Cui Yunchu exerted force in her legs to run, but was grabbed back again.
“It hurts,” she whispered again.
This time, Shen Xiabai didn’t let go. “Still trying to fool me?”
Cui Yunchu smiled. “Lord Shen, what are you saying? Am I that kind of person?”
“Aren’t you?” Shen Xiabai’s lips curled, but his voice was cold and detached.
The two stood there in a stalemate. Nearby, Xing’er rushed over. “Lord Shen, please let go of my mistress.”
Before she could reach them, Shen Xiabai cast a chilling glance her way—sharp as a blade, instantly halting her steps.
“Get out,” Shen Xiabai said.
“Yes, sir.” Xing’er nodded timidly and began backing out step by step. Cui Yunchu stared at her with wide eyes.
What a useless traitor. She should have gotten rid of her from the start.
Xing’er looked miserable. “Lord Shen, my mistress hasn’t been feeling well these days. Please go easy on her.” With that, she quickly opened the door and slipped out.
“Shut the door,” the man said calmly.
Xing’er retreated back, carefully pulled the door closed, and left.
Cui Yunchu glared at him, tossing out a line that would irritate anyone to death: “She’s my maid, so why does she obey you like that? Are you two having an affair?”
“…”
The hand on her neck suddenly tightened. Shen Xiabai pulled her into the crook of his arm, forcing her to look up. “That Cui, you sure know how to flip the blame around.”
“Then who are you having an affair with? Zhou Yuanmo?”
“I’m not.” Cui Yunchu answered without a hint of hesitation, which softened Shen Xiabai’s expression slightly. “I had no choice. That old bastard Cui Qingyuan forced me into it. What was I supposed to do?”
Shen Xiabai eyed her sidelong. “Which of your words is true, and which is false?”
Cui Yunchu furrowed her brow and smiled at him. “Lord Shen, what a thing to say. I might deceive everyone else, but I’d never deceive you.”
“Haven’t you deceived me enough?” Shen Xiabai fixed his gaze on her, slowly moving closer.
As Cui Yunchu watched his handsome face draw nearer, her heart nearly leapt into her throat. Suddenly, her throat itched, and she began coughing.
Shen Xiabai felt the breath of her cough hit his face. He instinctively closed his eyes but didn’t step back.
Cui Yunchu quickly turned her head away, saying, “I’m sick. Stay back so you don’t catch it.”
“Do you really think I’d believe you?” Shen Xiabai said.
Cui Yunchu bent over, coughing until her face was flushed, and insisted, “I’m not lying to you.”
Shen Xiabai said nothing, watching her in silence. After a long moment, he raised his hand and began patting her back.
His touch felt like it was studded with nails, making every hair on Cui Yunchu’s body stand on end.
It took a while for her coughing to stop, leaving her slightly breathless.
Shen Xiabai asked, “What’s wrong with you?”
Cui Yunchu shook her head, saying nothing.
Shen Xiabai’s eyes turned cold as he mocked her, “Ill as you are, you still kept your appointment. Shows how devoted you are to that Lord Zhou.”
“…”
If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t even be this sick.
Only then did Cui Yunchu suddenly remember the Lord Zhou they’d repeatedly mentioned. “Where is he? How did you know I was here to meet him?”
“Dead,” Shen Xiabai said, his voice icy.
Cui Yunchu was taken aback. “You killed him?”
Shen Xiabai looked at her leisurely, refusing to answer.
Cui Yunchu said, “Do you want to die? Haven’t you had enough of those seventy lashes?” After all, Zhou Yuanmo was a government official—he couldn’t just be killed on a whim.
At that, Shen Xiabai’s expression eased a little. “That just now—was it to soothe me, or did you mean it?”
Cui Yunchu frowned. “What nonsense are you talking about?”
A moment ago, her instinctive concern had been for him, not for Zhou Yuanmo’s fate.
Shen Xiabai gazed at her deeply, staying silent for a long time. It made Cui Yunchu deeply uneasy, her heart racing.
