Cloud Shadow felt the foot pressing against her face growing heavier with each passing second, the humiliation nearly causing her to faint from shock and pain combined. Suddenly, through the ringing in her ears, she heard Fu Yixiao shout desperately, "Don't…!"
The crushing pressure immediately eased.
Cloud Shadow seized the precious opportunity to gulp in several breaths of damp air, her swimming vision slowly stabilizing. When her sight cleared, she saw Fu Yixiao half-embracing Feng Suige's body, having physically pulled him aside from his attack.
Feng Suige, still radiating fury, turned to glare at Yixiao with eyes that could ignite paper. "Don't what?"
Yixiao met his blazing gaze, startled by its intensity, and reflexively released her hold on him. She began stepping back, but Feng Suige had already anticipated her retreat. He spread his arms and firmly pulled Yixiao into his embrace, trapping her there. "Speak! Explain yourself!"
Yixiao turned her head sharply to avoid his scorching breath fanning across her face, saying with obvious discomfort, "I meant... don't hurt her."
Feng Suige sneered coldly, the sound dripping with disbelief. "You're quite magnanimous—didn't you hear the vile things she said about you?"
"I heard every word clearly," Yixiao replied, meeting his gaze with unflinching frankness.
"She spoke of you so despicably, with such cruelty—why didn't you defend yourself? Refute her lies?" Feng Suige's voice rose with genuine confusion and anger. "Are your sharp teeth and claws only ever prepared for me? Do I alone deserve your wrath?"
His eyes blazed with emotion so intense they seemed ready to shoot actual flames.
"If she truly believed in me, she wouldn't have believed baseless rumors in the first place," Yixiao explained with simple logic, frowning slightly. "And if she doesn't believe me now, why should I waste breath explaining myself to her?" She paused, wincing. "You're hurting me."
Feng Suige hesitated, his grip loosening fractionally, his voice softening despite himself. "So you'll just... let her insult you like this? Without consequence?"
Yixiao pushed back against his chest with obvious dissatisfaction, trying desperately to create more distance between their bodies. But she couldn't overcome Feng Suige's superior strength no matter how she struggled. Finally giving up, she answered with brutal honesty, "If you hadn't arrived when you did, I would have beaten her senseless myself. But since you're already here handling it, I'll graciously leave the matter to you."
Feng Suige couldn't suppress the laugh that escaped him—half exasperation, half genuine amusement.
Nearby came the sound of pained movement. Cloud Shadow had managed to drag herself into a sitting position. Her once-exquisite makeup was now catastrophically smeared with dirt, vivid finger marks, and tear stains crisscrossing her face in ugly patterns. She looked utterly disheveled, stripped of all former beauty and dignity.
Yixiao finally felt a stirring of pity at the pitiful sight and said softly, her anger dissipating, "Let's forget about what happened before—go downstairs and apply a cold compress immediately. It'll help reduce the swelling on your face."
Cloud Shadow burned with extreme embarrassment but didn't dare act rashly after witnessing His Highness's fury. She could only half-cover her ruined face with trembling hands as she struggled to her feet, bowing deeply before turning to flee. But Feng Suige's voice stopped her cold.
"I'll have someone send your severance gold. Don't come to this residence again in the future."
The words struck like a death sentence.
Cloud Shadow finally broke down completely, tears streaming as she dropped to her knees to beg. "Cloud Shadow knows her terrible mistake! Please, Your Highness, I beg you—"
"Get out," Feng Suige said with icy finality.
Yixiao looked at him with obvious hesitation, lips parting as if to speak, but was already being led away by Feng Suige toward the back chambers—half-dragged, half-carried in his firm grip.
"Not angry anymore?"
After practically hauling Yixiao back to the room, Feng Suige finally released her and asked with a teasing smile. "You're quite heartless toward other women, aren't you?"
Yixiao straightened her thoroughly crumpled clothes with deliberate dignity and asked with studied casualness, "That Cloud Shadow woman—you just sent her away like that? Permanently?"
Feng Suige raised one elegant eyebrow. "If you think the punishment is too light, I can easily have someone hunt her down and put her to death. Just say the word."
