Luo Cuiwei covered her nose and struggled to lift her head from his embrace, looking at him with teary eyes, remaining silent for a long time.
Yun Lie wrapped his arms tightly around her, lowered his gaze to meet her complex and unfathomable eyes, and said in a gradually hoarse voice, "I really never thought of..."
Their meeting and marriage happened so fast that, logically speaking, Song Jiuyuan's account seemed to be the most reasonable truth.
But that's not true.
"Are you saying that you didn't want to marry me because of Song Jiuyuan's idea?" Luo Cuiwei blinked her teary eyes and asked in a muffled voice, covering her nose.
Speechless, Yun Lie could only nod emphatically, his gaze never leaving her.
"Just because you like it?" she asked again.
Yun Lie nodded again, and inexplicably swallowed.
Luo Cuiwei turned her head away, wiping the thin tears from her eyes with the sleeve of his arm, before tilting her head to stare into his eyes and asking again, "Then, why do you like him?"
Yun Lie paused, then blurted out in confusion and anxiety, "Do I have to have a reason to like it?"
This is the most inexplicable aspect of his relationship with Luo Cuiwei.
Although he didn't have many opportunities to meet other girls, he wasn't completely unfamiliar with any of them.
But it was only this one in his arms at this moment that, without his knowledge, and quite irrationally, nestled firmly in the heart of him.
The truth is so absurd that anyone would think it's a lie, right?
"Oh, that's true. If you like someone, you like them. There's no need for so many questions." Luo Cuiwei pouted and nodded resignedly.
Yun Lie was stunned for a moment, "You believe me... I didn't mean to scheme against your family..."
Feeling uneasy, I couldn't form coherent sentences.
"If you were the kind of person who would scheme against others, would you be this poor?!" Luo Cuiwei rubbed her nose, her eyes crinkling with amusement.
Yun Lie closed his eyes, let out a long sigh of relief, and felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from his heart.
****
"Why were you so angry and had such a cold face just now?" Yun Lie glared at the person in his arms, feeling wronged and annoyed.
Upon his reminder, Luo Cuiwei's eyes widened immediately. "Didn't you realize that I was just putting on a cold face and bluffing? I was thinking about something when a bunch of people I didn't know suddenly appeared, saying they were sent by you to find me. None of them were wearing the Linchuan army's sand-coated armor, and they couldn't produce any tokens to prove their identities. How could I dare to go with them so easily!"
She rolled her eyes coquettishly, patted her chest, and murmured, "That scared me to death."
"You scared me to death!" Yun Lie really wanted to grind his teeth to powder. "If you didn't really believe Song Jiuyuan's words, then why did you run up the mountain without telling everyone?!"
He thought she had run away in a huff and was going to abandon her husband and family.
"I didn't run away. I just asked Song Qiuqi this morning, and she said there are cardamom fruits on the mountain, so I came to look for some to pick and make jerky..."
Yun Lie pointed to the cardamom that was everywhere around him, his face full of disbelief, "There's this stuff all over the mountain, how many hours did you spend picking it? You were still reluctant to go home even after the sun went down?"
Speaking of this, Luo Cuiwei grabbed a handful of grass from the side and threw it all over his face, embarrassed and angry, "It's all because of your bad luck this morning! Saying you were afraid I'd fall first thing in the morning!"
As a result, he not only actually fell, but also sprained his ankle.
****
Yun Lie squatted down, feeling both distressed and amused, carefully holding her sprained right ankle and gently moving it. "It hurts so much..."
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" Luo Cuiwei winced in pain, biting her lip and groaning softly, "Don't... don't move anymore... I can't take it..."
Yun Lie recoiled as if burned, abruptly withdrawing his hand, his face turning a suspicious and shameful dark red. "Shut up."
His blushing startled Luo Cuiwei, who realized something was wrong and couldn't help but blush as well. "Get rid of those messy images in your head!"
Yun Lie chuckled softly, then turned around and squatted down with his back to her.
Luo Cuiwei didn't stand on ceremony with him. She picked up the small cloth bag containing cardamom and obediently climbed onto his back.
"Oh, by the way, how did your meeting with the Fu family in Tongshan go today?"
She wrapped her arms around Yun Lie's neck, her soft and fragrant breath warming his ears as she spoke.
The soft touch on his back had already made Yun Lie's mind wander, and with this further disturbance, his earlobes quickly turned red, and soon the redness spread all the way to the base of his neck.
"Just talk, why are you getting so close? Who are you trying to take advantage of?"
Seeing this, Luo Cuiwei smiled mischievously and bit his reddened earlobe. "Oops, I wasn't paying attention, my lips slipped."
Yun Lie froze, stopped in his tracks, and turned to look at her.
That look made Luo Cuiwei's hair stand on end, and she immediately gave a timid and apologetic smile, "N-no, it was an accident, Your Highness, please continue to lift your feet... um."
Yun Lie bit her lip in retaliation before continuing to walk forward as she wished, threatening her in a harsh tone, "Behave yourself. If you touch me or say anything again, you'll be taken care of right here and now, understand?"
"Yes, yes, I understand, I will definitely behave."
Luo Cuiwei firmly believed that her prince was a man of his word, so she dared not provoke him any further and quickly changed the subject, blushing.
"I was wandering around the mountain earlier, and suddenly some ideas came to me. I figured Gao Zhan should be arriving around that time, and then..."
Yun Lie stopped and turned back again, narrowing his eyes dangerously at her, "I think you really want to be taken care of here."
Having ideas is fine, but the fact that Gao Zhan, whom His Highness Prince Zhao dislikes so much, is quite provocative.