Recklessly Breaking a Delicate Branch - Chapter 45

Upon hearing those words, Jiang Wanshu was momentarily at a loss for how to explain. Recovering her wits, she feigned indifference, speaking in a lazy yet pitiable tone:

“After I was rescued, I stayed in that hunter’s home. Although his bed was small, it was more than enough for me alone. In fact, even when I slept on it, there was plenty of space left over. Since I was new there and terrified of sleeping in a strange place by myself, I would place a thick quilt on the other side of the bed to fill the empty space that made me feel uneasy. Over time, it just became a habit.”

This speech of Jiang Wanshu’s was enough to move Yunjie to tears.

With reddened eyes and a face full of regret, Yunjie sobbed, “It’s all the fault of this servant and Fengshu for not accompanying the Princess during the peace marriage. If we had, the Princess wouldn’t have suffered so much.”

Distressed to see Yunjie’s tears, Jiang Wanshu raised a hand and gently wiped the droplets from beneath her eyes. “You and Fengshu were originally my Mother Queen’s people. Now that I’ve been married off, it was only right for you to return to her side. There is no talk of owing anyone anything.”

“I simply feel heartache for the Princess.”

Fengshu and Yunjie were daughters of loyal servants who had served the Mother Queen; it was because of this bond that the Queen had allowed them to serve by Jiang Wanshu’s side.

Because the old servants loved their daughters and didn’t want them leaving the palace, Jiang Wanshu had heard that when the Queen sent them here, she had promised that once the Princess was married and granted her own manor, they would return.

Jiang Wanshu shared a bond with them, but it wasn’t one of absolute intimacy. To this, she remained somewhat detached.

However, the girl before her was younger than her, and seeing her cry reminded Jiang Wanshu of her own younger brother, causing her voice to soften instinctively.

The sound of weeping in the bedroom gradually died down into silence. Yet, Jiang Wanshu remained unaware of the sound of dry leaves being crushed by a hand near the window.

In front of this palace maid, Jiang Wanshu was actually complaining that his bed was small!

Was this not a blatant lie?

Back then, in order to let Jiang Wanshu sleep on a softer, more comfortable large bed, he had personally tinkered with it. Now that she had regained her status, she was starting to slander him?

If they ever found out about the true nature of their relationship in the future, wouldn’t they scold him for treating her poorly in the past?

He didn’t usually care about such things, but hearing her claim he had mistreated her—coming from Jiang Wanshu’s own mouth—felt incredibly unsettling.

Outside the window, among the piles of withered leaves on the ground, there was a sudden “crack” as the dry foliage crumbled in the man’s palm.

Zhou Yan turned and strode away. It wasn’t until after Jiang Wanshu had finished hosting the crowd of princes and princesses who had come to watch the spectacle and night had fallen again that Zhou Yan finally appeared.

His sudden appearance gave Jiang Wanshu a fright. Looking at the man sprawled brazenly across the bed, she instantly flared up in anger. “Can you stop being so ghostly? You’re scaring people to death.”

“It’s just that Wanwan has a short memory. I’m on the bed every time I look for you; it’s hardly a rare occurrence.” Zhou Yan was in a playful mood, his arms crossed and his eyes sparkling with some hidden, mischievous scheme.

His words were ambiguous, trailing between serious and teasing, causing Jiang Wanshu’s ears to flush red.

Jiang Wanshu sat on the bed, instinctively backing away from Zhou Yan to create some distance. In the next second, she was abruptly pulled back by him—and this time, she was pulled even closer.

At such close proximity, Zhou Yan lowered his gaze to look at her. The girl’s skin was white as curdled fat, and her eyelashes were as dark and curled as raven feathers.

The way she blinked nervously caused her lashes to quiver; from his angle, they looked like tiny fans, fluttering against his heart strings.

Zhou Yan chuckled and released his hold on her, watching her with a composed, expectant air. “I heard that someone is complaining my bed is too small and that I mistreat people?”

The moment he spoke, Jiang Wanshu froze, then gave him a dry, forced smile. “Where did you hear that?”

She was utterly baffled. How on earth had he heard those words?

Now she was in trouble. He had caught a weakness he could use to needle her. A petty man like him would surely seize upon that sentence to tease her relentlessly.

“I heard it loud and clear from outside the window. Wanwan, you’ve grown quite bold; you’ve become quite adept at spreading rumors.” As he spoke, Zhou Yan smiled, his hand pressing against the girl’s thigh and lightly tapping it.

In the quiet space, the rhythmic sound of his palm hitting flesh echoed. Zhou Yan narrowed his eyes, admiring Jiang Wanshu’s contradictory expression—the desire to pull away warring with the need for restraint.

The force of the man’s tapping wasn’t heavy, yet it carried a hint of desire. Jiang Wanshu, displeased with being treated this way, quietly shifted her leg away.

“You heard it too. At the time, Yunjie was about to see through our relationship. By saying that, she stopped suspecting. It was just an emergency tactic; how can you call it a rumor?”

She realized that staying by Zhou Yan’s side had made her capable of spouting nonsense right to his face.

Truly, this man’s way of speaking was so unpredictable that she didn’t bother with logic anymore, knowing he wouldn’t actually mistreat her.

Hearing her rambling nonsense, Zhou Yan actually laughed. He caught the words she had just let slip. “What kind of relationship are you afraid of Yunjie discovering?”

Even if Jiang Wanshu hadn’t happened to mention it today, Zhou Yan would have demanded an answer eventually.

