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Minglan wrapped her golden and silver entangled flower-patterned green squirrel fur coat closer around herself. Now she was sitting in a half pavilion where all the windows and door were opened. There was a red copper stove which had a Fu pattern (Note: Fu meant good fortune in Chinese culture) inlaid. The fire inside the stove gave out abundant warmness. A kettle of boiling water was on another stove on the side. The kettle was long-beaked with bats pattern on the surface, which looked quite delicate.

While Minglan was eating a plump sunflower seed, she also admired Hualan"s considerate arrangement.

This open hall was built on a small pool. After taking off all the door and windows in summer, it would become a pavilion. With water on three sides, the pavilion had only one entry which led to a wide and clear road. There was no place for hiding within a hundred meters, thus no one would be able to bug anything. Also, what people did in the pavilion was easy to be seen clearly by people far away.

So far, this place was already cleared. Minglan hadn"t seen anyone except for the maid who had guided her here. Even that maid had left right away.

Minglan could only sit there and wait for what was about to happen, feeling herself even a bit heroic. As Minglan was eating the fourteenth sunflower seeds, she saw a tall figure walking toward the pavilion from far away. Her eyelids twitched at once. Then she continued eating her seeds.

Perfect, she also wanted to ask him something.

After a short while, the man who walked in the wind and frost entered the hall with cold air around him. Seeing that Minglan was already there, he strode forward to her and held his fist in the other hand, greeting her with smile on the corner of his mouth, “It"s been a while.”

Minglan squinted her eyes and sized him up. Gu Tingye wore an azure brocade cotton robe today. There was white fox fur on the collar and the cuffs. Brocade dark fringes spread all over the robe. With a dark silver and jade inlaid belt around his waist, he looked pretty handsome in his black fur coat. Only a strapping man like him would look that good in a heavy fur coat. If a civil official like Sheng Hong wore that, he would look so ridiculous.

Minglan stood up and bowed to him respectfully, putting on a false smile, “Second uncle, Yes, it"s been too long. How have you been?.”

After she had said that, Minglan happily saw the corner of Gu Tingye"s mouth twitching. Having pulled off his coat and put it randomly on the handrail, he turned around and walked to an old-fashioned wooden chair opposite Minglan. Then, they sat face to face at a distance of five or six steps.

Gu Tingye had a look at Minglan, then at the empty teacup on the tea table in front of him. Seeing that Minglan had no intention to serve tea for him, he picked up the teapot and poured the boiling water in his teacup. After that, he said in a low voice, “We are going to be married soon, don"t ever call me that.”

With her fists clenched, Minglan tried really hard to swallow her anger. Although the man in front of her was still carrying a smile on his face, he spoke slowly in a low voice with blood color flashing in his eyes vaguely. The imposing manner of him which came from the blood battles was hard to hide.

After Minglan had calmed herself down, she said unhurriedly, “I don"t quite understand what you have said, second uncle. I was raised by Old Madam Sheng since I was a child. And I have never heard my grandma saying anything about my marriage.”

With his eyebrows knitted, Gu Tingye said, “The great affair of marriage should only be decided by your parents.”

Ming Lan replied, “Then I"ll wait for my parents" words.”

There was silence for a moment in the hall. Gu Tingye was staring at Minglan while Minglan turned around to look at the view outside. Then Gu Tingye raised one of his eyebrows which seemed to be reflected the color of light blue by his rope, saying calmly, “You are being angry.”

Then Minglan said perfunctorily, “I"m fine, I"m fine.”

Hearing her words, Gu Tingye said seriously, “When we were on the Huaiyin River, I"ve already told you that I didn"t like to hear people telling lies.”

Then Minglan closed her mouth like a clam.

Minglan"s straight face gave Gu Tingye a serious headache. So he had to take a deep breath first, then he said, “I know you are in a sulk right now. But it would be better if we can be blunt with each other. Getting in a rage is of no help. Why can"t we just treat each other with sincerity?”

Gu Tingye spoke those words earnestly like he was confronting a child. It looked like he decided to coax her since she hadn"t been scared by him. Hearing his words, Minglan almost burst into laughter. Then she turned around her head and said smilingly, “Being honest to an honest person, that is called treating someone with sincerity; Being honest to a dishonest person, that is just stupid; General Gu, do I look like an idiot?”

Hearing Minglan change the way of calling him, Gu Tingye smiled faintly. Her teasing tone also made his heart skip a beat. Then he said, “You are definitely not stupid.” He looked at Minglan"s fingers on the table, which looked white, plump and soft with crystal pink fingernails. Then he couldn"t help but cough slightly, saying with a severe look, “You implied that I was not honest. Where did that come from?”

