Chapter 34

Seeing Zhao Rouyin in agony, Yun Pianpian immediately rushed forward and clung to Xiao Changyuan's arm.
Her clear, sparkling almond, shaped eyes were filled with urgent fear.
“Husband, stop! You're about to crush her hand!”
Hearing the fear in Yun Pianpian's voice, Xiao Changyuan finally released his grip coldly, sparing Zhao Rouyin out of mercy.
He lifted his icy dark eyes, looking down at Zhao Rouyin from a superior position.
His pitch, black, frigid eyes were suppressing a cold, sinister rage.
His thin lips parted slightly as he coldly uttered a single word.
“Get out.”
His voice, like his gaze, was icy and menacing, like a poisoned blade, sending chills down one's spine.
“I don't want to see you again.”
The air instantly froze solid.
The surrounding temperature seemed to plummet several degrees in an instant.
Zhao Rouyin had originally intended to throw herself into Yun Pianpian’s embrace, continuing to feign fragility so that Yun Pianpian would pity her. But when she met Xiao Changyuan’s icy, bloodthirsty gaze, instinct told her that if she didn’t run now, she might never get another chance.
Terrified, Zhao Rouyin felt her entire body turn cold, her heart racing wildly. Her small face pale as a sheet, she fled in panic without a second thought.
Yun Pianpian glanced at the laundry basin on the stone slab and quickly called out after her, “Big Sister, you forgot your basin!”
Zhao Rouyin acted as though she hadn’t heard, not even turning her head as she lifted her skirts and fled in disarray.
Yun Pianpian murmured to herself, “I’ll bring it to her later…”
Upon hearing this, Xiao Changyuan’s handsome face darkened. He lifted his foot and kicked the laundry basin from the stone slab into the river.
Crystalline splashes erupted on the water’s surface.
The clothes from the basin scattered and floated across the river.
Yun Pianpian’s heart leaped in fright.
Fortunately, Xiao Changyuan’s kick was powerful, sending the basin far enough that the splashes didn’t reach them.
Many young girls washing clothes along the bank, witnessing the scene, hurriedly gathered their own basins and scurried away from this fearsome figure.
Because Xiao Changyuan had once fought a tiger and caused a scene at a pig, cage drowning punishment, everyone in the village, young and old, knew him.
They were well aware that this aloof, handsome young man was typically cold, arrogant, and indifferent, rarely provoked to anger. But when his fury was ignited, he became ruthless, recognizing neither kin nor friend, only his wife could restrain him.
Yun Pianpian widened her clear, bright almond, shaped eyes, staring blankly at the clothes floating on the river. She turned her face, furrowing her delicate brows as she looked at Xiao Changyuan.
“Husband, what are you doing?”
Xiao Changyuan glared coldly at her. “What did you call her?”
Yun Pianpian replied, baffled, “Big Sister.”
Xiao Changyuan sneered, “In such a short time, you’ve already acknowledged another sister?”
Yun Pianpian had no idea what had gotten into him. It had been a long time since he’d spoken to her in such a frosty tone. She explained, “I didn’t claim her as my sister. Miss Yinyin wanted to take me as her younger sister.”
Xiao Changyuan’s expression turned stormy. “If she asks you to be her sister, you just agree? If she asked you to be her wife, would you become her wife too?”
Yun Pianpian could hardly believe her ears. She stared at him in disbelief. “What madness is this?”
At her words, Xiao Changyuan’s eyes suddenly reddened, and he reached out, pulling her into a fierce embrace.
“You are my wife, and mine alone! You cannot go liking others!”
Caught off guard, Yun Pianpian was crushed against his chest. Her breath hitched, and her heart nearly stopped.
Suddenly, girlish giggles reached her ears.
Yun Pianpian slowly turned her head and saw many young girls on the riverbank covering their mouths, tittering shyly as they glanced at her and Xiao Changyuan.
He had actually embraced her in front of so many people…
A thunderous roar seemed to echo in Yun Pianpian’s heart. Her face flushed crimson, the blush spreading all the way to the tips of her ears.
Embarrassed and furious, she quickly raised her hands and shoved Xiao Changyuan away with all her strength, completely forgetting the persona of the “delicate, easily toppled tyrant.”
With her push, Xiao Changyuan’s body tipped straight backward into the river, sending up a shower of glittering splashes that drenched the hem of her skirt.
