Could it be that she had developed feelings for Chu Feng? Impossible. Chu Mei was the one her little sister had her heart set on—how could she allow herself to fall for him? Su Rou was deeply conflicted, discovering for the first time that she no longer understood herself.
Just then, Chu Feng walked out. He had already put on clothes—a brand-new set, because the ones he'd worn the night before had been torn to shreds by his own hands.
"Should this be kept secret, or made public?" Chu Feng asked.
"What are you thinking? How can something like this be made public? If it gets out, how will Little Mei look at you? How will she look at me?" Su Rou said nervously.
"Then I'll follow your lead for now. It'll come out sooner or later anyway." Chu Feng seemed perfectly calm.
"What exactly do you mean by that?" Su Rou's delicate brows shot upward. She was worried Chu Feng might cause some kind of scene.
"Nothing. I just mean that sooner or later, you'll be mine." The corner of Chu Feng's lips curled upward, revealing a roguish, wicked smile—as if the events of the previous night were no burden at all, but rather something worth savoring over and over.
Su Rou glared fiercely at Chu Feng, then turned her head away and drove him off with an odd tone in her voice: "Hurry up and leave. It's not dawn yet—don't let anyone find out you spent the night at my place."
"Mm, I was just about to head out. Say goodbye to Little Mei and your father for me," Chu Feng said, heading toward the stairs.
"Wait." Su Rou's expression changed dramatically. "Did you say you're leaving Vermilion Bird City?"
"That's right." Chu Feng nodded.
"How can you do this? We did... that kind of thing without any clarity, and you won't even get to the bottom of what happened—you're just going to walk away?"
Su Rou's beautiful eyes flickered, her anger growing. She felt Chu Feng was far too irresponsible—after all, he had taken her body last night.
"You want to get to the bottom of it? Last night, a maid in your estate invited me over, claiming you had business with me. She even prepared a pot of fragrant tea specially for me. After drinking that tea, I became the way I was last night."
"Also, there was a floral scent in the bathhouse last night. That fragrance was bizarre—it could seal away a person's cultivation and drain them of all their strength. You were completely powerless last night, and that was almost certainly because of that scent."
"Someone who can order your own maids to betray you within your very Vermilion Bird City, and who can produce such a potent drug—do you think anyone else could manage that?" Chu Feng asked calmly.
"You—" At that moment, Su Rou was stunned. She never could have imagined that Chu Feng would deduce the identity of the mastermind so quickly. That calm judgment, that extraordinary powers of observation—she found it almost inconceivable.
"Judging by your expression, it seems you know who that person is. What their purpose was—we both understand perfectly well without saying it. I don't blame him. In fact, I'm grateful to him."
"If he hadn't done this, I might have only married his younger daughter. But now—I'm taking both of his daughters." Chu Feng smiled and turned to head downstairs.
"What gives you the right to say that? What makes you so sure I'll marry you?" Su Rou demanded.
"I'm not certain you'll marry me. But you're already my woman. You'd best not fall for anyone else—because if you do, I'll kill him for sure."
"Whether you admit it or not, from this day forward, you are my, Chu Feng's, woman. You are. Little Mei is too. Don't even think about letting anyone lay a finger on either of you sisters." Chu Feng's tone was resolute, domineering, and blunt. Without waiting to see how Su Rou reacted, he strode away.
Su Rou was left standing there in a daze, at a complete loss. The composed and mature woman she had always been was, for the first time, losing her bearings.
Not long after Chu Feng departed,
Su Rou was eerily calm. "Why did you do this?"
"Sigh—the Shangguan family's strength is not to be underestimated. If we forcibly annul the engagement between Little Mei and
"And Little Mei's heart belongs to that Chu Feng—everyone can see that. If it were anyone else, I could have forced the two apart. But Chu Feng happens to be a prodigy. Once he grows, his momentum will be unstoppable. We cannot afford to offend him—we can only win him over."
"So I had to wrong you. Now that he's been with you, he'll naturally feel guilty. I trust he won't make any moves on Little Mei."
"Besides, I can tell that Chu Feng doesn't strike me as the kind of man who shirks responsibility. So once he grows powerful, even if he won't serve the Su family, he'll certainly protect us. Not for anyone else's sake—but for yours, he would do it." Su Hen made no attempt to hide anything, laying everything out honestly.
But after hearing Su Hen's words, Su Rou suddenly laughed. Her laugh was so strange that it sent a chill down Su Hen's spine. "My dear Father, you're absolutely right—Chu Feng is indeed a man who takes responsibility. So whatever you do, don't betroth Little Mei to Shangguan Ya. Because if you do, he won't just destroy the Shangguan family—he'll destroy our Su family too, leaving only me and Little Mei alive."
"What do you mean by that? You're telling me that even after Chu Feng did what he did to you, he's still thinking about Little Mei? Destroy our Su family? He'd destroy the family of the woman he loves? Wouldn't he be afraid of the entire world's ridicule?" Su Hen's face changed drastically—he was clearly rattled, because he could tell Su Rou was not joking.
"My dear Father, if anyone is to blame, it's that you don't understand Chu Feng well enough. He doesn't live for the world. He lives for himself and the people he cares about. Everyone else is nothing to him—they hold no power over his decisions whatsoever."
With that, Su Rou turned and walked downstairs. Though she appeared calm on the surface, her own father had sold her out for the sake of the family. How could she not be angry? That anger might very well last a lifetime.
Watching Su Rou walk out of the palace and head beyond the walls of Vermilion Bird City, Su Hen's expression grew deeply conflicted. After a long silence, he murmured, "Could it be that I really made a mistake?"