Chapter 62: Fondness

Chen Yi woke up, lowered his gaze, and saw the dried tear stains on her face.

Yin Tingxue was still fast asleep in his arms, her brows slightly furrowed, perhaps harboring panic and sorrow even in her dreams.

Chen Yi turned his head to look at the system interface.

[Grudge and Harmony Scripture (Super Grade) (Initial Success)]

[You have finally become dao companions with your archenemy, merging as one. You once hated her, but now there is mostly affection and pity. Though she does not love you, she can no longer leave you. You are entwined together like creeping vines.]

[Dao seed condensed, rewarded with two strands of true essence, true qi conversion rate increased.]

Looking at the words on the panel, Chen Yi felt no joy to speak of.

Logically speaking, he should have been happy; however, Yin Tingxue’s demeanor from the previous night still echoed in his mind.

"Sigh."

Chen Yi sighed, lowered his head to look at the sleeping young woman, and gently touched her dried tear stains, his emotions complex.

When night fell yesterday, she had initially choked back her voice, biting her lips tightly in stubborn silence.

So Chen Yi had bullied her relentlessly, showing her no mercy.

She was always like that—possessing a pathetic resoluteness, and he was always adept at shattering that stubbornness.

By the third time, she could no longer bear the torment and instinctively pleaded softly,

"No."

Hearing those words, Chen Yi slowed down and gently kissed her.

Later in the night, after resting for a while, she would tremble the moment she saw him approach again, shrinking away timidly, until she finally uttered her second word besides "no":

"It hurts. Be gentler."

Chen Yi kissed the young woman, and when their lips parted, he said softly,

"Okay."

………

Recalling the previous night and looking at the young woman in his arms, Chen Yi found his thoughts impossibly complex.

It wasn't that he felt no satisfaction in finally making his archenemy a woman, but there was only a tiny bit of that. Far greater was an indescribable sorrow. It was as if, at some moment, Yin Tingxue's grief had infected him as well, her mournful clinging reaching deep into his heart. He still remembered how, when it was all over, her mind had been somewhat hazy, completely distraught.

"…Are… are you satisfied?"

She had pressed limply against his chest.

"Yes."

At that time, he had wrapped his arms around her sweat-soaked shoulders,

"What's wrong?"

Completely exhausted, she found strength from somewhere unknown and pleaded with a mixture of panic and desperation:

"Then promise me, you must… promise me, I beg you to promise me, treat me better—treat me better!

Do not, do not hurt me… I gave you my first time, I have nothing left… Please don't hurt me… Will you, will you?"

He had been shaken by her words, and just as he wanted to answer, her eyes closed and she drifted off into an exhausted sleep.

Looking at the princess of Xiang in his arms, Chen Yi could not help but kiss her forehead.

Come to think of it, he kissed her forehead much more often than he kissed her lips.

Why was that? Weren't lips supposed to be more attractive?

Chen Yi felt a inexplicable sense of wonder.

Logically speaking, it should have been so. With Min Ning and Min Ming, he had kissed their lips, yet he had never kissed their foreheads. Were they not pretty enough? No, they were breathtakingly gorgeous as well. Perhaps he would kiss their foreheads in the future when the opportunity arose, yet for so long, he had uniquely only kissed Yin Tingxue's forehead.

Chen Yi recalled the sensation of tightness in his chest, searching for the answer.

Yin Tingxue breathed lightly in his arms, her lips parting slightly to make an unconscious sound,

"No..."

Chen Yi instinctively tightened his embrace around her, then abruptly started, lowering his gaze to look at the pitiful young woman in his arms.

He found the answer and smiled bitterly,

"Well, did I really have this much affection and pity for her all along?"

Even though he had long realized that he pitied and cherished her—that his heart tightened far more often when he was with her than with other women—he truly had not expected that accompanying this tightened heart was an immense, uncontrollable tenderness.