Yun Pianpian’s eyelashes fluttered.
A pang of regret stirred in her heart.
She felt she shouldn't have reached out to push Xiao Changyuan, causing him to fall into the river.
Now he must be feeling utterly humiliated.
Yun Pianpian extended her delicate, pale hand, intending to help Xiao Changyuan up from the water.
But her gaze met his icy, dark eyes.
His eyes were so cold, so distant.
He had never looked at her with such an expression before.
Yun Pianpian, frightened, quickly withdrew her slender, pale hand.
She turned around and fled as if running for her life.
The girl's panicked, frantic escape made it seem as though some ferocious beast were chasing her from behind.
Xiao Changyuan watched Yun Pianpian's retreating figure as she fled in disarray.
His dark, cold eyes grew even more frigid and somber.
Xiao Changyuan slowly rose from the river and stepped onto the bluestone slab at the bank.
The icy, cold winter river water dripped from his soaked black clothes, splattering onto the ground and creating tiny ripples.
His pale, handsome face seemed even paler than usual.
Xiao Changyuan's cold gaze swept across the surroundings.
The young women nearby lowered their heads to wash clothes, not daring to look up at him.
Xiao Changyuan bent down to pick up the laundry basin Yun Pianpian had left behind on the bluestone slab and walked, dripping wet, toward his own courtyard.
As soon as Yun Pianpian returned home, she began to regret it.
You can run, but you can't hide.
Hadn't she just come home to wait for her doom?
Yun Pianpian lowered her gaze and looked at her hands.
Her brow furrowed slightly as she desperately tapped the palm of her right hand with the fingers of her left hand.
“Stupid hand, stupid hand! Why did you have to push him!”
Not long after, Xiao Changyuan returned, carrying the laundry basin and dripping wet.
Hearing the commotion, Yun Pianpian hid behind the door crack to watch him.
Xiao Changyuan placed the laundry basin in the courtyard and walked expressionlessly toward the house.
Yun Pianpian immediately retreated three feet away, watching Xiao Changyuan enter with wide, anxious eyes.
Xiao Changyuan didn't even glance at Yun Pianpian as he passed by her, heading straight to the wardrobe to fetch dry clothes.
He was still dripping water, his clothes completely soaked, and his wet, dark hair clung to his broad shoulders, making him look somewhat disheveled.
His pale, refined face, having been baptized by the icy winter river, appeared even more cold and aloof.
Filled with guilt, Yun Pianpian rushed forward, extending her delicate, pale arms to tightly wrap around his waist from behind.
“Husband, I was wrong.”
Her voice was soft and sweet, tinged with the timidness of someone who had made a mistake.
Xiao Changyuan did not move, only replying in a cold, low voice, “What were you wrong about?”
Yun Pianpian whispered, “I shouldn’t have pushed you, making you lose face.”
Xiao Changyuan’s voice remained chilly, “I’m not afraid of losing face.”
He wasn’t afraid of losing face.
He was afraid his wife would push him away.
Yun Pianpian froze for a moment, her eyes brightening slightly. If he wasn’t afraid of losing face, then she didn’t need to be afraid either. She wrapped her arms around Xiao Changyuan’s waist, lifted her head, and pressed against his back as she asked, “Then, husband, have you forgiven me?”
Xiao Changyuan remained with his back to Yun Pianpian, so she couldn’t see the expression on his face, only feeling the chill of his body.
He was drenched, and the remaining moisture quickly soaked through Yun Pianpian’s clothes.
But Yun Pianpian did not let go of the small hands encircling his waist.
Instead of answering, Xiao Changyuan asked, “Why did you push me away just now?”
He was still angry with her after all.
Yun Pianpian grew uneasy.
She lowered her head and said softly, “Because you suddenly hugged me, and there were so many people outside. I was shy.”
Xiao Changyuan asked quietly, “If I hadn’t hugged you in front of so many people, would you still have pushed me away?”
Yun Pianpian immediately replied, “No, I would never push you away. Look, I’m hugging you now, aren’t I?”
Xiao Changyuan suddenly turned around, stretched out his long arms, and fiercely pulled Yun Pianpian into his embrace.
A fierce, icy voice came from above her head.
“From now on, you are not allowed to push me away, and you are not allowed to hate me!”
Caught off guard, Yun Pianpian found herself held tightly in Xiao Changyuan’s arms, the roles reversed.
