Chapter 63 "I married you, this is my right..."
Compared to most of their kisses after their marriage, this one was gentle, tender, and perfectly intoxicating.
Xue Mingyao's lips were soft, her tongue smooth, entwining between his lips and teeth, as if pulling him into a light dance. She decided the rhythm and steps, and Xie Zhuo simply cooperated. He also enjoyed cooperating; most of his past memories were of cooperating, though back then it was clumsy and hesitant. Now, however, it was skillful and adept.
He opened his eyes by chance—and it was then that Xie Zhuo realized he always unconsciously closed his eyes when he kissed Xue Mingyao. He saw the crescent moon shape beneath her willow-leaf eyebrows, her delicate eyelashes curled upwards, making her look obedient and devout. She was kissing him very earnestly.
Xie Zhuo didn't know what she meant. This kiss felt like he had begged for it, a little sweetness from her, a gesture of goodwill that asked for his help. But in any case, his turbulent emotions were soothed by her kiss. He was a little unwilling, but he really couldn't get angry, and he couldn't push her away.
He hadn't spoken to her or been intimate with her for so many days, and she refused to go home. What could he do? If he provoked her again, she wouldn't even bother playing with him anymore.
He let himself indulge in the kisses and wanted to do more.
Xue Mingyao seemed to think so too.
At first, when she kissed him, her jade-like fingers held the back of his neck, as if afraid he would run away, pulling him towards her lips. Once she was sure he couldn't escape, her soft hands moved slightly, caressing and probing, constantly stirring up his desire.
Before she knew it, Xue Mingyao had pulled open his collar, and her hand even slid down to his waist. His leather belt was stiff and thick; she wondered if it would hurt her hand.
Her lips had already moved downwards, connecting the tingling sensations into a thread that traveled through their limbs and bones, causing a surge of dizziness that affected both of them. Amidst their panting breaths, Xue Mingyao had become as limp as a puddle of water, lying in his arms. If he hadn't held her waist with both hands, the two of them would probably have fallen onto the bed.
Finally, just as she bit his Adam's apple, Xie Zhuo pried her head off.
"That's enough, there's no need to continue."
Xue Mingyao stared at him blankly, her dark eyes brimming with spring tides and her snowy cheeks flushed with a faint blush, almost stealing one's soul.
She wouldn't listen, hummed twice, and went to undress him again.
Xie Zhuo firmly refused, helped her up, and said in a deep voice, "I don't need you to use this to exchange for me saving your brother."
Xue Mingyao slowly came to her senses from her infatuation and was speechless.
She wasn't so humble as to use her body to please people...
She just wanted to kiss him; the moment he hugged her, she wanted to kiss him. Had Xie Zhuo cast some kind of spell on her? She craved his body just as she had craved Xie Qinglang back then.
Xie Zhuo's accusation that she was promiscuous wasn't entirely unjust, she thought.
Xue Mingyao touched her burning cheeks, unsure of what to say. She lowered her eyes, straightened her clothes, and sat upright, as if waiting for his judgment.
Suddenly, Xie Zhuo's hand reached to her temple, gathering a few stray strands of hair and re-pinning the displaced jewels. After doing this, he asked, "Should I wipe it down now?"
The heat on Xue Mingyao's cheeks returned instantly, and she slapped his hand away, saying, "No need."
"But you need to wipe your face," he replied, as if in response.
She glanced at his face; her rouge and lipstick were smeared everywhere, making quite a scene.
Looking at him like this, he does resemble Xie Shusheng after she teased him back then, except that Xie Zhuo shows no panic or embarrassment.
He nodded. "I know."
Xue Mingyao caught a glimpse of him taking out a handkerchief, and then hesitated for a moment.
There are no bronze mirrors here, so if he wants her to clean one for him...
Xie Zhuo stood up, walked to the washstand in the corner of the room, and washed his face.
A sudden sense of loss washed over Xue Mingyao.
After Xie Zhuo cleaned the makeup off his face, he turned around and said calmly, "I will do my best to help your brother get out of trouble. You don't need to do anything; marrying you is my duty."
Xue Mingyao was shocked and stood there stunned for a moment.
"It's good for you to stay at the Xue residence. With your family around, you won't be overthinking things. Try to stay home these days and don't ask for favors from others, especially don't go to the Feng family. Leave things to me."
"Let's go, I'll see you off."
Even after Xie Zhuo helped Xue Mingyao onto the carriage, her mind was still blank, a complex mix of emotions stuck in her throat, leaving her feeling lost and helpless.
She watched Xie Zhuo close the carriage door, heard the driver cracking his whip, and suddenly pulled back the curtain, calling out, "Xie Zhuo."
Xie Zhuo raised an eyebrow at her.
Its pine-like form stood straight outside the car window.
Xue Mingyao's lips moved, and the words rolled around on her tongue a few times, "Do what you can. It doesn't matter if you can't save my brother."
"Um."
The wheels rolled across the street. Xue Mingyao sat in the carriage, recalling Xie Zhuo's "hmm" several times, a smile playing on his lips.
Back at the Xue residence, she told her sister-in-law about Xie Zhuokeng's help in mediating the matter. The next day, her sister-in-law went to the Dali Temple to visit Xue Xingtai in prison. Seeing that Xue Xingtai was in good health and could even joke with her, her worried brows finally relaxed a bit.
Zhao Ying also came to see them, bringing over Xue Mingyao's clothes and other belongings that she had left there. She said many comforting words, and before leaving, she quietly said to Xue Mingyao, "There are some bad rumors circulating outside about Yuniang and Feng Sheng. She's the same age as Zhelan, and she's most prone to making rash decisions. You should talk to her more."
