So, You’re the Henpecked One? 54

Chapter 54

Lin Zhao looked at her, at her walking toward her step by step, and forced a stiff smile. “I don’t know her.”

Chu Xihuan came up to her and, looking at her face, which was much darker and more mature than before she had left, she slowly smiled. She took one of Lin Zhao’s hands and slowly placed it on her heart. “Then do you not recognize me either?”

Her palm suddenly covered it. Even through the thick winter clothes, Lin Zhao seemed to be able to feel her rapid and forceful heartbeat.

Lin Zhao looked at her, and her eyes gradually turned red. She gritted her teeth and finally pulled her hand back with force, taking two steps back. “Chu Xihuan, what else do you want to do!”

She should have used up everything she could be used for, right? Her act of marrying her had clearly succeeded in angering her old flame. Her goal had been achieved, so she could stop now, right?

Seeing her back away, Chu Xihuan was silent for a moment, then couldn’t help but ask, “Just because of my past deception, you’re going to completely deny everything about me?”

“How I treat you, whether I have feelings for you or not, can you really not feel it at all?”

“How do I know if what I feel is real? How do I know if you’re not just putting on a show for me!” Lin Zhao’s emotions also became a little agitated. She looked at Chu Xihuan with red eyes. “Chu Xihuan, I know very little about you, so little that I don’t believe anything I see.”

She felt that she didn’t know Chu Xihuan well enough to believe in her feelings for her.

Chu Xihuan closed her eyes and took a slow, deep breath, trying to control her emotions so as not to get too agitated. Otherwise, the two of them would probably have an irreparable argument.

“Lin Zhao, if my feelings for you were fake, I wouldn’t have been at home waiting for you for so many years!” Although she had already told herself to be calm, when she said the last part, Chu Xihuan’s emotions still couldn’t help but become a little agitated, and her eyes also turned a little red.

If her feelings for Lin Zhao were not real, she would not have chosen to stay in that rough and desolate border city to deceive herself that she was close to her, nor would she have worried about her safety day and night, praying to the Buddha more than once for her safe return.

She had not believed in these things before, but after Lin Zhao left, she was willing to believe in their existence and prayed again and again.

She didn’t think she would go to such lengths for someone she didn’t like!

Lin Zhao forced a smile. “Then I’m very curious about one thing. If I hadn’t agreed to marry you back then, who would you have married?”

She really wanted to know how many people were on Chu Xihuan’s list, and where she ranked.

At her words, Chu Xihuan fell silent. She hadn’t expected Lin Zhao to ask such a question.

“What, you can’t answer?” Lin Zhao’s tone was a little sarcastic.

“I didn’t think about it,” Chu Xihuan sighed softly.

Lin Zhao frowned. “What do you mean?”

Sure enough, no matter how many years had passed, as long as Chu Xihuan didn’t explain things clearly, she couldn’t understand her specific meaning.

Chu Xihuan took a slow, deep breath. “I said I didn’t think about who else I would choose if you didn’t agree. At that moment, when I wanted to find someone to marry, the first person I thought of was you.”

Chu Xihuan looked directly at Lin Zhao. “I’m not lying to you this time.”

Lin Zhao was stunned and stared at Chu Xihuan blankly, not having recovered from the information she had given her. But when she did, there was no hint of surprise on her face. Instead, she frowned and looked at Chu Xihuan in silence for a long time before saying very softly, “But I don’t understand. Apart from knowing that I like women, what else is there about me that is worthy of being chosen by you?”

If it was just because she liked women, Lin Zhao herself found it hard to believe that Chu Xihuan would have the possibility of liking her later.

However, in such a quiet and tense atmosphere, Chu Xihuan suddenly let out a seemingly inappropriate light laugh. She looked at Lin Zhao and said with a low laugh, “Are you sure you’re not just trying to get me to praise you?”

Lin Zhao was speechless.

Her originally pale face gradually flushed, and she glared at Chu Xihuan. “Say it or don’t! If there’s nothing else, please leave!”

Chu Xihuan was not scared by her attitude. She very naturally came to the tea table and sat down, even pouring herself a cup of tea. She met Lin Zhao’s angry gaze, her tone with a hint of reminiscence.

“Perhaps you think that the time in the casino was our first meeting?”

“Wasn’t it?” Lin Zhao tried to remember. With Chu Xihuan’s outstanding appearance, it was impossible that she had seen her before. If she had, she would not have forgotten.

“Perhaps it was for you, but not for me,” Chu Xihuan said with a faint smile, gently turning the teacup in her hand. “The first time I saw you, you were not in a good image.”

Lin Zhao was speechless.

If this person wants to say something, then say it. Why does she have to dig at me first!

