That Fair-Faced 'Sage' {Completed}

76. The New Year

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The next morning, LanFen opened her door to find Shuǐ ChénLín waiting for her.

So much for her plan to avoid him!

The memory of the kiss came flooding back, and heat crawled up her face.

"Shuǐ Chén! My respects!" She cupped her hands and bowed. "I was just going to meet the Juniors!" She hurriedly moved past him, but he grabbed her wrist and yanked her back.

"Zhao LanFeng, Perhaps, are you trying to avoid me?" Shuǐ ChénLín asked calmly.

"Ei?" LanFen hadn't expected that! "How did you-?"

He released her hand. Of course he would know. Had he not been doing the same thing recently?

"Zhao LanFeng, you don't have to worry. I apologize for acting impulsively yesterday. Pretend it didn't happen."

He gave her a small smile, then turned and walked away.

LanFen sighed after he left.

Something about the way Shuǐ ChénLín had smiled, made her uneasy...

'Did he somehow guess my identity?' She wondered, but could find no answer to her question.

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Outside, Shuǐ ChénLín had stopped just  outside her door.

Through out the night, their heat-filled moment at the waterfall had kept repeating itself in his head, and he had tossed and turned, and even gone for a walk, wondering what was wrong with him!

But close to dawn, as he lay on his bed, Shuǐ ChénLín had began to realize a few things he hadn't been paying attention to.

'That flawless face...'

'Slight figure...'

'Avoids undressing before others...'

'Disappears once a month...'

'A flowery name like 'LanFeng'...'

He had shot up right, recalling the way LanFeng had felt, as they kissed...

Everything could be explained away, but put together in one person, the simplest explanation was...

'Zhao LanFeng! You're certainly a woman!' Shuǐ ChénLín had concluded.

First had come a rush of relief...

Then a sea of unbelievable fury!

Then drizzles of uncertainty...

'But how...? I've checked Zhao LanFeng's pulse numerous times!' He realized.

Still he was more than convinced, and at present, his irises shot to his disciple's door.

Just now, he had grabbed her wrist and  used the opportunity to check again. LanFeng's pulse still read as 'male', but he had found something else... Something he hadn't noticed before.

A Yin seal!

'Zhao LanFeng!!!' Shuǐ ChénLín was now fully convinced that his disciple was a woman, and though he was relieved, he was equally furious!

'How dare you make me question that aspect of myself?!!!!'

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After that, Shuǐ ChénLín was suddenly cold towards LanFen again, but this time, LanFen was also willing to avoid him.

Thankfully, Shuǐ ChénLín and Lu FengHo were hardly ever around, and they only came once in a while to test LanFen in her studies.

This was because Shuǐ ChénLín had to accompany his father to one secret meeting or the other, which sometimes spanned days or weeks, depending on what region or province they went to.