Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
——
“Hubby, let’s play a game, shall we?” asked An Xiaoning as she sat cross-legged on the bed.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Roleplay.”
“Sure.”
An Xiaoning began to realize that Chi Rui’er meant less to Jin Qingyan now compared to the past.
She was determined to make her marriage flourish; to make Jin Qingyan love and devote himself to her wholeheartedly. Only then can she completely get rid of the thorn in her flesh that was Chi Rui’er.
Bearing that in mind, she was more motivated than ever to work towards her goals in order to ensure a stable and long-lasting marriage.
Although he had indeed mentioned that he would never divorce her, whether or not they ended up in a divorce had nothing to do with the quality of their relationship.
What she wanted was for them to be truly in love and devoted to each other, not have a marriage that was merely forged for the sake of it.
Even if she does not succeed in the end, she would at least have no regrets, knowing that she had already tried her best and put in every bit of effort she could to salvage it.
“Let’s enact the setting of a great landlord and an innocent maiden, how does that sound?” she asked calmly.
Already knowing what she had up her sleeve, Jin Qingyan answered, “You’d like me to play the great landlord, don’t you? And a dominant and tyrannical one at that.”
“I’m impressed, you’re getting better at guessing my thoughts, Hubby. Come up with the lines yourself, we’ll take this as a little game of fun between us before bedtime every night,” said An Xiaoning as she applauded him.
“Sure,” Jin Qingyan said delightedly, for she had managed to pique his interest. It was his first time engaging in such roleplay, after all. He quickly got into position and placed his foot down onto the heavily carpeted floor, in his socks.
“Let’s begin.”
“Open the door! An Xiaoning, you’d better get out here and open the door!” he ordered sternly, raising his voice.
Pouting her lips, An Xiaoning mimicked the action of opening a door and said with a grimace, “Why are you here again, Nuisance Jin?”
“I’m here… to see you, of course. Here, I got you your favorite snack, it’s delicious,” he answered, continuing to play along and mimic the action of handing her something.
“Hmph, I don’t want it. Get out of here quickly, I don’t wish to see you,” she humphed and cocked her head to the side.
“You women just love to say one thing and mean another. Your body language says it all. Hold this, I bought it especially for you, so just take it, otherwise, I’m going to beat you into a pulp. You hear?” he pretended to threaten her, raising his clenched fist.
Seeing how invested he was in his role, An Xiaoning burst into giggles, unable to contain her laughter.
“Your acting skills are really superb, you ought to receive an international award.”
“Care to act out a bed scene with me?” he said suggestively while leaning closer towards her.
Startled by the sudden change in mood, An Xiaoning replied, “How do we act that out?”
“We’ll do the real thing.”
“Get lost… how is that acting anymore?” she said, her ears blushing red with shyness.
“How is it not? Haven’t you seen how they actually do it in romance films?”
“I don’t want to.”
“You don’t? Alright, why don’t we start getting intimate like normal couples do at night, then?” Before she could even react, he pulled the sheets up in one fluid motion, covering them both beneath the blanket.
——
Mo Li woke up to find herself lying on a large, comfortable bed. She peeked below the sheets, only to realize that she was stark naked.
She cocked her head sideways and exchanged glances with a pair of eyes staring coldly at her.
“You’re up?” said Ye Xiaotian.
“Ye Xiaotian!” she hollered angrily, trembling from head to toe.
“You don’t have to be so loud, I can hear you perfectly. I’ve told you this before, haven’t I, Mo Li? Just because you’re married doesn’t mean I’ll keep my hands off you. Did you really think I would let you off once you’re married? I’ll never let you off, even when you have children. So you’d better not have any with someone else, lest your children feel ashamed of you when they find out about your disgraceful past.”
Every word of his had struck her hard, like a million daggers piercing through heart.
Try as she might, she could not come up with anything to say as she stared at him, utterly dejected and hopeless.
All along, she had thought that he would be unable to do anything to her once she was married.
However, he still did not let her off, just like he promised.
He still did not…
Was death really her only way out…
It was too early to die at such a young age. Besides, she still had a family to care for; there was no way she could just die and leave them behind.
“Ye Xiaotian, just what have I done in my past life to be cursed with the misfortune of meeting you?” she said in devastation, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably. All of a sudden, she began to kowtow to him and pleaded, “Ye Xiaotian, please just let go of me, I’m begging you. On account of the copious amounts of blood I’ve given Bai Ranran and the fact that I’ve stayed with you for a whole four years, please just let me off. Please, Ye Xiaotian, it’s all I beg of you.”
Looking at her with a malicious stare, he said in response, “Get a divorce with him immediately. All I can promise is that I’ll treat you well and stop drawing your blood, as long as you behave.”
“Xiaotian, he’s really good to me. I don’t want to get a divorce, I don’t want to,” she said, shaking her head in refusal.
“Mo Li, it’s up to you to decide how long you’d want to suffer for. By the way, let me warn you, women who belong to me are forbidden from bearing children with other men. If you choose to disobey me, I can’t promise I won’t strangle your child to death.”
Seeing that he had no intention to give in at all, Mo Li stopped pleading with him and returned to her normal self. “Ye Xiaotian, I’ve stopped having feelings for you long ago. You’re just an imbecile, absolutely revolting and detestable. How rare is it for you to still be so obsessed with a withered willow like me? You’ve got plenty of women eager to wait on you. In fact, you can easily have any woman you want. What’s the point of being so insistent that I go back to you? Men like you shouldn’t be getting so caught up with women they fool around with, should they?”
“Wow… you were just pleading and begging on your knees moments ago, and now there’s such a drastic change in your attitude. You realized playing pitiful doesn’t work, didn’t you?”
“Since begging you clearly doesn’t work, why would I continue doing so?” she said, sneering.
With a squint, he warned, “Mo Li, you better initiate a divorce with him.”
“Why should I get a divorce when my husband treats me so well? I don’t feel ill-treated at all. In fact, I feel like a withered willow like me is far from being worthy enough for him. If you stop showing up before me in the future, I would be so much happier and blissful.”
“Well then, I’m really curious to know if he’ll still treat you that well after he finds out how much you’ve enjoyed yourself in bed with me last night.”
Mo Li had been trying her best to avoid thinking about what happened the night before. However, she began to lose her rationality at the instant that he reminded her of it.
“Ye Xiaotian, I hate you.”
Unfazed, he squinted at her and continued to speak slowly, “There are plenty of people who hate me. You don’t make a difference.”
Mo Li turned around and quickly exited the room.
Fortunately, he did not manage to bring her out of Y Nation.
While walking on the streets, she reached into the pocket of her coat and scavenged for her mobile phone, only to realize that it had been switched off. She then switched it on again. According to the time on her mobile phone, it was past 9 o’clock in the morning.
Several taxis drove past her, but she did not hail any at all. Neither did she give Byron a call. Instead, she simply continued walking aimlessly towards a secluded and quiet place, before finally breaking down and bursting into tears all of a sudden. She covered her face as she let out a cry of despair while squatting down on the ground.
Her tears were overflowing like a tap as she cried her heart out, finally releasing all her pent-up emotions and grievances.
She had no idea how she was going to break the news of last night’s events to her husband.
The fear she had towards Ye Xiaotian in the past had now become a strong and bitter hatred. She detested him to the core, so much so that she wished she could kill him with her own hands.
