The air seemed to freeze.
Xie Changgeng's face looked a little ugly, but after a moment, he returned to normal.
He stood up and straightened his clothes.
This time, he did not sit on the couch again, but there was no anger in his tone. He did not seem to mind the wanton offense she had just inflicted on him.
"You have reason to be angry," he said.
"During the past six months since you came to my Xie family, you have served my mother every day and have worked very hard. My mother's original intention was to repay the kindness of an old friend, but it was inappropriate for her to take a concubine on her own initiative. In terms of being virtuous and reasonable..."
"Xie Changgeng, you think too much!"
Mu Fulan interrupted him, climbed down from the beauty couch, and slipped barefoot into a pair of exquisite embroidered shoes with orchids embroidered on them that were placed on the floor in front of the couch. Under his gaze, she walked to the mirror and sat on the couch on the carpet.
She held a tortoise-shell comb in her hand, combing her long hair that had just been messed up by him, and said, "I am neither virtuous nor reasonable. I served your mother before only because I followed the teachings of the king. I thought that since I was married, I had to fulfill my duty even if I didn't want to. That's all."
Xie Changgeng looked at her back for a moment, then walked over and stopped behind her. He stared at the pretty face in the mirror and said, "Mu, what do you want in order for you to go back with me?"
He uttered these words almost word for word, his tone no longer as gentle as before.
Mu Fulan's hand holding the comb stopped.
She also raised her eyes and looked at the man in the mirror who was standing behind her, his eyes fixed on her.
He was beginning to lose his patience. She could sense it.
A smile played on her lips.
"Xie Lang, you are obviously very dissatisfied with me in your heart, so why did you pretend to be so sincere just now? Wouldn't it be better if you just said it directly?"
Xie Changgeng looked at her expressionlessly.
She put the comb down, stood up from the mirror, turned around and faced her.
"Since you asked directly, I will also be frank with you. I will never return to your Xie family. It was my father's will that I had to marry you. Now I have changed my mind."
"Life is short, so enjoy yourself while you can. Why should I treat myself so badly?"
A barely perceptible trace of surprise flashed across Xie Changgeng's face.
He stared at her, and gradually, his expression became stern.
"Mu, let me remind you that the marriage was agreed upon by your father. In the past few years, I have kept my promise and have not broken it. Even though my mother has offended you, it has never really happened. Moreover, I have apologized to you and made a promise. But you and your brother have gone back on your word and broken the promise for no reason. Your behavior is childish and like a child's play! Do you think that I, Xie Changgeng, will let you and your brother control you?"
After he finished speaking, he seemed to realize his own gaffe and glanced at her. When he spoke again, his tone became gentle again.
"Mu, you are just sixteen, right? You are young and ignorant, which is understandable. But you should know who is more trustworthy between your father and your brother, and who is more popular among the people of Changsha. When we made the engagement, your brother was prejudiced against me, and now he must be trying to persuade you to break the engagement. But think about it, no matter how good your brother is, as a woman, can you rely on him for your whole life?"
"You'd better listen to your father's arrangements and come back with me. I will not treat you unfairly in the future."
Mu Fulan looked at the man in front of her who was patiently coaxing her, and her heart was filled with infinite emotion.
If she had not been his wife and knew what kind of man he was, what woman could remain steadfast and unmoved in the face of such a man
She shook her head, and the pair of small bright red coral earrings on her white earlobes swayed along with her, appearing and disappearing between the hair that fell on her shoulders.
"You don't have to use my father to pressure me. Let me ask you, what was your purpose in coming to ask for marriage? Have you achieved your goal now? Since you have achieved your goal, this marriage with Changsha has lost its original value to you. Why are you so persistent?"
Xie Changgeng said nothing.
"I would like to believe that you want to keep the promise you made to my father. But you know better than me what the real reason is."
"Because of this marriage, my father has realized his dream and brought benefits to the people of Changsha. You have also benefited greatly from it. If it weren't for my father's appreciation, how could you, with your status as a great bandit, have successfully entered the official career and then had the opportunity to rise to prominence?"
"You and my father both gained something from this marriage. But what about me? Which of you has ever thought about me?"
She stared at the man in front of her.
"Xie Changgeng, I'll tell you the truth. When you came to ask for marriage, I already had a lover in my heart. He is the kindest person in the world, and he has the best smile. But you came to ask for marriage. My father promised me to you for the sake of Changsha State."
Xie Changgeng seemed stunned and frowned slightly.
