Chapter 37: Mine. All Mine
Hours into the night, the gathering held by the Yun family had finally come to an end.
Guests steadily walked out of the Yun residence in small clusters, their voices blending together beneath the moon-lit sky. Carriages had been brought up from, lined at the entrance one after another.
The guards stood stationed around the gates and along different corners of the courtyard, their backs remained straight and their eyes fully open. Servants hurried around carrying lanterns, helping nobles into waiting carriages and trying their best to clean up the place while avoiding the eyes of the guests.
Near the main entrance, Yun Meilin, Tang Jiangxuan and Gu Wanqing stood beside the Lady of the Yun family. A few guests stopped to exchange polite greetings before taking their leave.
After that, the group exchanged words with each other but our dear Wanqing wasn’t paying much attention to them.
Ever since she stepped out of the hall, her gaze had unconsciously drifted toward the entrance several times. Though she had a calm expression on her face, inside her chest... her heart was racing for reasons best known to her and not to forget the annoying way the tip of her right foot kept tapping lightly against the floor.
It had been quite a few minutes since she sent Han Luo to escort tiger back. But up till now, neither of them had shown their faces.
Wanqing’s dark eyes narrowed slightly with only one thought in mind, what exactly was taking so long?
Meilin, who had been stealing glances at her for the past few minutes, finally spoke softly. "Wanqing...are you waiting for your servants?"
Wanqing looked at her briefly before nodding slightly. For Meilin, that was enough.
For some reason, no matter what Yun Meilin said or did, Wanqing always found herself tolerating it.
The Lady of the Yun family suddenly smiled warmly and stepped closer to Wanqing. "Wanqing, I heard Her Highness’s birthday banquet is being hosted three days from now."
Wanqing already knew where this was going and hearing those two words, ’Her Highness’ made her feel sick.
Despite the darkened look on Wanqing’s face, the older woman continued smiling.
"Do you think... Perhaps... you could mention us to Her Highness? It doesn’t have to be anything serious. Just a casual reminder. Meilin has always admired the Imperial princess. It would really be a shame if she couldn’t attend."
The small smile on Meilin’s face dropped instantly. "Mother!" She snapped, her cheeks turning red. "Can you please not talk about this, especially not in front of the guest’s?!"
The older woman waved her hand dismissively. "Nonsense. I’m merely speaking the truth."
Then she looked back at Wanqing with hopeful eyes. Wanqing stared at her quietly for a few moments before replying in a soft tone.
"I’ll see what I can do."
She didn’t agree nor refuse the request but that one answer was enough to end the conversation.
She bowed her head slightly and then said, "I’ll be taking my leave now."
Then, her eyes shifted to Tang Jiangxuan. "And you, tell your bastard friend to appear at the banquet."
Tang Jiangxuan blinked in confusion then as if realizing what she was talking about, he grinned.
"You mean him?" He asked, scoffing lightly. "That bastard just disappears every few days, I’m not promising anything. But I’ll do my best. "
Wanqing spared Meilin a small nod before stepping back. She had truly reached her limit in socializing.
It was almost midnight and she hated being out this late. Note importantly—
Where exactly were Han Luo and Tiger?
With a slight frown on her face, she finally decided to go look for them herself.
She had just taken a step forward when suddenly, something crashed straight into her. Hard enough that she stumbled a few steps backwards while trying her best to remain standing.
Wanqing frowned, her eyes widened slightly as she felt two arms wrapping themselves tightly around her waist.
The one noisy courtyard turned completely silent. For the first time that night, Gu Wanqing looked genuinely confused and maybe a tad bit angry.
Her hand remained hanging stiffly beside her body as she lowered her eyes slowly. A head was buried into her chest.
The first thing she noticed was the white hair, messy and definitely something she recognized at first glance.
Wanqing blinked and then took in a deep breath, she could smell cheap alcohol and there was also a faint scent of roses too.
The scent was very light but it made her feel...weird?
"Tiger?" She whispered slightly.
When Anning didn’t respond, she was preparing to call out again when the sound of hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from nearby.
"Young miss"
Han Luo practically ran out from the residence but the moment his eyes landed on the scene a few feet away from him...he froze.
His gaze moved to Wanqing, then Anning, then back to Wanqing again.
Very slowly, he lifted a hand and slapped it over his forehead in frustration. Han Luo had his gaze fixed on the sky above them and Wanqing just stared at him.
After a few seconds, Han Luo bowed deeply and said, "I apologize for my incompetence."
His voice sounded unusually strained, but he continued either way, "She got drunk and refused to come with me. I tried my best to help her." He paused briefly. "But somehow, it resulted in this."
Wanqing lowered her eyes again, staring at Anning’s arms that were wrapped tightly against her waist.
Very tightly.
Wanqing pressed her lips into a straight line before carefully trying to pull away.
"Let go." She muttered, but didn’t get a response. "Tiger."
No response.
Instead, Anning suddenly let out a low whining sound. It wasn’t loud but it sounded like something between a moan and a sob
Then, right in front of all the guest’s present... She buried her face deeper into Wanqing’s neck.
Wanqing’s entire body instantly stiffened at the sudden contact, she tried once again to push Anning off her, but since she didn’t want to hurt her. She stopped.
"..."
Despite all the gazes on them, Anning nuzzled her face into Wanqing’s neck and in a sleepy voice, she mumbled, "Mine. All mine."
