Chapter 43: Do You Also Think She’s Playing Hard to Get?

After Luo Qingyu helped Xiao Huaiqing away, a faint call came from beneath the plantain trees outside the courtyard wall.

"Your Ladyship..."

Su Yingyue wiped the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief and said indifferently, "Let's go back to the room."

The little maid did not dare to speak and hurriedly supported Su Yingyue as they left.

...

In Chief Steward Bai's study, after submitting the blueprints, Luo Qingyu looked at Xiao Huaiqing with a hint of worry.

"We should still have the estate doctor take a look," he suggested.

Chief Steward Bai quickly asked, "What has happened?"

Xiao Huaiqing was unwilling to speak, lowering his head. He looked as though he had suffered a heavy blow.

Luo Qingyu sighed and said, "Didn't you ask me to retrieve the blueprints from the Princess Consort? The Heir Apparent wanted to see them as well, but the Princess Consort refused, and a fight broke out."

"The Heir Apparent was injured, yet he refuses to let the estate doctor be called."

Chief Steward Bai stepped forward to check Xiao Huaiqing's pulse. Satisfied that he had sustained only superficial injuries, he remarked, "There are now skilled martial artists protecting the Princess Consort. Why must you court such humiliation?"

Luo Qingyu fell silent, not daring to mention that it was the Princess Consort herself who had beaten him.

Nor did Xiao Huaiqing say anything; it was simply too humiliating!

Chief Steward Bai continued, "The Princess Consort has finally seen the light."

"From now on, the Heir Apparent must not set himself against her. Otherwise, no one here can protect you."

With that, Chief Steward Bai wrote down what the Princess Consort had just discussed with him into a family letter, preparing to send it for the Prince to review.

He handed it directly to Xiao Huaiqing to read.

Xiao Huaiqing took it, his shock growing with every line. He raised his head and asked, "Did she really say all of this?"

Chief Steward Bai nodded.

"Once a person undergoes a sudden spiritual awakening, their temperament is bound to change. The Heir Apparent need not find it strange."

"Only, remember to show the Princess Consort greater respect from now on. In truth, there are some things this subordinate has long wished to say."

"You have always harbored prejudices against the Princess Consort and have repeatedly disparaged her before the Heir Consort. Even if the Heir Consort shows her outward respect, she may not truly revere her in her heart."

"Yet if you change your own attitude, the Heir Consort will naturally take note and weigh her own actions accordingly."

"Otherwise, this seemingly flourishing Prince's Manor will be nothing more than yet another arena of scheming and intrigue."

Xiao Huaiqing listened in silence. After a long while, he said, "Thank you, Uncle Bai. I understand."

Chief Steward Bai said with gratification, "It is good that you understand. The Princess Consort currently has no offspring. Even if she should have them in the future, given the Prince's fair and upright character, he would never make things difficult for you on her account. This manor will belong to you sooner or later."

"Therefore, the fact that the Princess Consort is willing to properly manage the manor is, from another perspective, advantageous to both you and the Heir Consort."

Having suffered a severe blow, Xiao Huaiqing was in extremely low spirits. He nodded at everything Chief Steward Bai said, looking as though he no longer wished to continue his confrontation with Lin Yue.

Yet upon returning to his quarters and seeing Su Yingyue coming forward to greet him, he asked subconciously, "Do you think the current Lin Yue is actually quite good?"

The hand with which Su Yingyue supported him tightened slightly, but she quickly resumed a normal expression and replied, "Of course. Previously, Mother Consort was... very strict, and required me to observe proper rules every day. Although these were all things I ought to have done, it left me very little time to accompany you."

"Now that Mother Consort no longer interferes with us, as a daughter-in-law, I will naturally discipline myself and the servants around me well, leaving even more time to take care of you."

"In fact, I have always wanted to tell you that there is no need to fear even if Mother Consort were to intervene in our affairs as husband and wife. Because Father will return to the manor sooner or later. By then, she might even have children of her own and will no longer have the time to manage us."

Xiao Huaiqing managed a faint smile. He did not need Su Yingyue to tell him these things; he was well aware of them himself.

Indeed, he had always cautioned himself thus. But from what moment had he forgotten all of this?

Was it when Lin Yue stopped paying attention to him, or when Lin Yue looked at him with such profound alienation?

