Jiang Weiyao's expression stiffened.
She stopped in her tracks, meeting Pei Yunheng's probing gaze. She hesitated for a long moment, but ultimately couldn't hold back from asking, "Husband, in your eyes, am I still a human being?"
Pei Yunheng: "?"
Jiang Weiyao was even more bewildered than he was, asking with a serious expression, "Or rather, in your eyes, am I still a woman?"
Pei Yunheng raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"What do I mean?" Jiang Weiyao's expression was complicated. After a few moments of silence, she chose to tell him honestly, "Actually, ever since I turned thirteen, I've smelled the scent of blood every month, every year. If a month passes without me smelling it, I start to feel anxious and uneasy."
Did she even know what she was saying?
Pei Yunheng's brows furrowed.
He had only been testing her casually, yet he never expected to hear something like this.
"…Husband, do you know that women bleed every month?" Seeing that Pei Yunheng's gaze had turned cold, Jiang Weiyao was at her wit's end. "It's called menstruation. Every woman—mind you, every woman—gets it every month."
Afraid that Pei Yunheng wouldn't understand, she even pointed specifically at his lower body and said earnestly, "It flows out from here. It bleeds every month."
Pei Yunheng: "…"
Staring at her in shock, he turned his body to the side.
Jiang Weiyao looked at him with an utterly innocent expression.
The night wind swept past quietly, clearing one's mind, and causing a brief ringing in Pei Yunheng's ears.
He understood.
He fell silent.
His ears burned like fire.
Seeing this, Jiang Weiyao was quite gratified. "It seems my husband has figured it out. I thought you'd secretly hit your head again and were waiting to amaze me."
Pei Yunheng turned his face away, rendered speechless. For the first time in his life, he experienced what it meant to feel utterly ashamed, with nowhere to hide, at a complete loss, and without a single word to say.
This was no place to linger.
Making a quick judgment, he strode forward, his steps completely disordered.
Jiang Weiyao wasn't about to let him off.
She trotted after him, pressing close to his side and asking breathlessly, "Husband, why did you suddenly leave? Husband, aren't you going to question me anymore? Husband, I actually recognize the scent of blood—don't you find that suspicious? Husband, husband, husband…"
Pei Yunheng took a deep breath, his breathing trembling.
His head ached terribly.
The word "husband" was like poison to him, making his head spin.
He abruptly stopped in his tracks.
Jiang Weiyao, caught off guard, crashed into his back.
His back was broad and solid, his muscles and bones cold and hard. Jiang Weiyao slammed into him fully, and tears immediately burst from her eyes. She complained, "That hurt so much!"
Pei Yunheng turned around.
"What do you want to do?" Seeing his unusual expression, Jiang Weiyao grew wary and took three hurried steps backward. "Are you angry and embarrassed, and now you want to kill your wife to silence her?!"
—Well, at least her wariness toward him was considerable.
Pei Yunheng's eyes flickered slightly.
Seeing him remain silent, Jiang Weiyao decisively raised her weapon. "Don't you dare try anything. I'll scream!"
—She'd actually kept that broken tree branch.
"I'm sorry." Turning his face aside, Pei Yunheng dodged the branch that came swinging at him.
At first stunned, Jiang Weiyao quickly recovered and became even more vigilant. "Saying sorry before killing someone—you really are planning to kill your wife to silence her!"
"…Who says sorry before killing someone?" Closing his eyes, Pei Yunheng's temples throbbed with pain, and he couldn't help but retort.
"Me?" Jiang Weiyao said lightly. "Before I kill someone, I like to say sorry. And not just killing—I also poison people."
Pei Yunheng lowered his eyes.
He could naturally tell that Jiang Weiyao was deliberately saying the opposite of what she meant.
Having been wrongly accused time and again, it was only human nature for her to be angry.
"I'm sorry."
Pei Yunheng said, "I shouldn't have suspected you, shouldn't have constantly tested you with words—whether just now, or with that bowl of plain congee."
So he really was apologizing.
Jiang Weiyao mused thoughtfully.
This sudden apology felt like an interrogation of her morals and conscience.
Fortunately, she had none.
She commanded with perfect self-righteousness: "Apologizing alone is useless. My husband must make it up to me."
Pei Yunheng looked at her and asked, "How do you want me to make it up to you?"
Jiang Weiyao pursed her lips. "Husband, that's so insincere. You wronged me—shouldn't you decide how to make it up? Why should I be the one to choose?"
"Clothes or jewelry?" Pei Yunheng thought for a moment and said.
Jiang Weiyao snorted with a clear conscience: "I've never cared for such worldly things. Husband, saying that is rather looking down on me."
"Fine, fine, I won't make things difficult for you." Seeing Pei Yunheng fall silent, she pretended to be magnanimous while actually revealing her true intent. "Then I'll say it. Let me think… How about this—for the next month, Husband obediently does as I say, follows his wife in all things, and I'll forgive you. How's that?"
Pei Yunheng's brows furrowed.
"Husband, you're unwilling?"
Jiang Weiyao immediately bristled: "You used to treat me this way! Now you've done something so unforgivable to me, and you won't even make it up to me like this? I've already made the first concession!"
"Your apology isn't sincere at all. Men really are all heartless!"
Without giving Pei Yunheng a chance to speak, Jiang Weiyao cried, half-genuine and half-feigned: "Back when we were beneath the flowers and moon, you called me your little sweetheart, sent me pastries and wrote me love poems. Now that you've won me over, you don't cherish me anymore—you're always cold-faced and suspicious, you break my heart and refuse to make amends. Go ask around—whose husband behaves like you?"
