Chapter 8

Xiao Changyuan’s gaze was cold as he looked at Yun Pianpian.
“I need to take my medicine.”
Yun Pianpian froze for a moment before remembering that Xiao Changyuan hadn’t taken his medicine yet today.
She quickly handed over the kitchen to Mu Bai: “Brother Mu, I still need to brew medicine for my husband. I’ll leave this to you.”
Mu Bai acted as if he had been granted a pardon and hurriedly said, “No problem, you go ahead.”
Yun Pianpian wiped her hands with a handkerchief and walked out of the kitchen.
After dinner yesterday, Jiang Cuicui had gone to Doctor Zhou’s house to pay the consultation fee and brought back several packets of medicine prescribed by Doctor Zhou for Xiao Changyuan’s injuries. Since they had gone into the mountains early this morning, the medicine had yet to be brewed.
Yun Pianpian borrowed a small stove specifically for brewing medicine from Jiang Cuicui’s house and filled it with charcoal.
Suddenly, she remembered she didn’t know how to light a fire.
Yun Pianpian stood up, about to go to the kitchen and ask Mu Bai for help.
But Xiao Changyuan suddenly blocked her path, his face cold as ice, his gaze dangerous and deep.
“Wife, where are you going?”
Yun Pianpian said, “I don’t know how to light a fire. I’m going to ask Brother Mu for help.”
Xiao Changyuan’s handsome face turned cold. “Why aren’t you asking me?”
Yun Pianpian was taken aback. “Do you know how to light a fire?”
Xiao Changyuan replied, “Only fools wouldn’t know how.”
Yun Pianpian: “...” ‘You arrogant brat! Just because you know how doesn’t mean you have to insult others!’
Ignoring the resentment and dissatisfaction on Yun Pianpian’s face, Xiao Changyuan took the fire starter from her hand and quickly lit the charcoal in the small stove. After finishing, he lifted his handsome face and cast a disdainful glance at Yun Pianpian.
That contemptuous look seemed to say: ‘Aren’t you just a fool?’
Yun Pianpian was so angry she nearly stood up and kicked him.
Fortunately, her remaining rationality stopped her.
Seeing that the fire in the stove was burning brightly and there was nothing left for her to do, Yun Pianpian stood up and headed toward the kitchen.
Xiao Changyuan grabbed her slender, pale wrist.
He straightened up, his gaze dark and intense as he looked at her.
“Where are you going?”
Yun Pianpian said, “I’m going to the kitchen to help Brother Mu wash the dishes.”
Xiao Changyuan’s face instantly turned icy, and the air seemed to grow three degrees colder.
“Why aren’t you helping me?”
Yun Pianpian felt somewhat bewildered. “Haven’t you already lit the stove? All that’s left is to keep an eye on the fire until the medicine is ready. There’s still a lot to do in the kitchen, the pots haven’t been washed, the floor hasn’t been swept. Brother Mu is a guest, we can’t let him do all that.”
Xiao Changyuan suddenly interrupted her: “You’re my wife. Why are you always going to someone else?”
The cold, handsome emperor, his face stern and unyielding, tightly gripped her hand.
His dark, chilling eyes were filled with suppressed anger.
Seeing his angry expression, Yun Pianpian suddenly had an epiphany. “Husband, are you jealous?”
Upon hearing this, Xiao Changyuan’s icy face tensed up.
“I am not.”
Yun Pianpian blinked. “If you’re not jealous, then why are you angry?”
Xiao Changyuan’s cold eyes flickered with a trace of embarrassment.
He awkwardly turned his face away, avoiding Yun Pianpian’s probing gaze, his expression gloomy.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Yun Pianpian noticed something astonishing.
Xiao Changyuan’s ears had turned an unbelievable shade of red.
Yun Pianpian's face froze for a moment, as if she had discovered a new world, her almond, shaped eyes slowly widening.
“Husband, your ears are red.”
Xiao Changyuan said expressionlessly, “That's your imagination.”
Yun Pianpian reached out and touched Xiao Changyuan's ear, stating firmly, “Feel it, it's warm. It really has turned red.”
Xiao Changyuan pushed her hand away, his face full of disgust.
“Don't get handsy!”
Yun Pianpian: “...” Brat, do you even know what it means to be lonely?
This is what it means to be lonely!
In the future, even if you cry and beg me to get handsy with you, I might not even bother!
(╯︵╰)
Yun Pianpian furiously vented her complaints about Xiao Changyuan in her mind, then frowned and looked at him.
“Why don't you want me to go find Brother Mu?”
Xiao Changyuan's gaze was cold and profound, his handsome face as icy as a snow, covered mountain frozen for years.
