Madam Yu frowned immediately upon hearing this and said, "What brings on such a remark out of the blue? With our family's status and position, marrying a girl from Chang'an Alley would be a laughingstock."
Yu Changxuan replied indifferently, "If both parties are willing, how could it be a laughingstock? Perhaps she might not even fancy me."
As soon as he finished speaking, Yu Zhongquan, who had been silent for a long time, looked up at Yu Changxuan and said only, "Marriage is no trivial matter. There's no need to speak of such irrelevant things in the future."
Seeing that his father had spoken, Yu Changxuan lowered his head and said nothing more, merely setting down his chopsticks. Noticing that he had stopped eating, Madam Yu asked, "What's the matter? You've only taken a few bites." Yu Changxuan rinsed his mouth with the cup a maid handed him before smiling and saying, "I wasn't hungry to begin with. A couple of bites are enough."
Yu Changxuan then rose and went to the flower hall, where a floor lamp with a green silk shade was lit. He sat alone on a green velvet sofa, casually taking a cigarette from the case and placing it between his lips. He pulled a slender stick from the Foreign Fire box and struck it against the phosphorous surface—it didn't light. He struck again, but it missed once more. His aide-de-camp, seeing this, quickly struck one of his own Foreign Fire sticks and, cupping the flame, brought it over to Yu Changxuan. However, Yu Changxuan had lost the mood to smoke and waved him away. The aide-de-camp retreated, and Yu Changxuan was left biting the unlit cigarette, gazing off in one direction.
Around the sofa were clusters of potted plants that Madam Yu usually tended to, among them a White jade hairpin flower in full bloom. Its slender, delicate blossoms appeared pure and elegant. Unconsciously, Yu Changxuan reached out and gently touched a petal, causing it to tremble lightly in his palm. With just a slight movement of his finger, the pristine flower fell silently into his hand, making his palm tingle with a faint itch.
His heart suddenly skipped a beat!
He was always thinking of her. Even though he knew it was impossible, he couldn't help it—she haunted his thoughts like a lingering dream, her smiling face filling his mind. Her figure was the most beautiful sight under the moonlight, her moon-white skirt sweeping through the night like pear blossoms covering the branches.
The moonlight poured down, frosty and silver, as if quicksilver had been spilled across the ground, making the street gleam like a mirror. Pingjun, having just attended a classmate's birthday party, hailed a rickshaw to go home. After paying the rickshaw puller upon arrival, she turned to push open the gate to the courtyard when she noticed something glinting under the jujube tree in the moonlight. She walked over to take a closer look and found the second Jade Hairpin that Jiang Xueting had given her, wedged in a crack in the stone, broken into two pieces. Bending down, she picked up the broken hairpin, her lips pursed slightly, feeling a pang of discomfort. Suddenly, a polite and respectful voice came from the shadows, "Miss Ye."
Startled, Pingjun turned around in a fluster to see a tall man addressing her deferentially, "Miss Ye, I am Wu Zuoxiao, Fifth Master's aide-de-camp. Our Fifth Master requests your presence."Pingjun’s expression changed instantly upon hearing those words. She turned to push open the courtyard gate, but Wu Zuoxiao’s soft, smiling voice came from behind her: “Take your time, Miss Ye. It’s so late now—disturbing Madam Ye would be inappropriate, and our Fifth Master would feel sorry about it.”
Pingjun’s hand paused on the door panel. Resentfully, she said, “Are you forcing me?”
Wu Zuoxiao smiled with extreme politeness. “Miss Ye, you exaggerate. Fifth Master specifically instructed us to invite you over with the utmost courtesy. If we dared to bully you, I’m afraid Fifth Master would never let us off!”
Pingjun turned her head. Wu Zuoxiao, still smiling, raised his arm and gestured toward the end of the alley. Following his direction, she saw a car parked in the moonlit clearing, surrounded by several plainly dressed attendants, all silent and indifferent in demeanor.
