Chapter 18
The wind howled, and lightning flashed, followed by thunder.
After raining all morning, the weather was gloomy, and the air was so humid and stuffy that it was hard to breathe.
After leaving the Xie Residence, the carriage made many turns, and it was unclear which corner of the capital they had reached.
Yuli leaned against the carriage wall, glancing at Xie Yao from time to time.
From the moment they got into the carriage, he had been profound and inscrutable, not smiling, nor holding her hand.
Yuli sat with him, but it was as if they were separated by a vast distance.
Yuli’s heart was heavy. She had a premonition that the person they were going to see was probably Mei Qing.
What kind of Mei Qing would it be? A mutilated corpse, someone pretending to have hanged himself, or someone imprisoned and controlled?
When they arrived, the carriage stopped. The sound of voices could be heard from outside; it was not a remote place.
Xie Yao got out of the carriage first. Yuli adjusted her breathing and followed closely behind.
The ground was wet from the rain, with puddles here and there. Yuli bent her knees, about to jump down.
Xie Yao blocked her, put his hands under her arms, lifted her up, and placed her under the eaves.
As soon as Yuli stood firm, he let go of her.
It was as if he were reluctant to touch her.
Yuli pursed her lips, wanting to thank him.
“Walk in front of me,” Xie Yao said.
Yuli did as she was told and went first. This was a restaurant with many customers coming and going. A waiter walked in front, leading Yuli inside.
Yuli looked around but saw no strange people. Only Song He and a few guards followed. It seemed this place was not under Xie Yao’s control.
Xie Yao had not done anything to Mei Qing yet. Yuli relaxed a little.
Then she still had a chance to stop Xie Yao from killing Mei Qing.
The waiter led Yuli through the main hall, into the backyard corridor, across a courtyard, and to a secluded private pavilion.
The waiter knocked on the door. In an instant, the door was pulled open from the inside.
Mei Qing stood at the door. His complex expression immediately turned into a gentle smile when he saw Yuli.
He called her, “Yuli.”
The same name that Xie Yao insisted on calling her.
Yuli looked at him, then turned back to look at Xie Yao. He was looking at Mei Qing, his expression as cold as if he were looking at a dead man.
Yuli became nervous. She smoothed her breath and said calmly, “Young Master Mei. I am already married. This is my husband, his surname is Xie. Please call me Madam Song.”
A flash of pain crossed Mei Qing’s face, but he quickly recovered his gentle expression. He also put on a somewhat profound air and invited Yuli and Xie Yao into the room.
The room was elegantly furnished, with bright windows and clean tables. There was also mist rising from an ice chest, and a round table in the center.
When they were seated, both Xie Yao and Mei Qing looked at Yuli. Yuli’s mind was tense. She walked to a lower seat and was about to sit down.
Xie Yao called out to her, “Sit at the head.”
He spoke suddenly. Yuli was startled and obediently sat in the main seat facing the door.
Mei Qing glanced at Xie Yao, his brow twitching.
Mei Qing and Xie Yao took their seats, on Yuli’s left and right respectively.
Mei Qing poured tea, first for Yuli, then for Xie Yao.
Mei Qing was dressed in a lake-blue scholar’s robe. The fabric was ordinary, but clean and neat. His face was pale, and he was polite and proper, still the gentle and refined young man Yuli remembered.
In contrast, although Xie Yao had deliberately worn a gentle, jade-colored scholar’s robe and his accessories were also on the gentle side, his expression was cold, and his whole person was very fragmented, making people afraid to look at him directly.
But Mei Qing was not afraid of him at all. After pouring the tea, he slowly explained his purpose.
“I took the liberty of inviting Young Master Xie today. I didn’t want to involve Yuli, but since Young Master Xie has brought her, I presume you respect her wishes,” Mei Qing said.
Why does he still call her Yuli?
Yuli was very uneasy. She looked at Xie Yao. His coldness had subsided, and he looked emotionless at the moment.
Mei Qing continued, “I have been to the Song family and know that Yuli was forced to marry you. I have known Yuli for many years and have always been proper, but we have long had a mutual understanding. If not for my family’s poverty, I would have married her long ago.”
Xie Yao looked up at Mei Qing.
Yuli’s heart leaped. She quickly said, “What mutual understanding? That’s your wishful thinking. I have never had a mutual understanding with you.”
Xie Yao remained impassive.
