Chapter 3
Edward Quan ·
A furious pounding on the door answered me.
Shen Yeqing had finished dressing. He went to open it.
The air sweeping in carried something dangerous. I shivered.
After a brief silence, his slightly hoarse voice sounded.
“Brother... what brings you here?”
6
Behind the folding screen, I shut my eyes in anguish.
Even a little boat meets an iceberg eventually.
What had to come would come.
“Who’s in your room?”
Shen Guannan’s voice was icy.
Not a question.
A statement.
Shen Yeqing made no attempt to evade it.
“My wife.”
“You’ve spent three years practicing Buddhism. Where did you get a wife?”
Shen Guannan ground his teeth and tried to move around the screen.
Shen Yeqing blocked him.
“Brother, don’t look where propriety forbids. Your sister-in-law’s in there. She isn’t properly dressed.”
Shen Guannan’s eyes reddened. Taking in the lingering scent, he spoke with a tremor.
“I found out Yingying came to Qingcheng Temple. Is it her? Did you lure her here? I should have known. You never gave up on her!”
My head buzzed.
What did he mean, Shen Yeqing never gave up on me?
We had never even met before.
Shen Yeqing stopped pretending. A triumphant smile appeared.
“You’re the one who should give up, Brother. If you hadn’t interfered back then, Yingying and I would have been together long ago.”
The more I heard, the more my head hurt.
“System, did I miss a plot point?”
【Wait. I’ll check.】
It busied itself.
I couldn’t sit still either.
Better to walk out with some dignity than let Shen Guannan find me disheveled in bed.
I put on an outer robe and came around the screen.
He had clearly expected it. Even so, he shook when he saw me.
“Bai Yingying. Behind my back, you dared—”
“Husband, who is he?”
I widened my innocent eyes and asked Shen Yeqing.
Shen Guannan froze.
“What do you mean?”
“Yingying lost her memory,” Shen Yeqing said. “She only remembers that I’m her husband.”
Shen Guannan looked struck by lightning.
“Bai Yingying, you’re really trying the amnesia act?”
He barely raised his voice before I hid behind Shen Yeqing.
“Husband, your brother’s so frightening...
“Does he have something against me? Or... did we quarrel before I lost my memory?”
Shen Yeqing held me and patted me soothingly.
“Don’t mind him. He’s jealous. He’s being forced into an arranged marriage, so he doesn’t want me to be with the woman I love. He might say all kinds of nonsense to split us up. Yingying, don’t believe a word.”
“All right.”
I nodded as though only half understanding.
Shen Guannan stared at the marks on my neck, his fists clenched.
“Yingying, you were upset about my arranged marriage, weren’t you? Then listen. I left in a hurry that day to deal with it. The engagement is canceled. Nothing stands between us now.”
He reached toward me, his voice catching.
“Yingying, come home with me. I can pretend none of this happened...”
He’d been cheated on, and he was still willing to come back for more.
That surprised even me.
I had assumed high society’s crown prince would put his career first.
Instead, for a kept canary like me, he had abandoned a highly advantageous marriage.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t my target.
So I only looked at him blankly.
“What does your broken engagement have to do with me?”
I clung to Shen Yeqing’s arm, looking frightened.
“Husband, your brother really is saying nonsense, just like you warned me...”
Shen Guannan’s lips went white. He stared at me in disbelief.
I used to act so desperately in love with him. In his imagination, I should have wept with gratitude and rushed straight into his arms.
Not looked at him like a stranger.
“Yingying can’t be indifferent to me... That’s it. Amnesia! It must be real. Once she gets her memory back, she’ll be just as she was...”
In half a minute, his expression moved through anger, shock, pain, and self-deception with frightening smoothness.
The once-unrivaled prince now looked like a bedraggled puppy. Red-eyed, he caught my hand.
“Yingying, how could you forget us?”
Agitated, he tightened his grip without realizing it. Pain shot through me.
Shen Yeqing hurried to stop him.
“Brother, let go!”
He wouldn’t listen. He pulled harder.
“Come home, Yingying. Don’t let this fake Buddhist deceive you!”
Shen Yeqing lost his temper too. Dropping the respectful address, he grabbed my other hand.
“Shen Guannan, have you no shame? Yingying doesn’t remember you, and you still cling to her! She only recognizes me now. You’re not taking her!”
“Shameless homewrecker! She’s lost her memory. Have you? So eager to have my wife delivered to your bed! Your name’s Yeqing, but there’s nothing clean about your karma!”
I felt as though they were going to tear this rabbit in half.
Pregnancy already made me sleepy. After a whole night’s exertion, all I wanted was sleep.
Two men shouting in my ears only made my head throb.
“System, can you shut them up? I want to sleep.”
Ever considerate, it answered:
【Of course. Activating one-click blocking mode. Sleep!】
Darkness swept over my eyes.
I dropped where I stood and fell asleep.
7
When I woke, I was back in bed.
Before I could open my eyes, the System’s gossiping voice sounded.
【Sis, I found it.】
【Big news. Huge news!】
【Three years ago, the first man to fall for you was Shen Yeqing!】
“What?”
Well rested, I felt much better.
My mind worked quickly. I suddenly remembered that he had known my name at our first meeting.
If he already knew me, it all made sense.
The System explained.
【Three years ago, just after you took human form, you happened to rescue a drowning man. You didn’t know CPR, but rabbits are good at jumping. So you bounced on his chest until he woke up. That was Shen Yeqing. He fell in love at first sight.】
【After surviving, he couldn’t forget you. He searched everywhere. Shen Guannan already held power then and had more resources, so he asked his brother to help.】
【But Shen Guannan was a lecher. Once he found you, he kept you for himself. You thought he was your target, so you were enthusiastic too. By the time Shen Yeqing discovered it, the deed was done. Heartbroken, he went to Qingcheng Temple. That’s how he became high society’s devout Buddhist.】
“So I helped turn him into a Buddhist ascetic?”
Now I understood.
No wonder he was so easy to hook.
He’d been pining for me all along.
“Where are those two now? Still arguing over me?”
【No.】
“Then what are they doing?”
The System hesitated.
【Sis, there’s good news and bad news. Which do you want first?】
A bad feeling crept over me.
“Stop stalling. Tell me.”
It faltered.
“The good news is that you’ve successfully conceived your target’s child. One baby in each uterus. An even split.”
My eyes lit up.
“Then why aren’t we running? If I escape and give birth, I get the hundred million, right?”
【In theory, yes. But the bad news...】
“What?”
【A doctor examined you earlier. Both men know you’re pregnant.】
【To let you rest comfortably, they’ve decided to take turns caring for you around the clock. They’ve posted guards at the temple gate too.】
【Sis... running away with those two ‘balls’ you’re carrying might not be so easy...】