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Chapter 14: Two Men, One Drama
Xiangwu glanced at Ergouzi, who was currently under the impression that he’d had a good thing going, only to have it snatched away halfway. Then she looked at the guard, whose own feelings had ended up dead on arrival before he could even get anywhere.
For a moment, she was utterly bewildered. Neither of these two had shown her a shred of real affection—so why on earth were they suddenly chasing after her now?
Along with her confusion came a growing headache. Biting her lip, she thought to herself, ‘What an utter pain’.
Right at that moment, the guard caught sight of Ergouzi, and his expression instantly soured.
He glanced back at Xiangwu. Seeing the tearful, helpless look in her clear eyes broke his heart completely.
Ever since the time Xiangwu had stolen a glance at him, he had been convinced she harbored feelings for him. He had quietly made inquiries afterward, learning that Xiangwu was one of the highest-ranking top-tier maids serving the young mistress. He also found out that Ergouzi secretly fancied Miss Xiangwu and reportedly intended to marry her. Yet, when the Marquis bestowed a bride upon him, Ergouzi’s parents accepted without hesitation—and Ergouzi himself gave up on Miss Xiangwu without a single fight.
Watching Xiangwu’s pitiable state now, the guard’s heart ached for her. But beyond that heartbreak, as he glared at Ergouzi, it was a case of rivals meeting, eyes practically ablaze with hatred.
First, he hated Ergouzi for flirting with a young girl only to abandon her. Second, he hated that Ergouzi and Miss Xiangwu had once been on good terms.
Most infuriating of all, he had no idea just how far Miss Xiangwu and Ergouzi had actually gone. The mere thought that this fair, delicate young girl might have had her hand held or her lips kissed by Ergouzi made the guard’s chest throb with a bitter, unbearable ache.
Ergouzi, however, didn't notice the guard glaring daggers at him at all. He was currently staring at his "Little Sister Xiangwu" in utter despair.
Truth be told, which of the servants guarding the inner gate didn't look forward to seeing the little maid Xiangwu pass by?
Everyone said that whenever Miss Xiangwu walked through, it put everyone in a good mood for the entire day. Whoever happened to be on duty when she passed considered themselves lucky, earning the envy of everyone else.
At night, when the men gathered to chat and crack dirty jokes, their minds inevitably drifted to Xiangwu. They couldn't help talking about her slender waist, her plump curves, and that fair, delicate face of hers—the mere thought of her was enough to send their imaginations wild.
Ergouzi had truly believed that for a girl like Xiangwu to fancy him was a blessing accumulated over eight lifetimes. He had been so giddy he hardly knew what to do with himself.
He had already begun imagining bringing her home as his wife, indulging in all sorts of pleasures with her. The thought excited him so much at night that he couldn't sleep, and he would wake up the next morning needing to wash his bedding and change his undergarments.
Who could have guessed that everything would change overnight?
He didn't care for whatever bride the Marquis had bestowed upon him. No matter how beautiful she was, he didn't want her.He only wanted Xiangwu.
Yet, he also knew he was powerless to resist his parents, let alone defy their commands to marry her.
His entire family were bondservants of the Marquis of Dingyuan. The Marquis was their sky—a force even his parents couldn't possibly defy.
Forced to accept reality, Ergouzi was heart-broken. He felt immense guilt toward Xiangwu, along with a deep reluctance to let her go.
Especially after hearing that upon learning the news of his marriage, Xiangwu had been so heartbroken she collapsed onto her bed, weeping uncontrollably and unable to get up—that made him feel even more overwhelmingly guilty. He resolved to comfort her properly, to let her know that she was still in his heart. Even if he couldn't marry her, he would cherish her memory for the rest of his life.
Perhaps, if the opportunity ever arose in the future, he might even find a way to see if they could make things work after all.
Planning it all out like that, he certainly hadn't expected to run into her so suddenly. Little Sister Xiangwu seemed even more delicate and strikingly beautiful than before. Standing there gracefully with her slender waist softly swaying, her beauty was truly rare in this world—so much so that just looking at her made a man's body tighten up.
This was a woman he was supposed to take as his wife and enjoy to his heart's content. Now that he couldn't marry her, who knew which man would end up taking advantage of her and ruining her in the future?
Looking at Xiangwu, Ergouzi felt a pang of heart-wrenching pain. He choked out raspily, "Little Sister Xiangwu, your brother Ergouzi has wronged you…"
He was only halfway through his sentence when another man suddenly leaped out, shoving Xiangwu behind his back to protect her.
