He dragged me forcefully, and I looked worried, imagining what punishment awaited me at home. As I was leaving, I caught a glimpse of Su Hui’s gloating smile, which made me gnash my teeth in anger.
An Jin dragged me home, and all the servants, grooms, and workers pretended not to see anything. I looked around pleading for help, but no one paid me any attention. Que’er stood in the courtyard, glaring at me and mouthing, “Serves you right!”
An Jin threw me into the room and signaled to Que’er. She immediately led Yuan Xiang away, and everyone in the small courtyard quickly dispersed.
I felt an ominous feeling. An Jin slammed the door shut and began to undress.
I swallowed nervously and held up the ink pad. “Hus-husband, I-I succeeded—”
He seemed not to hear, removing his belt and testing its flexibility, seemingly quite satisfied.
I was panicked. “What are you doing? According to the Secret Department’s rules, corporal punishment is prohibited!”
He smiled slightly. “Where did such a rule come from?”
“I made it up,” I said, my eyes fixed on the belt, imagining what he might do with it.
After various unpleasant imaginings, I was finally defeated by my inner fear and suddenly lunged forward, hugging his waist and wailing, “Spare me, good sir—”
“Speak.” “…I was wrong.” “Wrong about what?” “Shouldn’t have acted rashly—good sir, it’s so cold.” I shivered, twisting my neck, trying to give a seductive smile. Perhaps my face was twitching, making the smile look distorted, and he made a disgusted expression. “Stop it.”
I looked down, extremely embarrassed. “An Jin! You’re going too far! Is this how you treat your wife?”
“Aren’t you my subordinate Bai Yuan Xiang?” He reached out and scratched hard, making me scream and shed tears, begging, “No—Umm—It hurts so much…”
“You’re going too far!” Once I felt a bit better, I argued again. “Is this how you treat a subordinate?”
An Jin’s expression was evil, and with another hard scratch, I screamed repeatedly, my body twisting like a pretzel, unable to escape.
“Aren’t you my wife, Xiao Yao?”
I blushed, glaring at him through teary eyes, feeling truly hurt. “You-you bully—Dad! Mom! Big brother! Yuan Xiang—” I called out pitifully.
He covered my mouth. “One more sound and I’ll seal your mute acupoint!” Yuan Xiang seemed to hear my call, responding loudly and excitedly, probably thinking I wanted to play.
I nodded desperately, and he finally let go.
I sighed deeply, dejected: “I was wrong, truly terribly wrong.”
I shouldn’t have tried to help you by rashly seeking out Yan Or, shouldn’t have devised a silly plan to avenge the Fifth Princess, shouldn’t have thought my little cleverness could make a contribution to the country…” As I spoke, I secretly glanced at him, and he looked half-amused.
“Are you repenting? Or criticizing me?” His hand gripped my foot, fingers rubbing my sole.
“Repenting, definitely repenting,” I played pitiful. “How dare I criticize the Secret Master?”
“Don’t dare?” An Jin raised an eyebrow, laughing lightly. “You once followed me and sold my portrait, then set a dog on the Seventh Princess’s horse, even fought with her, and now you’re even using a ‘beauty stratagem’! Is there anything you don’t dare to do?”
Hearing him say this, I seemed to have indeed done many heinous things. I felt aggrieved: “This isn’t a beauty stratagem, at most it’s an old acquaintance stratagem.”
He gave me a cold glance, and I fell silent.
His anger seemed to soften slightly.
I understood that with an angry An Jin, I couldn’t be tough or soft, but needed to self-deprecate… In short, I needed to be hard on myself to break his heart.
So I cried dramatically: “I deserve punishment. This isn’t enough. I should be whipped with a thorny whip, beaten until my skin splits and flesh flies.”
An Jin’s brow furrowed, probably imagining the scene and feeling tense.
“Then pour salt water to make me suffer terribly.”
He shuddered.
“Finally, use your silken restraints to tie me up completely, drag me out for public humiliation, with a sign calling me an example of an unfaithful wife, to be despised by everyone.”
He finally couldn’t help it, his eyebrows tightly knitted, exasperated: “Is it that serious? I just scratched your foot.”
It was utterly inhumane! He actually tied my hands above my head to the bed post, removed my shoes and socks, and used a feather to scratch my foot’s sole! Knowing full well that this was my most vulnerable spot…
I glared at him through teary eyes. He sighed softly, putting my foot under the blanket, then moved close, gently burying his face in my earlobe. “You mischievous demon, I’m truly worried you’ll get yourself into trouble someday. What would I do?”
My heart softened, wanting to hug him, only then realizing my hands were still bound.
He kissed me passionately and tenderly, whispering while kissing, completely forgetting to untie me. “Yan Huo is no ordinary person. The secret agents sent to Xiliang, one after another, were eliminated by him. When he seized the throne, I tried every possible way to set up obstacles for him, yet he still became emperor.”
I retorted: “Didn’t he still fall for my trick?”
An Jin paused, gently biting with his mouth. “Do you really think it was that simple? In my opinion, he deliberately pretended to be drunk.”
My heart sank. “Are you saying he had already discovered my intentions? Do you mean he used this method to manipulate me instead? Does this mean the lotus seal is fake?”
“The lotus seal should be real. But now, he knows you have ulterior motives.”
I was still in shock. “Does this mean we’ve been completely exposed?” I was both regretful and angry.
“Sort of,” he said. I realized my outer garment was wide open and my undergarments exposed. “He knows something is wrong with you but doesn’t know exactly which side you’re working for. So he will definitely be cautious and wait to see our next move.”
“So if we go after the Su family, Yan Huo will know we’re secret agents from Qi Kingdom, and his next target will be you?” I felt a chill, uneasy. Yan Huo was incredibly cunning… I was far from his match.
“Don’t worry, he won’t openly move against us. At most, he’ll send people to secretly monitor us and wait for an opportunity.”
I sighed unwillingly. “Looks like all our efforts were in vain.”
“No. The Su family is Xiliang’s deepest line in Qi. Since he wants to use you, we’ll play along and dig up this line.”
He wants to see how strong we are, so let’s show him.” His eyes narrowed like a soaring hawk.
I immediately became excited. “Let’s do it!”
Seeing my jubilant mood, he quickened his actions, somewhat dissatisfied: “Focus. We’ll discuss these matters later.”
“Don’t speak.”
“At least untie my hands.”
“This is fine.” He buried his face.
I was indignant. “I knew it! You’ve been dissatisfied with my small chest for a long time!”
He smiled.
My mind went blank.
“I really can’t understand how someone with a stone face could become a general?” Little Sister was particularly harsh about the person she disliked. “No wonder, after he takes the field, he doesn’t even need to kill enemies, he just uses his icy venomous tongue to freeze and squeeze the enemies to death!”
I winked at her. She continued, “A big man keeping a turtle as a pet. Well, that turtle matches him quite well, they both have stone faces.”
I covered my face, twisting painfully to the side. “Don’t… say… anymore—”
She looked at me suspiciously. “Second Sister, what’s wrong with your eyes?”
I raised my trembling hand and waved behind her. “General Shen, long time no see.”
“
Little Sister was startled, turning to face a bluish stone-like face and a mischievous-looking grey parrot beside him. Princess Jiang Yunqiao finally couldn’t hold back and burst into uncontrollable laughter.