“At that time, you were lying on the corner of the wall, throwing the steamed bun in your hand to a little beggar in the alley. After throwing it, you immediately hid, afraid that the other person would find out it was you who threw it,” Chu Xihuan said. It was because of that one time that her opinion of the rumored Lin Zhao had changed a little.

She didn’t believe that a person who would secretly give their own food to a little beggar could be a very scoundrelly and malicious person.

After all, at that time, Lin Zhao herself was still rubbing her stomach and enduring hunger.

Lin Zhao’s brow furrowed. She couldn’t quite remember which time Chu Xihuan was talking about. After all, she had often chosen to give her own food to those little beggars who were about to starve to death. In comparison, she was still better off than those little beggars. But if she didn’t give, they really might starve to death in some alley one day.

But she was never willing to give those people food openly. On the one hand, her reputation was there. Was doing good deeds something a person like her should do? And she was also afraid of being pestered by those people. She didn’t have that much food to feed so many children.

Seeing Lin Zhao’s expression, Chu Xihuan let out a low laugh. “Why do you have that expression?”

“Just because of that?” Lin Zhao asked, still unable to believe that Chu Xihuan had chosen to marry her just because of that.

“Of course, and also because you’re young and beautiful,” Chu Xihuan said with a sweet smile, her gaze on Lin Zhao’s face. She was much darker than before, but her features had completely matured, with a sharp, heroic air from having gone through battles of flesh and blood, which made Chu Xihuan’s heart ache, but at the same time, she was even more moved.

Lin Zhao was speechless.

Seeing Lin Zhao’s silence, Chu Xihuan stood up and came up to her step by step, her hand gently caressing her cheek. “You don’t think I just randomly found someone to marry without looking at anything, do you?” she said with a smile.

“Lin Zhao, you’re more beautiful than her.”

At least on this point, Chu Xihuan was very satisfied with her choice. It wouldn’t make people think that she had found someone inferior to her after she left that person.

Lin Zhao’s face instantly turned red. She took a step back, but found that she was already against the wall and had nowhere to go.

“Don’t come any closer!” Lin Zhao said in annoyance, almost angered to death by her.

Chu Xihuan stood where she was and didn’t move, but she said, “But I want to see you more clearly. Lin Zhao, I haven’t seen you for more than three years.”

When she said the last sentence, Chu Xihuan’s voice was a little muffled. Even when she was in Liangcheng, which was closest to Lin Zhao, she had actually never seen her. Other soldiers might occasionally go to the city to stroll around when they were resting, but she had never seen Lin Zhao appear in the city.

Hearing her words, Lin Zhao’s gaze unconsciously fell on Chu Xihuan’s face. Wasn’t she the same? After not seeing her for more than three years, Chu Xihuan was even more beautiful than before. And perhaps because she had a daughter now, she could feel a hint of gentleness that she had not had before.

So annoying. Why does this person have to be so beautiful.

Seeing Lin Zhao staring at her face, Chu Xihuan wanted to laugh in her heart. She had discovered long ago that Lin Zhao also liked to look at faces, and this person seemed to particularly like her face. In the past, when the two of them were together, she could always feel her gaze on her.

“Am I beautiful?” Chu Xihuan asked softly.

Lin Zhao subconsciously wanted to answer, but in the end, she was stopped by her belated rationality. She looked at Chu Xihuan with a wary expression.

Seeing her like this, Chu Xihuan sighed softly in her heart, took Lin Zhao’s hand, and placed it on her face, rubbing it gently. “Lin Zhao, I miss you so much.”

The touch of her palm was delicate and soft, which on the contrary, made Lin Zhao’s hands, which had been worn down over the years, seem even rougher and drier. She was afraid that the rough calluses would scratch her delicate skin.

Lin Zhao composed herself and gritted her teeth. “Chu Xihuan, it’s been three years. Do you think I’ll still be fooled by you like before?”

She pulled her hand back and once again raised her hackles. She didn’t want to fall in the same place twice.

“It’s been three years, so what,” Chu Xihuan’s smile slowly faded. “So have you fallen in love with someone else?”

Lin Zhao glared at her angrily, gritting her teeth and not speaking.

“Who, your comrade-in-arms? Or have you met some other girl?” Chu Xihuan pressed her, her gaze fixed on Lin Zhao’s eyes.

She didn’t think that with Lin Zhao’s personality, she would let go of her so quickly. But as long as there was even a little possibility, Chu Xihuan would still feel a little panicked.

After all, the time they had been apart was much longer than the time they had been together.

“Why should I tell you,” Lin Zhao sneered, turning her head away from her.

Seeing her like this, a hint of gloom flashed in Chu Xihuan’s eyes. She once again came closer to Lin Zhao, her body almost pressing against hers.

“Because I am still your wife, I have the right to know.”