simply being thrown out of Yujing Garden would be the least of her worries. But she didn’t take my warning seriously. She even dared to destroy something Grandma gave you and then tried to frame me for it. What she did was completely unacceptable!”

“Mm,” Bai Hedu replied.

“I don’t think throwing her out of Yujing Garden is enough. We should hand her over to the police and let the law deal with her!”

Even elementary school students knew that when there was trouble, they should call the police!

“All right,” Bai Hedu said.

“Huh?”

Why had he agreed so readily?

Yun Manxia turned to him in confusion. “Did you hear what I said, Honey?”

Why did he seem distracted?

Bai Hedu finally pulled his gaze away from her pale fingers. His handsome, sharply defined face remained perfectly composed.

“There’s nothing wrong with your decision. We’ll do exactly as you said.”

“Ninth Master! I know I was wrong!”

All the strength instantly drained from Xiaomei’s body. This time, she truly burst into miserable sobs.

The jade statue of Guanyin had clearly been extremely expensive. How could she ever afford to compensate them for it?

Was Yun Manxia really trying to send her to prison?

Bai Hedu frowned, visibly displeased.

Lin Shen knew the noise was getting on his nerves and immediately gestured to the guards.

Several people stepped forward and dragged Xiaomei away.

Only then did Bai Hedu turn to the Old Madam and ask gently, “Grandma, why did you suddenly come over?”

Yun Manxia’s expression shifted slightly. She also found the timing suspicious.

The Old Madam had sent someone else to deliver the jade Guanyin, which meant she had not originally intended to visit. Yet she had suddenly appeared at the exact moment Xiaomei accused Yun Manxia.

The timing was far too convenient.

The Old Madam held Wu Xiaoya’s hand affectionately.

“Xiaoya came to see me earlier and told me about your condition. I was worried, so I decided to come and check on you.”

Wu Xiaoya?

Yun Manxia looked over, feeling that everything had fallen into place.

She had been wondering where Xiaomei found the courage to destroy the jade Guanyin the Old Madam had given Bai Hedu. Yun Manxia refused to believe Wu Xiaoya had nothing to do with it.

While she was considering this, the Old Madam suddenly turned her attention toward her.

“You must be the young lady from the Yun family. You’re quite beautiful.”

Her voice carried a trace of surprise.

When she first brought up the Yun family’s verbal marriage agreement, she had merely been grasping at straws. At the time, she had thought that Gu Wanyin’s daughter could not possibly be too bad.

However, it had not taken long for her to investigate Yun Manxia.

The girl was supposedly nothing like her mother.

Poor grades could be blamed on a lack of talent, but skipping school every day was an issue of attitude. Yun Manxia barely attended classes and only appeared during exams.

Worse, she was apparently not even clever enough to hide her misconduct. Despite never studying, she somehow ranked first in her grade every time, as though she were afraid no one would realize she had cheated.

Fortunately, her accomplished and well-behaved stepsister always pleaded on her behalf, preventing the school from punishing her.

Then the Old Madam had seen photographs of the way Yun Manxia dressed for formal events and had nearly fainted from shock.

She had immediately regretted bringing up the engagement and planned to inform the Yun family that they no longer needed to honor it.

Who would have thought Yun Hong would move so quickly and send his daughter over before she had the chance?

During yesterday’s phone call, however, her grandson had sounded as though he had a favorable impression of the girl. The Old Madam had been so astonished that she began to wonder whether her Little Nine’s taste was simply different from everyone else’s.

Perhaps that was why none of the previous women had caught his eye.

She had already decided to visit and see the girl for herself. When Wu Xiaoya came to speak to her today, she simply used it as an excuse to come to Yujing Garden.

Yet the Yun Manxia standing before her was nothing like the girl she had imagined.

She was clever, lively, and stunningly beautiful.

She even dared to act spoiled around Little Nine!

Yun Manxia had no idea how conflicted the Old Madam felt. She adopted the polite demeanor expected when speaking to an elder, appearing both sweet and composed.

“Yes, Grandma. My name is Yun Manxia. You can just call me Manxia.”

The Old Madam nodded. After considering her words, she said, “We’ll forget about the past and never mention it again. But from now on, you’re Little Nine’s wife. You must learn how to conduct yourself with the dignity expected of the lady of a prominent family. For instance, you should try to be more forgiving.”

Yun Manxia froze.

A secret smile tugged at Wu Xiaoya’s lips when she heard the reprimand.

“Take what happened with Xiaomei,” the Old Madam continued. “You weren’t wrong to punish her today. But yesterday, all she did was take a few flowers from you. If they had been fresh, that would have been one thing, but she said they had already been sitting there for days and were about to wilt. Even if she hadn’t taken them, you would have thrown them away. Docking several months of her bonus over something like that was a little excessive.”

Yun Manxia opened her mouth to answer.

Before she could speak, the hand she had unconsciously rested on the armrest was briefly covered by his.

Bai Hedu’s palm was broad enough to envelop her entire hand. The touch was comforting, silently telling her to let him handle it.

Her skin felt as though it had been scorched.

In an instant, every trace of grievance in Yun Manxia’s heart vanished.

In fact, she even felt a little disappointed.

Staring at Bai Hedu’s divinely handsome profile, she thought resentfully, Why did he let go so quickly?

That didn’t even last a full second, did it?

“Those weren’t ordinary flowers,” Bai Hedu explained on her behalf. “I gave them to her. Xiaxia kept them in her room for days and even turned them into bookmarks so she could preserve them. Having them stolen from her was not a trivial matter.”

The Old Madam was speechless.

He was only offering an explanation, so why did she feel as though she had just been force-fed a mouthful of PDA?

Was her Little Nine even capable of dishing out something like that?

The Old Madam stared at him with a mixture of suspicion and amazement before glancing at Yun Manxia again.

Or had the previous women simply not been pretty enough?

Yun Manxia grew uncomfortable beneath her scrutiny.

“Grandma, is something wrong?”

“Oh, no. It’s nothing.” The Old Madam collected herself. “Since that’s what happened, then Little Nine’s wife handled the matter correctly.”

Yun Manxia fell silent.

Little Nine’s wife?

The title sounded so strange—and embarrassingly intimate.

The tips of her ears grew warm, and she could not resist glancing at Bai Hedu.

The man immediately sensed her gaze. He lifted his eyes, fixing her with his dark, unfathomable stare.

“What is it?”

“N-Nothing!”

The Old Madam did not live at Yujing Garden.

Bai Hedu hated letting his family see him weakened by his illness. Heartbroken for her grandson, the Old Madam respected his wishes and gave him the space he needed, visiting only occasionally.

In the past, she had always arrived weighed down with worry and left in the same state.

This time, however, she departed in exceptionally high spirits.

Even the way she looked at Yun Manxia had become far more affectionate.

Wu Xiaoya was so furious that she nearly ground her teeth to dust. While escorting the Old Madam out, she could not resist whispering another complaint.

“It must have been her whispering things in Ninth Master’s ear. Because of her, Ninth Master even dared to contradict you!”