Chapter 50
"Sister, sister... don't go... sister... ah!!!" A sharp headache woke Duanmu Huaixin from her nightmare. The eunuch serving at the foot of the bed hurriedly asked, "What does the prince want?"
"Get out!" Duanmu Huaixin drove the eunuchs out of the room, clenching his fists tightly. The chaotic memories in his mind made him feel a sharper pain than in his dreams.
Sister... the Wen family, girls, Wen Weili, their wedding night, flames, that arrow! Hahahaha... Duanmu Huaixin's silent tears fell from the corners of his eyes. How ridiculous! The woman he loved wholeheartedly, his 'good' sister - Wen Weili, the daughter of the Wen family, a powerful official, was willing to sacrifice her innocence, reputation, and the disguise of being kind to him for ten years, just to make him lose his memory and use him.
And he, Duanmu Huaixin, a laughable clown, had been completely deceived by the person he trusted and loved. If he hadn't returned to the palace, she would have used him, now that he had lost his memory, to do even more unimaginable things. As the Second Prince, the dignified Prince Huai, he could have anything he wanted, so why would he chase after a heartless woman?!
"Someone, come here, what time is it now? By the way, how is my father's health? Has he come here?" Duanmu Huaixin gritted his teeth and calmed down, trying hard to control himself from asking about that woman.
The eunuchs had been waiting outside with things in hand. Upon hearing this, they hurried in and said, "Your Highness, it is now the first quarter of the morning hour, and we do not know His Majesty's whereabouts. We hope Your Highness will forgive us. Your Majesty came yesterday, but seeing that Your Highness was still unconscious, he left in his sedan chair."
"Then sister... no." Duanmu Huaixin waved his hand to signal the eunuchs to go back. He subconsciously wanted to call out that name just now, but he bit his tongue hard and squeezed out the word "no" from his throat. He would never care about that cold and heartless woman.
But no matter how much Duanmu Huaixin wanted to fall asleep, he tossed and turned in bed, but still couldn't fall asleep. Even though he told himself over and over in his heart not to think about Wen Weili, the ruthless woman, he could still recall her every move in his mind.
That’s enough, stop thinking about her! She’s just a woman!!!
Duanmu Huaixin buried his head in the quilt to deceive himself, and simply kept his eyes open in the dark quilt until dawn, then rushed to see his "good father".
Duanmu Huaixin knew full well that while the woman had relied on his trust to do what she did to him, his father must have also been instrumental in it. He needed to know for sure, whether she had been punished, or whether his father would grant the Wen family's request and allow her to return home. He wasn't being soft-hearted towards her; he simply wanted to punish her personally! He wanted her to suffer even more than he did!
But when Duanmu Huaixin hurried to Tingyi Hall early in the morning, he was told by the eunuch that there was already someone in the hall and he had to wait. He had to suppress the inexplicable irritation in his heart and drink tea in the side hall.
"Prince Huai, please follow me to the main hall. His Majesty is free right now." Soon, the eunuch Fudong invited Duanmu Huaixin to come in and see the emperor.
But as he walked through the corridor of the side hall, who else could he be but the heartless woman Wen Weili? She had just been talking with his father in the hall. Perhaps they had even discussed the Wen family's marriage to him. Would his father order him to divorce her? Or had Master Wen already secured a divorce for his daughter?
Duanmu Huaixin couldn't help but think maliciously that even if she was the daughter of the Wen family, it would be difficult for her to find a good husband after being divorced by him. Perhaps with her tricks, where could she trick a fool into opening his heart to her?
The distance between them was shrinking. Duanmu Huaixin had already made up his mind that if Wen Weili approached him, he would reject all her requests with the coldest attitude! He would never write her a letter of divorce!
But things turned out to be beyond Duanmu Huaixin's expectations. Wen Weili did not speak to him, nor even look at him, but went straight to the plum garden along the stone path beside him.
"Stop! Where are you going?" Duanmu Huaixin couldn't bear it anymore and shouted at Wen Weili and her group.
Although Wen Weili wanted to just leave, she couldn't refuse Duanmu Huaixin in the palace, so she could only reply, "To appreciate the plum blossoms."
Admiring plum blossoms? Admiring plum blossoms? It was the end of summer, and the heat hadn't faded yet. She actually dared to talk nonsense like that. It was obvious she was just trying to fool him! Duanmu Huaixin stepped forward, wanting to grab Wen Weili and tell her to face herself and answer the question.
But Wen Weili seemed to see through Duanmu Huaixin's thoughts, and gave him a gentle smile as usual, as if mocking him. Duanmu Huaixin felt like he was struck by lightning, and he stood still and did not move forward.
Seeing that Prince Huai did not stop them, the eunuchs hurriedly followed Miss Wen away from the gravel path.
As the group's backs gradually walked away, Duanmu Huaixin finally reacted and couldn't help muttering, "Is it still like this?"
"Your Highness, please come into the hall." Seeing that the two had settled their quarrel, Fudong hurriedly invited Prince Huai in, fearing that Prince Huai would chase him out. If the two continued to struggle, the situation would be difficult to handle.
