“Then let me ask you. Why do you show up around Shen Qi so frequently since we married?”
“You really got me wrong, Moxuan. I came across her by chance tonight.”
“Oh really? By chance? Or was it a date?” In the midst of it, Ye Moxuan flashed a gaze to Shen Qi.
Shen Qi clenched her fists, then stared straight at Ye Moxuan defiantly and slightly opened her mouth.
Just when everyone thought she would explain herself, all she said was, “Whether it’s by chance or a date, it doesn’t matter. A self-centered man like you won’t listen to what others have to say, so there’s no point giving you any explanation at all.”
“Shen Qi!” Ye Linhan frowned, not understanding why Shen Qi was so defiant and did not give in to Ye Moxuan.
“This has nothing to do with you.” Shen Qi pushed Ye Linhan away and stood in front of him, then said to Ye Moxuan, “In your eyes, I’m just a flirty woman. And that’s right. Everything you saw was real. I’m that kind of woman. It’s me who asked Linhan to come over.”
Ye Moxuan’s gaze toward her turned cold and dangerous.
“Do you know what you’re talking about?”
Shen Qi was fed up with Ye Moxuan. Since their marriage, there was not a single day he would not hurt her feelings with his words. It was true that she begged to stay in the Ye residence, but it did not mean she should be treated so badly. She could not contain her anger anymore.
“Shen Qi, did you forget what I told you? You…”
“Linhan, it’s a matter between Moxuan and me. Can you go back first?”
“Shen Qi…”
Shen Qi looked at him with absolute certainty, adamant that he should leave now.
Ye Linhan slightly opened his mouth, but could not bring himself to say anything else. He nodded, then looked at Ye Moxuan, giving one last explanation before he left. “Moxuan, you should control your temper sometimes. There’s really nothing between Shen Qi and me. We bumped into each other by chance tonight. That’s all I have to say. I’ll leave it to you now.”
After Ye Linhan left, Xiao Su felt that he was being redundant. He pointed at his nose and said, “Should I leave as well?”
Nobody responded to his question. Xiao Su scratched his head and wondered if he had asked a stupid question, and thought he should just leave. So, he left.
There were only Ye Moxuan and Shen Qi left in this serene garden.
Everybody left. Within a short reach, they stared at each other. The atmosphere around them had changed. The moon’s light illuminated Ye Moxuan, but it did not seem warm anymore. Instead, it looked rather cold and bleak.
After a long stretch of deadlock, Ye Moxuan decided to break it. “Come here.”
Shen Qi did not move, and lowered her gaze and said, “I need to talk to you.”
Upon hearing that, Ye Moxuan curled his lips and sneered, “Go ahead.”
Shen Qi gazed at the ground. “I know it’s just a deal between us; the Ye Family is my temporary refuge, and marrying me would stop Old Master Ye from forcing you to marry someone else. But it’s an equal deal between us, right?”
“Who told you it’s an equal deal?” Ye Moxuan said coldly. Upon hearing that, Shen Qi raised her head at once, shocked. “It’s not?”
Ye Moxuan slowly turned his wheelchair and moved closer to Shen Qi. She did not notice it because he moved very slowly. He spoke coldly as he moved forward. “I don’t care who the Old Master wants me to marry. I can take it as it is. But I would never tolerate it if this marriage was a plot or conspiracy by someone. And don’t forget that even if it’s a marriage of convenience, your sister—Shen Yue—should be the one who married me.”
Shen Qi trembled in anger.
“Shen Qi, you impersonated your sister and married me, and you’re pregnant with a child. It was you who begged me to let you stay that day!”
Shen Qi was lost for words.
“Now, do you still think this marriage of convenience is an equal deal?” he said.
Shen Qi bit her lower lip, her eyes filled with a tinge of redness. “Alright. It’s me who begged you to let me stay. And this is just a marriage of convenience. So why do you have to indignify me in every way possible?”
Ye Moxuan slashed her a mild smile. “It’s fun, isn’t it?”
Upon hearing that, Shen Qi widened her eyes in disbelief. “Fun?”
It is fun to misunderstand me all the time and indignify me?
Ye Moxuan’s grin was almost bloodthirsty, and his voice was as cold as ice. “Do you think it’s so easy being my wife? This is the price you have to pay for plotting against me with your family!”
Is it the price I have to pay?
Standing below a tree, the moon shone its light on Shen Qi’s already pale face, making it look from bad to worse. With her hair dishevelled, she looked like a female ghost.
Finally, she understood why Ye Moxuan had been treating her so badly.
“So in your eyes, I’m just a woman who plotted this marriage and utilized all means to marry you, right?”
Ye Moxuan raised his brow. “Aren’t you?”
Shen Qi lowered her gaze and remained silent.
She did not want to get into this marriage either. She was a victim herself.
But he would never understand, so there was no point explaining to him. Shen Qi laughed in self-mockery. “Yeah. I’m that kind of person.”
Ye Moxuan frowned. What’s wrong with this woman? Suddenly she stopped arguing.
“So this is what you want to tell me?”
Shen Qi raised her head again, the serenity restored in her eyes. She looked at him calmly and said, “Yeah. That’s all I have to say. I shall go back now.”
After she finished, she turned around and was ready to leave. Ye Moxuan frowned, then he gritted his teeth and snarled, “Come back!”
Shen Qi stopped, then smiled. “How may I help you, Young Master Ye?”
From now on, she should know her place in the family. It was just a marriage of convenience, and nothing else.
She had been really too emotional today.
Ye Moxuan was right. It was an unequal deal, and there was a price to pay for lying to him.
And she was the one who had to bear the cost.
“What did you say?”
Shen Qi stood motionless for a while, then suddenly turned around. Her face looked cold and emotionless under the moon; even her smile was deprived of warmth.
“How may I help you, Young Master Ye?”
Ye Moxuan was speechless.
Damn it!
The sudden change made him feel uneasy, and he could see that something was slowly fading away from her abnormally calm gaze.
This feeling really pissed him off.
“Who says you can call me that?”
Shen Qi smiled mildly. “You said that I should call you Young Master Ye like everyone else.”
He said, “That’s how you should call me at the company and outside of this house. If you call me Young Master at home, what’s grandfather going to think of it?”
“Oh, then how should I address you? Please enlighten me, and I’ll change.”
Surprisingly, Shen Qi became very docile and meek, like a really good subordinate to him.
