The tightly closed door creaked open.

Ji Yingying looked toward the entrance to see Zhao Xiuyuan.

He leaned against the doorframe with one hand, his head slightly tilted as he gazed at her with wine-induced languor. The night was clear and bright. Moonlight fell across his face, allowing Ji Yingying to see the smile playing on his lips.

He was smiling at the sight of her in such a wretched state.

This was a Zhao Xiuyuan she didn’t know. In her memory, he had been gentle and harmless, refined and courteous. When rushing to console her, he would even appear somewhat awkward and simple, making her unable to bear teasing him further.

Yes, it seemed she had always been the one teasing him. Playing coy, throwing little tantrums. Being quickly placated by his consoling, magnanimously forgiving him.

How foolish she had been. How could the legitimate eldest son of the Zhao family’s main branch, the future head of the Zhao clan, possibly be the ordinary scholar she had imagined Zhao Xiuyuan to be?

“Young Master,” the two maids guarding her bowed to Zhao Xiuyuan. He waved his hand. The two maids lowered their heads and withdrew. He walked in slowly, all the way to the window, and with both hands, pushed it open. He spread his arms, his wide sleeves billowing in the night breeze. His voice was slightly floating, as if talking to himself: “Yingying, that day I stood at the window of the living room, thinking of you. I looked at your embroidery room and thought, if you were thinking of me too, let me catch a glimpse of you. The window of your embroidery room really did open, and though I couldn’t see your face clearly, I knew it must be you. I was so happy, wishing you were right in front of me so I could hold you.”

He turned around, walking toward her step by step, as if he couldn’t see her disheveled hair, her bound hands, her gagged mouth, her body thrown onto the couch: “I missed you so much it hurt. You’re so stubborn, I had no choice but to find my way to keep you by my side.”

Ji Yingying was terrified and began to struggle. The servants had bound her hands tightly; every movement sent sharp pain through her wrists. She lay helplessly on the couch, tears unconsciously streaming from her eyes.

Zhao Xiuyuan sat beside her. Ji Yingying instinctively kicked her legs, trying to shrink away from him. His palm cupped her face.

With nowhere to retreat, Ji Yingying could only glare at him desperately.

Zhao Xiuyuan reached out to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her head, shaking his head slightly: “Yingying, if you were more docile, Mother wouldn’t have had to bind you.”

All her anger transformed into a whimper. This earned a soft laugh from Zhao Xiuyuan.

He pulled out the handkerchief stuffed in her mouth, and Ji Yingying immediately spat at him: “What are you trying to do? Zhao Xiuyuan, release me at once!”

“You think you can still threaten me?” Zhao Xiuyuan shook his head, finding Ji Yingying’s naivety adorably foolish.

“How dare your family—”

“How dare we abduct a commoner girl, imprison a respectable young lady, is that what you were going to say? Hehe!” Zhao Xiuyuan couldn’t help but laugh. He stared at Ji Yingying and said deliberately, “You came to the Zhao residence to congratulate me on my wedding, asking my servant to relay a message. Out of consideration for our childhood friendship, I came to the Vine Garden to reject you. Who knew you were just coveting the Zhao family’s wealth and status, taking advantage of my drunkenness today to seduce me, climbing into my bed? Tell me, how should we deal with you? Should we hand you over to my new bride for revenge, to beat you to death? Or should we bind you and send you to the authorities, accusing your mother of poor parenting?”

Ji Yingying nearly fainted with rage. She shouted, “Zhao Xiuyuan, stop spouting nonsense! Do you think the Zhao family can control everything, let you twist right and wrong as you please?”

She had poured her heart into weaving brocade and matching colors for him, competing for the Brocade Crown. They had grown up together, once sworn eternal love and marriage vows. How could he treat her like this?

“All the guests saw your brother happily drink himself drunk. They saw your mother take him home properly. If I had bound and imprisoned you in the residence, could your mother and brother have gone home so quietly?” Zhao Xiuyuan affectionately pinched her cheek. “You little fool.”

