Chapter 68 Cupped Face “In a few days, I’ll send someone to propose.”

Chapter 68: Cupping Her Face "In a few days, I'll send someone to propose."

Zhong Yao was just too infuriating.

To keep himself from actually hitting her, Xie Chi decided to ask her directly if she would marry him.

This would be the third time he asked her.

This time, he could just admit that he had fallen for her and genuinely wanted to marry her.

Right as he was about to speak, Zhong Yao, standing before him, suddenly stepped forward, her cloak brushing the back of Xie Chi's hand.

He hadn't seen her in so long that being this close, he caught the faint, sweet scent coming off her.

—She definitely didn't use that scar cream again.

—She really should be clean and well taken care of.

"Heir Xie." Zhong Yao looked up at him, her dark eyes reflecting only him, as if in this whole wide world, she could only see Xie Chi.

She spoke softly, "Heir Xie, I have so much I want to say to you. Can you stop always making that deadpan face, okay?"

Xie Chi replied, "If you stopped saying things that piss off the Heir Xie, he wouldn't always have that deadpan face."

Zhong Yao burst out laughing again.

She laughed so hard her shoulders shook, sending snowflakes flying off her hood.

Xie Chi was stumped.

He really couldn't figure out how he'd ended up liking Zhong Yao.

But since it had come to this, he couldn't be bothered to figure it out. "What do you want to say? Spit it out."

He wasn't in a hurry to say what he wanted anymore.

He wanted to see if, after five months apart, Zhong Yao's thick skull had changed at all, and how much crap she had to tell him.

Xie Chi waited for her to speak, but she just tilted her head and thought for a long time without saying a word.

When she noticed Xie Chi looking at her, Zhong Yao smiled sheepishly and said, "I suddenly don't know where to begin."

Seeing Xie Chi so suddenly was a nice surprise.

Besides that, she had so much to tell him—too much, all jumbled up in her head, fighting to get out, but none of it did.

Xie Chi lowered his gaze to the lantern in Zhong Yao's hand and said, "Then start with those wild ducks you rushed back to buy in secret."

Zhong Yao's face instantly turned red.

When she first got back to the capital, whether she liked it or not, there was always a ton of stuff going on around her.

Her family's crisis was over, her eldest brother was now the Crown Prince's right-hand man, her second brother had some weird experience, and their family had become close friends with Xu Guozhu's family. After that, the Zhong family's reputation in the capital skyrocketed. Every family that threw a banquet or flower festival would invite Zhong Yao and her mom.

On top of that, Xu Su was always trying to find Zhong Yao a husband, and the Fourth Prince's endless quest for knowledge, it took a long time before Zhong Yao could finally get some peace.

Once things settled down, she started thinking about Xie Chi.

She wondered if Xie Chi really liked her, and what he liked about her.

Unable to figure it out, she found out Song Xi was back in the capital and went to make up with her.

Song Xi was already married and said whatever she wanted, giving Zhong Yao all kinds of advice.

That mandarin duck lantern was originally something Song Xi wanted to give to Zhong Yao, but at the time, Zhong Yao was too embarrassed to take it. Only when she was about to go home did she sneak back to buy it herself.

They weren't wild ducks at all...

Zhong Yao was too embarrassed to say that to Xie Chi.

They'd been apart so long that a lot of things she used to say to Xie Chi were now hard to get out.

Like asking him to smell her feet to see if they stank...

Zhong Yao hemmed and hawed for a moment, then whispered, "I made up with Song Xi. Heir Xie, do you still remember Song Xi? I told you about her."

"The best friend whose husband you were checking out?" Xie Chi said. "And you still made up?"

Zhong Yao replied, "Why not? I grabbed the rouge she wanted, teased her about it, and then we made up."

Xie Chi: "...?"

His look of disbelief made Zhong Yao laugh again.

She moved a little closer, holding the lantern in one hand while reaching the other out from under her cloak to quietly tug at Xie Chi's sleeve.

Once she'd tugged it, she explained, "It's because she was just momentarily flustered and didn't know how to face me, so she went to hide at her maternal grandparents' house..."

After calming down for a few days, Song Xi realized something was off, since Zhong Yao had never paid any attention to her husband before.

But by then, her grandmother was ill, so she stayed to fulfill her filial duties.

"By the time she heard about my little brother and third brother and came back to the capital to find me, I had already gone to the Misty Hidden Mountain with you..." Zhong Yao said. "She wasn't actually angry. The reason she didn't come to me later was that my family's status had suddenly risen, and she didn't want to seem like she was humbling herself to curry favor with me... So the moment I went to her, she immediately made up with me."

"Are you sure she immediately made up with you?"

This was the first time Xie Chi had heard of someone making peace by snatching something from the other person.

Zhong Yao thought for a moment and said, "No, actually. She thought I was trying to bully her because my family had gained power. She rolled up her sleeves and pinned me in a corner. It wasn't until I begged for mercy that she realized I was just teasing her. Then she punched me twice, and we made up."

Xie Chi: "..."

