Chapter 15 - I Can't Be Mocked

While walking toward Nùfàng Pavilion, Lei Ming worked up his brain to draw out the maid's face when he pulled her, but everything was so fast and his mind was focused on saving her from falling. The only thing he recollected was her height, long hair, her wringing hands, and the way she bowed.

It was stupidly low as if she was afraid of him. At most, the smell of bamboo was also there, but he brushed it off since they were in a hurry for his mother's visit.

"No wonder she bowed that low because she was avoiding me. Did she assume that I can recognize her and scold her? Hmm, that's news to me. I, for certain, doesn't even know what she looks like."

He also hated girls from touching him, so he pushed her away after saving. It never crossed his mind to look at her face because she was only a maid. A lot of maids in other official houses tried this kind of trick to get their masters' attention and seduce them to be taken in as a concubine. Lei Ming despised those kinds of girls. That was why he slowly formed a habit of not looking at a maid's face aside from situations when he sensed something unusual.

"What was she thinking? Did she also try to use those stupid acts just to get my attention? Disgusting. If I knew, I should have left her fall to that dirty pond."

His every step was heavy as he approached Xinyi's room. Despite the fact that everything began out of annoyance, he was unaware that curiosity slowly clawed and inched its way to his mind to see her true appearance with his own eyes.

Questions came bugging him. How horrible she looked like? Or maybe she wasn't that bad looking, probably just average. Yet, he wouldn't admit in his heart that she could be pretty because he knew how the prince despised him.

To think, after he arrived here in Fengfu, he received a letter indicating that the crown prince's disaster preparedness project was rejected by the king because of Lei Ming's scholarly convincing speech. Nonetheless, his 'scholarly convincing speech' led him to receive this arranged marriage with the prime minister's daughter as a reward from the king. What an irony.

As he reached the pavilion, his blood boiled to see the whole mess. "Damn that woman. What was she doing, plundering this place empty? Don't tell me... she is running away…?" He paused… and thought this made sense.

"Oh, so sending her there won't make her come begging. She really has the ability to strike my ire. Good, good. So, they sent me the hard to deal daughter to get me worked up daily and keeps me from performing my task well. Haha, no problem. I'll show you all how I'll discipline this woman and make you sorry for sending her to me."

Lei Ming laughed eerily while cracking his knuckles as he started devising a plan to make this wife submits. He was about to leave and go to Anjing pavilion because he knew Lei An was there at this moment, but his eyes caught something on the wall. When he saw the anomalies of his portrait on the wall, his annoyance was now likened to a nuclear bomb ready to explode any minute and would cause a mushroom-like explosion.

This was one of An's favorite paintings.

Lei Ming never wanted to place that portrait here from the start but An wanted it for THIS sister-in-law of hers. Lei An wanted to brag and to make this portrait a daily reminder to Xinyi of his handsomeness and make her proud of him. But... look at what she did?

This a.d.u.l.terated painting was a clear message that she was mocking him, her own husband, the Governor of this city. His temples throbbed with every change made on his portrait.

[This is now on Lei Ming's point of view.]

He looked at the eyes, there were black circles on his proud dazzling eyes that could see well even at night. But here, as if he had bad eyesight like an old man and had to wear a pair of spectacles. The throbbing on his temple grew bigger.

Then his view went to his ears. They looked like Bison horns stretching outward as if these horns grew out from his head naturally. "Am I a demon now for forgetting to send you food?"

Next, his lips. "What? What does she think of me? A harlot practicing smooching daily to end up with lips like these?" He clenched his fist hard, the nails digging on his skin.

Lastly, the manicured fingernails and the ribbon. "Does she think I'm a soft girl that she could disregard and mock like this? I'll show you Xian Xinyi on what kind of man you married. I can't be mocked by a girl like you." He gritted his teeth and he walked out. "Guards!!! Get maids to clean this place." He shouted to the guards waiting outside.

----- o -----

Outside Anjing Pavilion.

"Sister-in-law must be very tired for crying herself to sleep last night. Oh, poor thing," said Lei An with concern, while Xinyi's shoulders convulsed as she laughed in silence with what she heard but also felt sorry for Lei An.

'I'm here, sis, and doing fine. Ah, I didn't know I have a new sister. How I wish to stay and chat nonsense with you like any other girls, but…' She stopped short and realized something. 'Why did that egocentric husband of mine let his sister come to get me? This is wrong. Definitely, something's not right…'

Lei An whined, "Aya! Mother will arrive anytime soon. Sister-in-law must get ready for the tea ceremony. Dumb big brother. If I didn't insist on getting Sis back, he didn't even care if Ma will know. Dumb, dumb big brother." She kept on ranting as she stomped on the grass.

After hearing that, panic suddenly set in Xinyi and remembered the messy tea ceremony training she got after coming back from the valley.

'AHH!?! NOOO! I must leave this place now than doing that stupid ceremony,' she screamed inside.

While at this moment, vexed Lei Ming was now on his way to Anjing Pavilion.