Chapter 42 He was slapped by her.

"Get out—"

Before she could finish speaking, Xie Zhuo had already pressed himself against Xue Mingyao. He locked her legs with his knees, pinning her against the armrest of the couch. Xue Mingyao's back ached from the pressure, and she glared at him, her eyes filled with malice.

Xie Zhuo sneered, "You still owe me a wedding night."

"I don't want to right now!" Xue Mingyao spat at him as she struggled.

"I want to," Xie Zhuo spat out the two words, freeing one hand to unbutton her clothes.

She was dressed in a rare, richly woven fabric, with a tightly fitted neckline. Xie Zhuo's fingers slowly touched her plump flesh, his fingertips rubbing downwards, while his mouth also lingered on her.

"Didn't you want Qi Zhao to protect you? Go ahead and ask him. It'll be perfect for him to guard the gate for us."

"Shut up!"

Xie Zhuo became increasingly unrestrained, not even taking off her shirt, and vigorously rubbing her cool skin with his palm.

“It’s so round here, it seems hard to flatten, don’t you think…” he said softly.

Xue Mingyao felt her whole body heat up from his caresses. Looking down at him, his face buried against her chest, his features sharp and cold, his handsome face exuding a dangerous aura, she felt both angry and afraid, yet also a hidden excitement. Her body seemed to be out of control, melting like a mountain of butter, melting so quickly, faster than ever before...

She frowned, her eyes glistening with tears, and slowly loosened her grip on his hand.

Xie Zhuo looked into her eyes and suddenly stopped. Xue Mingyao looked at him blankly. Xie Zhuo then exerted force again, and Xue Mingyao, caught off guard, let out a sweet cry.

She quickly bit her lip again, giving him a sharp look with her beautiful eyes.

Xie Zhuo's heart surged at her angry yet reproachful look. He looked up at her ear and kissed her deeply, his hot breath sending shivers down her spine. His voice was so deep it was like a spell on her, "Xue Mingyao, do you know what the army thinks of a woman like you?"

Xue Mingyao remained silent, her eyes closed, her eyelashes trembling, and two blushes rising on her cheeks.

That ticklish voice rang out again, uttering a word with malice in her ear.

Xue Mingyao didn't understand at first. After a long while, the string in her mind was suddenly plucked, eliciting a sharp cry, and shame and anger overwhelmed her.

You bastard!

Xie Zhuo ignored her, got off her, loosened his grip and prepared to pick her up. In a fit of anger, Xue Mingyao kicked him in the groin.

Unfortunately, his aim was poor and he missed, but the force he used still made Xie Zhuo frown. "You're ruthless."

He lifted her high in his arms and carried her toward the bedroom. Xue Mingyao's legs were dangling in the air, and she had no other foothold besides him. She resolutely refused to hug him with her arms, so she simply tilted her head, opened her mouth, and bit her two rows of sharp teeth onto the blue vein on the side of his neck.

Xue Mingyao has always been sharp-tongued and quick-witted, and she is just as ruthless when it comes to biting people, like a fierce little she-wolf.

Even Xie Zhuo, who had actually fought wolves before, found it unbearable. "Let go."

Xue Mingyao did not loosen her grip.

Xie Zhuo slapped her on the buttocks. "Let go!"

Xue Mingyao shuddered, her makeup became even more intense, but something was wrong...

When Xie Zhuo threw himself and her onto the bed, Xue Mingyao finally loosened her teeth. While tearing off her clothes, Xie Zhuo also bit her neck in retaliation.

Xue Mingyao struggled violently again at this moment, "Xie Zhuo, let me go, you can't!"

Xie Zhuo suppressed her resistance one by one, "Why can't I? Why can't I? You know that every part of your body is saying that you want it, huh?"

"No, no, um—"

Xie Zhuo immediately covered her mouth with a kiss.

Their four lips rubbed and clashed, gradually filling the air with a sweet, metallic taste. After a while, Xie Zhuo pulled away from her lips, and beads of blood appeared on both of their lips.

Xie Zhuo licked a drop of blood, then placed his hand on it again. "I'm going to do it today, no matter what—"

"What the hell? I'm on my period!"

Xie Zhuo was taken aback. Xue Mingyao wiped her lips angrily, barely managing to sit up halfway to face Xie Zhuo.

Xie Zhuo didn't believe it. "Don't lie to me. I was perfectly fine yesterday."

Moreover, when men and women get married, they will choose a wedding date that avoids the woman's menstrual period, so as not to affect their wedding night.

Xue Mingyao looked at him coldly, "You just arrived, is that not allowed? Let go of me right now."

Xie Zhuo was still pressing down on her legs.

Xie Zhuo didn't let go; instead, he lifted her skirt and pulled down her underpants, revealing a striking crimson lining in her plain-colored panties.

“Every part of me screams ‘I want this,’ huh?” Xue Mingyao covered her skirt, a mocking smile playing on her lips.

Xie Zhuo's face turned ashen.

Xue Mingyao raised her hand and slapped Xie Zhuo across the face.

With a loud slap, flesh to flesh, Xie Zhuo was so stunned that he forgot to dodge and took the slap squarely.

Xue Mingyao was also stunned for a moment, then shouted, "Get out! Call a maid in for me."

......

Xie Zhuo returned to the courtyard where he used to live.

The spot where Xue Mingyao slapped him was slightly red, there was a faint bloodstain on his lip, and his neck was still burning with pain. Looking in the mirror, he could see several dried, bloody teeth marks.

A-Lian only noticed the unusual look on his cheek and asked in confusion, "General, could it be that the poison from the Southern Frontier has relapsed?"

