...
"Teacher!"
With a clear, crisp call, the gauze curtains of the side hall were suddenly lifted by a pair of fair hands.
Just as Hu Liena was about to step into the hall, Bibi Dong seemed to unleash an unprecedented power.
She almost bit her tongue, using the slight pain to regain her senses, and forcefully broke free from Xuan Hao's wrist, creating a few steps between them.
What she dared not face was not only her own scarred past, but also Hu Liena, who had just walked in!
That was her most beloved disciple, whom she had poured all her heart and soul into and treated like her own child!
Was she going to tell Nana that her teacher, the high and mighty Pope of the Spirit Hall, was actually plotting to steal the same man from his own disciple?!
This kind of unethical and chilling thing, even if Bibi Dong dies, even if she buries this abnormal feeling completely in her heart, she absolutely cannot let it see the light of day again!
No... she absolutely cannot hurt Nana!
"Junior brother! You're really going back... uh?"
Hu Liena ran into the hall with a look of surprise on her face, but when she saw the scene in front of her, she stopped in her tracks.
The atmosphere in the hall was extremely eerie.
Bibi Dong's chest rose and fell slightly as she stood to the side with her back to her, her purple silk robe looking somewhat disheveled.
Xuan Hao, who was sitting on the sofa, usually appeared fearless, but at this moment his face was terribly gloomy, and his blue eyes still held lingering hostility and a strong aggressiveness.
"Teacher, what's going on between you two...?"
Hu Liena looked at the two of them suspiciously and asked cautiously, "Did you have a fight?"
No, no.
Bibi Dong took a deep breath, forcing herself to steady her slightly trembling voice. When she turned around, her face was once again adorned with the dignified and serene papal mask:
"Nana, you're here just in time. Xuanhao has just returned, you two should have a good chat.
I just finished bathing, and this robe I'm wearing is a bit thin, I'll go change."
After saying that, Bibi Dong didn't dare to look at Xuan Hao's burning gaze. She almost fled into the inner room and closed the heavy carved wooden door tightly behind her.
Looking at Bibi Dong's somewhat flustered back, Hu Liena's doubts deepened.
She walked to the sofa, sat down next to Xuan Hao, and looking at his obviously gloomy face, she reached out with a touch of heartache and gently smoothed his furrowed brows:
"What happened?
Why did you make the teacher angry as soon as you got back?
Aren't you usually the best at making her happy?"
Feeling the warmth from his senior sister's fingertips, the fierceness in Xuan Hao's eyes gradually dissipated.
He rubbed his temples in frustration and let out a long sigh.
"fine."
"fine?"
Hu Liena's alluring fox-like eyes narrowed slightly, her face clearly showing disbelief.
She leaned closer, staring into Xuan Hao's eyes, her tone tinged with dissatisfaction and resentment:
"Who are you trying to fool?
The atmosphere is so tense you could wring water out of it!
What's going on that you're keeping from even your senior sister?"
Seeing Hu Liena's determined attitude of pressing for answers, Xuan Hao felt a sense of helplessness.
"It's really nothing serious."
Xuan Hao shook his head, then suddenly stretched out his arms and pulled Hu Liena, who was sitting next to him, into his embrace, holding her tightly.
"You'll understand in time. Right now... don't ask, let me hold you quietly for a while."
"Oh dear, you..."
Suddenly pulled into a broad, warm chest, Hu Liena gasped.
Then, smelling the familiar, faintly cool scent emanating from the young man, her body went limp, and the questions she wanted to ask were stuck in her throat.
She obediently leaned on Xuan Hao's shoulder, enjoying this long-awaited embrace.
But then, as if suddenly realizing something, a blush instantly appeared on her originally fair face.
"Xuan... Xuanhao, let go..."
Like a startled little rabbit, Hu Liena squirmed slightly in Xuan Hao's arms, lowered her voice, and scolded him in a mix of shyness and annoyance:
"This is the teacher's bedroom hall! The teacher is still changing clothes inside and could come out at any moment. What you're doing... is too presumptuous!"
Looking at his senior sister in his arms, who was usually alluring but was now blushing with embarrassment, Xuan Hao felt much of the frustration he had felt due to Bibi Dong's avoidance.
He couldn't help but chuckle as he lowered his head, whispering in Hu Liena's ear with a hint of teasing and mockery in his voice:
"Oh, senior sister, are you feeling embarrassed now?"
"In the past, to assert your dominance, you would kiss and hug me in front of the teacher countless times.
