Jiang Tian, dressed in pure white, lay on a bright red wedding quilt; the extreme contrast between white and red was irresistible.
"You're all washed up, come on over."
Jiang Tian waved to him as if she hadn't noticed anything.
Ye Xuan didn't know how he got there. By the time he realized what had happened, he was already lying on the couch.
Jiang Tian's hand inadvertently brushed against his muscles, and "Ye Xuan" dared not move, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Husband, have you forgotten that tonight is our wedding night? Are you just going to lie here like this?"
Jiang Tian propped herself up on her arm and looked at him, her radiant beauty impossible to conceal.
Ye Xuan gritted his teeth, not daring to look at her anymore. He carefully said, "I am just an ordinary mortal, unworthy of my wife..."
Jiang Tian's fingertips had already touched his eyebrows and eyes. After hearing his words, she chuckled softly.
"Back then, the Emperor was so fond of my looks that he went to great lengths to sneak over the wall at night for a tryst with me. Now that our wedding night is here, are you going to be a coward?"
In an instant, the enchanting atmosphere inside vanished without a trace.
Xuanyuan Ye was speechless for a moment, and could only stare at Jiang Tian.
Jiang Tian's hand touched the corner of his chin. Before Xuan Yuan Ye could resist, she had already removed his human skin mask, revealing his extremely handsome face.
"...When did you find out?"
“I recognized you the moment I first saw you. Didn’t the Emperor also have a vague feeling about it? You’re just gambling that what I said was just a casual remark.”
Jiang Tian's tone remained calm and unhurried.
Xuanyuan Ye's face fell when he heard her words.
His disguise turned out to be so easily exposed.
"...Then why did you still insist on marrying me?"
Xuanyuan Ye couldn't understand it, and he didn't dare to think about it.
Because he knew he had broken his promise.
He had promised her that he would not bother her life again, but when he heard that she was being harassed by those spoiled young men and was planning to find a husband to solve the problem once and for all, he couldn't sit still.
After their reunion, every day was extremely difficult for Xuanyuan Ye.
From a young age, he only learned how to scheme and plot, but he didn't know how to make the woman he loved happy.
The thought of her growing old with a so-called live-in son-in-law filled him with unbearable heartache.
That night, he made a decision that even he found laughable: he would disguise himself to see her, even if it meant becoming a live-in son-in-law.
He didn't want to leave her again; the days without her were becoming more and more unbearable.
"Because you meet all my requirements for a husband. You can protect me, you are strong, you are good-looking, and Chen'er doesn't dislike you... After thinking it over, why can't you? The Emperor dared to disguise himself and come here, so I dare to marry you."
"You know, that's always been my nature."
As Jiang Tian spoke, she drew circles on Xuan Yuan Ye's chest with her hand.
She was both alluring and seductive.
Unable to resist, Xuanyuan Ye grabbed her hand. From her words, he seemed to hear an answer that even he found hard to believe.
"You...you actually accepted me?"
Jiang Tian didn't shy away from his question. She smiled at him and said, "In the palace, we each got what we needed, and outside the palace, you even saved my life. I never expected you to be so deeply in love with me. But when I needed you, you appeared just in time. Why shouldn't I accept you?"
"Your Majesty, compared to those petty villains who want to seize my property, you are the best choice. Besides, I don't dislike you."
Xuanyuan Ye couldn't help but tighten his grip on her hand.
This time he was careful and didn't hurt her.
Yes, he almost forgot that this woman was just like that; she was always weighing the pros and cons and choosing the best answer for herself in the present moment.
His appearance, on the contrary, solved her immediate problem. She was so smart, how could she really reject him?
Xuanyuan Ye's expression was a mixture of joy and sorrow.
He was happy that she would accept him, but saddened that she still had no romantic feelings for him.
“Before I married you, I already said that once you entered the Jiang family, if you still wanted to go back on your word, I would never give you a kind look for the rest of my life. I don’t know how you abandoned your affairs in the capital to come here. But, since you’re here, you have no choice but to become a live-in son-in-law.”
She had him figured out long ago.
Xuanyuan Ye smiled bitterly to himself.
Jiang Tian's tone was calm, but the meaning behind her words was resolute.
Throughout the night, Xuan Yuan Ye was still in a state of turmoil, bombarded by a series of news reports.
Jiang Tian's willingness to accept him after learning his true identity was something he never dared to dream of.
How could he let such a hard-won opportunity slip away?
"Since I'm willing to give up everything to become your son-in-law, I've made my plans. I originally intended to tell you this after the marriage: as long as you allow me to go to the capital to handle those matters on the seventh of each month, I won't leave you for the rest of the time."
Xuanyuan Ye had indeed gone all in.
In recent years, he has worked hard to govern the country and carried out extensive reforms. With the improvement of his subordinates' abilities, why should he, as the emperor, try to manage everything and exhaust himself?
“Of course I agree. I’ve heard that you don’t have any concubines in your palace right now, but who knows what the future holds? If you still want to take an empress and marry a noble consort, just tell me, and I’ll arrange for you to fake your death and send someone to your door.”
Xuan Yuan Ye, who was still lost in thought, suddenly looked at Jiang Tian. He didn't want to be angry, but he couldn't help it.
After fuming for a while, Xuanyuan Ye finally spoke, this time in a very serious tone.
“I will never look for another woman. A few years ago, I couldn’t see through it and thought that the emperor’s marriage could be used as a business to buy peace in the court. Then you got into that mess… I was sick for a few months and then I understood. If you can come back to me, let alone a lifetime of monogamy, even if you asked me to swallow poison right now, I would not refuse.”
Before losing her, how could Xuanyuan Ye have known that she held such an important place in his heart?
But he just didn't treat her well.
He has a chance to start over; it's God's mercy on him. If he remains stubborn, it would be better to be struck dead by lightning.
"I thought Your Majesty would never come to your senses, but I never imagined that you would finally know how to treat a woman well."
"Let me tell you the truth. That day, the magistrate tried to abduct me to marry him. You didn't take me back to the palace, and I already looked at you with new respect. I can guess that even though you pretended to set me free, you would still send people to watch over me."
“I want to find a son-in-law to live with me, and you didn’t stop me, nor did you try to imprison me. You even went so far as to hide your identity and disguise yourself to see me, which really surprised me.”
Jiang Tian stroked his face: "Your Majesty, you've really changed a lot in the years we've been apart."
Xuanyuan Ye smiled bitterly.
He thought that if he were to use the analogy of a wild beast and its tamer, then he would be the wild beast, and Jiang Tian would have truly tamed him.
He learned to respect her, and more importantly, he learned how to make her happy.
He was willing to change for her.
Jiang Tian continued to stroke his Adam's apple, her hand moving further and further down...
Xuanyuan Ye's expression grew increasingly strange.
After Jiang Tian left, he never did that kind of thing again.
At this moment, Jiang Tian whispered in his ear, her voice both sweet and poisonous: "Your Majesty, from now on, do you want to be my true husband and wife, or—a fake husband and wife?"
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