When Xie Yijin woke in the morning, an exquisitely carved box sat beside her bed.
A pale yellow sticky note was attached to the box, bearing two neat, elegant lines of handwriting.
For you.
—Jiang Zui.
He came last night?
Compared to the lax security at the Jiang residence, the Xie family security team was highly trained—so tightly guarded that not even a fly could get inside. Since when had Jiang Zui become capable of this?
She pulled the box into her arms, then paused with her hand on the lid, her expression grave and wary.
That bastard wouldn't have tampered with the love token, would he? He had stolen the marriage in the first place to torment her. Would he really be kind enough to take the initiative and send her a love token?
Xie Yijin's brows knitted as dozens of possibilities for Jiang Zui's schemes played through her mind.
After fussing over it for quite a while, she placed the box on the coffee table. Then she found a long sword-like arrow hanging on the wall, rolled her wheelchair slightly farther away, and used the arrow to lift the wooden lid.
“Idiot! Idiot!”
An ugly doll sprang out of the box with a bang, rolled onto the floor, and kept shouting, “Idiot! Idiot!”
Xie Yijin: “!”
Xie Yijin: “…”
How childish could he get? She'd stopped playing with stupid toys like this when she was three!
Black-faced, Xie Yijin laboriously picked the ugly doll up from the floor and switched off its voice function.
Her brows drew tightly together. Looking at the ugly doll, a rush of anger and grievance rose inside her. She ground her back teeth, her eyes dark.
This counted as a love token?
It looked more like something meant to insult her.
Jiang Zui was far too perfunctory. This was pure humiliation!
With a stormy expression, she was about to stuff the doll back into the wooden box and return it when she noticed an exquisite dark-red velvet case inside as well.
A note was stuck on top. It read:
Xie Thirteen, your token.
—Jiang Zui.
Xie Thirteen.
It was a nickname her roommates had given her at Imperial Military Academy.
At the time, she fought desperately at everything like the legendary Thirteenth Sister, so they called her Xie Thirteen.
As for Jiang Zui, she'd been the one to give him his nickname.
—Jiang Blockhead.
Jiang Zui had beaten her up plenty of times over that nickname.
Xie Yijin raised a brow. Looking at the velvet case, her expression became solemn again. She peeled off the sticky note and, no longer caring whether that bastard Jiang Zui would play another prank, opened the case directly. Inside lay a delicate mechanical watch, its silver face elegant, its hands moving rhythmically. The soft tick-tock was pleasant to hear.
One look was enough to tell the watch was worth a fortune.
Her mortal enemy had pretty good taste. He had really spent money on this!
Without hesitation, she threw the ugly doll into the trash, put on the watch, and admired it carefully.
Since Jiang Blockhead had put in this much effort, naturally she had to return the courtesy.
This was the first time in several months that Xie Yijin left her darkened room.
Her eyes weren't used to sudden bright light. She narrowed them and, after adjusting slightly, controlled her wheelchair into the elevator and went downstairs.
The maids who were cleaning caught sight of her coming down and were both shocked and delighted.
Eldest Miss left her room!
Eldest Miss came downstairs!
Jiang Zhaohua, who had no appetite at the dining table, and Xie Yizhen, who was wolfing down food, both froze when they saw her ignore everyone and head out of the living room.
“Sis! Sis! Where are you going?”
Xie Yizhen swallowed her bun and shot over like a little firecracker to push the wheelchair for her. “I'll take you.”
Aaaaaah! After so long, her sister had finally come downstairs!
Had Jiang Zui's bride-stealing shocked her so badly that she'd decided not to sit passively and wait for death anymore? Hah, Jiang Zui really was dangerous. Xie Yizhen had to find some way to get rid of him for her sister!
Xie Yijin said lightly, “No need.”
“Hurry to school. I'll go with your sister.”
Jiang Zhaohua beamed, squeezed Xie Yizhen out of the way, seized the position behind the wheelchair, and said gently to Xie Yijin, “Yijin, I'll take you.”
Xie Yijin raised a hand, her expression cold. “No need.”
The closer someone was to her, the more she wanted to avoid them.
Xie Yijin controlled her wheelchair into a jeep.
Standing at the gates of the Xie estate, Jiang Zhaohua's eyes reddened as she watched the vehicle disappear into the distance, melancholy and sorrow appearing on her face.
“Mom, don't be sad.” Xie Yizhen comforted her.