“How can poison only affect one side?” Liu Quan had some experience, and remembering that the general had come from the main courtyard’s lady, he guessed something. He sighed inwardly that the lady was really unreasonable and had tormented the general, who was such a good-natured man, to this extent. It was hardest for him to accept the kindness of a beautiful woman.

He said, "I think the general must have been sleeping at his desk at noon, and that's why he has red marks on his face."

Ah Lian suddenly realized.

The general ordered them to bring a pot of wine.

After closing the door, Xie Zhuo drank a few cups of bitter wine, then picked up the bronze mirror and looked at himself. His profile was not only red, but also slightly swollen.

Xue Mingyao had slapped him before, but never left a mark.

Xie Zhuo applied a towel soaked in cool water to the affected area for a while, and the redness and swelling gradually subsided. When it was time for dinner, he didn't order anyone to bring him food, and instead drank a pot of wine until nightfall.

The lanterns decorated for the wedding inside the mansion had not yet been taken down, and the red lanterns under the eaves swayed, casting a rosy glow on the paper door, silently facing the general with a frosty expression.

Finally, Xie Zhuo threw down the wine pot and went to the main courtyard. The bedroom door was tightly closed and locked from the inside.

"The princess is not feeling well and is preparing to rest early," Green Branch explained again, her explanation very tactfully.

"Yes, I've come to retrieve the book I left here," Xie Zhuo explained.

After the general's figure disappeared outside the door, Green Branch sighed softly. Xie Langjun is a strange person, both in the past and now. It's impossible to tell whether he has any feelings for the princess.

As a result, the princess has also become strange. Before, she would simply say what she liked and disliked, but now she has started to say one thing and mean another.

Green Branch had a bellyful of anger to express, but the princess forbade her to mention Xie Qinglang, and the old friends of Xichuan were also kept in the dark. She had no choice but to walk through the long corridor adorned with red lanterns to find Qi Zhao to talk to.

Qi Zhao is reading.

"Hey, why are you reading? Don't you get a headache just looking at words?" Green Branch asked curiously.

"I've got nothing better to do, so I'll just browse around," Qi Zhao said.

Green Branch tilted her head to look at the book title. "It's 'The Southern Expedition'. The princess only flipped through a few pages and then stopped. Does it describe Xie Langjun as very capable?"

Qi Zhao nodded, "If General Xue were alive, he would greatly admire General Xie."

"Definitely."

Xue Chongyi greatly admired young talents; otherwise, he wouldn't have valued Cen Zongjing so much.

Green Branch's eyes darted to several military books piled on the desk, and she asked with even more curiosity, "Qi Zhao, you also want to be a general?"

"No, I'm just looking around—"

Green Branch spoke quickly and bluntly, "If you want to, just tell your husband. He'll definitely recommend you for a position in the army. Maybe you'll have a bright future."

Among the guards trained by the Xue family, several were later sent to the military camp by Xue Chongyi and Xue Xingtai. Some became captains, and the more successful ones became low-ranking generals. Qi Zhao was the youngest among them, had the best martial arts skills, and was the most composed. Naturally, he also attracted Xue Chongyi's attention.

But Qi Zhao didn't have many thoughts about it. He chose to stay in the Xue family and be an ordinary guard by the princess's side.

Green Branch thought that he probably saw Xie Qinglang's rise from a scholar to a warrior and finally yearned for it.

"We'll talk about it later." Qi Zhao pushed the book aside. "What do you want from me?"

Green Branch pouted, "The princess and the general had a fight because of you today."

Qi Zhao looked at her, "Because of me?"

“Hmm,” Green Branch said, “The general doesn’t want you to stay in the Xie residence, but I don’t know the specific reason. Maybe Xie Qinglang thinks you and the princess are too close? But this time when you came back, the princess didn’t ask you to serve her like before. You’re not bothering them at all, so there’s no reason for him to dislike you.”

Under the lamplight, their faces were dull.

"Oh, maybe he still holds a grudge against you. After all, you tied him up and dragged him, and you were pretty ruthless. Luckily, I've always been nice to him... Remember to avoid him."

Qi Zhao nodded silently.

Green Branch hesitated for a moment, then asked him, "What do you think General Xie's feelings are for the princess? Does he even have feelings for her?"

"Of course," Qi Zhao answered readily. "He married a princess."

"He did marry her, but he's always been very fierce towards the princess."

“But he married a princess,” Qi Zhao said.

"...Talking to you is so boring."

Green Branch stamped its foot, picked up the lantern, and left.

......

As night deepened, all the lights in the General's Mansion went out, leaving only silence.

A dark figure leaped to the windowsill of the main bedroom, gently pushed open a gap, and the figure slipped through.

Inside the bedchamber, Xue Mingyao tossed and turned, unable to sleep. The events of the day flashed before her eyes, a lingering anger mixed with shame that wouldn't let her rest for even a moment.

As she cursed Xie Zhuo, she couldn't help but recall the feeling of him lifting her high in his arms, just like he had done to her in the Xue family's painted pavilion. No one had ever held her so domineeringly before. Cen Zongjing wouldn't dare, and the former Xie Qinglang wouldn't allow it. She didn't know this feeling would be so profound, so profound that she couldn't shake it off.

Unable to suppress it, the menstrual flow surged from her lower abdomen in waves. Her usually punctual period was late, arriving unexpectedly on the first day of her wedding, revealing her utter disarray.

Suddenly, there was a very soft noise outside the tent. Xue Mingyao shuddered, opened her eyes, and saw the floor-length curtain being slowly lifted in the darkness.

Xue Mingyao's heart skipped a beat, and she opened her mouth to scream, but her mouth was covered by a hand in the next instant.

"It's me," the man's deep voice rang out.