"You want to examine my leg?"
Teeth gritted, Cai Wei let out a cold chuckle, raised her head, her clear pupils staring straight at him, her beautiful face as cold as a block of ice.
"Regardless of the reason, touching a woman’s body without her permission is disgraceful, especially when it is done against her vigorous dissent. This sort of behaviour is simply despicable and shameful."
"Who is despicable and shameful? Woman, you’d better appreciate what’s done for you!"
Enraged, Saknu had initially come with good intentions to help her with her illness. However, due to his urgency, he had not clearly explained the situation to her, and in public she had slapped him quite forcefully. He was already slightly peeved, and upon hearing her self-righteous preaching and ruthless denunciation, he couldn’t hold back and erupted in anger.
"The Imperial Physician said that the flesh on your leg is necrotic and that the only thing to do is to cut it off with a knife. I was pitying you, acting with good intentions, seeking people to heal you. And now, damn it, I’m the bad guy!"
Cai Wei coldly said: "Regardless of the reason, forcibly revealing a woman’s skirt is unforgivable. Moreover, whether they can heal my wound, you know very well. Even if I expose my leg for you all to see, what good would it do?"
Saknu, having been rebuffed, was somewhat at a loss for words, but remained obstinate, saying: "In five more days, you will be mine. By then, let alone looking at your thighs, I can do as I please with you. How could seeing you now possibly matter?"
With a cold smile Cai Wei replied: "Let’s discuss that after five days then. For now, please take your people and leave immediately. I will find someone to treat my wound, you needn’t waste your energy. Also, regardless of whether we end up as husband and wife or not, I hope you will learn to respect me. Otherwise, do not expect any respect from me."
Her last sentence caused Saknu, in his anger, to become suddenly nervous.
"What do you mean ’whether or not we become husband and wife’? In five more days it will be the fifteenth, and soon you will be my woman, Saknu’s woman. You won’t escape this in your lifetime!"
Cai Wei gave him a chilly glance, and with a meaningful tone said: "What is destined to be yours will not escape. But what is not meant to be yours can neither be forced nor procured."
"Beautiful one, beautiful one, what’s happened to you?"
From the outer room came the sudden low cries of Nong Mo. It sounded as though something had happened to Du Meiren.
On recalling Saknu’s entrance and the terrified scream Du Meiren uttered after trying to stop him, Cai Wei’s heart skipped a beat. She shot Saknu a ferocious glance, quickly got up, took an item from the wardrobe, tied it around herself as a skirt, and hurriedly ran for the outside.
In the Eastern Room, Du Meiren was unconscious on the couch, pale-faced. A large purple bruise was swelling on her forehead. Four palace maids and the only eunuch from Qingfang Garden were gathered around Du Meiren’s couch, weeping softly.
Cai Wei stepped forward, and looking at Du Meiren, who lay unconscious on the couch, she turned back in anger and said to Saknu: "You hurt my aunt?"
Saknu replied aggressively: "Who asked her to be so foolish as to try and stop me!"
Cai Wei gritted her teeth, her gaze stern as she said: "You barged into someone else’s domain, violently attacked them, and you still think you’re just?"
Saknu glared, defiantly saying: "What if I did beat her? She was suicidal to try and stop me. If it weren’t for her being your Aunt Mu, she’d be dead by now!"
Cai Wei closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and suddenly rose to her feet. She picked up the Jade Ruyi from the pillow at Du Meiren’s side, and swung it, aiming for Saknu’s head.
"Detestable, you Liaodan savage. You disrespect me and injure me, and now you dare to harm my aunt! You heartless bastard, I swear I’m going to fight you with everything I’ve got..."