“My Lord, did He’er serve you well?” Su He looked at Pei Yan, her watery eyes as bright as silk, clear yet bewitching.
Pei Yan had drunk quite a lot that night. Not only was the wine strong, but someone had added a potent aphrodisiac to it. Yet, even combined, those things didn’t make him burn as much as that single look from Su He.
She was truly a vixen.
“How did your Su family produce such a little vixen like you?” Pei Yan pinched her chin, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
“Does the Heir like it?” Su He’s misty eyes brimmed with a faint, shimmering light.
Pei Yan liked it very much. This little vixen was both pure and tender, charming and obedient. Any man who looked at her wouldn’t be able to resist the urge to swallow her whole. Pei Yan hadn’t expected that on a rare outing to a banquet, he would encounter such a little vixen.
“Crawl over here yourself.” Suppressing the burning desire in his heart, Pei Yan leaned against the headboard without moving.
Su He propped herself up on her fair, slender arms and slowly crawled toward him.
Last month, the Pei Family Matriarch had put out the word: no matter who it was, as long as they carried Pei Yan’s child, they would receive three thousand taels of gold! With those three thousand taels, she could walk tall in the Su family. She would hire a hundred guards, swing a hundred heavy clubs, and beat those disgusting brutes of the Su family to death!
Didn’t they want her to be a replacement wife for a wrinkled old man?
Didn’t they want to drug her tea so she would lose her virtue?
Didn’t they want her to live a miserable life as an old man’s plaything?
Fine! She would go straight to becoming the ancestor of these villains!
Su He finally crawled into Pei Yan’s embrace and proactively wrapped her arms around his neck, calling out softly and sweetly, “Heir Pei, don’t cry now.”
Pei Yan burst out laughing. His fingertips pinched her delicate, fair cheek as he chuckled low, “Then let’s see who’s the one who will cry.”
His handsome face darkened, and he flipped her over into the brocade bedding.
Su He soon cried.
This dog of a man was truly ruthless—was he trying to split her in half?
“Crying? Don’t cry~” His kisses grew gentler, moving slowly down from her earlobe.
Indeed, his movements became a bit more tender as well.
Unfortunately, at his core, he was a dog of a man—and a particularly fierce, vicious one at that. People like him had experienced too much blood and steel; they always demanded absolute control, even within the brocade curtains of a soft, fragrant bed.
It wasn’t until dawn that Pei Yan finally fell asleep.
Su He slowly opened her reddened eyes and turned to look at him.
This was her only chance. She didn’t know how Pei Yan would react once he woke up.
Whatever. In any case, the rice was already cooked. She had already won the first move with the Pei Family Matriarch.
She quietly slipped out of the room. Just as she returned to her own courtyard, an angry shout came from behind her.
“Su He, how dare you! You actually stayed out all night. Where did you go?”
Su He turned around and saw her legal mother, Madam Su, walking toward her aggressively, followed by several servant women.
“Morning greetings to Mother and Elder Sister,” Su He said with a curtsy, a beaming smile on her face.
This poisonous woman’s scheme had failed; she must be dying of rage, right? She surely spent all last night searching the gardens for her, and when she couldn’t find her, she must have crawled back to apologize to that old thing.
Tsk tsk, just thinking about that scene—the mother and daughter being cursed out by the Old Marquis—it must have been wonderful.
A pity she had to sleep with Pei Yan and missed the chance to see that brilliant spectacle.
Seeing Su He’s smiling face, Madam Su was so angry her head was practically smoking. “Marquis Pei took a liking to you; what else could you possibly be dissatisfied with? Look at your own background!”
“He’s so wonderful, why don’t you let Elder Sister go? She’s a good match for him.” Su He wrinkled her nose, looking incredibly sincere.
Madam Su sneered. “Someone, take the Second Miss to perform the kneeling discipline. Without my word, she is not allowed to get up, nor is she allowed to eat or drink.”
Several brawny old maids walked over, seized Su He, and dragged her toward the center of the courtyard.
The area for kneeling discipline was paved with sharp pebbles. Every time Su He knelt there, her legs would ache for over half a month.
She was shoved heavily onto the stones. The piercing pain in her knees exploded immediately, and cold sweat broke out across her body.
“I’m telling you, you’ll submit whether you want to or not. Marquis Pei likes you; if you marry over as the primary wife and give birth to a child, you’ll have something to rely on for the rest of your life.” Her legal mother sat down on a chair and lectured her coldly.
Su He closed her eyes and didn’t say a word.
Old Marquis Pei was sixty-nine years old and favored beauties under nineteen. Su He was seventeen this year, the perfect age of fresh tenderness. The moment Old Marquis Pei saw Su He, his old bones went soft. Madam Su took the opportunity to say she would give Su He to him, and the old thing immediately agreed to help Su He’s father and elder brother get promotions.
Su He had run away that very night, but she was caught by Madam Su and whipped severely.
That day, Su He was nearly beaten to death. What was hateful was that Su Jinlan, hearing she had been beaten, intentionally had people mix salt into her wound salve. In the end, Su He cried until she was numb. After thinking it over, she came up with a way out for herself.
She would go to Pei Yan!
Pei Yan was young, but he held a high rank and status. His birth mother was Princess Chang, who was a generation higher than Old Marquis Pei, meaning the old thing had to call him “Young Uncle.” His personality was eccentric and wild; he usually had a smile in his eyes, but in reality, his methods were more ruthless than anyone’s. It was said that once someone tried to plot against him, and he had them skinned alive to make a human lamp. There was once a rumor in the capital: “When Pei Yan rages, a sea of blood and mountains of corpses follow.”
For a period of time, mothers in the capital would scare their children by saying, “Pei Yan is coming…”
Later, it was only because the Grand Empress Dowager felt the rumor was too cruel that she forbade people from spreading it further, allowing things to settle down.
But Su He wasn’t afraid. She was already being beaten to death; why would she fear being skinned?
As expected, Pei Yan also attended the Lotus Flower Banquet. Su He took the opportunity to give him a cup of spiked wine, and later, while he was resting, she slipped into his room. It was her lucky day; Pei Yan had drunk too much, and under the influence of the alcohol, he didn’t take issue with her boldness.
On this midsummer day, even before noon, the sun beat down harshly on the courtyard. It made her skin burn and her clothes soak through with sweat until they could be wrung out. Madam Su and Su Jinlan had already returned to the house, drinking chilled plum soup as they watched Su He undergo the kneeling discipline.
“Madam, someone from the Pei Estate has arrived. They want to take the person over,” the butler ran in quickly, glanced at Su He, and ducked into the room.
“Good! Quickly, get things ready. Take this girl to wash up, and have her take that chest we prepared earlier.” Madam Su looked delighted and hurried to make arrangements.
Su He clenched her fists and looked up at Madam Su.
If she was carried into that old thing’s manor, she would have no chance to escape.
Is Pei Yan still not awake?
Did he drink too much?
“Su He, as your mother, I have arranged such a good marriage for you. You must be grateful. Once you marry over, you must serve your husband well, raise your children, maintain a harmonious household, and be gentle and polite. Bear fruit for the Marquis as soon as possible! Remember, do not lose face for our Su Estate!” Madam Su stood at the door, looking at Su He kneeling under the scorching sun, and spoke with a face full of triumph.