Chen Yi held her tighter. Yin Tingxue seemed uncomfortable and instinctively pushed against him, but after a moment, she stopped struggling and fell back into a sound sleep.

With such complex emotions, Chen Yi closed his eyes and slowly waited for her to wake up.

I do not know how much time passed, but by nearly midday, the young woman in his arms gave a soft whimper and a tiny yawn. When she opened her eyes and saw the man before her, she stiffened for a brief moment before finally relaxing.

"Awake?"

"…Mm."

Yin Tingxue responded.

"…I'll go make some food, and then I'll do your hair up for you. How about a flying-home bun? It suits you quite well."

Chen Yi asked softly.

"Anything is fine."

Hearing this, Chen Yi held her for a little longer before standing up. He casually threw on a single tunic and turned to leave.

"Wait…" She called out to him.

Chen Yi turned his head back to look at her and asked,

"What is it?"

Yin Tingxue sat up, the quilt covering her petite frame, and looked at him weakly.

She hesitated for a moment, her voice very soft as she asked:

"You promised… to treat me better… Can you?"

She didn't ask if he remembered, but rather if he could. It seemed her heart was in utter turmoil, perpetually afraid that he was deceiving her.

"Then you must be well-behaved too."

With that, Chen Yi leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"Mm."

Yin Tingxue replied softly. Then, seeing him about to get up again, she hurriedly grabbed his sleeve and timidly reminded him:

"You didn't say whether you can or not…"

"I can."

Finally, Chen Yi kissed her forehead once more,

"I actually really like you."

She froze slightly, looking at him in a daze.

At that moment, he felt that familiar tightness in his chest once again.

Chen Yi turned around and headed toward the kitchen.

He took the ingredients out from the cellar, washed and prepped them, lit the fire, and began to cook.

As he cooked, Chen Yi kept thinking of Yin Tingxue's dazed expression.

His words had probably caught her completely off guard. Come to think of it, when he spoke those words, he had felt an overwhelming sense of guilt in his heart, much like when he faced Zhou Yitang.

"What a beast," Chen Yi cursed himself casually.

After finishing the meal and serving it on the table, Chen Yi washed up and returned to the bedroom, where he found Yin Tingxue, already washed, holding up a hairpin and examining it.

"Do you like it?"

"…It's very pretty." Yin Tingxue did not answer directly.

The silver hairpin caught the light in her hands.

Chen Yi walked up behind her, picked up a comb, and prepared to tend to her glossy hair.

"Master, do you know how?"

"Of course."

Thus, she sat up straight, leaving herself entirely to his care.

Gathering her dark hair, Chen Yi’s movements were practiced and familiar. Soon, he used a hairpin to secure the shape, and finally pinched Yin Tingxue's cheek before she could dodge away.

In the bronze mirror, the flying-home bun—with hair framing both temples and shaped like a tapered coil—took form, the gentle hairstyle accentuating the young woman's delicate vulnerability all the more.

Chen Yi said softly:

"You've come of age now; you need a courtesy name."

Because she had not consummated a marriage before and was under twenty, she hadn't received a courtesy name yet.

Yin Tingxue lowered her gaze slightly.

A courtesy name…

She didn't want one.

A courtesy name felt like being branded with his mark.

However, in the end, she still obediently said:

"Then… let's have a courtesy name. A courtesy name is fine. What do you want it to be?"

"A courtesy name should relate to one's given name, so…"

Chen Yi looked at her for a moment and teased playfully:

"Snow-slave? Listening-slave?"

Yin Tingxue shivered slightly and stared at him with wide, cat-like eyes.

Finally, Chen Yi said softly:

"Then… Yintai. How about Yintai? Do you like it?"

It was the Yintai of Yintai Temple.

Hearing this, Yin Tingxue curved her lips into a faint smile and nodded.

Chen Yi rubbed her head,

"You must be hungry. Let's go eat."

Before she stood up, she asked one more time,

"Really… you won't hurt me?"

"Mmm, silly girl."