Chapter 29 Her undergarments are gone!

When Xue Mingyao woke up, it was already broad daylight. She was in the Xue family's carriage, still wearing the same clothes she had worn when she left at midnight the night before. She was covered from head to toe in a cloak, with only her hair roughly tied up with a wooden hairpin.

She felt something was wrong with her body, but couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Her brother's voice came from outside the carriage. Xue Xingtai apologized repeatedly, saying that his sister had acted foolishly and offended the general, and that he would definitely teach her a strict lesson.

Xue Mingyao got up, pulled back the carriage curtain and peeked out. The carriage stopped at the entrance of the Xie residence. Xie Zhuo and her brother had just finished talking and went into the residence without looking back.

As Xue Mingyao watched his receding figure, memories of last night flooded back like a tidal wave. She suddenly realized that she had said so much to him, but forgot to ask why he had abandoned his literary pursuits for martial arts.

"Xue Mingyao, how dare you wake up!" Xue Xingtai's angry voice rang out. He shoved her head into the carriage with his large hand, followed her in, and bombarded her with questions.

"Sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night, you think you're so tough? Breaking into someone else's house like that, aren't you afraid of being arrested as a thief! I didn't send Qi Zhao here to do this with you!"

"You even slept in someone else's house? Have you forgotten that you're a woman? Luckily, General Xie is a gentleman and doesn't take advantage of people in distress, otherwise you would have nowhere to cry."

Qi Zhao drove the carriage smoothly toward the Xue residence. Xue Mingyao curled up in the carriage, covered her head with a cloak, and closed her eyes and ears.

Xue Xingtai is still training.

"I'm telling you, from today onwards, you are not allowed to go anywhere. Tomorrow I will go and report to His Majesty to approve your marriage with General Xie and marry you off as soon as possible to prevent you from causing any more trouble."

"Stop dragging your feet and trying to find ways to refuse the marriage. General Xie is determined to marry you. I don't know what good fortune you accumulated in your past life to have such a great general so devoted to you..."

Xue Mingyao, unable to bear it any longer, poked her head out from under her cloak, "Xue Xingtai!"

"Huh?" Xue Xingtai was taken aback.

"Are you blind? Can't you tell he's Xie Qinglang?!"

It took quite a bit of effort to get Xue Xingtai to understand the whole story. It turned out that Xue Xingtai had only met Xie Qinglang once years ago, and without a word, they started fighting again. After all these years, he had long forgotten what she looked like. Not long ago, Xie Zhuo took office as the Grand General of the Jade Unicorn Guard. Xue Xingtai and a group of other officers paid their respects to him. Upon seeing his true appearance, he merely remarked that the general's bearing was more than worthy of his younger sister.

Qi Zhao was never one to talk much, and when he came to report to Xue Xingtai, he didn't tell him Xie Zhuo's identity, so he assumed that Xue Xingtai had already recognized him.

Xue Xingtai was dumbfounded and speechless for a long time.

Xue Mingyao's face flushed red again, and she buried her head in her cloak once more.

She finally figured out what was wrong with her body.

Her chest felt loose, like two rabbits inside her, bouncing lively with the swaying of the carriage—that damned Xie Qinglang had taken her undergarments!

He saw her naked—that wasn't so bad, it wasn't like he hadn't seen it before, but Xue Mingyao couldn't ignore the strong sense of humiliation in it. He was toying with her, teasing her, treating her like a prostitute.

The shy boy who used to blush at the slightest touch has completely transformed into a seasoned womanizer.

She couldn't outmaneuver him.

When the carriage arrived at the Xue residence, Lüzhi was already waiting at the door. Afraid that the princess would be cold, she had brought a padded jacket with her. Xue Mingyao put it under the cloak, got out of the carriage in a huff, and went back to her room.

After changing and washing up, Green Branch helped her comb her hair and said with a smile, "Princess, you're careless again. You forgot to put your undergarments back on."

Xue Mingyao smiled wryly. She couldn't possibly think that Lüzhi had gone to spend the night with someone else because she missed her lover last night.

Even if she still couldn't forget him, she wouldn't go so far as to offer herself to him after suffering losses at his hands multiple times!

"General Xie, you're planning to get revenge on me," Xue Mingyao said quietly.

She said the same thing in front of Xue Xingtai.

When Xue Xingtai came to his senses, he visited again, his face still showing surprise. He kept marveling at how good Xue Mingyao's judgment was back then, that her little lover was a pillar of society who was both literate and martial, and he felt a sense of joy, like planting a tree and now enjoying its shade.

Xue Mingyao had to emphasize that Xie Zhuo had been deliberately hiding his identity from her, claiming he wanted to avenge the past, and reminded her brother that the truth was that she was the one who planted the tree back then, and now he wanted to smash it.

