Chapter 56: Who Asked Him If He Was Willing?

Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Who Asked Him If He Was Willing?

Duke Zhao Mansion, Chaohua Courtyard.

Bright sunlight refracted through the window lattice. Zhao Shijie, who had only been asleep for a short while, opened his eyes. His first instinct was to tighten his arms, pulling the woman in his embrace closer.

The soft, perfectly proportioned body he remembered had, in the span of just a few short years, withered away in his arms, growing thinner and weaker day by day.

And he was utterly helpless.

A pang of pain shot through Zhao Shijie’s heart.

He closed his eyes, his lips tracing a path up the neck of the woman in his arms.

As his warm breath drew near, Chen Minrou’s brows knitted slightly, and she turned her head away to avoid him.

His lips met empty air, but Zhao Shijie wasn’t surprised.

"I know you’re awake," he said, lifting his chin to gently nuzzle the corner of her forehead. He coaxed in a low voice, "The weather is lovely today, and the mansion is bustling. Shall we go for a walk in the courtyard?"

Chen Minrou said nothing.

Long accustomed to her cold treatment, Zhao Shijie no longer felt the initial sting of displeasure.

He just felt a dense, suffocating ache that almost left him breathless.

He buried his face in her hair for a long time, but the stifling pain wouldn’t subside. Reaching out, Zhao Shijie cupped the chin of the woman in his arms and decisively pressed his lips to hers.

He moved quickly this time, giving her no chance to dodge. He unhesitatingly captured her lips, kissing and licking them gently.

His large hand pulled open the sash of her nightgown, his fingers tracing her waistline as they slipped inside.

Soon, his wrist was caught.

Chen Minrou was weak from her long illness, and her grip was almost imperceptible, but Zhao Shijie froze. Even his kiss stopped as he lowered his gaze to look at the woman in his arms.

Her eyes were tightly shut, her face ashen as paper, with only her lips flushed crimson from his kiss.

"Minmin..."

Zhao Shijie moved to kiss her again, his nose brushing against hers. "What more do you want me to do?" he asked in a low voice.

At his words, Chen Minrou’s brows furrowed slightly, and she opened her eyes.

’He’s gotten so thin.’

As her body had grown weaker, he had become fraught with anxiety, unable to eat or sleep, and grew thinner day by day.

The high-spirited youth of yesteryear had become this haggard figure.

There was even a hint of despair in the depths of his eyes.

Seeing that she was finally willing to open her eyes and look at him, Zhao Shijie slowly forced a smile. "Divine Doctor Jiang prescribed a new formula yesterday. Be a good girl and take the medicine. Let’s give it a try, shall we?"

Chen Minrou placed a hand on his shoulder, pushing him away slightly. "I know my own body best," she said. "I’m long past the point of being saved by medicine. Why bother?"

Time is a strange thing. After half a year of constant fear, these words—which once would have sent Zhao Shijie into a blind rage—now failed to stir any anger in him.

He forced another smile and pleaded, "Just try, please? I’ll listen to you on anything, Minmin. I can listen to you on everything, but just on this one thing... don’t do this to me."

It was a heartbreaking smile to behold.

Chen Minrou averted her gaze, unable to look at that wretched smile. "Whatever Pei’er said doesn’t count. You must promise me, if you remarry, it can only be an illegitimate daughter of the Chen Family. It absolutely cannot be my own younger sister."

The moment she said it, Zhao Shijie’s face twisted for an instant.

The two sisters... The younger one, out of love for the elder, was willing to marry her brother-in-law as his second wife to personally care for her niece and nephew.

And the elder, out of love for the younger, couldn’t bear to see her become a stepmother and waste her life married to her own brother-in-law.

’And what about him?’

’Who ever asked if he was willing?’

Zhao Shijie took a deep breath, his words seething through clenched teeth. "I have never thought of remarrying, much less marrying your own younger sister."

