Chapter 146:
Xie Wanning didn’t even dare to think deeply about how profound this man’s thoughts truly were.
Last night they had been intimate, necks entwined, and the next day upon seeing the bite marks on her neck, he could lay such a scheme.
Could she still afford to keep such a pillow companion?
She was still lost in thought here, while the man opposite her had his gaze shift from her eyebrows and eyes to her slightly flushed lips, sliding down bit by bit, until it finally stopped on the jade pendant at her waist.
A pitch-black black jade, one she had never worn before…
Noticing his gaze, Xie Wanning also lowered her eyes to look at her own waist, her brows slightly furrowed.
Pei Yuqing withdrew his line of sight, lifted his hand to refill her ginseng tea, and said, “The city gates are closed. Tonight, we’ll stay temporarily at the hot spring separate courtyard.”
“You!” Unable to stand his appearance of already being at peace, Xie Wanning burned with anger. “After scheming against me like this, don’t you have anything to say to me?”
“I wasn’t considerate enough. I’m sorry,” his fingertip trembled slightly as he said, “Did he scare you?”
“…” Xie Wanning looked at him deeply, then powerlessly lowered her eyes, saying nothing more.
She realized that whether it was between them or between her and Lu Ziyan, she couldn’t win against either.
Against Pei Yuqing, she wasn’t as patient as him, nor did she have his depth of mind or methods.
He committed such a wrongdoing, got found out by her, yet still waited for her to question him.
The one whose emotions always fluctuated was her; he was best at enduring, and she could never see through his heart.
The emotions he revealed were only those he was willing to let her see.
His true thoughts, he kept deeply hidden.
Lu Ziyan was even more extreme; he didn’t play dirty at all, relying solely on overwhelming force to break through all methods. As long as one knew one’s own heart and what one truly wanted, let others scheme as they pleased.
She couldn’t outwit Pei Yuqing in mind games, nor could she match Lu Ziyan’s strength head-on.
At this point, she truly regretted her hasty marriage.
For a man who schemed so exhaustively, true heart was the scarcest thing.
Xie Wanning didn’t even dare to confirm if Pei Yuqing truly had such a thing as true heart for her.
The carriage fell silent.
The two sat facing each other, yet neither took the initiative to speak.
Until the carriage entered the Hot Spring Villa and came to a stop.
Xie Wanning was just about to bend down to get out when her shoulder felt heavy; a crow-blue cloak draped over her. She turned her eyes sideways to glance at the man whose hand still rested on her shoulder.
Pei Yuqing said warmly, “You can’t catch a chill. Don’t be angry with me yet.”
The two got off the carriage one after the other.
This place could be considered their place of romance; next door was the Xie Family’s separate courtyard, those scenes still vivid in memory…
The main courtyard was already lit up brightly, servants kneeling all over the ground in a rush.
Xie Wanning was not unfamiliar with this courtyard, but that day she had only drunk tea and chatted here, never stayed overnight.
Coming here again, she was already the female master.
Pei Yuqing removed the cloak from her body and said, “Go soak in a bath first to dispel the chill from your body.”
The washroom beside the main bedroom was a hot spring bathhouse with artificially introduced waters; the maidservants had already prepared everything properly.
Xie Wanning had no intention of going against her own body and walked straight inside.
The steaming hot spring pool faintly carried a medicinal scent.
She turned her eyes to the several maidservants. “Does he usually soak like this?”
“Your hot spring pool only has a few nourishing medicinal herbs. The Young Lord’s is different,” the maidservant explained. “The Young Lord’s medicinal bath is a conditioning prescription personally prescribed by several imperial doctors to treat his heart condition.”
Heart condition…
Xie Wanning pursed her lips and entered the hot spring pool, thinking to herself that he was full of cunning thoughts all over his body, overthinking everything; it was only right he had a heart condition.
In the depths of winter, soaking in the hot spring, the bone-piercing chill was gradually dispelled bit by bit. Just as she grew drowsy, the maidservant timely reminded her not to stay too long.
When she returned to the bedroom and saw the man in nightgown sitting sideways on the bed, Xie Wanning’s slight drowsiness vanished instantly, her footsteps halting three feet away.
Before at Duke Pei’s Mansion, though they were nominally living separately, since they had consummated last night, logically they should share a bed from now on…
But with so much happening today, Xie Wanning truly felt estrangement and was no longer willing to share a bed with such a deep-minded man.
Her fingers slowly clenched. “You go sleep elsewhere.”
The man on the couch paused slightly, turned his head to look at her, and seeing her hesitating unwilling to approach, lowered his eyes and said, “The Hot Spring Villa has no guest room.”