Mei Qing looked at Yuli, then at Xie Yao, his brow furrowed. “Yuli, don’t be afraid. Now that I have passed the imperial examination, Young Master Xie forcibly married you but placed you outside his home. This marriage is not complete at all. You can back out at any time.”
Mei Qing’s words were veiled. In fact, he also believed that Xie Yao had just secretly set her up as a mistress.
Yuli didn’t care about these things. She was only afraid that Xie Yao would really believe that she and Mei Qing had something going on, kill Mei Qing, and start the angsty plotline.
Yuli explained, “That’s not it. My husband is very good to me. The marriage is already established, and I will not back out.”
Yuli was already very sincere and direct, but she saw that Xie Yao was profound and inscrutable, not even looking at her.
Mei Qing, on the other hand, had a pained look on his face. “You must have suffered a lot when I was away. Don’t worry, no one can force you anymore.”
Yuli: …
Yuli was unsettled, even panicked and anxious, because she had transmigrated into a book and knew that Xie Yao was a psycho who killed without batting an eye.
But to the other two people, her anxiety had only one explanation.
She had been forced to marry Xie Yao, and Xie Yao was not a good person. He had coerced and controlled her, preventing her from having any other thoughts.
It seemed the two were not that different?
Yuli was on the verge of a breakdown, her mind racing, trying to find a way out of the mess.
Mei Qing turned to Xie Yao. “Young Master Xie must be well aware of the inside story of this marriage. Yuli has shown you kindness. Do you have the heart to let her have a status that cannot see the light of day?”
Xie Yao seemed to sneer, or perhaps he was just calmly indifferent.
He looked at Yuli and said, “I will let go. You can go with him.”
Yuli’s breath stopped for a moment, and the blood in her veins seemed to freeze.
Mei Qing smiled. “Yuli, he has agreed. I will take you away now.”
Yuli: “No. Young Master Mei, I really have never had romantic feelings for you. Although I was forced to marry my husband, we are now living in harmony. It is impossible for me to leave him and go with anyone.”
Mei Qing’s joy dimmed, but he still didn’t believe it. “Uncle Song said that you once said you wanted to marry me. Are you blaming me for coming back late?”
Yuli said every word clearly, “At that time, my father was forcing me to marry an old man. I was just using you as an excuse. Your name could have been replaced by anyone. I really, have never, liked you.”
Yuli’s gaze shifted back and forth between Xie Yao and Mei Qing, finally landing on Xie Yao’s face. He should believe it now.
Xie Yao lowered his eyes and said nothing, not even looking at her.
The room was quiet for a moment. Mei Qing said, “Is he forcing you to say this?”
“Absolutely not,” Yuli said firmly.
“How is that possible? At that time, so many people in Xihe County showed interest in you, but you only accepted my poems and my flowers. When I said I would come back to marry you, you didn’t refuse.”
Yuli felt a little dizzy. Brother, don’t you see the person opposite you is about to chop you up? Have some survival instinct, please.
Yuli glanced at Xie Yao. His expression was unchanged, but the fingers holding the teacup had turned white.
Yuli forced a smile. “That’s all in the past. Times have changed. Young Master Mei should not dwell on the past. Now you have a bright future ahead of you, and there are many girls better than me. I wish you happiness.”
Then she linked her arm with Xie Yao’s. “Husband, let’s go.”
Xie Yao didn’t move. He looked up at Mei Qing.
Mei Qing was filled with sorrow and heartache.
Yuli’s heart leaped to her throat.
Xie Yao stood up and pulled his arm out of Yuli’s grasp. Yuli stiffened.
But he then held her wrist.
Yuli’s pulse was racing, but she was relieved.
“My wife has made herself clear enough, hasn’t she, Zhuangyuan Mei?” Xie Yao asked.
Yuli was afraid of any unexpected changes, and her breath caught again.
Mei Qing looked at them, his voice hoarse. “I came back too late.”
Great. Yuli was relieved. She raised her other hand to link arms with Xie Yao and half-pulled, half-pushed him away.
Once in the carriage, Yuli was still shaken. It turned out that from others’ perspective, she had indeed been involved with Mei Qing.
Recalling that time, she was busy earning money for her unscrupulous father, fighting for her own freedom. Mei Qing was very good to her. Although his family was poor and couldn’t help her much, when others gossiped about a girl like her showing her face in public, and when someone who had pursued her unsuccessfully spread rumors to slander her, he had stood firmly by her side and argued with those people.