He tried his best to suppress his overwhelming fury, but it was a losing battle. He glared at the woman in his arms and said resentfully, "What vile thing have I done that makes you see me in such a light!"

He had watched Chen Peirou grow up since she was a little girl.

He had long seen her as his own little sister.

Zhao Shijie couldn’t even imagine how depraved he must seem in her eyes for her to think he would actually marry Chen Peirou and make her his new wife!

Chen Minrou gave a noncommittal twitch of her lips. "Let’s just say I was overthinking it. As long as you’ve promised, that’s all that matters."

’It’s happening again.’

’That same look, the one that says she doesn’t want to tell him anything.’

Zhao Shijie’s eyes reddened with anger. "If you’re so worried about the children, then hurry up and get better! Entrusting them to someone else is useless! You don’t even trust me, their own father, yet you expect your illegitimate half-sister to treat the children you leave behind with kindness?"

’Trust her half-sister?’

Chen Minrou gave a bitter smile. Of course she didn’t.

But she had no other choice.

A year ago, she had endured a difficult childbirth with her youngest son, nearly dying from a hemorrhage. In that moment between life and death, her soul seemed to transcend this world and gaze into the distant future.

In that future, she had died in childbirth and never woken up.

And Zhao Shijie’s deep love for her had only lasted for three years.

Three years later, a girl of fifteen or sixteen appeared by his side—charming, beautiful, and full of life.

His passion, like an old house set ablaze, ignited for her, and his entire heart was captured.

He completely forgot about her, his first wife and childhood sweetheart, and even neglected to care for the two children she had left behind.

He allowed them to be spoiled rotten by their stepmother until they were completely unruly.

Watching her two children grow up to be mediocre and squander their lives, Chen Minrou became so frantic with anxiety that she somehow forced herself to wake up, clinging to a single breath.

When she opened her eyes, she was met with a pair of bloodshot-red eyes.

The man keeping vigil by her bed was haggard, his chin covered in stubble. Even his hair crown was askew, his hair disheveled, the very picture of devastation.

He came from the Duke Mansion, the very model of a nobleman’s son—upright and proper, erudite and learned, gentle and refined.

This was the second time Chen Minrou had seen him like this.

The last time was when she had contracted a plague and was on the verge of death.

’He did love her.’

Even after several years of marriage, after all the various matters that had created a rift between them, he still loved her.

Of that, there was no doubt.

But she was dying.

Even though she had forced herself to wake, she was powerless to change the fate of her body, which had been severely weakened by childbirth.

Her condition was beyond saving.

And he was only in his twenties, full of youthful vigor, with a promising official career ahead of him. His life had just begun.

People move on, and memories fade.

He wouldn’t remain unmarried for the rest of his life for her sake.

Therefore, she had to arrange everything for her two children.

He could remarry, but she had to be the one to choose his new wife.

Compared to that "little miss" from the future who would set his old house ablaze, her illegitimate half-sister was a much better option.

Chen Minrou swallowed all her emotions and said, "I will cooperate and take the medicine properly. Just don’t go back on your promise to me."

Countless words caught in his throat as Zhao Shijie stared at her, stunned.

He had promised her many things.

But now, she only cared about one.

—That if he remarried after her death, his new wife could only be a Miss Chen.

When her body was weakening by the day, she had used taking her medicine as leverage to threaten him, forcing him to agree that if she were to die, his new wife must be a Miss Chen. He had nodded and agreed.

Zhao Shijie would never forget the state of mind he was in when he had nodded his head that day.

She had pushed him, backed him into a corner until he had no choice but to agree.

He could only agree...

It was just too cruel.

The rims of Zhao Shijie’s eyes turned red. He wrapped his arms around her tightly. "Are you still angry about the things I said? It was my fault... I was wrong..."

He had been terribly, terribly wrong.

"I never thought that way. Even if we didn’t have Xuan’er, I would never have taken a concubine."