The wedding feast in Princess Changxing's mansion didn't end until the midnight. On the way back to Duke of Yan's mansion, Song Yixiao lifted a bit of the curtain and saw the falling snow. She recalled that the compliment about “perfect couple and living together till old age” and couldn't help sneering. Suddenly, she just threw down the curtain.

Having drunk some wine at the feast, Jian Xubai was resting with his head leaning against the carriage. When he heard the noise, he opened his eyes and asked, “What's wrong?”

“It's too windy.” Song Yixiao raised her arm without looking at him, saying indifferently, “The wind blew across the curtain.”

Hearing that, Jian Xubai instantly fetched the cloak and put it on her, saying in a soft voice, “Do you feel cold?”

Song Yixiao nodded her head aloofly, “I'm okay.”

Jian Xubai stared at her for a while and heaved a sigh. Then he closed his eyes and leaned back.

A grudge had been harbored between them since the a.s.sa.s.sination happened.

Jian Xubai tried his best to patch things up but Song Yixiao just didn't cooperate.

She didn't make any fuss or even express her grievance. What she did was only to remain polite and distant from Jian Xubai, no matter how he courted her.

Under the circ.u.mstance, no one dared to advise Song Yixiao but Ms. Zhao. However, her words also made no difference this time.

Song Yixiao told her roughly about the story and then said, “My father has abandoned me and my mother wishes to distance from me as she finds it unfavorable for her to be close to me! My parents are both unreliable. I do want to get along well with my husband. To my disappointment, he risked my life to set up a trap just in order to get rid of some servants! How can I stand being with him? What is the point of living such a life!”

Sensing of the suicidal intention of Song Yixiao, Ms. Zhao was frightened to instant silence. She didn't want to see the child that she brought up commit suicide.

Song Yixiao's words somehow reached Jian Xubai's ears. He got even sorrier for her. As a matter of fact, Song Yixiao was furious only for a while after she found out the truth. Afterwards, she gradually cooled down.

After all, only the lucky dog could have a free lunch. Since she had such parents as Song Yuan and Wei Mengying, she was clearly not a lucky dog. How could she fancy having a meteoric rise at no cost? Moreover, this time she was more scared than hurt. She didn't suffer much loss.

However, since Jian Xubai could deceive and use her, she could follow his example. These days Jian Xubai knew that he was in the wrong. The colder she was, the more obedient he was to her. Why would Song Yixiao be nice to him?

The carriage returned to Duke of Yan's mansion through the blizzard. The servants had prepared the hot water, soup for soothing hangover and dessert. When they saw that the master and mistress arrived back, they hastily advanced to serve.

Due to Song Yixiao's indifference, Jian Xubai didn't say anything. They cleaned up quietly and then went into the inner chamber together. After they both lay down in bed, Jian Xubai deliberately pressed his hand against his wife's elbow.

After sensing that, Song Yixiao slightly frowned and failed to pull her arm off his hand despite struggle. She had to shout, “Let go of my arm!”

“What?” Jian Xubai turned his head to look at her innocently. Obviously, he intended to play dumb.

“Take your hands off me!” Song Yixiao said unhappily, “Too heavy. I feel pain!”

Jian Xubai finally loosened his hands, but when Song Yixiao took away her arms, he took the opportunity to hold her wrists, sighing, “It has been more than a month. Even Wei Chan has almost got well and you still don't want to talk with me?”

In light of his character, he would never talk so tolerantly before.

Song Yixiao thought to herself, “Is it enough by far?”

Now it was obviously unwise to fall out with Jian Xubai. If she left Duke of Yan's mansion, she had nowhere to go. Since she was married to Jian Xubai, got used by him and even had a near-death experience, it would be too stupid of her to divorce him now after paying such a huge price.

“What can I talk with you?” Song Yixiao weighed and balanced, and in the end, she decided to end on good note. After all, given Jian Xubai's ident.i.ty and appearance, there were always girls throwing themselves on him. She didn't want to incur an insidious problem for herself in a fit of pique.

Even if it was not an insidious problem, it would annoy her to have a few concubines in the mansion!

Therefore, she fermented her emotions in her mind and said with a sob, “As a saying goes, a woman follows her husband no matter what his lot is. Especially for a girl like me, who is not loved by the parents, I can never go back after getting married. What else can I do but to resign myself to my fate? I can only muddle along with no thought of tomorrow!”

As she said that, she shed tears silently.

Jian Xubai instantly stopped smiling.

He stayed silent for a while and then struggled to say, “It's not what you think.”

“Then what is it?” Song Yixiao answers with a question.

Yet, Jian Xubai couldn't reply. After a while, he said, “I will never put you in risk anymore.”

“Who knows what will happen in the future?” Song Yixiao sniffed at his promise and said with disgruntlement, “A storm may arise from a clear sky and man's fate is as uncertain as the weather. Yiluo was a perfect example. Maybe I will no longer live tomorrow. What's point of talking about the future?”

“Don't say that!” Jian Xubai gripped her wrists tightly, saying in a low voice, “Miss Sikong must have carried an unmentionable disease. Why do you compare yourself with her?”

Song Yixiao said indifferently, “I don't have any unmentionable disease, but the Chief House Steward had a dagger with him!”

Jian Xubai was choked by her words. He didn't reply until a while later, “It's my fault.”

