Shao Mingyuan had been drinking, and due to the cold poison that had accumulated in his body for years, his exhaled breath carried a kind of cool freshness like ice and snow. This icy taste mixed with strong alcohol vapors sprayed on Qiao Zhao’s face, instantly covering her cheeks with red clouds.

Being too shocked, Qiao Zhao forgot to react.

The man’s powerful arms tightly encircled the girl’s soft, slender body. His kissing was completely without technique – rather than kissing, it was more like gnawing, randomly biting at the lips of the person in his embrace as if he wanted to swallow her whole.

He kissed her while trembling all over. The wild joy of regaining what was lost left his mind completely blank, and the seemingly acquiescent, submissive attitude of the person in his arms made him lose even more reason. Without hesitation, he extended his tongue to pry open her teeth, intense and rough.

Only then did Qiao Zhao wake up as if from a dream. She suddenly pushed Shao Mingyuan backward and slapped him across the face, saying furiously, “Shao Mingyuan, are you insane!”

Outside the door, A’Zhu was frantically pacing in circles.

General Shao’s appearance just now had been very wrong, and she had also smelled alcohol. Could it be that General Shao had lost control after drinking and wanted to take advantage of their miss?

Thinking this way, A’Zhu became even more anxious, but in this situation, she didn’t dare shout for fear of attracting others and ruining her miss’s reputation.

A’Zhu hurried to knock on the neighboring door.

Qiao Zhao had brought two maids on this trip. Usually, one of them, either A’Zhu or Binglu, would sleep in the same room with her while the other slept in the adjacent room.

Today, it was A’Zhu’s turn to be on duty, so Binglu had already gone to rest.

Hearing the knocking, Binglu opened the door and grumbled: “What’s the matter?”

A’Zhu lowered her voice: “Binglu, don’t cry out when you hear this.”

Binglu nodded blankly.

When had she ever been one to cry out? She was such a composed and calm maid!

Seeing Binglu nod, A’Zhu hurriedly said: “Just now General Shao rushed into Miss’s room—”

“What?”

A’Zhu quickly covered Binglu’s mouth, feeling completely helpless.

Didn’t she just say not to cry out?

Binglu struggled to pry away A’Zhu’s hand: “What exactly happened? How were you taking care of Miss?”

She spoke while walking outside.

Inside the room, after receiving a slap, Shao Mingyuan’s eyes finally regained some clarity.

Qiao Zhao said with a cold face: “Shao Mingyuan, you’d better give me a reasonable explanation!”

He had kissed her so recklessly – did men lose all reason to dogs when they drank? No, even if he had been drinking, why did he come to kiss her?

Miss Qiao, usually calm and intelligent, had her mind in complete chaos.

Shao Mingyuan blinked, becoming more sober. His gaze fell on the girl’s slightly swollen red lips, and his head buzzed again. The string called reason that had just been restrung snapped once more.

He turned and suddenly pulled open the door. Binglu and A’Zhu both tumbled in together, while the instigator nimbly dodged to the side and just ran away.

Qiao Zhao: “…”

A’Zhu quickly closed the door again.

Binglu rushed over: “Miss, General Shao didn’t do anything to you, did he?”

Her gaze moved down to fall on Qiao Zhao’s bitten red lips, and she suddenly widened her eyes, stammering: “Miss, Miss, your lips are bleeding!”

A’Zhu’s face went pale as she immediately understood what had happened.

General Shao had truly molested their miss!

“Miss—” A’Zhu couldn’t help calling out.

Qiao Zhao’s face was red as dripping blood. She pressed her lip with her finger, and when she released it, a trace of blood remained on her fair fingertip.

Shao Mingyuan, that bastard!

Binglu’s eyes were wide as saucers: “Miss, did General Shao hit and injure you?”

The little maid was furious: “Too excessive! How could he treat Miss like this!”

Having said this, the little maid began to wonder again: “Strange, how could he have injured your mouth?”

“Binglu!” A’Zhu firmly tugged at Binglu’s sleeve.

The little maid suddenly understood something as if blessed by divine inspiration, covering her mouth: “Heavens—”

She hadn’t expected General Shao to be that kind of person!

Qiao Zhao felt she had never been so embarrassed in all her years of life. After calming down slightly, she glanced at Binglu and A’Zhu: “You must act as if today’s events never happened, understand?”

“Yes.” A’Zhu softly responded.

Binglu nodded.

After instructing the two maids, Qiao Zhao lifted her foot to walk outside.

She wanted to go ask Shao Mingyuan exactly what kind of fit he was having today.

Walking to the door, Qiao Zhao’s steps paused, and she stopped.

It would be better to ask tomorrow. He had been drinking and was not normal – what if—

Thinking of this, Qiao Zhao’s face heated up. She forcibly suppressed her shame, anger, and confusion, walked back, and lay down on the bed: “No matter who comes, don’t open the door again.”

Shao Mingyuan returned to his room, closed the door, and leaned his entire body against it, raising both hands to rub his face.

What had he just done?

As reason returned, Shao Mingyuan suddenly remembered something and rushed straight to the bed.

He grabbed the plain paper that had fallen on the bed and read its contents over and over, more than ten times, before pressing the paper against his heart and beginning to smile foolishly.

Miss Li was Qiao Zhao, his wife Qiao Zhao.

Shao Mingyuan lay down on the bed and, like a child, couldn’t help rolling over.

Li Zhao was Qiao Zhao, Qiao Zhao was Li Zhao – they were the same person!

No wonder Physician Li would treat Miss Li with special regard; no wonder the relationship between his brother-in-law and Miss Li didn’t look like newly sworn siblings to anyone with eyes; no wonder Miss Li’s handwriting was identical to his wife Qiao Zhao’s, while her handwriting from two years ago was unbearable to look at; no wonder Miss Li insisted on coming to Jia Feng to find the true culprit behind the Qiao family fire; no wonder Miss Li’s attitude toward him was strange, often getting inexplicably angry; no wonder Miss Li was so ice-snow intelligent and adorable…

The young general smiled foolishly while thinking of countless “no wonders,” finally curling up slightly, covering his face with both hands, and beginning to cry silently.

He had thought he was destined to live in hell for this lifetime – unable to resent what should be resented, unable to love what should be loved, unable to obtain what was sought, unable to let go, experiencing separation of life and death and tasting all manner of life’s bitter suffering, spending his remaining years alone, ultimately leaving not a trace in this world.

But it turned out heaven was willing to be kind to him once.

“Zhaozhao—” Shao Mingyuan uttered these two words. Wine didn’t intoxicate people, but his heart and spirit were already completely drunk.

Fearing it was a hallucination caused by drinking, he carefully examined the plain paper once more before finally feeling completely at ease.

There was no mistake, no mistake. His brother-in-law had written on the paper that Miss Li was indeed his wife Qiao Zhao without doubt.

How could she have kept it from him all along?

Thinking of this, Shao Mingyuan suddenly sat up, finally remembering what terrible thing he had done when he rushed to Qiao Zhao’s room just now.

The young general looked completely dazed.

He had forcibly kissed Zhaozhao.

Zhaozhao must think he was a shameless lecher. Would she never pay attention to him again from now on?

Fortunately, the cold poison in his body wasn’t completely cleared yet. No matter how angry she was, she wouldn’t abandon him completely, right?

At this moment, Shao Mingyuan suddenly wished the days of needle treatment to expel poison could be extended indefinitely.

He got off the bed wanting to see Qiao Zhao, but his last trace of reason barely pulled back this impulse.

Today, his Zhaozhao must have been frightened. He would endure until tomorrow.