Minglan glared at him, saying, “Then we have to talk about your proposal of the marriage.”

Gu Tingye"s face turned even more serious. He looked at Minglan with his dark and black eyes, which made Minglan feel nervous. However, after all, she had seen the serial killers on the criminal court in her previous life, thus the scary expression in Gu Tingye"s eyes wouldn"t terrify her. After they had looked at each other for a while, Gu Tingye opened his mouth slowly, “You"ve guessed out?”

His voice sounded steady, but still had a note as if he was issuing orders.

Minglan nodded, saying, “You are not that kind of person who would make do with what you have.”

At first, Minglan had also thought that Gu Tingye had aimed to marry Rulan. However, suddenly Minglan became the one who would marry him. That was just too strange. Also, Minglan believed nothing Sheng Hong had said. During a few times of encounters she had had with Gu Tingyue, she had run into his marital dispute every time. Her intuition told her that Gu Tingye would never marry whichever lady of Sheng family without considering. Instead, he had known from the beginning which girl he wanted.

After pondering for a while, Gu Tingye looked at Minglan with a thoughtful look. Then he said slowly, “It started from when you threw the mud.”

“What?” Minglan was in a trance, “What are you talking about?”

“Don"t you want to know when I began to have a thing for you?” Gu Tingye put on a smile in his eyes and repeated, “I just told you, it started from when you threw the mud to your sister.”

Minglan flushed right away. Then she jumped to her feet with the veins on her forehead standing out, almost shouting those words, “I didn"t ask you that!!”

“Well, so you are not interested in knowing that?” Gu Tingye leaned to one side of the chair while covering his mouth with his backhand and chuckling. Only until then did he show his temperament as a childe and take off his toughness as a general.

Minglan tried her best to adjust her breath and let the redness on her face fade away. She couldn"t be too impulsive right now. Be calm, be calm… Finally, she managed to remain stable. Then she stared at Gu Tingye and said peacefully, “So, you wanted to marry me from the beginning?”

Gu Tingye nodded slowly but affirmatively.

Seeing his reaction, Minglan couldn"t help screaming, “Then why didn"t you propose a marriage to me directly? What"s all these acts for?”

"Do you know that you nearly killed Xique and Rulan?" Minglan thought.

Gu Tingye asked her back, “If I did that at the first place, would you agree to that?”

Minglan paused for a bit. Then she answered quickly, “I can"t decide my own marriage. It"s my parents" decision who I will marry to.”

Gu Tingye asked again, “Will your grandma agree?”

Being retorted again, Minglan lost her tongue with an awkward expression on her face.

Having taken a sip of the tea leisurely, Gu Tingye used three of his long fingers to hold the cup up and put it on the tea table. Then he said, “Getting married is a hard thing, but refusing a marriage proposal is not. You have all the excuses to turn me down, like being unsuitable to be my partner due to my superiority or my status of generation. Not to mention that your stubborn grandma has always had opinions with my improper behaviors. I don"t think your father would be against her wills by then.”

Minglan couldn"t help but speak sarcastically with a slight smile on her face, “You know yourself really well.”

However, Gu Tingye, as unabashed as he was, ignored the irony in her words directly. He even said to her seriously, “Having self-knowledge is a good quality. Thanks for your praising.”

Since her biting words couldn"t hurt him, Minglan felt depressed secretly. Then she snorted and said, “It must have taken lots of your efforts.”

“I"m fine, I"m fine.” Gu Tingye mocked Minglan"s words and started to speak perfunctorily too.

Suddenly, Minglan thought of He Hongwen. She felt it was better to make everything clear today. Otherwise she might leave many possibilities for endless trouble. After hesitating for a while, she finally said with her teeth gritted, “Then… do you know… know that my engagement with He Family? My grandma already…”

“I know.” Gu Tingye interrupted Minglan right away. The expression on his face remained calm, but his tone sounded a bit displeased.

“You know…?!” Minglan was stunned. Then she said with her eyebrows raised, “You still… want to… propose a marriage?!”

Gu Tingye said with confidence, “So what? It"s your family"s decision to whom they would betroth their daughter. It"s my own decision to whom I would propose. As for He family…” Speaking of that, he put on a bit disdainful look on his face. Then he continued decisively, “You can never marry him.”

Minglan even burst into laughter due to her anger. At last, she straightened her back and snorted, “Ha ha ha! Who do you think you are, the G.o.d who unites people in marriage? You think you can decide who I will marry to?”

Gu Tingye laughed loudly. When he stopped, he looked right into Minglan"s eyes, saying slowly, “Marriage comes half by destiny and half by luck. You are a clever girl. You know that I was right. You two are not meant to be together.”

Hearing his words, Minglan stopped laughing while her heart gradually sank.