Page 543

Lady Han finished tying Xiao Jinyu’s sash and lifted her cold eyes to look at him. Seeing him staring at her in silence, she reached out to caress his handsome face, which was a bit red from having just bathed.

"What are you daydreaming about?"

Snapping back to reality, Xiao Jinyu felt guilty as he took Lady Han’s hand and led her to the bed to sit down, pulling her into his embrace.

Lady Han naturally sat on his lap. Xiao Jinyu seemed a bit strange tonight, casting furtive glances and not daring to look at her, while usually he was very clingy.

She looked down at Xiao Jinyu, holding his handsome face in her hands, "Have you encountered some trouble?"

Xiao Jinyu guiltily looked away, wrapping his arms around her slender waist, burying his head in her neck, where he smelled the enticing fragrance, making him somewhat thirsty and restless.

"You smell so nice."

Lady Han had heard Xiao Jinyu mention the fragrance of her body a few times, but she could never smell it herself.

She looked down at the man on her body and noticed that the back of his neck was also red.

"How much alcohol did you drink tonight?"

"Not much. Look, I’m still very sober," Xiao Jinyu said, lifting his head to kiss Lady Han’s lips, his hands becoming restless.

Lady Han sensed Xiao Jinyu’s impatience, feeling his scorching skin through the thin fabric.

He was clearly drunk, yet he claimed he wasn’t...

"I have to marry someone else, and I know you’ll be angry," Xiao Jinyu confessed again, burying his face in her neck, too afraid to look up at her.

Lady Han’s expression froze, thinking she had misheard, and she asked, "What did you just say?"

Xiao Jinyu repeated somberly, "I can’t keep the promise I made to you. I have to marry someone else along with you."

Lady Han heard it clearly this time. Xiao Jinyu was going to marry someone else. Hadn’t he promised to marry only her? Now he was going to marry another?

"Marry whom?"

"The Empress Dowager wants me to marry Wanxin, and I failed to keep my promise to you," Xiao Jinyu said as he started to cry, feeling incredibly wronged.

Upon hearing Wanxin’s name, Lady Han frowned, suddenly recalling what Wanxin had said during the autumn hunting expedition. It appeared she was confident enough to make such a claim.

Just then, she felt a damp patch on her shoulder and then heard Xiao Jinyu say, "Lady Han, what am I supposed to do?"

Lady Han: "..." Shouldn’t she be the one to cry and make a fuss? What did this mean?

Xiao Jinyu was crying bitterly. "I don’t want to marry Wanxin."

Lady Han listened to Xiao Jinyu’s sobs, pained at heart and unable to bear it, she gently patted his back and tried to comfort him, "Then don’t marry her."

"But if I don’t, it might kill the Empress Dowager," Xiao Jinyu said, clinging to Lady Han, his tears never ceasing from the depths of his sorrow.

Lady Han had figured it out now. The old immortal was forcing Xiao Jinyu to marry Wanxin. Knowing Xiao Jinyu’s personality, he wouldn’t be pressured into marrying anyone against his will unless he wanted to.

But the old immortal was Xiao Jinyu’s beloved grandmother, who had cherished him since childhood. With his kind heart, how could he not be concerned about her well-being?

"Then marry her."

At her words, Xiao Jinyu felt his heart ache miserably. He suddenly looked up at Lady Han, "How can you let me marry another woman? You should be scolding me, forbidding me from marrying anyone else."

Lady Han looked at Xiao Jinyu, whose eyes were red from crying, heartbroken like a child. She took out a handkerchief to wipe away his tears.

"If I forbid you from marrying her, could you really not marry her?"

Xiao Jinyu paused, feeling as if a heavy stone blocked his heart, "The Empress Dowager... If I don’t marry and something happens to her, I could never forgive myself for the rest of my life. But if I marry Wanxin, I couldn’t forgive myself either."

Lady Han’s wiping paused, and she said coldly, "What if I asked you not to worry about the Empress Dowager, could you do that?"

Xiao Jinyu, crying, replied, "I can’t. The Empress Dowager was very kind to me when I was a child."

Lady Han stared steadily at Xiao Jinyu, finding him with eyes red from crying. Although she was the one wronged and the one who should be crying, he was far more upset and sorrowful than her.

Xiao Jinyu, noticing Lady Han’s silence, became panicked, "You can’t refuse to marry me."

Lady Han’s voice was clear and cold, "Then let’s get married."

Xiao Jinyu, feeling aggrieved, said, "But I don’t want to bring a woman I don’t like into our home to disturb our world just for the two of us."

Lady Han: "..."

Lady Han’s silence made Xiao Jinyu even more frantic. He took her hand to his chest, his voice still filled with grievance, "It hurts so much here, don’t you feel any pain?"