Song Yixiao heard his embarra.s.sment and grievance, and worried that going too far would be as bad as not going far enough. She puckered her lips and sighed deliberately, “Actually, you and I are a married couple. It is you who let me live a rich life. Since you wanted to get rid of those people, you could have told me. How could I not help you? It was dangerous to be a bait, but I would never be too timid to step back!”

She raised the other arm that was not gripped by him to cover her eyes, sobbing, “However, you didn't say anything to me. Do you know how scared I was? I was scared that they would kill me and also that you would fall into their trap if you followed me to the Jiangxing Villa like last time!”

When she sensed that Jian Xubai let go of her wrist and held her into his arms, she slightly narrowed her tearful eyes and said in a trembling voice, “I thought I could hardly survive and yet felt relieved to know you were fine! Yet, unexpectedly…”

Unexpectedly, Jian Xubai was the one behind all of this!

Jian Xubai held her in his arms on his side, with his jaw rested on her head and his eyes full of sorrow and guilt. Hearing his wife's sorrowful confession, he felt painful and yet couldn't defend for himself. What he could do was to kiss his wife's long hair.

It took Song Yixiao a long while to vent her feelings. She rolled around in his arms and grabbed his arms, saying with a sob, “Given our marital relations.h.i.+p, promise me you will tell me if you want to abandon me anymore! Don't let me worry about you and count on you like a silly woman!”

She covered her mouth with her hands and cried out, “I have waited for three persons in my life. Seven years ago, less than one month after my mother remarried, Madam Liu became my stepmother and she regarded me as a thorn in her flesh; back then, I spent every day waiting by the door for my mother to save me. Six years ago, when the maid brought me into the street and sold me to the brothel madam, I cried out bitterly waiting for my father to rescue me. You are the third one I waited for. That night, I was afraid that you would fall into the trap and meanwhile couldn't help thinking that you were the only one who could possibly save me!”

Jian Xubai closed his eyes to cover his tears. He said in a hoa.r.s.e voice, “I didn't abandon you. I won't abandon you!”

Song Yixiao cried for a while and then raised her face bathed in tears, asking with uncertainty, “You swear?”

“I swear!” Jian Xubai stared at her and lifted his hand to make a vow without hesitation that he would never let his wife down. His determination finally made Song Yixiao smile through tears. She threw herself into his arms and said with a sobbing tone and a bit of happiness, “You've made a vow! Don't you ever lie to me! Or I will never trust you!”

Filled with tremendous joy, Jian Xubai held her tightly with his arms, “I won't. You must trust me!”

“Okay!” Song Yixiao nodded her head. Then she buried her head into the brocade quilt as if she was bashful, saying in a sweet voice, “Tomorrow is the tea ceremony of Yiyou and his newly-wedded wife and we will have to attend the ceremony too. We must sleep early, or we will appear tired at the ceremony. By then, given the grudge between Princess Changxing and me, she may use that as an excuse to create difficulty for me!”

“How dare she?” Jian Xubai was still excited now, so he replied without thinking much, “Rest a.s.sured! If she dares to make trouble for you tomorrow, I will not let go of her!”

Song Yixiao smiled with satisfaction and still said in a soft voice, “I will count on you by then. You can't let her bully me then!”

Of course Jian Xubai agreed to his wife's request, but he didn't know what she was actually thinking in her mind. “His reaction doesn't seem to be disguised. To my surprise, he still cares about me after we got married. Well… after the talk tonight, supposedly, he won't think of having a concubine, getting a mistress or going to the brothel in the coming year?”

Her mother, Wei Mengying always poured exhortations into Song Yixiao's ears that exclusive love from the husband was the key!

Woman should never let her husband have any concubine, mistress or go to brothel!

Wei Mengying once told her, “The country cannot be reigned by two emperors!”

“Likewise, a family is not big enough to have two wives!”

“In a family with lots of concubines, no matter how exalted and august the wife is, no matter how she is valued by the husband, in my eyes, it is not different from the last emperor of the West Yong Dynasty!”

“By name, there was only one monarch in the world but the feudal princes were fighting against each other for power. Who really took the monarch seriously?”

“In an unguarded moment, not only your foothold will be shaken but also your children will get into trouble. After the West Yong Dynasty perished, the East Yong Dynasty was established. Putting aside the short durance of the East Yong Dynasty, the founding emperor of the East Yong was a descendant of a side clan of the royal family of the West Yong instead of a son of the last emperor of former dynasty!”

“If you want to exterminate the future trouble and have the descendants blessed, you should refer to the founding emperor of the Great Rui. He expelled the Tartars, subdued the feudal princes, destroyed the side clans, and exterminated the bandits. In this way, he pacified the world and regained peace for the people. Then he set the imperial capital, established the dynasty and founded the country!”

Therefore, in a family, “She should expel beautiful maids, subdue concubines, exterminate mistresses, eliminate wh.o.r.es and guard against money boys!”

Only in this way could she maintain a firm foothold in the family and create a promising prospect for her children, just like the first founder of the Great Rui.

All in all, “How can I allow others to share my husband!”

Of course Song Yixiao must abide by Wei Mengying's above guidance. Moreover, if any trouble occurred to her family, it was inconvenient for her to find a route of retreat behind Jian Xubai!