Chapter 151 - 150: A Missing Person Notice and Words Against the Heart

"Young Master, I suspect that man named Lin Li has already left Dongwu City. Otherwise, I would’ve found him by now," his servant, Xiaoliu, said.

Zhou Tianci listened to Xiaoliu’s speculation and nodded slightly. He’d just heard his servant’s report, but he didn’t fly into a rage. The reason was simple: he, too, had considered the possibility that the man named Lin Li was no longer in Dongwu City.

The man named Lin Li was the one who had saved Miss Zhu Xinru of the Zhu Family. On a recent impulse, Zhou Tianci had gotten into a huge fight with him and had thoroughly offended the man.

Fearing that he would report him to Miss Zhu, Zhou Tianci had been anxious for the past few days.

’Now that my servant can’t find him, he’s probably not in Dongwu City anymore. That means he can’t go complaining to Miss Zhu, and I don’t have to be so anxious anymore.’

"You can’t find that Lin Li fellow now, and I suspect he has, in all likelihood, left Dongwu City. But just to be safe, we can’t give up on finding him and offering a formal apology.

Take this drawing, go to a print shop, and make plenty of copies for me. Turn them into search notices, then take some men and post them all over the city."

As he spoke, Zhou Tianci took a drawing from a drawer and handed it to his servant, Xiaoliu.

"Yes, Young Master. I’ll do as you’ve commanded right away... Young Master, this drawing is so lifelike! Your skill is truly extraordinary! Ordinary artists couldn’t hope to match you."

His servant, Xiaoliu, took the drawing from Zhou Tianci and looked at the person depicted.

He recognized the man in the drawing at a glance; it was none other than the man named Lin Li, who had gotten into a huge fight with his young master a few days ago.

"Alright, enough with the flattery. Hurry up and do what I told you... Come back as soon as you’re done. This afternoon, you’ll accompany me to the Zhu Mansion. I want to see Miss Zhu."

Although Zhou Tianci told his servant Xiaoliu to stop flattering him, he couldn’t suppress the smug smile that spread across his face as he listened to the words of praise.

"Yes." Xiaoliu nodded. Then, holding the portrait his young master had drawn, he quickly left the study, gathered some companions, and left the large estate, heading for the nearest print shop to create the search notices.

After Xiaoliu left, Zhou Tianci took a scroll from his drawer. He unrolled it and gazed at his own portrait of Zhu Xinru, an entranced, infatuated expression on his face.

’Yawn... I’m dead tired. I’ll just nap for a bit. I have to see Miss Zhu this afternoon! It wouldn’t do to show up looking exhausted; that would be rude to such a beauty.’

Overcome with drowsiness, Zhou Tianci put the scroll away in the drawer, then slumped over his desk to take a nap.

* * *

Within a residence far more opulent, grand, and majestic than Zhou Tianci’s estate.

In a garden filled with the songs of birds and the fragrance of flowers, blossoms of every dazzling color vied for attention. Colorful butterflies danced among the flowers. The scene was breathtakingly beautiful.

At that moment, a woman sat in a pavilion in the garden. Her beauty rivaled the flowers themselves, her figure was graceful, and her temperament was as gentle as water. She gazed with large, limpid eyes at the distant butterflies dancing among the blossoms.

Upon closer observation, one would find that although this beautiful woman was looking at the butterflies dancing among the flowers, her gaze was unfocused. She was clearly lost in thought.

TAP, TAP, TAP...

A figure entered the garden from afar, carrying something. Their steps were soft and unhurried.

"Miss." The figure entered the pavilion, still holding the tray, and called out softly to the daydreaming woman.

"Chunxiang!" Startled from her thoughts by her personal maid, Zhu Xinru came to her senses and turned to look at her.

"Miss, you were spacing out again," the maid, Chunxiang, said. She placed the freshly brewed tea she was carrying onto the pavilion’s stone table and began pouring a cup for Zhu Xinru.

"I was not," Zhu Xinru denied.

"Miss, you might be able to fool others, but you can’t fool me. I’ve been with you for over a decade, after all." The maid, Chunxiang, handed the freshly poured cup of tea to Zhu Xinru.

"Oh, you..." Zhu Xinru didn’t deny it this time. She simply reached out and took the cup of tea from her maid, Chunxiang.

Watching her miss take small sips of the tea she had brewed, the maid Chunxiang suddenly dropped a bombshell. "Miss, when you were daydreaming just now... were you thinking about Mr. Lin?"

COUGH, COUGH, COUGH... In the middle of drinking her tea, Zhu Xinru was so startled by Chunxiang’s bombshell of a question that she choked.

Her fair, flower-like face instantly turned bright red, and it was impossible to tell if it was from the violent coughing or from the embarrassment of having her secret thoughts exposed.

"Chunxiang, what nonsense are you spouting? I... I was not thinking about Mr. Lin just now." After her coughing subsided, Zhu Xinru placed her teacup back on the table and refuted the claim with a stern expression.

Normally, if Zhu Xinru put on such a stern expression, her maid Chunxiang would have certainly thought her guess was wrong.

But now, despite her stern expression, Zhu Xinru’s fair cheeks were flushed bright red, a shade even more beautiful than the delicate flowers in the distance.

Such an expression wasn’t very convincing. There was no way Chunxiang, who had been her personal maid for over a decade, would believe her denial.

’Looks like Miss really was thinking about Mr. Lin just now!’

Still, she had to let her master save some face. Chunxiang didn’t press the matter further, muttering that thought to herself before rather abruptly changing the subject. "Miss, how is the tea I brewed today?"

"The flavor is excellent. This must be a new tea, right?" Seeing that her maid Chunxiang had changed the subject, Zhu Xinru breathed a sigh of relief internally.

"Miss, I heard that the Patriarch received word that you encountered bandits on your way back to Dongwu City. He supposedly flew into a rage on the spot. He immediately put out a bounty on the bandits’ lives and began rushing back here without a moment’s rest," Chunxiang said.

"Don’t just stand there, sit down!" Zhu Xinru motioned for her maid Chunxiang to sit, then spoke with a hint of resignation.

"Father is always like this. I already told him I’m fine and that there’s no need for him to rush back, but he just won’t listen."

"The Patriarch is just too worried about you, Miss. That’s why, as soon as he heard you’d encountered bandits, he immediately handed off the big business deal he was negotiating to someone else just so he could rush back to see you," Chunxiang said with a smile.

Zhu Xinru hummed in agreement and nodded gently. Although she said her father was overreacting, she knew in her heart that he was only acting this way because he cared about her so much.

* * *