"Let's go." Duanmu Huaixin looked deeply at Wen Weili's departing back. For some reason, the irritability that had been lingering in his chest since early morning slowly disappeared.
Wen Weili's resolute decision to turn away wasn't entirely to avoid Duanmu Huaixin; going to the Plum Garden was indeed her goal. She had originally planned to find a time to go alone, but the moment she ran into Duanmu Huaixin, she knew her idiot brother wouldn't be able to resist. She might as well take this opportunity to avoid him by taking a side road and still have a legitimate way to the Plum Garden.
As expected, Duanmu Huaixin's attitude made her action seem even more reasonable. The eunuchs were even very grateful for Wen Weili's choice to avoid delaying the entanglement that would cause the emperor to blame her. Even when Wen Weili asked them to help her find some vases outside the plum garden to hold the plum branches, they just thought that Miss Wen was just putting on a complete show to avoid being criticized.
When the eunuchs brought the vase while chatting and laughing, Wen Weili had already put away her things. She smiled and put a few plum branches with lush green leaves into the vase, and asked them to send it to Duanmu Huaixin.
Duanmu Huaixin, who received the vase, ran angrily to Wen Weili's temporary courtyard in the palace just as she had expected, and pounded on the door viciously, making it bang bang bang. "Open the door, Wen Weili, I know you're in there, come out!"
"Don't be so irritable, Xinxin," Wen Weili opened the door as if nothing had happened, "Come in and talk?"
"You still dare to call me Xinxin? Miss Wen doesn't know how to receive the prince? I'm afraid you have forgotten all the etiquette." Duanmu Huaixin said sarcastically, "Haha, it's me who forgot that you are just one of my concubines!"
"So angry?" Wen Weili sat at the table, lifted a pot of tea from the teapot, shook it gently, and poured a stream of brown-green tea from the spout into the cup. She added a little incense powder, waited a moment, and said with a smile, "Come and try it. I remember you don't like tea."
Duanmu Huaixin's chest was burning with irritation again. He grabbed Wen Weili's wrist, forcing her to look up at him. He suppressed his bitterness and asked, "Do you have a heart?"
Wen Weili let out a sigh, but didn't rush to break free from Duanmu Huaixin's control. Her calm voice seemed to contain a hint of laughter: "So what do you want to do, stupid Xinxin?"
It's like this again... It's been like this since childhood. Whenever she teased him or others or got into trouble by being naughty, she would always look at him coquettishly and ask him for help. And he never let her down. He helped his sister Wen solve these problems time and time again. Thinking about it now, it was really stupid.
Duanmu Huai thought that Wen Weili thought that acting coquettishly would make him forgive her again, but he should have understood it long ago. He should have understood from the first time they met when they were young that a strange woman like Wen Weili would not be moved by sincerity at all. His repeated hints and expressions of love would only make her laugh, and she would laugh at him behind his back and call him a fool.
He will not indulge her anymore. Since Miss Wen has married into Prince Huai's mansion, she should do her duty as a concubine in the mansion and stop having any more delusions! Duanmu Huaixin thought so and sternly warned Wen Weili.
"Oh, I'm so scared." Wen Weili cooperated and showed a frightened expression. Her right hand stretched out from Duanmu Huaixin's confinement and poured tea into the teacups one by one. The fresh tea fragrance like a mountain breeze rose slowly from the cup, blurring Wen Weili's face.
Wen Weili easily pulled Duanmu Huaixin, and Duanmu Huaixin sat down with her strength. She didn't seem to care about Duanmu Huaixin's words that he would never help her or love her again. She just pushed the teacup and said, "If you don't like it, try it, how about it?"
She seemed to be talking about tea, but also seemed to be talking about something else.
Duanmu Huaixin couldn't stand it. He overturned the teacup to the ground. Something burning from his heart burned his face. Was it anger? But Duanmu Huaixin couldn't shout. He looked directly at Wen Weili's face, as if he had never seen her clearly, and whispered softly: "You don't care... Why... Why..."
"What a shame! If you had drunk this cup of tea, I wouldn't have to go through all this trouble." Wen Weili stood up and walked out the door. "See you later, Xinxin."
"What?" Duanmu Huaixin realized that he was so weak that he didn't even have the strength to support his body. He could only fall weakly on the table.
"Don't go. At least, stay with me." Duanmu Huaixin had a premonition that Wen Weili seemed to be really leaving. It wasn't just a matter of a few days, but a long, long time before they met.
No! Duanmu Huaixin had forgotten how determined he was this morning to ignore Wen Weili, and how much he hated her coldness and ruthlessness. Now he just wanted Wen Weili to stay: "Sister Wen, Xinxin will be obedient." He could continue to be used by Wen Weili, or he could stop trying to cross the line and be a true brother, helping his sister Wen achieve her wish, as long as Wen Weili didn't leave him.
Wen Weili understood what Duanmu Huaixin meant, and she stopped in her tracks as she pushed the door open.
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