Chapter 192: Chapter 192: "Don’t Laugh at Him.

She was genuinely curious. "What exactly did Xie Jinbai do to make you so confident?"

Cui Lingyao didn’t like the sound of that. "Are you sticking up for him?"

"Of course not. I’m enjoying the show."

A man like Xie Jinbai would probably only ever face setbacks when it came to love.

And what’s more, he had brought it on himself, spoiling her every step of the way.

Serves him right!

It was payback for that usual cold, arrogant, and infuriatingly condescending air of his.

Chen Minrou chuckled. "Just don’t you go and have a change of heart and feel sorry for him. You have to torment him with everything you’ve got. I’ll be your cheerleader, waving my pom-poms and applauding you."

Having suddenly discovered her dear friend was an expert at wrapping men around her finger, she was more than happy to stir the pot, wishing she could personally witness the pathetic sight of Xie Jinbai sobbing his eyes out.

Outside, a vein throbbed on Xie Jinbai’s forehead.

’He knew it!’

’Ever since they were little, no good could ever come from these two getting together.’

He took a deep breath and unblocked Zhao Shijie’s acupoints. "Go get your woman out of there."

Zhao Shijie, who had already regained his composure, was speechless.

He hesitated, not wanting to interrupt his wife while she was in the middle of such an animated conversation.

He would just make her angry all over again for no reason.

The word "henpecked" was written all over his face.

Xie Jinbai looked at him with disdain. "If a man cannot rule his own household, how can he govern a country? You fear a mere woman as if she were a tiger. How can this prince rely on you in the future?"

Zhao Shijie was silent.

’If I hadn’t just personally overheard their conversation,’ he thought, ’I might have actually believed His Highness was a man whose word was law in his own home.’

As the two men spoke, Cui Lingyao had already continued the conversation inside.

She said in a low voice, "Don’t make fun of him."

Chen Minrou paused. "Feeling sorry for him now?"

Cui Lingyao didn’t deny it. "I never intended to torment him on purpose, and I don’t want him to be ridiculed because of his feelings for me."

A person’s feelings should never be treated as a joke.

Especially not when it was Xie Jinbai.

He was born to exist among the clouds, looking down upon all of creation.

For her sake, he had humbled himself time and again.

That was enough.

She couldn’t truly let him be dragged through the mud.

Cui Lingyao closed her eyes. She wanted to say that forcing Xie Jinbai to take a concubine made her feel awful, too.

She wanted to say that she wasn’t as indifferent as she seemed on the surface.

She wanted to tell her friend all about the heartache and sorrow she’d felt that morning upon receiving those six painted scrolls.

She wanted to tell her that she was also falling deeper and deeper into this relationship, that she wasn’t truly the one with the upper hand.

The words, "Minmin, this is so hard for me..." were caught in her throat for the longest time.

Cui Lingyao picked up the now-lukewarm teacup and drained it in a single gulp.

Chen Minrou saw her reddened eyelids and froze for a moment. "Yaoyao..."

"Let’s not talk about me," Cui Lingyao said, shaking her head gently and changing the subject. "Let’s talk about you. Are you planning to divorce him?"

Divorce...

Chen Minrou sighed faintly. "Divorce isn’t that simple. We have two children."

"So what if you have children?"

Cui Lingyao had never been a mother, and the modern education she’d received taught her that a woman should live for herself.

She firmly believed that a woman, whether she had given birth or not, should be her own person first and a mother second.

Hearing this, she immediately said, "You walked through the Death Gate twice to give birth to them. The last time, you nearly died. Now, by the grace of heaven, you’ve been given a new life. From now on, you should live for yourself. Your own feelings are what’s most important. Don’t overthink anything else! Let me just ask you this: if you didn’t have children, would you choose to get a divorce?"

Outside, the nervous man was now Zhao Shijie.

He clearly heard the familiar voice coming from inside.

"...I would. When I was on the brink of death, I thought that if I had another life, I would rather never marry. I would just be my parents’ daughter, take a few guards with me, and spend my life traveling, measuring the landscapes of this great, prosperous world with my own two feet."

Chen Minrou’s expression was filled with emotion. "But I woke up, so I can’t just ignore all my responsibilities."

To be alive in this world is to be bound by all sorts of constraints.

She was the daughter of the Chen Family, the daughter-in-law of the Zhao Family, the mother of two children, and the wife of Zhao Shijie.

In all fairness, Zhao Shijie had never truly wronged her.

He had been with no one else before their marriage, and in their seven years together, she had been the only one by his side.

When she was gravely ill, he was already a powerful provincial governor with a limitless future. In order to care for her day and night, he had petitioned Your Majesty to resign from his official post and returned to the Capital City specifically to help her recuperate.

In the eyes of the world, he was the very definition of a devoted and righteous man.

As for those words she couldn’t let go of...

What couple doesn’t bicker? Even the teeth and tongue clash sometimes.

They were just a few thoughtless, awful things said in anger, and she had said her fair share of them as well.

What truly bothered Chen Minrou was the dream.

But to get a divorce over a bizarre dream she couldn’t even prove was real...

She truly couldn’t bring herself to make that decision.

Cui Lingyao wasn’t surprised. While there were indeed some madams in the Capital City who divorced their husbands and lived as they pleased, keeping a few male companions behind closed doors, they were a tiny minority.

For most people, the mere mention of divorce was enough to make them turn pale.

What she was more curious about was, "Didn’t you say that when you truly love someone, you can’t tolerate a single speck of dust in your eye? Zhao Shijie dared to even think about taking a concubine. Doesn’t that disgust you? How can you possibly go on living peacefully with him?"

True love...

Chen Minrou shook her head. "At our age, talking about true love is a luxury. From now on, he can do as he pleases. I’ll just focus on raising our two children. I don’t care about anything else."

Whether he takes a concubine or not.

Even... whether or not his affections stray, it no longer mattered.

「Outside the door.」

Zhao Shijie’s body went rigid.

Xie Jinbai, of course, knew what he had said to Chen Minrou. After a moment of thought, he decided against telling him to go inside. Instead, he said, "If you truly want to take a concubine but find it difficult to ask, I can bestow a few upon you. Just remember to make your wife quiet down and stop spouting nonsense in front of Yaoyao."

From a man’s perspective, he too believed that Zhao Shijie had genuinely considered taking a concubine.

Otherwise, there were many ways to stop Chen Minrou from returning to the Capital City.

Why would he so naturally resort to using that as a threat?

One only says such things when one has already thought them.

It was all a test.

Zhao Shijie turned a deaf ear to his words and stiffly ascended the steps.

The two old maids guarding the courtyard entrance, who had been forced to remain silent for some time, hastily bowed. "Greetings, Your Highness Prince Yu, and greetings, Princely Heir."

Their voices were loud enough to startle the two women chatting in the courtyard.

Cui Lingyao reacted faster, her head instinctively turning toward the entrance.

Her gaze naturally drifted past Zhao Shijie, whose expression was clearly troubled, and landed on the familiar, slender figure behind him.

It was a completely instinctual reaction.

It seemed that as long as he was present, her eyes would always find him first.

Cui Lingyao’s heart began to pound.

This change felt dangerous to her.

She...

Xie Jinbai was also looking at her.

The moment their eyes met in midair, his expression faltered. He strode past Zhao Shijie, walking directly toward her.

Chen Minrou had already risen to her feet and curtsied.

No matter how outrageously they spoke of him in private, the sisters did not neglect a single point of proper etiquette when face-to-face.

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