A fool's friend was indeed unlikely to be normal.

He didn't want to say anything.

But Zhong Yao did. She tugged at Xie Chi's sleeve again and said pitifully, "She hits hard!"

She paused, frowned, and muttered to herself, "No wonder her husband talks so little—he must have been beaten into silence!"

Xie Chi couldn't help but say, "...Why didn't she beat you into silence too?"

Zhong Yao put on a stern face, pretending to be angry, but the next moment, she let out a "hehe" laugh.

Earlier, she had only been pinching Xie Chi's sleeve with two fingers from under her cloak, but now she extended her whole hand and rested it on his arm. "Heir Xie, I have so much I want to say to you, but I don't know where to start... So I'll just tell you the most important thing directly."

"This is my honest truth." Zhong Yao looked at Xie Chi seriously. "It's something I thought about for a long time before I understood it. Song Xi said it's very important, and I had to make it clear to you."

Her earnest demeanor made Xie Chi grow serious as well.

—Not that he believed Zhong Yao would say anything serious.

"I want to tell you, Heir Xie—these past few days, I've met a lot of talented young men. They're great, but in my heart, none of them hold a candle to you..."

Xie Chi's heart skipped a beat as he stared at Zhong Yao.

She looked at him with a smile, her eyes sparkling like they held the brightest summer stars.

Then, she said slowly, word by word, "Heir Xie, even though you're always impatient with me, bully me, roll your eyes at me, and lose your mind for no reason..."

"Just shut up," Xie Chi said.

Not only did Zhong Yao not shut up, she even shook his arm and continued, "The thing you've said to me the most is 'shut up,' but Heir Xie, you're the best guy I've ever met."

She tugged his sleeve and went on seriously, "From the moment you agreed to help me, I knew you'd figure something out. Heir Xie, you're really a good person!"

Xie Chi paused for a moment, then asked, "And then?"

"And then nothing," Zhong Yao said. "That's all I wanted to say. I'm done."

"... " Xie Chi's throat went tight.

After a long pause, he gritted his teeth and forced the words out, "The most important thing you wanted to tell me was this?"

"Yes," Zhong Yao replied earnestly. "I'm really thankful to you, Heir Xie."

That was her honest truth.

Song Xi had said she definitely had feelings for Xie Chi, but those feelings had grown out of hardship, mixed with gratitude and dependency. It was best to tell them apart, or else it might look like "a debt too big to repay, so I'll just marry you."

Zhong Yao thought it over for a long time and figured Song Xi was right.

She didn't want to be misunderstood as repaying a favor by returning Xie Chi's feelings.

So she sincerely thanked him, thinking that by settling the debt between them, she could then ask him if he liked her.

But Xie Chi didn't know any of that.

Only one thought was running through his mind: She was being so serious just to thank him and call him a good person?

Even Xue Fang wouldn't bother to thank him!

Xie Chi's head buzzed with anger.

And then, someone with no sense of timing shouted from a distance, "Little sister? Where did you run off to?"

It was Zhong Lan, pulling up in a carriage.

Still a ways off, he only saw Zhong Yao talking to someone, not recognizing the person opposite her. Figuring it was a guard sent by the Crown Prince, he called out, "Come on, time to head back to the mansion."

Zhong Yao thought her big brother's timing couldn't be worse.

She'd just finished thanking him and hadn't asked the next thing yet.

But since Xie Chi was back in the capital, there was no hurry... and she couldn't bring herself to ask yet anyway.

...She was a little shy...

Zhong Yao quickly glanced at Xie Chi, who was standing in the falling snow, his eyes deep and a little cold.

She figured it was just the cold weather and didn't think much of it, tugged his sleeve and whispered, "Heir Xie, I need to head back to the mansion with my brother first. Tomorrow... or the day after, can you come see me? I have something I want to tell you..."

Her face turned red again.

Xie Chi heard her voice but didn't really process it. His mind kept replaying the Crown Prince's question: "If she has no feelings for you, what will you do?"

What would he do?

Let go like the Crown Prince, let Zhong Yao pick someone else, and find someone new himself?

Or...

"You just said..." Xie Chi started slowly, "You said I'm a good person?"

"Mm!" Zhong Yao nodded vigorously. "Heir Xie, you're the best person I've ever met!"

A flicker of coldness flashed in Xie Chi's eyes.

"I have to go now!"

Zhong Yao didn't notice. She was already walking toward Zhong Lan, but because she was reluctant to part from Xie Chi, she walked backward.

Snowflakes like goose feathers scattered all over her. This time, she wasn't a fluffy little dog or a trembling little mountain sparrow, but once again that lustrous, radiant pearl.

Xie Chi looked at Zhong Yao, once, twice, and thought to himself, not necessarily.

He had never claimed to be a good person.

Xie Chi nodded at Zhong Yao.

As she turned to walk toward Zhong Lan, he whistled. In the next moment, a horse nearby galloped over.

Xie Chi vaulted onto the horse with ease, squeezed its flanks, and it sped off.

"Zhong Yao," he called.

