When Lu Xinyi woke up, she found her husband talking to her brother in the dining area. Breakfast was being served by Qiao Lian while Su Yu hushed his little sister.
“Morning, dear.” She kissed Shen Yi’s cheek before settling down beside him. “Morning, Yu Gege,” she regarded her brother.
“I thought you were going to oversleep again.” Tian Lingyu grinned. “It was hard enough to a.s.sure your husband that you just need to recover some sleep, and you will be fine.”
Lu Xinyi raised a slender brow towards her husband.
“I didn’t know you are such a worrywart.”
Shen Yi shrugged but didn’t deny her accusation. He started putting food on her plate while Tian Lingyu ate his share.
“Madam Su, thank you for breakfast. Why don’t you join us?” Lu Xinyi took a bite from her toast. “Oh, I haven’t introduced them to you.”
She then turned her attention back to Shen Yi.
“Darling, remember the housekeeper I mentioned last night? This is Madam Su. She and her children will stay in Mom’s villa.” Her eyes then s.h.i.+fted to Tian Lingyu, “What do you think, Yu Gege?”
“Whatever you think is right.” Tian Lingyu shrugged his shoulders, “As long as they’ll do their job, I’m sure the villa will be fine.”
Pleased that both men in her life agreed to her plans, she smiled back to Qiao Lian.
“Madam Su, this is my husband, Shen Yi.” She then lowered her head and motioned Qiao Lian to move closer so she could whisper to her. “You can call him Boss Yi. He doesn’t like to be called young master or Master Shen.” Lu Xinyi winked. Her husband stopped slicing the meat on his plate to arch a brow at her, which she answered by sticking her tongue out.
“And that guy over there is my brother, Tian Lingyu.”
“Hi! I’m her older brother. Please take care of my sister. She may be hard to deal with sometimes, but I a.s.sure you she’s a nice person,” Tian Lingyu said.
‘Yu Gege!” Lu Xinyi kicked his s.h.i.+n under the table. She stared daggers at him. How dare her brother make a fool out of her in front of her new housekeeper.
Qiao Lian bowed repeatedly to Shen Yi and Tian Lingyu and thanked them for accepting her family. She was curious as to why Miss Lu’s brother didn’t share the same family name but decided that if her new mistress wanted her to know, then Lu Xinyi would have told her.
“We’re going back to the capital after breakfast. Please help my wife with her bath and necessities.”
“As you wish, Boss Yi.” Qiao Lian bowed her head and took her leave, but Lu Xinyi’s voice stopped her.
“Hey! What about breakfast with us?”
Qiao Lian gripped the tray on her hand and smiled back to her mistress.
“It’s alright, Miss Lu. The kids had taken her meals earlier. Please excuse us.” She bowed her head again and left the three in the dining area.
“By the way, what happened to my cla.s.smates when I was gone?” Lu Xinyi asked her brother.
Tian Lingyu finished his meal and sipped his warm tea.
“Miss Xuan only reported you were missing when General Li’s troops couldn’t find you at the mountain. She supposed with his help, she can somehow hide this issue to the academy. Headmistress Han was furious when she found out what happened so she asked me and Shenghao to visit this campsite and to report to her directly.” He paused. “As for your cla.s.smates, they were sent back to the capital after the 24-hour search had pa.s.sed. Headmistress Han would rather cancel cla.s.s activities than put the students’ safety in danger.”
“Didn’t you say Meng Jiao paid me a visit yesterday? How come she stayed while the other went back?” Lu Xinyi stuffed another bun on her mouth, enjoying the flavor of savory pork filling that hit her taste buds.
At the mention of Meng Jiao’s name, Tian Lingyu laughed. After meeting the woman again, he finally remembered that she used to be Lu Xinyi’s closest friend back on their high school days. Tian Lingyu was glad that his sister cut off her ties with that woman. Meng Jiao’s att.i.tude p.i.s.sed him off.
“Miss Meng? She stayed because she thought she could win the favor of your husband while you are gone. When she heard that you’ve been found, she came running here only to be chased away by your little tiger. She left early this morning, afraid that your little tiger will pounce on her again.”
The Lu siblings laughed at Meng Jiao’s misfortune, but Lu Xinyi was mentally taking down notes on the grievances that Meng Jiao brought her.
“Say, Shorty. How did you teach that little tiger to fend off people like Miss Meng?” her brother asked.
