As the newcomer swept in like a gust of wind, the air in the entire hall plunged instantly to freezing point.
The newcomer was dressed in white purer than snow, his ink-black hair flying. His peerlessly handsome face was dark and overcast; his sinister eyes, like a ghostly abyss in hell, were cold and terrifying. He merely swept his gaze across the room, and wherever his eyes fell, hearts trembled in fear. Who else could this person be but Zongzheng Wuyou?
The officials who had intended to step forward and pay their respects found their feet rooted to the ground, unable to move even half a step forward. They were even forced backward by the icy aura he brought with him. Prince Li, who never attended others’ weddings, had suddenly arrived carrying such cold fury—instinct told them something was going to happen today.
Within this envelope of frigid pressure, the only person who could still maintain a calm, natural smile was General Fu. A strange glimmer flashed through Fu Chou’s gentle eyes. He slowly went forward to greet him and said with a smile, “Prince Li’s willingness to honor this general by attending my wedding truly leaves me overwhelmed by favor. Though the rites have already been completed, Prince Li has not come too late. Please rest for a while; the noon banquet will soon be prepared.”
The rites had already been completed! Fu Chou was telling him that they had already bowed to Heaven and Earth—he had come too late! Zongzheng Wuyou felt his chest tighten, and his expression grew even colder and darker. He walked to the center of the hall and stopped, looking across the distance of several feet at the woman ahead dressed in wedding robes. The blazing red stabbed painfully at his eyes. Never before had he hated a color so much. He clenched his hand; unfamiliar emotions churned and roared inside him, making him want nothing more than to step forward and tear all of it to shreds.
“Rongle Zhanggongzhu is marrying—how could this prince not come?” he said, his voice deep and slow, each word bitten out heavily, his meaning double-edged.
Everyone was bewildered, somewhat confused.
Fu Chou smiled. “So Prince Li… has come for Rongle. Then this general… will thank Prince Li on Rongle’s behalf for honoring us with your presence.”
Zongzheng Wuyou said coldly, “What need is there for the general to do it on her behalf? Is Rongle Zhanggongzhu not right here?”
Man Yao tightly clenched her sleeve in her hand. Her heart felt as if it had been strangled, leaving her somewhat unable to breathe. She did not know why Zongzheng Wuyou had suddenly come; she could only hear that his tone was unkind, as though he were desperately suppressing something. Could it be… could it be that he already knew her identity? If so, what would he do next? She had no confidence at all.
Her body stiffened as she listened to the heavy, measured footsteps ahead spreading out over the pale-gray, cold, hard floor tiles, as if each step landed on her heart. That person drew closer, step by step, and the suffocating sense of oppression grew stronger and stronger.
Everyone sensed that something was off with Prince Li and hurriedly controlled their tongues. In the entire hall, apart from his footsteps, there was no other sound. For a moment, the atmosphere became somewhat eerie.
The hem of a white robe finally appeared within her line of sight. The man was only three steps away from her when he stopped. Her heart had been suspended all this time. She could clearly feel that his gaze was sharp and keen, as if it meant to pierce straight through the dense, soft red veil and into her eyes. Zongzheng Wuyou at this moment was very much like the feeling he had given her when they first met—cold, cruel, reckless, dangerous… The pressure was especially intense, and her body trembled lightly despite herself. Then she heard him say, “This prince also wishes to see the honored countenance of this Rongle Zhanggongzhu, who is rumored to be extraordinarily ugly. Let me see this ugliness… just how ugly is it? Is it so hideous as to anger Heaven and offend mankind? Or is it the complete opposite?”
His words seemed to spit thin ice, carrying a dense chill. Zongzheng Wuyou was just about to sweep his hand out when Fu Chou stopped him.
“Prince Li seems even more impatient than this general. But no matter how impatient you are, she is still this general’s wife. This veil… should be lifted by this general personally.”
Wife?
Zongzheng Wuyou’s gaze sank. With a mocking smile, he said, “Does the general think that bowing to Heaven and Earth makes you husband and wife? This prince does not think so!”