She froze for a moment, and as she came back to her senses, she heard his strange words.
Yun Pianpian asked blankly, “Who said I hate you, husband?”
Xiao Changyuan said fiercely, “That ugly creature said I am cruel and heartless, that you are merely enduring me!”
Only then did Yun Pianpian recall the words the little beauty had spoken on the shore. She hadn’t taken them to heart at all, never expecting Xiao Changyuan would take them seriously. She quickly explained, “Don’t listen to her nonsense. I don’t hate you.”
She hadn’t realized she had underestimated the little beauty’s tactics.
She had thought the little beauty’s roundabout strategy was the worst of the worst.
But she hadn’t expected such a clumsy move to be so effective against a tyrant, easily driving a wedge between her and Xiao Changyuan.
Yun Pianpian immediately began to see the little beauty in a new light.
Xiao Changyuan said, “If you don’t hate me, why did you push me away on the shore just now?”
Yun Pianpian hurriedly explained, “I just told you, I was shy. I don’t hate you.”
A faint, dark glimmer flashed through Xiao Changyuan’s pitch, black, cold eyes.
“Then you must prove it to me.”
Yun Pianpian instinctively asked, “How should I prove it?”
Xiao Changyuan said softly, “From now on, whenever I want to hold you, you are not allowed to push me away.”
Yun Pianpian had no idea she was being led by the nose.
Dazedly, she followed his words and said, “Alright.”
Hearing her reply, Xiao Changyuan’s pale, thin lips curved almost imperceptibly.
The two of them held each other in the room for a long time before Xiao Changyuan reluctantly let go of Yun Pianpian.
After being held by him for so long, Yun Pianpian’s clothes had become somewhat damp.
Xiao Changyuan extended his pale, slender hand and used his inner strength to dry Yun Pianpian's clothes.
Yun Pianpian suddenly found it strange. “Husband, when you came back, why didn't you dry your own clothes?”
Xiao Changyuan paused for a moment and said in an indifferent tone, “I'm not as delicate as my wife.”
Yun Pianpian took his words at face value and didn't ask further.
Having soaked in the icy river water, Xiao Changyuan needed to bathe to wash away the impurities. Ordinary commoners would spend half a day just heating water, but Xiao Changyuan only needed to fill the bathtub with cold water and use his inner strength to heat it. In less than half the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he could heat a whole bucket of water to a suitable temperature for bathing.
The door was tightly shut, and Yun Pianpian sat on the bluestone slab outside.
Hearing the sound of splashing water from inside the room, Yun Pianpian's thoughts drifted away.
It suddenly occurred to her: when the tyrant returned, could it be that he didn't use his inner strength to dry his clothes because he wanted to play the victim and trick her into submission? Yun Pianpian looked at the scattered puddles of water on the ground and felt more and more that they resembled the tyrant's wicked schemes spilled all over the floor.
Yun Pianpian shook her head and quickly dismissed the thought.
Her tyrant was so pure, how could he possibly deceive her?
Impossible.
After Xiao Changyuan finished bathing, the two spent the entire day tidying up the house.
As night fell, they washed up and lay down on the bed.
Xiao Changyuan suddenly stretched out his long arm and pulled Yun Pianpian into his embrace.
Yun Pianpian's heart raced. She looked up at him and stammered, “Husband, what are you doing?”
Xiao Changyuan lowered his gaze to look at her and said calmly, “I want to hold my wife while I sleep.”
Yun Pianpian refused, “No, if you hold me like this, I won't be able to sleep.”
As she spoke, she reached out to push away the large hand Xiao Changyuan had placed on her slender waist.
Xiao Changyuan narrowed his cold, phoenix, like eyes slightly and said, “So my wife really does dislike me. Everything you said this morning was a lie.”
Hearing this, Yun Pianpian immediately withdrew her hand.
Her scalp tingled as she said, “Hold me, hold me. I absolutely won't push you away.”
The corner of Xiao Changyuan's lips curled imperceptibly as he tightly embraced Yun Pianpian's body.
He narrowed his phoenix eyes, looking utterly satisfied.
But in his heart, he thought: He truly was suited to these wicked and unorthodox methods.
Only wicked and unorthodox methods could bring him happiness.
Yun Pianpian was held in the embrace of the tyrant.
She felt that something was off about the situation, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.