Xue Xingtai thought about it for a while and felt that there was no major problem.

“Yao Niang, he’s probably just trying to save face, that’s why he’s trying to scare you like that. Listen to me, a man doesn’t joke about his marriage. If he’s determined to marry you, it’s because he loves you.”

“He may not like me, but he really hates me,” Xue Mingyao said slowly. “He wants to use the same methods I used to torment him on me, and then, after he’s vented his anger, he’ll divorce me.”

Divorce is no ordinary word, and Xue Xingtai hesitated for a moment, "Besides keeping him locked up in the mansion, how else have you tormented him?"

Xue Mingyao refused to speak.

Xue Xingtai said urgently, "If you don't want to tell me, I'll ask Lüzhi and Qizhao!"

Xue Mingyao then managed to recall, "It was during that initial period that I locked him in the woodshed a few times, didn't give him food, and even beat him..."

Xue Xingtai's brows furrowed so deeply they could crush flies. "Yao Niang, how could you be so wicked!"

"It's his fault for always cursing at me."

"Shouldn't you have cursed him?"

Xue Mingyao bit her lip, glared at her brother, and said in a defiant tone, "He always pretends to be a gentleman. I even gave him those drugs for sexual pleasure."

Xue Xingtai's eyes widened in disbelief. "Where did you get this kind of medicine?"

"Qi Zhao brought it."

"...Father shouldn't have given Qi Zhao to you! He was practically aiding and abetting evil."

If Xue Mingyao had no one else at her disposal, she wouldn't have acted so arrogantly. General Xue had sent Qi Zhao all the way there because he was worried that Xue Mingyao, a widow, would be bullied in Xichuan. Little did he expect that it would make it easier for Xue Mingyao to bully others.

"Yaoniang, it's alright." Xue Xingtai changed the subject, his tone becoming somewhat ambiguous. "Even if you used the drug, in matters between men and women, he's the one who benefits. He won't hold a grudge against you. Besides that, is there anything else?"

"I don't know, I can't remember," Xue Mingyao said in a muffled voice, a dull sadness beginning to creep into her heart again.

According to Xie Qinglang, even if she was good to him, he would remember it as bad; in his heart, she was no different from the greatest villain in the world.

But they also had some moments that could be described as pleasant. He finally stopped speaking ill of her at the drop of a hat, and she no longer needed to give him love drugs. The two of them stayed together in the rare spring sunshine of Xichuan, like an ordinary young couple in the world—of course, the kind who bickered more often.

How could he completely deny it?

Yes, if he had felt the same way she did, he wouldn't have answered so resolutely and firmly when she asked him if he wanted to stay.

He is determined to leave; his mind remains unchanged.

Xue Mingyao felt the immense disappointment of not being able to win the heart of her beloved when she was nineteen strike her again, with a force several times greater than before.

He not only didn't love her, but also deeply hated her, denying everything about their past.

What's worse, all these years, she's still thinking about him and longing for him. How pathetic, she's only earned the empty title of a villain.

With tears welling up in her eyes, Xue Mingyao excused herself to change clothes and escaped from her brother's presence. She wiped away her tears with a handkerchief, calmed herself for a while, and then came back in.

Xue Xingtai said solemnly, "Yaoniang, it's normal for him to feel resentful because you treated him like that. In any case, his marriage proposal is a good thing. Don't be too resistant, and don't take his talk of revenge too seriously."

"Brother, you make it sound so easy." Xue Mingyao smiled helplessly. "Have you forgotten how you beat him up back then?"

"That was a misunderstanding, and I apologized to him at the time." Xue Xingtai was very magnanimous. "Besides, General Xie treated me politely and spoke kindly. He didn't seem to hold a grudge against me."

This is another story of General Xie's praise.

He was clearly so vengeful, cold, and vicious in front of her.

Last night's words flashed before her eyes, and Xue Mingyao instantly realized that Xie Zhuo might be holding all his grudges against her.

“He doesn’t mind you, but he does mind me, including your share,” she said dejectedly.

"That's amazing. He was completely helpless back then. I need to ask him how he trained so well..." Xue Xingtai sighed to himself, not paying attention to what Xue Mingyao was saying.

Xue Mingyao coughed.

Xue Xingtai laughed and said, "Yaoniang, don't think too much. Once you marry him, you can lower your pride and coax him a little, and everything will be fine. There's no such thing as hatred between husband and wife. I don't believe that he can just divorce you just because His Majesty has decreed this marriage."

Xue Mingyao said in a dry voice, "But why should I marry someone who says he wants to divorce me before we're even married? Don't I have any face or dignity?"

Xue Xingtai argued vehemently, "Firstly, you really wronged him; secondly, didn't you like him very much?"

