Chapter 127: Zheng Jinyu, You Don’t Like Me

Chapter 127: Zheng Jinyu, You Don't Like Me

Xie Peiyu turned to look at Zheng Jinyu with an innocent expression.

"It's just summer. The weather can change abruptly like this."

"What should we do? You can't leave in this condition, can you?" Zheng Jinyu asked.

Xie Peiyu nodded and replied, "Yes, it's too dangerous for me to scale walls and rooftops with all these lightning bolts around."

Upon hearing his words, a comical image popped into Zheng Jinyu's mind.

She imagined him leaping up elegantly, only for a bolt of lightning to illuminate the sky and strike him, turning him into a skeleton before he fell down with a shriek.

His attempt at being cool had failed miserably.

"What are you laughing at?"

Zheng Jinyu: "..." Was it that obvious?

"Are you that delighted that I can't leave?"

Huh?

"Cough, cough. Sit for a while. Summer thunderstorms come and go quickly. Wait until the rain stops before you go."

Just as they were talking, sounds came from the neighboring room.

Xie Peiyu looked at Zheng Jinyu in confusion.

Zheng Jinyu was taken aback for a moment before she whispered, "It's Chunmei. The thunder must have woken her up. She'll probably get up to check the doors and windows."

"Will she enter this room?"

"Yes, you'd better hide quickly."

Zheng Jinyu took off her outer garment and pretended to sleep on the bed.

Originally, she had imagined that a master like Xie Peiyu, who could scale walls, would hide by leaping onto the rafters.

Is this how it always plays out in television dramas?

Little did she expect that he would hide under her covers.

"Hey, Xie Peiyu..."

"Shh, your maid is coming in."

Zheng Jinyu: "..."

Chunmei gently pushed open the door, then tiptoed over to the window, carefully securing it shut before cautiously exiting the room and closing the door behind her.

As Zheng Jinyu heard her footsteps fade away, she heaved a sigh of relief and glared at Xie Peiyu beside her. "Do you have any idea what you just did?"

With decisive elegance, he rose promptly and stood outside the canopy, gazing at her through the sheer curtains.

"Is this satisfactory?"

Behind the gauzy curtains, the intermittent lightning outside the window illuminated the figure within the room. Ahem, that profile...!

Zheng Jinyu said, "Go light the candles."

It was rather unsettling.

Xie Peiyu secured the door and then turned to light the candles.

Zheng Jinyu sat on the edge of the bed, draped in a garment.

With someone else in her room, she couldn't very well sleep, so she could only sit there with him in silence.

The two of them exchanged no words.

But the sound of rain and thunder continued relentlessly.

After a long while, the thunder gradually subsided, and the rain grew lighter. Suddenly, Xie Peiyu spoke up.

"Jinyu, I feel like you don't like me."

Startled from listening to the sounds of rain and thunder, Zheng Jinyu replied, "You're overthinking it. If I didn't like you, why would I agree to marry you?"

"For the sake of compatibility," Xie Peiyu said nonchalantly.

Zheng Jinyu suddenly smiled. "Marriage is all about compatibility. How many couples actually get married because they genuinely love each other?"

Xie Peiyu's thin lips pressed together lightly.

Zheng Jinyu chuckled. "Aren't you the same? Xie Peiyu, do you remember why you agreed to continue the arranged marriage between our families?"

Seeing that he didn't respond, Zheng Jinyu continued, "You've forgotten, let me remind you. You yourself said that our marriage was decided by our elders. As long as there was no strong dislike, you wouldn't refuse."

"I…" He was about to explain, but Zheng Jinyu interrupted him. "I'm not blaming you; I understand how things work."

That was the nature of the marriage system back then. Many couples didn't even know what their partners looked like before their wedding day.

It was the will of their parents and the words of matchmakers. Unless one had met the other and held an intense aversion, they wouldn't decline the arrangement.

