52: Chapter 52: After arguing, she decided to ignore Tang Liu.

The Capital, a small courtyard in the east of the city.

Under Zhao Er's escort, Tang Xiaowu finally arrived at the entrance of the small courtyard.

“Miss Tang.”

Zhao Er stopped in his tracks and respectfully cupped his fists, saying:

“Since I have safely escorted you home, my task is complete. I shall return to report to the Heir.”

Having said that, he did not wait for Tang Xiaowu to offer any pleasantries.

Zhao Er turned around directly and, with a few leaps, vanished into the night.

Tang Xiaowu watched the direction where Zhao Er had disappeared before finally letting out a long breath of turbid air.

She turned around and reached out to push open the ajar courtyard gate.

A burning pain coming from a certain place made her involuntarily suck in a breath of cold air.

She could only grit her teeth and lift her foot with extreme difficulty.

In a very strange and awkward posture, she stepped over the not-so-high wooden threshold.

“Whew...”

Tang Xiaowu had just entered the courtyard and hadn't even had time to breathe a sigh of relief.

When she looked up, she was instantly struck as if by lightning and froze on the spot.

Under the cold moonlight.

Tang Liu was standing all alone in the center of the courtyard.

His eyes were bloodshot and his eye sockets were sunken; it was obvious he hadn't closed his eyes for several days.

At this moment, he was using a complex gaze mixed with anger and disappointment.

He stared fixedly at Tang Xiaowu, who had just stepped over the threshold.

Tang Xiaowu's heart jolted at the sudden appearance of this figure.

She never expected that even though it was the middle of the night,

Tang Liu still hadn't gone to sleep, but had been standing in the courtyard waiting for her!

“Six... Sixth Brother?”

Seeing Tang Liu's gaze, which looked as if he wanted to devour someone, Tang Xiaowu instinctively felt guilty.

Her voice trembled slightly as she asked: “It's so late... why aren't you asleep yet?”

At this moment, Tang Xiaowu's mind was practically a blank, buzzing incessantly.

It's over, it's over!

Could her awkward walking posture when she entered the door just now have been seen entirely by Sixth Brother?

With Sixth Brother's intelligence, would he... would he discover some clues?

If Sixth Brother really found out that she was in the Secret Realm,

entering the bridal chamber with that playboy Heir and doing that kind of shameless thing,

then... then what should I do?

How should I face him?

Endless panic and guilt instantly flooded over Tang Xiaowu like a tide.

The surrounding air seemed to completely solidify at this moment.

It was so oppressive it made it hard to breathe.

Just when Tang Xiaowu was so nervous she was about to suffocate,

Tang Liu finally spoke.

He gritted his teeth and questioned coldly, word by word:

“These past three days, what on earth were you doing?”

Tang Liu had practically gone crazy over these three days!

He had waited fruitlessly in the courtyard for three days and three nights.

His mind was filled with Tang Xiaowu following the most famous playboy Heir of Great Zhou to that Zhenguo Marquis Mansion!

Although the Divine Turtle Art he cultivated required him to be abstinent and stay away from women in the Profound Gate Realm,

in his heart, Tang Xiaowu had long been his personal possession.

At the thought of the filthy things Tang Xiaowu might have encountered, the fire of jealousy in his heart burned frantically.

Faced with Tang Liu's cold questioning, which felt like an interrogation of a criminal,

Tang Xiaowu was stunned.

If she had seen Tang Liu's angry appearance before entering the Secret Realm,

her heart would have tightened, and she would have hurried to explain.

But now...

After experiencing the life-and-death struggle in the Secret Realm and being forcefully possessed by Chen Shanzhi,

and even having that two-hour long frantic intimacy in the stone room...

Tang Xiaowu herself hadn't noticed.

In her subconscious, the thick 'perfect brother' filter she had for Tang Liu

had already mostly disappeared without her realizing it.

When a woman's body and mind have been left with an indelible mark by another powerful man,

her first reaction when facing the questioning of her original childhood friend is often no longer submission, but an instinctive rebellion.

Furthermore, she was now exhausted in body and mind, her whole body aching as if it were falling apart.

Seeing Tang Liu put on this high-and-mighty judgmental posture, as if he had caught a wife cheating,

the trace of guilt in Tang Xiaowu's heart was instantly replaced by irritation.

She took a deep breath and met Tang Liu's gaze without backing down, her tone unprecedentedly cold and stiff:

“I'm tired and don't want to talk. I'm going back to my room to rest.”

After saying that, she prepared to bypass Tang Liu and walk toward her own room.

“Stop!”

Seeing Tang Xiaowu actually speak to him in such an unprecedentedly cold tone,

and even wanting to go straight back to her room without a single word of explanation,

an uncontrollable rage instantly rushed into Tang Liu's brain like a volcanic eruption!

“Heh...”

