Chapter 75 Pleading: He Admitted Defeat.

Chapter 75: Pleading: He Admitted He Was Defeated

This act nearly cost Tian Qin half her life, stirring up a storm, devouring every breath from her lungs until she was on the verge of breaking. The more she tried to evade, the tighter he locked her head in his grip, leaving no room for escape.

It felt not like a kiss, but like drinking poison.

As her breath faded, Tian Qin's body grew weaker, and dark spots blurred her vision. Just as she thought she was about to die, the pressure on her neck suddenly released.

She gasped for air as if granted a reprieve, too weak to even escape his embrace. Xie Tanwei's eyes burned like ghostly flames, laden with deadly poison. His hand traced her silhouette with a touch as gentle as cold moonlight, etching deep marks of ownership—she was his, his to admire, his to hoard, her heart could only hold him, no one else could touch her, preferring shattered jade to intact tiles.

"You're not human…"

Tian Qin's voice was barely a whisper, "You're a demon."

"But you've fallen into the demon's hands," he said with cruel certainty, his fingertips still warm.

"What's the point of this?"

Crossing the boundary of lips was even more disgusting than bed play. She didn't like him, he didn't like her, yet he forced such intimacy, making her feel more humiliated than ever before.

"To make you obedient,"

Xie Tanwei sneered softly.

Tian Qin's butterfly-like lashes trembled, frozen still.

Some struggles were doomed from the start. It would have been better if she hadn't pleaded for Xu Junzheng in the first place.

Xie Tanwei had been furious, but seeing her like a fallen moon, still and beautiful in her helplessness, he found her occasional mischief worthwhile. At least it gave him a reason to punish her, and a reminder not to soften toward her—she wasn't that docile.

Tian Qin's lips were swollen and dry, her heart pounding so fiercely it filled her mouth. A faint trace of blood seeped from the corner of her lips, like freshly picked pomegranate red.

She rubbed her lips hard, grinding her teeth. "What if Second Sister sees this? How would I explain?"

"Whatever."

"She's my full-blooded eldest sister."

"And she's my wife,"

Xie Tanwei pinched her cheek and smiled, forcing her to endure the tyranny of his affection. "Who do you think she'll believe?"

"And even if she finds out, what does it matter? Don't be naive enough to think she doesn't know. She's been behind all of this from the start."

From the beginning, she had been chosen by the Yu family to be Xie's concubine, but she had managed to escape by trickery. Later, when the Yu family fell, Yu Yuan, He Shi, and even Second Sister Xian Qiu, in order to save themselves, personally handed her back as a bargaining chip to his bed.

"I don't enjoy being sneaky—I'm not that depraved…"

Xie Tanwei's cold laugh echoed endlessly, full of feigned tenderness. "I simply enjoy you, little sister."

If it were anyone else, like that Kuju or whatever, he wouldn't take them, whether in secret or not.

He had simply set his heart on her, that was all.

Tian Qin shuddered, suddenly recalling the actors at the Yangchun Theatre—none of them could match even a fraction of Xie Tanwei's acting skill. He could seamlessly switch from brother-in-law to demon, without any humanity or guilt. She was the only spectator trapped in an impenetrable darkness, her mouth tightly covered.

The kiss was one thing, the struggle another—Xu Junzheng's matter was far from over.

As someone who kept meticulous accounts, Xie Tanwei had already spared Xu Junzheng once during the imperial exam scandal. This time, he would not be so lucky.

During the Spring Purification ritual, a commoner had caused a disturbance and stolen an earring, and the guards on duty were punished.

After all, the vermillion gates were vermillion gates, and the wooden gates were wooden—the line had to be drawn clearly. With so many women present at the ritual, if that impoverished scholar had hidden a lady's handkerchief or accidentally touched one, ruining her reputation, it would have destroyed that woman's life.

