Author’s Note: Thank you all, and as I’ve said before, any comment is useful to me. Though the overall direction won’t change, I’ve adjusted many dialogues based on your feedback. Thank you everyone.

A’Ru stood in the courtyard. The sky had already darkened, with stars dotting the heavens like precious gems.

She remembered that year in early summer, the day of the Prince’s wedding to the young madam. The courtyard was hung full of red lanterns, casting everyone in a layer of red gauze.

Looking at the courtyard now, there were only those two red lanterns, and they were old ones at that, without a hint of festive cheer. Should she go find some red lanterns to hang…

This bridal chamber had been waiting too long, and moreover…

A night breeze swept through, making A’Ru involuntarily shiver…

And moreover, the one who was waiting could wait no longer…

Now this one…

A’Ru suddenly came to her senses, turned around, and ran back.

Qi Yue was almost crushed to death. She pounded this man’s body with her hands, touching bare skin wherever she struck.

Chang Yuncheng’s hands had already begun tearing at Qi Yue’s clothes. The person beneath him thrashed like a fish, which only added to the excitement. A fine layer of sweat appeared on his forehead, and what had originally been reluctant duty began to excite him.

Qi Yue had raised both hands high above her head, making Chang Yuncheng feel the fullness at her chest even more abundantly. His hands naturally sought there, and the next moment came excruciating pain in both ears…

The advantage of being a doctor was knowing the weak points of the human body…

Qi Yue pushed the man off her, quickly jumped to the ground in two or three moves, nearly tripping over the blanket that had fallen to the floor. In any case, she stood up rather disheveled.

“You crazy woman, what’s gotten into you!” Chang Yuncheng cursed angrily, holding his ears. He could barely hear his own voice, only a buzzing tinnitus.

Had he been deafened by a woman’s blow?

“I’m crazy? You’re the one who’s crazy!” Qi Yue was filled with rage. She looked around frantically and grabbed a nearby stool, raising it to smash at him.

Chang Yuncheng raised his hands to block, fortunately being skilled in martial arts, catching it precisely and steadily. Otherwise, even if it wouldn’t break anything, it would certainly add some pain.

“Isn’t this what you wanted!” He was also angry now, shouting as he snatched the stool away and threw it to the ground with a crash.

The stool split apart on the ground with a loud crack.

“What my mother wanted!” Qi Yue cursed. “Who the hell wants to sleep with you! Don’t you know your own worth!”

Chang Yuncheng was so angry he was tongue-tied. He couldn’t help but look down at himself.

Was he that bad?

Qi Yue was still in a frenzied state.

“Want to sleep with me! Want to sleep with me! Damn it, forget that we’re enemies now – even if we weren’t, it wouldn’t be that easy!” She circled around the room and grabbed another weapon for self-defense. This time she didn’t aim it at Chang Yuncheng, but at herself.

Chang Yuncheng watched her, his expression dark and his brow slightly furrowed. He didn’t understand most of Qi Yue’s string of words, but he understood one thing.

“If you dare assault me again, I’ll die right here for you to see. You can take a corpse back to report!” Qi Yue pointed the silver hairpin at her throat.

Chang Yuncheng looked at her with an inquiring gaze.

“What are you looking at? Put on your clothes! You exhibitionist!” Qi Yue glared at him, then quickly squinted her eyes shut.

This naked male body displayed before her was really too stimulating…

Chang Yuncheng suddenly laughed heartily. Not only did he not put on clothes, he actually lay down on the bed.

“If I put on clothes, I can leave, right?” he asked.

“Chang Yuncheng, face reality – who’s asking whom here?” Qi Yue said angrily.

“I’m asking you,” Chang Yuncheng answered readily. “If you’re not leaving, then let’s go to bed early.”

Qi Yue turned and walked away, reaching out to slam open the inner door.

A’Ru in the outer room was so startled she immediately jumped away like a rabbit.

“A’Ru, you run pretty fast!” Qi Yue called out.

At this point, Chang Yuncheng, hearing the door open and Qi Yue calling for A’Ru, reached down to pick up clothes from the floor and put them on.

When he came out, Qi Yue had already caught A’Ru.

“You’re so disloyal, this is abandoning me to die…” she grabbed A’Ru and said resentfully in a low voice.

A’Ru looked apologetic as she made amends, while also pointing toward the door to signal her to keep her voice down.

Chang Yuncheng stood there, his outer robe draped loosely without tying the sash, fluttering freely, his solid chest visible beneath.

“Qi Yueniang,” he called. “Come here.”

Qi Yue snorted.

“You want me to come, so I come? I’m not coming,” she said.

Chang Yuncheng laughed loudly and strode down.

“Hey, don’t come over here. If you provoke me again, I’ll die here rather than go back with you.” Qi Yue hid behind A’Ru.

“Lord, the young madam is… she’s still ill… Please… please be patient…” A’Ru said with an apologetic smile and panic, blocking in front of Qi Yue.

“Qi Yueniang, come here. Let’s discuss how to cure your illness.” Chang Yuncheng smiled as he strode over, reached behind A’Ru to grab Qi Yue and pull her out, then turned to leave.

Qi Yue was dragged by the arm, stumbling to keep up.

“Bring up some more hot dumplings,” Chang Yuncheng said.

A’Ru was slow to react before hurriedly responding yes.

“In any case, what happened before – I was wrong and you were wrong too…” Chang Yuncheng said.

Qi Yue glared at him.

“Let’s not talk about the past.” Chang Yuncheng raised his hand to stop her from speaking, popped an entire dumpling in his mouth, chewed and swallowed it quickly. “I guarantee there won’t be any burning bridges after crossing the river in the future.”

Qi Yue paused her chopsticks, picked up a dumpling and ate it.

“Where’s my wine?” She looked at the empty wine cup on her side of the table.

