Jiang Yu stumbled backward.
Pei Xiao’s knowledge and eloquence were far from ordinary.
She couldn’t distinguish, she simply couldn’t distinguish!
“You’ve truly been devoured and deceived by him!” Meng Qingyao sighed, seeing her confused expression.
“It’s not your fault! People like him are born to charm their masters. Having grown up with his mother, he must have learned sweet words. How could a noble lady like you resist their vulgar tricks?”
Jiang Yu’s mind was spinning.
So all the patience and attentiveness he showed during their time together were merely practiced techniques.
And she thought she was loved?
“Yu’er, you need to wake up! Strike first!” Meng Qingyao shook her shoulders aggressively.
“Now that he holds all the power, if you don’t expose his true nature, you’ll never escape his grasp!”
Too many things were entangled, impossible to cut through or sort out.
Jiang Yu felt suffocated. She took a deep breath. “Aunt, do you know where Rong Niang is? I need to ask her myself.”
Her last shred of reason told her not to trust one side of the story—she had to ask directly.
But Meng Qingyao’s eyes gradually grew turbid, and she kept muttering, “Yu’er, you must kill him. Only you, only you have the chance to kill him!”
“Kill that beast, kill that beast!” Meng Qingyao laughed wildly.
Her mad laughter echoed through the temple, making the oil lamp flicker.
Her clawing silhouette projected onto the golden Buddha statue, appearing somewhat eerie.
Meng Qingyao had only reduced her medication dosage but still took some, so she drifted between lucidity and confusion.
Her unrestrained laughter drew shadowy figures gathering in the courtyard.
Jiang Yu couldn’t stay any longer and attract attention.
“Aunt?” Jiang Yu called softly. Seeing Meng Qingyao still unresponsive, she quietly slipped away.
Meng Qingyao probably knew only this much, and it might just be hearsay.
Yet this information alone was already too much for Jiang Yu to process.
She had been intimate with him, yet she didn’t even know his real name or what he truly looked like.
The face Pei Xiao used to gaze at her affectionately was fake. The hands that caressed her daily were stained with blood.
So what about him was real?
All these years, Jiang Yu had been deeply in love with nothing but a shadow. How ridiculous!
Now thinking back, Pei Xiao maintaining a respectful distance over the years wasn’t because he considered her frail health.
The truth was, their relationship had always been like flowers in a mirror and the moon in the water.
Only Jiang Yu foolishly believed it was real, dreaming of being a good wife and mother.
Stupid!
The rain weakened at the horizon, like a fine net trapping her in a corner with no escape.
Jiang Yu wandered aimlessly, stumbling along.
Before she knew it, she had returned to the meditation room.
She stared at the low eaves and laughed helplessly.
Even knowing it was a cage, she still had to return.
Indeed, where in the capital could she possibly escape?
Yet she’d rather stand in the rain and cold wind than go back.
The bleak autumn wind bent the withered tree branches before the door, casting mottled shadows on the window paper.
Amidst the crisscrossing, thorn-like shadows, a human figure suddenly emerged.
The shadow gradually enlarged.
Jiang Yu’s heart turned cold. She pivoted on her toes, instinctively wanting to flee.
The window swung open abruptly.
Pei Xiao leaned against the windowsill, dressed in white with a jade crown, his eyes carrying their usual smile. “Yu’er, you’re back?”His calm voice cut through the pattering rain, sounding both out of place and unnervingly clear.
The more he smiled, the more uneasy Jiang Yu felt.
Hadn’t Pei Xiao gone to the mountainside? How had he returned so quickly?
Jiang Yu instinctively curled her feet inward.
She had just been feigning unbearable foot pain, yet now Pei Xiao had caught her outside—utterly mortifying.
Swallowing hard, she feigned composure. “Husband, where have you been? I’ve been searching everywhere for you.”
“Gathering herbs,” Pei Xiao replied gently. “Come inside quickly, Yu’er. The rain is about to pick up.”
He reached out through the window, rainwater dripping from his pale, slender fingers like the hand of Guanyin holding a sacred vase—a gesture of salvation.
Yet it could just as easily be the demonic claw dragging her to hell.
Pei Xiao’s face remained shadowed by the trees, his expression unreadable, devoid of any emotion.
Jiang Yu couldn’t afford to panic first. She took a deep breath. “It’s stifling inside. I’d like to get some fresh air here. There’s no need to worry about me, husband.”
“But I have so much to say to you, Yu’er, so much I wish to do with you.” Pei Xiao gazed at the girl with dampened hair at her temples. “It’s crowded out here. Surely you wouldn’t want us pouring our hearts out to each other in the rain?”
His voice was tender yet bewitching, deliberately raised.
Passing monks occasionally stole glances at the “affectionate banter” between the married couple.
Already disheveled from the rain and her fall, she had no desire to become a spectacle.
With a resigned breath, she anxiously pushed the door open and entered.
