Chapter 58
Although Luo Cuiwei was bold in other matters, she was always the one who was "dominated" in bed.
Intimidated by the half-real, half-false threat in Yun Lie's eyes, Luo Cuiwei became incredibly timid. She immediately wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, buried her face in his shoulder, and began to act coquettishly.
“How can anyone do this? I’ve been so honest,” she muttered weakly, her face burning. “Look how good I am to you. Even when I heard others say that you married me with ulterior motives, I still believed you… but all you do is bully me.”
This soft, sweet display of weakness clearly pleased Yun Lie, who immediately couldn't help but smile with his dark eyes and raise his sword-like eyebrows. He returned the favor by letting her off the hook and started walking again.
The sun had sunk behind the mountains, the moon was rising in the east, and a few stars twinkled in the still inky sky.
A mountain breeze rustled through the trees on both sides of the path.
Yun Lie pinned his hands behind his back, protecting his wife firmly on his back. His eyes were fixed on the road ahead, and he called out in a low voice, "Weiwei."
"Hmm?" Luo Cuiwei rested her chin on his shoulder and turned her face to look at him.
The evening moonlight and starlight outlined the handsome and resolute profile with soft curves.
“Don’t scare me like that again,” Yun Lie said, looking straight ahead and swallowing hard before continuing, “If you suddenly suspect something, just come and question me to my face; if you’re really angry, you can hit me or scold me as you please.” Just don’t suddenly disappear again.
Luo Cuiwei felt both distressed and annoyed, and lightly poked his shoulder with her chin.
Are you afraid I'll leave you behind?
"Mm." Yun Lie responded softly but honestly, without the slightest hesitation.
These are the steel-willed soldiers who have guarded the Linchuan defense line for nearly ten years, and the newly appointed king of the six cities of Linchuan.
He humbled himself before her, his armor completely removed.
Luo Cuiwei felt a mix of sweetness and bitterness in her heart. She pouted helplessly and teased him in a soft, amused voice, "Your Highness, who abandoned you before? You're so badly hurt."
Yun Lie paused, then tightened his arms around her. "I haven't personally experienced it, but I've witnessed many such human tragedies in the military over the years."
Although from now on his focus will gradually shift to the administration of Linchuan and he will no longer personally guard the front line as often as before, he knows very well that the situation will not be much better.
Although he was a vassal king, all he possessed was a desolate territory in ruins, a meager treasury, a group of comrades who had been discharged from the army but were unable to make a living due to their injuries, and even the families of nearly a hundred of his comrades in this village.
He wanted to give Luo Cuiwei the best of everything, but before he could sort out the mess in the six cities of Linchuan, he didn't seem to have anything good to offer her.
Yet he couldn't bear to let her go.
I'm really afraid that one day she'll regret it and won't want to endure this difficult time with him anymore.
I'm really afraid that in the future, when I have everything, she won't be by my side anymore.
Luo Cuiwei exclaimed "Oh!" as if she had just realized something.
So this is the reason why Yun Lie has been insisting that she provoked him first?
He stubbornly refused to admit that he had developed feelings for her first, desperately searching for various reasons to pretend that she was the one who flirted with him first.
Only by pretending that she loved him deeply and would never be willing to leave him did he dare to approach her boldly.
But in reality, he knew perfectly well that this was just an excuse he was using to comfort himself.
Therefore, her sudden disappearance today, coupled with Song Jiuyuan's words as a prelude, easily ignited the hidden unease in his heart, throwing him into a state of chaos.
"Yun Lie, remember this, I like you a lot," Luo Cuiwei pursed her lips, her eyes shimmering with soft light. "As long as you don't do anything to wrong me and don't bully me, I will give in to you and won't be willing to leave you easily."
Now that she knew she had captured his heart, she would just verbally defer to him on trivial matters such as who fell in love first or who couldn't live without whom.
Yun Lie raised the corners of his lips slightly, but turned back to glance at her with an innocent look: "But sometimes, it's inevitable that we have to bully her."
"When?" Luo Cuiwei frowned.
"On the bed..."
Luo Cuiwei hurriedly reached out and covered his mouth, "Why are you talking so much nonsense! How can you be like this... Ah!"
That scoundrel actually licked her palm!
After successfully forcing her to withdraw her hand using "dirty tricks," Yun Lie chuckled to himself, then started being cheeky again, "There's nothing I can do. At times like that, you never take the initiative to 'bully' me, so I just have to suffer a little."
Luo Cuiwei blushed and turned her head away, not responding to him for the rest of the way.
She finally understood: whenever the two of them were alone, no matter what they said, this rogue could always lead them to the "bed".
Unfortunately, she wasn't as thick-skinned as him in this matter and couldn't handle it.
****
After Yun Lie carried Luo Cuiwei back to the courtyard, poor Song Jiuyuan was finally released from the well.
Xiong Xiaoyi was a man of action. When Yun Lie angrily suggested tying up Song Jiuyuan and hanging him in a well to calm him down, Xiong Xiaoyi actually did it.
Knowing he was in the wrong, Song Jiuyuan dared not protest and hurriedly went to apologize to Luo Cuiwei in person.
At this moment, Luo Cuiwei had changed her clothes and was sitting with Yun Lie at the dining table in the small hall, waiting for Tao Yin to bring the food.
She asked Song Jiuyuan to sit down, but Song Jiuyuan refused and only kept apologizing.
"It's nothing, I didn't take it to heart at all. I just went up the mountain to look for cardamom." Luo Cuiwei smiled helplessly.
Yun Lie was furious when he saw Song Jiuyuan, his cold gaze making Song Jiuyuan's neck feel cold.