“My cousin and I only have a brother-sister relationship. I treat her no differently from my second and third sisters. You shouldn’t listen to rumors,” Wei Luo said with a sullen face.
He refused to sleep obediently, and came to blame her again. Yin Hui smiled angrily, opened his eyes, and said to the bed board, “It’s not just one person who said that, so how do I know if it’s a rumor? Seeing is believing, but I am humble and have no qualifications. How could I have the opportunity to observe with my own eyes whether you were smiling at your cousin as a guest at the Yan Palace?”
Wei Luo’s expression was even colder. It wasn’t Mrs. Ji alone who sowed discord, who else?
Neither the Elder Sister-in-law nor the Third Sister were gossips, and only the Second Sister, Wei Shan, was close to the Ji family.
What good would it do them if the two conspired to deceive her?
It was nothing more than looking down on her and deliberately fabricating rumors to embarrass her.
After the anger passed, Wei Luo suddenly understood the real situation when she first married into the Yan Palace.
He knew that the Elder Sister-in-law and the Second Sister-in-law might look down on her in their hearts, but he didn’t know that some of them would bully her in such indecent ways besides being arrogant.
If she came to him to complain about her grievances, Wei Luo would have clarified the rumors and taught Mrs.Ji and Wei Shan a lesson, but she never said a word.
Why not?
Because she was afraid of him. She was already afraid of his coldness. If she believed in the rumors and misunderstood that he liked someone, how would she dare to speak?
Wei Luo lay down and embraced her in his arms, even with the quilt.
He hugged her tightly, his broad shoulders pressed slightly against her, and his breath fell behind her ears.
Just when Yin Hui was wondering what he was going to do, he whispered in her ear, “I was only twenty when we got engaged, and my Elder Brother and Second Brother married noble daughters, but my father asked me to marry you. I did have dissatisfaction.”
“This dissatisfaction has nothing to do with you; it’s because I misunderstood that Father doesn’t value me.”
“I was really taciturn when you married me, but I’ve always been like this. It’s the same in front of Father and Mother.”
“Ah Hui, you have reasons to misunderstand me, but I have never disliked you because of your background.”
“I know, you didn’t want to marry me voluntarily. If you could choose, you would probably marry someone who is as gentle as jade.”
Because of marrying him, she had suffered so many grievances.
As he continued to speak sentence by sentence, Yin Hui’s tears rolled down silently.
In that marriage, she and Wei Luo did have their own grievances.
Some things were caused by misunderstandings, but two decades had passed, and she really knew what Wei Luo was like.
He was cold, couldn’t comfort people, couldn’t say gentle words; he was like that to everyone, let alone a gentle smile.
Anger to anger, resentment to resentment, she believed what he said that night.
Wiping away tears with the corner of the quilt, Yin Hui exhaled, regained her senses completely, held his hand, and said, “Okay, it’s all in the past, I know you…”
“I think it’s always ironic for you to say ‘you’ now.” (you in a more respectful term)
Her initiative made Wei Luo heave a sigh of relief, turned the person around, and corrected her address.
Yin Hui pursed her lips, but she didn’t deny it, “Sometimes I use it to show respect, and other times I am being sarcastic.”
Wei Luo pinched her ear.
Yin Hui pulled his hand down and began to ask, “What about your cousin? You don’t want to take a concubine, but she seems to be very stubborn. You have to speak to her.”
Wei Luo said, “Yes, so tomorrow I will make it clear and completely stop her thoughts.”
Yin Hui glanced at him, “How?”
Wei Luo had no intentions of marrying Wen Ruyue. But she may not really only want a false name. Feeling jealous again, Yin Hui simply didn’t say anything.
Wei Luo said, “I have already rejected her on the way, but she just narrowly escaped death, and her mood is very unstable. I was afraid that if the rejection was too strong, she would not be able to handle it. So I decided to discuss it carefully after coming back to Beijing. Now that I am back, I will reject my cousin tomorrow morning. With you by my side, if she starts to cry, you can help persuade her. We will bring her into the palace in two days, and my mother will persuade her again; maybe she can then figure it out.”
He really couldn’t comfort people.
If it were his father and brother, he could still accompany them to sit or drink, but his cousin would cry at every turn. It was inconvenient to help her because she was a woman. So he had to take her home first and tell his wife and mother to persuade and comfort her.
Yin Hui sat up and looked at him with a frown, “How can I coax her? If she thinks I’m a hindrance, if I try to persuade her, she will only think I’m hypocritical. How could she listen to me? She would rather tell my mother about it, blame me for being intolerant, not thankful enough. If the matter is publicized, the people in the whole capital will laugh at Princess Shu for being a jealous woman!”
Wei Luo also sat up, held her hand, and said, “It doesn’t involve you; I’ll just say that the Imperial Father wanted to give me side concubines, but I refused, and if I take her as a concubine at this time, even if it’s just a false name, I will not be able to explain it to him.”
Actually, his father wouldn’t mind such trivial matters, but his cousin didn’t understand his father’s temper, so she would definitely believe it.
Yin Hui didn’t expect it. Obviously, he had a countermeasure long ago.
In other words, he really had no personal feelings for Wen Ruyue.
“Okay, I’ll say that tomorrow morning. But I’ll just try to comfort your cousin when she’s crying. You have to make it clear for yourself that you don’t agree.”
Yin Hui moved to the side of the bed and went to pick up a towel while talking.
Wei Luo asked, “Where are you going?”