Xian Qiu, as the Clan Matriarch, had spared no effort in organizing the Spring Purification. Seeing it ruined by Xu Junzheng, all her hard work wasted, she feared offending the Xie family and, even more, offending Xie Tanwei. For days, she had been gloomy, and her recurring headache had flared up again.

At breakfast one morning, Tian Qin's lips were unusually red and swollen. Xian Qiu only offered a faint word of concern before turning to discuss other matters with Xie Tanwei—she knew well that her husband was a demon in human skin, fickle and unfaithful, but that didn't stop her from loving him.

Xian Qiu continued to play her role as the clan matriarch. What Tian Qin saw as Xie Tanwei's cruelty, Xian Qiu saw as care and favor. The fact that her husband visited Tian Qin every night and even tolerated Tian Qin's illicit relationship with Xu Junzheng made her, the legitimate wife, burn with jealousy.

After the meal, Xian Qiu sent Tian Qin away. Clutching her chest, she coughed a few times and spoke privately to Xie Tanwei: "Husband, what do you think of Tian'er? Father and mother are far away at the border, and I and Tian'er, my sister, depend on each other. Now that I'm ill, I can't bear to see her married far away. Why don't you take her as a proper concubine, so she can be by my side forever?"

Xian Qiu had wanted to ask this for a long time. For the sake of her dying Yu family and her position as the matriarch, she finally compromised.

To her surprise, Xie Tanwei was used to the quiet, and adding another wife would only cause trouble. "Let's talk later."

Xian Qiu wanted to argue. "Husband clearly has feelings for Tian Qin…"

Xie Tanwei interrupted, covering her cold hand with his own. "I promised you, one lifetime, one pair."

Xian Qiu was deeply moved, swallowing the rest of her words.

"I thought I could only have one lifetime with you if I were pregnant,"

she said slowly, her eyes moist.

"What does that have to do with pregnancy?"

Xie Tanwei replied calmly. Seeing her deeply sorrowful, he added, "Of course, if you recover from your illness and truly continue the Xie bloodline, then we won't need to keep our sister anymore. We'll just raise our own child."

Xian Qiu's eyes lit up with impossible joy.

"Husband, do you mean it?"

In that moment, she felt he was the best man in the world, beyond compare.

Xie Tanwei hummed in response, washed his hands, and left.

Xian Qiu's heart surged. His promise echoed in her ears like a ray of sunlight breaking through dark clouds. She even wanted to write those words down, lock them in a box, and read them ten times a day, as a sweet treat for the long days ahead.

She pondered Xie Tanwei's behavior, her heart full then empty, then full again. She didn't understand why Xie Tanwei was reluctant to make Tian Qin an official concubine. Perhaps it would tarnish his reputation as a saintly teacher, or perhaps it was just a fleeting interest—he found it more entertaining to toy with Tian Qin this way. After the recent Xu Junzheng incident, he might have been disappointed in Tian Qin. Or perhaps… he actually cared a little about her feelings, which was why he delayed taking a concubine.

His gaze earlier clearly questioned, "Are you willing to push your husband to someone else?"

She couldn't help but smile, the clouds parting.

He had promised to eventually marry Tian Qin off and stay with her for a lifetime. That promise would be kept, for the time being, until she was cured of her stone disease and became pregnant.

Heaven have mercy, let her recover soon.

…

Night. The bamboo leaves in the garden rustled against each other, and the spring wind whistled through the tips.

The bright moon hung high, and the pitch-black sky was dotted with stars.

By the water's edge, Tian Qin leaned on Xie Tanwei's shoulder, her scattered clothes draped loosely. Her body felt boneless. Dragonflies hovered, and the early summer heat was already thick and humid. She said gloomily, "Brother-in-law, can you really not spare Xu Junzheng? There's nothing between him and me."

The garden was quiet, the trees drooping low, insects chirping. Hearing no response, she continued, "Even if I wanted something to happen, it's impossible. The engagement was annulled long ago, and you personally witnessed it. I've given my body to you, Brother-in-law, so naturally, my heart is yours too. If you ever don't want me to cling to you, I won't. But until then, I will always stay by your side. What can a down-and-out scholar accomplish?"