Wu Zuoxiao personally opened the car door for Pingjun. No sooner had she sat inside than the door slammed shut with a bang—like a sudden gunshot, startlingly loud in the quiet night. He sat in the car, turning to look at her, his face covered with a frost-like coldness. Anger and resentment burned in her, flushing her cheeks crimson. She demanded, “What exactly do you want?”
Yu Changxuan gazed at her and said slowly, “If I could give you everything you desire, would you be willing to stay with me?”
Pingjun was taken aback at first. Meeting his intense gaze, her heart fluttered in panic. Instinctively, she retorted, “My boyfriend and I are about to get married!”
His expression abruptly darkened, his eyes fixed fiercely on Ye Pingjun as sudden rage surged within him. “Don’t think I can’t live without you!”
She shot back without hesitation, “I’ve never thought that!”
Stunned into silence by her retort, the fury in his eyes flared up like two sudden flames. Pingjun’s heart skipped a beat as he leaned forward, grabbing her and pulling her forcefully into his embrace. Terrified, Ye Pingjun lifted her head. His eyes shone like lightning, his voice pressing and aggressive: “Ye Pingjun, listen carefully. I, Yu Changxuan, will not marry you, but I must have you!”
She stared into his dark pupils, her gaze sharp and clear. He looked fixedly at her, his heart racing, his breath quickening. For a moment, he seemed dazed, as if uncertain what to do with her. Growing frightened under his stare and their close proximity—so near they could feel each other’s breath—she cried out in alarm, “You’re bullying me!”
His anger unabated, he snapped, “Don’t think I have a tolerant temper, not when you keep acting like this again and again!”
Infuriated by his unreasonable behavior, it took her a long moment to speak. “Yu Changxuan, who’s the one acting again and again?! What right do you have to warn me like this? ‘Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire’—do you even understand that?!”
Once again, she had rebutted him. His dark eyes turned cold with indignation as he exclaimed, “Stop being so sharp-tongued! I don’t care about any ‘desire’ or not—I only know you’re constantly drifting in and out of my thoughts, driving me almost to…”Before he could finish his words, her face turned pale as she struggled to break free from his embrace, but he stubbornly refused to let go. Pingjun pressed her hands firmly against his chest, but it was already too late. He stared blankly at her rosy lips and suddenly recalled a peach he had eaten as a child—the tip of the peach had the same faint blush. He had carefully sucked on it, and the sweet juice had spread between his lips and teeth...
He heard her let out a panicked whimper, but he could no longer restrain himself and captured her lips in a kiss. Her lips were soft and moist, igniting a fire within him that made him want to seize everything she had, plundering recklessly and without restraint. In that wild, almost frantic kiss, he suddenly felt a sharp pain on his lips, and the taste of blood, metallic and sweet, spread across his tongue.
She had bitten him!
He finally lifted his head but still held her tightly. Her eyes were filled with rage, hating his unreasonable behavior. She raised her hand to slap him, but her palm froze just inches from his cheek. He stared at her, and she glared back with hatred. Yet, she feared provoking him further, thinking it better to swallow her anger and retreat unscathed.
Ye Pingjun suppressed her fury and said coldly, "Let me go!"
As she tried to pull back, a sharp pain shot through her shoulder—he had forced her onto the back seat. Her head hit the chair, bringing tears to her eyes from the pain. He reached out and gripped her chin, gritting his teeth as he spat out her name: "Ye Pingjun!" She was horrified to see a dark flame flickering in his pitch-black pupils, his heated breath dispersing in the air that seemed to burn around them. He said bitterly, "You’ve thrown me into such turmoil—don’t think you’ll get away unscathed."
Using passion to threaten passion, gathering tears of longing.
Her eyes flashed with fury. "Yu Changxuan, you’re despicable and shameless!"
He sneered, "Since that’s the case, I might as well show you just how much more despicable and shameless I can be!"
