Chapter 154 Why are you so infatuated with me after getting me drunk?
A warm touch came from my eyelids; someone had gently stroked them.
Yue Yining's eyelashes fluttered, and she looked up. Xie Qingyu had just withdrawn her hand, looking at her with bright, gentle eyes. "I understand. Miss just got smoke in her eyes, right?"
"I'll go and wet a cloth and apply it to your eyes for a while, then they won't be red anymore."
He spoke so earnestly that she had no doubt that if she nodded, he would immediately get up and do it.
Yue Yining pursed her lips, “...No need.”
"I don't have anything else to do anyway, so I'll just get some rest today."
She tried to get up, but Xie Qingyu blocked her way, preventing her from moving. Yue Yining said, "Get up."
A flicker of nervousness crossed Xie Qingyu's eyes, but it vanished so quickly that Yue Yining almost missed it. He grasped her wrist, his large palm encircling her tightly. "Miss, aren't you going to punish me today?"
They've been relentlessly pursuing him every day these past few days, so why aren't they punishing him today?
Seeing his restless appearance, Yue Yining felt her inner turmoil resurface.
Only then did she realize that it was lust.
Who would willingly beg her to humiliate them? Yet Xie Qingyu acted as if she were completely willing, overjoyed, and even eager for it.
Yue Yining doesn't consider herself entirely virtuous, but she doesn't enjoy trampling on others' dignity, nor would she use such methods to amuse herself. She is usually gentle and kind to others, and her nature is the purest. Only Xie Qingyu can always use his humble attitude to stimulate her evil desires.
With that expression on his face, who could resist taking action against him?
While condemning herself for knowingly committing the crime, Yue Yining tried to find plausible excuses for herself. Her heartbeat quickened, and her breathing became rapid. She didn't know if her reaction was because she was angry with him or because he had seduced her again.
Or perhaps it's just heartache.
"Xie Qingyu," Yue Yining said, emphasizing each word, "I'm telling you to get up."
Seeing that her eyes were even redder, Xie Qingyu's taut string suddenly snapped.
He panicked a little, quickly stood up and took a few steps back, calling out to her, "Miss..."
Yue Yining didn't look at him again. Her chest heaved, she took a deep breath, and left the main house.
Xie Qingyu dared not follow her any further, and could only watch her walk away with longing eyes, not forgetting to wave her hand to call for a maid.
The room where Yue Yining had been staying had caught fire. Although it was extinguished in time and the furniture and belongings were not damaged, the smoke and stench lingered, and it was still uninhabitable for a while. He instructed the maid to take him to the newly prepared room and help Yue Yining wash up and rest.
The maidservant obeyed and left. A familiar figure hurried in from outside the corridor; it was Yin Yi. He lowered his eyes and said to Xie Qingyu, who was standing inside the room, "Young Master, I have something to report."
"What is it?"
Yin Yi carefully considered his words, cautiously reporting the findings of the inspection of the room after the fire was extinguished. He concluded, "...Upon my inspection, the location where the curtain fell doesn't seem to be due to the wind; it's more likely that it was torn down and thrown there. Perhaps, perhaps..."
"Just say it, maybe what?"
Yin Yi lowered his head deeply, "...Perhaps the incense burner was deliberately overturned by the Yue people."
"..." Xie Qingyu lowered his eyes, dark shadows sweeping across his eye sockets. His face remained expressionless as he uttered a startling question, "So what?"
Yin Yi paused, and before he could respond, he heard Xie Qingyu say unhurriedly, "If she really wants to burn this house down, I'm willing to hand her a tinderbox."
Yin Yi: "......." This madman.
"...Understood, Your Highness." Since he wasn't going to pursue the matter, Yin Yi thought he'd been too talkative in reporting this; he should have expected it. Completely numb, he simply said with a blank expression, "Young Master, I'll arrange for someone to clean up. I'll take my leave now."
Yin Yi darted away, running quite a distance before turning back to look. There she was, Xie Qingyu still standing by the door, her bright eyes gazing at Yue Yining's room, looking like a statue waiting for its wife.
The snow falls endlessly, and the world is silently covered in white.