It was originally his private property, with no other visitors, so why would there be a guest bedroom prepared.
Xie Wanning stood in place with pursed lips. “Then I’ll go back to my manor to sleep.”
With that, she turned to leave, but after not two steps, her wrist was gripped by the person behind her. Then her waist tightened, and in a whirl, when she reacted, her whole body had been carried onto the couch.
His fingertip caressed her eyes reddened by anger, and Pei Yuqing said warmly, “The Xie Family separate courtyard hasn’t had its master residing for a long time. If you go there suddenly, the servants won’t have prepared in advance; it will take a long time to tidy up.”
Xie Wanning knew what he said was indeed reasonable.
What he didn’t say was that she, a married young lady, going over in the middle of the night to knock on the door and stay would certainly reach her mother and father’s ears…
“Stop being angry, alright?” His voice remained gentle. “This time, I was wrong. I was just too afraid…”
No one had ever told him that liking someone would bring inferiority.
The more he liked, the more inferior he felt.
The more he possessed, the more afraid he became.
He was eleven years older than her; this was a fact he could never change no matter how hard he tried.
He feared she would change her mind, feared she would regret choosing to marry him, feared too many things…
To the point that it made him resort to foolish moves one after another.
If it were before, hearing such words from him, Xie Wanning would probably have softened long ago. But now, after his repeated deceptions and manipulations, she was no longer moved.
She even wanted to laugh a little.
“Afraid of what?” She smiled at the man above her. “Afraid I’ve finally seen your true face, or afraid I’ve finally realized you’re actually not as good as Lu Ziyan?”
Her smile turned cold. “I thought you were an upright gentleman, but who knew you weren’t even as candid as Lu Ziyan.”
Pei Yuqing propped one hand by her neck, the other caressing her slightly red eyelids, saying nothing.
Truly annoyed by his ever-impassive expression, Xie Wanning continued, “I regret it.”
These four words seemed to strike some fatal point of his; Pei Yuqing’s pupils trembled sharply, staring straight at her.
With her anger rising, Xie Wanning wasn’t even afraid of a crazed Lu Ziyan, let alone him.
Seeing him look over, she instead smiled faintly. “What you’re worried about is indeed right. Lu Ziyan is young and promising, with a strong body, candid in character. Though his temper is a bit domineering, he only gets verbally stubborn at most. Compared to you who stays silent and plays dirty, he’s indeed much better.”
So, she regretted it.
Such an obvious subtext, Pei Yuqing understood instantly.
He blinked lightly. “Wanwan, you said you wouldn’t regret it.”
“Isn’t this what you forced?”
“You’re always testing me—from our wedding night, to our consummation, to everything that happened today, isn’t it all you testing?”
Xie Wanning said indifferently, “You think the one in my heart is him, that I’ll eventually turn back to him, so you keep testing, keep trying to create opportunities to make me completely break with Lu Ziyan.”
He didn’t know she had awakened past life memories from a dream, didn’t know she had already completely given up on Lu Ziyan. So in his view, her insistence on breaking off the engagement with Lu Ziyan and choosing to marry him might just be a momentary impulse.
Perhaps the smarter a person, the more they only believe in themselves.
Pei Yuqing had long known Liu Manrou’s true identity and that Lu Ziyan’s keeping a concubine was a misunderstanding, so he was certain that once the misunderstanding was cleared, she would turn back.
He needed to see with his own eyes her complete break with Lu Ziyan before he could completely let go of his insecurity and fully believe he completely possessed her.
As for her saying she wouldn’t regret, he wouldn’t believe it at all.
Thinking this, Xie Wanning simply said, “You’re all right. The one I’ve always liked is Lu Ziyan, liked him since I was young, never changed.”
“Then what am I?” The gentle fingertip on her eyelid suddenly pressed hard; Pei Yuqing’s gaze darkened. “I’m your husband. You like him—what am I then?”
“So you know you’re my husband?” Xie Wanning laughed in anger. “Then when you deliberately lured him to find me, what did you take me for?”
Such an accusation made Pei Yuqing’s gaze pause slightly. He parted his lips to speak, but Xie Wanning quickly interrupted, “Don’t say anything about arranging dead guards. Since you schemed for him to come, you were prepared for me to face him alone, weren’t you?”
The room suddenly fell quiet. Their bodies overlapped in an intimate position, but the atmosphere held no romance at all, even somewhat tense.
Xie Wanning’s one-sided tension.
After a long while, Pei Yuqing spoke with difficulty, “He didn’t touch you. After I left the palace, I immediately…”
“What counts as touching?” Xie Wanning laughed mockingly. “You’re really quite generous.”
