Chapter 1 When Asked

As she asked the question, Yu Qingwu felt as if she saw a thousand layers of waves in Xie JinYan's eyes.

There was panic, guilt, and even deliberate avoidance.

But soon, those phoenix eyes returned to their usual gentle and profound state.

He glanced at her faintly and asked, "Why is Shijie suddenly asking about this?"

His tone was calm, and there wasn't even a hint of emotion in his voice.

It was as if it were just a trivial matter.

Yu Qingwu felt as if she had been stabbed again in the chest. She raised her eyes to look at the man's soul-stirring appearance and couldn't help but chuckle, waving her hand and saying, "It's nothing, never mind. You can go out, I want to sleep for a while."

In that instant, it seemed that her heart was as cold as ashes, and even the reason became unimportant.

She closed her eyes and lay back down on the bed.

"Shijie..." After an unknown amount of time, Xie JinYan's deep voice came from her ear.

With a bit of tenderness and a bit of command, he said, "Shijie, forget about the past. In the future, I will treat you well."

Yu Qingwu didn't answer.

Xie JinYan looked at her deeply, lifted the quilt, squeezed onto the bed, hugged her from behind, gently caressing her slender waist, and then returned to the topic, patiently explaining, "Shijie, you also know A-Yue's martial arts skills. Even ten guards might not be her match. If I had let it go that day, she probably would have hurt you even more, and the servants in the courtyard would not have been spared. But I couldn't order the soldiers to do it, could I? I couldn't let strange men touch A-Yue's body, could I? So, I had to take her away first..."

His voice was gentle and soft, every word was an explanation, but every word also blamed her for being unreasonable.

That's right, she was just a shield, yet she had actually developed feelings. Wasn't that being unreasonable?

Smiling coldly in her heart, Yu Qingwu slowly calmed her mood.

When she turned back, her brows had returned to their usual cold and calm state, and she replied to him expressionlessly, "What Your Highness said is true. This servant was ignorant. In the future, this servant will definitely remember Your Highness's teachings, and be cautious at all times, and will never again make your beloved A-Yue angry."

Hearing these words, why did they sound so sarcastic?

Looking at Qingwu's cold face, and her suddenly cold, ghostly eyes, Xie JinYan suddenly felt a chill down his spine, a kind of guilty fear that he felt when he was being reprimanded as a child.

"Then... Shijie, take good care of yourself. I will come to see you again in a couple of days."

He got out of bed, stammered a word, and stepped out of Qing Ning Yard, turning back every three steps.

With Xie JinYan's departure, the room returned to its original cold silence.

Mama Xun entered the door and saw the mess on the ground.

She knew that Yu Qingwu and Xie JinYan's encounter had not been pleasant.

She went forward and cleaned up the broken porcelain shards on the ground.

Then, she sat down by the bed, gently stroking Yu Qingwu's hair, and said softly, "Miss Yu, why do you have to do this? That Gao is so domineering. You should act weak and submissive in front of His Highness. As time goes on, His Highness will naturally get tired of her. You are a smart person, do I have to teach you these things?"

Hearing this, Yu Qingwu didn't speak, only whimpered softly.

After a long while, she slowly turned around, looked up at Mama Xun, and sighed, "That was also my original plan, but Mama Xun, people have feelings. Today, as soon as I saw him, I became angry, and I couldn't help but want to find fault with him."

"I thought that if he could apologize to me, I would still forgive him. I would still treat him like a family member, just like when we were little. But what did he say? He told me to forget the past..."

As Yu Qingwu spoke, she felt another wave of sadness.

Actually, she wasn't too angry that Xie JinYan had abandoned her to help Gao Minyue.

More than that, it was the incident five years ago...

That had always been a knot in her heart. After so many years, whenever she thought about it, Yu Qingwu still felt the pain of raising a wolf in her house, a bone-chilling pain.

She buried her head and sobbed softly.

Mama Xun looked at Yu Qingwu's appearance and felt quite helpless. She could only offer words of comfort here and there.

After a long time, until Yu Qingwu was tired from crying, Mama Xun had the maid bring some clear congee and side dishes.

However, Yu Qingwu only took a few bites and had it taken away.

For the next few days, her appetite wasn't very good, partly because of her poor stomach, and partly because she was in a bad mood.

But soon, she forced herself to perk up again.

She became Xie JinYan's concubine to borrow his hand to take revenge, not to be saddened by the past.

Therefore, she couldn't just fall out of favor like this.

So that night, Yu Qingwu dressed herself up as brightly and beautifully as usual and took the initiative to go to Zhuque Yard.

"It's so late, does Shijie have something to discuss with me?"

Xie JinYan had just finished reviewing the last memorial. Seeing Yu Qingwu enter, he was first surprised, then pulled a soft cushion to his side, signaling her to sit down.

Yu Qingwu slowly stepped forward and gave him a bow.

"This servant greets His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Gentle, soft, and compliant.

It was the softening that Xie JinYan wanted the most, but for some reason, seeing her like this, he suddenly felt uncomfortable in his heart.

He paused, reached out and pulled her over, and said softly, "There are no outsiders here, why does Shijie need to be so polite?"

Yu Qingwu sat down softly, looked up at him, her limpid eyes gentle and respectful, and replied in a low voice, "As a consort of the Crown Prince, this is the etiquette that this servant should have."

"You..." Xie JinYan was a little speechless.

After a moment of silence, he took her into his arms and said softly, "Alright, Shijie, don't be like this. Tell me, what did you come to me for?"

"This servant heard that Shen Zongyuan will officially marry Liang Ruowei in a few days. Can Your Highness still keep your promise and take this servant with you?" Raising her eyes to look at him, the woman's eyes were slightly timid. The face that was once so cold and beautiful no longer had its former arrogance, and even faintly revealed a bit of flattery.

When their eyes met, Xie JinYan's heart suddenly ached fiercely, and his eyes involuntarily became hot.

Stroking her face, which was deliberately painted with rouge, he suddenly pulled her into his arms, gently stroking her hair, and said in a hoarse voice with some heartache, "Shijie, don't be like this, okay?"

"This servant is very normal, what's wrong with Your Highness?"

Yu Qingwu smiled, pretending not to understand the meaning of his words. Instead, she went even further, gently pushed Xie JinYan away, and knelt down in front of him, begging, "This servant requests Your Highness to bestow heavenly grace and take me with you to the Rongguo Duke's mansion to watch the ceremony."

"You... A-Wu, do you have to be like this?" Xie JinYan frowned, looking down at the woman who was as restrained as a wooden puppet, and the feeling of restlessness grew stronger.

"Is it my fault, is that okay?"

Xie JinYan squatted down and helped the woman up.

Biting his teeth, he held his Shijie's delicate face in both hands, forced himself to look her in the eye, and stammered, "Shijie, the thing that happened five years ago, it... it was my fault, but... who... who told you to like Xiao Fengyun? He has an ordinary appearance, ordinary martial arts skills, and his literary talent is even far inferior to mine, and he's even older than me."

"But you had to treat him like a treasure, I was very angry when I saw it..."

Xie JinYan stammered. In the end, he didn't dare to look Yu Qingwu in the eye.