Chapter 69:
Methods…
Pei Yuqing lifted his eyes to gaze steadily at her. Xie Wanning met his gaze without flinching. After a long while, he suddenly chuckled lightly. “Wanwan, I will never use methods against you.”
He could not bear to force her even a little, let alone use methods to bind her.
From beginning to end, what he wanted was her willing heart, her full-hearted joy as she ran toward him.
The midsummer sun blazed hot, refracting through the carriage window’s gauze curtain and falling around Pei Yuqing, illuminating the already pure-as-snow man with an even gentler and more elegant glow, very much like a deity above the temple who embraced all things in the world.
Xie Wanning watched and watched, beginning to suspect that she had probably misunderstood.
Such a gentle person, how could he scheme so deeply just to obtain her.
Her detest for Lu Ziyan originated from the dream and deepened due to his tireless entanglement—what did it have to do with him.
How could it just be pinned on him out of nowhere.
Moreover, that time at the rockery, if not for the man before her arriving in time, she did not know what she would have been bullied into by Lu Ziyan…
Thinking this way, Xie Wanning’s suspicions instantly dissipated, and she felt she should not wrong someone without cause, merely based on vigilance.
But she always remembered what Lu Ziyan had said: Liu Manrou was his cousin’s concubine, and the child in her belly was also Lu Zishuo’s posthumous child.
Pei Yuqing commanded the Qing Tian Guard; he could not be unaware of the inside story…
The finger joints in her sleeve slowly clenched tight, her mood a tangle of mixed feelings.
On one hand, she felt that what he did was not wrong at all—no one would specially go explain things to their love rival.
On the other hand, she felt that him doing so did not match the upright gentleman image in her heart.
After passing the city gate, the road was not as smooth as inside the city. Occasionally passing over potholes made the carriage shake a bit.
Xie Wanning gripped a corner of the small table to steady her body, deciding to stop thinking about those things.
Anyway, she would definitely break off the engagement with Lu Ziyan.
No matter what the inside story was, no matter whether Lu Ziyan had any entanglement with Liu Manrou, she was determined to break off the engagement.
The tragedy in the dream constantly reminded her that it was impossible to turn back, and since that was so, whether Pei Yuqing told the truth or not was not important.
She would not take out her anger on him.
Xie Wanning took a deep breath, about to say something, when the carriage suddenly braked to an emergency stop.
“How bold, daring to block the Duke’s Estate’s carriage?”
Pei Er’s stern shout came in through the curtain.
Immediately after, a voice Xie Wanning was very familiar with rang out.
“For rashly disturbing, please forgive me, Young Lord Pei,” the steady male voice was neither humble nor arrogant, firm and composed: “I wonder if Miss Xie is in the carriage? Our Young Lord has a letter…”
At this point, Ming Jian’s voice stopped.
Because Xie Wanning had already lifted the carriage curtain, showing him the scene inside the carriage.
Just as the news he had received indicated, the young lady who had nearly become his matriarch boarded the carriage from Duke Pei’s Mansion and was now alone with the young lord of the Duke’s Estate, a man and a woman isolated in the enclosed carriage compartment.
Ming Jian’s expression turned ugly, but he still bowed in salute, took a letter from his sleeve, and said: “Miss Xie, when Yun Jin went to your residence, he did not see you. The letter the Young Lord gave you ended up in this subordinate’s hands…”
“Enough,” Xie Wanning raised her voice to interrupt, impatiently saying: “Young Lord Pei and I have already broken off our engagement. He can send his letters to whomever he pleases. Please do not block the way.”
“Before the Young Lord left, he said that you agreed to accept the letter Yun Jin sent.”
His master’s letter was met with such detest from others that Ming Jian was truly burning with anger in his heart, his voice tense from holding back.
Xie Wanning got annoyed just hearing Lu Ziyan’s name. Seeing him still blocking the way, her face also turned cold. She was just about to speak when her hand was grasped by someone.
Pei Yuqing held her hand and soothingly pinched it, coaxing, “Getting angry harms the body. Don’t easily get angry over trivial matters.”
With that, he lowered his gaze to look at the person blocking the carriage, saying indifferently, “Move aside.”
Ming Jian not only did not step aside, but instead lifted his head to look at the man and woman inside the carriage, his gaze sharp: “Your engagement with my family’s Young Lord was broken off less than a month ago, and he has been away from the Capital City for not even half a fortnight. Dare I ask, Miss Xie, what are you doing?”
Ming Jian had followed Lu Ziyan for many years, so Xie Wanning was actually not unfamiliar with him. Previously, he had always been respectful and courteous when seeing her, and had never been so impolite in his speech.
Even in the dream where Lu Ziyan had a new love, Ming Jian’s attitude toward her had never changed; he always respected her as the matriarch.
Now, with his current stance of standing up for his master, it made Miss Xie momentarily stunned, and then she laughed out loud.
“What am I doing?” The impatience in her tone instantly vanished. She shook the hand that was still tightly interlocked with Pei Yuqing’s toward the youth at the front of the carriage, who vaguely resembled her master in aura, and laughed, “What do you think I’m doing?”
The skin tones of the two clasped hands were both coldly pale like jade, even somewhat dazzling under the sunlight.
She smiled brightly and said, “Of course I’m strolling hand in hand with my new fiancé.”
The words “new” were deliberately spoken by her a bit slower, faintly carrying a hint of lingering affection. Pei Yuqing, unable to hold back, glanced sideways at the young lady’s beautiful profile, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
He pursed his lips slightly and instructed the guards on either side to clear the road.
The lifted carriage curtain was lowered, blocking Ming Jian’s line of sight. The last scene before his eyes was that pair of man and woman gazing at each other with tender affection.
When the guards of Duke Pei’s Mansion approached, he no longer blocked the way, standing dazed to one side.
In his ears echoed only the young lady’s soft, sweet voice saying those words, “new fiancé.”
…….
He thought that the woman his family’s Young Lord had set his sights on was indeed ruthless enough.
Should he pass this news to the Master who had just arrived in Yunzhou?
Once he received this news, could he still steady his mind, pacify the rebellion, and return to the capital victorious?
…………
The instant the carriage wheels began rolling slowly, the smile on Xie Wanning’s face completely vanished.
Ming Jian, who always stayed by Lu Ziyan’s side, surprisingly did not go to Yunzhou with him this time.
No matter why he stayed in the Capital City, once he learned of her impending marriage, he absolutely could not ignore it.
He would surely report it to Lu Ziyan, and once Lu Ziyan received the news, would he come to disrupt her marriage?
The journey to Yunzhou was not far; riding hard, one could return to the capital in five or six days…
The girl’s complexion looked very poor. Pei Yuqing squeezed her palm and said, “What are you thinking about?”
Xie Wanning did not hide it from him and voiced her worries, adding, “That person is a bit crazed now. I can’t even imagine what he might do if he learns I’m getting married.”
She had always thought that growing up together with Lu Ziyan meant she understood him somewhat, but those few dreams had already shattered most of her confidence.
Until that night when he broke into her boudoir at night, she dared not believe that this was something her stern and ruthless bamboo horse could do.
He cornered her on the couch, forcing her to promise to wait for his return.
He even disregarded her struggles to hold her, deliberately frightening her.
Abrupt and rude, arrogant to the point of madness.
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