Chapter 110 -
The dark clouds finally broke, unleashing a cold downpour over the Xi Estate.
Sue Yueqing didn’t look back once as she disappeared into her courtyard, slamming her heavy bedroom doors shut against the icy wind.
Back in the main courtyard, Wenzhe stood in the pouring rain, holding the soft white fox coat tight against his chest. His heart felt heavy, battered by the harsh words Yueqing had just spat at him. But beneath the sting of her hatred, a cold, dangerous fury began to ignite in his veins.
He turned sharply on his heel and marched straight back toward his bedchamber.
The room was quiet. Li Mei was still standing near the couch, wringing her silk handkerchief in her hands, her eyes filled with tears as she waited for him.
SLAM!
Wenzhe threw the heavy double doors open, the sound echoing through the room like a crack of thunder.
"What were you doing?!" Wenzhe shouted, striding into the room and staring down at her with sharp, angry eyes.
Li Mei flinched violently, taking a panicked step backward. "Wenzhe... I-I was just—"
"Speak!" Wenzhe demanded, his voice trembling with anger. "Just twenty minutes ago, I was in my strategic room mapping out battle plans with Dong Li! You came running to me, claiming you had an urgent, life-or-death secret about the border! I stepped in here to hear you out—and before I could even process what was happening, you threw yourself onto my lap and forced your lips onto mine!"
He took a step closer, his face dark.
"Why did you do that?!" Wenzhe demanded. "You timed it the exact second Sue Yueqing walked through that door! Were you setting me up?!"
Li Mei broke down into heavy sobs, her hands trembling as she looked up at him desperately. "Wenzhe, please! I was scared! I heard you were leaving for the border... for war! I thought... I thought if you went out there, you might never come back! I just wanted you to remember me... to remember what we used to be!"
Wenzhe stared down at her, his expression turning cold and deeply disappointed. He slowly shook his head.
"You have been acting so different," Wenzhe said, his voice dropping into a heavy, quiet tone that carried even more weight than his anger. "Burning down Sue Yueqing’s quarters... then stealing and lying... I just don’t know who you are anymore."
Li Mei’s crying froze in her throat. Her face turned completely pale, her eyes widening in pure shock as Wenzhe’s words hit her.
"What we used to be is completely gone," Wenzhe said flatly, turning his back on her in total disgust. "I am a married man. Whatever feelings existed between us died the moment I took my vows."
He didn’t waste another second looking at her horrified face. He turned toward the open doorway, where Dong Li was already standing silently in the rain, having heard the commotion.
"Dong Li!" Wenzhe ordered.
"Here, Master!"
"Assign four guards to this room," Wenzhe commanded, his voice dead stern. "Lady Li Mei is not to step foot outside her quarters until I return from the northern pass. If she tries to leave, answer to me with your heads."
Li Mei fell to her knees, crying out desperately. "Wenzhe! No! Please!"
Wenzhe didn’t grant her a single backward glance. He carefully wrapped the white fox coat over his arm to keep it safe from the damp air, and marched out into the storm toward the armory.
Li Mei’s crying froze in her throat. She looked at him with frantic, red-rimmed eyes, shaking her head violently.
"How can you say that?!" Li Mei cried out, her voice breaking into hysterical sobs. "You promised me, Wenzhe! You promised that once things settled down, you would make me your concubine! Why did you change so suddenly?! Don’t you love me anymore?!"
Wenzhe’s jaw tightened. He looked down at her with zero warmth left in his eyes, his voice flat and unyielding.
"That promise was made to the innocent girl I grew up with not a woman who burns down courtyards, frames others, and plays deceitful tricks," Wenzhe replied coldly. "My duty and my present belong to my wife. The past is dead, Li Mei."
Li Mei stared at him in utter horror, as if her entire world had just collapsed around her feet. A dark, desperate look crossed her pale face.
"If you don’t want me anymore..." Li Mei whispered, her voice trembling erratically. "...then there is no point in me living in this world!"
Before Wenzhe or Dong Li could react, Li Mei whipped out a small, gleaming dagger from inside her wide sleeves.
"Li Mei, stop!" Wenzhe yelled.
Without hesitation, Li Mei brought the sharp blade down toward her wrist. The steel cut into her skin, and a line of red immediately bloomed across her flesh.
Clang!
In a fraction of a second, Wenzhe’s hand shot out. He grabbed the bare blade of the dagger with his grip, forcing it away from her skin before she could slice any deeper.
"Have you lost your mind?!" Wenzhe growled, wrenching the dagger out of her hand and tossing it across the stone floor.
Li Mei collapsed forward, sobbing uncontrollably as she fell right into his arms, clinging tightly to his dark robes like a drowning person. "Wenzhe... don’t leave me... please don’t leave me..."
Wenzhe stood there in total confusion, his hands hovering in the air for a second before holding her shoulders to keep her upright and prevent her from hurting herself any further. Blood dripped slowly from his palm onto the floor, but his mind was a complete storm.
He was trapped between her sudden, dangerous breakdown and the icy, hateful words Sue Yueqing had just thrown at him minutes ago.
Li Mei clung tightly to his blood-stained sleeve, burying her face into his chest. Her breath hitched as she looked up at him through tear-filled eyes, her voice dropping into a desperate, barely audible whisper.
"I want to come with you..." Li Mei sobbed, her fingers trembling against his dark robes. "Please... please, Wenzhe... let me come serve you. I won’t cause any trouble, I swear! Just let me stay by your side at the border... don’t leave me behind..."
Wenzhe looked down at her, his brow furrowed in deep turmoil. The rain outside lashed violently against the windowframes, echoing the chaos inside his own mind.
"The border is a war zone, Li Mei," Wenzhe said, his voice strained as he tried to pull back from her grip. "It is no place for a maid, let alone someone who just tried to take her own life."
"I don’t care about the war!" she pleaded hysterically, tears soaking into his collar. "I’d rather die out there near you than stay here locked away while you despise me!"
Standing by the doorway, Dong Li stepped forward, his eyes shifting nervously between Wenzhe and the bleeding wound on his master’s palm.
"Master," Dong Li spoke up carefully, "the horsemen are fully assembled at the gates. Master Xi is already mounting his horse to ride for the capital. We must depart for the border pass right now, or we will lose the night."
Wenzhe looked down at Li Mei’s bleeding wrist, then at the desperate, unstable look in her eyes. He knew if he left her here locked in a room in this state, she might actually finish what she started tonight.
He let out a heavy, tired breath.
"Fine," Wenzhe said softly, yielding. "You can come with the rear supply carriage. But you will stay out of danger and follow Dong Li’s orders."
Li Mei’s eyes lit up through her tears, and she nodded frantically. "Thank you, Wenzhe! Thank you!"
"Dong Li, bind her wound quickly," Wenzhe ordered, stepping back. "Have the medic bandage my hand as well. Prepare a horse carriage for her at the back of the troop. We ride immediately."
"Yes, Master!" Dong Li replied, moving fast to tend to the injuries.
Wenzhe picked up Sue Yueqing’s warm white fox coat carefully keeping his uninjured hand on the fabric so not a single drop of his blood would stain its pristine fur.
He took one last look toward Yueqing’s dark courtyard before turning his back, striding out into the pouring storm to lead his army north.