Or perhaps just now, at the exact moment Lin Yue threw him heavily to the ground without a trace of hesitation?

When she saw him in pain, she could still say with a heart of stone that she truly felt pathetic for his father.

The truly pathetic one was not his father; it was him!

Xiao Huaiqing grasped Su Yingyue's hand and asked, "You have always been very filial to her, haven't you? Did you ever act submissive in her presence while defying her behind her back to anger her?"

A jolt went through Su Yingyue's heart, and she hurriedly asked, "Why would you ask such a thing?"

Xiao Huaiqing replied, "No particular reason, except that I vaguely remember she used to be a person of very gentle temperament."

Su Yingyue's face turned ashen. If Lin Yue was intent on dealing with her, how could she simply sit back and await her doom?

She knew what Lin Yue cared about most, so she wanted to make her desire it in vain and live out her life in misery.

Could it be... that Xiao Huaiqing had somehow learned of the things she had once said to provoke Lin Yue?

Su Yingyue hastily said, "When I married in, Mother Consort was already of that disposition. I never provoked her of my own accord, you must believe me."

She had never provoked her of her own accord, which meant she had not truly suffered endless bullying either.

No wonder that day when she suddenly fainted, Lin Yue knew she was faking it without even looking.

Only he had been played for a fool, mocked by everyone.

Xiao Huaiqing released Su Yingyue's hand and said with disappointment, "I always thought you were the purest and kindest of all, and that from beginning to end, it was Lin Yue who was wicked and vicious, bullying only you."

"Yingyue, it turns out there are times when even my eyes fail to see the truth clearly."

Anxiously, Su Yingyue reached out to take Xiao Huaiqing's hand again, explaining in a panic, "Huaiqing, listen to me, I truly never harmed her. It was she who kept targeting me and didn't want us to be together."

"Now she is merely playing hard-to-get with this behavior. Can't you see that?"

"Only by staying away from her can we live our lives properly. Let us leave the capital! Let us go to Father's fiefdom together and stop lingering in the capital."

Xiao Huaiqing shook off her hand and said coldly, "You too think she is playing hard-to-get?"

"No wonder Chief Steward Bai said the inner chambers are filled with scheming and intrigue. So you too thought of her that way in your heart—no wonder she was so furious!"

Su Yingyue said anxiously, "Isn't that so? How could someone like her ever truly let go?"

Xiao Huaiqing raged, "Someone like her—what kind of person is she? Do you really think you know her better than I do?"

"Leave the capital?"

"My father is still fighting on the battlefield, and you ask me to flee to the fiefdom. What would the world think of me?"

"Had you not insisted on marrying early, my original intention was to wait until my father returned to the capital for the wedding. He was absent from my grand ceremony, and now you still want me to run away—how can you be so selfish?"

Su Yingyue's face turned deadly pale, her eyes filled with a grief of utter disbelief.

She looked at Xiao Huaiqing in agony as hot tears streamed down her face, choking out, "Don't you know why I wanted to marry you so early?"

"You spent day and night in close proximity with that woman. Who could know if your heart would wander?"

"You yourself dared not be certain whether it would, which is why you went along with the flow and agreed. And now you turn around to blame me?"

"Xiao Huaiqing, we were betrothed since childhood and grew up together as sweethearts. You said you would cherish and protect me well! Yet now you shift all the blame onto me—is this how you love me?"

At these words, a flicker of self-reproach crossed Xiao Huaiqing's eyes, and his heart ached sharply.

Seeing Su Yingyue weeping so pitifully, her face bathed in tears like pear blossoms drenched in rain, he quickly softened and said, "I didn't mean to blame you. Of course, I am at fault too."

"I'm sorry, Yingyue, I'm just in too much pain. I don't know why things turned out this way either."

"Everything was perfectly fine, yet suddenly it feels as though all events have derailed completely. I don't know what to do anymore!"

Hearing this, Su Yingyue wept even more bitterly. She knew why!

But what use was knowing? Dared she speak the truth aloud?

Besides, she was already married to Xiao Huaiqing. A divorce now would bring her no benefits whatsoever and might even implicate the Su family, turning her parents into sinners of the clan. How could she stand by and watch such a catastrophe unfold?