Letting out a cold sneer, the guard looked down at Ergouzi with utter contempt. "If you know you've wronged her, why are you still creeping around her? You're about to wed a pretty bride of your own, so why come here to provoke her? Are you just trying to make her miserable?"
Xiangwu had initially been in a state of utter bewildered confusion, but hearing the guard’s words, she suddenly felt that Guard Brother was entirely right. He’d spoken so satisfyingly to the point!
Since he was marrying someone else anyway, why bother coming over to say all this to her? Was he expecting her to stay heartbroken, pining for him forever?
Ergouzi had originally been wearing a face full of heartbreak, but seeing a guard suddenly pop out of nowhere left him stunned. He stared for a long while before recognizing him as Cheng Rui, one of the guards who stood duty outside the Marquis’s courtyard. His expression immediately soured. "Guard Cheng, I am speaking with Little Sister Xiangwu. What business is it of yours?"
Guard Brother Cheng Rui let out a cold sneer. "Who’s your sister? Stop going 'sister this, sister that' like you're so close to her!"
A huge question mark practically floated over Ergouzi's face.
Hearing this, Xiangwu hesitated for a moment before biting her lip and saying, "Guard Brother is right. Since you're already marrying someone else, why keep going on about 'sister'? Or are you saying that even after marrying someone else, you still expect me to pine after you?"
This was clearly a case of eating from one’s own bowl while staring at the pot!
Ah, how Xiangwu hated it!
‘Guard Brother?’
The confusion on Ergouzi's face deepened. How on earth had Little Sister Xiangwu started calling someone else 'brother' in the blink of an eye?
Hearing Xiangwu call him "Guard Brother" left Guard Cheng practically beside himself with joy. It instantly hardened his resolve to protect Little Sister Xiangwu and make sure Ergouzi couldn't bully her.
He sneered even harder. "Did you hear that? Little Sister Xiangwu doesn't want anything to do with you."
Hearing Xiangwu's words, Ergouzi was genuinely heartbroken.
He stood there frozen in sheer disbelief, completely unable to wrap his head around it.
How was Little Sister Xiangwu not the least bit heartbroken? And how had she turned around and started calling another man 'brother' so easily?
He simply couldn't accept it. To this day, he still remembered how she had pursed her lips, smiled, and called him "Brother Ergouzi." How could she go calling someone else 'brother' in the blink of an eye?
Even if he was going to marry someone else, she shouldn't have changed her tune so fast!
At the thought of this, his breathing grew heavy. Glaring with bloodshot eyes, he rasped, "Little Sister Xiangwu, I know I was wrong! I shouldn't be marrying someone else, but you ought to know that was never my intention! Won't you just let me explain?"
With that, he shoved Cheng Rui aside and reached out to grab Xiangwu to force an explanation.
In Xiangwu's memory, Ergouzi had always been a cheerful guy with a thin face, clever, smooth talker who was constantly calling her "Miss Xiangwu." She had never seen him red-eyed and acting like he'd gone mad, looking for all the world like a wild dog in heat.
Having never seen him like this before, she was thoroughly startled and hastily scrambled backward.
Ergouzi grew anxious, lunging forward to grab Xiangwu by her sleeve. "Little Sister Xiangwu, listen to me! Even if I marry someone else, in my heart, you're the only one”
Right then, Cheng Rui slapped Ergouzi’s reaching hand away with a sharp strike. Swinging around, he used his own arm to shield Xiangwu behind him. "Little Sister Xiangwu doesn't want to hear it! She has nothing to do with you anymore,can't you get that through your thick head?"
Xiangwu had been frightened nearly out of her wits by Ergouzi, but being shielded in Guard Cheng's embrace quickly restored her courage. Pointing a finger at Ergouzi, she declared, "That's right, I have nothing to do with you anymore! One moment you're calling me sister, and the next you're marrying someone else. Now that you're about to wed another woman, why come to provoke me? Were you expecting me to sit here crying my eyes out, making a complete laughingstock of myself in the estate? Or did you think that even after you married someone else, I’d spend the rest of my life pining for you and never getting over you?"
The young girl’s voice was crisp, tender, and soft, yet her logic was razor-sharp, leaving Ergouzi utterly dumbfounded.