“Let’s just say Xiao Bai doesn’t like stinky smells. It’s just a coincidence that Miss Meng is a stinky b.i.t.c.h. So it’s only natural for Xiao Bai not to like her.” Lu Xinyi swished the tea on her cup and gave her brother a feral grin.
Shen Yi reached out to her and pinched her face. “A refined lady wouldn’t talk like that.”
Lu Xinyi snorted which was unladylike for her status. “If you want a refined lady as your wife, why did you marry me in the first place?”
“Fine. You win,” Shen Yi conceded. He felt that talking about their deal in Tian Lingyu’s presence wouldn’t be a good idea. He decided to change the topic.
“Anyway, your brother and I talked about it. How about I a.s.signed you new people?”
Lu Xinyi placed her teacup on the table with a thud.
“You mean a bodyguard? I thought we already talked about this.”
Of course, when Jin De failed to protect her, Shen Yi had been thinking not to use hidden guards anymore and just give his wife a few of his men as her bodyguards. With her growing fame, it wouldn’t be long until the Sun family acts against her.
“Shorty, I agree with your husband on this. You cannot stay in Silver Leaf without a bodyguard. It’s for your own good. Even the Tang twins brought their own maids and bodyguards to serve them so why wouldn’t you?” Tian Lingyu was most concerned about her safety after all, and he couldn’t help but agree with Shen Yi when he opened up this issue to him.
Lu Xinyi groaned and smacked her forehead in frustration. The worst scenario in her mind finally came true! Her husband and her older brother were ganging up against her!
“Do I really have to?” Her tone sounded almost a whine on both men.
“It’s for your own good, Xinxin.”
“I agree with your husband.” Tian Lingyu nodded and sipped his tea nonchalantly.
Lu Xinyi harrumphed, crossed her arms around her chest, and turned her face away from both men. Shen Yi pinched the bridge of his nose.
‘Here we go again,’ he thought.
“Shorty, you need to consider it. We can’t allow the same thing happening to you again. Please for the sake of our peace of mind, agree to have your own bodyguards.”
Her brother’s plea caught Lu Xinyi off-guard. Were they really sickly worried about her when they heard the news she went missing? But hey, it wasn’t her fault at all! Why should she be the one making compromises when Meng Jiao was the one who instigated it?
“Give me time. I’ll think about it.” She sighed.
Shen Yi didn’t force her to make a decision. He understood why she was hesitant, but things were different now. He could not make the same mistake again. He was lucky that he was able to find her back at the Fox’s Den, but if it turned out that she fell miserably, Shen Yi knew he could never forgive himself.
After their breakfast, Qiao Lian helped Lu Xinyi in her bath, making sure she wouldn’t hurt herself. Her wound on her leg was only treated with a first aid ointment and would need to be checked by a medical professional.
Lu Xinyi was dressed casually an hour later. While she waited for her husband to pick her up, she checked the contents of her backpack. She was relieved to see that the pickled vegetables from the Fox’s Den were still on the containers. She was surprised to find a long hairpin with a golden fox on its end and a short dagger at the side pocket of her bag.
She was rooted in her place when Shen Yi stepped inside the room and found a hairpin on her hand.
“Where did you get that hairpin? That’s really nice.” He peeked over her shoulder and wrapped an arm around her waist.
“You didn’t put this in my bag?” she asked confusedly.
Shen Yi shook his head. “No, I didn’t know you like hairpins. I would have given you one had I known you like them.”
Lu Xinyi couldn’t remember seeing the hairpin and the dagger when she was inside the cave. If it wasn’t her husband, who was it?
As if answering and clearing her doubts, Xiao Bai appeared at the doorway, waiting for Shen Yi and Lu Xinyi to come out. Xiao Bai was fed by Shen Yi with a couple of steaks while Lu Xinyi was sleeping. The two came into a truce as the little tiger compromise that Shen Yi was her mistress’s husband.
Lu Xinyi’s eyes narrowed into slits when her little tiger rubbed its head on Shen Yi’s leg. Not only did her brother betray her! Even Xiao Bai took the wrong side today!
She eyed the hairpin on her hand and the little tiger. She was half-tempted to ask Xiao Bai if he put it in her belongings but decided not to. If they wouldn’t admit who did it, she would not ask anymore. At this time, she only wanted to go home and prepare for another cooking battle later!