"Must you be like this?" Li Yun asked, unable to wait for Ming Lingyi to speak first. The emotion in his eyes had deepened, forcing him to break the silence.

Ming Lingyi let out a little "ah," as if surprised to see him return after having just left.

She didn’t answer his question.

But her silence was an answer in itself.

Li Yun was speechless.

A moment ago, as he was leaving, he had indeed thought Ming Lingyi’s words were utterly absurd.

But after he had walked a fair distance, his steps seemed to slow of their own accord, as if they were no longer under his control.

’If I just walk away like this, am I not falling right into my Yuan Niang’s trap?’

Li Yun couldn’t help but wonder.

’What if all of this tonight is just Lingyi’s attempt to provoke me?’

’Is she doing this because she regrets last night? Is she using these tactics to force me to leave?’

’But if that’s not it, and I just leave... what then? I can’t really avoid seeing Lingyi for the rest of my life just because I’m angry, can I?’

’Am I supposed to just stand by and watch her get together with another man?’

Neither possibility was acceptable to Li Yun.

And so, fuming, Li Yun had returned.

This was something Ming Lingyi truly hadn’t expected.

"Why are you back?" Ming Lingyi couldn’t help but ask.

Li Yun took a deep breath, afraid that if he didn’t calm himself down, Ming Lingyi might just anger him to death right then and there.

"...You didn’t want me to come back?" Li Yun retorted. "Was this your plan all along? Anger me so I’d leave, and then you could run off with someone else? Who is it? Jiang Yuchuan?"

Before Ming Lingyi could answer, Li Yun spat out two words—

"Not a chance!"

As long as he was around, Ming Lingyi would never have anything to do with another man.

Not even if he currently had no official claim on her.

"Isn’t this what you want? You don’t want to get married, you don’t want to return to the palace, is that it? Fine! I’ll play along!" Li Yun said, practically grinding his teeth to dust.

This outcome, of course, was not what he wanted.

But he was afraid that if he couldn’t even accept this, Ming Lingyi really would find someone else.

He believed the old Ming Lingyi would never have dared, but he really couldn’t get a read on the woman she was now.

As Li Yun practically snarled out these words, Ming Lingyi, still seated, was left utterly stunned.

In truth, when she had first mentioned a "fleeting affair" to Li Yun, she had anticipated that his pride would never allow such a sordid relationship between them.

She had expected him to fly into a rage and storm off. What she hadn’t expected was what came next.

Ming Lingyi looked up, the shock in her eyes completely unconcealed.

Seeing her reaction only deepened Li Yun’s frustration.

’I knew it!’

Li Yun thought to himself, ’My Yuan Niang’s words earlier really were just to make me leave in a huff.’

’She did it on purpose!’

’I almost fell for it!’

Ming Lingyi fell silent for a moment. Li Yun had already voiced everything she had been thinking—and even things she hadn’t. He didn’t seem inclined to give her a chance to explain, so what was there left to say?

After a moment of thought, Ming Lingyi felt a pang of guilt, thinking she might have provoked him a little too much. "It’s for the best that you’ve come to an understanding," she said placatingly.

She had no idea that her words only made him even more furious.

Li Yun was convinced she was saying it just to spite him, but there was absolutely nothing he could do about her.

The Ming Lingyi of today was terrifyingly rebellious.

He turned his face away, his eyes bloodshot, like a child in a sulk.

But after he had sulked for quite a while, the woman across from him offered neither an explanation nor a word of comfort, which only deepened his gloom.

"If that’s the kind of relationship this is, then I’m staying the night," Li Yun said bitterly, turning back to stare into Ming Lingyi’s eyes.

’If it’s a fleeting affair with no strings attached she wants, then he’ll take it. Now and every day!’

’He refused to believe a fleeting affair couldn’t be made to last a lifetime.’

But Ming Lingyi responded the very instant she heard his demand. "No," she said flatly.

Her refusal made Li Yun’s expression darken.

"That’s not what you said before," Li Yun argued. "You said it was consensual. On what grounds is it not okay tonight?"

Ming Lingyi replied with perfect self-assurance, "Last night was consensual. Tonight, I’m not."

Li Yun: "???"

’How cunning!’

Ming Lingyi said calmly, "I’m not in the mood tonight."

Li Yun was speechless again.

"We won’t do... that," Li Yun said through gritted teeth.

She gave him a surprised look, her eyes shining with blatant disbelief.

Li Yun noticed her gaze and couldn’t help but clutch his chest.

It wasn’t that he’d forgotten the Imperial Physician’s words. But Li Yun now found it impossibly difficult not to get angry. He suspected Ming Lingyi truly wanted to kill him with rage; it was hard not to feel his chest tighten with frustration.

"You can’t do this." Worried she wouldn’t agree, Li Yun rubbed his chest and continued, "You said you didn’t want to be husband and wife. I gave in and agreed. You said you wouldn’t return to the palace. I agreed to that too. Now, I’m following your terms, to be in a fleeting..." He paused, as if the word was difficult to say, but forced it out. "...affair. To be your lover. I agreed to that as well. You can’t just reject being with me tonight with a simple ’I don’t want to’."

The more he spoke, the more his gaze lowered. "Ming Lingyi, you can’t bully me like this."

’He’s listened to her on everything and agreed to all her demands. She can’t just shut him out like this. It’s too cruel.’

’All he wanted was to be with her. Why was it so difficult?’

This string of accusations truly caught Ming Lingyi off guard.

Especially after hearing the genuine hurt in his voice, Ming Lingyi found herself rubbing her fingertips together.

’How did I become the bully in this situation?’

Rubbing her own still-aching waist, she thought that Li Yun’s talent for twisting the truth was truly remarkable.

But it was Li Yun who noticed her movement first, and his gaze faltered.

"Is it sore?"

Ming Lingyi shot him a glare. "What do you think?"

Li Yun thought back to the previous night. He had intended to be gentle at first, but he’d lost control later on. He hadn’t meant to hurt her.

At this thought, Li Yun’s expression darkened. "Let me take a look."

As he spoke, he was already on his feet. He reached out, pulled Ming Lingyi up from her seat, and began striding toward the back courtyard.

Ming Lingyi took two steps and stopped.

To get to the back courtyard, they had to pass the kitchen, where there were still quite a few people.

She still hadn’t figured out how to explain him to the eatery staff and had been hoping to put it off. She certainly hadn’t planned on brazenly parading Li Yun in front of everyone.

’Wouldn’t that make things even more impossible to explain?’

Li Yun felt the resistance from her hand and stopped, turning to look back at her with a frown.

"There are too many people in the back courtyard," Ming Lingyi said. "It’s not a good place for you to go."

She meant it literally, but to Li Yun’s ears, her words took on a different meaning.

After all, Ming Lingyi had already rejected him several times that night.

"Fine," Li Yun said. "We don’t have to go there."

Before he had even finished speaking, Li Yun bent down and scooped Ming Lingyi into his arms. "Then we’ll go next door."

Earlier, Li Yun had ordered Liu Ye to purchase the neighboring house.

Now, it was finally proving useful.

Before Ming Lingyi could even react, Li Yun had already carried her into the courtyard next door.