"The Marquis must surely be afraid that with too many women in this room, their gossiping about various families would dirty his ears, so he went to find some peace and quiet alone!" Wang Yingxue then stepped in to mediate, saying, "Why don't we two learn from the Marquis and seek some peace and quiet as well! Once Sister Zhao and the others have prepared the banquet, we can then join the Marquis at the table!"
"Good!" Wei Tingzhen, who was just looking for an excuse to leave, immediately nodded upon hearing Wang Yingxue's suggestion, and then was the first to stand up and prepare to leave. Wang Yingxue also quickly rose to follow, and as she was leaving, she secretly gave Dou Ming a look, signaling her to maintain good relations with the four wives and concubines of the Marquis's residence, at least on the surface, to be respectful. Of course, this was not difficult for Ming'er to do! Without Wang Yingxue causing trouble, Dou Ming had always been kind to outsiders. How much more so towards the four elder sisters who had already entered Wei Tingyu's household? She was eager to curry favor with them!
Dou Zhao and the other women, seeing Wang Yingxue and Wei Tingzhen leave, naturally did not try to keep them. Anyway, they could find common ground with Dou Ming, but they definitely couldn't get along with those two women.
"Oh, I'm tired..." However, as soon as they stepped out, Wei Tingzhen started acting up again. She pretended to rub her forehead, then said to Wang Yingxue, "Madam Dou, I'll go to the side room to rest for a while. I'll return when the banquet begins!" Wang Yingxue felt even more delighted. She had been looking for an opportunity to find Wei Tingyu alone and make things clear to him! Now that Wei Tingzhen was going to rest by herself, it was truly Heaven's aid!
"I'll also go back to my room to rest for a while! Don't call me unless it's urgent!" In front of Wang Yingxue's bedroom, she turned to her wet nurse beside her and said.
"Yes!" The wet nurse, suspecting nothing, quickly nodded. After Wang Yingxue entered the room, she closed the door from outside and stood guard there. Hearing the sound of the door closing behind her, Wang Yingxue quickly looked back. Finding that she was indeed alone in the room, she directly threw her round fan onto the table. Changing from her previous dignified and graceful demeanor, she quickly searched around the room. Behind the curtains, inside the wardrobe, and even under the table, she searched everywhere, but there was no sign of Wei Tingyu in any place where a person could hide.
"That doesn't make sense..." Wang Yingxue, after her frantic search, walked back to the table somewhat dejectedly, then slowly sat down on a chair. She picked up her round fan again, fanning herself gently while frowning and muttering to herself, "Wei Tingyu disappeared early... Could it be that he didn't come here to wait for me first? Perhaps I'm just overthinking and imagining things?"
"That's right! That night, perhaps only I remembered it! For him, it was just an interlude in his life!"
"To think that the Marquis went to Dongdu and even brought back a beautiful co-wife, how could he possibly care about me, a woman from the Dou family?"
"Looking at it this way... I truly was overthinking!"
Wang Yingxue muttered to herself, sighing in self-pity, and slowly closed her eyes. However, in the next second, she felt a cool breeze on her neck, causing a thin layer of goosebumps to instantly appear on her smooth, fair skin! She shivered all over, then suddenly turned her head, only to see the jade-faced fox-like gentleman standing behind her at that moment. Wang Yingxue was startled and had no time to speak before he embraced her delicate body, his large hand wrapping around her slender waist, pressing them tightly together.
"Ah!" Wang Yingxue screamed in fright, and the round fan in her hand clattered to the ground, making a crisp sound.
"Madam!" The wet nurse at the door immediately noticed the unusual sound from the room and asked, "Is something wrong?"
"No... nothing!" Wang Yingxue was startled, then quickly shouted to the wet nurse outside, "I accidentally dropped my round fan! Nothing is wrong!" At this moment, she was truly afraid that the wet nurse would push the door open and come in, which would expose the scene in the room completely!
"Wei Tingyu..." After confirming that the wet nurse believed her excuse and wouldn't come in, Wang Yingxue finally let out a heavy sigh, then turned to look at the jade-faced fox-like gentleman holding her. Her previously tense face suddenly blushed.
"Who is Wei Tingyu?" However, the gentleman in front of her chuckled and asked in return.
"Ah?" Wang Yingxue had originally intended to order Wei Tingyu to let her go, but she was stunned by his question. However, in the next second, she understood what he meant! When not wearing the mask, he was Marquis Jining, Wei Tingyu! When wearing the mask, he was the jade-faced fox-like gentleman?! Thinking this way, it seemed that her sense of guilt could be lessened a bit! After all, these were two different people, right!
"Why do you have to be so mysterious..." Wang Yingxue tried to struggle twice, finding she couldn't escape Wei Tingyu's embrace, so she resigned herself. She just looked at him and asked, "Now... are you satisfied?"