Seeing him deliberately misinterpret her meaning, Yixiao also raised an eyebrow in challenge. "If you truly don't mind, I'd actually prefer to do it myself. With my own hands."
Feng Suige agreed without the slightest hesitation, his tone casual. "Of course I don't mind. She spoke ill of you with such malice—by law, she should be beaten to death in the central court for slandering the future Crown Princess. However..." He paused meaningfully and glanced at Yixiao, who was calmly observing him, her expression suggesting she felt quite certain he would ultimately speak words of mercy.
Feng Suige rubbed his nose to hide the smile emerging on his lips and continued, "Since our wedding date hasn't yet passed, it's not particularly auspicious to see blood spilled. So I have a much better method instead." His eyes glinted with mischief. "We could dip her lower body in molten hot wax, and once it dries and hardens, she'll be completely sealed. Then we hang her upside down and force her to continuously drink water without pause."
He wasn't remotely surprised to see Fu Yixiao's eyes widen with horrified fascination.
"After merely one day, her abdomen will swell grotesquely as if ten months pregnant, and her skin will gradually become transparent like glass. Within several days, she won't die or lose consciousness—quite remarkable, really—and her skin will be as smooth and beautiful as the finest porcelain. It would be absolutely perfect to place such an artwork by your bedside as decoration." He paused for dramatic effect. "And she could even sing for you at night when the moon is full..."
He finally couldn't contain his laughter any longer.
"Feng Suige!" Yixiao shouted, simultaneously gritting her teeth and laughing despite herself. She pounced on him to pinch him viciously. "Say that again—I dare you to repeat those horrifying words!"
Feng Suige managed to block several of her attempts before finally getting pinched brutally hard. He jumped high from the sharp pain, hurriedly backing away while inhaling sharply. "Ow! I forgot you have extensive military training! You don't hold back at all—hey, have you calmed down sufficiently now?"
The laughter still sparkled in Yixiao's eyes, not fully subsided. Hearing him ask this, she found herself unable to summon a proper frown and simply snorted. "How can I possibly be as twisted as you?"
Seeing his relieved expression, she added with deliberate emphasis, "But I told you before—I remember everything. Every single grievance."
Feng Suige couldn't help but laugh again, genuine warmth in the sound. "You really cannot stand to lose even the smallest bit, can you? Alright, keep remembering meticulously. We'll see who ultimately settles accounts with whom in the future."
Yixiao ignored his teasing and walked back to the table to pour herself a cup of tea, needing something to occupy her suddenly restless hands. Feng Suige couldn't immediately think of what to say next, and the comfortable atmosphere suddenly shifted, becoming awkward and strangely tense.
"Um... When is your birthday?"
After a prolonged silence, Feng Suige suddenly squeezed out the question as if the words physically pained him. Yixiao's eyes dimmed perceptibly for a brief moment before she arranged her features into a smile. "Why are you asking now? Isn't it rather late to be matching our birth charts at this point in our engagement?"
"Of course that's not why," Feng Suige replied, looking uncharacteristically embarrassed as he scratched the back of his head. "I suddenly realized, well, we both so rarely talk about ourselves—our pasts, our histories. So, um, I just... asked." The words came out stilted and awkward.
Yixiao studied him with open suspicion. "Is that truly so? Why did only the first four words and the final four words of that entire sentence sound remotely smooth and natural? You're not scheming something again, are you?"
Feng Suige protested indignantly, "What could I possibly be scheming? Am I going to use your birth date for some kind of dark sorcery ritual?"
Yixiao regarded him with exaggerated alertness, eyes narrowed. "Oh yes, I suppose you probably could do exactly that if you wished."
He was instantly rendered speechless, mouth opening and closing like a landed fish.
Just as the atmosphere threatened to freeze into permanent ice, Yixiao suddenly laughed—the sound clear and unexpected. "But even if you wanted to do something malicious, you couldn't manage it. I don't actually know my birthday."
Seeing Feng Suige staring at her in obvious disbelief, eyes wide, Yixiao immediately glared back defensively. "You know perfectly well my mother was merely a lowly maidservant, so no one ever celebrated my birthday when I was young. I never thought to ask my mother when exactly she gave birth to me. It's completely normal not to know your precise birthday. What's so—"
She suddenly couldn't continue speaking because a complex, unreadable emotion had appeared in Feng Suige's eyes as he stared at her. Unconsciously, his entire expression softened dramatically, the hard edges melting away.
