Chapter 71: I’ll Go Kill Him

Chapter 71: Chapter 71: I’ll Go Kill Him

She had gotten what she wanted, yet she treasured it so little.

The accusation made her sound like some fickle woman, always chasing after novelty.

Cui Lingyao could only listen in stunned silence.

"Say something!"

His patience exhausted, Xie Jinbai could no longer stand her silent treatment. He grabbed the back of her neck and leaned in, his gaze boring into hers.

"What’s so great about Shen Tingyu? He has no authority in the Zhao Family. He’d have to move heaven and earth just to make you his proper wife. No one in the entire Zhao Family would approve of your marriage. What in the world do you see in him?"

’In terms of noble birth, character, looks, future prospects, or even civil and martial prowess, how am I in any way inferior to Shen Tingyu?’

’They had been husband and wife for three years!’

’He had just explained all the past misunderstandings to her.’

’He didn’t expect her to forgive him immediately for all the secrets and hardships, but she shouldn’t be this cold and heartless.’

’Or was it that she had grown tired of him and wanted to try a frail scholar like Shen Tingyu?’

After a torrent of paranoid assumptions, Xie Jinbai’s eyes turned red with fury. He snarled in a low, vicious voice, "I’m going to kill him!"

’Once Shen Tingyu is dead, they can sort out their own grievances.’

’He would never allow a third person to come between them.’

With that said, Xie Jinbai was unwilling to wait another moment. He released her neck and turned to leave.

As his grip loosened, Cui Lingyao staggered. Seeing him turn to leave, radiating murderous intent—clearly on his way to cause trouble for Shen Tingyu—she panicked and instinctively grabbed his sleeve.

"Don’t!"

The girl who had been stoically silent, coldly watching his madness, finally reacted.

But it was for the sake of Shen Tingyu’s safety.

"Cui Lingyao!"

A sharp pain shot through Xie Jinbai’s heart. He twisted his hand around, grabbing her wrist and pinning her against the trunk of a plane tree. "Do you really dare to fall for him?" he said, his voice laced with hatred.

’The feelings she was so stingy with him...’

’She just turns around and gives them to Shen Tingyu?’

’And she was even going to help Shen Hanyue "handle" me?’

’She was pushing him to go on a killing spree!’

Cui Lingyao’s breath caught in her throat. The man before her was on the verge of an emotional breakdown, his crimson eyes churning with hatred.

She had never seen him like this.

Like a raving lunatic who had lost all reason.

’Things have reached a point where I can no longer play dumb, deny my identity, and try to bluff my way through this.’

’There was no room left for denial.’

She swallowed hard and whispered, "Calm down."

"Calm down?" Xie Jinbai let out a self-deprecating laugh. "I’m certainly not as calm as you are. You could even cheerfully agree to your own husband taking a concubine."

He gritted his teeth. "I’m telling you, Cui Lingyao, if you dare to fall for someone else, I’ll kill them. If anyone dares to so much as flirt with you, I’ll slaughter their entire family!"

’Such paranoia...’

Cui Lingyao froze, a deep-seated belief within her beginning to waver.

’Have I gotten something wrong?’

’An Affection Level of one hundred. The system had only said it represented an unwavering, profound love. But because Xie Jinbai’s status was so extraordinary, a one-year "cool-down period" was passively triggered to maintain the stability of the mission world.’

’Even the system, a being born of chaos, had never encountered such a cool-down period before.’

’Neither of them had taken it seriously.’

’It was only a year. She’d already spent nine years on this, so what was one more?’

’So from the very beginning, neither she nor the system had truly understood what an Affection Level of one hundred really meant.’

’But now...’

"What are you thinking about now? How to keep arguing? How to insist you’re Pei Shuyao and that this is all a figment of my imagination?"

Xie Jinbai was so angry he laughed. He tilted her chin up and looked at her. "Is it that no matter what I do, you’ll never take me seriously?"

