She couldn't care less where he rested or whether he was having sex with someone; such trivial matters were far less appealing to her than delicious food.
"Go wherever you want, that's your freedom, and I can't interfere."
He had originally intended to teach Su Yushan a lesson in her stubbornness, which was why he had spoken harshly to her, hoping that ignoring her for a while would soften her stance. Now it seemed to have no effect whatsoever; she remained as stubborn as ever, refusing even a smile. Helpless, Hongli shook his head and sighed softly.
"Are you still angry with me? You have quite the temper!"
She didn't care when she didn't see him, but once she saw him, she could no longer smile. With a cold face, she said truthfully, "I am petty and hold grudges. Please forgive me, Fourth Master."
She's not even bothering to hide it! Hongli really couldn't understand what she was so upset about.
"You spoke so harshly that day, and I didn't hold you responsible. But you've held a grudge against me ever since. So tell me, what exactly did I do wrong? If you were in that situation, how would you have handled it?"
Looking him straight in the eye, Su Yushan said without hesitation, "If I break my promise, I will find a way to notify you as soon as possible so that you won't have to wait for so long. Even if I really can't let you know, I will come to you to explain the reason as soon as I get home."
Even if there are special reasons why I can't personally explain that night, I will sincerely apologize and patiently coax them the next day, instead of adopting an arrogant attitude of "I've already apologized, what more do you want?"
Listening silently to her words, Hongli's eyes were filled with surprise. "I was asking a question sincerely, how is that being arrogant?"
"What else do you want?" This sentence conveys a sense of impatience, and the person who says it usually intends to start a fight.
He clearly wanted to settle things peacefully, so why did he intend to start a fight? "I didn't mean that."
"I think you are! That sentence makes me feel very uncomfortable. You broke your promise and prevented me from going on my trip. It took you so long to explain, and you even asked me to be understanding. I'm sorry, but I'm very angry and can't be understanding!"
Arguing with him was a waste of breath, but since he insisted on dragging her into the discussion, she had no reason to hold back and stated her thoughts frankly.
"I can pretend to control my emotions in front of others, but I don't want to wear a mask in front of you. I think the most comfortable state in getting along with others is to be yourself, laugh when you're happy, and say it directly when you're angry, telling the other person your truest thoughts without hiding anything. Only by speaking clearly can there be no barriers between two people."
Of course, this is just my opinion. If you believe that men and women are not equal, and that concubines should be submissive and not have their own opinions, then I have nothing to say.
Equality? Is there any equality between people in this world? Hongli believed there wasn't, but she had her own unique perspective on everything. Her stubbornness both gave Hongli headaches and, inexplicably, a sense of admiration.
"I used to think that women should depend on men for survival and take their husbands as their heaven. All other women were like that. No one dared to talk back to me. Only you, you express your thoughts without any scruples. Aren't you afraid that I will neglect you and never come to you again?"
"If they don't come, they don't come!" She didn't care. She could find a way to get through even the worst days. "At most, the food will be a bit bad, but I still have a hundred taels of silver. I can have extra meals for a long time!"
Her nonchalant attitude made Hongli even more heartbroken, and he sighed indignantly, "You are truly heartless and ungrateful!"
"Me, heartless?" It was truly laughable to hear such words from him. Glancing at him, Su Yushan's beautiful eyes flickered slightly, and she said sarcastically, "It's still better than your fickle affection! If I were devoted to you, but you treated me so coldly, wouldn't I be heartbroken and disappointed, spending my days in tears?"
He had been brooding over this matter for the past few days, but she seemed completely unconcerned, which naturally made Hongli unhappy. "Even if you're just friends, don't you feel sad when you argue with your friends?"
"True friends will not break their promises without giving any explanation and then turn around to be with someone else."
After all that talk, we've come full circle back to the original conflict. Hongli sighed, his brows furrowed. "You've brought that up again. Are we not going to let this go?"
It wasn't that she was being petty; it was that he hadn't understood what she meant. "This is a hurdle in my heart. Whether I can overcome it depends on your attitude. You still don't understand what I really want."
He hadn't understood at first, thinking she was being unreasonable. But in the past few days, even without seeing her, her words kept echoing in his ears. After pondering them for several days, he finally realized what was going on.
“I know you want respect and equality. You don’t want empty words of affection, but genuine care. I admit that I did not handle that matter well and neglected your feelings. I sincerely apologize to you and promise you that I will try my best not to break my promises in the future. If I do break my promise by accident, I will explain to you as soon as possible. I will be careful with my attitude when I speak, and I will not be arrogant or haughty, and I will not be impatient in any way.”
This time was different; she could genuinely feel his sincerity. Meeting his earnest gaze, Su Yushan felt something was amiss, and she even wondered whether she should believe him.
"Why have you suddenly become so understanding? This isn't like you."
Not only did she think so, but even Hongli felt that something was wrong with him. If it were anyone else who disobeyed him like that, he would never try to coax or persuade them. But that person was Su Yushan. Even though he was annoyed, he couldn't help but think about her.
Since she had the courage to speak her mind to him, he didn't want to hide anything anymore. Gazing into her eyes, Hongli sighed softly:
"Because I don't want to have a cold war with you anymore, but you're unwilling to back down, so someone has to back down first."
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