“Xiaoyu…” looking at the two people gazing at each other with deep affection, Ye called out with a slightly hurt expression.
“This lady hero, I really am not your Xiaoyu. Please, can you stop this already?”
Meng Xiaoyu, pulled back to reality by that slightly hurt voice, stepped out of Han Rushuang’s embrace and said weakly.
“Yuer, she?”
Hearing Meng Xiaoyu’s words, Han Rushuang looked puzzled.
“Oh, she mistook me for another Xiaoyu. Although I am also called Xiaoyu, I am not the Xiaoyu she is talking about.”
Seeing Han Rushuang’s confused expression, Meng Xiaoyu explained softly, yawning several times due to her overwhelming sleepiness.
Han Rushuang, noticing Meng Xiaoyu standing there half-closed eyes and swaying drowsily, pulled her back into her arms.
“No, you are my Xiaoyu. You’re lying to them, right?”
Ye said loudly, a hint of urgency in her tone upon hearing Meng Xiaoyu claim she was mistaken.
Meng Xiaoyu, who had been dozing off in Han Rushuang’s arms, was startled awake by Ye’s sudden loud voice.
Seeing that Ye didn’t believe her words, Meng Xiaoyu felt a bit annoyed.
So she raised her voice, “I’m not lying! If you don’t believe me, you can ask that brothel keeper fox spirit standing over there!”
As she spoke, Meng Xiaoyu pointed at Yan Rumei, who was still sitting there with a look of amusement.
Following Meng Xiaoyu’s gesture, Ye and Han Rubing turned to look at Yan Rumei, who appeared somewhat dazed.
“Rumei,” after waiting for a while without hearing Yan Rumei say anything, Ye’s expression turned slightly displeased.
“Uh, ah? What’s the matter?”
Yan Rumei, pulled back to reality by Ye’s displeased voice, asked with a silly expression.
“Hey, brothel keeper fox spirit, quickly tell her that I am not her Xiaoyu, she has mistaken me!”
Seeing Yan Rumei’s silly expression, Meng Xiaoyu couldn’t help but laugh inside, “Hahaha, so even a fox spirit can be silly sometimes!”
With that thought, Meng Xiaoyu’s voice carried a hint of amusement.
After hearing Meng Xiaoyu’s words, Yan Rumei looked at Ye, then at Han Rubing, and after pondering for a moment, she looked up at Ye with a serious expression and said, “Ye, she really is not Xiaoyu. She just looks a lot like her.”
“No, you’re talking nonsense. She looks just like Xiaoyu; I won’t mistake her!”
Ye shouted loudly, still not believing Yan Rumei’s words.
“I’m not talking nonsense, Ye. She really is not Xiaoyu,” Yan Rumei insisted, her expression still serious.
“Then… where has Xiaoyu gone? Why hasn’t she come back to find me for so long?”
Seeing Yan Rumei’s serious expression, Ye’s voice gradually lowered, and her demeanor became filled with sorrow.
Seeing such a beautiful woman suddenly turn so sorrowful, Meng Xiaoyu wanted to say something to comfort her, but before she could speak, Han Rubing had already opened her mouth first, “Since we’ve clarified that this little one is not the Xiaoyu you’re talking about, we’ll take our leave now.”
With that, Han Rubing stepped out of the room first, followed closely by Han Rushuang, who wrapped her arms around Meng Xiaoyu’s waist and led her out as well.
Once outside the “Wuchun Pavilion,” Meng Xiaoyu walked side by side with Han Rubing in the dark street, feeling inexplicably wide awake.
She held Han Rubing’s hand with one hand and Han Rushuang’s hand with the other, and with a somewhat sorrowful voice, she asked, “Sister Rushuang, Sister Rubing, do you think that Xiaoyu is already dead?”
“Why would you ask that, little one?”
Han Rubing squeezed Meng Xiaoyu’s small hand in her right hand and asked.
“Look! If that Xiaoyu were not dead, why wouldn’t she come to find that woman named Ye?”
