21 Dogful Marriage (2/2)

”Aha! Upset? Hurt? Deliberately provoking you? Deliberately hurting myself?” Meng Fuyao repeated, pointing a finger at her nose and glaring at him with eyes almost crossed.

'Aren't you being a little too narcissistic, Mister Yan? Yes, we've had something before, and I did like you quite a bit. It wasn't love, but even if it were, I, Meng Fuyao, won't act so excessively unreasonable.'

'Do you really think I'm still harboring feelings for you and doing these to get you back? I was just trying to be the bigger person, and you took that as a performance?' Meng Fuyao looked up to the sky, feeling inexpressibly suffocated.

Yan Jingchen interpreted her silence as her hurting, which gave him more courage to speak his mind.

Eyes lit, he continued, ”Wait for me, Fuyao... I'll marry her, master the skills and whatever happens next... it's not up to her. I won't consummate that marriage, I swear to you. In the future... in the future, the Yan Family will be ours.”

'Well done, good thinking, so well-calculated.'

'How did I overlook that amazing potential and imagination of yours?'

After keeping silent for some time, Meng Fuyao smiled.

Her smile was warm and sincere, and while her posture was rather unrefined, people's attentions were fixed on her bright and graceful expression.

”Trust me when I say this, Sir Yan. In this life, the Yan Family is yours. It belongs to you and your wife-to-be, and no one will ever take her place, because that's just unlucky.”

She searched through her clothes and grabbed the dough figurine that she had been chewing on. She pinched it a little, turning it into an animal-like figurine and handing it over to him.

”Have a blessed and dogful marriage.”

At that she hopped off the horse and gave its stomach a good kick, sending it on its way.

Yan Jingchen reacted quickly by pulling the rein. He finally got the horse to calm down after some effort. Left alone in the middle of the street, he turned around in disappointment, frustrated that her familiar scent had dispersed.

He sighed, thinking about the Meng Fuyao he had just met. She was completely different from when she had first arrived in the Mystic Essence Sword Sect, becoming increasingly beautiful and resplendent, just like a fiery red hyacinth.

And that flower had first bloomed for him, because of his smile. She was as attractive as ever at that point – even more alluring in fact – but that graceful charm no longer belonged to him alone.

The flower had blossomed and withered, and he had missed the most beautiful season. He had missed the opportunity to catch the falling petals, and now, he was destined to watch her from a corner, and watch her bloom for another man.

'No... no...'

'She'll forgive me...'

Yan Jingchen clenched his fist as if attempting to calm the emotional mess within his heart with force. It was then that he remembered about the item Meng Fuyao had handed to him before she left.

He looked down at that almost flattened object in his palm - it was a pair of ugly dogs!

”God d*mn, what a cheap bastard. How did I fall for this rotten basket in the first place?” Meng Fuyao grumbled as she walked, brooding about her bad taste in men.

She recalled the Yan Jingchen that she had fallen for was warm and gentlemanly, and while competitive, he was also an honorable man. It wasn't his fault, however, that he was the heir of the family and hence had been taught to act like one.

Nevertheless, the suggestion he had dared to offer was simply humiliating for both Pei Yuan and her. The more she dwelled on it, the more tearful and speechless she became.

That night, she practiced her skills, as usual, operating a cycle of Cleaving Nine Heavens, which made her whole body emit a jade-colored glow. Amid the light, Meng Fuyao looked pensive, her face as gentle as water, thinking about Yan Jingchen's so-called difficulties and sneering.

The next day, Qi Xunyi's fancy horses and carriage returned. As usual, it was surrounded by highly stylized tunes and dances, occasionally transmitting singsong voices of the yellow orioles. Accompanying all those was traditional Chinese music that wound through the streets, attracting sidelong glances from the public.

Meng Fuyao enjoyed a bowl of noodles at a street stall while trying to join in the buzz. Her gaze fell upon the dance-filled carriage, and she let out a soundless laugh.

Her laughter faded significantly when she spotted the sedan right in the middle of the group. It was Pei Yuan's sedan.

By its right was a magnificent white horse, which Meng Fuyao had failed to notice initially. Immediately upon sighting it, a deriding look flashed across her eyes.

Who else, but Yan Jingchen, could possibly be on that horse?

That stifled eagerness of his was unconcealable. He had traveled a long distance to fetch Princess Pei back after all.

Over the past few days, Pei Yuan's identity had been made clear to Meng Fuyao. She was the daughter of Princess Yi An and General Pei Shixun. Pei Shixun's sister had entered the palace as a concubine and was now Consort Lin, also Qi Xunyi's mother. Pei Yuan had received her title as a princess and was called Princess Pei by the royal family. As the only daughter of Yi An, Pei Yuan was well pampered.