Fu Chou said, “If even bowing to Heaven and Earth does not count, then what does Prince Li believe… makes a husband and wife?”
Zongzheng Wuyou glanced at Man Yao. That glance contained countless complicated emotions. He said, “Naturally, consummating the marriage.”
Man Yao’s heart seized. Was he reminding her that she was no longer a virgin?
It seemed Zongzheng Wuyou had made up his mind not to let her go! Fine. Since he had already come, if he did not obtain an answer, he certainly would not let the matter rest. At this point, there was no need for her to keep hiding any longer. She might as well lay everything bare. She refused to believe that with the Qiyun Kingdom and a general holding military power behind her, Emperor Lintian could still indulge him in everything.
She suddenly calmed down and said with a faint smile, “I did not expect that with Rongle’s crude appearance, I would still draw the attention of so many people—even the noble Prince Li has specially made this trip for me. And I… how could I be so discourteous as to disappoint everyone?”
Her calm, quiet bearing and faintly mocking tone made Zongzheng Wuyou’s heart tremble. Before he could think further, she had already raised her hand and torn off the bright-red veil from her head herself.
Without the red gauze blocking her sight, her vision opened up suddenly. She lifted her chin slightly and coldly observed the myriad expressions of the people of this mundane world.
What answered her first was a hall full of shock and sharp intakes of breath. Someone’s teacup fell to the ground, breaking into three pieces, tea splashing everywhere.
Then came silence, a deathly silence.
Everyone’s gaze fell upon her alone. Those royal and noble sons who had clamored earlier to see her true face all widened their eyes, their eyeballs nearly popping out, staring in disbelief at the woman they had once avoided like a venomous snake or scorpion. In every heart, the same question arose: “She, she… she really is… Rongle Zhanggongzhu? This… how is this possible!”
There was nothing impossible about it. The truth was right before their eyes.
Rumor had said Rongle Zhanggongzhu was ugly, but this woman… what part of her could possibly be connected to the word ugly? Ordinarily, they considered themselves learned and talented in letters, yet at this moment, facing such a woman, they did not know how to describe her beauty. In truth, this woman’s beautiful features were secondary. What truly seized the soul were those glass-clear eyes and that calm, noble air, which made even these royal nobles, who prided themselves on their noble bloodlines, feel ashamed of their own inferiority. Looking again at Madam Xiang beside her, who was radiant and dazzling, they could no longer see what was so enchanting about her.
For the first time, they felt that they truly were shallow and ignorant. They had actually believed baseless rumors, missing a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity and handing over this fairy-like woman to another.
The Crown Prince was even more incredulous, his mouth hanging open. Such a beauty actually existed in this world?! Had he known this earlier, he might as well have thought of some way to divorce the Crown Princess, and then he would have become the most qualified candidate to marry the princess sent for the marriage alliance.
Inside the hall, there were over a hundred people, and each had different thoughts. Seeing the Crown Prince looking as if his soul had fled, Madam Xiang curled her lips with incomparable mockery. When her eyes turned, her gaze fell on the man in wedding robes. Fu Chou’s eyes were bright as stars as he looked at that woman, the astonishment in his eyes plain to see, mingled with a faint joy that was unexpected yet also within expectation. Her heart suddenly sank.
The instant the veil was lifted, Zongzheng Wuyou’s mind and heart were violently shaken. Something collapsed in an instant. He stood three steps away from her, staring blankly at the woman who proudly lifted her eyes as though nothing in the world was worth regarding. In a single moment, countless thoughts turned over in his heart, and he lost all words and movement.
It was her. It really was her!
Three days ago, she had still willingly given herself to him. Three days later, dressed in wedding robes, she had calmly and composedly bowed with another man to be married, and swept her cold, indifferent gaze across his face as if looking at a stranger. His heart clenched fiercely, beyond control.
