Chapter 198: Chapter 198: "Then, Have You Touched Anyone Else?

He stubbornly wanted a definite answer.

Her chin held firmly in his grasp, unable to look away, Cui Lingyao’s eyelashes fluttered. "I don’t know."

She truly didn’t know.

Xie Jinbai couldn’t bear to make things too difficult for her, so he changed the question. "Have any men tried to court you?"

"Yes," This was an easy one, so Cui Lingyao answered quickly.

After speaking, she even added, "A lot of them."

...

Xie Jinbai couldn’t smile anymore.

His eyes darkened as he stared at her in silence.

He stared so intensely that Cui Lingyao’s scalp tingled.

She blinked and said in a small voice, "I don’t like any of them."

"...Oh."

It was impossible to tell if he believed her. Xie Jinbai’s tone was flat as he asked, "Were any of them considered very exceptional by your world’s standards?"

Learning from her previous mistake, Cui Lingyao didn’t dare to answer rashly this time.

But after only a moment’s hesitation, she heard the man above her say, "Just tell me the truth. I absolutely won’t mind."

Unlike his suspicious nature, Cui Lingyao was generous with her trust. She believed him immediately and nodded honestly.

"There were," she said. "The university I attended is world-renowned. Anyone who can get in is a prodigy."

There were boys who were outstanding in every way—intelligence, background, looks, and even character.

And she was no slouch, either.

How could she possibly have lacked suitors?

Xie Jinbai had seen her in her soul state.

A slender figure, with black hair like satin spilling down to her waist. On her palm-sized face were almond eyes, a delicate nose, and red lips framing pearly white teeth.

Skin of snow and a face like a flower, so beautiful it was startling.

That was her true appearance.

A single extra glance could make a man...

His earlier confidence vanished. Xie Jinbai grew agitated, pulling her into his arms and holding her tight, as if terrified someone would come and snatch her away.

Cui Lingyao froze, sensing his anxiety. She quickly said, "I really don’t like any of them."

Xie Jinbai said nothing.

’He wanted to kill someone.’

’To slaughter every last person who had dared to covet her.’

’It would be best if no one ever dared to look at her again.’

But they were a world apart.

He couldn’t do a single thing.

Even if he raised his butcher’s knife, he couldn’t find a target.

In this relationship, his confidence had never come from her love.

It came from his own power.

The kind of power that ensured no one would dare compete with him.

Now, his power could not reach that other world, and so he was terrified and insecure.

He was silent for too long. Cui Lingyao didn’t have the Mind Reading Technique; she couldn’t empathize with his panic. But she knew that, deep down, he was just being jealous again.

Only this time, his jealousy was completely baseless.

She found that she really had no way of dealing with him.

Like right now. She was almost at her wit’s end. "Can you just trust me?"

"During those three years, I spent half a year sick in bed. The rest of the time, I never gave any man a second glance."

Cui Lingyao wasn’t a particularly gentle or patient person, but right now, her patience with him was so great it baffled even herself.

She coaxed him again and again.

Seeing him still silent, she pinched his waist in frustration. "Can’t you be a little more confident in yourself? Who could possibly compare to you? Why are you seeing threats everywhere!"

He was Xie Jinbai.

In the entire Great Yue World, for a hundred years before or after, he was the only man who could be called Great Emperor.

He was the master of this era.

In terms of power, status, or charisma, countless loyal officials and brilliant generals followed him.

Setting all that aside, even just based on his looks, or this body with its broad shoulders and strong arms...

What part of him was lacking?

How could he be so insecure?

Even after she said all that, the man still didn’t react.

Cui Lingyao was completely out of ideas, practically bursting with exasperation. "I already told you there was no one else, really, no one else! After sleeping with you for three years, who else could possibly catch my eye?"

...

The air, suddenly, fell silent.

Eerily silent.

Cui Lingyao’s body stiffened inch by inch. She wished she could slap her own mouth.

Just then, the head buried in the crook of her neck finally moved.

Xie Jinbai tilted his head slightly, pressing his lips to her earlobe, and asked in a husky voice, "The truth?"

"..."

After a solid, heavy silence, Cui Lingyao laughed in exasperation.

"I was lying," she said with a smile. "Actually, I dated a ton of guys during those three years. You have no idea how open my world is. You can see naked men everywhere, and don’t even get me started on their bodies. The muscles you get from practicing martial arts are too hard. Theirs are different, very firm and springy to the touch, and their muscle definition is gorgeous. You..."

"Shut up!" Xie Jinbai grabbed the nape of her neck and pulled her up.

Their eyes met.

He asked through gritted teeth, "How many have you touched?"

Cui Lingyao: "..."

She was really out of tricks.

She was truly at a loss.

When she didn’t answer for a long time, Xie Jinbai felt a tide of jealousy swell inside him, so sharp it turned his eyes crimson. "Liar!"

His voice was hoarse, tinged with accusation.

Cui Lingyao found it hard to bear, yet she also felt completely helpless.

"Everything I just said was out of anger. No matter how I explained, you wouldn’t believe me, so I ran out of options and said that on purpose. Don’t believe it."

’I’ve never seen someone so determined to make themselves miserable.’

"I’ve only ever had you."

She reached out to cup his face, tilting her own up to kiss his jaw, and coaxed him softly, "It was you three years ago, and it’s you three years later. In the three years between, I didn’t want anyone else. Can you please just trust me this once?"

He could.

Xie Jinbai nodded.

Cui Lingyao let out a long sigh of relief, wrapped her arms around his neck, and buried her face in his shoulder.

A moment after their skin touched, she suddenly realized something.

"You’re deliberately copying me, aren’t you?"

"What?"

Xie Jinbai was very confused.

Cui Lingyao looked at him suspiciously. "Really? You’re not?"

But why did she feel like he was learning from her how to torment people?

That whole act of staying silent and waiting to be coaxed was exactly like her.

The difference was that when he coaxed her, he never said things out of anger.

But when she had to coax him for a while, her patience would run out, and she’d start trying to push all his buttons.

Feeling like she’d been played by him again, Cui Lingyao angrily went to pinch his waist.

Her wrist was caught, and her palm was forced against his firm waist, guided to slide slowly across it.

"A martial artist has Inner Strength, so their muscles are supposed to be hard. Too soft, and they’re just an embroidered pillow."

Xie Jinbai leaned close to her ear and said in a low voice, "Or are you saying you prefer that kind of embroidered pillow?"

’So he really took what I said to heart.’

Cui Lingyao pouted and immediately started coaxing him, "I don’t like embroidered pillows. I only like you."

Her words were truly beautiful.

Although he couldn’t tell if they were true, it didn’t stop Xie Jinbai from enjoying them immensely.

The fingers clamped around her wrist slowly tightened. He asked in a hoarse voice, "Then have you touched anyone else?"

"No!" His endless jealousy was giving her a headache. Cui Lingyao’s head throbbed. "Is this ever going to end? If you say one more word, I’m really going to get angry."

"Last question," Xie Jinbai wrapped his arms around her, holding her a little tighter, and asked, "Your world... is it really that ’open’?"

’Naked men everywhere.’

’What kind of world must that be?’

’Just what sort of filth has she seen?’

Cui Lingyao felt like she had lifted a rock only to drop it on her own foot. Her voice grew quieter. "It’s not as exaggerated as I made it sound."

Not as exaggerated.

But it was indeed very ’open’.

Xie Jinbai’s jaw suddenly tightened, and he clenched his back teeth.

His understanding of that world had deepened once again.

’What a free, relaxed, and decadent world.’

’No wonder she’s so eager to return.’

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