"Is this a parting gift?" He choked back a sob, turning his face away from her.
Luo Cuiwei frowned in confusion: "What parting gift?"
Yun Lie pursed his lips and thought for a while. With the idea that "whether you stick your neck out or not, you'll get stabbed anyway," he gritted his teeth and forced out a sentence through gritted teeth, "Do you want to call off the engagement?"
Shocked by his words, Luo Cuiwei was stunned for a long time before gently tapping his chin with the top of her head as a form of punishment.
"What are you thinking about?" She glared at him irritably and said with a hint of annoyance, "We've already exchanged marriage certificates. If we want to separate, it can't be called breaking off the engagement. It should be called a divorce, and we'll have to go to the Imperial Clan Court to sign a divorce agreement."
"What are you thinking! Impossible! I will never sign a divorce agreement! I'd rather break my hand than sign it! No, I can't read, I can't write... No, no, no, I don't even have hands!"
The words "divorce agreement" were like a thunderclap, suddenly throwing Yun Lie's mind into complete chaos and causing him to fall into a state of incoherent rambling.
“I didn’t want to sign it either,” Luo Cuiwei quickly composed herself and soothingly touched his cold cheek. “How could you have thought that was what I was going to say?”
Huh?
As if someone had suddenly overturned a galaxy, Yun Lie's eyes were instantly filled with twinkling stars.
Wasn't that what you wanted to talk about?
Oh, then everything is negotiable.
----2018/3/16 8:04:09|52257423----
49. Chapter Forty-Nine
On a summer afternoon, insects chirped and cicadas sang outside the bedchamber, while whispered words mingled on the bed.
After reapplying the medicine and bandaging Yun Lie, Luo Cuiwei, who was kneeling behind him, rested her chin on his right shoulder.
“I never expected you to be so childish,” Luo Cuiwei chuckled, shaking her shoulder. “You weren’t like this when I first met you last year.”
Yun Lie pouted arrogantly, pulled her arm around his waist, and said, "People have many facets. Hmm, what was I like back then?"
Luo Cuiwei began to honestly list them off: "She doesn't like to talk to people, she's quiet, and she always has a stern face..."
"Forget it, forget it," Yun Lie covered her mouth with his hand, "That's how you act for outsiders."
So, this is how he presents himself to his wife now?
Luo Cuiwei blinked her smiling eyes.
The silent and dignified Prince Zhao when they first met wasn't bad, but it didn't make her feel as deeply and truly as she did now—
This person belongs to her.
Although their marriage certificate had been in the Imperial Clan Court for more than three months, and according to the law they were already husband and wife, Luo Cuiwei only realized today that Yun Lie was completely unguarded in front of her.
He seemed to have no intention of treating her with the utmost respect.
Shedding the armor in her heart, shedding the aloofness and coldness that a "Your Highness" could possess, she reveals a pure, innocent, and naive sincerity.
His laughter and annoyance towards her were completely unadorned; it was the side he only showed to "his own people."
If this doesn't count as treating her with all my heart, then what does?
Thinking of this, she suddenly stopped being so apprehensive and suddenly had the courage to confess her past mistakes to him.
Yun Lie cleared his throat, withdrew his hand, and lowered his head again to fiddle with her fingertips. "What were you trying to say by acting strangely earlier?"
“You’re clearly the strange one,” Luo Cuiwei poked his shoulder lightly with her chin, her beautiful face smiling gently. “I just wanted to say that when I first approached you, I actually had ulterior motives.”
She paused for a moment, waiting for Yun Lie's reaction.
To everyone's surprise, Yun Lie simply hummed in agreement and continued fiddling with her fingers.
“My family’s northern trade route has been blocked by the Huang family in Songyuan for three consecutive years, resulting in severe losses. In desperation, I thought I would try to find a way to bypass Songyuan by going through the Linchuan defense zone.”
Luo Cuiwei closed her eyes, suppressing her shame and embarrassment, and laid everything bare in broad daylight.
"I was planning to bring this up with you when we went to the lantern market on the 28th of the twelfth lunar month. But for some reason, I suddenly realized how despicable my thoughts were..."
In fact, she was spoiled since childhood and had a wild and eccentric personality. It wasn't until she was appointed as the head of the family in a time of crisis that she became more restrained and corrected her behavior due to the responsibilities that she became more disciplined.
But when she was under immense pressure and in a moment of desperation, the idea of "bribing the Prince Zhao's mansion to get a passage through Linchuan" popped into her head. It was clear that the remnants of her inherent flaws had resurfaced.
Fortunately, she stopped in time and did not make a big mistake by acting on her own impulse.
"You're not saying anything," Luo Cuiwei said, resting her forehead against his shoulder in embarrassment, and asked softly, "Are you angry?"
Would he think that Luo Cuiwei was so repulsive that she was not worth his affection?
****
Noticing her self-blame and self-loathing, Yun Lie turned his head, freed one hand to support her chin, lifted her face, and looked into her eyes. "You're not angry."
To outsiders, the fact that he and she have come this far seems like a smooth journey without any twists or turns; but he knows very well how difficult it has been.
If she were truly a thoughtful and meticulous person, she would never have rashly agreed to her marriage proposal that night at the post station.
If she were any weaker, she would never have been able to endure the three months of being separated by thousands of miles and unable to communicate after just exchanging marriage certificates.
The fact that the two of them were able to tie the knot was due to many subtle, subtle, yet unavoidable twists of fate.
So, whatever her initial reason for approaching him, since she ultimately didn't do it, he wouldn't be willing to get angry with her over something that never happened.