Xiao Qiao slowly raised her eyes, meeting his gaze.
His eyes were fixed on her, unblinking. Beneath his jet-black eyebrows, dark waves seemed to gather in the depths of his eyes, surging silently.
The room was so quiet that only their breathing could be heard.
Perhaps he was embracing her too tightly, as Xiao Qiao gradually found it difficult to breathe.
Seeing that he still wouldn’t let her go or speak, she finally moved slightly and said, “Husband, you…?”
“Manman, for a long time, I’ve wanted to ask Grandmother one thing: why did she decide that I should marry a daughter of the Qiao family?” Wei Shao finally said slowly, starting somewhat abruptly.
“But later, I gradually stopped wanting to ask. Whatever Grandmother’s thoughts were, it didn’t matter anymore. Now, I’m even more grateful to her. If it weren’t for her insistence back then, how could I, Wei Shao, have been worthy enough to marry you in this life, to be treated so well by you?”
Wei Shao loosened his arms from around her and walked to the window. He opened it and took a long, deep breath of the night breeze that rushed in.
The candlelight flickered in the night wind, causing the shadows on his face to alternate between light and dark.
Xiao Qiao silently watched him.
“Long ago, I told you that I was fond of you. I didn’t lie. But similarly, no matter what concessions you made for me, no matter how much effort you put in, to me, it all became a matter of course.”
“It all stemmed from the debt your Qiao family owed my Wei family, and your marriage to me was the Qiao family seeking favor with the Wei family. So all along, even though I married you and loved you, I never considered your feelings. Even when I was good to you, I saw it as my grace, and your gratitude and repayment to the Wei family were taken for granted…”
He paused for a moment.
“Thinking about it now, how despicable I, Wei Shao, have been!”
Xiao Qiao remained motionless, her eyes fixed on his face.
“I took your tolerance and desire for harmony for granted. I also knew that because of your family’s debt, no matter how I treated you, you wouldn’t leave me. Moreover, I always thought I had been as good to you as I could be, so time and time again, I ignored your feelings and became accustomed to it.”
“After the battle of Shangu, before I could catch my breath, my mother died in such an unexpected way. She had been confused all her life and wasn’t a competent matriarch of the Wei family, but to me, she was a loving mother. I found it hard to accept at the time. In her last moment before passing, her heart was still filled with selfishness and hatred. Thinking carefully, about how similar I am to my mother – my eyes may not be blind, but my heart has always been filled with hatred and selfishness. During that time, with the Xiongnu pressing at the borders and Grandmother falling ill, you alone bore such hardships, yet I was only immersed in my grief. I ignored you once again, and even though I felt guilty, I always thought you would understand and support me… Until that day when you proposed to return to the Qiao family in front of Grandmother without saying a word to me beforehand.”
Wei Shao walked towards her again, stopping in front of her.
“Manman, at that time, I suddenly had a feeling that you were distancing yourself from me as if you wanted to leave me. I knew you would come back, but I couldn’t shake off this feeling. It even reached the point where I couldn’t eat or sleep well. Then I escorted you to the Qiao family, and yesterday I saw with my own eyes how you were in front of your family, which made me feel even more uneasy…”
He paused, his brows furrowed.
“Although my Wei family is not a cage, perhaps for you it’s no different from one. You’ve been in my family for years, but when have I ever seen you so at ease?”
“Today, I didn’t want to leave originally. I felt there was something unfinished. But you didn’t ask me to stay, and I couldn’t bring myself to ask to stay. When I left, your father escorted me out of the city and, in the end, solemnly entrusted your remaining life to me. After setting out, I kept asking myself: if that day Shangu had fallen, if Yuyang had fallen, if I had lost Grandmother and also lost you, then even if I could destroy all my enemies and gain the world, even if I had beauties in my arms, there would never be another you in the world. No one else could call me ‘husband’ like you do. What joy could there be in the rest of my life?”
Tears gradually welled up in Xiao Qiao’s eyes, gathering more and more until finally, a crystal tear dropped from her eye and rolled down her cheek.
Wei Shao gazed at her, raising his hand to gently wipe away the tear tracks with his finger.
“At that moment, I knew that my thoughts these past days needed to be known to you. If I didn’t take this opportunity to say them, no matter where I went, my heart would be uneasy. So I came back.”
“Manman, in the past, I always felt wrong, and I mentioned to you more than once how I had reluctantly made concessions because of you. But I never thought about what pressure and grievances you might bear because of this thinking of mine. You weren’t born to come to my Wei family to atone for your dead grandfather’s sins. Even if it was like that initially, by now, there’s no debt left. On the contrary, it’s I who have neglected you too much…”
The more he wiped, the more tears Xiao Qiao shed, soaking her collar and wetting the back of his hand.
“Being captivated by you is the greatest fortune of my life, Wei Shao. But in the past, while I kept saying I loved you and was fond of you, asking you to entrust your true heart to me completely, I never wanted to, nor did I ever think about considering your situation, using family revenge as an excuse. In terms of arrogance and selfishness, who in this world could compare to me…”
Xiao Qiao kept shaking her head, tears falling incessantly.
Wei Shao stared at her continuously falling tears and desperate head-shaking, his own eyes reddening slightly.
“I’m a scoundrel who only knew how to seek pleasure from you, not knowing how to cherish and care for you. I promised you before, that if I offended you, you could hit me to vent your anger. It’s the same from now on. If I hurt your heart, you can hit me, just don’t distance yourself from me or become estranged…”
Xiao Qiao clenched her fists and pounded them haphazardly on his shoulders and chest, sobbing, “You are a scoundrel… I was fine, who wants to hear you suddenly come back and say these things…”
Before she finished speaking, she buried herself in his embrace, hugging his waist and burying her tear-stained face in his chest, refusing to lift it again.
The soft body in his arms trembled incessantly, tears seeming to gush out, soaking his clothes in an instant.
He carried her to the bed and held her tightly again.
After a long while, he finally felt the trembling of the person in his arms stop, but her face remained buried in his chest, refusing to face him.
Wei Shao moved slightly.
A small hand immediately grabbed his clothes, clutching tightly.
“I want you to stay… Don’t go…” Xiao Qiao said in a voice thick with nasal tones, sobbing and mumbling.
Wei Shao gently turned her face towards him.
Her eyelids had turned pink from crying and were slightly swollen. Her nose was also red, and a strand of hair stuck to her cheek, wet with tears. She looked quite disheveled.
Her eyes were tightly closed, her lashes trembling lightly, with a teardrop still clinging to them.
He lowered his face, lovingly kissing her eyelids, licking away the tears on her lashes and cheeks.
Xiao Qiao finally slowly opened her eyes.
Their gazes met, intertwining.
“I’m not leaving. I decided on the way here, even if you try to drive me away, I won’t go.”
Wei Shao murmured, lying with his neck entwined with hers, capturing her red lips.