“You are my wife. You can only come to me.”
Yun Pianpian: “...”
Who would have thought?
Even though this guy keeps his distance from women, his possessiveness is incredibly strong.
If you're so detached and uninterested in women, what exactly are you being possessive about?
Isn't this like hogging the latrine without using it?
Ugh, ugh, ugh!
You're the latrine! You're the waste!
I'm a fairy, an angel, the embodiment of justice!
You're the stinky rock in the latrine!
Even though Xiao Changyuan hadn't said a word yet, Yun Pianpian had already started arguing with herself in her mind.
In the end, she even lost the argument, leaving herself thoroughly exasperated.
Having lost the argument, Yun Pianpian decided to reclaim her lost pride by teasing Xiao Changyuan. She deliberately mocked him, “Not letting me go to someone else, isn't that jealousy? You're jealous but won't admit it. How stubborn.”
“If I'm jealous, then I'm jealous.”
Xiao Changyuan frowned, looking at the irritating smile on Yun Pianpian's face.
“Are you happy that I'm jealous?”
“Of course I'm happy.”
Yun Pianpian curved her clear, bright almond, shaped eyes, beaming with delight.
“You're my husband. If you're jealous, it means you like me.”
If you like me, that means I can soon become your white moonlight, complete my mission, and go home.
Hearing this, Xiao Changyuan cast a disdainful glance at Yun Pianpian.
“You really are easy to please.”
As the sun began to set, Xie Yu finally drove the ox, cart back to Jiangjia Village, giving a few villagers a ride along the way. The villagers cheerfully bid farewell to Xie Yu and, before leaving, gave him many dried provisions and flatbreads.
Yun Pianpian welcomed Xie Yu into the house and poured him a cup of tea.
Noticing Xiao Changyuan's displeased expression and sour face, Yun Pianpian poured a cup for him as well.
Only then did Xiao Changyuan's icy countenance soften slightly.
After drinking the hot tea, Xie Yu took out several silver notes, a receipt, and a pouch of broken silver from his bosom, looking utterly delighted.
“Sister Pianpian, I sold that tiger for six hundred taels of silver in total. To make it easier for you to use, I exchanged fifty taels' worth of silver notes for broken silver. It's all here, you can count it. This is the receipt with the shop's name on it.”
It was the first time Yun Pianpian had seen so many silver notes, and her heart was already bursting with joy.
No more worries about lacking money from now on.
Without even glancing at the receipt, Yun Pianpian directly took sixty taels' worth of silver notes from the pile and handed them to Xie Yu. Smiling, she said to him, “As we agreed, these sixty taels belong to you.”
“Thank you, Sister Pianpian.” Xie Yu took it with a beaming smile: “If you ever have anything you want to sell in the future, feel free to come to A Yu's house and find me anytime.”
The smile on Yun Pianpian's face was even brighter than Xie Yu's.
“Definitely, definitely.”
Xiao Changyuan glanced at the radiant smile on Yun Pianpian's face and furrowed his brows deeply.
He despised these brothers.
Before Xiao Changyuan even understood what liking someone meant, he had already grasped what hatred felt like. He hated everyone who earned a smile from his wife.
Yun Pianpian pretended not to notice his icy glare.
Xie Yu drove the ox, cart and brought Mu Bai back home.
After returning home and closing the door, Xie Yu pulled a stack of four hundred taels' worth of silver notes from his boot and placed it on the table.
Mu Bai was astonished: “Your Highness, how do you have so much money?”
Xie Yu said triumphantly, “I sold that tiger for a thousand taels in total. I secretly kept these four hundred taels. Tell me, am I not clever? I actually managed to deceive that terrifying Xiao Changyuan. He still has no idea he's been tricked by me.”
Xie Yu wore a smug smile, clearly hoping for Mu Bai's praise.
Mu Bai said sincerely, “Your Highness is truly brilliant.”
Pleased with the compliment, Xie Yu smiled contentedly.
Mu Bai paused for a moment: “Your Highness, didn't you say that Xiao Changyuan is your benefactor and you wanted to repay him?”
Xie Yu lifted his chin and said, “Who said anything about repaying him? After all, my elder brother is my own flesh and blood, even if you break a bone, the tendons remain connected. For the hatred of my brother's death and the fall of the Liang Kingdom, swindling Xiao Changyuan out of four hundred taels is letting him off far too lightly.”
Hearing this, Mu Bai instantly straightened up and said solemnly, “If Your Highness wishes to seek revenge, I will go assassinate Xiao Changyuan tonight.”
Even if it costs me my life.
Xie Yu raised an eyebrow: “Who said I want revenge?”