He lowered his head and seized her lips again, kissing her deeply with a fervor like a branding iron, almost suffocating her breath. She whimpered desperately, like a drowning person trapped and struggling, pushing against him with all her might. He, in turn, seemed as if he wanted to crush her entirely. In that intoxicating sensation, he was the first to lose himself, unable to resist sinking into her tenderness. With near savagery, he tore open her collar, sending buttons scattering and rolling into the crevices of the car seat. The scarf around her neck fluttered down, and he greedily sought more... and more...
Just then, a sudden, sharp pain shot through his shoulder!
Frowning, Yu Changxuan pulled back and looked at his left shoulder, where bright red blood was gushing out. He turned his head and saw Ye Pingjun holding a plain white broken hairpin pointed at him—its tip now stained crimson with his blood!
Ye Pingjun bit her lip tightly, refusing to speak. Her hair was disheveled, her face as pale as snow. He clutched his shoulder, but the blood continued to flow uncontrollably through his fingers. Seeing her defensive stance, Yu Changxuan let out a cold laugh. "Do you really think this hairpin can kill me?!"His tone was so contemptuous and brazen that Ye Pingjun didn’t utter a word. Swiftly, she flipped the hairpin, raised her head, and aimed its sharp end directly at her own throat. Yu Changxuan hadn’t expected her to be so resolute. He froze mid-motion and blurted out, “How dare you?!”
Ye Pingjun’s clear eyes shone with a piercing light, radiating a chilling determination that would rather shatter like jade than remain intact as a mere tile. Her breathing was tense and rapid, her fingers gripping the broken hairpin tightly. Her voice was as cold as ice and snow.
“I dare!”
Outside the window, the wind howled. The leaves of the trumpet creeper at Maple Terrace climbed halfway up the wall, their vibrant, eye-catching blossoms trembling gently in the breeze, casting a faint, winding floral shadow on the windowpane. As adjutant Wu Zuoxiao entered the warm chamber outside the bedroom, he overheard the elderly Dr. Dai muttering, “What do you mean, a knife wound? This is clearly a puncture, almost reaching the bone. Fifth Master, which woman did you fall into the hands of?”
Dr. Dai was sprinkling medicine onto Yu Changxuan’s shoulder while a nurse beside him cut gauze. With a slap, Dr. Dai pressed the ointment onto Yu Changxuan’s wound, causing him to jolt in pain, his brows furrowing tightly. “Uncle Dai, can’t you be gentler? If you use any more force, you’ll dislocate my arm!”
Dr. Dai was a seasoned old physician who had practically watched Yu Changxuan grow up. After applying the medicine, he glared at Yu Changxuan and said, “Back in the day, your father took a bullet to the shoulder. Without any anesthesia, he gritted his teeth and let me dig the bullet out with a knife. What’s this compared to that? If you’re a man of the Yu family, don’t you dare complain about the pain!”
Yu Changxuan, still grinning cheekily, retorted, “Uncle Dai, men of the Yu family are human too! I wasn’t born from a crack in a rock, blessed with impenetrable skin and iron bones!” Dr. Dai, exasperated by his lack of seriousness, picked up a pair of forceps and made to hit Yu Changxuan on the head. Yu Changxuan dodged with a tilt of his head, still laughing. Dr. Dai picked up his medical kit, motioned for the nurse to follow, and grumbled as he walked out, “Don’t let the wound get wet. I’ll come check on you again tomorrow.”
As Yu Changxuan watched Dr. Dai leave, he noticed his trusted adjutant Wu Zuoxiao still standing there and asked, “What are you doing up here, kid?”
Wu Zuoxiao immediately snapped to attention and saluted, speaking with utmost seriousness, “Reporting, sir! The brothers sent me to ask Fifth Master: since you’ve been wounded, it shows how fierce the battle was and how hard you fought. So… did you succeed or not?”
Without another word, Yu Changxuan grabbed a patterned bowl from the stand with his right hand and hurled it at Wu Zuoxiao. Wu Zuoxiao, having anticipated this move, chuckled and dodged outside, pulling the door shut. The bowl crashed loudly against the door. Undeterred, Wu Zuoxiao pushed the door open again and said, “Fifth Master, with such a temper, I take it you didn’t succeed, did you?”
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