"If not for this, how could I discover the true thoughts in Madam's heart?" However, Wei Tingyu chuckled, then lowered his head and actively found Wang Yingxue's red lips, then directly kissed her.
"Mmm..." Wang Yingxue hadn't expected that Wei Tingyu, this fellow, would actually actively kiss her again after only a few words. However, her body very honestly accepted his deep kiss. Even though she had thought it through quite clearly before, deciding to treat that night's event as just a dream. Yet, at this moment, she found herself completely unable to resist his fatal attraction, which was both dangerous and alluring! Most importantly, Wang Yingxue's heart had been completely captured by him, so much so that she willingly plunged into this fiery pit!
"..." After the deep kiss ended, Wei Tingyu left Wang Yingxue's red lips. Seeing her completely intoxicated expression, he picked her up without another word and turned to walk towards the depths of the bed curtains in the room!
"Last time! Just consider this the last time!" Wang Yingxue gradually regained her clarity at this moment. When she realized what Wei Tingyu wanted to do, she found that she had no thought of resisting whatsoever. Forget it! Resistance is futile anyway! She made another promise to herself in her heart, although deep down she knew that such a so-called promise had no binding power at all. But at this moment, Wang Yingxue was like someone caught in a whirlpool; besides calmly accepting her fate, what other choice did she have?!
The clouds dispersed, the rain ceased! The storm suddenly stopped!
Wang Yingxue quietly leaned on Wei Tingyu's broad shoulder and slowly opened her bewildered eyes. She stared at the jade-faced fox mask still on his face for a few seconds, then slowly reached out and placed her hand on the mask. However, after Wang Yingxue touched the mask, her movements froze again! Clearly, whether to remove the mask or not was now a struggle in her heart! Although she had known all along that Wei Tingyu's face was beneath the mask, could she truly face him directly? In Wang Yingxue's heart, there was still some hesitation! If she kept it on, and let him wear the mask, could she keep deceiving herself?
Wang Yingxue frowned, then finally sighed softly, and withdrew her hand. However, just as her jade hand was halfway withdrawn, it was suddenly seized by Wei Tingyu in his large hand!
"Marquis..." Wang Yingxue, startled, immediately called out Wei Tingyu's identity. It was too late for regrets now. And Wei Tingyu, who had been resting with his eyes closed, slowly opened his eyes at this moment, turned to look at Wang Yingxue in his arms, and for a moment, their eyes met. Wang Yingxue's heart pounded even faster! Because from her perspective at this moment, Wei Tingyu's eyes were like two bottomless whirlpools, capable of directly drawing her soul from her body, then plunging it in without ever looking back!
Perhaps this is my future path! Wang Yingxue suddenly felt a sense of melancholy again...
"Madam, why did you stop?" However, Wei Tingyu looked at Wang Yingxue's flushed face and actually chuckled, then asked. He closed his eyes to rest, of course, not because he was truly asleep; his mind remained alert, always fully aware of his surroundings! He didn't stop Wang Yingxue when she reached for his mask, because Wei Tingyu also knew that wearing the mask or not was meaningless now. Although everyone had known all along, it was better to let this secret completely disappear now!
"Since the Marquis is wearing a mask... this concubine naturally dare not act rashly..." Wang Yingxue thought for a moment, then directly said.
"The person behind the mask is always good at disguising, but disguising is also too tiring for the heart!" Wei Tingyu chuckled and shook his head, then said, "Why don't Madam just take off this mask? It's good for us to meet frankly!"
"Yes..." Wang Yingxue was startled upon hearing Wei Tingyu's words, then nodded. She showed a determined expression, then her jade hand slowly moved forward again, taking off the mask on Wei Tingyu's face!
And when the mask was removed, Wei Tingyu's face appeared before Wang Yingxue for the first time so intimately and without any concealment. Although she had long known what his face beneath the mask looked like, she still uncontrollably trembled all over.
"Madam, why are you staring at me like that?" Wei Tingyu chuckled and said, "Could it be that you don't recognize this Marquis anymore?"
How could I not recognize him? Wang Yingxue grumbled in her heart, but she didn't answer directly. Instead, she turned sideways and lowered her head, gently resting it on Wei Tingyu's shoulder. The two of them lay embracing for a full quarter of an hour, without saying a word. The entire room was filled only with their clear breathing and pounding heartbeats.
"Marquis... you have truly made this concubine suffer!" Wang Yingxue finally couldn't hold back. Remembering what had happened before and how the situation should develop in the future, her heart was in a tangled mess. At this moment, she could only pour out her feelings to Wei Tingyu.
"When did this Marquis make you suffer?" Wei Tingyu chuckled upon hearing this, gently patting Wang Yingxue's delicate back in his arms as he asked in return.
"The Marquis pretended to be... someone else... and deceived this concubine!" As Wang Yingxue said this, she immediately felt wronged, and her small mouth involuntarily pouted.