Jiang Zhaohua snorted and glared at her with a stern face. “I'm not sad. I'm using the power of money! I refuse to believe this marriage can't be canceled!”
Yijin's gland was damaged. Marrying Jiang Zui meant her susceptible periods couldn't be soothed. Once the gland deteriorated further, her physical condition would weaken day by day. This marriage was nothing less than taking Yijin's life!
Xie Fan might accept it, but she wouldn't!
Xie Yizhen: “???”
Xie Yizhen: “!!!”
Throw money at it? Why hadn't she thought of that?
Jiang Zhaohua patted her shoulder and said earnestly, “Win people over with virtue.”
One hour later.
Jiang Zhaohua cornered Jiang Zui at the Third Military District hospital and negotiated with him at a window seat in a nearby café.
“Ten million. Cancel the engagement!” Jiang Zhaohua pushed a check toward him.
Jiang Zui took a sip of warm latte, glanced at the figure, and smiled. “Madam, ten million is far too little.”
Jiang Zhaohua frowned in displeasure. “Too little?”
Ten million was absolutely not a low offer.
“Madam may have forgotten that my father, Jiang Yan, was once the Empire's foremost mecha engineer, and my mother came from a medical family. Patent licensing alone brings in fifty million, not to mention the stocks and funds my parents left behind and the dividends from shares gifted by the Qu family. A mere ten million really isn't enough to tempt me.”
Facing an aggressive female elder, Jiang Zui showed not the slightest fear. He remained composed throughout.
The Jiang family might now consist only of him and Jiang Huaisheng, making it thin in numbers, but it had never been poor.
He looked up and gave Jiang Zhaohua a polite smile. Seeing her brows twisted tightly, he said with merciless calm, “Madam, Xie Yijin and I will definitely marry.”
The marriage-stealing plan was classified internal information of the Second Military Department. No outsider had any right to know it.
No one could stop this wedding.
“Bang—”
The instant Jiang Zhaohua heard that, she slapped the table, drew the laser sword at her waist, and split the café table in half with one slash. The point of her blade, full of killing intent, aimed straight at Jiang Zui.
Jiang Zui: “!!!”
Were all members of the Xie family this fearless? Wasn't Xie Yijin's mother supposed to be graceful and aristocratic, the very model of elite society wives?!
Three minutes later.
Jiang Zui rushed out of the café with a grave expression, mounted a maglev motorcycle, and shot into the sky in a wide arc, cursing under his breath, “Xie Fan is a damn bastard!”
Insane! Completely insane!
He'd always known Xie Yijin was crazy. Only now did he realize her mother was even crazier!
In public, her mother had drawn a sword and attacked him directly! Jiang Zhaohua was famous for her artistic accomplishments, but no one had ever mentioned she was also highly accomplished with a sword. Her strikes were steady, vicious, and precise.
Jiang Zhaohua was clearly planning to settle this through force!
What kind of ridiculous mess was this?!
Where did Jiang Zui run?
Straight to the police station.
Jiang Zhaohua chased him there on a motorcycle, only to be arrested and detained by a group of police officers. Furious, she stood behind the bars and cursed at the top of her lungs.
“Despicable! Shameless!”
“If you've got the guts, duel me face-to-face!”
“Jiang Zui! If you've got the guts, don't hide behind the police!”
“…”
Jiang Zui sat comfortably in the police station drinking tea. He'd heard Jiang Zhaohua repeat the same curses so many times his ears were practically calloused. He had already worked out how to negotiate with Xie Fan and squeeze even greater benefits from this unexpected incident.
Who could have expected Xie Yijin to be the one who came?
This was the first time Jiang Zui had seen her since her legs became disabled.
Compared with the high-spirited, radiant woman in military uniform on the Cromwell battlefield, she now controlled a wheelchair, her face pale and her body noticeably thinner.
She wore a thin white collared polo shirt that exposed her slender, pale neck. Perhaps because she had stayed indoors for so long, her already beautiful face had become several shades paler. She had lost some of her heroic vitality and gained a fragile air instead. Her innate nobility and bearing, combined with the world-weary expression in her eyes, made her seem utterly unapproachable.
Song Chang'an was pushing her.
Xie Yijin remained as composed as ever. She glanced at her mother locked behind the bars, then looked Jiang Zui up and down. “Good. Neither of you is hurt.”
Jiang Zhaohua nearly blacked out when she saw Xie Yijin.