"If my brother-in-law is angry, there's no need to be too lenient—just spare his life, break his legs, and drive him out of the capital like the Yu family, to the borderlands, pestilent lands, deep mountains and forests... anywhere is fine. I simply don't want him to die before my eyes; that would dirty my hands and weigh on my conscience."

After that kiss, their relationship had imperceptibly grown closer. Tian Qin had learned to calmly state what she wanted, negotiate in a soft tone, lay out the terms of the deal, and then bargain.

He was not an unreasonable man. When her terms touched upon his sensitive points, the chances of success were higher.

Bamboo shadows were fine and slender. Xie Tanwei's robes fluttered in the night breeze, casting a few ripples on the lake's surface. For a long time, he showed no emotion. "My little sister-in-law has already made the arrangements for me, so why ask again?"

"In the end, it's still my brother-in-law who has the final say." Her warm, gentle gaze fluttered softly in the evening breeze as she lifted her head to look up at him. Her lips happened to brush against his chin, and she kissed him over and over, willingly driven by the Love Gu to lose herself.

Xie Tanwei was captivated by her. He held the back of her head, deepening the light, fleeting kiss. Under the moonlight, the rippling spring water shimmered; the kiss completely chased away the night’s drowsiness, and their excited hearts resonated in the smacking sounds of their contact.

Since that first kiss, he had tasted the forbidden fruit.

"I'm not hell-bent on killing him. He's just a lowly nobody, not worth the extra thought."

Xie Tanwei’s expression shifted faintly, a cold, pale‑green glint in the moonlight, as he tenderly stroked her skin, his caress unbroken. "But if I don't kill him, how can your heart truly die, little sister-in-law?"

"My heart died long ago. You revived it, and now it beats only for you."

Tian Qin intertwined her fingers with his, pressing their palms tightly together, and placed his hand over her wildly beating heart. That was the source of the Love Gu—all her control over him originated from there, and she willingly let herself be controlled.

"Have you forgotten what you planted in me, brother-in-law? That is your only pair of Love Gu—an unbreakable bond, a spiritual chain that ties us together undeniably. I am yours, and you are mine. There's no need to guard against others, and no one else can ever intrude."

Xie Tanwei listened to her sophistry. Through the gaps in the bamboo leaves, dappled moonlight shone everywhere. Such a tender scene made him lose any desire to argue. He sank into it, letting her have her way in everything.

"Really? I'm afraid you'll deceive me again, little sister-in-law."

Tian Qin pressed her forehead against his, her voice thick with emotion. "No, I will never deceive my brother-in-law."

Xie Tanwei accepted this, knowing it was a lie yet still wallowing in it. A person truly doesn’t have to be sharp all the time; a little confusion now and then lets you enjoy happiness.

"I see..."

To be honest, killing or not killing Xu Junzheng really didn't matter—it was as simple as snapping his fingers. If Tian Qin could truly please him, then just tormenting him without killing would be fine.

He recalled a story in a folktale where someone spared the enemy's son after wiping out the family, only to be later killed by that son in revenge. If he showed foolish kindness now, would he be killed by Xu Junzheng in the future?

After all, a scholar should be viewed with new eyes after three days' separation. Don't judge Xu Junzheng by his current pitiful state; he might accomplish great things later.

He admitted he had fallen for her. He was no longer as cold toward Tian Qin as before, and was even willing to tolerate his love rival for her sake. If not for Tian Qin, Xu Junzheng would have died a thousand times over.

To be muddle-headed in matters of the heart was a great taboo.

But so what? He truly had Tian Qin in his heart—he loved to see her smile and be happy, and didn’t want to see her die young like in her previous life.

For now, he would enjoy the present. When he grew tired of it, he would deal with it later.