Yes, just as Xie Peiyu had said, as long as there was no dislike, they wouldn't refuse.

Yet, he had the audacity to talk about love in such a marriage arrangement. How laughable.

Xie Peiyu kept his head lowered, not daring to meet her gaze, a strange sensation stirring within him.

What she said was indeed reasonable, and he had once held the same belief.

Yet, there seemed to be an emptiness in his heart. If they were to wed under these circumstances, it somehow felt incomplete.

How could a perfectly normal alliance for strategic reasons seem imperfect?

"Jinyu, I did think that way before, but now I believe that perhaps we could marry for different reasons."

"And why is that?" She smiled lightly. "We're destined to be married anyway. Does the reason really matter?"

Xie Peiyu: "..."

Zheng Jinyu felt that she could no longer hear the sound of rain at this moment.

She got up to open the window and, through the night's veil, confirmed that the rain had indeed ceased.

She said, "Xie Peiyu, let's go back. The rain has stopped now."

"Indeed." He nodded gently and rose from his chair.

As he approached the window, he paused and turned to look at her. "It's late. You should retire early."

There was still plenty of time ahead. The missing piece in his heart, the incomplete bond of marriage – he would eventually make it whole.

...

The following day, as Zheng Hongyan departed, Zheng Jinyu accompanied her family to see him off.

She noticed her elder sister's tear-stained face and Zheng Hongyan's swollen nose and blackened eyes...

Huh? Swollen nose and blackened eyes?

Zheng Jinyu looked at him curiously.

Zheng Hongyan, holding onto his horse, gazed at Zheng Jinyu with a profound expression.

Zheng Jinyu coughed lightly, touched her nose, and turned away.

At that moment, the three individuals Zheng Jinyu disliked appeared. Upon seeing Zheng Hongyan's face, all three of them were startled.

"Big Brother, what happened to your face?"

"Nothing, I tripped and fell last night."

It was obvious that he had been beaten, how could it be a mere fall?

But he had seemed fine during dinner last night. Didn't he return home right after?

Who could have possibly hit him?

Could it be Eldest Sister-in-law?

Eldest Sister-in-law was currently dabbing at her tears with a handkerchief. Could such a fragile woman be capable of this?

Just as they were speaking, Cui Yongnian emerged, also taken aback by Zheng Hongyan's appearance.

"Oh dear, Cousin, who did this to you? Tsk tsk, oh my, whoever it was must have been even more ruthless than the person who hit me last time."

The entire family fell into an awkward silence.

Zheng Hongyan's lips twitched uncontrollably.

Ever since last night, he had been explaining to his wife that it was an accidental fall. In the early morning, he had to do the same with his parents and siblings, all insisting that he had simply tripped.

But this cousin of his had thrown a wrench in the works.

While everyone else would inquire about what had happened, Cui Yongnian was the one who asked who had beaten him up.

Zheng Hongyan seriously suspected that his cousin was doing this on purpose.

With a darkened face, Zheng Hongyan explained, "I accidentally fell."

"Ahh? You fell?" Cui Yongnian lifted the hem of his robe and jogged forward, approaching for a closer inspection.

After his scrutiny, he seemed deep in thought.

The act was not particularly harmful, but it was immensely insulting.

Zheng Hongyan's face darkened like the bottom of a pot.

"It's getting late. Father, Mother, Little Xuan, and my siblings, I'm leaving now."

If he continued to be stared at by Cui Yongnian, he would explode with anger, so he simply mounted his horse and left promptly.

After Zheng Hongyan left, Madam Zheng sighed and consoled Xiao Xuan.

"My child, we've wronged you."

She hastily married her into the family, and just a few days after the wedding, her husband had to leave. Madam Zheng felt rather guilty towards her.

Xiao Xuan shook her head gently. "Mother, I'm not aggrieved."

How could she not be? It was merely a polite pretense.

Zheng Jinyu looked at her a few more times and thought to herself: This time, her life should be safe, right?

...