"Let me go. The estate is hosting a banquet today, and there are people everywhere. What will we do if someone sees us?"
Xiao Yi kissed the empty air. He turned his head to stare at Cui Yunfeng, the two of them so close that their breaths intertwined.
Xiao Yi's gaze sent a chill running down Cui Yunfeng's spine.
"Are you afraid of others seeing us, or do you simply not want to be close to me?" he asked in a lazy drawl.
Cui Yunfeng pursed her red lips slightly. "I am an unmarried maiden of the inner chambers, after all. You shouldn't act like this."
Xiao Yi chuckled softly and distanced himself from her a little, though he showed no intention of actually letting her go. "Then how should I act?"
"For the past dozen years, I have cherished you and respected you. Why don't you appreciate a single bit of my devotion?"
The growing, manic obsession in his eyes made Cui Yunfeng deeply fearful.
She whispered, "I told Eunuch Liu that I would go to Prince An's manor to see you in a few days."
Prince An remained silent, merely giving her a faint sidelong glance.
Cui Yunfeng twisted the wrist he was gripping. "Aren't you still grounded? How did you sneak out? And how are your injuries?"
Her concern did not seem faked.
The hostility between Xiao Yi's brows dissipated slightly. He released her wrist but still kept her pinned against him so she could not move.
"How many days is 'a few days'? If I hadn't come, would you have actually gone?"
Xiao Yi was very tall. With just one hand, he could span Cui Yunfeng's waist, pinning her against the pillar as he bent down slightly to look directly into her eyes.
When those peach-blossom eyes smiled, they resembled sharp scimitars, exuding an immense, oppressive force.
"Yunfeng, we have known each other for over ten years. Is there anyone in this world who understands you better than I do?"
"How many times have you tricked me with this tactic since we were children?"
Cui Yunfeng choked up. Meeting his bloodshot eyes, she was momentarily speechless.
Xiao Yi, however, loosened his grip. "I will let you go. Be good and don't try to run."
Cui Yunfeng nodded.
Xiao Yi slowly let go, and Cui Yunfeng's tense body finally relaxed a fraction.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Yi's next words made her heart leap into her throat once again. "It seems Top Scholar Zhou is very much to Old Madam's liking. The two of them had a very pleasant chat. What about you? Did you also enjoy chatting with him?"
Cui Yunfeng abruptly looked up and stared at Xiao Yi. She subconsciously thought of the maid from earlier, her hands and feet turning slightly cold. "You have spies in the estate."
"Xiao Yi, I told you long ago that the matters between you and me would not involve our families. You promised me."
"But you were the first to go back on your word." Flames danced in Xiao Yi's eyes. "You broke your promise to me. You want to escape, don't you?"
He bent down to look Cui Yunfeng in the eye, his voice incredibly soft.
"..."
"Yunfeng, it's not that I don't have the means to change the situation and force the Cui family to compromise. It was you. You told me to trust you."
He had once had countless opportunities to be with her legitimately.
But Cui Yunfeng had refused.
She was afraid of endangering her family; she was afraid of this and that.
In the end, it turned out that in her heart, nothing was more important than her family and relatives.
Even to that endlessly troublesome Cui Yunchu, she gave her whole heart, yet only to him was she so heartless and ungrateful.
"Yunfeng," Xiao Yi lowered his gaze, his eyes half-closed. "I had countless opportunities to deal a heavy blow to the Crown Prince, or even drag him down from his high pedestal."
"Now, do you still remember what you said back then?"
Cui Yunfeng's face grew increasingly pale.
At that time, she hadn't understood Xiao Yi. She only thought his ambitions were just beginning to sprout, so she had tried to mediate and curb them.
But later, she discovered that he was not the only one harboring such thoughts. There was also Consort Liang, as well as Consort Liang's maternal family, and the officials who followed Xiao Yi.
Only then did she realize that the matter was a foregone conclusion, irreversible.
Perhaps pushed to the point of desperation, Cui Yunfeng also lost her temper a little. Pushing Xiao Yi with all her might, her eyes red, she cried, "Then what do you want me to do?"
"Abandon my family and be with you? Drive my cousin into a corner and watch her die, or watch hundreds of lives in the Cui and Tang clans perish because of me?!"
"Xiao Yi, if you had to weigh the benefits between me and Consort Liang, who would you choose?"
Xiao Yi stepped back two paces, looking at Cui Yunfeng in silence.
"You don't know how to choose either, do you? But you only have one mother, while I have an entire family."
Xiao Yi suddenly spoke up, "It hasn't happened. How do you know I wouldn't choose you?"
Cui Yunfeng, however, did not take his words to heart.
She said in agony, "Just take it that I have let you down. My cousin cannot break her engagement with the Crown Prince, and the Cui family cannot change their allegiance to serve you and overthrow the Crown Prince. You and I..."
Her heart ached so much that she could hardly continue.
"Tang Qingwan, Xiao Chen." Xiao Yi narrowed his eyes, rolled his tongue, and suddenly let out a laugh.
While Cui Yunfeng was still secretly shedding tears, she was pulled into his arms once again.
"Alright, I just won't force you. Don't cry."
Cui Yunfeng was startled by his rapid shift in attitude, watching as his fingertips gently wiped away the tears on her face.
"I shouldn't have listened to you back then. I should have known early on about the misgivings in your heart." He should have cleanly eradicated those eyesores right from the start.
"Come, look at what good things I brought for you."
Cui Yunfeng murmured, "Xiao Yi."
"Don't speak. Since Prime Minister Cui and Old Madam both favor Top Scholar Zhou, just play along. I will handle everything else."
"What are you going to do?" Cui Yunfeng asked nervously.
"Don't worry about it."