“You’ve all seen it. May I leave now?” she asked, her indifferent gaze fixed on the man before her. The look in this man’s eyes seemed as if he had suffered a heavy blow; those who did not know better would think someone had stolen his beloved. She could not help sneering inwardly. Even now, he was still acting. Did he think she would still be foolish enough to fall for it?
Turning around, Man Yao prepared to leave without the slightest hesitation.
“I’ll accompany you over.” Fu Chou gently held her icy fingers.
Their fingers clasped together. She did not refuse, but she had not expected that this extremely simple action would deeply sting the eyes of the man behind her. Without thinking, Zongzheng Wuyou grabbed her. “Where are you going?”
Without turning her head, Man Yao said faintly, “After bowing to Heaven and Earth, where else can I go? To the bridal chamber, of course.”
“You!” Zongzheng Wuyou’s expression abruptly changed. He lost all composure. Looking at the woman’s calm profile, he suddenly laughed coldly. “The bridal chamber? You… want to consummate your marriage with him?! How is it that Rongle Zhanggongzhu has so quickly forgotten that night three days ago? Do you need this prince to remind you?” His cold, cruel voice struck hard against her heart, making her chest ache with suffocation and her body stiffen.
Three days ago, three days ago… That three days ago which she hated beyond measure! He had so easily brought it up before all these people. What would he say next? Her eyes unexpectedly stung. She lifted her head and looked at the roof beams, tightly pressing her lips together, unwilling to speak. But in Zongzheng Wuyou’s eyes, this expression was extreme indifference, as though no matter what he said, she did not care. His heart sank violently. The world always said men were fickle, but he felt that when women were heartless, they surpassed men by countless times. Three days—only a short three days—and she could not wait to throw herself into another man’s arms!
“So this is the heaven-and-earth reversal you said could not be changed?” Zongzheng Wuyou’s thick brows knitted tightly. Furious to the extreme, he laughed instead. “You had it all planned from the very beginning! You approached this prince, deceived this prince’s feelings—you wanted to make me suffer unbearably… to take revenge for my refusal and humiliation of you that day?”
Man Yao’s heart ached. Clearly, he was the one who had harbored intentions of using her, deceived her feelings, and wounded her heart, yet now he was turning the accusation back on her, claiming everything was her scheme. It was truly laughable. She could not help laughing as she said, “Prince Li flatters me too much. How could I have such ability?”
Make him suffer unbearably… Did such a person exist in this world? she thought with incomparable sarcasm. She was about to break free of his restraint, but her arm was gripped even tighter, as if the bone were about to shatter.
“Let go of me.” She frowned.
Instead, Zongzheng Wuyou held her even tighter. His gaze shifted unpredictably, faint hatred actually hidden within it. “If that is not the case, then why did you conceal your identity? Why did you set up a scheme to swap one thing for another! Do you think that by doing this, I can do nothing to you? Do not forget, three days ago on the rear mountain of Prince Li’s Manor, you already became my woman! Do you think that after becoming this prince’s woman, you still have the right to marry someone else?”
An uproar broke out all around.
Someone could not help whispering, “So she has already been with Prince Li… How does she still have the face to pretend nothing happened and marry General Fu?! Truly shameless!”
“General Fu is really pitiful. Before he’s even properly married, he’s already been given a huge green hat…”
All eyes instantly focused on her, especially those noble sons who had been filled with regret after seeing her true face; they suddenly found a point of balance and spared no effort in exploiting it.
Contempt, ridicule, disdain, questioning, disgust… She was wantonly surrounded by such gazes. Merely because of a single sentence from that man, in the eyes of the world, she had transformed in an instant from a noble and beautiful fairy into a vile woman anyone could take. If not for her status, perhaps someone would already be shouting to drown her in a pig cage or burn her to death.
Man Yao closed her eyes. Fu Chou, who held her other hand, was slowly letting go of her. She did not look to see what expression Fu Chou had now.
The rain outside seemed to be falling harder and harder, with no intention of stopping. Raindrops from the eaves, swept up by the strong wind, struck the half-open windows with sharp pattering sounds.
