However, no one could see any fierceness in her appearance.
As the soreness in his calves gradually subsided, Xu Yunyang suppressed his anger and maintained a gentle smile.
"Yan Yan is so beautiful, it's really hard to resist her charm."
Xu Yunyang took a deep breath and finally revealed a completely different face from before. His eyes were filled with burning desire and greed as he looked at Li Shiyue, as if he were holding that delicate body in front of him.
"You probably don't even know it yourself, but when Silang first met you, he wanted to ask his grandmother to marry you. You don't know how popular you are."
"If you had agreed earlier, I wouldn't have gone through all this trouble. We could have been engaged long ago before Sixth Sister. But you were so unwilling. Yan Yan, my heart is truly with you."
"It's Wulang who doesn't know what's good for him and has embarrassed his grandmother. He's not good enough for you. If you're willing, I'm willing to clean up the courtyard and listen to you from now on, okay?"
What lay before Xu Yunyang was not just a delicate and beautiful young woman, but also the countless dowries behind her.
He would rather be the "beautiful one" than keep a mistress in a golden house.
He finally revealed his true colors; he must have been exhausted from pretending. This Xu Yunyang was the same Xu Yunyang from his past life, when Li Shiyue was deceived by him and his mother until they completely had her under their control, at which point he revealed his true nature.
But by then, it's already too late.
"Does my third cousin mean he wants to marry me?"
Li Shiyue gripped the gold hairpin tightly, her gaze fixed on Xu Yunyang, but she kept her peripheral vision focused on the sides of the rockery, her ears perked up to listen to the surrounding sounds, not wanting to miss a single detail.
"When betrothing a bride, a matchmaker should come to the bride's home, and there should be three letters and six rites. My third cousin is so reckless. He doesn't treat his bride like a proper bride. He treats her casually, like an object. This is the behavior of a concubine."
She made no attempt to hide the disdain and disgust in her eyes, but Xu Yunyang believed she was simply concerned with saving face and maintaining proper etiquette.
“Yan Yan is absolutely right. As long as you agree, all these rules are meaningless. If you are willing to be my bride, you will be the third young mistress of the Xu family. Who would dare to bully you?”
"If you behave well, I'll be gentler. Even if it goes to Grandma's door, you'll have no choice but to agree."
Xu Yunyang softened his tone, took two steps forward, and the smile on his face turned somewhat ferocious at this moment.
He raised his hand to stroke Li Shiyue's cheek, but Li Shiyue dodged him. This action angered him, and he raised his hand to grab her.
Li Shiyue crouched down and quickly dodged to the other side while he raised his hand.
Xu Yunyang was not about to let that happen. Seeing the prize about to slip away, he reached out to grab her, his posture aggressive as if he wanted to pin her to the ground.
She was enjoying the peaceful and happy days, and almost forgot about those unpleasant ones.
With his eyes closed, he took out a gold hairpin, held it in his hand, and began to slash at the front of him.
"Um--"
After a muffled groan, the sound of flesh hitting the ground was heard, and then everything seemed to fall silent.
Someone was grabbing her hand. Li Shiyue opened her eyes with a "whoosh" and tried to struggle, but met a pair of familiar eyes.
Xu Yunci's gaze was as cold as ever, but now, besides anxiety and anger, there were some emotions that Li Shiyue couldn't understand.
Perhaps her mind was simply not working properly, and she couldn't think things through carefully. When Xu Yunci looked at her intently, the emotion in his eyes was actually quite understandable.
Li Shiyue was like a deflated balloon, her legs going weak and she was about to collapse, but Xu Yunci was faster! He scooped her up with one hand.
The pounding of her heart resonated deep within her, making Li Shiyue's eyes even more bewildered and helpless.
Xu Yunci released his hand and gently pushed Li Shiyue into Chunling's arms.
He looked straight ahead at Xu Yunyang, who had stood up from the ground, his eyes filled with a mixture of anger and disappointment.
After all, in his eyes, no matter how much trouble the second wife caused, Xu Yunyang was still his younger brother. Although he wasn't as close to Wulang and the others since childhood, they were still family, brothers, and the closest in age to him. This was the younger brother he trusted the most.
However, this younger brother was incredibly audacious, not only offending the women in his family but also committing heinous crimes.
"Press it up in the ancestral hall, and invite everyone to the ancestral hall."
Chang An didn't even raise his hand. He took two servants and, ignoring Xu Yunyang's struggles, grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away.
The only problem was that his mouth was a bit noisy. Chang An found a handkerchief from somewhere and, ignoring the smell, stuffed it into Xu Yunyang's mouth before Chang An and his men left.
Oh wow, the world is now peaceful.
Li Shiyue finally came to her senses and patted Chunling's hand comfortingly before straightening up from Chunling's embrace.
Before she could even speak, Xu Yunci looked at her with a cold gaze, as if he wanted to devour her; it was terrifying.
"Cousin...thank goodness you arrived in time—"
"Are you really going to just go with him like that? What if I don't come? What if I come late?" Xu Yunci's tone wasn't very friendly, but actually, according to Chang Shun, before meeting the cousin, Xu Yunci's tone was considered quite good.
Little did Li Shiyue know that Xu Yunci had always been gentle with her and had never shown any anger.
Xu Yunci looked at the gold hairpin in his hand, which he had just snatched from Li Shiyue.
Although he is a young man, the sharp end of the hairpin he uses should be round, not a pointed cone.
Clearly, this gold hairpin was deliberately altered to look like this; no one needs to say more.
Xu Yunci sighed and gently inserted the gold hairpin into her hair, as if afraid of breaking it.
The golden hairpin's flower branch brushed against the crabapple blue jade bead flower in front, making a crisp, subtle sound.
"If you don't want to go to the ancestral hall, then go back to Chengyu Pavilion and wait."
Li Shiyue grabbed her sleeve, worried. She had spent many days setting up the scheme, just waiting for this day. She didn't want to give up until she heard it from Xu Yunci's own mouth.
“Cousin, what will happen if this matter alarms the whole family? After all, Third Cousin is a young master of the Xu family. If I am punished, won’t it cause gossip?”
"What are you afraid of? With me here, how could I let you suffer?" Xu Yunci looked at Li Shiyue's fingers gripping his sleeve, the tips of which were as white as precious pearls.
"Moreover, the mistake he made was far more than just offending the county princess personally appointed by the emperor. There is something even bigger reason why I want to open the ancestral hall to punish him."
Xu Yunci's gaze deepened, and he said no more. His tone was no longer as forceful as before: "If you don't want to see him, you might as well go back and rest."
Li Shiyue nodded, and when she took two steps and turned back, Xu Yunci was still standing there looking at her.
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