Tang Liu let out a sneer, the muscles on his face twitching slightly from anger, revealing an extremely mocking cold smile:

“Tired? Yes, not coming out of the gates of the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion for three whole days, how could you not be tired?”

His eyes were crimson, and he almost roared through gritted teeth:

“Tang Xiaowu! I used to think you were a pure, noble girl who didn't care for fame or fortune!

I really didn't expect that you would also be this kind of vain, snobbish woman!

For the sake of clinging to the powerful, for the money and status of the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion,

you actually don't even want your face anymore, willingly throwing yourself into that playboy Heir's arms and sacrificing your reputation!”

Tang Liu completely failed to realize that these words of anger, blurted out in the heat of the moment,

had actually hit the mark, directly guessing most of the truth by sheer luck.

Tang Xiaowu's face instantly turned deathly pale, without a trace of color.

She only felt the world spinning around her.

Did Sixth Brother see it? Did he see that she was no longer pure?

Did he discover it through her awkward posture when she just entered the door?

But in the next second.

When Tang Xiaowu saw the anger and resentment that had not yet dissipated on Tang Liu's face, she suddenly reacted.

No!

He didn't know at all what happened in the Secret Realm!

So he was just saying words of anger?

When a person is extremely guilty and has their weakness poked,

they often erupt with a defensive anger ten times stronger than usual.

Immediately, the panic on Tang Xiaowu's face disappeared.

In its place was a fury even greater than Tang Liu's!

“Tang Liu!”

Tang Xiaowu suddenly looked up, her voice sharp enough to pierce the night sky:

“For all these years, I have always regarded you as the closest and most trusted person in this world!

I didn't expect that in your heart, I was actually such a despicable person.

I never expected that such vicious words would actually come out of your mouth, Tang Liu.”

Tang Xiaowu looked at Tang Liu, her chest heaving violently.

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she forced them back.

She gritted her teeth, speaking word by word, her voice bone-chillingly cold:

“Fine! Since you already think so in your heart.

Then I, Tang Xiaowu, am exactly that kind of loose woman, alright?

From now on, let's not see each other again.

Tomorrow, I will move out and live on my own.”

After saying those resolute words, Tang Xiaowu suddenly flicked her sleeve.

With a grim face, she walked straight toward her room.

Under this overwhelming rage, she miraculously could no longer feel that tearing pain from a certain place.

Tang Liu actually regretted it as soon as he said those words.

What kind of character Xiaowu had, what kind of person she was, did he not know himself?

She was proud and pure as water; how could she possibly just because the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion was rich and powerful,

approach them herself to throw herself into their arms and give them whatever they wanted?

Xiaowu hadn't returned for three days; she was most likely being forcefully held back

by some threat from that Zhenguo Marquis Heir!

Recalling Xiaowu's deathly pale face and her weak steps when she entered the door just now,

she must have been made things difficult for by that Zhenguo Marquis Heir!

Not only did he not care for or comfort her immediately,

but he also said those beastly, nonsensical words because of that ridiculous jealousy!

“Xiaowu!”

Thinking of this, Tang Liu was filled with deep regret.

He hurriedly ran over in a few steps, wanting to stop Tang Xiaowu, who was preparing to return to her room.

On his originally cold face, there was now a humble, fawning smile and an attempt to please:

“Xiaowu! Xiaowu, don't be angry!

It's my foul mouth, I'm a bastard!

I was just confused by anger and spoke without thinking!

I definitely didn't mean that, I was just too worried about you...”

“Get lost!”

Tang Xiaowu didn't give him any chance to explain at all.

She furrowed her brows in disgust, True Yuan circulating in her palm.

Without mercy, she pushed Tang Liu's chest.

She pushed Tang Liu, who was blocking the way, so hard that he stumbled back several steps.

Then Tang Xiaowu angrily stepped into her room.

With a loud 'bang!'

The door was slammed shut, and then the sound of the door bolt being slid into place came from inside.

Tang Liu stood blankly outside the tightly closed door, his hand still in a gesture of trying to hold her back.

As the cool breeze blew, he felt his heart was empty.

Like a stray dog, he stood in the courtyard at a loss, not knowing what to do at all.

And inside, Tang Xiaowu, leaning against the wooden door, breathed a long sigh of relief in her heart.

The heart that had been in her throat finally settled down.

It seemed she had gambled correctly; with how much Sixth Brother liked and cared about her,

as long as she got angry, made a big deal out of it, and seized the moral high ground,

he would surely fall into deep self-reproach.

He would definitely not dare to continue questioning what she had actually experienced in the Marquis Mansion these past three days.

“In these next few days, to prevent Sixth Brother from mentioning this matter again and thus seeing through my flaws...”

Tang Xiaowu slowly crouched down and rubbed her incredibly sore legs.

A trace of coldness, which she herself hadn't noticed, flashed in her beautiful eyes:

“I'm sorry, Sixth Brother... for these few days, I can only be a bit cold toward you.”