42 Experiencing It Himself

Shun Tao sighed and rubbed his forehead again. "Hong Bao …"

"It's alright! I can accept it!"

"Hong Bao, listen to me." Shun Tao gripped her wrists and forced her hands down, that seemed to be on their way to cover her face again. "I don't know, what Leng Jin Yu talked with you about, but I can assure you, that he is wrong. I don't despise women and I am surely not into men."

Hong Bao blinked. Could it be true?! Could her one true love really like women? This … this seemed to be her lucky day!

Hong Bao didn't think, she just threw herself onto Shun Tao, pulling him to the ground. She did, what she didn't dare to do before: Hugged him and nestled her face against his chest. "So you don't!" She gave a goofy smile, not caring or rather noticing at all, how strange the situation had become.

Shun Tao lay on the ground, unable to grasp, what had just happened. He didn't dare to hug her back in this situation, but he also didn't dare to push her off. So he could only lay there, hands half raised, facing to the side and hoping, that his capable helper's brain would catch up soon.

Unfortunately for him, this took quite some time and when it finally happened, one of the scribe's in the palace had already spotted them from the other side of the courtyard. Unsure if the person he saw in such an incriminating posture could really be the fate's scribe, who headed all other scribes, he pulled over another scribe. The two's discussion drew the attention of some others, so when Hong Bao finally came back to her senses and jerked up, most of the scribes had already seen them like that and the rumor spread like a wildfire.

One could say, that Shun Tao now had the chance to start experiencing, what had happened to Zhong Jing Yi back when he had just been born.

Of course, in this moment, Shun Tao didn't care about that. He only wanted to dispel Hong Bao's doubts and then get back to discussing the issue at hand: The culprit he was trying to find.

Hong Bao grinned at Shun Tao, trying to cover up her embarrassment. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Shun Tao sat up and straightened his clothes. "Though, I do wonder how he got that idea." Shun Tao wanted to shake his head and end the subject right then and there, but unfortunately, Hong Bao had heard him muttering and even though she was happy, that her adored one didn't despise women, she still felt a little peeved, that he had ignored her before.

"Isn't it, because you are always so distant? You're only ever talking about work, you never ask about anything personal. And even then you sometimes don't even look at me." She pursed her lips and threw him an accusing gaze.

Shun Tao wanted to groan. What was this situation? He had just wanted someone to help him find out about the one behind the changes in Jing He's fate as a mortal! He hadn't been trying to make friends! But he probably still shouldn't have treated her like that …

Shun Tao sighed. "Hong Bao, I'm really sorry. I've been preoccupied with my work lately, so I probably wasn't very polite."

Hong Bao just pursed her lips a little more. "This isn't about being polite."

Shun Tao felt his headache grow. This girl … she couldn't be expecting something, right? He wanted to ask, but reconsidered. She had run away crying, because she thought he was into men. What would happen, if he continued down this path? He didn't want to find out. Unfortunately, he didn't know what else to say. He couldn't tell her the truth, right?

"I'm really sorry." He could only repeat himself.

"It's alright." Though Hong Bao said that, she didn't look like she meant it.

Shun Tao sighed again. "Look, I can't tell you much, only that I'm working on something really important at the moment and the assignment I gave you has to do with that. That's why I might have seemed a little … distant. There is just much weighing on my mind."

"If you want to speak about it —"

"No need, no need." Shun Tao felt cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. No! Under no circumstances!

"Oh." Hong Bao drooped her head. So it's not, that he doesn't like women. He just doesn't like me, she thought. Who knows, how she finally arrived at this conjecture?

This time, Shun Tao was finally paying attention. This headache was growing into a major one. He didn't know what to do. He didn't want to tell her anything, but if he didn't, she might talk about it again with that Leng Jin Yu or somebody else. What if someone found out through that?

Take Leng Jin Yu as an example: Hong Bao had already said, that he wanted to get into the god of war's palace. If he succeeded and those two somehow talked about him sometime, then wouldn't he be in the danger of being exposed? No, he couldn't let that happen!

Shun Tao grit his teeth and glanced around sneakily. Nobody could be seen. The scribes gossiping had already fled, when Hong Bao finally got up. Nobody wanted to be seen peeking at their superior being intimate with a woman.

Satisfied, Shun Tao grabbed her wrist and pulled her to her feet. "Let's go back inside. I'll tell you."

Hong Bao looked up, her eyes instantly glittering as if a fire had been ignited inside. He wants to tell me! He trusts me! He might just fall in love with me! As if walking on clouds, she followed him back into his study.

Shun Tao let go of her and poured them a cup of tea. With another sigh, he sat down and pulled Jing He's scroll of fate out of his sleeve.

"What I'm about to tell you … you can't talk about it with anybody else. Not that Leng Jin Yu, not any of the other servants, nobody. Do you understand?"

Hong Bao nodded, but Shun Tao wasn't satisfied. This wasn't enough. He had to make sure, she wouldn't blab.

"Hong Bao, you have to take this seriously. My life might very well depend on this."