Chapter 89: "Speak, Don’t Ignore Me.

Chapter 89: Chapter 89: "Speak, Don’t Ignore Me.

"I won’t let go," Xie Jinbai said, pinning her struggling leg. His arms tightened around her as he smiled and asked, "Why don’t you tell me? Are you this sarcastic and impatient with him, too?"

"Or are you only like this with me?"

"You dared to hold his hand, fingers intertwined, right in front of me. What else have you done behind my back?"

"You went to his courtyard and spent four hours alone with him. You let him into your room. On those occasions, did you let him hold you like this?"

"Or was it even more intimate?"

"And now, you’re going to let him escort your mother to her burial, all while playing the part of your fiancé."

The journey there and back, plus the time for the funeral, would take a few months at least.

For months, they would see each other constantly, spending every day together.

’He’d have to be insane to let her go!’

"Hm? Say something!"

Xie Jinbai reached out and lifted the chin of the person in his arms. He looked down at her by the faint candlelight, the pad of his thumb stroking her tightly sealed lips.

’Such beautiful lips. They used to say so many sweet things.’

’Now, she couldn’t even be bothered to speak to him.’

Even when his sanity was on the verge of collapsing.

She still remained silent.

Xie Jinbai didn’t understand how it had come to this.

He slowly leaned down, his cool breath drawing near. Cui Lingyao turned her face away.

His kiss met empty air.

Xie Jinbai’s expression froze for an instant. He parted his lips. "Say something. Don’t ignore me."

"Say what?"

’What kind of nonsense was he asking? It’d be a miracle if I wanted to answer him!’

Cui Lingyao snapped, "Think whatever you want."

’She’s finally talking to me.’

The turbulent frustration in Xie Jinbai’s chest instantly subsided, and his tense body relaxed.

He buried his head in the crook of her neck, his voice muffled. "Don’t say things just to make me angry. I’ll take them seriously."

She was too cold to him.

So cold that he had to suspect she’d truly had a change of heart and fallen for someone else.

Even though he kept telling himself that her feelings for Shen Tingyu were not romantic, he couldn’t help but let his imagination run wild.

With his head buried in the crook of her neck, the once impossibly arrogant man now looked so fragile.

Utterly vulnerable.

In the time it took to exchange a few sentences, she found her back pressed against the daybed without even realizing it.

She was pinned firmly beneath him.

They were conversing in a position so precarious a single spark could set off a blaze.

’Remembering Shen Tingyu’s warning, Cui Lingyao even suspected he was doing it on purpose.’

Just like that day at the Duke Zhao Mansion, where he’d exhausted countless schemes—stooping to ploys of weakness and conciliation without any care for his pride—all to make her admit her true identity.

’And yet, he seemed so genuinely... emotionally exposed.’

He completely lacked his usual composed and enigmatic aloofness.

He was like a young beast that had deliberately torn open its own tough hide, laying its inner self bare just for her.

Cui Lingyao was running out of ways to deal with him.

She wasn’t afraid of his anger or his ruthlessness.

What she couldn’t stand, however, was this vulnerability.

After a moment of silence, Cui Lingyao calmed down and said, "I will definitely break off the engagement with Shen Tingyu. If you love me, you should trust me, not be so suspicious."

Having finally coaxed a gentle word from her, Xie Jinbai wasn’t the least bit angry at being called suspicious.

He held her carefully and whispered, "It’s not that I don’t trust you; I don’t trust Shen Tingyu. He has designs on you. He puts on such a sanctimonious front, and while he may look the part of a gentleman, that’s exactly the kind of act young women fall for. I’m afraid if you spend too much time with him, he’ll coax you over to his side."

’And being won over doesn’t necessarily mean falling in love.’

’Guilt is an emotion, too.’

’And sometimes, it’s an even heavier burden than love.’

’What if that bastard uses the engagement to his advantage, learns this trick of feigning weakness, and makes her feel too guilty to break things off? What would I do then?’

He had to be on guard.

Cui Lingyao almost laughed out of sheer anger. It was incredible, the kind of slanderous things he could come up with.

’First "looks the part of a gentleman," then "sanctimonious."’

And the worst part was, she couldn’t even defend Shen Tingyu, or else Xie Jinbai would likely explode on the spot.

She took a deep breath, trying to reason with him. "Then what do you suggest? Shen Tingyu is my fiancé. It’s perfectly natural for our elders to arrange for us to return to my hometown for the burial. Are you saying you want me—a girl who has just lost her mother—to run off and demand we break the engagement? And what reason should I give? That I no longer like the cousin I’ve pursued for three years because I’ve fallen in love with you instead? And that I demand the Shen Family send someone else, or you’ll be upset?"

Xie Jinbai froze. He stared at her, his eyes brightening, obviously finding her proposal quite agreeable.

A surge of fury shot straight to her head. Cui Lingyao erupted, "You really want me to do that? This body’s reputation is already bad enough. Do you want me to be branded as fickle and a vain social climber, too?"

"No! Of course I’d consider your reputation,"

Xie Jinbai didn’t dare admit it. He quickly backpedaled, "Then what if I go to Pingzhou with you two? After traveling together for a few months, it wouldn’t seem so abrupt if you proposed to end the engagement when you get back to the capital."

’That’s actually a good idea.’

’When the time comes to call it off, I’ll just have to say I’ve always seen Shen Tingyu as a brother and simply mistook that affection for romantic love.’

’With a respectable-sounding excuse, my reputation wouldn’t be too tarnished.’

Cui Lingyao’s gaze fell to his chest as she asked, "With those injuries, can you handle a long journey?"

It was so rare to hear a word of concern from her. A scorching heat filled Xie Jinbai’s chest, and his eyes nearly welled up.

"It hurts a lot, but I can bear it. I won’t slow you down."

He once again buried his head in the crook of her neck and asked in a hoarse voice, "...Do you want to see?"

"..." Cui Lingyao was so stunned she was speechless.

It was difficult to find the words to describe how she was feeling.

She had seen him play the victim plenty of times over the past few days, but she was still shaken.

’Gods, damn it.’

’What was the difference between this act of his and a tiger trying to be cuddly with her?’

’Where on earth did he learn to do this?’

A strange silence filled the air.

The head nestled in the crook of her neck shifted. Xie Jinbai propped himself up halfway to look at her, pressing his lips against her cheek as he whispered his question again, "So, are you going to look?"

"..." Cui Lingyao closed her eyes, unable to resist making a pointed comment. "You’ve really changed. You were never like this before."

"Like what?"

"Like this," Cui Lingyao said, reaching out to ruffle his hair. "You never allowed yourself to have a vulnerable side, and you certainly never appeared before me in such a... humble position."

’Humble position.’

Xie Jinbai’s gaze flickered, and he said, a little defensively, "What else am I supposed to do?"

’He was the one in the wrong. There was no shame in being a little more humble to win his woman back.’

"Besides, when have I ever put on airs in front of you?"

’When it came to her, he might not have been completely subservient from the start, but he had always been absolutely considerate of her in everything.’

Cui Lingyao frowned. "That’s not what I mean!"

What she meant was that he was being deliberate.

’He was deliberately playing this vulnerability card, trying to arouse her...’

Xie Jinbai tilted his head, his lips pressing against her ear, and whispered, "It really does hurt. You’ll know if you look."

A man so used to being dominant, now constantly feigning weakness.

Cui Lingyao was truly having a hard time resisting him.

Besides, his injuries were system-certified; if she didn’t intervene, he would die.