Yun Xiangye raised an eyebrow at Gu Yan and whispered, “I’m not going to the Prince of Chu’s residence.”
Gu Yan asked, “Why not?”
Yun Xiangye called for Nanny Cao and had her take Nuonuo outside.
After watching Nuonuo leave, Gu Yan turned to Yun Xiangye and said, “Your uncle and aunt are elders. Since we’ve run into Cousin Jing today, it would be impolite not to pay them a visit.”
Yun Xiangye snorted lightly, “You don’t hold my relatives in high regard, so why should I accompany you to visit yours?”
Gu Yan sighed helplessly, “When have I ever disrespected your relatives? During our three years in Jiangnan, I accompanied you to your uncle’s house for every festival. Each time, I treated him with the utmost respect. Even though his chess skills are lacking, I patiently played with him, making sure not to win too much or lose too quickly. I don’t even have that much patience when playing chess with my imperial uncle.”
Yun Xiangye looked at Gu Yan, “And what about my Sister He?”
Gu Yan replied, “His Highness the Crown Prince has already said he won’t make Sister Ye… Sister He take contraceptive medicine anymore.”
Yun Xiangye frowned slightly, “If she stops taking contraceptive medicine, what if she becomes pregnant?”
Gu Yan said, “After all, it would be a child of royal blood. If she becomes pregnant, His Highness the Crown Prince will surely give Sister He a proper status. Besides, this matter concerns the Crown Prince. No matter what, there’s nothing I can do about it. You can’t hold Sister He’s situation against me.”
Yun Xiangye stared at Gu Yan, “If not Sister He’s matter, then what about you deceiving me for three years? And what about you calling me ‘only women and petty men are hard to deal with’?”
Gu Yan retorted, “Haven’t I already knelt on an abacus to apologize? Why must you keep bringing it up? I’ve been indulgent enough with you. If it were anyone else, if their wife dared to be so unreasonable and make such a fuss, they would have written a letter of divorce long ago…”
Upon hearing this, Yun Xiangye swiftly raised her hand and slapped Gu Yan across the face.
Gu Yan felt a ringing in his ears, his cheek burning and swollen. “Yun Xiangye!”
Yun Xiangye looked at him, her hands trembling with rage as she clenched them into fists. “Go ahead and divorce me! Write the letter of divorce right now and be done with it. If it weren’t for Nuonuo, who would be willing to endure your insults and grievances?”
She knew Gu Yan didn’t care for her, but she never imagined he actually intended to divorce her.
No wonder the maids Zhuyi and Meiyi had thought Gu Yan might divorce his wife for a concubine—it turned out he truly harbored such thoughts.
Tears welled up in Yun Xiangye’s eyes. “Gu Yan, write the letter of divorce now. I’ll have Run’er pack my things immediately and make way for your cousins and junior sisters. That way, they won’t have to think you suffered some great injustice by marrying me. Give me the divorce letter today, and I’ll leave today.”
Gu Yan stepped forward. “When did you develop this habit of hitting people at the slightest provocation? I didn’t say I was actually going to divorce you. I was just saying that any other man wouldn’t let his wife carry on like this.”
Gu Yan wiped away Yun Xiangye’s tears. “You’re the one who hit me, so why are you crying? And don’t talk about leaving. Where would you even go after leaving the Princess Royal’s residence?”
Yun Xiangye said, “I have somewhere to go.”
At this moment, Gu Yan felt he truly had no temper left when it came to Yun Xiangye. “Where would you go in an unfamiliar place? Although these are peaceful times, a woman traveling alone must still be cautious.”
“It wasn’t me who said I’d divorce you. It was His Highness the Crown Prince who said that if you disrespect me, I can divorce you. But I never said I wanted to divorce you.”
Yun Xiangye glared at Gu Yan with deep resentment. “So you mean I should be grateful to you? Thank you for not wanting to divorce me?”
“Gu Yan, let me tell you this—if it weren’t for Nuonuo needing a biological father, with how you’ve deceived me and how your cousin and martial sister look down on me everywhere, I would have divorced you long ago.”
“Do you think just because you’re the high and mighty Prince Ning’s heir, I should bow and scrape before you? That I should thank you, a noble Prince Ning heir, for not caring about my humble origins and being willing to marry me? That I should fawn over you everywhere, afraid you’ll divorce me?”
Gu Yan pulled Yun Xiangye into his arms. “When did I ever mean that? Don’t get angry at yourself. All these days, I’ve let you hit me and quarrel with me. No matter how angry you were, shouldn’t it have subsided by now?”
Yun Xiangye said, “Today I ran into your childhood sweetheart, Martial Sister Lin. She said you suffered too much by marrying me. How can I not be angry?”
“If only you had told me your identity earlier, I could have prepared more on the way. I wouldn’t have been looked down upon by everyone in Chang’an City, with everyone thinking I’m not worthy of you.”
Gu Yan frowned slightly. “Why blame me for what others say about you? We’re already husband and wife. What does it matter who’s worthy or not? If you blame me for others’ words, who should I complain to about my grievances?”
