Chapter Fifty-One: Grand Tutor, You Are Far Too Slick

“What’s the matter? Are you busy now? I don’t even know your name—how am I supposed to find you again?” Su Jingluo’s indifference only made Song Yunmo all the more intrigued. In the capital, every young lady would leap at the chance to meet anyone from the Song family, yet this girl before him seemed utterly uninterested, which made her unique.

“I’m sorry I lied to you, but there are special reasons I can’t tell you. I also hope you’ll keep what happened that day a secret. I’m just a wandering physician; you don’t need to know my name, and unless it’s important, don’t look for me. I have to go now.” Su Jingluo found this man insufferably annoying—especially since she dreaded the possibility that he might blurt out that their acquaintance began because he suspected she was relieving herself atop the wall.

“Don’t go, I have something to say!” Song Yunmo quickly stepped in to block her path.

“What is it?” Was this Grand Tutor some sort of persistent plaster, impossible to shake off?

“I need a doctor. I have insomnia. I think about you constantly—about your name, about when I’ll see you next. I can’t sleep at night for thinking of you.” Song Yunmo closed the distance between them, cornering Su Jingluo against the wall. He gazed at her, all trace of laughter gone, his expression serious. One hand braced against the wall—a classic posture for a romantic advance.

“You—You—Perhaps it’s not insomnia; perhaps something’s muddled your brain. If you hang your head upside down for a while, maybe you’ll finally get some sleep.”

Was this Grand Tutor actually flirting with her? Were people in this era truly so bold in their affections? Meeting once or twice and already losing sleep over it? Su Jingluo was truly vexed—one person trying to steal her from behind, another pestering her from the front. Worse, the Grand Tutor’s flirting was unbearably sleazy.

“Heroine, you seem to be insulting me. Are you insecure—do you think your status is beneath mine? Don’t worry, I would never look down on you. I’m unmarried and could even make you my wife,” Song Yunmo said, thinking that perhaps he’d been too forward and the young lady now saw him as a scoundrel. He felt he needed to prove his sincerity with something real.

Su Jingluo leaned back to escape, only to thud against the wall. Clearly, she’d misjudged him—it wasn’t that his brain was muddled, it was that it was utterly addled.

“Ugh! Get away from me! Who’s insecure? Why should I be? I’m just plain fed up with you,” Su Jingluo finally lost her patience.

“Don’t be angry, heroine. Do you think I’m a frivolous man? I’m not—I mean it,” Song Yunmo insisted, confused as to why this girl seemed to dislike him so much.

“Be more confident—take the words ‘do you think’ out of your question,” Su Jingluo retorted, then brought her foot down hard on Song Yunmo’s toe.

He crouched in pain, while Su Jingluo took the opportunity to slip out of the cramped corner and prepared to leave.

“That day, when you were squatting on the wall as if to relieve yourself, it was I who helped you down. You said we were fated to meet again, and I don’t want any reward—I just want to know your name,” Song Yunmo called after her, wincing as he gripped his aching foot, anxious to see her go.

There it was again—the incident on the wall. Su Jingluo turned, brows knitted in frustration.

“What sort of Grand Tutor are you? Obviously, I was just stuck on the wall, not doing anything as indecorous as you imagine. I only said we were fated to repay each other to get rid of you—don’t take it to heart. Besides, you were the one set up that day, and I helped you out too. So let’s call it even. Don’t bother me again.” Su Jingluo felt this Grand Tutor was truly unreasonable. How could he say he helped her, when it was she who’d forced him to act as a human ladder, and she had also inadvertently repaid the favor? Why wouldn’t he just let it go?