Tang Yang saw the way she raised the cleaver, and his heart fluttered nervously. He was about to speak when Yuwen Hao slowly stood up, gripping the table. In a deep voice he said, "You guys go out first. The queen wants to see me."
Gu Si looked at him and asked, "Are you sure?"
"Go," said Yuwen Hao.
Gu Si nodded and said to Tang Yang, "Let's go."
Tang Yang was very worried. Gu Si had just said the queen was sent back drunk, and now she was swinging a cleaver around with no sense of precaution at all. An intoxicated woman was very dangerous, but even with his injuries, it shouldn't be a problem for the prince to disarm her.
So he left with Gu Si.
"Close the door!" Yuan Qingling yelled coldly, still holding up the cleaver.
Tang Yang looked to Yuwen Hao, who said, "Do as the queen says. She's armed right now—very dangerous."
The door closed, and the room became silent. Yuan Qingling's breathing was coarse and hurried, her chest heaving up and down.
Yuwen Hao looked at her. His face was strangely devoid of anger.
"You're mocking me," said Yuan Qingling, made even angrier by his last remark. She had a weapon, so she was the most dangerous? She knew that even with a machine gun, she was still the weaker one before him.
"I'm not mocking you. You're drunk," said Yuwen Hao gently, trying to approach her.
"Don't come any closer. Stay right there. I'll feel threatened if you come over." Yuan Qingling raised the cleaver angrily.
"I'm unarmed and seriously injured. I should be the one feeling threatened," said Yuwen Hao.
Yuan Qingling struggled to keep her eyes open in what she hoped was a fierce glare, but the alcoholic haze made her eyes watery and not at all intimidating.
She swayed a little. Running over had made her dizzier, and Yuwen Hao kept swimming unsteadily before her eyes. She muttered a curse under her breath. "Damn it, I'm warning you not to move."
Yuwen Hao held up his hands innocently. "I'm not moving."
Yuan Qingling felt the need to cut to the chase. She was so tired. "I'm asking you, why did you say I didn't agree to you taking concubines?"
Yuwen Hao looked at her. "Because you didn't agree."
"When did I ever say I didn't agree?" Yuan Qingling demanded fiercely, swinging the cleaver again. A fleck of meat flew off the blunt side and stuck in her hair. She reached up clumsily to pull it out and threw it viciously on the ground. She felt the motion had the grandeur of moving mountains and seas, giving her more courage for the confrontation.
Yuwen Hao's mouth twitched. "When we got married, you warned me not to take concubines."
Did she? Yuan Qingling tilted her head, trying to remember. She had no such memory.
"Don't remember? Let me help jog your memory," said Yuwen Hao, walking over casually. His voice held a bewitching tone. "Do you recall what happened that night? I came back to our bridal chamber half drunk, and you..."
Yuan Qingling listened in confusion, struggling to keep her eyes wide open. His big face kept swaying blurrily before her. She staggered back a step sharply. "Stay farther back. Don't come over. Just say what you want to properly."
Yuwen Hao was just about to grasp her wrist and felt a flash of irritation that she was so alert. But he also stepped back and looked steadily at her.
Yuan Qingling was unsteady on her feet. Still pointing the cleaver at him, her face flushed deep red. "Back up more. It's best if you stand by the bed. I'm so dizzy I need to sit down to talk to you properly."
"Alright, alright. I'll back up." Yuwen Hao slowly retreated until he was at the bed, then sat down on it.
Yuan Qingling staggered to the table. Seeing the stool, she plopped down heavily on it. But she sat down unevenly and fell to the ground, knocking over the stool so it pinned her knees down.
She kicked it away roughly, but was too weak to regain her fierce demeanor. The cleaver really was too heavy, and her wrist ached from holding it up. Her grip failed, and it clanged to the ground, bouncing up. Her hand happened to sweep across the blade edge and left a bleeding cut.
She stared blankly for a couple seconds. She had come charging in here wielding a cleaver to hack someone up, but the only injury was to herself. Her chest full of rage turned into grief and resentment. Her lips twisting, she burst into loud sobs.
Seeing her sitting on the ground bawling gracelessly, Yuwen Hao felt a strange tugging pain in his heart. She looked just like a bullied child. Noticing her hand was still bleeding as she randomly lifted it to wipe her tears, the blood smearing her face, as bedraggled as a defeated stray dog.
He walked over silently, tore off a strip of gauze she had left behind earlier, and crouched to bandage her wound, sighing lightly. "Fine, it was my mistake. Don't cry anymore. You were ugly to begin with, now you're even uglier crying."
Hearing this, Yuan Qingling cried even harder. She pushed him away. "Go away. Who wants your fake benevolence? I ended up like this today, and it's all your fault too. If a woman like me doesn't die, I ought to strangle her to death personally."
Yuwen Hao fell back from her push, covering his chest in pain. "You hit my injury."
"Why aren't you dead yet?" said Yuan Qingling angrily.
He smiled, his brows curving. "Never seen a widow so eager for her husband's death. If I die, you'll probably cry yourself to death too."
She forgot her tears, glaring fiercely. "If you die, I guarantee I won't shed a single tear."
"Of course. You won't cry. You might even set off firecrackers to celebrate," he said with a laugh.
Yuan Qingling wiped her tears. "Firecrackers aren't environmentally friendly."
"What are you happy about?"
Looking at his handsome face leaning close, Yuan Qingling thought of everything he had done to her, and even more about her own precarious situation with her head only temporarily attached to her neck. Her dizzy head spun. Sadness welled up inside her.
Her hand reached out and the instant it touched the cleaver, he directly kicked out. His kick struck the cleaver and simultaneously landed on her forearm, nearly kicking it out of joint.
The piercing pain made fiery rage rise up in her. She flipped over and threw herself at him, resentfully yelling, "Domestic violence? I warned you not to hit me. Do you think I'm easy to bully? Scum like you—Yuan Qingling must have been blind to fall for you. If a woman like her doesn't die, I have to strangle her myself!"
She hit and yelled and cursed while lunging at him, sitting right on top of him and whaling on both his arms. Luckily she was too weak to put any force into it, so her blows just felt like rhythmic thumps on his back, oddly comfortable instead of painful.
But the place she was sitting on...seemed to have an injury.
"Your Highness, do you need help?" came Tang Yang's anxious voice from outside.
With difficulty, Yuwen Hao responded, "Stay outside. Don't come in."
If they saw them in this position, it would be embarrassing enough to laugh about for a whole lifetime.
He grabbed her hands. "That's enough. Don't think I won't dare touch you just because you're drunk."
With her hands pinned, Yuan Qingling simply headbutted his face. There was a loud thunk as their heads cracked together. She ground her teeth as her head buzzed noisily.
Yuwen Hao's nose was nearly smashed crooked from the pain, tears nearly springing from his eyes. He grabbed her chin with one hand. "Stop it, do you hear me?"
Yuan Qingling jerked her face aside and opened her mouth, biting down on the web between his thumb and index finger.
"Are you a dog?" Yuwen Hao was furious. He wanted to kick her away, but seeing the stubborn resentment on her flushed face, he thought of how he had indeed ruined her this time, so he didn't hold it against her.