If Xie Fan had brought people to get her, she could have argued self-righteously. But with Xie Yijin here, all she felt was anxiety, worry, and panic.
“Yijin, you can't marry him! He'll get you killed!”
Jiang Zhaohua clutched the bars in agitation, on the verge of tears as she pleaded, “Ajin, Mama can't lose you…”
Xie Yijin's eyes flickered. She deliberately filtered out the words “Mama can't lose you” and instead fixed a dark gaze on Jiang Zui.
Jiang Zui crooked his lips in a smile, sounding faintly accusatory. “Your mother tried to kill me.”
Xie Yijin turned her wheelchair toward Jiang Zhaohua. Seeing her mother's gaze dart away, she said, “Mom, I don't want to become a widower.”
Jiang Zhaohua: “!!!”
Jiang Zhaohua: “Ajin!”
“Please, Mom.”
Xie Yijin absolutely would not allow her plan to fail. She hadn't managed to marry Fu Shuheng and beat Jiang Zui that way. This time, by marrying Jiang Zui, she had to win this round.
Then, even if she died, she would have no regrets.
No one could stop her!
Under Jiang Zhaohua's slowly shattering, disappointed gaze, Xie Yijin said one word at a time, “Jiang Zui and I will definitely marry.”
Jiang Zhaohua looked into those familiar eyes, sharp and cold, and felt a chill creep gradually up her spine as though she'd fallen into an endless abyss.
She knew Xie Yijin too well. Once her daughter decided something, there was no room for change…
What was she supposed to do about her Ajin?
Despair and grief filled Jiang Zhaohua's eyes. She turned away as tears slid down her cheeks and fell to the floor.
“Xie Yijin, this isn't over.”
Jiang Zui slowly stood and walked in front of Xie Yijin. Bracing both hands on the handles of her wheelchair, he looked down at her from above. Their noses were only about a fist apart as his thin lips parted. “I'm not easy to fool!”
That aggressive tone was far too familiar.
Xie Yijin's nerves became bizarrely excited. In her most casual, conversational tone, she said, “Then kill me.”
Jiang Zui narrowed his eyes and studied her. She was smiling with utter ease, as though they were discussing the weather.
In those obsidian-black eyes spread a world-weary despair, decadence, self-destruction, and a willingness to perish together—as though she were an apple flawless on the outside but long since withered and rotted within.
He crooked his lips, mockery filling his eyes. Pinching her chin with possessive control, he said, “Wife, when you look this damn good, how could I bear to just kill you casually?”
“Then what do you want?” Xie Yijin asked, having completely given up on caring.
Jiang Zui's smile disappeared. He said coldly, “I can let your mother go, but after we're married, you have to agree to three rules.”
“I agree.”
“First, after marriage, you listen to me in everything. Second, whatever I do to you, you endure it. Third, your life belongs to me. You can only die when I tell you to. If I don't let you die, you're not allowed to die.”
For some reason, those three rules sent a bizarre thrill through every bone in Xie Yijin's body.
Yes, exactly like this… Kill her! Control her! Ravage her!
“Fine.” A dark gleam flashed in Xie Yijin's eyes, strange excitement floating across her face.
Looking at that gaze, Jiang Zui felt as though his whole body had been scorched.
That look was too burning hot. It was like… she was staring at some peerless martial-arts manual…
When they left the police station, Xie Yijin shoved a box at Jiang Zui and said it was a love token.
Jiang Zui didn't open it before leaving. He casually tossed it into his vehicle, drove back to the hospital, performed two operations, went home after work, washed up, and only then remembered the love token and took the box out.
After fighting with Xie Yijin for so many years, how could he possibly take no precautions?
He put on rubber gloves and a gas mask, set the box in the middle of his training room, and used a long blade to pry open the lid.
…?
Nothing happened.
Had that bastard actually changed?
Jiang Zui was just about to praise Xie Yijin for finally no longer being childish when he saw a pair of golden shackles inside the box.
Jiang Zui: Fuck!
He should never have expected anything from that bastard!
He suddenly remembered his erotic dream, in which Xie Yijin had been trapped on the bed by shackles. His cheeks heated immediately. He hurriedly slammed the lid shut, patted his face, and cursed in annoyance, “Pervert!”
Just then, the wedding-planning company called to coordinate arrangements.
“Mr. Jiang, will you and Miss Xie be going to the Temple of Light to pray for blessings in two days? If so, we can reserve a time for you.”