Tears welled in his eyes as he stomped his foot in helpless frustration. "Little Sister Xiangwu, how can you say that? I heard you were so heartbroken you were bedridden and sobbing uncontrollably! My heart pained for you, I couldn't just stand by!"
Listening to him, Xiangwu flushed red with anger.
She was an unwed young maiden who still hoped to find a good husband in the future. Since things hadn't worked out between them, the best thing to do was never mention it again. Yet he was blurting it out right in front of another man—did he expect her to mourn for him her entire life and never be able to marry?
Biting her lip, she said with quiet resentment, "Ergouzi, you've completely misunderstood. I was crying out loud yesterday because I had a stomachache! Today I'm better, and I feel completely refreshed. Why on earth would I be that heartbroken over you? Who do you think you are to me? The two of us have no relationship whatsoever!"
Those words brought immense satisfaction to Cheng Rui's heart.
Ergouzi, on the other hand, suffered a crushing blow.
He pointed at Xiangwu in utter disbelief. "That day... didn't you keep calling me Brother Ergouzi that day? The way you looked at me back then—"
The way she had looked at him had been full of affection and sweet devotion!
Yet Xiangwu simply looked bewildered. "Ergouzi, you must have misheard, right? Am I the kind of girl who goes around calling just anyone 'brother'?"
Ergouzi: "..."
He stared blankly at Xiangwu for a long while before finally gritting his teeth. "I get it. You must be angry with me, so you're saying this on purpose. I... I don't blame you."
With that, he wiped his face, threw a fierce glare at Cheng Rui, turned on his heel, and walked away.
Xiangwu breathed a sigh of relief. Good. From now on, this man was officially cut out of her life. That was one problem dealt with.
Just as she relaxed, however, she felt Cheng Rui right beside her, gazing at her with eyes that burned like fire.
A wave of heat washed over Xiangwu's face as she realized she was still shielded within Cheng Rui's arms. She hastily tried to take a step back.
However, Cheng Rui was holding his arm out to protect her.
When she stepped back like that, her supple waist lightly brushed against Cheng Rui's arm, which was as solid as iron.
Cheng Rui blushed; Xiangwu’s heart fluttered in panic.
Biting her lip, she looked up at Cheng Rui and whispered, "Guard Cheng... Please let me go.”
Cheng Rui looked down at the soft, delicate girl before him and asked in a raspy voice, "What did you just call me?"
In truth, Xiangwu thought the guard in front of her was actually quite nice. If nothing else, the way he had just chased Ergouzi away for her had made her heart practically sing with delight.
However, she hadn't forgotten that handkerchief in the Marquis's hand.
She had gotten the fabric for that handkerchief from Nanny Ge. Word was that while the material wasn't extraordinarily precious, it was quite rare and simply couldn't be bought on the market nowadays—at least, Xiangwu had never seen anyone else in the estate using it.
And she had given that very handkerchief to Cheng Rui.
Yet, in the blink of an eye, Cheng Rui had turned around and handed it over to the Marquis!
Xiangwu simply couldn't tolerate such behavior. If Cheng Rui truly cared about her, there was no way he would hand over something as intimate as a private token of affection to the Marquis, leaving her to endure such humiliation at the Marquis's hands.
So Xiangwu lifted her head and declared, righteous and unyielding, "Guard Cheng."
Cheng Rui pursed his lips. "You were just calling me 'Guard Brother' a moment ago."
Xiangwu blinked.
Cheng Rui added, "I'm not Ergouzi. I didn't mishear you."
Biting her lip, Xiangwu retorted, "So what if you didn't mishear? I thought highly of you back then, but now I don't!"
Cheng Rui looked at her, feeling both innocent and utterly helpless. "How am I not good to you?"
Xiangwu tilted her face to look at him. The man's presence hovered right before her, brimming with rugged masculinity.
If he hadn't treated her like that, Xiangwu thought to herself, she would have been willing to marry him and bear his children.
Even so, she steeled herself and demanded, "That handkerchief I gave you—who did you give it to?! How could you treat me like that?!"
Having blurted that out, she pushed him away in a fit of shame and anger, turning on her heel and bolting.
Cheng Rui stood there in complete confusion, watching Xiangwu's retreating figure as she fled in desperation.
The handkerchief? But he had kept the handkerchief safe and sound—why on earth did she say that?
Cheng Rui looked down at his hand, which still bore the lingering, faint fragrance of a young maiden.
A young girl's mind truly is impossible to fathom.
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