The moment she entered, she saw Mother Yan sitting in the private room in an elegant moon-white qipao, leisurely fanning herself with a round fan. She smiled the instant she saw Shen Fangli.
"Lili, may I call you that?"
Shen Fangli: "..."
Could I even say no?
She smiled and nodded as well. "Of course. My parents call me that too."
Mother Yan smiled gently. "Don't be nervous. Come, sit."
Shen Fangli sat in the chair opposite Mother Yan.
"Auntie, what did you want to see me about?" Shen Fangli asked first.
Mother Yan said, "You child, you're just as impatient."
Shen Fangli considered who that "just as" was referring to.
Yan Xianjue was the first one she ruled out. With his personality of simply lying down even if the sky fell, he was utterly incompatible with being impatient.
Her speculation had only just begun when Mother Yan dropped a bombshell from across the table.
"You can hear Xian Jue's thoughts too, can't you?"
Shen Fangli's pupils trembled. Her wrist jerked, and the teacup she had just lifted slipped from her hand. It smashed onto the floor with a crack, instantly shattering into pieces.
She reflexively wanted to shake her head and deny it, but her mouth had barely opened when she froze under Mother Yan's all-seeing gaze.
Mother Yan handed her another teacup, as though she had long anticipated her reaction and had prepared a spare one in advance.
Shen Fangli stiffly accepted the new cup. Her heart was pounding violently, and her vision kept going dark.
She suspected that if she had not been sitting in a chair right then, her legs would have given out and she would have collapsed to the floor.
This was a secret she had never told anyone, not even her father.
Mother