The moment Jiang Zui thought about that bastard Xie Yijin giving him shackles as a love token, he refused on the spot. “No. I'm busy.”
If he'd known earlier, he should have sent that bastard suppressants!
After hanging up, the wedding company called Xie Yijin.
“Miss Xie, Mr. Jiang doesn't plan to go to the temple to pray. On your side…”
Xie Yijin was an atheist who believed in neither gods nor Buddhas. But she didn't want to see Jiang Zhaohua crying every day, Xie Yizhen endlessly trying to persuade her, or Xie Fan heavy with worry. She was going to die soon anyway. If she couldn't be filial to her parents or take care of her younger siblings while alive, then she could pretend gods truly existed and pray for blessings for everyone.
As for Jiang Zui?
She wondered whether the gods would hear her curse.
She cursed her mortal enemy to spend his entire life alone, and to remember forever that he had lost to her!
“I'll go.” Her eyes were full of tenderness.
*
Wedding preparations proceeded at full speed, one matter after another being handled.
None of the things requiring Jiang Zui and Xie Yijin to appear in person—wedding photographs, formalwear fittings, and so on—were done. After praying at the temple, Xie Yijin no longer wanted to leave home. Her irregular susceptible periods tormented her, and a wine bottle never left her hand, blurring the passage of time. Jiang Zui, meanwhile, was so buried in operations that he barely knew day from night. When the housekeepers and wedding company arranged everything, the wedding-photo studio had no choice but to digitally composite the couple's photos. The Xie and Jiang families did carefully select their formal clothing, however, and had it delivered directly.
Seeing that the situation was settled, Jiang Zhaohua blamed every sin on Xie Fan, packed her things, and returned to her natal family. She refused even to attend the wedding.
Once she left, it was Xie Yizhen's turn to rack her brains. She dragged Cheng Yan into plotting with her. Since “winning people over with virtue” hadn't worked, they simply made a new plan.
A little over twenty days passed like a white colt flashing through a gap, and at last the wedding day arrived.
The wedding was held at the five-star Bonas Hotel, with three entire floors reserved for it.
The banquet floor was filled with high- and mid-ranking military officers, prominent business figures, movie and television stars, and government politicians. Under bright crystal chandeliers, glasses clinked amid a harmonious atmosphere full of celebration and blessings.
Meanwhile, Xie Yijin was locked in a standoff with the makeup artist inside the dressing room.
She didn't want makeup and didn't want to wear the white formal suit. Stubbornly, she insisted on getting married in military uniform.
Today, she had booked the photographer for her funeral portrait.
“No changing! No changing!”
Xie Yizhen joined in, snatched the clothes from the makeup artist, tossed them onto a chair, and declared firmly, “It's just a wedding. What's wrong with wearing a military uniform?”
“But…”
Cheng Yan picked up the clothes. Looking between Xie Yijin, whose expression was frozen like ice, and Xie Yizhen, who was adding fuel to the fire, he advised, “All the guests outside are important people. Wouldn't this embarrass Brother-in-law?”
“I'm not changing.”
Xie Yizhen snorted. “It's not a big deal anyway.”
“What's not a big deal?”
Just then, a cool, distant voice came from outside the dressing room.
Jiang Zui!
Damn. They'd been caught doing something bad behind the person's back!
Xie Yizhen guiltily looked toward the door. Jiang Zui walked in wearing an impeccably tailored formal outfit: a ruffled shirt beneath a white tailcoat. Tall, broad-shouldered, and narrow-waisted, with refined features, every movement carried an aristocratic air.
Jiang Zui had always been handsome.
His brows and eyes inherited the gorgeous vivacity of his mother, Qu Shuyu. His features were striking yet enduringly attractive. With only a little dressing up, he looked completely different from usual, though those eyes remained as cold and indifferent as ever.
Hearing his voice, Xie Yijin turned her head slightly to look at him.
At first, her heart had been filled with tenderness at the thought of finally being freed, mixed with fear and tension at death's approach. But the instant she saw Jiang Zui looking so heroic and impossibly handsome, her Alpha pride and competitive spirit were hooked awake.
Jiang Zui… was actually this good-looking.
After a brief awkward moment, Xie Yizhen dismissed the makeup artists.
“Brother-in-law, Sis doesn't want to wear the formal suit for the wedding.” She instantly put on a pleasant smile. Just before reaching him, still talking, she deliberately fell toward Jiang Zui. “How about we just… ah!”