"When did this Marquis deceive you?" Upon hearing Wang Yingxue's words, Wei Tingyu naturally felt wronged! He lowered his head and looked at Wang Yingxue's pouting, wronged face in his arms, asking, "Did this Marquis ever say before that I wasn't Wei Tingyu?"
"...No..." Wang Yingxue was startled, then whispered. Thinking back... Recalling what happened before, this jade-faced fox-like gentleman indeed never emphasized his identity! In other words, although he didn't admit to being Wei Tingyu, he didn't deny it either! It was she who was too foolish, failing to recognize that this person, even with such close contact, was precisely the highly regarded son-in-law of the Dou residence, Dou Zhao's husband! It was a pity that they had even sat at the same table during the family banquet before! Comparing that to how her daughter Dou Ming recognized the masked Wei Tingyu at a glance today... so, it truly was because her own discerning eye was too poor?
"I've also done what I promised you!" Wei Tingyu chuckled even more, seeing Wang Yingxue's wronged yet helpless expression, and continued, "Yes! The Marquis did it!..." Wang Yingxue was even more speechless upon hearing this. The jade-faced fox-like gentleman's agreement with her was to take Dou Zhao's chastity! Now, it seems he naturally accomplished that! After all, Wei Tingyu was Dou Zhao's husband! This was something she definitely couldn't deny! And upon closer thought, he not only achieved it but even overfulfilled the mission! Not only did he get Dou Zhao into bed, but he also slept with the other wives and concubines of the Marquis's residence...
Thinking this, Wang Yingxue felt her head swell, and the words she wanted to retort with now seemed to hold no ground! She just never expected that with all her scheming, Dou Zhao suffered no loss at all! Instead, she herself had given her body to Wei Tingyu! Was this what they called karma? Wang Yingxue suddenly had such a thought in her heart. This was the first time in her life that she reflected on her past actions! If she hadn't been constantly thinking of crooked ways to pull Dou Zhao down from the position of the Marquis's principal wife, she wouldn't have fallen to this state today...
No! What do you mean 'this state'? These two intimate encounters with the jade-faced fox-like gentleman were undoubtedly the two happiest and most joyful days in Wang Yingxue's thirty-plus years of womanhood! Otherwise, she wouldn't have missed this jade-faced fox-like gentleman so much every day, even dreaming of him during a casual nap, having such a beautiful dream, neither long nor short!
Wei Tingyu stood casually by the bed, while Wang Yingxue, like a demure young wife, gently helped him dress and tidy his clothes. However, Wang Yingxue's technique was very clumsy, just like Dou Zhao and He Weifang when they first came to him! It was clear she had little to no experience serving a man before... This made Wei Tingyu somewhat puzzled. After all, Dou Zhao, Miao Ansu, and Zhao Zhangru were all virgins when they came to him, so it was natural that they didn't know how to serve a man. Although He Weifang was a young married woman of one year, her marriage was only in name; she had never been intimate with Liu Chang, so her technique was also unfamiliar! But Wang Yingxue, no matter what, shouldn't be so clumsy! After all, she had been married to Dou Laoqi, Dou Shiying, for over a decade, and her daughter was already of marriageable age...
"Marquis, please be clear!" Wang Yingxue was also somewhat embarrassed at this moment. After clumsily helping Wei Tingyu tie his belt, she guiltily looked up at the gentleman in front of her. Seeing that his eyes were also filled with doubt, her small face immediately flushed, and she bowed in apology, saying, "I actually have no affection for Dou Ming's father anymore!"
"Ever since Dou Ming was born, we have never shared a room again! For these past ten years, this concubine has only lived in this separate courtyard!" Wang Yingxue's heart was also filled with bitterness as she spoke this, because she knew that Dou Laoqi also felt guilty towards Dou Zhao's birth mother, which was why he hadn't sought her out all these years. But now, it was good. Although she was already a married woman, at least in the past decade, she had not been defiled by any other man, including her husband Dou Shiying!
And Wei Tingyu naturally felt quite pleased upon hearing these words. Young, unmarried maidens like Dou Zhao, Miao Ansu, and Zhao Zhangru; nominally married women like He Weifang who were actually still virgins; and now the beautiful married woman Wang Yingxue... His charm truly captivated maidens, mature women, married women, and young wives alike, leaving no one untouched! Thinking this, Wei Tingyu flamboyantly reached out and gently lifted Wang Yingxue's chin.
Wang Yingxue had originally been looking down, tidying Wei Tingyu's collar, but suddenly being teased like this, she instinctively looked up in the direction of his hand, and then her face turned red.
"Marquis..." And it was during this fiery moment of their eyes meeting that Wang Yingxue gathered her courage and softly asked, "Then what status does this humble woman have by the Marquis's side now?"