No matter what, he had to hear her admit they were husband and wife. Even if her heart didn’t match her words, at least some part of her would have to acknowledge it.

At the mention of this, Jiang Wanshu’s mind couldn’t help but recall their former intimacy beneath the covers. Since some unknown point in time, whenever she thought of their relationship, she thought of the intense sensations when they were joined as one.

It was undeniable—even though she had been extremely unwilling to let Zhou Yan near her at first, once he became passionate and towering, she too could feel that subtle, strange thrill.

As a girl with very little experience in such matters, the mere thought caused a crimson flush to creep from her ears to her cheeks and down her neck, leaving her whole body simmering with heat.

Zhou Yan hadn’t intended to take it to that extent; he simply thought she was stubbornly refusing to answer.

“Speak.” The man’s voice was low and magnetic, drawing her in like a lodestone.

Jiang Wanshu thought it over and over, but in the end, she couldn’t withstand Zhou Yan’s burning gaze. She stammered out, “Of… of course it’s a husband and wife relationship.”

With a “thud,” the heart encased within Zhou Yan’s chest suddenly leaped, pounding with one heavy throb after another.

He had not expected her to admit to their relationship so easily.

He had thought that to get her to acknowledge what they were, he would inevitably have to resort to threats first. In truth, Jiang Wanshu was equally shocked; she hadn’t realized the words would slip out with such ease. Sensing the man’s burning gaze, she realized she had lost her composure. To steady herself, she searched for a way to rationalize her actions.

It’s fine, she told herself. He had saved her from danger time and again, cared for her personally, held her quietly when her spirit was frayed, and taken her to see the vast mountains and seas when she was bored. He treated her well—it was a life she had never known before. Aside from the fact that he had forcibly abducted her to be his wife, Zhou Yan had truly been devoted to her.

Thinking deeply, Zhou Yan was surprisingly more attentive and kinder to her than anyone else in her life. At the very least, he did the things her Father Emperor and Mother Queen never had the time or energy to do: he focused entirely on her. Since he had already confessed his feelings, she decided to treat this admission as a reward for him.

At least, she could use this excuse to calm her racing heart.

While her heart settled under this logic, Zhou Yan’s heart began to surge. His handsome face carried an expression of pure disbelief. Watching his strange behavior, Jiang Wanshu felt a sudden shiver.

Was this man brewing some kind of mischief in his head?

Sure enough, she knew him well. Suddenly, a wicked smirk played in Zhou Yan’s eyes. “My Wanwan finally has some self-awareness.”

Her already flushed face grew even hotter at his breezy remark. Her temperature rose several degrees, making it impossible for him not to notice her agitation. Looking at the girl who had been as red as a ripe apple since before she spoke, Zhou Yan finally realized what was happening.

He recalled the chaotic scenes they had shared—how she would start off unwilling but eventually be worn down by his persistence until she was lost in pleasure. The smile on his face widened. It was true; she was a girl who enjoyed new sensations, but her pride and awkwardness usually kept her in check.

If he could envision such scenes from her words, how could Jiang Wanshu not have realized it herself?

Combined with a face so red it looked ready to drip water—a normal girl’s shyness wouldn’t manifest quite like this unless she was thinking of something specific. At this moment, Jiang Wanshu was like a clear mirror before him; her thoughts had nowhere to hide.

Zhou Yan was in a grand mood. He raised his hand toward her face, and seeing her tiny, blood-red earlobe, his playful side took over. He pinched her left earlobe between his fingers, rubbing it gently as he spoke in a lingering tone, “Wanwan, why is your ear so scalding hot?”

The man’s fingers were cool, but pressing against such a warm, soft spot did nothing to soothe her. Instead, it made her heart tremble even more. Startled by his words, her spirit wavered, and she couldn’t even manage a defense. “I… I…”

She stopped, unable to argue, leaving her at the mercy of his kneading fingers.

But just as Jiang Wanshu was frantically trying to recover her wits, Zhou Yan suddenly pulled her onto the canopy bed. He cupped her face—bright as the autumn moon—and pressed his thin lips directly against her pink mouth.

The heat from his body was boiling, and the force of his kiss carried his signature wildness as he licked and bit at her tender flesh. Jiang Wanshu was startled by the suddenness of it; she opened her mouth to protest and pushed against his chest, but in that split second, her small tongue was caught by a sudden, moist entanglement. She shrank back, trying to hide her tongue elsewhere.

Unfortunately, she was never his match in this regard. He unilaterally suppressed the girl who had just given him such a surprising answer.

The man was young and brimming with vitality. Back on the grasslands, his daily work mostly involved heavy physical labor. Now that he was a man of leisure, he had so much pent-up energy that he needed an outlet. Her words had stirred the ripples in his heart, and he could not resist such provocation.

His movements grew more practiced and fluid within her mouth, eventually leaving her so breathless and exhausted that she stopped struggling. When Zhou Yan felt the body beneath him stop moving desperately, he knew she had reached her limit.

His breathing was heavy. He was reigning in his unspent strength, his lips just about to pull away to let her catch her breath, when—without warning—the bedroom door was swung open.

The layout of the bedroom offered a straight line of sight; anyone entering only had to turn their head slightly to see the entire room.

And there, reflected upon the screen embroidered with red “Twin Lotus” flowers, were two silhouettes—one body heaving atop the other. Under the glow of the candlelight, the image was unmistakably vivid.

A “thud” echoed as something dropped to the floor. In the silent bedroom, a scream suddenly pierced the air.

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