What was it that blurred her eyes? When she opened them again, her vision was somewhat hazy. She forced her eyes wide open. The cold wind stirred the hem of her robe, and her whole body trembled faintly. She turned her head and stared blankly at the man she had once lowered her guard for and truly loved. He was so heartless. Tearing her heart to pieces was not enough; he still had to come and trample on her dignity. She truly wanted to raise her hand and slap him hard several times, but in the end, she did nothing. She desperately told herself that he was merely an unrelated person. He could say whatever he wanted. As long as she did not care, he could not hurt her, could not hurt her. But… why was her heart so, so painful at this moment? So painful it was as though someone were stabbing her again and again with a knife. She could not help drawing in a breath, lifting her chin to look at the misty rain outside the window. A fishy, salty taste filled her mouth. At some unknown point, she had bitten her lip open, and blood was steadily seeping out. She swallowed once, and that fishy, salty taste spread from her throat all the way down to the depths of her heart, bitter beyond words.
When Zongzheng Wuyou saw the blood seeping from her lip, his gaze shook. The towering rage that had been churning in his chest suddenly vanished, replaced by a dull ache rising within him, making him involuntarily want to lift his hand and wipe the blood from her lips. But that hand never rose.
The surrounding discussion continued. His eyes sank. He swept a cold glance over those people and warned harshly, “All of you, shut your mouths! If anyone dares say one more word, this prince will make sure he can never utter another word for the rest of his life!”
His fierce, terrifying aura made every sound around him vanish in that instant. No one dared question his ability.
Zongzheng Wuyou looked at the glaring red wedding robes on the woman’s body and said with a cold, cruel expression, “Take it off! Come with me.”
Man Yao smiled. This man was still so arrogant, still placing nothing in his eyes. What did he think she was? His slave? Or his pet?
“I am sorry, Your Highness Prince Li, but I am already married! My present identity is General Fu’s wife. Even if the general divorces me, I am still a princess of Qiyun Kingdom. I will not be someone you can summon at will and dismiss as you please. In the past, I misjudged you. I will not do so again.”
She spoke coldly, raising her hand to pry away, one by one, the fingers gripping her arm. Her expression was stubborn and resolute.
Zongzheng Wuyou watched her movements, watched the determination with which she used all her strength to escape his control, and a sense of powerlessness suddenly surged in his heart. Status had never been his scruple, but this cold and resolute version of her abruptly made fear arise in him.
All along, he had firmly believed that in this life, he could be without heart and without feeling. But at this moment, he was utterly disappointed in himself. Before this woman, the effort of thirteen years was actually no match for a dozen days of companionship. If it had been anyone else who so failed to appreciate favor and dared defy him, he had a thousand cruel punishments that could make that person wish for death without needing to waste another word. But with her, he no longer even had anger now.
“Seventh Brother—”
At this moment, the Ninth Prince suddenly rushed in like a whirlwind, with an attitude as if ten thousand men could not stop him. As soon as he entered the hall, he immediately sensed that something was wrong and hurriedly slowed his steps, craning his head as he walked inside slowly. The moment he saw Man Yao, he froze, then cried out excitedly, “Liyue? You’re here? You made me search so hard! You have no idea, these past few days while looking for you, I haven’t slept well for a single night. I’m about to die of exhaustion! Ah, it’s wonderful to see you. I can finally sleep in peace!” He spoke entirely to himself, paying no attention to anyone else’s reaction. He reached out and patted Zongzheng Wuyou on the shoulder, yawning lazily as he said, “Seventh Brother, there’s nothing for me to do this time. I’m going back to the manor to sleep.”
As he spoke, he turned and walked outside. Inside the hall, aside from his voice, it was still very quiet—quiet in a somewhat abnormal way. After taking a few steps, he suddenly stopped, as if thinking of something. His eyes abruptly widened, and he turned back sharply, his eyes as large as bronze bells. Taking three steps in two, he ran back again. Tugging at the wedding robes on Man Yao’s body, he looked at her, then at Fu Chou, who was likewise dressed in wedding robes with a deep expression, and then at his Seventh Brother’s eyes, which were usually cold as ice all year round but now were tangled with complex emotions. Shocked, he opened his mouth wide, and only after a long while did he recover his voice. He shouted at the top of his lungs, “Liyue? You, you… why are you dressed like this? Don’t tell me you… you are Qiyun Kingdom’s Rongle Zhanggongzhu?”