She had already reached the carriage and was about to climb in when she turned at his voice.

Zhong Lan, who had stepped out of the carriage to help his sister up, froze at the sight of Xie Chi riding over. "Heir Xie?"

Before he could even process when Xie Chi had returned to the capital, the man was already upon them.

But the horse didn't slow down.

Zhong Lan watched in shock as Xie Chi leaned low over the horse's back, one hand gripping the reins, the other arm reaching out toward his sister.

Before he could react, a scream rang out as Zhong Yao was snatched onto the horse's back. In the blink of an eye, horse and rider had galloped far away, leaving only a flurry of snow kicked up by hooves.

Zhong Lan: "...?"

But no one cared about him.

Zhong Yao was terrified. After her scream, she found herself held in Xie Chi's arms, sitting sideways on the horse.

The horse jolted, and she was scared, quickly wrapping her arms around Xie Chi's waist, her cheek pressed against his chest. After calming down for a moment, she looked up, still shaken, and asked, "Heir Xie, what are you doing? You scared me to death!"

As she looked up, her hood fell back.

Xie Chi glanced down at her, freed one hand to pull the hood back over her head, then adjusted her cloak, making sure the hand she had wrapped around his waist was tucked inside.

After doing all this, he finally said, "I'm losing my mind. Can't you tell?"

"...Huh?" Zhong Yao was startled.

This was really weird.

She tried to look at Xie Chi again.

They were too close; she had to crane her neck back to see his expression, but doing so made her hood fall off again.

Xie Chi once more pulled the hood over her head, then directly raised his hand, his broad palm pressing against the back of Zhong Yao's head. He took a deep breath, lowered his head, and through the thick, fluffy hood, kissed the top of her head firmly.

He kissed her once, then again, hard.

It was so forceful that Zhong Yao couldn't see it, but she could feel it.

She asked, "Heir Xie, why are you banging on my head?"

Xie Chi: "...Shut up!"

Zhong Yao didn't shut up. She asked again, "Where are you taking me so late? You didn't even tell my elder brother; he'll be worried soon."

Because her head was pressed down, her face was forced against Xie Chi's chest, and she couldn't lift it anymore. Her voice came out muffled from within his embrace.

"Selling you," Xie Chi said.

Zhong Yao was shocked. "Is your marquis manor that broke? Earlier, when I wanted to give you silver to thank you, you were acting all high and mighty?"

Xie Chi: "..."

He pressed her head down and kissed her again, hard, like he was letting off steam, then sped up.

The wind and snow were completely blocked by the cloak and Xie Chi's body. Zhong Yao could hear the howling wind and the horse's hooves, but she wasn't cold or scared.

She didn't know where Xie Chi was taking her or what he was going to do, but she felt at ease.

And excited, too.

She clung to Xie Chi, listening to his strong heartbeat, occasionally saying something to rile him up. After what seemed like forever, the horse finally stopped.

Xie Chi lifted Zhong Yao down. The moment her feet hit the snowy ground, she heard a familiar voice call out, "Third Miss? Finally back! How come you're later than the Second Young Master? Madam is getting anxious..."

Zhong Yao looked closely and realized they were at the entrance of her own mansion. It was the steward, who had been anxiously waiting for her and her elder brother to return.

The steward walked out as he spoke, only to see clearly when he reached them that it was Xie Chi, not Zhong Lan, who had returned with Zhong Yao.

"Heir Xie?"

Xie Chi ignored everyone else, staring only at Zhong Yao, and said bluntly, "Marry me, okay?"

Zhong Yao was still puzzled by his strange behavior. She turned her head and said, "Huh?"

"I've fallen for you. I like you. I want to marry you," Xie Chi repeated, more clearly this time. Then his voice turned stern, and he commanded, "Don't 'huh' me. Don't say I'm crazy. Just nod and say yes!"

Zhong Yao: "...Huh?"

She was still dazed—annoying and cute at the same time.

"Then it's a deal," Xie Chi said. "I'll send someone to propose in a few days."

After saying this, Xie Chi stepped forward and reached out toward Zhong Yao's cheek.

Her hood was still on, now covered with a thin layer of snow.

Xie Chi didn't remove the hood. Instead, he slipped his hand inside.

Like he'd imagined so many times, Xie Chi cupped Zhong Yao's face, lifted it slightly, and then, under her startled, dazed gaze, he looked at her, lowered his head, and pressed down—

—gently bumping his nose against hers.

After the touch, he pulled back slightly, staring straight into Zhong Yao's dark eyes, which held the shimmer of autumn waters, and said in a deep voice, "I could give you three more years, and that thick skull of yours still wouldn't get it, so I'm done waiting. Think what you want, Zhong Yao, but you're only marrying me."

After a brief pause, he added, "And I never claimed to be a good guy."

With that, he jumped on his horse and rode off into the snow, not giving a damn about anyone else.

By the time Zhong Lan came running after, all he found, besides the shocked steward, was Zhong Yao, her cheeks red, eyes wet, barely holding in a smile.