Chapter 191: What did Xie Jinbai do to make you so confident?
Chapter 191: Chapter 191: What did Xie Jinbai do to make you so confident?
In the courtyard, Chen Minrou was also at a loss for words. "You’ve completely missed the point. I didn’t tell you all this just to complain."
"I just want you to understand—if you’ve truly fallen for someone, you absolutely cannot stand to share your husband with a flock of other women."
Cui Lingyao looked taken aback.
’I can’t believe she went through all that just to bring this up again.’
Her anger instantly vanished. She lowered her head and said dejectedly, "I have no choice."
Chen Minrou couldn’t understand her dilemma. "How could you have no choice? You said it yourself that Xie Jinbai doesn’t want to take concubines. So why would you rather antagonize him just to be this ’virtuous wife’? Can’t you tell which is more important—your reputation or your husband?"
Cui Lingyao couldn’t answer.
’She couldn’t possibly explain about the system and her own origins.’
"...There’s no one else here. Tell me the truth." Chen Minrou leaned in closer and whispered, "Have you lost all feelings for Xie Jinbai? Are you trying to get him to take a few concubines so his attention will shift to other women, letting you escape?"
The voice inside was hushed, but with his keen hearing, Xie Jinbai still heard every single word with perfect clarity.
This was the suspicion buried in the deepest corner of his heart.
Now, someone else was asking it for him.
This was her best friend. Cui Lingyao would have her guard down. She might just tell the truth.
Inside, silence fell as Chen Minrou finished speaking. Cui Lingyao didn’t answer immediately, lost in thought.
In the silent moments that followed, Xie Jinbai’s body went rigid. It felt as if his heart had stopped beating altogether.
He was like a prisoner awaiting his verdict.
A death sentence.
Or...
"What are you thinking? Of course not," Cui Lingyao’s voice was tinged with exasperation. "I do like him!"
’I must like him...’
Her voice, as clear as striking jade, carried every word to his ears. Xie Jinbai remained standing, his expression impassive, but the fists clenched inside his sleeves slowly unfurled.
He didn’t know what he would have done had he heard a different answer moments ago.
That one sentence was enough to mostly placate him, the very subject of their discussion. Chen Minrou, however, remained skeptical.
"The truth?" she asked skeptically. "I remember the last time we met at the Duke Shen Mansion, you insisted you would never forgive Xie Jinbai. You said even if it meant changing your name and living in obscurity..."
"The past was the past, and now is now."
Cui Lingyao cut her off, her tone earnest. "I never wanted to leave Xie Jinbai. My feelings for him might not be as intense as what you have for Zhao Shijie, where one sentence can make you fall apart, but I definitely like him."
With her friend’s uncharacteristically solemn expression, Chen Minrou was mostly convinced, yet she still hesitated.
"The most direct expression of love is jealousy. No matter how well-bred, dignified, or magnanimous a noble lady is, once she gives her heart, she can’t possibly remain calm while her husband finds a new love. And yet you..."
Chen Minrou thought for a moment, then said with a dawning sense of shock, "Now that I think about it, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you show a hint of jealousy over Xie Jinbai."
Cui Lingyao: "..."
"I knew it!"
Chen Minrou finally understood, her voice rising. "Xie Jinbai is a man of integrity! Taking in Li Wanrong was a scummy thing to do, but you yourself said that it was because..."
The way she was looking at her friend was suddenly strange.
Cui Lingyao shifted uncomfortably. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Chen Minrou clicked her tongue, her expression peculiar. "Don’t tell me... Xie Jinbai is the one who’s been wronged all this time?"
Cui Lingyao: "..."
She felt a pang of guilt and didn’t dare to say a word.
Chen Minrou felt as though she had just revealed a cosmic secret.
’So, all this time, the image I had of my friend as this poor, pitiful, wronged woman... it was all fake.’
’Xie Jinbai was the one who was really...’
’And then she recalled what Cui Lingyao had said about seeing Xie Jinbai... how her heart had softened... and how she’d forgiven him so easily...’
Chen Minrou gasped. "So what you said was true?"
"What?"
"Is it true you forgave Xie Jinbai because you saw him cry?" Chen Minrou was overcome with curiosity. "Did he really cry? How did he do it? What did he look like?"
「Outside the courtyard.」
Xie Jinbai’s lips tightened. He felt distinctly uncomfortable.
’How could she just air out a private matter between husband and wife like this!’
The topic the two women were discussing was so wild that Zhao Shijie was no longer glaring furiously. He just looked bewildered.
’He’d never imagined that the domestic standing of someone as powerful as Prince Yu was actually lower than his own.’
’No matter how cold his own wife was, she had never tried to push him off on other women.’
’Being forced to take a concubine was something that would never happen to him in this life.’
’And yet the mighty Prince Yu...’
’Tsk...’
’Without comparison, you can’t see the difference.’
Zhao Shijie’s mood improved considerably.
Inside, Cui Lingyao didn’t treat Chen Minrou as an outsider in the slightest. She said quite naturally, "He cried in this really... really... you know that ’shattered’ look?"
"I don’t," Chen Minrou said, her eyes wide with a thirst for knowledge as she shook her head. "Tell me everything."
"..." Cui Lingyao actually wanted to describe it in detail.
But after thinking for a long time, she still couldn’t figure out how to convey his most compelling side to her friend. Finally, she just waved her hand. "Forget it. It’s something you have to appreciate for yourself. I can’t describe it."
Chen Minrou: "..."
She said, annoyed, "Are you just trying to leave me hanging for fun?"
"Who’s leaving you hanging? Am I using Xie Jinbai to string you along?" Cui Lingyao looked shocked and a little wary. "What’s going on in that head of yours? I’m telling you to get a divorce, to ditch that sorry excuse for a man Zhao Shijie and find yourself a better one. I’m not telling you to get any ideas about *my man*."
’My man...’
Chen Minrou completely ignored the first part of that sentence and seized on the one point Xie Jinbai was desperate to hear. She clicked her tongue and teased, "Well now, aren’t you being protective?"
Her smile was mischievous. "Just think about it. What if another woman really gets a ’taste’ of Xie Jinbai? Would you be happy then? What if he cries for another woman, gets all ’shattered’ for her? How would you feel?"
No words could have struck closer to home.
The color drained from Cui Lingyao’s face.
"He wouldn’t!" she blurted out without a second thought. "Who else could he possibly be like that with, besides me?"
Chen Minrou: "..."
Zhao Shijie: "..."
The corner of Xie Jinbai’s mouth twitched, and he raised a hand to his forehead.
His long fingers pinched the bridge of his nose.
Inside, neither woman had any idea that two men were standing right outside, silently listening in.
Chen Minrou fell silent, staring at her friend with the strangest expression.
’It was as if, after more than a decade of friendship, she was only now seeing her dearest friend for who she truly was... a...’
The look made Cui Lingyao’s skin crawl.
"Don’t look at me like that..."
’...as if I’m some kind of once-in-a-millennium heartless player.’
Chen Minrou shook her head gently. "I’ve always heard the phrase ’arrogant from being spoiled,’ but today is the first time I’ve truly seen it in person."
’In fact, it’s more than just being ’spoiled’...’
Now she was truly curious. "What in the world did Xie Jinbai do to make you this confident?"