Volume One, Chapter 16: The Means to Protect One's Wife
Qijinshan held the soft figure in his arms, his gaze sharp as ice.
Qixiuyu never expected Xie Mingyue to directly complain to Qijinshan. In the past, she always swallowed such matters herself, only to be misunderstood by Qijinshan, leading to mutual disputes.
His smile stiffened. “Sister-in-law, don’t speak nonsense. I was merely greeting you—how did that become lewd?”
Xie Mingyue tightened her hold around Qijinshan’s lean waist, remaining silent as she listened to the faint sobbing against her chest. Qijinshan’s face suddenly darkened.
“Is that so? Then what about when I saw you grab her? Was that also a greeting?”
After Xie Mingyue left, he felt unsettled at the table. When Qixiuyu stood to leave, Qijinshan’s anger flared, and he followed step by step. Unexpectedly, he overheard Xie Mingyue’s bold and comforting words.
She was truly happy to be married to him?
He smirked faintly, tightening one arm around her while with the other he grabbed Qixiuyu’s collar, yanking the seven-foot-tall man off the ground with a sudden heave.
Only Jinhe and Yujiang were present, and upon seeing this, both averted their gazes, pretending not to notice.
The master’s way of protecting his wife was truly imposing!
“Let me go, you lowly illegitimate son, wild dog! I am the heir of the Marquis’s household!”
Dangling in the air, Qixiuyu’s face flushed red. Seeing Xie Mingyue sneer coldly at him in Qijinshan’s arms only deepened his shame and fury.
“Illegitimate son, wild dog,” Qijinshan murmured, savoring the words with an inscrutable smile. “I was a wild dog for years, honing my skills exactly to deal with scum like you. What use is being the heir? If I wish, this Marquis’s household could be renamed the Qi family tomorrow.”
One inherits a dormant title, the other holds high office and real power—the difference was clear at a glance.
He slammed Qixiuyu against a pillar.
“Stay away from your sister-in-law.”
Then, without warning, Qijinshan released his grip, pulled Xie Mingyue close, and turned to leave.
Qixiuyu fell to the floor in disarray, glaring fiercely after them.
Held in Qijinshan’s arms, Xie Mingyue, feeling them walk away, struggled.
“Husband, please put me down.”
Heavens, how did Qijinshan appear all of a sudden? Could it be he heard everything she said just now?
The thought made her flush, biting her lips.
Thankfully, he didn’t misunderstand her relationship with Qixiuyu; otherwise, she would have been furious beyond measure.
Qijinshan’s breath grew steady as he loosened his hold.
When she looked up, his expression was calm, composed, no trace of the earlier ruthlessness.
“You were sobbing in my arms. Aren’t you scared now?”
“With you defending me, what is there to fear?” Xie Mingyue smiled softly.
“I didn’t expect you to have such strength.”
What husband would stand up for his wife like this? Xie Mingyue, having visited many noble families, had never seen the like.
Her eyes sparkled, which Qijinshan clearly loved to see, yet he averted his gaze, saying coolly, “It seems you truly have forgotten everything.”
He lowered his eyes and walked ahead, stepping through the hall’s door in a few strides.
Forgotten what? Could it be he had beaten Qixiuyu before her eyes in the past?
Xie Mingyue raised an eyebrow, following him inside, forcing herself to suppress the doubt.
After a long while, Qixiuyu returned, though he had tidied his clothes, the hateful look in his eyes upon seeing Qijinshan was unmistakable.
Xie Wanqing noticed everything. That night, as the couple retired, they spoke quietly.
“Husband, what happened to your neck?”
She brushed Qixiuyu’s collar. His expression stiffened as he covered the wound on his neck.
“Just a careless accident.”
He held Xie Wanqing close, but his mind kept flashing back to Xie Mingyue’s face.
Among the Xie sisters, the second daughter was always overshadowed by the elder’s beauty. Whenever Xie Mingyue appeared, no one’s gaze lingered elsewhere.
But now...
At the thought of Xie Mingyue and Qijinshan embracing so intimately, a restless heat stirred in Qixiuyu’s heart.
