As they slowly pulled apart, reluctant to leave each other's embrace, the young woman's trembling voice turned plaintive and wheedling.
“When will you finally tell Big Sister the truth about us, Brother Fei Tian?”
The man lowered his head and answered hoarsely, “Little Sister Li Ting, be patient. Give your sister some time to come to terms with it. If we tell her now, she may not be able to accept it. Her mother has been gone less than three years, and you still have several months before your hairpin ceremony, don't you? Hmm...”
“Mm...that's true.” The young woman lifted her face and blinked her large, innocent eyes. “But you have to promise me you'll keep turning down the engagement with Big Sister. Don't agree to it under any circumstances, even after she no longer has to observe mourning.”
The young man smiled and soothed her in a deep, gentle voice. “I've always turned it down, haven't I? How about you hurry up and grow into a beautiful woman so you can finally become my bride? Right after your hairpin ceremony?”
When their teasing was over, they pressed close and cuddled beneath the moonlight. The young woman cooed sweetly while the man continued to pamper her without pause.
What a pure and beautiful sight, unmatched anywhere.
Bai Ming Yue stood watching that vile scene, her eyes bloodshot and her ears ringing, her mind utterly blank.
She did not know when the tears began streaming down her cheeks. Her heart had shattered completely.
The young woman locked that painful sight away in her heart and shut herself inside her room. She sealed it completely—not even cracking open the windows.
She cried until she fainted, her tears nearly turning into streams of blood, curling up in the corner like a wounded little rabbit.
As a long time passed, she gradually came to resemble a sick mouse nearing death.
Several days later, Bai Ming Yue finally began to see things clearly.
She opened her bedroom door with a pale, wan face, her strength even weaker than before.
Li Fei Tian continued coming to see her, offering her a warm smile as though he had never done anything shameful.
“Yue'er, you're finally well again. I came to see you several times, but I never got to meet you. Even so, I came every day. How are you feeling? Are you still ill?”
The young man hurried over and took her slender hand with concern. His eyes trembled, as if not seeing her might have killed him.
Jin Xin, who was always at her young mistress's side, had witnessed the entire truth from beginning to end. She secretly let out a weary sigh.
She was only a lowly maid and could do little, so all she could do was make an awkward face, roll her eyes, and quietly slip away.
Bai Ming Yue looked into the face of the man she loved, her heart stabbed by pain.
Though she was weak, merely a delicate young lady sheltered in the inner chambers, she had no intention of bottling up her anguish until it festered. Nor was she foolish enough to preserve a false love. Thus, a heart-piercing question escaped her before the man.
“Did you come to see me, or did you come to see someone else, Fei Tian?”
The moment those words left her mouth, the man’s eyes flew wide.
“Yue'er...you...” He faltered. “What do you mean?”
Bai Ming Yue wanted to laugh through her tears. “This isn't the residence of my younger sister. I'm afraid you must have taken a wrong turn.”
Li Fei Tian's pupils narrowed. “You know?”
The young woman nodded as countless tears poured uncontrollably down her face. She sobbed hoarsely, barely able to breathe.
“Li Fei Tian, since you no longer love me, then go. Go love my younger sister wherever you please. The two of us have nothing to do with each other anymore.”
But the answer she received was a warm embrace. Li Fei Tian pulled Bai Ming Yue tightly against him, desperately trying to hold on.
“Yue'er, you are the woman I truly love. But your status in the Bai Estate is no longer what it once was. The marriage alliance between the Li and Bai families must still take place. I simply cannot choose the principal wife I want. Yue'er, I love only you. There is no way I can refuse to marry you. Do you understand?”
He loved her, yet he could not give her the position of principal wife.
Bai Ming Yue closed her eyes in agony.
When she opened them again, she suddenly saw Bai Li Ting standing frozen in front of her, just beyond the bushes within her line of sight.
The instant she caught her younger sister spying on them, she did not know what possessed her to say to the man holding her, “If you love only me, can you prove it?”
The young man lowered his head and buried his face against her pale neck, tightening his arms around her soft body. “I love only you. I'll do anything you want.”
Bai Ming Yue turned around in his embrace and lifted her face in a coquettish plea. “Will you kiss me?”
As soon as the words left her lips, her fair face flushed crimson. From childhood to adulthood, apart from exchanging glances and holding hands, this was the first time Bai Ming Yue had ever been so close to a man. She held her breath and waited for his answer, her heart pounding so hard it nearly burst from her chest.