Chapter 41 Questioning
He lowered his head, getting very close, his breath hitting Liu Shi's pale face, his voice hoarse:
"Liu Shi... my dear Shi'er... just now at the entrance of Ya Ming Xuan, you were smiling so happily at the Third Prince... how come I have to sneak around to see you, and can't even touch your hand?"
"He, Pei Shan, can actually make you laugh like a courtesan in public?!"
Liu Shi seemed unable to believe what she was hearing. She suddenly looked up, tears welling in her eyes, and exclaimed, "Your Highness! How could you utter such foul language! Are you trying to ruin me?!"
"I'll ruin you?" Pei Yi seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world, his bloodshot eyes fixed on her. "You pretended to be pure and innocent in front of me, always saying that your family has strict rules and etiquette!"
"What? If it were my dear third brother, he'd be all lovey-dovey in public?! Liu Shi, are your rules and etiquette designed just for me, the prince?!"
"Or is it that even with a prince, you can be picky and treat him differently based on his status?!"
He became increasingly agitated as he spoke, his chest heaving violently, as if he were about to unleash all the pent-up grievances and resentment he had been holding back.
"Have I been bad to you?! Liu Shi! I've been sending you piles of precious jewels and ornaments! Whatever you want, I've never given you!"
"It was clearly you! It was you who, every time, with your shy and hesitant demeanor, gave me hope! You gave me a promise! Our relationship should have been an open secret!"
"I even...thought that one day...I would make your entire Liu family rise to prominence! So you would never have to bow your head because of your birth again!"
Pei Yi's eyes were bloodshot!
He truly loved Liu Shi; if it weren't for the vast difference in their family backgrounds, he wouldn't have been able to offer her any benefit...
Liu Shi was always gentle and considerate in front of him. He could get the recognition he had never received from his father and mother from Liu Shi. He had long been infatuated with her.
Pei Yi's voice was hoarse: "I treated you with all my heart and soul! And this is how you repay me?! What right do you have to betray me!"
Liu Shi's face was streaked with tears, her eyes filled with emotion.
"Your Highness...do you love me?"
Pei Yi was taken aback when he heard such blunt words coming from Liu Shi's mouth.
After a moment of stunned silence, he blurted out almost immediately, with urgency:
"Love! Of course I love you! If I didn't love you so deeply, why would I, Pei Yi, be like this? Why would I pour my heart out to you and obey your every whim!"
Liu Shi suddenly laughed, a loud laugh that was completely different from her usual gentle demeanor.
She leaned forward slightly, getting closer to Pei Yi's astonished face:
“I gave you the tender words and pitiful act you wanted, satisfying your sense of superiority and the pleasure of bestowing favors... You reciprocated by giving me gold, silver, and jewels. Isn’t that a perfectly fair and honest transaction?”
Liu Shi's lips curled into an extremely sarcastic smile, her tone light and airy:
"Your Highness, the way you look, as if your sincerity has been betrayed... is utterly ridiculous."
She paused, then spoke slowly and deliberately, as if delivering a verdict:
"He's like a...love-obsessed fool, so naive it's...nauseating."
boom!
Pei Yi felt a loud bang in his head!
The whole world fell silent instantly, and everything spun around.
He stood frozen in place, his breath caught in his throat.
Those eyes that always gazed at him with tenderness and affection were now filled with nothing but naked contempt.
His sister Liu... that gentle, dignified, polite, and respectful sister Liu who regarded him as her only support... what did she just say?
Hallucination?
Yes! It must be a hallucination!
It must be a hallucination caused by being so angry!
He blinked hard, trying to see the familiar yet unfamiliar face before him, but all he saw was a face full of mockery.
"Your Highness, if you truly love me, why don't you marry me as your princess consort?"
Upon hearing this, Pei Yi instantly breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that she was just throwing a tantrum, which was why she said such hurtful things.
"If your family had power and status, why would I, this prince, have married Xie Sangning! For power, for the throne! I have no choice but to do this! You should understand me!"
Liu Shi tilted her head slightly: "Oh? I see. In order to gain absolute power, Your Highness can tell me, with a clear conscience, that you cannot marry me as your principal wife. This is a grand ambition that you have no choice but to undertake..."
She paused, and her eyes, once brimming with tenderness, now held only mockery:
"Then, Your Highness, please tell me—"
"What's wrong with me climbing the ladder step by step, filtering out hopeless men to gain power and status, and finding another outstanding man?"
Pei Yi was dumbfounded. Could this really be something Sister Liu would say?
After being stunned, he was filled with rage!
How could you have become so despicable and shameless!
Liu Shi suddenly burst into laughter, her laughter tinged with tears.
"Why should a man be able to openly tell a woman that he has ulterior motives for marrying her, all for the sake of power?"
"And if a woman approaches a man with a specific purpose, it is despicable and shameful?"
"Your Highness!" She stared intently at Pei Yi's suddenly bloodless face. "Tell me! Is the way of this world only allowing you men to scheme and betray women for power, while we women are not allowed to live like human beings and find a way out for ourselves?!"
"Why is your scheming called brilliant strategy, while our plotting is called a woman's trickery?!"
"Why should I?!"
The alley was deathly silent, save for Liu Shi's trembling yet crystal-clear questioning echoing through the air.
Pei Yi stood frozen in place, as if he had been frozen in place by a spell.
His handsome face turned from red to white, then from white to green, his lips trembling, yet he couldn't utter a single word in rebuttal.
Looking at his speechless and pathetic appearance, Liu Shi suddenly burst into an even louder and sharper laugh, laughing so hard she could hardly breathe and tears streaming down her face.
That laughter contained utter despair and clarity, and was the most biting irony of this unjust world!
Liu Shi forcefully shook off Pei Yi's cold, stiff fingers, staggering back two steps as if trying to shake off something dirty.
She straightened her disheveled clothes and loose hair, stared blankly at the sunlight at the alley entrance, and took a step forward with unusual determination.
Just as her figure was about to disappear into the alley, Pei Yi's trembling voice came from behind, carrying the last glimmer of hope: "And you... Liu Shi... did you... ever love me?"
The sound echoed in the quiet alley, sounding particularly abrupt and pitiful.
Liu Shi stopped in her tracks.
The winter sun slanted down on her thin shoulders, dispelling the chill that enveloped her.
Liu Shi slowly turned around.
There were no tear stains, no anger, and not even any intense emotions on her face, only calmness, as if she were looking at a stubborn child.
"like?"
"Your Highness, are you still fixated on this word?"
"In this place, in this city of Jinling, where you men write the rules and decide the life and death of women..."
"Just living has exhausted all my strength. As for love?"
She paused:
"That's an unrealistic and extravagant fantasy."
"I have never loved anyone."
“No, that’s not right,” she said, shaking her head slightly as if she had remembered something.
I love myself.
Only by loving yourself can you survive.
After saying that, she didn't look at Pei Yi again.
Pei Yi was left standing frozen at the bottom of the dark alley.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