Xue Mingyu cried for several days. When Xue Mingyao went to see her, she had almost cried all her tears, and even her fiery temper, which was just like Xue Mingyao's, was gone. She was leaning against the headboard reading a book. When she saw Xue Mingyao come, she closed the book and called out pitifully, "Sister."
Xue Mingyao turned her head to look at the book in her hand. It was a Buddhist scripture, and she immediately felt a headache coming on.
As she hesitated on how to persuade her, Xue Mingyu spoke first, "Sister, I really feel that I am not destined for marriage. I always meet the wrong person and am let down by the one I love."
Xue Mingyao disagreed, "There's only one Feng Sheng, we can't call him 'always'."
"There are others you don't know," Xue Mingyu said, not wanting to mention Chen Liangqing.
Xue Mingyao thought for a moment and asked, "Weren't you also arrogant before? You didn't even like the suitable husbands your sister-in-law chose, and you only had eyes for men like Chen Liangqing. How come you suddenly took a liking to Feng Sheng?"
Xue Mingyu said in a low voice, "He smiled at me, praised my looks and good temperament, and said that he dreamed of me the first time he met me, and that compared to me, all the women around him paled in comparison."
Xue Mingyao thought to herself, "No wonder she's someone who's kept a mistress since she was a teenager. She can spout sweet words so easily. No wonder she could win over Yuniang."
She said, "It's not that you're destined to be unmarried. Heaven has been kind to you and is deliberately preventing you from marrying Feng Sheng! Otherwise, if you had married him, you would have faced a courtyard full of beautiful women after marriage, and that would have been a truly miserable life."
Xue Mingyu smiled bitterly, "Why doesn't Heaven do more good deeds and just not let me meet Feng Sheng? If only I hadn't fallen for him, I wouldn't have implicated my brother."
"What's done is done, so just look forward," Xue Mingyao said helplessly. "Learn from your mistakes. Next time you're choosing a husband, keep your eyes open and don't be fooled by sweet words. That kind of thing is the least valuable. In my experience, the sweeter a man's words are, the less reliable he is."
“I understand,” Xue Mingyu said dejectedly, “but what kind of man can be trusted? Is General Xie like him? He doesn’t seem like the type to sweet-talk people.”
Xue Mingyao was taken aback. "He..."
Xie Zhuo certainly wouldn't use sweet words; his forced admission of liking her was laced with venom, making her feel both sweet and painful at the same time.
However, recalling Xie Zhuo's firm promise that afternoon, Xue Mingyao felt a pang of regret. "He is reliable."
Her eyes stung, and tears welled up inexplicably.
"Sister?" Xue Mingyu looked at her strangely.
"It's alright," Xue Mingyao said slowly. "Yuniang, it's not your fault that you like Feng Sheng, you don't need to blame yourself."
Everyone understands the principle that actions speak louder than words, but who doesn't like sweet talk?
Why listen to unpleasant words when you can listen to nice ones?
Xie Zhuo has toned it down now. When he was Xie Qinglang, he said countless hurtful things to her. She liked him, thought he was good in every way, and tried every way to praise him, but she never received a kind word in return. Even when she praised his beautiful writing and excellent painting, he would scold her for being ignorant and having vulgar taste.
He was always so upright and invincible.
Because she forcibly took him from her, she will forever bear the reputation of being a bad person in his eyes, and he will always bring up her past mistakes.
If she could, she would also like to ask God why they met like this? Why couldn't they have a better story?
She also longed to meet him before she was married!
Xue Mingyu was surprised to find that her usually strong-willed elder sister's eyes were filled with tears, which rolled down her cheeks.
"Sister, what's wrong?"
"I..." Xue Mingyao tried hard to hold back her tears, but the tears flowed uncontrollably. She could only sob and say, "I, I miss him so much."
Whom are you thinking of?
"I miss my husband!" Xue Mingyao burst into tears.
......
Deep within the palace, a beautiful woman in an apricot-yellow palace dress rests her chin on her hand, gazing intently as she leans against a desk.
On the table lay a stack of yellowed old poetry manuscripts, the fragile edges of which bore the marks of fingers that had rubbed against them.
The maidservant approached quietly and whispered, "Your Highness, are you thinking of him again?"
Feng Wan smiled faintly, but did not answer.
The maid's voice grew even lower, "News came from home that General Xie has come to our door with gifts to plead for the second son of the Xue family, saying that there are many suspicious points in the case and asking Lord Feng not to hastily conclude that the young master Xue is the murderer. He asked for more time, saying that even if the Court of Judicial Review cannot do it, he will still give our family an explanation. He also promised some other benefits..."
Feng Wan paused, her clear eyes glistening with tears. "When did he and the Second Son of the Xue family become acquainted like this?"
The maid lowered her eyes.
Feng Wan said to herself, "Oh, it's because of Princess Yongning. She is his wife, and the Xue family is his in-law."
"Since they are relatives, we cannot simply sit idly by," the maid said.
“But he actually went to this extent,” Feng Wan said with a wry smile. “What did his family say?”
"The scene was not pleasant. The lady gave General Xie a severe scolding, which put Lord Feng in a difficult position. In addition, General Xie has visited more than once."
Feng Wan let out a long sigh.
"He is deeply in love with Princess Yongning, and he probably became a general so he could marry her. Why can't he tell me the truth...?"
The hall was silent; no one could give her an answer.
After a long while, Feng Wan stroked the poem manuscript and instructed the maid, "Go and tell Father that we already owe Xie Qinglang a debt, so let's agree to his request. I know his character; if Brother Sheng was really killed by the Second Son of the Xue family, he won't cover it up. Also, don't let Second Mother give him attitude anymore; she doesn't deserve it."
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