Oh. My. Fate?! (BL, Volume #1)

49 Leng Jin Yu Told Me

While the God of War, Qiang Yan, hadgotten a precise and complete account of everything pertaining ShunTao's mission and had already decided to get to the bottom of thisthe Fate's Scribe, Shun Tao, still tried to get everything out of adepressed Hong Bao.

Shun Tao stared at her, his handsnervously clenching and unclenching in his sleeves. If she had foundout something, just a little bit even, he might find the culprittoday. Then he would be able to go to the Heavenly Emperor andconfess his mistakes while presenting him with the name of theculprit and appropriate countermeasures to get Zhong Jing Yi's fateback on track so that crown prince Jing He could pass the rest of histrial in peace.

Unfortunately, Hong Bao knew nothingof his problems and she felt far from happy. She had wanted to spendtime with him but not like this. As a result, she kept mum.

Shun Tao grew more anxious with eachmoment. "Hong Bao, what exactly did you find out?"

"Not much." She fellsilent again after that. He hadn't even offered her a cup of tea.He just wanted to know about the mission and then he'd want her togo as fast as possible.

But why? She didn't do anything!She couldn't have left such a bad impression on him, could she?Could it really be that he didn't like women? Or no, maybe he evenhated them? Did he despise her because of that?

Thinking of how she would never beable to get together with her true love, her lips quivered and herhands trembled in her sleeves. Shun Tao still didn't notice. He wasclenching Jing He's scroll of fate, imagining the next gap thatmight appear this very instant. His lack of reaction distressed HongBao even more.

Without any other heads-up, hershoulders shook and she clasped her hands over her face and startedto cry.

Her heart-wrenching sobs managed topull Shun Tao out of his thoughts. He looked at her, stupefied. "That... Hong Bao, what happened?"

Instead of an answer, Hong Bao stoodup, turned around and ran out of his study, still crying. Shun Tao'sgaze followed her. What exactly ... had just happened?

"Ah ... Hong ... Hong Bao?"He waited but there was no response. She really seemed to have runaway. Shun Tao rubbed his brow, stood up and followed her outside. Hedidn't know what he had done wrong but he knew that he couldn'tlet her go like that.

He finally found her in thecourtyard of the scribe's palace. She was squatting close to thewall, seemingly neither wanting to stay nor wanting to go.

Shun Tao sighed. He didn't havethe time to care about this. But what was to be done? He couldn'tignore her either. Even if it hadn't been for her help: Shun Taowas of the opinion that it was enough reason to care if a woman ranaway in tears after talking to him. He had to make sure what this wasabout at the very least.

He squatted down next to her,likewise facing the wall. He didn't speak for a while and justlistened to her sobs. They didn't really know each other so hedidn't have a good grasp on how to approach the problem. The directway should be the best in this case?

Shun Tao bent a little forward andtried to let his voice sound a little gentler. "What's wrong,Hong Bao?"

Unfortunately, the girl only criedharder.

He sighed. "Is it because Isaid something wrong? You can tell me."

Hong Bao's sobs seemed to growquieter but she still didn't talk. Shun Tao hesitated, then stoodup and knelt before her. He pulled her into a hug and stroked herback. "I'm sorry. Whatever it is I did wrong I'm sorry. Youshouldn't be crying."

Hong Bao's sobs stopped short.What was happening here? Shun Tao ... Shun Tao was hugging her? Shefelt like extending her arms and hugging him back, like nestlingagainst his chest and lamenting how she had loved him for so long,without being noticed. But while her heart told her to do so, herthoughts explained that that wasn't the right choice. Shun Taodidn't behave like this because he liked her. He did it because hewas a gentleman and felt like he had to take responsibility after shestarted crying in front of him.

Feeling touched that he did so butalso feeling disgusted at herself for forcing him to do so Hong Baopushed Shun Tao backward. The Fate's Scribe who wouldn't haveexpected such a reaction even in his wildest imaginations fell to theground. He held back a groan and rubbed his hurting bottom.

Meanwhile, Hong Bao had averted herface, covering it with her hands. "You don't have to forceyourself! It's enough to know that you care enough to try toconsole me! But I don't want to force you to spend any more timewith me!"

Shun Tao lifted his brows. "What?"

"It's alright. You can asksomeone else!"

Hong Bao started sobbing again,leaving Shun Tao completely mystified. He felt as if he was watchinga play at a teahouse only to notice that he had missed the first arcand didn't know what was going on.

"That ... what should I asksomeone else?"

"To help you!" Hong Baocontinued to sob. "It's alright that you don't want to workwith me anymore."

"Why ..." Shun Tao heldhis forehead. He had fallen onto his buttocks. Why did his head hurtall of a sudden? "Why shouldn't I want your help anymore?"

"Isn't it because you despisewomen? You probably only asked me because I was the only personaround!" She cried even harder than before while Shun Tao'sheadache got worse.

"Who said that I despisedwomen?"

Hong Bao dropped her hands andstared at him with red eyes. "Leng Jin Yu told me!"

Shun Tao didn't know what to say.How come a person he had never before seen told someone whose help heneeded that he hated women? Something seemed wrong here? "Whywould I hate women?"

"Because you're into men!"

Shun Tao really didn't know whatto say anymore.