Mu Fulan smiled self-deprecatingly.
"I am the princess, I have my duty, I cannot refuse, I must agree."
"But now, I have changed my mind. I have done what I should do for Changsha State, and from now on, I should consider myself. I dare not claim credit for myself, but I did help you in the past, and you should not deny this. I hope that today, you can help me in the same way. If so, I will be very grateful."
Xie Changgeng's expression was a little stiff. He stared at her without saying a word.
Mu Fulan stopped talking.
The room fell silent, but the atmosphere was somewhat depressing.
"We'll talk about this later. Now you should go back with me first!"
After a while, he finally spoke, coldly.
"When will that be in the future?" Mu Fulan asked him.
He shouldn't.
"Wait until the day you reach the top of the world and achieve great things?"
Xie Changgeng's expression changed slightly. He suddenly raised his hand and pressed it on one of her shoulders.
As if a heavy burden was suddenly placed on her, Mu Fulan's body tilted and she fell onto the carpet in front of the mirror box.
He followed and slowly squatted down in front of her.
"Mu, what were you talking about just now?"
"Where did you hear this?"
His tone was extremely gentle, as if he was coaxing a child, but his hand never left her, moving slowly along her shoulder to the side of her neck.
As if caressing her, his fingertips with light calluses gently stroked her tender and smooth neck skin.
"tell me."
He narrowed his eyes slightly and stared into Mu Fulan's eyes. The hand suddenly increased its strength and grasped her slender neck.
Like a swan whose neck was about to be broken by a hunter, Mu Fulan passively raised her head without making any struggle. She just looked at the two gloomy gazes cast towards her so close and smiled.
"Xie Changgeng, could it be that I really guessed it right? You want to kill me?"
Xie Changgeng slowly loosened the five fingers that were clamped around her neck.
Mu Fulan frowned, brushed his hand away, stroked her neck, put on the shawl that had just slipped off, and said, "You have achieved the purpose of marrying me. This marriage has lost its original meaning to you and is at most useless. But you endured the humiliation and endured such humiliation from my brother the king, and forcibly took me back. If you don't have other intentions, what is it?"
"You are now considered one of the most important figures in the court. With your current status, if you still have something to plan for, the only thing left is that position. It's such a simple truth, what's so difficult about it?"
Xie Changgeng looked at her for a moment, stood up from the ground, and said coldly: "Mu, I have seen many smart people, and those people often don't have a good ending. I don't want you to end up like that."
"You, Mu, have no right to be willful when it comes to marriage. You are already my wife from the Xie family. Now that I am here, you must follow me back. As for what you want..."
He paused.
"I will make the decision later depending on the situation."
Mu Fulan followed him and stood up from the felt.
"Now that we've come to this point, why are you still so stubborn? If this matter is really inconvenient for outsiders to know, why don't you and I each make some concessions? I can keep the matter secret for the time being, and my brother and sister-in-law won't reveal a single word. From now on, you go your way, and I'll stay in Changsha and claim to be recuperating."
"Don't worry. I don't care what you are up to. It has nothing to do with me. Just as you said, it was just my random guess. Although I want to break away from you, I won't be stupid enough to create an enemy for Changsha State because of this."
Xie Changgeng's eyes flickered slightly, but he did not answer her.
"There is one thing you don't know yet, but I don't want to hide it from you anymore."
Mu Fulan took a deep breath.
"I have had other men, but I am not a virgin."
Her tone was calm, as if she was talking about something very ordinary.
The corners of Xie Changgeng's eyes twitched slightly, and a haze suddenly emerged in his eyes.
But she seemed not to notice, instead she smiled, a beautiful smile, as if she didn't care at all.
"I heard that a man can endure humiliation for his ambition. Xie Lang, I have told you my private matters that even my parents and family members are unaware of. I will not hide anything from you. If you can understand this and not care about it, and allow me to be your wife and serve your mother, then I will have no more words to say and will go back with you."
After she finished speaking, she walked past him, returned to the beauty bed, climbed up, bent her legs and put them together, just like when he first came in, and sat there, slightly tilted her chin, looking at him.
The room was so quiet, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
Xie Changgeng stood there for a moment, then suddenly took a step, one step at a time, and walked towards her.
He walked to the beauty bed, stared at Mu Fulan coldly, bent down, stretched out a hand, and reached under her pomegranate skirt.
Mu Fulan still sat there, motionless, and slowly closed her eyes.