Xia You cleared her throat and said, “Ye Jinxuan, I need you to know that the only reason that this house is recognizing your marriage is that you saved Chunyu’s life.”

“Mom,” Xia Chunyu warned. He knew she was snobbish, but did she have to be so straightforward?

“Why?” Xia You challenged. “Am I wrong?”

Ye Jiayao smiled slightly. “What Auntie said was right, Chunyu. I know that we’re only here because of how everything transpired back with the bandits.”

Xia You pursed her lips and said, “We planned to call for your parents to discuss this union, but Chunyu said that you are not ready to speak to your father. We’re still deciding on what to do.”

“I know that it is necessary to invite the elders to talk about marriage, Auntie. However, my stepmother and father are not tactful. The people in my ancestral home are more dignified, and to be honest, I would rather have them here than my parents. The choice is up to you, though,” Ye Jiayao said honestly.

“It’s just a ceremony,” Xia Zhoufeng answered before his wife can. Xia You had been quite rude and he didn’t want to put these two young lovers through more scrutiny. “Chunyu loves you and so do we. I will send an invite to someone from your ancestral home.”

“Thank you for compassion, Uncle,” Ye Jiayao said with a grateful smile. She was lucky that her father-in-law was a reasonable person.

“Since Lord Hou’s making the decision here apparently, I’m going to retire to my chambers. I have a headache.” Xia You got up and left, her face pale and her lips pressed into a tight line.

“Mom!” Xia Chunyu called out after her. Why was she making so much trouble for them?

Xia Zhoufeng ignored his wife’s outburst and focused on the wedding details instead. “Your mother and I was checking the calendar earlier and found that the best day for your wedding is on the 26th of this month. If you have any objections with that, the next date would be in December.”

“26th of this month sounds great!” Xia Chunyu replied hastily. If it was up to him, he’d be married tonight. There was no way he’s going to wait until December. “Jinxuan, what do you think?”

“It’s up to you,” Ye Jiayao answered with a dutiful smile.

Xia Chunyu blew out a relieved breath. Finally.

“This wedding ceremony shall be grand. I will offer 36 boxes of dowry and 36 tables for the guests. I have one question, however. Where should the bridal sedan chair come from?”

“Don’t worry about that, Father. Helian Xuan has discussed this issue with his family and they will be adopting Jinxuan as their granddaughter. The bridal sedan chair shall be coming from the Helian Mansion,” Xia Chunyu assured.

The Old Lord slapped his thigh and exclaimed, “That’s good!”

Ye Jiayao turned to him in surprise. “Why haven’t you told me that?”

“The only thing you need to know is that you will be my wife. Nothing else matters,” Xia Chunyu murmured.

He had given a lot of thought into this. Once Yaoyao rises in status, no one would dare to belittle her again. And since they would be siblings, it would put an end to Helian Jing’s romantic fantasies about her.

Ye Jiayao saw the smug sneer on his face and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Sneaky bastard.

After they have settled all the important marriage matters, the group separated to go back to their own yards.

“Will your mother keep giving me snide looks until the wedding?” Ye Jiayao asked him.

He frowned. “You’re the one to blame for that. I told you to just take whatever snobby comments she throws at you and you didn’t listen.”

“Why are you blaming me? If I didn’t stand up for myself, I’ll have to put up with her belittling me like that for the rest of our marriage. Didn’t you hear what she said?” Ye Jiayao defended.

“Come on. My mother is keen on appearances. Even if she disapproves of you, she won’t let others know that I promise you.” Xia Chunyu tried to reassure her. He didn’t want to fight with her. They were about to be married soon, they needed to coexist in harmony.

“We’re about to be married and you can’t even take my side against one simple thing? I’m calling this wedding off. Go and find someone else,” she said petulantly.

Xia Chunyu chuckled. “It’s too late. You have signed the contract, remember?”

“So what? I don’t need that money. I will open a new restaurant in the future and I will beat Heavenly Residence,” she boasted.

“You better check the contract again,” Xia Chunyu told her with a teasing smile.

Ye Jiayao frowned. She didn’t like the look on his face. She searched for the contract and looked it over carefully. Everything seemed to be okay, so why was he so confident?

“Turn it around,” Xia Chunyu said as he sat down, his legs crossed.

Back?

“No matter which party breaks the contract, he or she must pay each other three times of what the loss will be.”

Ye Jiayao did a quick mental calculation and found that she would have to pay him at least 360,000 to break free from their contract. She would never be able to repay that debt.

Ye Jiayao looked at him furiously. “Xia Chunyu, this is a rip-off!”

He shrugged indifferently. “It’s not. That contract applies to both of us. I’ll pay you the loss if I try to break it.”

“You’re a jerk.”

“Shush… finish reading.”

Ye Jiayao glared at him for a few more seconds before continuing to read.

“As the Second Young Lady of the house, the future master of the family, Ye Jinxuan has to obey the virtues of a woman and will be charged one month’s interest for every rule she breaks…”

“That’s my family rules.” Xia Chunyu smiled and gave her a pamphlet which was named ‘Rules of the Xia Mansion. “Once you have more free time, you need to read this whole thing to avoid problems. One of the rules is that you’re not allowed to abuse your husband in any way no matter what the situation is. And you just broke it. I’ll let it slide this time, but do not do it again.”

What the f*ck?! Ye Jiayao didn’t know whether to kill him or herself. She should’ve checked the contract better and she should’ve put more of her terms on it.

She banged her head against the desk and moaned, “Let’s get this over with. Go find a knife and just kill me.”

“Yaoyao, how can I kill you? You are my wife.”

She raised her head and snapped, “You are a fucking bandit.”

“This is the second time,” Xia Chunyu said seriously. “One more time and I will punish you according to the contract.”

Ye Jiayao let her head fall against the desk one more time.

Damn it!

“I also have to point out that whoever reveals the contract to anyone will pay the price five-fold,” Xia Chunyu said.

Ye Jiayao groaned loudly.

“Now, let’s talk wedding!” Xia Chunyu proclaimed excitedly. “Who do you want to invite for the party?”

Ye Jiayao remained sullen.

“It better not be all of your mother’s family though. Don’t forget that the Helian family will be showing up as your relatives. We also need to invite Zhao Qixuan and Susu. We can also hire your friends at Heavenly Residence to cook our food if you’d like?”

She remained uncaring.

“I’m also going to invite the Jiang family here in the mansion. Yue-er is already familiar with you so she can be your servant.”

“She’s not going to be my servant. I think of her as my sister,” Ye Jiayao said.

“Then she can just accompany you. You need to have someone that you can absolutely trust.”

“What about Ah Li?” Ye Jiayao asked.

“I intend for him to go to the Military Department. He’s learned a lot from Uncle Jiang and I believe he will be good at this. I already spoke to him about it and he’s willing to do it.”

How was this man so thoughtful to others and yet so harsh on her? She almost believed him earlier when he said he was willing to lay his life down for her in front of the Emperor. However, her thoughts changed after seeing that ridiculous contract.

Ye Jiayao began to slam her head against the table again.

“Will you stop that! You’re going to break the table!” Xia Chunyu pulled her away and gently touched her reddish forehead. He asked softly, “Does it hurt?”

Ye Jiayao pushed him away. “You hurt my heart. Don’t pretend to care now.”

“Hurt your heart? Let me check it!” He proceeded to touch her chest.