“Hahaha, maybe she went to a faraway place and couldn’t come back?”
“Even if it’s a faraway place, it’s impossible for her to not return for two years! Unless…”
Meng Xiaoyu paused for a moment, as if she had thought of something, and said, “Unless she, like me, has crossed over and thus cannot return.”
“Crossed over?”
Han Rushuang, who had been silent until now, questioned upon hearing Meng Xiaoyu’s words.
“Yes! Just like me, crossing over from the 21st century to here, and not knowing if I can ever return,” Meng Xiaoyu’s tone noticeably dropped as she said this.
Hearing Meng Xiaoyu’s somewhat downcast tone, Han Rubing gently asked, “Little one, are you homesick?”
Upon hearing Han Rubing’s question about whether she was homesick, Meng Xiaoyu softly replied with a “mm” as an acknowledgment.
After that, she fell silent, quietly walking alongside Han Rubing and Han Rushuang.
Meng Xiaoyu’s silence made the already quiet night street feel eerily still.
Seemingly unaccustomed to Meng Xiaoyu’s sudden quietness, Han Rubing spoke up, “Little one, you danced quite well on the stage in the lobby of ‘Wuchun Pavilion’ today.”
“Ah? What did you say, Sister Rubing?”
Meng Xiaoyu, still lost in her homesick thoughts, asked in confusion upon hearing Han Rubing’s sudden comment.
“I said you danced well on the stage in the lobby of ‘Wuchun Pavilion’ today. How come I never heard you could dance before?”
Han Rubing said with a tone that was half-smiling, half-serious.
Hearing Han Rubing’s words and her tone, Meng Xiaoyu internally wailed, “Oh no, judging by Sister Rubing’s tone, is she going to settle the score now? Wuwu… please don’t!”
“Little one?”
After waiting for a while without a response from Meng Xiaoyu, Han Rubing called out lightly.
“Ah? What?”
Hearing Han Rubing call her, Meng Xiaoyu quickly pretended to be clueless.
Noticing Meng Xiaoyu’s tone, Han Rubing realized she was pretending and lightly replied, “What do you think?”
Her tone gradually turned dangerous, causing Meng Xiaoyu, who was walking beside her, to shiver.
Feeling the hint of danger in Han Rubing’s tone, Meng Xiaoyu quickly admitted, “Sister Rubing, I was wrong. I won’t sneak off to ‘Wuchun Pavilion’ to play anymore.”
“Anymore?”
Upon hearing Meng Xiaoyu’s admission, Han Rubing chuckled.
“Uh, I misspoke. There will be no anymore. So, Sister Rubing, please forgive me this time!”
After saying that, Meng Xiaoyu hugged Han Rubing’s arm and nuzzled against her.
“You!”
Watching Meng Xiaoyu nuzzle against her arm like a little puppy, Han Rubing’s lips curled into a fond smile, her tone somewhat helpless.
“Sister Rubing, have you forgiven me for sneaking off to ‘Wuchun Pavilion’ this time?”
Meng Xiaoyu asked with hopeful eyes.
“Well, seeing your attitude in admitting your mistake, I’ll forgive you this time!”
Han Rubing said with a smile.
“Sister Rubing, you’re so nice! I love you to death, muah!”
Upon hearing Han Rubing’s words, Meng Xiaoyu happily kissed Han Rubing on the cheek, then joyfully linked arms with both Han Rubing and Han Rushuang, continuing to walk forward, her mood bright and cheerful!
Touching the spot where Meng Xiaoyu had just kissed, Han Rubing smiled seductively, while thinking to herself, “Little one, I only said I’d forgive you for this time sneaking off, but I didn’t say I wouldn’t punish you! How dare you sneak off to ‘Wuchun Pavilion’ to flirt while I and my sister were away? If I don’t punish you properly, you’ll be out there flirting with others again!”
Ultimately, Han Rubing still cared about that woman named Ye.