Yun Xiangye retorted, “Flies don’t bother with intact eggs. Since you’re already married with children, yet you still attract those girls who refuse to get engaged, waiting for your return to Chang’an—it’s all because you never truly regarded me as your wife. That’s why others think you might divorce your wife to take concubines, giving them hope.”
Gu Yan frowned. “Divorce my wife to take concubines? What does that even mean?”
Gu Yan reached out to wipe Yun Xiangye’s tears. “I haven’t even had that thought, yet I’ve already taken three slaps from you for nothing. If I really wanted to divorce you and make you my concubine, wouldn’t you have taken my life with a knife?”
Yun Xiangye snorted lightly.
Gu Yan said, “Don’t be angry anymore. Come with me tomorrow to visit Second Uncle and Aunt.”
Yun Xiangye said, “I’m not going.”
Gu Yan frowned. “Why not?”
Yun Xiangye said, “I’m exhausted.”
“With all this quarreling with me these past few days, how could you not be tired?” Gu Yan chuckled. “Rest well tonight, get some sleep, and you’ll surely feel better tomorrow.”
Yun Xiangye looked up at Gu Yan. “I…”
If Chu An is Princess Nan’an, then Chu Jing must be the Prince of Chu’s heir. By age, he should be Gu Yan’s cousin.
For a moment, Yun Xiangye didn’t know how to face him. Back then, to make Chu Jing give up on her, she had sworn to the heavens that she would never marry in this lifetime. Yet in the end, to repay a life-saving favor through a marriage for good luck, she still married Gu Yan.
Yun Xiangye thought perhaps it was because she broke her oath that she ended up with a husband who didn’t truly care for her. After coming to Chang’an, she suffered humiliation and was looked down upon everywhere.
Now, she was even more angered because of Gu Yan.
If she had known she would marry eventually, she might as well have married Chu Jing back then. At least he cared for her much more than Gu Yan did.
Chu Jing would never have let everyone in Chang’an City think she was unworthy of being his wife.
Gu Yan looked at Yun Xiangye, who seemed hesitant to speak, and asked, “What are you thinking about?”
Yun Xiangye naturally dared not tell Gu Yan that she thought marrying him was not as good as marrying Chu Jing.
Seeing the guilt in Yun Xiangye’s eyes, Gu Yan lowered his head to look into her eyes, “What are you feeling guilty about?”
“Who says I’m feeling guilty?”
Hearing the guilty tone in Yun Xiangye’s voice, Gu Yan reached out and pinched her chin, forcing her to look up at him. Yun Xiangye’s eyes, however, were evasive.
Gu Yan then lowered his head and bit Yun Xiangye’s red lips, pressing her against the small couch as he leaned down…
At dusk, the sunset gradually faded, the sky turning bluish-black, and the outside grew colder and colder.
Inside the dimly lit room, Yun Xiangye broke into a light sweat in Gu Yan’s embrace.
Gu Yan lit a candle and saw Yun Xiangye’s flushed face as she had already fallen asleep. She must have had something on her mind today, otherwise she wouldn’t have been so guilty.
Gu Yan went outside and took the warm water from the maid, returning to wipe Yun Xiangye down when he heard her murmuring in her sleep.
“Young Master Chu…”
Gu Yan clenched his fist. He knew of this Young Master Chu.
Gu Yan had once heard Yun Xiangye’s younger sister mention that if Young Master Chu had been willing to marry into the family, he and Yun Xiangye would have long been happily married.
Gu Yan wanted to wake Yun Xiangye and question why she was still calling for Young Master Chu even in her dreams, but in the end, he only kissed her red lips, disregarding that she was asleep, wanting only to torment her fiercely…
“Mmm.”
Yun Xiangye, who had just fallen asleep, was roused by Gu Yan’s disturbance. Frowning, she looked at him and said, “What are you doing?”
Gu Yan picked Yun Xiangye up horizontally and walked toward the bathing pool, whispering in her ear, “No wonder you were feeling guilty earlier—even in your dreams, you were calling for Young Master Chu?”
Yun Xiangye looked into Gu Yan’s eyes, afraid of falling, and quickly wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “No!”
Once in the bathing pool, Gu Yan encircled Yun Xiangye’s waist and said, “I heard it with my own ears. How dare you say no?”
Yun Xiangye offered no further defense. Tears welled in the corners of her eyes as she said, “Gu Yan, you promised you wouldn’t torment me anymore…”
Gu Yan lowered his head to coax Yun Xiangye, “Xiangye, who do you love the most?”
“Nuonuo.”
Gu Yan bit Yun Xiangye’s shoulder. “Besides Nuonuo…”
“My younger sister.”
Gu Yan took a deep breath, looking at Yun Xiangye’s flushed cheeks amidst the steam. “Between me and Young Master Chu, who do you love more?”
If Chu Jing weren’t Gu Yan’s cousin, Yun Xiangye would have falsely claimed it was Chu Jing just to anger Gu Yan.
Without waiting for Yun Xiangye to answer, Gu Yan sealed her red lips, ignoring her pleas for mercy as he continued to torment her…