Chapter 81

Chapter 81: Don’t Anger Me on Purpose

“I don’t believe it,” Huo Zheng said again.

He stared hard into Chun Zhi’s eyes, trying to read them, but she shut her eyes and refused to meet his gaze. She said: “If I could let go of Lu Jing Yun, I can let go of you.” Then she opened her eyes slowly and added: “Do you think two short months with you can compare to the ten years between me and Lu Jing Yun?”

“Chun, Zhi,” he said, pausing on each syllable, “do not anger me on purpose.”

“What reason would I have to provoke you?” she said. “Huo Zheng, can you not even stand the truth?”

“Be quiet,” he snapped, fighting down the urge to cover her lips again.

He knew that many people thought highly of Song An Lan. In Chun Zhi’s eyes, Song An Lan might seem even better. Back in Peach Blossom Lane, Chun Zhi had always said he would leave sooner or later and that she would tell others he had died. Song An Lan did not have long to live; that fit her wish to be a widow and would also leave her a great fortune. Now there was a child in her belly. Song An Lan looked like the perfect husband sent by Old Heaven. But he, Huo Zheng, was not dead. He would never let Chun Zhi marry another. [I will not let you go to him.]

The carriage rolled into South City Villa and stopped at the gate.

With a dark face, Huo Zheng lifted Chun Zhi down from the carriage. She did not want him to touch her, but he said coldly: “If you do not want your Young Master Song to meet King Yama today, then behave.”

Chun Zhi did not dare to touch the reverse scale of his anger and let him carry her. Rumors that Prince Chang’an had wiped out Prince Ning’s Residence had already spread across Jiangnan and beyond. Even far away in Dongzhou, she had heard. She could not let Song Manor share the same fate.

He carried her into the main house, called for new clothes, and changed her out of her wedding robe with his own hands. Only after the robe was gone did the person before his eyes stop stinging his sight. With the robe off, the rise of her belly could not be hidden. He lifted a brow and asked: “So this is what you call five months?”

Chun Zhi braced herself and said: “The physician said I’m carrying twins, so my belly is larger than others.”

Huo Zheng let out the faintest smile and said: “Keep making it up.”

Chun Zhi turned her head away and would not answer.

He tied her sash for her and helped her sit on the couch. He asked: “We made a scene at Song Manor all day. Are you hungry?”

“I’m not hungry,” she said, but her stomach growled at once, turning her words into a joke.

“You may not be hungry, but the baby is,” he said, then turned and told the maids to prepare food.

Chun Zhi gently rubbed her belly and whispered to the child, “We will not eat what they serve here. Hold on a little. We will eat back at Song Manor.”

Huo Zheng did not hear what she said. When he turned and saw her rubbing her stomach, he thought she felt unwell. He frowned and asked: “What is it? Do you feel sick?”

Chun Zhi said nothing.

“Someone come,” Huo Zheng ordered at once. “Fetch a physician now.”

“No need,” Chun Zhi said. “This is how pregnant women are. Sometimes we throw up. If you can’t stand it, let me return to Song Manor. I do not want to vomit in front of you.”

Huo Zheng sighed with a touch of helplessness and said: “I can agree to almost anything else. Do not bring up returning to Song Manor again.”

Before he found Chun Zhi, he had pictured that once he did, she would obey and never step away from him again. But once he truly found her, he could only give way, again and again.

“I don’t want to see a physician,” Chun Zhi said as she turned her face. “Tell him to go.”

Huo Zheng waved a hand, and the Shadow Guard led the physician out. He thought that if she did not want to see him today, then tomorrow would do, and he ordered the physician to stay in the other courtyard and wait for his call. The Shadow Guard bowed and withdrew with the physician. Then Huo Zheng dismissed the maids as well.

For a moment, only Chun Zhi and Huo Zheng were left in the room.

Chun Zhi had just thrown up, and her stomach still felt sour.

“You threw up everything you ate,” Huo Zheng asked. “Do you want something else?”

She shook her head and said: “I am tired and want to sleep. Please go out first.”

Instead, Huo Zheng walked to the bedside and said: “Sleep. I will keep watch here and make no sound.”

She still wanted him gone, but when her eyes met his, words failed her. She fell silent, took off her shoes, lay on the bed, and turned her back to him. She had thought she would not be able to sleep in the same room with him, but after a day of wedding fuss she was worn out and soon drifted off.

Huo Zheng stood at the bedside for a long while. When he heard her breathing grow steady, he knew she had fallen asleep. She had lain down facing away from him, yet after she fell asleep, she slowly turned and lay on her back. She slept with good posture and slept deeply.

Moving gently, Huo Zheng tucked the quilt around her and sat down by the bed. Back in Peach Blossom Lane, he could open his eyes and see this sleeping face every morning. For the past half year, he had only seen it sometimes in his dreams. Now the one he longed for sat right before him, and he could not help but lift a hand to trace her brows and eyes. Even with a child, she had not gained much weight; her features were still fine as a painting.

His fingers brushed her slightly swollen, rosy lips. In her sleep, she must have sensed something, because she parted her lips and lightly bit his fingertip. He did not pull away but let her bite. She did not use any force and soon let go.

His hand drifted down and came to rest on her rounded belly. No matter how she denied it, Huo Zheng’s heart told him the child inside was his. [I know you are mine.]