“Stop fussing,” he said, his desire gone, brushing aside Xie Wanqing’s playful hands. “Rest. I’m tired.”
Xie Wanqing withdrew, her expression awkward.
Qixiuyu was in his prime, yet after years apart, why did he show no desire for her?
She bit her lip, unwilling to give up. “Husband, is it because of Xie Mingyue...?”
She had seen the look in Qixiuyu’s eyes today when he looked at Xie Mingyue. Though he had chosen her at the start, his heart still seemed to belong to another.
“Silence! What nonsense is this?”
Qixiuyu suddenly recalled being lifted by Qijinshan and sharply rebuked his wife.
Realizing his tone was too harsh, he softened, pulling Xie Wanqing close again. “Sorry.”
Xie Wanqing’s eyes reddened as she quietly sobbed. He loved her delicate vulnerability and immediately grew more patient.
“It's just... tonight Xie Mingyue told me she knows what we did back then, so I feel unsettled. It’s not dissatisfaction with you.”
The sobbing ceased abruptly. Xie Wanqing’s face hardened as she asked, “What? How could she know?”
Back then, she had secretly handled those matters without Qixiuyu’s knowledge.
Qixiuyu gently patted her, pondering. “That’s what she said, but I don’t believe it. If it were true, her misunderstanding with Qijinshan would have been resolved long ago. But judging by how they acted today, it doesn’t seem so.”
Xie Wanqing bit her lip. Indeed, Xie Mingyue couldn’t know the truth—she had been cast out by the Xie family ten years ago and would no longer cause trouble.
“She’s been acting strange these past days. And Qijinshan isn’t someone who indulges in romantic entanglements. I fear she’s deliberately deceiving you.”
Xie Wanqing pressed her hand to Qixiuyu’s chest, but he thought otherwise.
Qijinshan not given to sentimental indulgence?
He licked the bare gum behind his cheek.
The punch that knocked out his tooth was etched deeply in his heart. He would never let Qijinshan have Xie Mingyue as he wished.
In the Qionghua Courtyard, Xie Mingyue was applying ointment to her arm, carefully washing off the paint bit by bit.
Wutong, attending her, sighed.
Originally, the master and his lady had been well, but tonight, when the second master appeared, the master ignored the lady completely. After the banquet, he returned alone, shut the door, and kept everyone at a distance.
The lady herself was distracted, lost in thought.
Sigh!
“Wutong, whenever Qixiuyu appeared before, did Qijinshan always quarrel with me?”
Xie Mingyue gently rubbed the jasmine-scented bath beads in her hands. Her hair was let down, flowing softly down her back, a floral robe draped over her shoulders, serene and elegant.
Wutong, carrying a silk handkerchief, recalled, “It seems so, madam. Whenever the second master came home and spoke a few words to you, the master would get angry. Over time, you stopped leaving the courtyard.”
So her melancholy was partly due to Qixiuyu.
Recalling Qijinshan’s fluctuating moods at tonight’s family feast, Xie Mingyue’s eyes darkened as she stared at the flickering candlelight in the corner, slowly rolling up her sleeves.
Qixiuyu was a tumor growing between them; their past was complicated, and with his ill intentions and sabotage, Qijinshan’s heart would never find peace.
A tumor indeed.
Since it was poison, it must be removed quickly.
Though the past was not yet fully clear, Xie Mingyue’s heart had already turned murderous toward Qixiuyu.
The Marquis’s heir, a man of special status, was difficult to eliminate.
But Xie Mingyue was the eldest legitimate daughter raised with the best education, not to mention she had a husband of great authority.
A faint smile curved on Xie Mingyue’s lips, dimming the light in the room.
These days, ten years later, were not as bleak as she had feared.
At least the days ahead were filled with things to do.
“Wutong, bring paper and pen.”
Seated at the table, Xie Mingyue’s features were gentle, but her writing was like a soaring serpent.
She was composing a revenge list.
At the top of the page were the names: Xie Wanqing and Qixiuyu.