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Ma Junying, however, was hurt by this token of gratitude. His face showed a trace of melancholy as he bid Lin Yuan farewell, then mounted his carriage and departed.

That night, Ma Xiaonan played till she was quite tired, and upon getting into the carriage, she collapsed onto the soft cushions. Seeing her elder brother slightly distracted, she straightened her expression and asked softly, "Brother, do you like Miss Lin?"

Ma Junying raised an eyebrow, his obsidian-like eyes unusually bright, "Hmm?"

Ma Xiaonan’s eyes curved into a smile as she patted her brother’s shoulder encouragingly, "Big brother, Miss Lin is both beautiful and smart, and most importantly, her character is good. I would like her to be my sister-in-law. You must work hard to win her over and marry her into our family soon!"

Marry her into our family soon?

A slight bitterness welled up in Ma Junying’s heart. He wished he could, but there was already someone else by her side. Was there still room for him?

After a busy day, Lin Wei and Xiao Linshuang had finished their dinner, and Lin Yuan had Lin Yi send the two of them back to Zhuma Town to reunite with their parents.

Lin Yuan, however, could not leave. The stinky tofu had just hit the market, and the shop was crowded, so to prevent any accidents, she did not go home that night.

Thankfully, everything went smoothly.

Under the flickering, dim candlelight, Lin Yuan propped her chin up, gazing steadily, lost in thought.

"Alas!"

She sighed, wrapping her cloak tighter and then lowered her head to continue doing the accounts for the day.

Although it was just one day’s accounts, she had already been calculating for nearly two hours.

It wasn’t because the accounts were complicated, but because her thoughts were already flying elsewhere.

As she languidly clicked her abacus, Lin Yuan’s ears twitched. She suddenly felt the door to her room move, and when she looked up, she saw a dark figure lunging at her.

Startled, Lin Yuan abruptly leaned back, her hands instinctively blocking the attacker’s strike.

Using the chair’s momentum, she kicked up her foot.

But the assailant was well-versed in martial arts and, with a slight sidestep, easily dodged her kick.

During the dodge, whether intentional or not, the assailant’s hand brushed against her calf and slid down, reaching her foot.

Lin Yuan gasped in horror, not waiting for his palm to grab her foot, and with a swing of her hand, threw the abacus at him.

The assailant hesitated, missing her foot.

But this had thoroughly enraged Lin Yuan. Without the abacus at hand, there was still a candlestick!

Grabbing a candlestick, Lin Yuan lunged at the assailant’s face.

The assailant, whose martial arts were not exceptional but was as agile as a snake, spun and dodged the candlestick, moving to Lin Yuan’s side. The distance was so close, Lin Yuan could feel the warm breath from the assailant and thought she heard a suppressed, muffled sound, like laughter.

Lin Yuan swung the candlestick again, puzzled. Why would this man be laughing? And the door had been securely fastened! And there was Lin Yi, who usually acted so capable. Why was he missing just when needed?

They say in a fight, one should never be distracted. As Lin Yuan muttered these complaints, the assailant saw an opening, hooked her candlestick-wielding arm behind her back, and dropped it on the ground. His other hand reached for Lin Yuan’s face.

Lin Yuan bit her lip and struggled fiercely, but the man’s strength was too great for her to break free.

With her hands constricted, why not use her legs? Was it so easy to subdue a vigorous woman?

Just as Lin Yuan was about to kick at the man’s groin, she saw the fist coming toward her face suddenly stop, and then something fell out of it, dangling in front of her, making her dizzy.

Could this be an attempt to hypnotize?

While Lin Yuan was wondering, she finally discerned what it was. It was a fine piece of mutton fat jade shaped into a heart with characters etched on it. The writing was too small, and the jade pendant was swaying, leaving Lin Yuan unable to see clearly what was written.

But one thing she was sure of, the man in black was none other than Xia Zheng, whom she had been thinking about all night!

"Xia Zheng!"

Lin Yuan was shocked and overjoyed, yet also angry. With her hands constrained, she leaned forward, opened her mouth, and bit off the black cloth from the assailant’s face. In punishment, she also took the opportunity to bite his prominent nose.