Immediately, a powerful arm wrapped around her waist, pinning her against the wall.
The room was unlit, pitch black.
Yet the sandalwood scent clinging to Pei Xiao flooded her senses, nearly overwhelming her.
Jiang Yu pressed her back tightly against the wall, turning her head to evade his dominating presence. “H-Husband, stop this… please stop…”
Her pleas grew softer, almost begging.
Pei Xiao paid no heed. His cold kisses trailed slowly down her neck, burying into the hollow of her shoulder.
He too had been caught in the rain and hadn’t cleaned up after returning. The sensation of his lips and tongue was damp and sinister, like a snake.
Terrified and resistant, Jiang Yu pushed against his shoulders with her delicate hands.
In her mind, she had rehearsed a hundred questions he might ask and prepared a hundred answers in response.
But Pei Xiao asked nothing. He only kissed her, kissing until her legs grew weak, as if all her strength had been drained.
Weakly, Jiang Yu clutched at his collar. “H-Husband, what’s wrong with you?”
Her kitten-like whimper, paired with her wide, innocent eyes, tugged at one’s heartstrings.
Pei Xiao’s breath hitched, his heart softening involuntarily.
Jiang Yu knew exactly how to sway his emotions.
And how to play the fool.
Pei Xiao remained equally composed, kissing her eyelids. “Where did you go just now, Yu’er?”
“I…”
There was no way she could mention Meng Qingyao.
Steeling herself, Jiang Yu replied, “I was worried about you, husband, so I came out to look. I didn’t expect you to return before me.”
“Yu’er is as considerate as ever. Your husband is deeply moved.” Pei Xiao neither confirmed nor denied her words, lifting her chin to deepen the kiss.
It was less a kiss and more a bite.
His teeth gently nipped at her full lips, alternating with sucking kisses—both painful and tingling.
He invaded her territory, as if eager to devour her whole.
Yet Jiang Yu no longer recognized the man before her.
Who was he, really?!
Her body tensed, and she pulled away.
Pei Xiao’s ardor hung in the air. He licked the corner of his lips.In the darkness, Jiang Yu always felt that those calculating eyes were ready to devour her at any moment, leaving her restless and uneasy.
But she had to figure out what Pei Xiao was thinking in order to deal with it properly.
“Husband, has Yu’er done something wrong to anger you?Her soft, glutinous voice was as obedient as can be, yet the things she did were utterly defiant.
Pei Xiao sneered coldly in his heart.
He had just returned to the room and, finding it empty, had already guessed about eighty percent of what she was up to.
Sitting alone in the pitch-black room, he twirled his Buddhist beads and recalled everything, only then realizing that her recent initiatives to get close were all deliberate attempts to win his pity.
She copied poems for him, made ink sticks for him, and called him “husband” over and over—each one a ploy to soften his heart.
Once his heart softened enough to go gather herbs for her, she could act recklessly.
The ridiculous part was that Pei Xiao, who prided himself on being as calm as still water, had repeatedly fallen for the cat’s tricks.
He hated the feeling of being manipulated.
Since she had done it, she would have to pay the price…
A cold glint flashed in Pei Xiao’s eyes, but when he looked up, his smile was as gentle as jade: “Yu’er is overthinking it. I’m not unhappy at all.”
His smile felt like it was frozen three feet deep in ice, which only made Jiang Yu’s heart grow colder. She shrank back, trying to slip out from under his arm. “My clothes are wet. I need to change.”
“No need. I’ll help Yu’er take them off.” Pei Xiao’s large hand suddenly cupped her waist and buttocks, lifting her to sit on the incense table.
Incense burners and sutras scattered across the floor, and behind Jiang Yu hung a Buddha statue, its eyes seemingly glaring at her.
Yet Pei Xiao remained calm and unhurried, gently unfastening the buttons at her collar with not a trace of anger detectable.
His unpredictability made Jiang Yu’s heart race even faster. She gripped his hand tightly. “Husband, you can undress yourself!”
Jiang Yu meant that she wanted to go behind the screen to change into dry clothes herself.
But Pei Xiao seemed to misunderstand. Placing his hands on either side of her, he stared unblinkingly at her chest. “Alright, Yu’er can undress herself. Undress for me.”
!
Jiang Yu shuddered, sensing his intentions, and immediately backtracked: “That’s not what I meant!”
“So, Yu’er still wants her husband to help you undress?” Pei Xiao’s eyes held a cold smile, but his large hand had already slipped under her clothes, tracing her spine until he felt the soaked undergarment. “So wet like this—if you don’t take it off, you’ll catch a cold.”
Pei Xiao’s words sent another chill through Jiang Yu’s body, and she began to tremble uncontrollably.
“Yu’er really is cold, isn’t she? Let your husband warm you up.” He grasped her slender waist firmly.
A surge of heat rushed from her chest to her head, and Jiang Yu arched her neck.