As Xie Yijin's younger sister, she would never let Jiang Zui ruin and torment Xie Yijin!
As the saying went: if I don't enter hell, who will?
Since Jiang Zui liked Alphas anyway, she might as well seduce him. Then Jiang Zui wouldn't spend every day thinking about killing her sister!
Jiang Zui watched her fling herself at him like a giant bat.
Expressionless, he shifted slightly aside and let the shadow streak straight past him.
Xie Yizhen: “!!!”
Xie Yizhen crashed to the floor, eyes wide with disbelief!
H-he-he actually dodged!! Why was this nothing like the dramas?
To seduce Jiang Zui, she'd watched seventy or eighty television dramas over the past twenty-odd days and mastered every cliché in romantic series!
Jiang Zui refused to follow the script.
“No need to worry.”
Jiang Zui didn't even glance at her. His gaze met Xie Yijin's, and a very faint smile appeared at his lips. “If she won't put it on, I'll help her.”
“No!” Xie Yijin refused instantly!
No matter what, she needed the funeral-portrait photographer to take her photo.
Cheng Yan looked at Jiang Zui's expression, which practically said Those who disobey die, then at Xie Yijin's posture of resisting to the death, and his heart thumped.
This was bad! Tonight, only Jiang Zui and Xie Yijin would be left together. Who knew how Jiang Zui would torture her!
Before Cheng Yan could smooth things over, Xie Yizhen shot over, grabbed Jiang Zui by the shoulders, and slammed him directly against the wall.
Almost by reflex, a silver needle appeared in Jiang Zui's hand. He hadn't expected the Xie family to be this impatient. He already had the needle ready; if there was danger, he would strike immediately.
Unexpectedly, Xie Yizhen said with complete seriousness, “Jiang Zui! I've actually liked you for a very long time! My love for you is like an endless river, surging without cease!”
Jiang Zui raised a brow. “And?”
Whether at military academy or the military hospital, many Omegas had confessed to him, but this was the first time an Alpha had done so.
Unfortunately, he couldn't see even the slightest ripple of love in Xie Yizhen's eyes. What he did see was urgent determination and almost desperate impatience.
Xie Yizhen immediately put on a shy expression. “So, could you not marry my sister? Would you marry me instead?”
Jiang Zui narrowed his eyes, a mischievous spark flashing through them. “I can consider it.”
Xie Yizhen's eyes instantly lit up. “Really?! You'll agree to replace the bride with me today?!”
Xie Yijin remained perfectly calm and leisurely.
After fighting Jiang Zui to the death for so many years, how could she not know exactly what kind of person he was?
Jiang Zui didn't acknowledge Xie Yijin at all. He reached out, stroked Xie Yizhen's fluffy short hair, and smiled. “Do you dare let me hug you?”
“Of course I do!”
Xie Yizhen answered excitedly.
Then, smiling, Jiang Zui picked her up and threw her out of the dressing room.
Xie Yizhen: “???”
Xie Yizhen: “!!!”
“Little sister, didn't your older sister ever tell you—”
Jiang Zui looked down at her from above, mockery curving his lips as he told her a cruel truth. “Don't casually trust strangers.”
Xie Yizhen: “…”
Xie Yizhen's little face flushed bright red. Her fists clenched, humiliation overwhelming her.
S-s-she had actually been played by Jiang Zui!
Jiang Zui glanced at Cheng Yan, his gaze cold as ice.
The moment Cheng Yan met his eyes, a chill ran down his spine. He hurried out of the dressing room and obediently closed the door behind him, his heart beating wildly.
Once only Xie Yijin and Jiang Zui remained inside,
“You really won't change?”
“I won't!”
“What a pain!” Jiang Zui walked over and, under Xie Yijin's glare of resistance unto death, raised his hand and jabbed her with a needle.
“What are you doing?” Xie Yijin instantly lost control of her body. She could only watch as Jiang Zui began unbuttoning her military uniform, hearing him say impatiently, “What else? Helping you change personally.”
Xie Yijin: “!!!”
Xie Yijin: “No!”
“No, no, no!”
Jiang Zui seized her chin and forced her to look at him. His eyes were filled with malice and irritation. “Besides saying no all day long, what else can that mouth of yours do?! I've wanted to deal with you for ages!”
A crushing sense of pressure descended.
