Chapter 40: Is She Really His Yaoyao

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Is She Really His Yaoyao

"Are you thinking about the Eldest Young Master, milady?"

The master and servant were used to being informal with each other.

Given the original owner’s three-year-long pursuit of Shen Tingyu, this topic wasn’t exactly out of line.

But Cui Lingyao didn’t want to discuss it. "It’s late. Let’s get to sleep."

The outer room fell silent.

Before long, Zhiqiu couldn’t help but ask, "The Eldest Young Master was so warm toward you. Aren’t you happy?"

Cui Lingyao froze for a moment, then subconsciously denied it. "I am happy."

"But I can’t help but feel that you’re not in a joyous mood."

"...That’s not it."

’I can’t let my character collapse,’ Cui Lingyao thought. She said, "After waiting for so long, the clouds have finally parted to reveal the moon. How could I not be happy?"

Despite saying she was happy, not a trace of joy could be heard in her voice.

Thinking her mistress was worried about her marriage prospects, Zhiqiu asked, "The Madam is arranging a marriage for you. Did the Eldest Young Master say anything today about giving you a proper status?"

’A proper status...’

Cui Lingyao was undecided herself. After a moment’s hesitation, she answered truthfully, "He said he wants to marry me as his wife, not a concubine."

"Really?" Zhiqiu sat up in shock, exclaiming with delight, "That’s wonderful news! This way, you won’t have to suffer any grievances."

"..."

Cui Lingyao said nothing.

Zhiqiu asked, puzzled, "The Eldest Young Master wants to marry you as his wife. Why don’t you seem happy at all?"

Not wanting to explain the complicated stakes to the young maid, Cui Lingyao said simply,

"The status of a primary wife is certainly respectable, but being my cousin’s wife won’t be easy."

She said softly, "Once we’re married, peaceful days like these will be gone forever."

Zhiqiu also considered some of the consequences.

"So that’s why you were in low spirits today, milady."

The man she’d loved for years had finally returned her feelings.

He even offered her the status of his wife.

Yet her mistress, feeling her own status was unworthy, didn’t even dare to accept.

She didn’t even dare to feel happy.

Zhiqiu’s heart ached for her. "If only the Master were still alive."

Cui Lingyao sighed.

’That’s right. If Pei Shu were alive, with his knowledge and talent, had he not died in office... After all these years of striving, he might not have soared through the ranks to become a close confidant of the Emperor, but he would at least have held a position in the imperial court. He wouldn’t be a nobody.’

’With such a status, marrying Shen Tingyu would still be marrying up, but it would be far more reasonable than it is now.’

’The opposition from the Duke Shen Mansion wouldn’t be so strong either.’

The room was steeped in silence.

Only the young woman’s soft, melancholic sigh could be heard.

Zhiqiu’s heart ached listening to her. "What do you plan to do?"

"I haven’t decided yet."

Cui Lingyao rolled onto her back, folded her hands over her stomach, and said with her eyes closed, "Let’s sleep. We can talk about it after we wake up."

’If Xie Jinbai is only slightly suspicious and isn’t watching me too closely,’ she thought, ’then I might not have to accept Shen Tingyu’s ’repayment of kindness’.’

’But if he is...’

After they had chatted for a while, she closed her eyes again, and the body’s stable biological clock began to take over.

Her consciousness gradually faded, and Cui Lingyao drifted into dreamland.

After turning over once, Zhiqiu also fell into a deep sleep.

Outside the window, the slender figure remained motionless from beginning to end.

It had been quiet inside for a long time. With Xie Jinbai’s sharp hearing, he could clearly tell that both of them were sound asleep, but he still made no move.

He was completely hidden in the darkness, his expression unreadable.

The air around him was heavy and oppressive.

The night grew darker.

A long, long time passed.

It was so long that Li Yong was beginning to think his master had realized the young woman inside was not his wife and had given up on going in. But then, Xie Jinbai moved.

He raised his arm, trying to push open the window casement as he had the past two nights.

It didn’t budge an inch.

The window had been latched from the inside.

Xie Jinbai’s lips tightened slightly. He turned his head and glanced to his side.

Li Yong understood. He was silent for a moment, then cupped his hands in a brief salute, walked to the door, and used some unknown method to slip the inner bolt.

Master and servant then walked right in through the main door, brazen as could be.

Li Yong went to press the sleep acupoint of the maid in the outer room.

Meanwhile, Xie Jinbai headed straight for the inner chamber, his steps never pausing.

He seemed completely unaware that if the young woman inside was not his wife, his current actions were no different from those of a libertine—in fact, they were even worse.

Of course, he didn’t care about that.

He only cared about one thing right now.

Was this young woman his Yaoyao or not!

Before today, Xie Jinbai had been almost certain.

But now, he was beginning to hesitate.

Li Yong was right.

He had met her when he was sixteen, proposed at her home when he was seventeen, and they married when he was eighteen.

In the three years after their marriage, they were deeply in love.

Their relationship had spanned five full years. Aside from a few cold looks at the very beginning, he had doted on her and complied with her every wish.

He had given her all his patience and love.

’Even if she were a liar who had tricked him into falling for her while she herself remained a cool observer, too stingy to return his love in kind, there was no reason for her to choose Shen Tingyu over him.’

He loved her so much.

No one would ever love her more than he did.

’No matter how you looked at it, if she were truly his Yaoyao, she should have come back to find him.’

’Could it be... she was still angry about Li Wanrong?’

The greatest regret of Xie Jinbai’s life was letting her leave with such a misunderstanding of him.

’A concubine!’

’A new love!’

’It was all bullshit!’

’That day, when he’d proposed taking a concubine, he had thought he wouldn’t need her to press for details. If she had shown even a hint of jealousy, he would have explained everything to her.’

’But she didn’t.’

’She didn’t care at all.’

’She hadn’t even hesitated for a second before nodding in agreement.’

Xie Jinbai remembered the feeling as if it were yesterday.

It was like he’d been punched in the head; his whole world went numb.

In that moment, he seemed to understand something.

Before that, Xie Jinbai had always believed she had fallen for him at first sight.

But it seemed he had been mistaken.

The girl whose eyes had lit up when she first saw him, the girl who had followed him around for days on end, didn’t actually like him as much as he had thought.

’Their love wasn’t mutual.’

’She had tricked him out of his affection, making him give his heart to her completely, while she herself remained cold-hearted and unfeeling, not caring about him in the slightest.’

’Even when he said he would seek another beauty,’

’she could still calmly agree.’

So calm that it made him lose his mind with anger.

It made him want to tear apart that placid face of hers, to make her feel pain, to make her know what a broken heart felt like.

Xie Jinbai struggled to suppress his boiling emotions, his lowered eyes fixed on the sleeping young woman.

’Was he really mistaken?’

’Was he so sick with longing that he took the slightest clue as a sign of her return?’

’Or was this really his Yaoyao?’

’And it was just that because of Li Wanrong, she didn’t want him anymore?’

’Did she plan to find a new love, start a new life, and cut all ties with him?’

Xie Jinbai’s thin lips pressed together as if in hesitation, his tall, slender body standing rigid and motionless by the bed.

For a long, long time.

Finally, the sleeping girl on the bed seemed to grow restless. She turned her head to face another direction, pulled the quilt up a little higher, and continued to sleep soundly.

It was achingly familiar.

They had shared a bed for three years; he knew her sleeping habits like the back of his hand.

A dark look clouded Xie Jinbai’s eyes. His Adam’s apple bobbed once, and without any further hesitation, he leaned down and pressed his lips onto hers...