Chapter 301 - 301 Mistake

301 Mistake

Xiao Juan looked down at the woman sitting in the recliner and asked.

“Why are you eating here?”

Yu Niaoniao pointed at the wine jar on the small stove. “I have to watch the fire. I can’t leave. I might as well eat here.”

At this moment, the wine jar had already boiled, and the fragrance kept spreading out. Xiao Juan smelled it as soon as he entered.

He said, “Can’t someone else watch the fire for you?”

Yu Niaoniao said, “I spent a lot of effort on this pot of food. I’m worried about leaving it to others. Besides, others have to eat.”

Xiao Juan did not say anything else, but he had no intention of leaving.

Seeing this, Yu Niaoniao asked tentatively.

“Have you eaten? If not, do you want to sit down and eat together?”

Xiao Juan nodded without hesitation. “Yes.”

Yu Niaoniao immediately said to the people standing foolishly beside the stove, “Please bring another stool over.”

The kitchen helpers hurriedly brought over a stool from next door. After carefully wiping it clean, they placed it beside the small table.

Xiao Juan lifted his clothes and sat on the stool.

Stupefied, Pan Dafu placed a clean bowl and chopsticks in front of Duke Lang.

At this moment, everyone in the kitchen had eaten. They all looked at Duke Lang in a daze. The living King of Hell, who usually looked cold, indifferent, and unreasonable, was actually eating in the kitchen.

Logically speaking, his aura was completely incompatible with this kitchen that was filled with smoke and fire, but at this moment, it looked strangely harmonious.

Yu Niaoniao was nervous. Her mind was filled with thoughts about how to explain Shen Junzhi to Xiao Juan.

She suddenly heard Xiao Juan ask.

“Something bothering you?”

Yu Niaoniao came back to her senses. “How do you know I have something on my mind?”

Xiao Juan said lightly, “You’ve only been eating the rice in your bowl and barely picked up any other food. You look distracted. There must be something on your mind.”

Yu Niaoniao put down her chopsticks in embarrassment. “I do have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, what is it?”

Yu Niaoniao hesitated. “Let’s eat first. I’ll tell you later.”

There were other people in the kitchen. It was not convenient to talk about things.

Xiao Juan looked at her deeply, as if he had guessed what she was thinking.

After dinner, they helped the chefs clean up the kitchen and left.

Yu Niaoniao wanted to stay and watch the jar of Buddha Jumps over the Wall, so Xiao Juan also stayed.

The small table had not been moved. Pan Dafu had left some fruits, tea, and snacks on it as desserts for them.

Yu Niaoniao held a teacup in her hand and asked softly as she observed Xiao Juan’s expression.

“Do you want to know how I got from Crystal Spring Palace to Glazed Jade Palace?”

Xiao Juan gave an answer without hesitation.

“Yes, I do.”

It could be said that he was very direct and had no intention of beating around the bush.

Yu Niaoniao said, “Actually, Wei Liao was right. Someone did help me. That person’s name is Shen Junzhi. He’s one of my stepfather’s students. He used to live in my house for three years.”

Xiao Juan said, “You once asked me to send someone to investigate him.”

Yu Niaoniao nodded. “Yes.”

She had long suspected Shen Junzhi’s background and had asked Duke Lang to help investigate him, but he found nothing.

Xiao Juan looked at her uneasy expression and asked coldly.

“What’s your relationship with him?”

Yu Niaoniao said without hesitation, “I treat him as my brother. He treats me as his sister. We’re just siblings. Don’t think too much!”

Xiao Juan was silent.

Even though he had zero experience in affairs between men and women, he could hear the hidden meaning in Yu Niaoniao’s words.

Yu Niaoniao said anxiously, “I can swear that there’s really nothing between us. If I lie, let me be struck by lightning…”

Xiao Juan interrupted her. “That’s enough. I believe you.”

Hearing this, Yu Niaoniao heaved a sigh of relief.

Xiao Juan looked down at the tea in the cup and was silent for a while before asking.

“Can you tell me about you and Shen Junzhi?”

He knew that those things would make him uncomfortable, but he still wanted to know.

He wanted to know about her past. He wanted to know everything about her.

Yu Niaoniao scratched her head in embarrassment.

“Actually, it’s just some trivial matters. It’s not worth mentioning.”

Xiao Juan said, “I’m free now anyway. I’ll treat it as a story to relieve my boredom.”

Yu Niaoniao had no choice but to start from the beginning.

“The first time I saw Shen Junzhi was when I was eight years old.

He came to visit my stepfather, who, seeing his talent and intelligence, accepted him as a student.

He has lived with us ever since.

He was three years older than me. I often went to play with him.

“After a while, our relationship became more and more harmonious…”

In the beginning, Yu Niaoniao was still very nervous and careful with her words. She was afraid of causing any misunderstanding.

But gradually, she became immersed in her memories and spoke more casually.

“Shen Junzhi is very smart and learns very quickly. My stepfather often praised him and asked me to take him as an example and learn from him.”

“Actually, my learning speed is even faster than Brother Junzhi’s. It’s just that I’m too lazy to learn. Anyway, I can’t take the imperial examination. Even if I memorize four books and five sutras, it’s useless. Why waste my effort?”

“Don’t you think so?”

Xiao Juan looked at her calmly and asked, “You called him Brother Junzhi?”

Yu Niaoniao froze.

She covered her mouth. She had forgotten herself and actually said what she used to call him.

Xiao Juan said, “Looks like you’re really close to him.”

With that, he stood up and walked towards the door.

Yu Niaoniao quickly chased after him. “Don’t go! I misspoke just now!”

Xiao Juan walked out of the kitchen without looking back.

Yu Niaoniao chased after him for two steps, but because she was still sitting on the stove, she could not leave. She could only watch Xiao Juan leave.

She sat back down dejectedly and raised her hand to slap her mouth twice.

“Who asked you to have such a cheap mouth? Now that you’ve made him leave in anger, how are you going to clean up the mess?”

Xiao Juan returned to Mirror House. The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became. He believed in her character. She was not a promiscuous woman.

However, Shen Junzhi’s existence was still like a thorn in his heart, making him feel very uncomfortable.

Xiao Juan looked at the dossier in front of him, but he could not read a word.

After an hour, he could not sit still anymore and called Meng Xizhou in.

“Go and investigate a man named Shen Junzhi.”

Meng Xizhou: “Shen Junzhi? Didn’t you ask us to investigate him before? We didn’t find anything. There’s no such person in the household register.”

Xiao Juan analyzed calmly.

“This means that he’s using a fake name. He is nineteen years old this year and could enter the palace. This meant that his status was not low. He also knew the terrain of the palace very well, which meant that he should be from the palace.”

“Or perhaps he had lived in the palace for a long time. There shouldn’t be many people who can match these people at the same time.”

Meng Xizhou immediately said, “I’ll go and check now.”