Chapter 16 I Don’t Want to Divorce You
On the tenth day of Pei Zhao’s unconsciousness.
He woke up.
At that moment, I was lying asleep by his bedside.
He raised his hand and gently brushed the hair from my forehead.
It tickled.
I opened my eyes in a daze. When I saw him looking at me, I burst into tears of joy. “You’re finally awake!”
“I thought… I really thought…”
My words came out broken between sobs.
Pei Zhao’s voice was weak, yet he still teased, “Are you that afraid of me dying?”
“Are you scared of becoming a young widow?”
I bit my lip. I couldn’t bear to hit him, so I only pounded the bed. “Still talking nonsense!”
“I won’t be a widow. If you die, I’ll marry someone else right away!”
……
In the afternoon, Su Yunqing came.
She brought top-quality medicinal herbs and gave instructions to the maids one by one.
Pei Zhao coughed lightly. “Thank you.”
Su Yunqing smiled gently and shook her head.
When she turned to leave, Pei Zhao kept staring at her back, unwilling to look away.
Was she really that beautiful?
A trace of loneliness rose in my heart.
That night, I tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
Pei Zhao asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Is the small couch uncomfortable?”
I shook my head.
In the end, I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I sat up. “I have something to say to you.”
“Go ahead.”
I hesitated. Even though it hurt, I still made up my mind. “About what I mentioned before regarding Miss Su, have you considered it?”
“My father has already passed away. There seems to be no need for us to continue pretending to be husband and wife.”
“When we return to Jinling this time, we can proceed with the divorce.”
He was stunned.
I added, “Thank you for saving my life.”
“Since you are my benefactor, I cannot stand in the way of you being with the person you love.”
After a long time, Pei Zhao asked, “You think I like Miss Su?”
“She was your fiancée.”
Pei Zhao fell silent for a moment.
He explained softly, “She wasn’t exactly my fiancée.”
“At the time, I had reached the age where the family was pressing me hard. Miss Su had an excellent character and was outstanding in every way. I felt I had no reason to refuse.”
“But I didn’t want to agree.”
“Because I never planned to marry at all.”
“Father scolded me for having ambitions higher than the sky. Even Su Yunqing wasn’t good enough for me. Did I want to marry a fairy from heaven?”
“What does a fairy look like?”
“I didn’t know.”
“While we were at a stalemate, Aunt sent a letter. Her words were sincere, asking me to help you.”
“For some reason, I agreed.”
“Maybe I wanted to anger my father, or maybe for some other reason. Even I didn’t understand why I agreed so readily at the time.”
“The night before the wedding, my mind was filled with memories of you as a child.”
“I thought that a fairy should be like you, straightforward, bold in love and hate, a brave girl.”
I was shocked.
I had clearly been spoiled, unreasonable, fierce-tempered, and jealous.
Yet he actually called me a fairy?
I looked at him in confusion.
He continued, “Before the wedding, I actually didn’t know how to face you.”
“I thought you hated me, so I planned to have a fake marriage with you and divorce once your father was safe.”
“But plans cannot keep up with changes.”
“Reason cannot overcome feelings.”
“Xue Chan, I don’t want to divorce you.”
“I want to live a good life with you, to be together for the rest of our lives.”
“Is that alright?”
My heart skipped two beats.
Almost unconsciously, I murmured, “Then we won’t divorce.”
“I don’t want to divorce you either.”
Hearing this, the smile in his eyes spread, nearly swallowing me whole.