Shen Xiabai let go of her neck, his grasp turning into a caress. He bent down and whispered in her ear, “It doesn’t matter whether you’re telling the truth or not. I’ll believe you anyway.”
Cui Yunchu’s heart gave a violent thump, but before she could feel moved, he added, “Just don’t go deceiving anyone else. Otherwise, I’ll send you to the Penal Office and lock you away for the rest of your life. We’ll see if you can learn to behave.”
“…”
Cui Yunchu felt like even the tips of her hair were standing on end.
She wanted to go home.
This wretched man, he reminded her of that bastard Xiao Yi.
She let out two hollow laughs. “Heh heh.”
“Did you hear me?” Shen Xiabai asked coldly.
Cui Yunchu said, “I heard you. From now on, if anyone asks, I’ll just say that Lord Shen and I are having an affair.”
The words “having an affair” came from her mouth with a playful edge, but they raised Shen Xiabai’s eyebrows.
A crude term, yet it made his heart beat faster.
At that moment, Cui Yunchu looked up and flashed him a brilliant smile. “Shen the lover.”
Shen Xiabai’s fingers trembled slightly. His eyes darkened as he leaned down to press closer, but Cui Yunchu, with a jolt, quickly turned her face away.
“It’s late. You should let me go home now.”
This time, Shen Xiabai released her without much fuss. Cui Yunchu turned to say something before leaving, but as she spun around, a piercing scream tore from her throat.
Her shriek was ear-splitting. Shen Xiabai watched her with a smile, following her gaze toward the rafters.
A man, tied up tightly, was dangling from the beam, staring wide-eyed at the two of them.
It was Zhou Yuanmo.
After the initial shock, only two words remained in Cui Yunchu’s mind: “I’m doomed.”
If that old man at home found out, he would never let her off. She’d be stuck worshipping ancestral tablets and burning incense for the rest of her life.
Her face twisted in despair.
Shen Xiabai raised an eyebrow and said with sarcasm, “Can’t bear to part with him? Heartbroken?”
Cui Yunchu didn’t respond. She pressed a handkerchief to her lips and coughed lightly again.
Shen Xiabai turned and poured her a cup of water, handing it over.
Cui Yunchu didn’t take it, her expression full of distress. “Is there… another cup?”
That was the one he’d used.
The concern in Shen Xiabai’s eyes instantly turned to cold fury. “That’s the one you just used, isn’t it?”
“…”
“Drink it,” Shen Xiabai ordered.
It felt like he was forcing her to drink poison.
As Cui Yunchu was about to take it, Shen Xiabai suddenly withdrew, took a sip himself, and then handed it back.
“…”
“Drink,” he said.
Cui Yunchu glanced up at Zhou Yuanmo hanging from the rafter, her face turning red.
Shen Xiabai followed her gaze. “Do you want to hang up there with him?”
“No, no. Absolutely not.”
Cui Yunchu took the cup and began to rotate it to the other side, but Shen Xiabai’s cold voice rang out: “Turn it back.”
She paused, then silently rotated it back and drank from where his lips had touched.
Shen Xiabai was satisfied. He looked up at Zhou Yuanmo, who was gagged and unable to speak.
“Can I go now?” Cui Yunchu asked.
Shen Xiabai crooked his finger, signaling her to come over.
Cui Yunchu glanced at Zhou Yuanmo on the beam, afraid she’d end up dangling there too, so she obediently stepped forward.
As soon as she got close to the table, an arm caught her waist and lifted her onto it. Cui Yunchu’s face drained of color in fright.
Though she was bold and unreliable, she still said, “Don’t come near me. I’m a lady from a respectable family—I don’t behave recklessly.”
Shen Xiabai replied, “You are the very model of what a lady should be.”
“…” Cui Yunchu pursed her lips, looking like she was about to cry.
Shen Xiabai made no further move. Instead, he pulled a chair over and slowly sat down.