Mu Bai was taken aback, somewhat confused: “Your Highness, what exactly do you intend to do?”
“A Bai, I don't want to be a deserter anymore.”
Xie Yu lowered his gaze to the four hundred taels of silver notes on the table.
Although this money wasn't much, it was proof that Xiao Changyuan could be defeated.
“Three years ago, we fled the battlefield as deserters and came here. My fate was in the hands of Xiao Changyuan and Xie Zhui, Xie Zhui could kill me, and Xiao Changyuan could kill me. Now that I've grown up, I want to take my fate into my own hands.”
Mu Bai frowned and looked at Xie Yu. “Your Highness means…”
“I will be the master of my fate.”
There was not a trace of emotion on Xie Yu's face.
He reached out, picked up a silver note from the table, and held it over the candle flame.
The flame ignited the silver note.
Mu Bai's gaze followed Xie Yu's hand, settling on the burning note.
The silver note was quickly consumed by the flames and turned into a small pile of ashes.
Xie Yu lowered his dark eyes to look at the ashes, his handsome face devoid of any expression.
“Whether to repay kindness or seek revenge, I want it all to be at my whim.”
After returning home, Zhou Qiren recounted everything that had happened that day to Chen Fashan.
After listening, Chen Fashan said with a grim expression, “You mean Xiao Changyuan has lost his memory? Why didn't you notice it yesterday?”
Zhou Qiren lowered his head and explained, “The principles of medicine are observation, listening, questioning, and diagnosis. Yesterday, after recognizing Xiao Changyuan, I feared alarming him and didn't dare to ask too many questions. I only diagnosed the knife wounds on his body. It was my negligence, please punish me, Your Majesty.”
Caution is a good thing.
But sometimes, being overly cautious only leads to clumsy mistakes.
Chen Fashan said darkly, “Forget it. In any case, this situation works to our advantage. Since Xiao Changyuan has lost his memory, our plan for revenge will be even easier. The key is that young girl named Yun Pianpian, what exactly is her background.”
Zhou Qiren replied, “I don't know, but Xiao Changyuan seems to trust her deeply.”
A sinister smile spread across Chen Fashan's face.
“This is interesting.”
“Your Majesty, you mean…”
Chen Fashan looked at Zhou Qiren and said in a sinister tone, “Xiao Changyuan trusts her, but she is deceiving him. We can take advantage of that trust, use her hands to carry out a murder by proxy.”
Zhou Qiren frowned slightly. Xiao Changyuan had saved his life that day, which counted as a favor.
But he didn't dare to defy Chen Fashan's intentions.
“Your Majesty is wise.”
Late at night, when all was quiet, Yun Pianpian finished washing up and naturally climbed into bed.
Xiao Changyuan extinguished the lamp and lay down on the bed fully clothed.
In the darkness, for some reason, Xiao Changyuan suddenly brought up the day’s events with Yun Pianpian.
“Wife, when you saw the tiger today, why didn’t you run?”
Yun Pianpian was taken aback and confessed honestly, “I was so scared I forgot to run.”
Xiao Changyuan frowned. “Even rabbits know to run, but you didn’t. You’re not even as good as a rabbit.”
The two rabbits had fled the moment the tiger appeared.
If he hadn’t insisted on going up the mountain with her today, she would have likely been torn to shreds by the tiger.
At this thought, a nameless anger stirred in Xiao Changyuan’s heart. Even he himself didn’t know what he was angry about.
Yun Pianpian muttered discontentedly under her breath, “How am I not as good as a rabbit…”
Xiao Changyuan remained silent.
Yun Pianpian thought for a moment, then quickly curved her lips into a smile and said sweetly, “I have much better judgment than rabbits. I chose such a brave and capable husband to protect me and provide for me. How can those silly rabbits compare to me?”
The room was quiet, with only the chirping of insects outside.
Xiao Changyuan still said nothing.
Yun Pianpian asked in confusion, “Husband, are you asleep?”
She stretched out her hand in the darkness and waved it in front of his handsome face.
There was no response…Did he fall asleep that quickly?
Yun Pianpian said indignantly, “You say I’m dumber than a rabbit, but I think you fall asleep faster than a pig!”
With that, Yun Pianpian huffily fell asleep.
Hearing her breathing gradually even out, Xiao Changyuan suddenly opened his deep, distant eyes in the darkness.
By the faint moonlight, Xiao Changyuan turned his head and saw Yun Pianpian’s innocent, carefree sleeping face.
He cursed under his breath, “You’re the one who falls asleep faster than a pig.”
In the darkness, only the moonlight witnessed it.
The faint redness of his earlobes, hidden in the darkness and silence.