For some reason, ever since that day, a sense of unease has lingered in Xie Qingyu's heart, refusing to dissipate.
This feeling of unease reached its peak the next day when he inspected his desk and discovered that the drawer containing Yue Yining's painting had been opened.
Xie Qingyu stood there, her fingers resting on the gold lock, feeling utterly lost and bewildered.
Her only visit to his room was yesterday.
Therefore, it could only be Yue Yining who moved this drawer.
She must have seen it all.
Xie Qingyu wasn't afraid of Yue Yining finding out about his dirty lust and infatuation with her. He understood that Yue Yining already knew. Whether it was that uncontrolled kiss under the Lantern Festival, or the countless times he had climaxed under her punishment these past few days, or the undisguised look in his eyes when he looked at her... all those blasphemous thoughts in his heart had long been laid bare to Yue Yining and completely exposed.
Xie Qingyu was afraid that Yue Yining would misunderstand him.
He began to unfurl all the scrolls on his desk. Several scrolls were brimming with ink and brush, overflowing with an overwhelming sense of admiration. The thought that Yue Yining had examined them one by one sent a delayed surge of heat through him.
Xie Qingyu found the last painting, touched the wildly painted dark red, and her fingertips trembled slightly involuntarily.
That was the scene in the original book's ending where Yue Yining was bound to the execution rack before he drank poison and committed suicide in prison. It was an act of venting when he was on the verge of a mental breakdown some time ago.
He almost self-destructively forced himself to recall Yue Yining's tragic death, otherwise he probably wouldn't have been able to resist overturning this long-planned game in the next second, just to gain Yue Yining's forgiveness and make her look at him with that gentle and caring gaze again.
This is something that will happen in the future. Xie Qingyu, who has insight into history, knows this, but Yue Yining does not. Anyone who sees it will mistakenly think that he deliberately painted a picture of Yue Yining being tortured to death. This is just like venting anger and cursing.
What will Yue Yining think when she sees this?
Thinking about this, even the reason for Yue Yining's unusual behavior yesterday can be explained.
Xie Qingyu picked up the scrolls, then put them down, pacing anxiously back and forth. Suddenly, she stopped and called over the personal guards who were standing watch outside: "After Lord Yue returned to his room yesterday, did he say anything? Compared to before, did he do anything strange?"
Huang Qiu accepted the order and entered, only to be bombarded with these questions. He was initially bewildered: Huh? What did the Yue people say? They didn't say anything, did they?
Suddenly, as if struck by a sudden thought, he slapped his forehead and exclaimed in realization, "I've got it!"
"Yesterday, after returning to his house, the Yue people asked for some yarrow stalks and bamboo strips, as well as a bamboo tube. They took a few pieces of paper and drew on them with an ink brush for a long time. They must have been... fortune telling, right?" Huang Qiu tried hard to recall the scene at that time.
"You instructed that we should grant Lady Yue's request as long as it wasn't excessive, so whatever she asked for, the maidservant went and got it for her."
"But we don't know what Yue Ren calculated. She sat staring at the pattern on the paper for half the night before turning off the lights and resting last night," Huang Qiu said. "When the maid went in to tidy up this morning, she found that the Xuan paper left over from last night had been burned in the incense burner. Not a single piece was left, and we have no way of knowing what Yue Ren calculated last night."
Xie Qingyu frowned. Hearing Huang Qiu's reply, his unease only deepened.
Yue Yining.......
Master and servant were both inside when suddenly light footsteps came from the corridor, mixed with soft, clear sounds, as if they were coming through the snow.
A maid came to the door and knocked. After a few soft knocks, she whispered, "Young Master, Lord Yue says you need to go see her. She has some questions for you."
Xie Qingyu was stunned.
His mouth agreed before his mind, and his tone sounded inexplicably delighted: "Okay."
After having his servants help him change his clothes and put on his hat, Xie Qingyu hurriedly went there and began to think carefully about why Yue Yining would suddenly come to find him. However, before he could find a plausible reason, he had already arrived at the door of the side room.
He was filled with trepidation and reached out to knock, only to find that the door was only half-closed.
He went inside, past the unlit inner room, and immediately saw a woman in blue sitting in the snow in the center of the backyard.