"Fine, fine, it's all been my wishful thinking, alright!" Wiping nonexistent tears, Jiang Weiyao whimpered and whimpered, then suddenly began to sing: "This humble girl has no talent, failed to win the young master's favor, troubled the young master for so long, young master, please don't take offense…"
As she sang, she even took that tree branch and waved it about like a handkerchief.
Before he could recover from the nausea of being called "little sweetheart," the sudden singing drifted over, and Pei Yunheng froze in place.
Held captive by this bizarre, off-key singing, Pei Yunheng was silent for a moment, then hesitantly asked, "Are you… are you really alright?"
She seemed like she'd suddenly gone mad…
"See!" Jiang Weiyao caught the implication in his words and accused loudly, "Your suspicious nature is acting up again!"
Pei Yunheng pressed his twitching temple. "I just feel that you're acting a bit… abnormal…"
He couldn't help but wonder—could it be that Jiang Weiyao had suffered too great a blow these past days and been driven mad?
Otherwise, why would she be singing and dancing like a lunatic?
"How am I abnormal? Besides, even if I'm not normal, I'm not mad—I could only be possessed." Jiang Weiyao said with perfect seriousness.
Pei Yunheng's brows knitted together. "What?"
"You're driving me away. In this deep mountain forest, you'd have me set off on the road home alone. There are so many graves in these woods—who knows how many wandering ghosts and wild spirits there might be. How could I not be possessed by evil?" Jiang Weiyao began to whine and accuse again.
Pei Yunheng was silent for a moment. "I didn't know you were afraid…"
"How could I not be afraid!" Jiang Weiyao raised her voice and cut him off, seemingly very dissatisfied with what Pei Yunheng had said. "As a weak woman with no strength to truss a chicken, walking alone on this deep forest path in the night—how could I possibly not be afraid?"
Pei Yunheng hesitated and did not say it.
Actually, with the way she had been hopping, skipping, and howling out songs just now, even ghosts would retreat three li upon seeing her.
Clearly, he was not the only one thinking this.
Hearing the sound of conversation, Wang Yulan, who had deliberately come out to look for the two of them, twisted her expression upon hearing this.
Not paying attention to her feet, she went flying and fell flat.
"Aiyo, why are you here?" Jiang Weiyao seemed to have only just noticed her, and ran up in small steps to help her. "Get up quickly, did you hurt yourself from the fall?"
The moment those ice-cold fingertips touched her skin, it was like being coiled around by a venomous snake. Wang Yulan's body could not help but begin to tremble.
She did not dare withdraw her hand, nor did she dare look at Jiang Weiyao. She forced herself to scramble up. "It's fine, it's fine, it doesn't hurt…"
The fingertips pinching her palm exerted a slight pressure. Wang Yulan shuddered, and then heard Jiang Weiyao say gently and softly, "That's good."
Wang Yulan shivered and inexplicably recalled the scene of Jiang Weiyao walking toward her with a blood-dripping silver hairpin in hand.
"Why haven't you run yet? Could it be you don't know what happens to those who spy on another person's secrets?"
The cold, sharp silver hairpin moved down inch by inch from her cheek, leaving traces on her skin along with the fresh blood on it. Though it did not hurt, it made Wang Yulan tremble with fear.
Jiang Weiyao's eyes curved, but there was no smile in them. "Tell me, how should I kill you?"
But she did not want to die.
Cold sweat dripped down from the tip of her nose. Wang Yulan's back was already soaked through with sweat. Forced by the situation, she had no choice: "I-I-I-I won't tell anyone!"
"I only trust a dead person's mouth." The silver hairpin stopped at her fragile neck.
"I—I can help you dispose of the corpse and destroy the evidence!" In her panic, Wang Yulan actually summoned a burst of courage. She suddenly raised her head to look at Jiang Weiyao. "I'll help you destroy the corpse and erase the traces. That means I'm on the same boat as you. I will never betray you!"
The grass and trees rustled. The surrounding silence made Wang Yulan's heart panic.
Her heart was suspended tightly, and Wang Yulan's hands and feet went weak.
She did not know how long had passed before those beautiful apricot eyes curved, and the person before her laughed softly. "Remember what you promised me tonight."
"If you forget, I will be angry."
A rustling wind swept past her ears. Wang Yulan suddenly came back to her senses, met Jiang Weiyao's gaze, and knew what she was supposed to do.
Following Jiang Weiyao's requirements, she put on a panicked expression. "Lady Jiang, something terrible has happened—Zhang, Zhang, Zhang, Zhang Da has escaped!"
It was supposed to be "Lady Jiang, Young Master Pei, something terrible has happened—Zhang Da beat me and escaped."
Looking at the trembling Wang Yulan, Jiang Weiyao sighed inwardly, thinking that she would not acknowledge this disciple. She had taught her for a full quarter of an hour, yet she still failed at the very first test and had not learned even half of her spirit and skill.
Her body gave a fierce shudder. Jiang Weiyao retreated two steps in succession, greatly shocked. "What, how did the man escape?!"
Wang Yulan did not dare raise her head. "It was my silver hairpin that accidentally fell. He took the opportunity to cut the rope and ran away."
As soon as the words were spoken, a sliver of silver slipped from her sleeve. She immediately panicked and pushed the silver hairpin back into her sleeve.