Ji Yingying jerked her face away forcefully, her heart turning cold. Neither she nor her mother had anticipated the Zhao family’s despicable behavior. Her mother, seeing the Zhao family’s numbers, knew she couldn’t escape with her. She thought that if they could raise the money tomorrow, the Zhao family would have no excuse to keep her. She thought the Zhao family would at most detain her, not do anything to her. Who knew the Zhao family’s plans were so thorough, even accounting for the guests’ testimonies?

She could hardly believe the man before her was the one she had once loved deeply: “Why have you become like this? Have you been deceiving me all along? Why?”

Ji Yingying was asking Zhao Xiuyuan, but also asking herself. What did she have? A young lady from a small dye shop—what made her worth his years of pretense?

“My feelings for you were genuine.”

“I truly wanted to marry you.”

He was sincere. The time spent with her had been wonderful. He loved how she was like a mountain bird, lively and spirited. He loved discussing with her what threads would weave the most beautiful brocade. Until that day, when he knelt in his grandfather’s courtyard for an entire day. His grandfather called him into the study.

Twenty-six years. He had never known that the Zhao family had replicated every brocade for which the Yang family had won the Brocade Crown. Fifty-two pieces of brocade hung in the study’s secret chamber. Half were Yang family brocades, half were the Zhao family’s competing works.

Before eighteen, he had never woven competing brocade. Standing before those pieces, the fifty-two brocades were like a long river, laying twenty-six years of history before him.

His grandfather asked him: “Do you see it?”

With his current expertise, Zhao Xiuyuan saw it. Saw the Brocade Crowns the Zhao family had missed.

“The competition for brocade. It’s not just about the clothes. It’s about power.”

His grandfather’s words struck him awake. Compared to being king of the brocade industry, compared to the family’s revival, love’s weight was as light as dust.

So he hated it even more. Hated that he had fallen in love with a woman as lowly as dust, and she had betrayed him.

“Do you know how important this year’s Brocade Crown is to the Zhao family? Do you know how important it is to me? But you didn’t care at all, so easily letting Yang Jingyuan get that brocade handkerchief. Letting the Yang family learn the color-matching secret of ‘Immortals by the River.'” Zhao Xiuyuan looked at her, his tone growing increasingly agitated, “That’s all my heart was worth to you. I was sleepless with grief, heartbroken thinking you would be devastated. I didn’t even dare light a lamp to let you know I stood at this window watching you. And you? You let go so easily, flirting with Yang Jingyuan in front of me. Oh, right. Yang Jingyuan wasn’t your only target, was he? You’d throw yourself at any young master from an official or wealthy family, wouldn’t you? Relying on your talent, you wanted to climb the social ladder, didn’t you? When I wouldn’t marry you, you went around seducing others!”

Was this the man she had loved so desperately? Perhaps the only thing he had ever truly trusted about her was her skill in color matching. Ji Yingying began to laugh, laughing like an innocent child: “Everything you say is right, so what? You, Zhao Xiuyuan, only won against your cousin and earned your grandfather’s praise because of my color matching! Your Zhao family only wove the living ‘Immortals by the River’ because of my color-matching skills! There are plenty of fine men in this world, and I enjoy flirting around, I enjoy seeking better prospects. I just don’t think much of you.”

“You dare!” Zhao Xiuyuan’s neck veins bulged at her words, his eyes filling with ferocity as he suddenly lowered his head to kiss her.

Without thinking, Ji Yingying bit down hard.

Zhao Xiuyuan pushed her away in pain. He licked his lips, a faint metallic taste spreading in his mouth, and began to laugh softly: “I’ve wanted to kiss you for so long. The first time… so this is how it tastes! But what can I do? Yingying, I’ve grown used to you being mine. I won’t give you to anyone else. I’ll never let you go in this lifetime.”

He slowly removed his outer robe, sneering: “Today is a day of celebration, yours and mine.”