Xie Yijin's chest rose and fell slightly. Looking into those rebellious, piercing eyes, every cell in her body filled with excitement at being offended. Her heart pounded.
“What can my mouth do?”
Almost instinctively, her competitive drive toward Jiang Zui made her determined to win this round by any means possible.
She leaned her neck slightly forward. Her lips touched Jiang Zui's in a brief kiss before immediately separating. Smiling wickedly, delighted at overturning his dominance, she said, “I can kiss you.”
Flirting with her mortal enemy before death didn't seem too bad.
…Jiang Zui himself was sharp as a blade, but his lips… were so soft.
Jiang Zui: “!!!”
Jiang Zui's breath stopped. The instant she kissed him, his body went rigid as stone.
Once he recovered slightly, he raised a hand and slapped her across the face.
Xie Yijin smiled wickedly, like some fallen demon from an abyss. She lightly touched the cheek he'd slapped. Seeing the cold fury in his eyes, she said happily, “You're angry.”
Faced with such provocation, Jiang Zui refused to back down. He tightened his grip on her chin, pressed his thumb hard against her crimson lips, and stared into her challenging eyes. “You asked for this!”
Then Jiang Zui lowered his head and kissed her with forceful dominance.
He had once kissed someone during his wilder period, but it had been no more than a brief taste. He had virtually no experience. All he knew to do was press his lips against hers and move them back and forth.
Xie Yijin's eyes widened. The instant their lips touched, it felt like being struck by electricity.
Her entire body was unable to move. She pressed her lips tightly together, clenched her back teeth, her eyes gradually turning red as she glared at him.
Jiang Zui couldn't figure out the technique, and eventually bit hard on her lip.
He pulled away and wiped his mouth. Seeing Xie Yijin's eyes almost spitting fire finally improved his mood. He stroked her cheek and deliberately disgusted her. “Wife, now it isn't you kissing me. I'm kissing you!”
Xie Yijin glared. “You're humiliating me!!”
When this bastard said rape first and kill later, he hadn't been joking. And he wanted her to be the one underneath?!
…But she did not approve of dying that way.
How did Alpha-Alpha couples even do it? It seemed like…
Her face went pale and her anus tightened.
Right now, she was no different from meat on a chopping board, able only to let someone butcher her at will.
“You. Asked. For. It!”
Jiang Zui sneered and began undoing the buttons of her military uniform one by one.
When Xie Yijin came back to herself, she lowered her eyes and saw those clean, pale hands with distinct knuckles unfastening each button. She faintly caught a sweet peach scent coming from Jiang Zui. She hadn't expected an Alpha like Jiang Zui to wear perfume.
Looking up again, she saw that the tips of Jiang Zui's ears had turned completely red.
Xie Yijin: “??”
Was he embarrassed? Impossible.
Jiang Zui didn't remove her undershirt. His movements were clumsy and hurried as he helped her put on the formal top.
When it came time to remove her trousers, his face remained expressionless, but his pale cheeks looked as though they'd caught fire. His fingers seemed to have gone soft; no matter what he did, he couldn't undo the button.
“Jiang Zui, if you don't know how, how about you call me husband and I'll change myself?”
Xie Yijin knew her military uniform couldn't be saved. Seeing that he had clearly never served anyone before, she gave up all restraint and teased him.
Jiang Zui's heart hammered violently, completely beyond his control.
“Shut up!” He thought, You're fucking disabled. As if you could change yourself. He immediately forced himself to calm down.
The first button came undone.
The second button came undone.
The zipper pulled straight down.
Jiang Zui heard the rasp of it opening and nearly stopped breathing. He hurriedly shifted his gaze toward her injured legs. Xie Yijin also quickly looked away. Even now, she still couldn't accept them.
A fleeting trace of heartache flashed through Jiang Zui's eyes.
He hurriedly tugged her trousers off and then quickly helped her into the new pair.
It was only changing clothes.
Yet it was harder for him than performing surgery!
Jiang Zui felt like his head had doubled in size.
Xie Yijin was mildly regretful about wearing the white formal suit. It simply couldn't represent her entire military career.
Once she was dressed, Jiang Zui pushed Xie Yijin straight toward the banquet hall to attend the wedding ceremony.
While Xie Yijin had been making trouble over the clothes, the master of ceremonies had already been urging them to hurry.
The wedding ceremony was personally presided over by Qin Yufeng, Divine Envoy of the Church of Light.
