Chapter 41: You Should Pay the Price for Your Actions

Chapter 41: You Should Pay for Your Actions

Pei Yuhuai's legs were trembling, and he bit his lip, letting out a muffled groan as he clung tightly to Lan He's arm. "No, I can't... I can't take it anymore."

"Hmm? What kind of 'can't'?"

"Ah..."

Pei Yuhuai's toes were curling, his vision going hazy as if he were being pulled into an abyss.

He pulled Lan He over, firmly gripping the back of his head and pressing him into his chest, panting urgently. "Hurry up, hurry up, stop dawdling."

Though this spot was hidden, they were still outside the room. If someone saw them, he wouldn't even know what hit him.

Lan He smiled and bit his fingertip. "Alright, as the young lord wishes."

This time,

he didn't feed him that memory-altering drug. After all, it had no effect on him last time, which meant Pei Yuhuai had already accepted that he was the submissive one.

Since he'd accepted it, there was no need to waste the drug.

Pei Yuhuai didn't know if the drug had taken effect, but it didn't matter; whether it had or hadn't, it was the same.

He had only one thought now: he wanted it!

He wanted it badly.

He clung like an octopus, using all his limbs.

He thought, "So be it."

Even if he could never be on top, even if he fell into the abyss, even if he was doomed beyond redemption.

It was all fine.

Who could blame him when Lan He, that demon monk, was so skilled in the art of the bedchamber, and was devastatingly handsome, easy on the eyes. No matter how you looked at him, he was perfect.

Mwah.

He couldn't help it; he cupped his face and planted a fierce kiss on him.

Lan He's eyes reddened, and he nearly went weak.

"You little devil."

A hoarse, cracked voice exploded by his ear.

Pei Yuhuai's suppressed gasps grew more erratic, becoming bolder, forgetting where he was.

He thought... he might as well sink into this oblivion.

In the flower bushes not far away, someone gasped in disbelief, stumbling back and rustling the plants.

Pei Yuhuai snapped back to reality. "Who? Is someone there?"

"Hush, there's no one, just a night cat."

Lan He lowered his head to kiss his brows and eyes, stroking his flushed face. He lifted his hands and pressed him against the rockery.

Even louder sounds spilled from his throat.

The figure by the flower bushes stumbled a few anxious steps, looked up, and met Lan He's mocking gaze.

The red mark on his forehead, a symbol of the Buddha, and the string of prayer beads around his neck felt bitterly ironic and lamentable at this moment.

More importantly,

he clearly saw him, knew the dirty secret was exposed. Why wasn't he afraid at all, and even unwilling to stop?

Ji Huaiyu's face darkened to an extreme.

In that brief moment,

he saw Pei Yuhuai's face, saw him with eyes closed and neck arched, crystal beads of sweat sliding from his chin and dripping onto the man's robes.

He saw Pei Yuhuai obediently take the prayer beads Lan He offered into his mouth, rolling them between his lips, pulling out silvery strands, then slipping into his collar.

He even saw the large patches of porcelain-white skin crossed with red marks on Pei Yuhuai's neck, wanton and burning with lust.

Pei Yuhuai at this moment was unlike any version he'd ever seen.

Ji Huaiyu's eyes turned red with rage.

He wanted to rush up and beat Lan He to a pulp, but the moment he met his gaze, he instinctively shrank back. Only after fleeing in panic did he realize.

Why was he running?

It wasn't his dirty deed, nor was he the one having an affair in broad daylight. What did he have to fear?

Lan He, a Buddhist monk, was having an affair with a man.

If he spread this around, both of them would be finished, completely and utterly ruined. Then Pei Yuhuai would be condemned by everyone and rejected by heaven itself.

Would he turn to the dark side then?

Ji Huaiyu sneered.

He leaned against the wall, trembling all over. The scene from moments ago replayed over and over in his mind—the two of them entwined and kissed tightly behind the rockery.

Recklessly.

So, he'd already been hooking up with Lan He all along.

No wonder he wouldn't accept him.

Once he calmed down, Ji Huaiyu's eyes blazed with towering rage and jealousy. His fists clenched with cracking sounds.

"Pei Yuhuai, since you won't start over with me, then you forced me to do this, you forced me. You should pay for your wantonness."

Ji Huaiyu's face turned vicious, and he returned to the wedding banquet with a dark expression.

When he got back, Qu Ying had already returned. Noticing his bad mood, she asked with curiosity, "What's wrong? You look awful. Did you drink too much?"

Ji Huaiyu picked up his wine cup and lowered his head, hiding his hate-filled eyes. In a muffled voice, he said, "Probably drank too much, feeling a bit sick."

"I told you to drink less, didn't I? What's with all the drinking?"

"Mm."

"You're acting strange. Are you sure you're okay? If you're really feeling bad, why not head back to the mansion first? Or crash in the guest room at the marquis's estate?"

"In a bit. It wouldn't look good to leave now."

"True."

They talked a bit more, and Ji Huaiyu snapped out of his earlier mood, before it hit him that Lan He was the male lead of this world.

And Pei Yuhuai was the villain—a love-crazed villain at that, the female lead's simp.

That was why he had butted in before Pei Yuhuai and the female lead could develop feelings, using his ultimate lovesickness to push him over to the dark side.

And now it's come to this.

If the male lead and the villain had ended up together, then what about the female lead?

Ji Huaiyu asked in a low voice, "Did you just go out to do the mission? What about Princess Ruoning?"

Qu Ying gave a mysterious smile. "Of course. How could I pass up such a great chance?"

"And Princess Ruoning? What did you do?"

"I took her somewhere and slipped her something. Teehee, don't worry, this time it's guaranteed. Even if the main storyline gets delayed, it's still the main storyline."

Ji Huaiyu suddenly had a bad feeling.

He frowned and lowered his voice further. "You pulled that same stunt again?"

"It's different, but basically the same." Qu Ying looked at him oddly. "Why are you so strange today? This is part of the main plot anyway. Last time it failed because Pei Yuhuai interfered, for sure. This time, without him causing trouble, it's bound to succeed."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely sure. I sent someone to lure Lan He over, and I saw him show up. There's no problem at all. Even if he does nothing, just showing up is enough to cause trouble."

"..."

Ji Huaiyu started to speak several times but held back.

He had seen with his own eyes Lan He and Pei Yuhuai carrying on behind the rock garden, disheveled, committing acts that defied all decency. How could Lan He be at the female lead's place at the same time?

Unless he's a ghost who can be in two places at once.

So what about the female lead?

Who went to her place?