CHAPTER 284: CHAPTER 284; YOU SEE?

Mrs. Xu’s eyes softened with worry, but she said nothing understanding. Being a mother and wife was a total sacrifice for the household to run smoothly.

Tang Fei gently freed her hand from Mr. Xu’s grip, determination gleaming in her eyes. "Please, Uncle Xu. Let me go to him, I don’t want to have any disagreements in my marriage."

Without waiting for his response, she turned around and hurried after Huo Ting Cheng, her steps quickening as though afraid she might lose him again.

Outside, she caught sight of his tall, rigid figure striding toward the courtyard. The evening breeze tugged at his clothes, but he didn’t slow down.

"Huo Ting Cheng!" Tang Fei’s voice carried across the dimly lit path, calling him by his full name.

For the briefest moment, his shoulders stiffened, just hearing her call his name in full amused him, but he didn’t turn around. He just wasn’t feeling like it probably just wanted to sulk.

Noticing his hesitation, she quickened her pace, her heart pounding as she closed the distance between them.

Tang Fei reached him at last, her hand brushing against his cloth just as he moved to step away.

"Huo Ting Cheng," she said again, her breath catching. "Stop running from me. Geeez!" Men were really difficult creatures to cater to.

His strides faltered, but he didn’t look at her. The muscles in his jaw flexed, his eyes fixed on the stone lanterns glowing faintly in the courtyard.

"I’m not running," he said at length, his voice low, taut like a bowstring, "I’m trying to have a moment to think through things..." He was angry at himself and not at anyone. Sometimes he does wonder if the man she had rebelled to be with would have treated her any better than him....

"Ting Cheng... Did you two have a fight? Did you argue about anything? He is my Uncle, someone who is like a father figure to me and you are my husband... All right? These two things are totally different!" One thing she wanted in this new life was to be a good person, a good wife, and a good mother. With such a caring partner and cute kids, where would she find such an offer?

He didn’t want him to be jealous.

Huo Ting Cheng’s lips curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile, more of a sharp twist of self-mockery to himself.

Her gaze caught his eyes, they were dark, shadowed with emotions she couldn’t fully fathom. He wasn’t wrong to be obsessed with her, right?

"Different?" he echoed, his voice low, almost dangerous in its quietness. "Fei’er, nothing is different when it comes to you. Whoever dares to stand between us, be it your father, uncle, or even the heavens themselves, I will treat them all the same. Do you understand that?"

Tang Fei’s chest suddenly tightened. His words, which were spoken with such certainty, should have frightened her, but instead, they left her heart trembling in ways she could not name.

Huo Ting Cheng’s strides had slowed down, but he still refused to look at her. His jaw was set, the hard lines of his face cast in shadow, betraying nothing but a cold distance.

Tang Fei reached for his sleeve again, her voice gentler this time like she was cooing a little baby, "Ting Cheng... don’t ignore me. If you are angry about anything, then be angry at me, not at yourself."

His only response was the faint tightening of his shoulders, his silence heavy as stone. He just needed space to calm down, he had always been like this!

She stepped closer, tilting her head to catch his gaze, but he kept it fixed on the darkened courtyard ahead. His eyes, however, flickered briefly, just briefly, toward her hand still clutching his sleeve.

Tang Fei noticed the movement of his eyes, she bit her lip, then tried again, her tone coaxing, almost teasing, "You know... the children will notice if their father sulks at the dinner table. What kind of example will that set? What are you going to say is the problem?"

His lips pressed into a thin line, the faintest twitch at the corner betraying the fact that her words had reached him. Still, he said nothing. He just wanted to sulk; who was going to tell him otherwise? He just wanted his wife to coax him.

Tang Fei took another step, lowering her voice as though she was sharing a secret, "Besides... I don’t like it when you walk away from me like this while you are ignoring me. I’d rather you scold me than give me this cold shoulder. You know it, right?"

This time, he finally turned around, just slightly. His eyes swept over her face, dark and unreadable, but his expression wasn’t cruel, and never to her, it was restrained, as though he were holding back an entire storm behind that mask of silence.

Tang Fei’s heart ached at the sight. She softened further, her hand sliding down from his sleeve to entwine gently with his fingers, "Ting Cheng... don’t be like this! Aren’t I here with you? I will always be with you!"

For a long moment, he didn’t move. His gaze locked on their joined hands, the sharpness in his eyes wavering. Then, with the faintest exhale, more felt than heard, he let his fingers curl around hers, firm, possessive, but no longer cold.

Tang Fei’s lips curved faintly, relief washing through her seeing she had finally calmed this wolf. She had coaxed him, not with arguments, but with patience. And though he said nothing, his silence this time was not rejection, but acquiescence.

The night air was cool, carrying the faint fragrance of osmanthus from the courtyard trees.

Tang Fei tilted her head, studying his face in the flickering lantern light. His profile was sharp, unyielding, yet the faint tremor in his grip betrayed him more than any words could.

"You see?" she whispered softly, as though afraid the stillness of the night might shatter. "You don’t have to say anything... I can still understand you."