He had once said, “Miss Song is hardworking and resilient, self-reliant, and pursues freedom and self-worth. She is the best girl in the world. All of your foul language should be directed at yourselves.”
So when he left Xihe County to take the imperial examination and said he would come back to marry her, she hadn’t refused. Had she really thought of marrying him?
The force on her forearm increased, the heat scorching. Yuli came back to her senses. None of that mattered anymore.
Xie Yao had closed his eyes since getting into the carriage, but his brow was slightly furrowed, his mouth a straight line, and his palm was squeezing the soft flesh of her forearm until it was deformed.
If he were to open his eyes, his expression would surely be terrifying.
Yuli became a little scared again.
She wasn’t sure if he would kill Mei Qing.
But she would never bring trouble upon herself by trying to assassinate him.
Then would he still drug her?
The scene filled with the smell of blood flashed through her mind, and Yuli couldn’t help but shiver all over.
The chilliness lingered even after they returned to Mingyue Residence.
Xie Yao seemed to have calmed down a little, but it was only on the surface. In reality, he was still shrouded in a pressing, grim coldness.
In the melodramatic novels Yuli had read before, the male and female leads would have misunderstandings for dozens of chapters, even until death, because they wouldn’t talk or say that one crucial thing.
But she had already explained herself very clearly, and her attitude was very firm. Why did he still not believe her?
Could it be that she had overdone it, making it seem like a lie?
Would he have believed her if her tone had been more casual?
Probably not.
Could it be that her efforts really couldn’t change the predetermined plot?
Yuli looked at Xie Yao. He was surrounded by an aura that kept strangers away, and he seemed to be lost in thought as well.
Her every word and action would affect Mei Qing’s life and death. She couldn’t act rashly.
Mei Qing was a very good person and had helped her a lot. She couldn’t watch him die a tragic death.
Even if she could be indifferent to Mei Qing’s death, if Xie Yao were to kill him, it would mean he firmly believed she had an affair with him. Any reaction from her would be interpreted as her being unable to forget her old flame, or as her trying to avoid him.
Recalling the original heroine, Song Yi, she hadn’t done anything, but had just had the bad luck of running into a psycho and had lived a miserable life.
There was no room for maneuver at all, because the male lead was born a psycho.
Amidst her fear and confusion, Yuli felt a trace of dejection.
She sat a little dejectedly, far away from Xie Yao.
Xie Yao looked at Yuli and saw her brow slightly furrowed, her lips tightly pursed, looking a little listless.
Seeing her like this, his five organs, which were being burned by jealousy, felt as if salt were being rubbed into them, making it painful to breathe.
“Come here,” Xie Yao suddenly said.
His tone was grim and cold. Yuli shivered in fear.
She suppressed her fear and walked to his side, forcing a smile that looked like she was about to cry, not very pretty.
She stopped one step away from him. Xie Yao stood up, took a small step, and the distance between them closed.
“The Mistress has excellent taste, to be able to pick out a Zhuangyuan.”
After he said this, he clearly felt Yuli’s breath tighten.
She also felt that he was a murderer by nature.
Xie Yao’s lips curled into a grim, cold smile.
Yuli stiffened for a moment, trembling with fear. She clenched her hands by her sides, pinched herself, and replied, “That’s all in the past.”
Xie Yao: “In the past. But you still kept yourself pure for him.”
Yuli was slightly startled. She saw his expression grow even colder, even with a hint of coercion, as if he would do something terrible if it were confirmed to be true.
Yuli was so scared that she became calm. Other things might have some truth to them, but this was truly baseless.
Whether he believed it or not, she looked at him and said, “Although I had some friendship with him, it was not as deep as you think. I will be kind to anyone who is good to me, and I was the same with Mei Qing. And that’s all in the past. Now, the one who is good to me is you. I will only like you.”
Just like she could save a stranger on the street.
Her friendliness was all out of kindness.
Xie Yao’s eyes flashed, but he only said calmly, “I know.”
His grim coldness seemed to have loosened a little. Yuli was still scared, but she had regained some courage.
She suddenly raised her hand and hugged Xie Yao.
“So the person you wanted me to see today was him. I’ve seen him today, and I still remember what I said last night. I want to be of one heart and mind with you and grow old together.”
After Yuli finished speaking, without looking at Xie Yao’s reaction, she stood on her tiptoes, tilted her head up, and gently planted a kiss on the side of his face.