“That was before!” Xue Mingyao exclaimed. “I don’t like him anymore. He’s completely changed. His appearance has changed, and his personality has changed. He’s just like those annoying generals in the court. I get annoyed whenever I see him, so I won’t marry him.”

"You're being temperamental again." Xue Xingtai rubbed his forehead. "Tantrums are one thing, but you can't refuse a marriage proposal. Several days have passed; it's time to give His Majesty an answer."

"I already answered that question." Xue Mingyao told her brother about her visit to the palace early that morning.

Xue Xingtai was angry at his sister for acting on her own initiative, but after hearing her relay His Majesty's intentions, that the arranged marriage was almost inevitable and that they could not easily refuse, he felt much more at ease.

"So what are you planning now?" he said helplessly. "You can't persuade General Xie, and you won't give a definite answer before the Emperor. Are you just going to drag this out like this?"

Xue Mingyao hummed in agreement, "Let's drag it out, I'm not going to give in anyway."

"How about I go to General Xie and put in a good word for you?" Xue Xingtai asked tentatively.

Xue Mingyao vehemently refused.

“Wouldn’t your presence embarrass me? You are my elder brother, and you should stand by my side. Besides, this is a matter between the two of us. Your involvement will only make things worse.”

Xue Xingtai still had objections, but as he spoke more, he saw tears welling up in Xue Mingyao's eyes, and her voice trembled with sobs, "Brother, please don't go! You don't know how he bullied me!"

Xue Xingtai was startled. Xue Mingyao was very strong-willed and had almost never cried since she was a child.

"Okay, okay, I won't go. Why did he bully you again? Huh?"

Xue Mingyao refused to say anything.

Xue Xingtai had no choice but to calm her down and say a few words of comfort before preparing to leave. "I'll do as you say and delay for a few more days. I won't say any more to you; I still need to go see Yuniang."

"What's wrong with Yuniang?" Xue Mingyao asked him.

"We've been discussing marriage for her lately. Last night, your sister-in-law went to see her and noticed her eyes were red. When asked what was wrong, she wouldn't say. You're all such a worry..."

Xue Mingyao couldn't help but say, "Brother, instead of worrying about so many domestic affairs, you should pay more attention to your career."

Xue Xingtai snorted, "If you care about my career, you should hurry up and marry General Xie. Wouldn't that be a boost to my career?"

Xue Mingyao fell silent.

The siblings' argument came to an end. As she had predicted, Xue Mingyao then stayed cooped up in the house like a quail, spending most of her days sleeping in bed.

She remembered that Yuniang was throwing a tantrum. She went to see her once, but couldn't get any answers. Instead, she was met with cold sarcasm. So Xue Mingyao gave up and stopped bothering with her.

She also celebrated her birthday during that time. After becoming a widow, she stopped having such lavish birthday banquets and spent her years in quiet solitude, especially this year. The kitchen specially prepared longevity soup dumplings, but she only ate a few bites before putting them down.

When relatives and acquaintances sent birthday gifts, Xie Zhuo also sent someone to present something in return. Inside the ebony box lay a small round fan with a white ivory handle, and a red silk surface embroidered with mandarin ducks in gold thread and inlaid with vermilion agate, clearly quite valuable.

The gatekeeper relayed the auspicious words from the Xie family servant: "The general respectfully presents this gift to the lady, wishing her eternal youth."

Xue Mingyao sneered. Giving her a bright red fan adorned with auspicious decorations was clearly a veiled reference to the round fan a bride would use to cover her face on her wedding day. He wouldn't even spare her birthday, using the wedding to provoke her.

Moreover, this fan is quite tacky; he was probably using it to mock her poor taste.

Xue Mingyao pried off the agate stone and used scissors to cut the fan surface into eight pieces.

Several days passed, and she made no move, the Xie family remained silent, and no imperial decree was issued.

Everything seemed calm and peaceful, except that the rumors about the marriage alliance between the Xie and Xue families had not stopped—Xue Mingyao knew nothing about it, she had not met any outsiders, and she did not allow Lüzhi to inquire about it.

She figured Xie Zhuo probably didn't bring up the matter of the arranged marriage again before the emperor. After all, she didn't dare refuse the emperor again, and Xie Zhuo probably didn't dare to urge the emperor either. He wanted to force her to marry him, but he wasn't out of his mind.

That's fine too. If we drag it out, the emperor might forget about it, and the matter will be forgotten.

This unfulfilled potential outcome did not satisfy Xue Mingyao; she merely accepted it. Forced into the quagmire of Xie Qinglang, she could find no joy in it, no matter what.

However, Xue Mingyao did not expect that a sudden event would pull her, who was already drowning in the mud, even further down.