He was in utter turmoil, a mix of pain and regret.

She remained silent.

His killing intent was so overwhelming that even a high-ranking minister at court would likely be trembling in fear.

Yet she showed no fear. She even had the audacity to get lost in thought right in front of him.

’A mere cousin from the Duke Mansion couldn’t possibly have such nerve, not even if she borrowed it from the heavens themselves.’

’Does she really intend to keep claiming she’s Pei Shuyao and has nothing to do with me?’

’How laughable.’

Cui Lingyao had no intention of deceiving herself or anyone else. She composed herself, slowly raising her eyes to meet his. "You don’t have to use such tactics to force me to admit anything. You’re right. I did get a second chance."

She had finally admitted it with her own mouth—the fact that she was his wife.

Xie Jinbai’s breath hitched. He stared at her without blinking.

Their eyes met.

Cui Lingyao said, "The reason I didn’t reveal myself to you was simply because I didn’t want to. It has nothing to do with Shen Tingyu, so don’t drag an innocent person into this."

Her very next sentence was to absolve Shen Tingyu.

’...Innocent.’

Xie Jinbai savored that word, and actually laughed.

He asked with a smile, "So, you don’t like him?"

Cui Lingyao nodded. "I don’t."

Her answer was decisive.

How could Xie Jinbai believe that? His eyes turned icy, his expression a cold, mocking smile. "You don’t like him? Then why did you chase after him for three years?"

"Why did you play the zither for him, compose poems for him, and make pastries for him?"

"Why did you disrobe and... offer yourself to him?"

He bit out those last four words, one by one, as if chewing them up and spitting them out with the tang of blood.

He truly knew every single absurd thing Pei Shuyao had done over the past three years.

Hearing this, Cui Lingyao’s heart constricted.

Despite the tense standoff, she felt an inexplicable sense of speechlessness and couldn’t stop herself from retorting, "You claim to know me so well, yet you think I would act so wantonly and without restraint just to pursue a man? That I would debase myself to become his concubine?"

At her words, Xie Jinbai faltered.

Cui Lingyao seized the opportunity to push him away. She took a long, deep breath of fresh air before continuing, "After I fell into the water, the first time I was conscious again was a few days ago at the Yu Xuan Tea Garden. The same day I saw you."

Therefore, the girl who shamelessly chased Shen Tingyu for three years wasn’t her, but the original Pei Shuyao.

She had only truly been back for a few days.

It clicked for Xie Jinbai. He started recalling the details of that day and soon frowned. "You only came back after Pei Shuyao was drugged with the seductive powder?"

"That’s right," Cui Lingyao nodded.

Receiving a definitive answer, Xie Jinbai’s expression changed. "In such a dangerous situation, you knew to ask Cui Mingrui for help, but when you saw me, you treated me like a stranger?"

’Who could be more intimate than them?’

’She was hit with an aphrodisiac, and her own husband appeared right in front of her, yet the thought of revealing herself to him never even crossed her mind?’

’No, that’s not right.’

’At the time, she... seemed to have confirmed that the seductive powder’s effects didn’t require a physical union to be dispelled before she let Cui Mingrui take her to her room.’

As this occurred to him, some of Xie Jinbai’s shocked anger subsided. He asked her, "If the seductive powder had required... physical intimacy to be neutralized, would you have revealed yourself to me then?"

Cui Lingyao gently shook her head. "I don’t know."

It was the honest truth.

Xie Jinbai exploded on the spot. "Then who were you planning to find?"

In a situation where she absolutely needed a man to cure the poison, she wouldn’t necessarily have chosen him.

’So who did she want?’

"I don’t know," Cui Lingyao said. "I was poisoned, and my mind was a muddle. I couldn’t tell what day it was, and everything felt strange and surreal. Of all the people there, the one I trusted most was my brother. When I saw you later, my head cleared a little. There were many reasons I chose not to reveal myself to you..."