Where did that fearless and wild spirit of yours go?"
"you--!"
Touched on her childhood embarrassing past, Hu Liena felt extremely guilty.
She raised her small fist in shame and indignation, lightly punching Xuan Hao's chest, and bit her glistening lower lip as she retorted:
"How can that be the same?!"
"How old were we back then?
It was just kids playing house, we didn't know any better! Now... now we're all grown up, can it be the same?!"
Not long after, the heavy wooden door to the inner room was pushed open again.
Bibi Dong emerged. She had shed the slightly languid and sexy silk robe she had worn earlier, and donned an extremely formal purple-gold robe symbolizing the Pope's supreme authority.
Her long, flowing hair was now tied up high and adorned with a purple-gold crown.
She carefully put that cold, noble, and inviolable papal mask back on her face.
"It's getting late."
Bibi Dong deliberately avoided Xuan Hao's gaze, not daring to meet his eyes, and instead focused directly on Hu Liena, her tone returning to its usual coldness:
"Nana, take Xuanhao to rest. We can talk about it tomorrow."
After saying that, without giving Xuan Hao any chance to speak, Bibi Dong turned around again and quickly left the hall, heading towards the study deep inside the palace.
Her back view looked like she was fleeing in panic.
Watching the teacher's hurried departure, Hu Liena was completely baffled.
"strangeness..."
Hu Liena scratched her head, her face full of confusion, and muttered to herself:
"When I returned to Wuhun City a while ago, my teacher was still complaining to me, saying that I was a heartless little rascal who hadn't come back to see her for so long.
He must have been having too much fun with those beauties in Tiandou City and had completely forgotten about her."
"Now that you're actually back, why is she acting like she's avoiding you?"
Xuan Hao glanced at Bibi Dong's tightly closed study door, his eyes darkening, but he said nothing. He then took Hu Liena's wrist in his hand.
"Let's go back to my place first."
...
The two left the papal palace and arrived at a quiet courtyard to the side of the papal palace.
This is Xuanhao's private side hall, and right next to it, separated by a wall, is Hu Liena's residence.
When Xuan Hao went to Tian Dou City before, although he spent most of his time living in the dormitory of Wu Hun Academy, he was a restless person by nature and often caused trouble in the academy or Wu Hun City, making a ruckus.
Every time he got into trouble, Bibi Dong would personally catch him and lock him up in this courtyard.
Although it was called solitary confinement, in reality, the courtyard provided them with good food and drink, and they lacked nothing.
This was purely Bibi Dong's way of silencing those old guys in the Elder Hall and preventing them from gossiping.
"Tell me the truth."
As soon as they entered the courtyard, Hu Liena grabbed Xuan Hao's arm, her alluring fox-like eyes filled with worry:
"Did you really have a fight with your teacher?
Or... should I go and put in a good word for you and try to persuade her?"
In her opinion, although her junior brother was a bit of a troublemaker, he was always the most filial to the teacher, and the teacher loved him the most.
How could things suddenly become so tense?
Don't go.
Xuan Hao sighed helplessly, directly interrupting Hu Liena's thoughts, and said seriously:
"This is different. Listen to me, you absolutely must not get involved in this.
The more you interfere, the more complicated things will become."
"Her mind is in a mess right now.
Let her be alone and have some peace and quiet.
I can handle it."
Upon hearing this, Hu Liena frowned even more deeply.
She looked Xuan Hao up and down, and a guess that she considered extremely reasonable suddenly popped into her mind.
"Xuanhao, tell me the truth..."
Hu Liena moved closer, her eyes turning somewhat dangerous.
"Did you cause too much trouble by flirting with women in Tiandou City?
Even Crown Prince Xue Qinghe couldn't keep it under control.
It reached the teacher's ears, which is why the teacher is so angry?"
In Hu Liena's mind, the only reason that could make Xuan Hao's teacher, who had always indulged him, so angry that he even avoided seeing him, was probably because this kid had been too promiscuous outside and had caused some kind of infamous romantic entanglement!
Upon hearing this guess, Xuan Hao was both amused and exasperated.
He helplessly reached out and pinched Hu Liena's fair cheek, giving a wry smile:
"My dear senior sister, could your imagination be any more vivid?"
"If it's really like you say, and it's just because I was flirting with other women and made her angry..."
Xuan Hao's mind flashed back to Bibi Dong's flushed and panicked appearance on the sofa just now, and he sighed silently in his heart:
"That makes things much simpler."
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