Lin Xuan listened in silence, already understanding.
Ye Erniang ranked second among the Four Evils. That meant Duan Yanqing might also be somewhere within Dali Kingdom.
When Gan Baobao finished speaking, the room fell silent again.
She raised her head to meet Lin Xuan's gaze and gathered her courage. "I've told you about myself... Now, you... you should tell me who you really are, shouldn't you?"
Lin Xuan looked at her—at her lovely, radiant face, pale from recounting the past, and at the curiosity and unease in her eyes. Suddenly, he grinned.
Then he said something astonishing. "Me? I'm your husband."
"You...!" Gan Baobao shot to her feet, trembling with anger. Her pretty face flushed crimson. "You... don't you dare talk nonsense! You shameless scoundrel!"
She had thought he was some reclusive master. She had never imagined he would be such a frivolous, lecherous cad!
Yet Lin Xuan remained as steady as a mountain, still seated. He did not even bother to stand; he merely looked up at her. His smile did not fade—it grew brighter.
"What?" He regarded her with unhurried amusement. His deep gaze seemed like a whirlpool, ready to draw in her very soul. "Don't I look like your husband?"
His voice held a peculiar magic: low, resonant, and utterly seductive.
Under his gaze and question, Gan Baobao's heart gave a sudden, inexplicable lurch, and her whole body shivered.
Her fury seemed doused with a basin of cold water, extinguished in an instant.
She looked at Lin Xuan's exceptionally handsome face, his eyes that seemed to see through everything, and the easy, carefree smile on his lips...
An absurd thought rose from the depths of her heart without warning.
*If... if I'd met him when I was young, before I met Duan Lang... wouldn't that have been