Chapter 80: Gaze
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Mingzhu walked out briskly, completely ignoring the people behind her. But she was secretly tense, afraid that Yuwen Chu would shout at her and make her lose face, unable to show her face in public again. She was even more afraid that he would insist on pestering her and force her to stay.
She didn’t know why he pretended to be Shen Ruilin to deceive her and even said he would marry her as the principal wife. She thought about how the Great Empress Dowager had been wary of him in the palace and her father had warned her to be careful of him.
It turned out that this person was truly cunning and sinister. Mingzhu bitterly smiled. She thought she had seized the opportunity after her rebirth, feeling quite proud, but she didn’t expect that a sparrow couldn’t suddenly turn into an eagle.
“Do you dislike me for being old?” Yuwen Chu followed her out and glanced indifferently at the two maids who were scared out of their wits, then ordered sternly, “You two, go outside and guard the door. No one is allowed in!”
Su Mei’s legs went weak, but she was about to comply. Su Lan, on the other hand, was courageous. Despite being very afraid of Yuwen Chu, she dared to stand firm and tried to help Mingzhu leave this place of trouble quickly.
“Fu Mingzhu, you probably want everyone to know about this, don’t you?” Yuwen Chu glanced at Mingzhu, his expression cold and ruthless, with only his lips swollen from being bitten, severely damaging his dignity.
But Mingzhu couldn’t laugh. Facing his eyes, which were flickering with a cold fire, she couldn’t help but feel a little weak in her heart. After a moment’s thought, she waved her hand to dismiss Su Lan and Su Mei, “Stand by the courtyard gate and keep watch. I’ll call you if I need anything.”
Then she turned her head back, proudly raising her chin, “You don’t need to threaten me. I’m not a good person, and neither are you. We’re even. My fiancé is your younger brother, and you have an unmarried fiancée yourself. It doesn’t matter who shouts out here, no one will see anything.”
With a light poke to Yuwen Chu’s chest, she laughed wantonly and arrogantly, “This is who I am. I’ve been called shameless and arrogant a long time ago, but compared to you, Your Royal Highness, your reputation is impeccable. It’s amusing that a brother would scheme with his brother’s fiancée. Isn’t it?”
Yuwen Chu didn’t get angry but smiled instead. He lifted her chin with his hand and stared into her eyes, “You’ve misunderstood me.”
Mingzhu forcefully pushed away Yuwen Chu’s hand and retreated two steps vigilantly, saying coldly, “Of course, I misunderstood. I used to think you were just a boring person, but now I know you’re a lecherous and shameless scoundrel!”
Yuwen Chu said coldly, “No, I want to tell you that what the Great Empress Dowager and your father-in-law don’t care about, I naturally don’t care about. If Yuwen You and Yuwen Long marry you, then I can naturally marry you too!”
That was the truth. Mingzhu knew that Yuwen Chu was speaking the truth. In marriages between noble families, interests come first. Her previous engagement with Yuwen You was indeed unusual. If the Great Empress Dowager and her father were willing to let her break off the engagement with Yuwen You and consider betrothing her to Yuwen Long, then they might also agree to Yuwen Chu. As long as they deemed Yuwen Chu suitable, it was very possible.
But Mingzhu thought of the caution her father and the Great Empress Dowager had towards Yuwen Chu, so she smiled, “I don’t know what you’re thinking. You suddenly took an interest in me. But what about Jiang Shanshan? The Changxing Marquis’s Mansion is not easy to deal with, and the Great Empress Dowager is not foolish. Can you afford to provoke them?”
Under the faint moonlight, Yuwen Chu’s long and thick eyelashes cast a shadow on his face, his voice revealing neither joy nor anger, “What to do with Jiang Shanshan is none of my concern. Did you not hear what I said just now? I’ve never said I wanted to marry her. Do you remember what I just said?”
Even though she knew all along that he was reluctant to marry Jiang Shanshan, even though she heard him admit he wanted to break off the engagement, and even though she saw him kneeling outside Changxin Palace under the scorching sun, what did that have to do with her?
She remembered clearly that even if he didn’t want to, after marrying Jiang Shanshan, they would still live happily as husband and wife. Mingzhu became irritated and impatiently walked away, saying, “His Royal Highness Ying Wang is of noble status, and naturally, he can do as he pleases. If you don’t want to marry Miss Jiang, that’s your business. Don’t drag me into it. Even though my reputation is tarnished, I’m not someone you can just use as a shield! I’m even less interested in getting involved in your affairs.”
Yuwen Chu didn’t speak, only reached out and grabbed her wrist. His hand, which had been scorching hot before, had now become ice-cold, like a cup of boiling water suddenly encountering a freezing wind and instantly freezing.
Mingzhu felt uncomfortable, furrowing her brows and glaring at where he was holding her hand, saying coldly, “Let go. I only hate myself for being clumsy and falling into your trap. If you dare to touch me again, believe it or not, I’ll fight you to the death!”
Yuwen Chu looked at her in silence, his gaze seeming to hide a roaring beast. With one wrong move, it would jump out and tear her to pieces and swallow her whole.
Mingzhu had seen hateful looks, disdainful looks, and loving looks, as well as looks that were simply flattering for personal gain, but she had never seen someone look at her with such eyes. She felt a sense of panic in her heart, but she refused to admit defeat.
Instead, she lifted her chin in a disdainful and contemptuous manner, “I understand now. Yuwen Long obviously has ulterior motives for his private dealings with others and wants to marry me desperately to please and curry favor with the Great Empress Dowager and the Fu family, in order to gain more benefits. What about you, Your Royal Highness? What do you see in me? Are you unwilling to let go of such a piece of fat falling into someone else’s mouth?”
Yuwen Chu looked at her for a while, then suddenly smiled slightly, very disdainfully letting go of her hand and said in a low voice, “You’re absolutely right. I do think of you as a piece of fat, and it would be a pity not to take a bite. As for your beauty, I’m sorry, but I really can’t see it. All I see is a ridiculous face that’s arrogant and ignorant.”
Mingzhu glared angrily at Yuwen Chu for a moment, but seeing him remain impassive, looking at her as if she were no more than a cat or a dog, she suddenly felt that displaying her emotions like this was a kind of failure. So she smiled charmingly again and said, “Since that’s the case, let’s just agree to disagree and stop bothering each other.”
She glanced at the sky and yawned, “I’m really tired. Just got bitten by a dog, can’t exactly bite back.”
With that, she left gracefully, expecting him to retort, but to her surprise, there was no response even as she reached the door. Unable to resist, she looked back and saw Yuwen Chu standing alone on the steps, gazing down the corridor into the shadows, with an air of loneliness and melancholy.
Bah! He was just a scoundrel trying to deceive her like a naive child, how could he possibly be lonely and melancholic? Even if he was, it was only because he regretted not being able to deceive her.
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