Yixiao's brows twitched almost imperceptibly, and she turned her head with forced anger to stare out the window. "What's with that expression on your face? Are you pitying me?"
"It's not pity," Feng Suige said quietly, blinking slowly as he lowered his head to study the floor. His voice emerged soft as silk. "With your particular temperament—so fiery and passionate—you were probably born during summer. The hottest months." He paused, seeming to gather courage. "Anyway, um, it's only a few days away now. Let's celebrate together then."
Yixiao turned her head back sharply, thoroughly puzzled. "What do you mean by 'only a few days away'? Away from what?"
Feng Suige suddenly shouted with obvious awkwardness, his face flushing. "Why do you have so many questions? It's not as if I'm taking you to be executed!"
Yixiao, utterly bewildered by his sudden explosive outburst, felt her own anger rising in response. "You're not comfortable if you don't argue with me for a few days, are you? Is that your problem?"
Feng Suige's hand hanging at his side clenched into a white-knuckled fist, rising half an inch in visible agitation before he forcibly lowered it with tremendous effort. He said with deep resentment, "You are the most stupid, most utterly oblivious woman in the entire world!"
Yixiao's eyes narrowed dangerously as she planted her hands on her hips. "You'd better explain yourself clearly this instant. Even if I'm genuinely stupid and oblivious as you claim, so what? How much smarter are you than me, exactly? What right do you have to scold me like this?!"
"What right?!" Feng Suige was practically jumping with barely contained rage. "I kindly want to celebrate your birthday with you, and you dare ask me what right I have?!"
"Hey now, are you even being reasonable?" Yixiao glared at him for several long moments, then suddenly her expression shifted to something strange and uncertain. "You said... you want to celebrate my birthday? But I don't even know when my birthday is—how are we supposed to celebrate something unknown?"
Feng Suige was so frustrated he pointed at her accusingly, his finger trembling. "You're not listening to me at all, not hearing a single word..." Seeing Yixiao's face darkening ominously again, he swallowed the rest of his complaint and lowered his voice to something approaching calm. "I just said—judging by your fierce temper, you should also be born in summer. Let's celebrate together then!"
"Oh," Yixiao responded absent-mindedly, her brain still struggling to process his meaning. "Why can you determine someone's birthday season from their temperament? That seems rather arbitrary..."
With a thunderous bang, Feng Suige kicked the nearby ornate palace stool, sending it flying impressively far across the room. "Are you listening to me at all?!"
Yixiao startled badly, then scolded with raised eyebrows, "Feng Suige, what is wrong with you? What exactly are you trying to communicate?!"
"What am I trying to say?!" Feng Suige glared at her with desperate intensity, gritting his teeth so hard they should have shattered. "I'm saying in a few days we'll celebrate our birthdays together! Both of us! At the same time!!!"
Yixiao's mouth fell slightly open, seeming to have finally grasped something crucial. Suddenly, understanding dawned across her features, and she gave him the most dazzling, coquettish smile. "Oh... I know what you're saying now."
Feng Suige froze completely, stunned motionless for a heartbeat. He hurriedly averted his gaze, a suspicious and rather charming blush spreading across his face like spilled wine. He said gruffly, voice rough, "As long as you finally understand. I'll make proper arrangements when the time comes... I still need to go to the library to read important documents. I'm leaving first."
With those words, he strode toward the door with his head ducked low, refusing to meet her eyes.
Yixiao smiled with her eyes curved into happy crescents, calling out sweetly just before he stepped across the threshold, "You could have simply said directly that it's your birthday in a few days! That would have been so much easier!"
Feng Suige tripped spectacularly on the threshold and nearly crashed face-first to the ground, stumbling forward several ungainly steps. Fortunately, he managed to steady himself by grabbing desperately at the wall just in time to prevent total disaster.
Behind him erupted Yixiao's completely unrestrained laughter—bright, genuine, and utterly delighted.
He didn't look back, didn't dare to, but his steps quickened considerably as he fled, ears burning crimson.
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