Chapter 4
One night, I told him, “I am Wen Lanyu, daughter of Senior Grand Secretary Wen.”
Surprise flashed through his eyes.
Then, in the dim cabin light, a dark, mocking smile slowly formed on his lips. It was cold enough to make my skin prickle.
He left the disordered bed and leaned against the window to study me. The cramped cabin grew suffocatingly still. His gaze felt like torture.
At last he asked, “You approached me because you knew who I was.”
Yes.
I had approached him with ulterior motives.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
He laughed once. “No one has ever deceived me before.”
His expression was so remote that I suddenly doubted whether a brief affair could hold him.
Barefoot, I crossed the cabin and wrapped my arms around his waist.
“Do not push me away.”
He did.
Shamelessly, I clung harder.
“Yanzhi.”
His resistance faltered.
“Yanzhi, please. Do not push me away.”
His body stiffened. At last, he stopped fighting me.
The women in the brothel had taught me that weakness and tears were a woman’s finest weapons. At the time, I possessed nothing. Dignity, shame—I could discard all of it.
I only needed to deceive him until he willingly let me use him.
Tears struck the cold floorboards.
False tenderness came naturally to me.
Then one sentence shattered the performance.
“Wen Lanyu, do you know what is most common in the palace?”
With my face against his chest, I muttered, “I have never been there. How would I know?”
He smiled coldly.
“Schemes. False affection. Deception and murder.
“Weak tears hide sharpened edges. Sincere smiles overflow with poison.
“Wen Lanyu, your acting is dreadful.”
Only then did I realize what a clumsy player I was before him. My arms around his waist suddenly felt ridiculous.
I let go. “Is that so?”
He stared at me, severe and cold. “You give up the moment you are exposed?”
This Xing Ye seemed nothing like the gentle Yanzhi I knew. His tenderness drowned people; his coldness terrified them. He wore a thousand faces without effort. No wonder my performance amused him.
“What else should I do?”
His mouth tightened. “Keep acting.
“A poor performance can still fool a willing audience.”
He suddenly caught my waist and pulled me against him. He was much taller, and his presence pressed the air from my lungs.
“Are you mocking me?”
“Be honest with yourself, Wen Lanyu.
“I enjoy being with you. I do not care whether your affection is false or true.
“Whatever you want, I can give you.
“We will each take what we need.”
For a moment, I could only stare.
So it could be that simple.
I rose on my toes and kissed his cool, thin lips.
“Very well. I will satisfy Your Highness.
“As for what I want…I want to return to the Wen residence.
“A widow cannot live with dignity easily. I want Your Highness to make them take me back and let me live there with respect.”
He kissed me in return. “You will have what you want.”
Then he began collecting his payment.
“Are you not afraid?” I asked. “They say my fate is so hard that I bring death to those around me.”
His dimple appeared. “I do not believe in fate.”
He looked harmless and good, but beneath that mask he was cunning, brooding, and fathomlessly calculating.
That was the real Xing Ye.