Everyone around was stunned. Liyue? The Ninth Prince called her Liyue? Everyone hurriedly looked carefully at the woman’s face again and suddenly understood. So that “Young Master Liyue,” who was even more beautiful than a woman, was actually a woman herself—and also the princess rumored to be extraordinarily ugly! No wonder Prince Li had come today. But then again, that was not right. She had already moved into Prince Li’s Manor, so why would she still choose General Fu? And on the day in the main hall when the princess chose a husband, Young Master Liyue had been present. What was going on?
Man Yao looked at the Ninth Prince indifferently and said nothing.
The Ninth Prince wailed and clutched his head as he cried, “Why didn’t you say so earlier? If I’d known it was you, why would I have suffered those one hundred strikes?” He stomped his feet fiercely, simply heartbroken—not for anything else, but because those hundred strikes had been too unjust!
Zongzheng Wuyou frowned and glanced at him coldly. The Ninth Prince immediately fell silent, tugging at his stiff scalp as he dropped his hands and stood behind him.
Man Yao broke free of Zongzheng Wuyou’s hand, turned, and looked at the calm-faced Fu Chou. Then she instructed Ling’er, who had been standing frozen in place all this time, “Go prepare brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.”
No one knew what she wanted the Four Treasures of the Study for at a time like this. Could it be that with matters having developed this way, she was still in the mood to compose poetry or paint? Everyone grew even more puzzled.
Ling’er did not dare ask more and turned to go. A moment later, brush, ink, paper, and inkstone were placed on the table. Man Yao personally stepped forward to grind the ink, her movements practiced, her strength slow and heavy. A drop of ink splashed onto her hand and slowly slid down through the gap between her knuckles, leaving behind a pitch-black mark. Having reached this point, she still had no other choice. Thinking back on more than twenty years of her life, it seemed she had always been under someone else’s control. She had always been pushed forward by fate, along a predetermined track, without the right to choose.
Unable to restrain his curiosity, the Ninth Prince leaned over and asked with a smile, “Liyue, why are you grinding ink? Are you going to paint? What do you think of painting me? I am graceful as jade and as upright as a tree, handsome and dashing, elegant and charming… very worth painting…” He spread his arms and even turned in a circle on the spot to prove that his words were not false. But before he could finish that circle, he met Zongzheng Wuyou’s gloomy, sharp gaze and hurriedly stopped, changing his words. “You should paint Seventh Brother instead. He… looks better than me.”
That tone was exactly like that of a wronged little wife.
The corner of Zongzheng Wuyou’s mouth twitched, and several black lines appeared on his forehead.
Man Yao was speechless. Her originally heavy, sorrowful state of mind had been stirred up by him, leaving behind an indescribable feeling. She sighed, stopped grinding ink, picked up the vermilion brush beside her, turned back to look at Fu Chou, and under everyone’s astonished gazes, said with extraordinary calm, “General, please.”
Fu Chou was slightly stunned, seeming to understand her intention, but he did not move.
Man Yao held it out a little farther and said faintly, “This time, the great plan for peace between the two nations has been ruined. This is Rongle’s fault alone, and Rongle will bear the punishment by herself. General, please do not worry. Simply write the letter of divorce.”
In this era where the husband was the guiding principle, a woman who was divorced by her husband could be said to have no happiness left to speak of; she could only live out her days alone. Therefore, her action was extremely incomprehensible. Everyone looked at one another, shocked to the extreme. If it were an ordinary woman encountering such a thing, would she not kneel, weeping and sobbing, to beg for forgiveness? Who would be foolish enough to voluntarily request that her husband divorce her?