Xu Lin shifted on his feet, his body swaying slightly.
He truly hadn’t expected Yang Yao to pay this much attention to him.
“She said I’m bad?”
Xu Lin pointed at himself to confirm.
Jiang Luo didn’t answer. Her resentful eyes looked at Xu Lin, answering in her stead, and conveying her current feelings toward him even more clearly.
“Hiss.”
Xu Lin sucked in a breath.
That woman really wasn’t human. By his own count, he’d saved her twice, and instead of being grateful, she’d swung a sword at him.
And now she was badmouthing him behind his back.
But the crucial part was what Jiang Luo had said afterward—Yang Yao had warned Jiang Luo not to be bewitched or used by him.
That was interesting. Though he didn’t know exactly how much Yang Yao had guessed, she must have vaguely sensed that he intended to use Jiang Luo for something.
“Senior Sister also said she really hates you, and told me to stay away from you too.”
Finally able to speak properly, Jiang Luo stopped sobbing, but she still couldn’t help choking up.
“Senior Sister is the Saintess, and you’re the Saint, so I was just curious—since Senior Sister hates you so much, how do you feel about her?”
“That’s it? That’s the reason you asked me that question earlier?”
Xu Lin finally understood what was going on.
“No other reason.”
Suddenly thinking of something, Jiang Luo froze, even her choking ceasing.
If there truly was a reason, it was her own reason—because she really wanted to know if Xu Lin had someone he liked, and whether it might be Yang Yao.
“No!”
She still didn’t dare say it out loud, denying it outright.
“So that’s how it is.”
Xu Lin couldn’t help scratching his head.
“Then I really did misjudge you.”
Great. After all that tossing around from Xi Ranchen and Yang Yao, he’d apparently developed some kind of persecution complex.
“You do know you misjudged me. Who knows why you had such a big reaction just now.”
Now that her name was cleared, Jiang Luo felt even more wronged instead. In other words, that villain Xu Lin had just treated her like some terrible person and turned around to bite her.
Thinking about it, Jiang Luo’s tear-reddened eyes began to well up again.
“Sorry about that. This really is my fault.”
Xu Lin quickly tried to smooth things over, pressing his palms together in a gesture of apology toward Jiang Luo.
Jiang Luo gave a soft snort, turned her head away, pressed her lips together, and her nose uncontrollably sniffled.
Xu Lin was thoroughly embarrassed. He hadn’t expected things to be this simple—just Yang Yao warning Jiang Luo, and Jiang Luo’s curiosity getting the better of her. Nothing to do with any schemes or plots at all.
Curiosity kills the cat. As for how it gets killed, that’s hard to say.
“But that’s not right either. She warned you like that, told you to stay away from me—shouldn’t you be on guard?”
Xu Lin continued asking.
“Why did you come straight to me?”
Because she naively thought he wasn’t that bad?
Given how he’d just acted, he’d practically confirmed what Yang Yao said—walking right into the line of fire.
This question, just like the one before, Jiang Luo knew the answer in her heart, but couldn’t say it too directly.
Her nose started sniffling faster, brewing another big cry.
“Okay, okay, I won’t ask anymore.”
Xu Lin was genuinely a bit scared now.
Thinking back, he also realized his question just now was a bit inappropriate.
Yang Yao had warned and cautioned Jiangæ´› so much, and though he didn’t know what Jiang Luo was thinking, she still came to him.
Maybe she just wanted to confirm that he also hated Yang Yao—the two of them sharing mutual grievances, and she was even leaning more toward his side.
Through these several times helping Jiang Luo, Xu Lin could indeed feel her gratitude toward him, which was reasonable enough.
In the end, his behavior just now had only put Jiang Luo in the middle, pleasing neither side.
Jiang Luo still kept her head turned away, her eyelids blinking constantly, that sense of grievance growing stronger.
“Wipe your tears. Stop crying, okay? I’m begging you.”
Xu Lin fumbled out a handkerchief and handed it to Jiang Luo, but she kept her hands tucked in, with no intention of taking it.
Admitting he was in the wrong, Xu Lin stepped forward to wipe Jiang Luo’s cheeks himself.
When he finally moved to wipe her nose, Jiang Luo’s hand suddenly shot out and pressed down hard on Xu Lin’s hand along with the cloth.
After a loud nose-blowing sound, she even remembered to wipe around.
Xu Lin withdrew his hand, looking at the handkerchief with disgust, then tossed it aside.
“You did that on purpose.”
“You yelled at me for no reason just now. Is this not even allowed?”
“Fine, fine. My fault.”
This girl knew how to press her advantage, but at least it gave both him and her a way to save face.
Having recovered, Jiang Luo stared at Xu Lin, her brows furrowed, wearing a thoughtful expression.
“By the way, you keep saying we help each other, but Senior Sister warned me like that. Are you planning to do something bad?”
She’d hit the nail on the head. Xu Lin curled his lips into a smile.
He was wondering when Jiang Luo had gotten so sharp. Could she be the type of person who grows with experience?
“Hard to say. Maybe it really is something bad.”
“How bad?”
“Really, really bad.”
Jiang Luo narrowed her eyes at Xu Lin. Whenever this guy returned to that playful tone, his words became half believable, half not.
Recalling Jiang Luo’s appearance and behavior just now—she had truly been sincere with him—Xu Lin felt his resolve waver.
He hesitated, then said, “If you want to back out now, I won’t say anything. But if you have any problems in the future, you can still come find me.”
Whether he could safely escape the Sunset Sect, he himself wasn’t sure. Was it really okay to drag Jiang Luo into this?
But Jiang Luo pouted, looking very displeased.
“You still don’t trust me. Am I really that untrustworthy to you?”
“No.”
Xu Lin sighed with a smile.
“Rather, you make me…”
Too trusting.
Xu Lin still didn’t say it. Even after he’d said all that, Jiang Luo showed no sign of backing down.
“See! You just don’t trust me!”
With that, Jiang Luo stood up, looking around as if searching for something.
Xu Lin stood up too, confused by her actions.
“What are you looking for?”
“…”
Jiang Luo ignored Xu Lin, her face filled with determination, as if she wouldn’t give up until she achieved her goal.
After a moment, from a pile of jade slips, Jiang Luo pulled out the one she had looked at not long ago.
“If you really don’t trust me, then use this on me. That way you should be reassured, right?”
Jiang Luo held the jade slip up in front of Xu Lin.
Xu Lin’s divine sense swept over it briefly, and a slight look of surprise crossed his face.
“Use this? Isn’t that too much?”
“I said use it! I’m not afraid myself, so what are you afraid of!”
What she was holding was the jade slip for the Heart-Binding Curse.
Her meaning was clear—she wanted Xu Lin to cast the Heart-Binding Curse on her.
Once the Heart-Binding Curse was in place, trust became irrelevant. If the bound person ever tried to harm the caster, the caster could use the curse to restrain them, instantly turning the tables.
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