Free Web NovelChapter 142: Chapter 142: The Patron and the Serving Servant
The moment Wei Chi Lianping entered the carriage, he pulled Princess Hua Chang into his arms.
When she saw him grinning and daring to embrace her, a fire of rage ignited within her.
The soldiers outside suddenly noticed the carriage shaking violently, accompanied by a woman’s panting and the General’s sharp gasps. After exchanging glances, they all retreated several meters away.
Inside the carriage.
For the first time in her life, Princess Hua Chang completely disregarded her decorum. Losing all reason in her fury, she turned and started fighting with him.
To be precise, it was a one-sided assault.
No matter how Princess Hua Chang punched and kicked, Wei Chi Lianping refused to retaliate. He was immensely strong, holding her fast like a common rogue and refusing to let go.
Wei Chi Lianping’s face endured several slaps, so hard that Princess Hua Chang’s own palms stung fiercely. There were even traces of blood under her fingernails; she didn’t know where she had scratched him. freewёbnoνel.com
By the time she grew tired, sweat beading on her forehead, she had no choice but to stop, panting lightly.
Wei Chi Lianping still held her. He gently pulled her wrist to his eyes and said with concern, "Let me see. Are they all red? Does it hurt?"
Not only were Princess Hua Chang’s palms red, but so were the rims of her eyes.
Having vented her anger, she calmed down. She pulled several sheets of paper from her robes and slapped them against his face.
She stared at him and said coldly, "Explain!"
The thin sheets of paper fluttered down onto the empty seat. Wei Chi Lianping picked them up. Only when he brought them closer could he see that they were the letters he had asked Ji Qingwu to deliver to Hua Chang.
The white pages were crumpled, a clear sign of how furious the reader had been.
He hesitated before speaking. "You’ve already seen everything, Eldest Princess. What more do you want me to explain?"
The letter explained the true reason he had been taking the abortion medicine, which was nothing like the joking excuse he had given before.
Princess Hua Chang said expressionlessly, "I want you to say it with your own mouth."
He sighed. "If you were to get pregnant, and I just up and leave for the front, abandoning you at the Princess Mansion... would that be right? Besides, once I go, there’s no telling when I’ll be able to return."
Wei Chi Lianping’s thick brows knitted together. "And what if I don’t come back? Leaving you a widow with a child."
He couldn’t bring himself to say the rest.
’If the worst were to happen...’
Wei Chi Lianping’s father had died on the battlefield, and his older brother had also met a heroic end defending a city. He had seen how the widows, children, and elders they left behind had to suffer through the rest of their days. Only they truly knew the bitterness of that existence.
He couldn’t bear to let her suffer the same fate. frёewebnoѵēl.com
Princess Hua Chang ignored his inner turmoil and said bluntly, "If you don’t come back, I’ll remarry."
’So matter-of-factly?’ He snapped, "Absolutely not!"
Wei Chi Lianping held up the letters she had thrown at him, scanning them carefully. He realized what he was looking for wasn’t there.
Just then, Princess Hua Chang produced another sheet of paper from her robes and waved it before his eyes.
"I have received the Great General’s divorce papers. Although there is no precedent in Beili for a Prince Consort to initiate a divorce with a Princess, I do not mind being the first."
He stared at the paper in her hand and said urgently, "That’s not what I meant! If I don’t come back, you are to take those divorce papers and announce that we had already separated. You won’t have to remain a widow for my sake."
If Wei Chi Lianping were to die for his country, he would be hailed as a national hero. As a princess of the realm, Princess Hua Chang’s every word and deed would be scrutinized by the entire court. She would inevitably be pressured by public opinion to never remarry.
Remaining a widow for him for a lifetime, lonely for the rest of her days? No, that was out of the question.
In every single matter, he was thinking of her.
But Princess Hua Chang was not moved. She shot him a cold glare. "If you dare die at the Northern Border, I won’t mourn you. I’ll remarry the very next day."
Wei Chi Lianping retorted furiously, "Who would you marry? That pretty boy from the Ji Family, is that it?!"
"Is that any of your business?"
She held the divorce paper between her fingertips, a slight curve playing on her lips. "That is my freedom."
In the dead of night, Wei Chi Lianping’s expression darkened even further.
He glared at the paper in her hand, hating himself for ever writing such a thing, and hating the Eldest Princess for her heartlessness.
The thought of Hua Chang marrying Ji Changlin sent a stampede of a thousand horses through Wei Chi Lianping’s mind, threatening to trample his heart to dust.
"So you came here just to anger me to death, so you can remarry as soon as possible?" His arm suddenly tightened, squeezing her until she winced in pain.
Princess Hua Chang said, "You guessed correctly. I came here just to anger you."
She stared at his face and enunciated each word. "Whatever you want, I will make sure you don’t get your way."
’Whatever he wanted, she would do the opposite.’
He frowned. "What do you mean?"
Before Wei Chi Lianping could react, Princess Hua Chang shoved him back against the carriage seat.
Her flawless, jade-like hand, still holding the divorce paper, tapped against his right cheek.
On his sharply defined face, one could still faintly see the marks from her earlier slaps.
Her voice remained calm and steady. "You want to go to the battlefield without a single worry? To die and have it all be over?"
Despite her cool, detached expression, her next move made the veins on Wei Chi Lianping’s neck throb.
Princess Hua Chang narrowed her eyes, a glacial hatred in their depths. "Dream on!"
Before long, the carriage began to rock again, though the movements were much more subtle this time. The curtain at the window trembled continuously...
Princess Hua Chang adjusted her robes, then glanced back lightly at the man, whose body and mind were still reeling.
She said sarcastically, "I suppose you won’t have time to drink your abortion medicine this time."
Forget abortion medicine; the process hadn’t even given him a moment to catch his breath.
Wei Chi Lianping’s strong, broad chest was still heaving. He lay half-reclined on the carriage bench, watching the Eldest Princess straighten her clothes and hair.
Suddenly, he felt...
...as if she were the patron, and he was the servant meant to please her.
A flush crept up his rugged face.
He never imagined she would do something like this. If she had wanted his life, he would have given it freely. But he never expected this kind of death, one that left him caught between ecstasy and oblivion.
Princess Hua Chang suddenly turned, her fragrant body leaning over him.
Wei Chi Lianping expected a soft, fragrant kiss to follow. ’A servant, then,’ he thought. ’So be it.’
He even closed his eyes in anticipation.
The rustle of paper sounded next to his ear. He realized she was reaching for something. The divorce paper, having completed its task of tapping his cheek, had slid down to rest beside his head.
Wei Chi Lianping’s eyes snapped open, and he clamped his hand over hers.
Princess Hua Chang tried to snatch her hand back, but he was faster. He wrenched the divorce paper from her grasp.
She threatened, "What are you doing? Since you wrote me the divorce papers, you should stand by your actions! This is hardly the conduct of an honorable gentleman."
Wei Chi Lianping said dismissively, "A gentleman? Whoever wants to be one can have the title. I take it back."
She remembered the fury she felt when she first saw those papers, yet here he was, casually taking it all back. Princess Hua Chang looked at his shamelessly defiant expression, so angry she could grind her teeth. But biting him would only hurt herself.
She demanded furiously, "Give it back! Has a dog eaten your sense of honor?"
The words had barely left her mouth when she froze, too shocked to speak.
