Although I was inwardly elated, I sat upright on the chair with the most serious expression. “Speak.” He lowered his head, a drop of sweat hanging on his forehead. “Speak about what?” I recalled the humiliating scene when he caught me secretly painting for the Eastern Palace… Finally, I could hold my head high! The situation was now completely reversed, with me interrogating and him nervously responding. ”Just tell me what despicable things you did back then?” I said casually, not forgetting to glance at his face. He narrowed his eyes, but his dark pupils looked even brighter and more intimidating. Just a simple sweep of his gaze across my face made my heart skip, almost instinctively wanting to lean closer. I struggled to maintain my outward composure, almost feeling my lips trembling, cold sweat climbing my back. An Jin probably misunderstood something, his well-proportioned eyebrows furrowing, looking at me with a complex gaze. “A Yao…
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you know.” ”Yes, I know everything.” I turned away, avoiding his gaze. An Jin suddenly reached out and grasped my fingers. His usually warm hand was now somewhat cold. I halfheartedly tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let go. ”A Yao, look at me.” I insisted on not turning my face. Cannot look at him, cannot look at him… his eyes have a demonic spell, one look and I’m done for! He sighed. “You won’t even look at me?” The sadness in his voice extended its claws, scratching at my heart. So I weakly turned back, using anger to mask my timidity, glaring at his face. ”Yes, everything was my doing.” He seemed to have finally made up his mind. I never expected that my rare attempt to intimidate would reveal so many shocking secrets.
No wonder the Lin family’s young master always borrowed writing supplies from me. Duan Chang being taken to the Linglong Pavilion, the items Yan Huo sent me being intercepted… all were done by this beast.
An Jin blurted out all of this, his jade-like face turning red, seemingly embarrassed and angry. “If the Third Prince Xia Zhichun hadn’t gone to Western Liang, I would have prevented your affair with him just the same.”
I stared at him, speechless for a long time. Surprised, utterly surprised. It seemed An Grey Wolf had spent these years not just studying and taking official exams, but also busy blocking my romantic encounters in his spare time.
My heart felt complicated. Should I blame him? If not for his interference, I might have married someone else long ago and been strangers to him by now. I could hardly imagine myself living harmoniously with another person.
Over a decade of knowing each other, he had imperceptibly entered my heart.
I was used to him, just as I was used to crispy sugar cakes, used to round glutinous rice balls, used to my father’s digressions and my mother’s fierce nature, used to waiting sweetly at home every day for someone to come home for dinner. Apart from him, being with anyone else seemed like an abnormal error that needed immediate correction.
An Jin stared at me, probably unnerved by the ever-changing expressions on my face. He clearly didn’t want me to marry someone else, but instead of fighting for me openly, he resorted to underhanded tactics, completely disrespecting my right to know, and I wanted to teach him a lesson to ease my frustration.
I kept a stern face, casting a cold glance at him like a winter wind in the twelfth lunar month. “So that’s how it was. Others aside, but Yan Huo…”
I was about to ask him how he had schemed Yan Huo, who was in Xiliang, into this, but unexpectedly, his face darkened, and he murmured, “I know, I understand.”
“Three years ago, Yan Huo came to Yanfeng and met you. When you were with him, you were completely different.” He seemed to be recalling an unpleasant memory. “You were very compatible. Perhaps no one else was truly in your heart, only him…”
“Do you really love him?” he asked with difficulty and bitterness, and I began to understand.
“Actually, I’m not quite…”
He seemed not to hear me and continued, “If I hadn’t found a way to make him return to the country early, you might have actually been with him. Moreover, I stopped him from communicating with you, completely cutting off your connection.”
I blinked, looking at him, anticipating what he would say next.
“I knew I couldn’t wait any longer, so even though I knew you had someone else in your heart, I still proposed to the Xiao family.” He pursed his lips, the previous blush fading, leaving an unusually pale complexion. “On our wedding night… I knew you were unwilling, but I still—”
His voice was somewhat obscure.
I had never tried to understand everything from his perspective like I did now. He believed I truly loved Yan Huo, and he must have struggled internally. Yet, he ultimately decided to intervene. This became a knot in his heart, over time brewing into a strong, aged vinegar.
No wonder his expression was strange that wedding night, looking at the bed’s red traces. The emotions swirling in his heart at that moment were hard to distinguish—more guilt or more joy.
“You’ll understand eventually,” he lowered his eyelids, his upturned eye corners about to take flight. “Blame me if you want, but I don’t regret doing this.”
After the wedding, he didn’t know how to face me.
He thought I hated him for forcing me to marry, I thought he still resented me for initially refusing his proposal, and we had been awkwardly tense for over a year.
I was between laughter and tears. Just this misunderstanding made us spend a year walking on eggshells.
He looked at me with a martyr-like expression. “That’s how things are.”
“Mm.” I nodded. “Well said.”
He carefully studied my expression. “That’s it?”
“Uh—” I thought. “I understand.”
“You—understand?” These words seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.
Now should come the sweet talk, right? I looked at him expectantly.
He seemed uncomfortable. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“What else?”
He was stunned. “I’m done.”
“Just like that?” I was disappointed. “Didn’t you have any inner thoughts? Like, how did you feel when you saw me with Yan Huo?”
An Jin was dumbfounded, mumbling, “Inner… thoughts?”
How could he be so slow? I was frustrated. Shouldn’t a man passionately hold the woman and say, “You’re mine, and I’ll never let you go to anyone else”?
He continued staring at me, dazed. “You don’t blame me?”
“I do. Of course I do.” I hooked my arm around his. “I blame you for keeping all this bottled up, unwilling to clarify things with me.”
“A Yao…” His expression gradually turned joyful. “You—”
I sat on his lap, nestling into his embrace.
“Indeed, at that time, I did like him a bit—” his body immediately stiffened. I continued, “But all of that is long past. I’ve always known who I truly want to spend my life with.”
His chest trembled intensely. “A Yao…”
“I only regret not accepting your proposal when I was fifteen.” I closed my eyes and rubbed against him. “I only wish I had married you earlier, had understood my heart sooner.”
To unravel the knot he’d been carrying for three years, I had to use some cheesiness. I deeply felt the challenges of being a wife.
He suddenly pulled back slightly, staring intently at my face, his eyes burning as if wanting to bore two holes through me. “Little demon, are you really my little demon?”
I rolled my eyes. “I suppose so.”
He curled his lips, smiling very contentedly. “I’m happy, truly—”
Now surely would come the sweet talk, right? I rekindled my hope.
Who knew he wouldn’t continue speaking, but instead tightened his grip on my waist, his lips heavily landing, his scorching fingers forcefully tearing open my clothes.
…