The Church of Light was the state religion of the Morris Empire, with status nearly equal to the Morris imperial family. Whenever a new emperor took the throne, the Pope personally crowned them, representing the divine right of kings. The Church had its own independent system of authority and control; it did far more than preach and instruct believers.
As for the Divine Envoy, this was a messenger sent into the mortal world by the God of Light worshipped by the Church, specifically tasked with communicating between mortal believers and the divine will of the God of Light.
Whenever one generation's Divine Envoy died, a new Divine Envoy would appear in Morris.
It was said that when the God of Light selected a Divine Envoy, birds throughout the city would circle overhead in endless succession and the Envoy's body would emit light.
This time, the Divine Envoy was personally officiating the wedding.
First, because Xie Yijin was a meritorious hero of the war and public morale needed reassurance. Second, because it was the will of the God of Light.
Qin Yufeng recited a long wedding vow, then finally asked with a smile, “Miss Xie Yijin, are you willing to take Mr. Jiang Zui as your lifelong spouse? From this day forward, whether in prosperity or adversity, wealth or poverty, health or illness, will you love him forever, cherish him, and remain faithful to him for all time?”
Xie Yijin instinctively found the vow almost unbearably ironic.
She and Jiang Zui, forever? Well, they truly were destined to fight until one of them died.
As for love?
How could they possibly love each other? It was pure hatred.
Still, after tonight, it could indeed be considered forever.
So she said, “I do.”
Qin Yufeng then asked Jiang Zui with the same gentle smile, “Mr. Jiang Zui, are you willing to marry Miss Xie Yijin and become her spouse? From this day forward, whether in prosperity or adversity, wealth or poverty, health or illness, will you love her forever, cherish her, and remain faithful to her for all time?”
Jiang Zui was silent for a moment, then said, “I do.”
Xie Yijin thought, This bastard agreed in front of a priest without the slightest psychological burden?
Of the elders from the Xie and Jiang families, only Xie Fan, Cheng Yan, and Jiang Huaisheng remained at the wedding.
Jiang Zhaohua was fighting Xie Fan over divorce. That morning, she'd signed the divorce papers in anger and refused to attend the wedding, preferring not to see it at all. Xie Yizhen had tried to seduce Jiang Zui right in front of Xie Yijin in the dressing room and was directly confined by Xie Fan.
After the ceremony ended,
Xie Yijin spotted the delighted funeral-portrait photographer in the distance and hurriedly controlled her wheelchair toward him so he could take her picture. Unexpectedly, before she'd “walked” even a few steps, someone blocked her path.
“Commander Xie, long time no see!”
The person blocking her was Qin Si, a high-ranking commander from the First Military District, a female Alpha and the only daughter of General Qin Zhongcheng.
Today, she wore a black suit and had dressed herself flamboyantly. Holding a wineglass in her right hand, she looked at Xie Yijin mockingly. “Who would've thought Commander Xie could have both legs crippled and still do something earth-shattering enough to marry an Alpha!”
Xie Yijin's temper immediately worsened. “Move.”
“Already angry?” Qin Si bent slightly, patted her cheek, and smiled maliciously. “Commander Xie, you used to call me useless. So who's the real useless one now?!”
Xie Yijin frowned, gripped the wheelchair armrests, and said one word at a time, “Get lost!”
“Get lost?!” Qin Si acted as though she'd heard something hilarious. Remembering how this Alpha used to pin her down and beat her, making her lose face countless times, she grabbed Xie Yijin by the collar and sneered. “Back then, people listened when you said that. But now, do you really think…” Her gaze swept across Xie Yijin's legs. Looking mockingly into the eyes hovering on the edge of fury, she challenged, “Who would listen to a useless cripple?”
Xie Yijin glared at her.
Qin Si smiled. “You don't know yet, do you? You married Jiang Zui purely to ease relations between the Xie and Jiang families. You're nothing but recycled waste.”
“Who did you call useless?”
Xie Yijin was just about to strike when a familiar voice sounded.
It was as cold as ever, enough to send a chill down anyone's spine, yet to Xie Yijin it suddenly sounded pleasant.
In the next second, someone abruptly seized Qin Si by the collar and dragged her away from Xie Yijin.
Xie Yijin saw Jiang Zui punch Qin Si in the face. “Since when is it your turn to criticize my wife?”
Author's Note:
Second revision: changed Xie Zhaohua's name back.