A’Ru hesitated for a moment.

“Young madam, you’d better not drink wine…” she said quietly.

Chang Yuncheng reached out his hand.

A’Ru didn’t dare disobey and handed him the wine pot.

Chang Yuncheng reached across the table to pour wine for her.

“Please,” he said.

Qi Yue nodded.

“Now this attitude is like someone asking for help,” she said, lifting the wine cup to take a small sip, then picking up her chopsticks to eat dumplings elegantly. “But you know, once bitten by a snake…”

“A gentleman’s word is his bond,” Chang Yuncheng said.

“Oh, a gentleman?” Qi Yue looked at him with a half-smile.

“Last time I never said I wouldn’t burn bridges after crossing the river.” Chang Yuncheng lifted his wine cup and drained it, then refilled it himself, saying with a smile.

It seemed he hadn’t… Qi Yue thought back, but wasn’t that what should have happened?

“Should have happened?” Chang Yuncheng scoffed. “There are many things in this world that should happen.”

“Then there are also countless oaths spoken in this world.” Qi Yue also scoffed, lifting her wine cup and draining it.

Were they useful? No… What should be forgotten would naturally be forgotten, what should change would still change.

Qi Yue sighed and raised her head to lift her wine cup toward him.

Chang Yuncheng reached out to pour another cup for her and filled his own as well.

“Remember what you said.” Qi Yue said, raising her wine cup. “Actually, what I want is very simple – just respect.”

Respect, a woman wanting respect…

Chang Yuncheng smiled.

Qi Yue immediately pulled a long face and put down her wine cup.

Chang Yuncheng quickly stood up, leaned over to pick up the wine cup and bring it to her lips.

“Fine, I’ll remember,” he said, clinking his wine cup against Qi Yue’s and draining it.

Only then did Qi Yue reach out to take the cup he’d brought to her lips and drink it.

“Good.” She put down the wine cup, ate another dumpling, and set down her chopsticks. “It’s getting late, time to rest.”

She paused and quickly added:

“You’re not allowed to sleep here. Go find somewhere else,” she said with some wariness.

Chang Yuncheng stood up, looking at the obvious guardedness in this woman’s eyes, and couldn’t help feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

This was the first time he’d seen such an expression toward himself on a woman’s face…

After noticing that uncomfortable feeling in his heart, he sneered coldly again. This woman was indeed playing these hard-to-get tricks – who knows who taught her, but they were quite effective…

“Don’t worry, there are plenty of women waiting for me to sleep with them,” he said.

“Wait.” Qi Yue looked at him and said, “You’ve already forgotten what you said so quickly?”

Chang Yuncheng frowned. Would this woman never be done? What was she being neurotic about now…

“Speak simply and directly,” he said, suppressing some impatience.

“I’m your wife, I’m at home, and you’re going to sleep with other women? How does that make me look?” Qi Yue said. “Is that called respect?”

Though it didn’t matter to her how many women this man had, the key was that she was living in this household after all, and was still nominally his wife. The more women there were, the worse the situation became for this wife. She’d read novels about those concubines and secondary wives causing trouble. She didn’t want to invite unnecessary troubles and preferred to live quietly and peacefully before leaving. As for after she left, this man could have as many women as he wanted – that would be none of her business.

What was all this about…

Chang Yuncheng frowned.

“Only sleep with you?” he said.

Only after saying it did he realize they’d been communicating about “sleeping” this and “sleeping” that, like men talking to each other. For women, wasn’t this kind of thing difficult to speak of?

A’Ru stood to the side, her face red as a cooked shrimp, wishing she could burrow underground.

“Watch your language,” Qi Yue frowned. “Respect.”

“Who needs to watch their language?” Chang Yuncheng stood up, somewhat amused and exasperated. “You’re a woman, what kind of talk is that!”

“Who told you to say it first?” Qi Yue also realized this, touching her nose somewhat embarrassedly, but the important matter still needed to be settled in advance.

“It’s not about only sleeping with me – if you want to do that with me… it won’t be so easy.” She hurried to say. “You apologized, I forgive you, but that’s only about being thrown out. Between us, we can’t be considered that close, at least not close enough to… close enough to do that.”

Chang Yuncheng looked at her, for the first time finding himself speechless.

“Don’t worry, I’ll definitely wait until you beg me before… before doing that…” he said.

“That’s wonderful, you just wait then.” Qi Yue said with a smile, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

“Go, go.” Chang Yuncheng really couldn’t look at her anymore, waving his sleeve and saying.

“Safe travels.” Qi Yue cheerfully saw him off from behind.

Chang Yuncheng took a deep breath, turned around, and came back in a few steps to grab her wrist.

“What? What are you doing?” Qi Yue was startled, the earlier crisis of nearly losing her virtue had been too frightening.

“Going home.” Chang Yuncheng roared.

This made Qi Yue laugh.

“Who said I was going home?” She grabbed the table with one hand and said, “I think it’s quite nice living here. I’ll stay a few more days before deciding.”

Chang Yuncheng looked at her.

“You mean everything I just said was pointless?” he asked, veins bulging visibly on his face.

“How could that be?” Qi Yue looked innocent. “I don’t like to lie, and moreover, I keep my word. One matter is one matter – your apology and whether I go back are two different things.”

This sounded somewhat familiar.

Chang Yuncheng looked at Qi Yue, then suddenly said nothing and hoisted her up over his shoulder.

Qi Yue hadn’t expected this man to do such a thing. Finding herself upside down, she couldn’t help but scream.

“Say a few nice words and you really think you can do whatever you want!” Chang Yuncheng sneered. “Whether you go or stay, you think you get to decide!”

Accompanied by Qi Yue’s screams and curses, Chang Yuncheng steadily carried her on his shoulder and strode out.