There weren't many rooms in the Frost-Spraying Courtyard. The room originally prepared for Yue Yining was already the best and most suitable one, but due to the unexpected incident, she couldn't stay there. So Xie Qingyu found another room among the few remaining rooms. Knowing that she didn't like noise, he gave her a room on the south side of the courtyard wall, which had previously been used as a study and was very quiet.
At this moment, with bamboo walls and tiles as the ground, waves formed by Taihu stones surged and rolled, like a waterfall of snow. Several old trees with only bare branches supported a gray-white canopy. Yue Yining sat alone amidst the floating waves, with a table full of wine jugs in front of him.
Hearing footsteps approaching, Yue Yining looked up at him. Her clothes were snow-white, and her newly opened eyes showed neither sorrow nor joy, making her resemble a statue on an altar more than ever before.
The wind has stopped, the snow has cleared, and the night is bright with stars.
Xie Qingyu's throat was dry, and his heart ached. He gazed at the green figure in the distance and couldn't help but softly call her name, with emotions he himself didn't understand: "Miss..."
Yue Yining looked at him, her voice flowing through the swaying bamboo shadows, sounding with a vague gentleness.
"Come here and sit with me for a while."
It wasn't punishment, nor was it humiliation. She called him over, intending for him to keep her company with drinks and conversation.
Despite her chaotic state of mind, Xie Qingyu clearly remembered that Yue Yining did not drink alcohol. In the past, when she had many social engagements in official circles, Yue Yining always substituted tea for wine, even when she encountered high-ranking officials. Her demeanor was neither humble nor arrogant, yet she never yielded an inch.
"Can Miss drink alcohol?" Xie Qingyu asked hesitantly. "Why did you suddenly think of drinking today...?"
Yue Yining interrupted him calmly: "These aren't for me to drink, they're for you."
"...Me?" Xie Qingyu looked astonished.
Yue Yining glanced at him dismissively: "What, you don't want to?"
"No, it's not that I'm unwilling," Xie Qingyu quickly replied. Looking at her so close to him, his voice softened unconsciously. "Did Miss call me here just to have me drink with you?"
"Of course, that's not all."
"No rush, we can talk about it later." Yue Yining took a pot of wine, filled a bowl, and handed it to him. The golden wine reflected the surrounding ice, snow, bamboo, and trees, like a piece of amber. "Since you are willing, prove it to me now."
"Drink it."
Xie Qingyu didn't understand why Yue Yining wanted to force him to drink, but he obediently accepted. As bowl after bowl of wine went down his throat, his consciousness gradually became hazy, and his eyes changed from clear, bright clouds to a misty spring rain.
As she poured him the wine, Yue Yining slowly began to speak, making small talk: "I asked your maid for this wine; she didn't know at the time that I was going to give it to you."
"Judging from their quality, they should all be fine wines treasured by your Xie family. I only asked, and Young Master Xie gave them to me without hesitation. He is truly generous."
"...It's nothing but a vulgar thing that money can buy." Xie Qingyu had drunk too much wine, and her voice was much sweeter than usual, but also a little hoarse. "As long as Miss asks, I'm willing to give it to you."
Yue Yining remained silent for a moment.
Xie Qingyu's alcohol tolerance wasn't actually that bad. During the Lantern Festival, he intentionally got drunk, but he sobered up as soon as he returned to the Xie residence. It's just that he drank too quickly, so he's inevitably a bit tipsy and slow to react now.
He saw Yue Yining put down the wine pot and look at him with her bright, clear eyes.
"Xie Qingyu," Yue Yining looked at him, "you said you wouldn't lie to me, right?"
Xie Qingyu: "Yes."
"There is something I hope you can answer for me."
Yue Yining looked directly into his eyes and said softly, "I want to know, why are you infatuated with me?"
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Author's note: It's infatuation—not liking, not love—it's infatuation! [Sunglasses]
ps:
My prediction was wrong; we'll have to wait until the next chapter to discuss how they'll all be discussed together (I'm so sorry, readers).
I'm so sleepy, I almost fell asleep at my desk.
I'll update the next chapter tomorrow [please!]
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