Shen Hongxue unexpectedly ran into Lin Shuguang outside the Study Pavilion and asked in surprise, "What are you doing here?"
Then she suddenly remembered a junior sister mentioning that outsiders had entered the mountain. Realization dawned on her. "So you were the ones Elder Cheng was receiving?"
Lin Shuguang nodded without betraying anything.
A faint note of reproach crept into his voice. "I've been waiting for your call."
"I wanted to call you, but I didn't know what to say. They wouldn't agree," Shen Hongxue said apologetically.
Anyone unaware of the circumstances might already have imagined a tragic love story about parents refusing to approve after hearing their exchange.
Unfortunately, before Lin Shuguang could work up any emotion, Shen Hongxue suddenly eyed him warily. "The Study Pavilion is a restricted area with dedicated guards. How did you end up here?"
The footsteps of a search party sounded in the distance.
Lin Shuguang looked perfectly innocent. "If I said I happened to come here, and you happened to run into me and take me for a book thief, and everything was a coincidence, would you believe me?"
Shen Hongxue glanced that way, grabbed his sleeve, and said without looking back, "Come with me. If they catch you, you'll be in serious trouble."
Lin Shuguang followed closely behind Shen Hongxue, as though he really had stumbled upon the Study Pavilion by accident. He likewise never looked back, leaving swiftly without the slightest attachment to the Study Pavilion behind him.
"Go past that rockery up ahead, and you'll reach the Main Hall where the elders received you." After getting Lin Shuguang safely clear of the Study Pavilion guards' search, Shen Hongxue pointed at a nearby rockery and began shooing him away.
Lin Shuguang paused. "You're not coming with me?"
Shen Hongxue rolled her