“…What do you mean?”
Xie Wanning glanced indifferently at him, extended a finger to press against his shoulder, and pushed lightly. “Get off.”
The man who had always been compliant this time acted as if he hadn’t heard, not only not getting off but stretching his arm under her neck, encircling her entirely in his embrace, leaning in closer to press, “What do you mean by that?”
The faint Buddha’s Hand Incense scent entered her nose—this was a taste she had once been fascinated by. Xie Wanning was somewhat dazed, her eyes meeting the man’s fair and slender neck.
The bite mark she had left last night was still clearly visible.
…This was what Lu Ziyan had seen.
Her slightly wavering heart instantly firmed; she heard her own voice.
“Aren’t you very clever? You should be able to guess what he would do.”
The man above her stiffened for an instant, motionless for a long time. Xie Wanning couldn’t help but raise her eyes to look, but her vision darkened, and the next moment, her lips were covered by a warm touch.
He kissed very gently, even his breathing trembling from restraint. Logically, such a kiss should move her, but Xie Wanning merely blinked, her palm against his shoulder beginning to push hard in refusal.
Again beyond expectation, her refusal was useless; the kiss continued, even taking advantage as she parted her lips to speak, invading deeper.
Being forcibly kissed like this, no matter how gentle he was, inevitably stirred some anger in Xie Wanning.
Her teeth suddenly clamped hard, and taking advantage of his wince of pain, she turned her head to avoid his lips.
“Pei Yuqing, you want to use force?”
The breath so close stuttered; Pei Yuqing’s Adam’s apple slid up and down, his voice hoarse. “If you’re unwilling, then I’ll just kiss you.”
His kiss fell on her cheek. “Wanwan, I never intended to leave you two alone, never thought of letting another man commit an indecent act on you.”
“He… what did he do to you?”
Xie Wanning pursed her lips in silence until the man above her propped himself up and began undoing her sash. The moment his hand reached her waist, she hurriedly stopped him.
“What are you doing!”
“If you won’t say, I can only look myself.”
Her lapel half-open, Pei Yuqing’s gaze fell there as he said, “Wanwan, we’re a couple; there’s nothing I can’t see.”
“No! No husband schemes against his own wife like this.” Xie Wanning closed her lapel, frowning. “Get off!”
Pei Yuqing acted as if he hadn’t heard, merely looking at her faintly without moving.
“Get off first!” Xie Wanning gritted her teeth. “Whatever you want to know, I’ll tell you.”
They stalemated for a few breaths, then suddenly her body lightened; the man with that inexplicably oppressive presence rolled off.
“Tell me, what did he do?” Pei Yuqing’s voice was still clear and smooth, as if his emotions hadn’t fluctuated, but in the angle she couldn’t see, his gaze was terrifyingly dark.
“What can a man do to a woman?” Xie Wanning, oblivious, said indifferently, “Everything except the final step.”
As she spoke, she even feigned confusion. “Didn’t you think about what he would do when you schemed?”
The man beside her was silent for a long time; Xie Wanning couldn’t be bothered with him. She only wanted to repay bit by bit the pain of his betrayal and continued, “He even made me touch him—you know what I mean?”
The last four words were said as if afraid he wouldn’t hear, her tone even rising slightly.
After saying that, Xie Wanning waited a moment but got no reaction from the man beside her. Having expected his habitual endurance with no outburst of anger, she wasn’t disappointed and directly prepared to sleep.
She had just turned over facing the wall when her shoulder was gripped tight; the man behind her pressed seamlessly against her, his lips at her ear, his voice frighteningly cold.
“Touched where?”
Xie Wanning was stunned for an instant, not yet reacting when her knees were forced apart from behind by him, the hand on her shoulder suddenly pressing hard. The next instant, she was almost pressed flat against the wall.
Her skirt hem was lifted.
Her undergarments were pulled down.
The slightly callused fingertip slid up along the bend of her leg.
Xie Wanning struggled in disbelief, but the hand on her shoulder pinned her dead, not allowing her to turn.
“Pei Yuqing! You’re crazy!”
The hand lightly caressing her leg paused; the voice by her ear regained some warmth. “Answer me—where did you touch him?”
“Waist and abdomen!”
“And?”
“Nothing else!” Xie Wanning shouted. “Absolutely nothing!”
The man behind her lightly hummed. “Was it nice to touch?”
As he spoke, his hand continued its motion.
“Stop!” Xie Wanning tried to turn her head to glare at him. “You dare…”
“Yes,” Pei Yuqing leaned down to kiss her, murmuring amid the entangled lips and teeth, “I dare… how could I dare…”
