A Marriage in Name Only? My Stepbrother Won't Let Me Go

Pei Yan told Ling to poke him with a needle.

The little baby didn’t understand. She just sobbed, her tears falling as her little nose turned red. She looked so pitiful.

Mei Wanying tried to take her daughter back, but Pei Yan refused.

He held the tiny Ling close, not daring to meet Mei Wanying’s eyes.

He said stubbornly, "I can calm her down."

Mei Wanying frowned. "I need to talk about something important."

Pei Yan held his daughter even tighter. ’Is she going to kick me out again after we’re done talking?’

His voice was muffled as he said, "It’s rare for me to see Lingling. I want to spend a little more time with her."

Mei Wanying had to laugh.

’This man is such a blatant liar!’

’What day *doesn’t* he come to the old residence to see Lingling?’

’So where does this "rare" come from?’

Pei Yan braced himself. "You’re a parent too. You should understand how I feel."

Mei Wanying stared at him, her face devoid of expression. ’This man is cold and heartless. How could he possibly understand what it’s like to be a parent?’

’In her past life, she had traveled to the Border to find him while pregnant, yet he hadn’t shown the slightest bit of joy.’

’Every time he stared at her stomach, his expression was utterly morose.’ 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

’But now he was clinging to Ling, refusing to let go, playing the part of a doting father.’

’How ridiculous could he be?’

Pei Yan kept his eyes downcast, trying to signal his daughter with a look. ’Hurry up and say something!’ he thought.

’If she just called me ’daddy’ every day, I’d have a perfectly good reason to stay and keep Lingling company.’

’Lingling still needs to nurse, so Ah Yin can’t get too far away from her.’

’As long as I stick by my daughter, I’ll be able to see Ah Yin...’

Ling, of course, couldn’t understand Pei Yan’s convoluted thinking. She just thought her daddy was playing with her. After a few more wails, she cheered up again.

She reached out to grab Pei Yan’s face.

She even tried to poke his eyes.

Her little arms were too short, and she could only reach his chin. As if pricked by his stubble, she quickly pulled her hand back.

Her bright, dark eyes were wary.

Before long, she stretched out her chubby little white hands again.

Pei Yan humbled himself, letting his daughter grab at him. ’This is Ah Yin’s child,’ he thought. ’She has every right to take liberties.’

The little one showed no mercy, grabbing right for Pei Yan’s face.

A child so small doesn’t know her own strength.

Sometimes, when Mei Wanying was nursing Ling in the middle of the night, the baby would grab a tight fistful of her long hair.

Now, Pei Yan was suffering the same fate. A faint scratch appeared on his handsome face.

It didn’t bleed, but the skin was slightly broken.

Pei Yan quickly took Ling’s chubby little hand to look at her fingernails.

He rubbed the pad of his finger over them and felt they were a bit long.

He was worried she might scratch Mei Wanying while nursing, or even scratch herself when she got fussy.

Pei Yan decided he would trim his daughter’s nails.

He’d never done something like this before and was afraid he’d mess it up, so he wanted Mei Wanying to do it with him.

In a casual tone, he said, "Ah Yin, teach me how..."

Mei Wanying cut him off. "I didn’t invite you here to put on a show of a doting father and his loving daughter."

The man lowered his gaze. "It’s not a performance."

’He was very fond of Lingling.’

’This was Ah Yin’s child. Never mind just trimming Lingling’s nails; he would pluck the stars and the moon from the sky for her if she asked.’

Mei Wanying called for Ding Xiang and had her take Ling away.

Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the scratch on the man’s face. The skin was just barely broken.

’You’d have to look closely to even notice it.’

’Pei Yan was thick-skinned. Besides, he started teasing Ling first. Getting scratched served him right.’

’But she couldn’t let Ling go around scratching people.’

Mei Wanying instructed Ding Xiang to file Ling’s nails.

She had let it slide once, and then twice, but a third time would be too much. If Pei Yan still refused to let go of the baby, Mei Wanying was going to get truly angry.

Pei Yan seemed to have gotten a feel for Mei Wanying’s temper by now and didn’t dare to defy her.

He dutifully handed his daughter over to Ding Xiang.

The faint, milky scent of the baby clung to him. Pei Yan didn’t mind it; in fact, he found it reassuring.

’In this world, he had a child of his own blood—a child born of the woman he loved.’

’The feeling was incredible.’

’Pei Yan didn’t want any more regrets. He just hoped Mei Wanying would forgive him so their family of three would never be separated again.’

Sitting at a careful distance from Mei Wanying, Pei Yan touched the faint scratch on his chin and couldn’t help but let the corners of his lips curl up.

’A man with a child can afford to look a little worse for wear.’

Mei Wanying couldn’t stand seeing him look so smug.

She got straight to the point. "I heard the Useless Crown Prince has escaped. My father’s former subordinates are all valiant warriors. Your Highness, could you give them an opportunity to distinguish themselves?"

Pei Yan hadn’t expected this was what she wanted to discuss.

’In his past life, Ah Yin had married him early. The Useless Crown Prince’s reach hadn’t extended into the Prince Chen Mansion, so the imprisonment never happened.’

’In this life, the Useless Crown Prince had schemed to trap Ah Yin in the Royal Villa. If he had arrived a moment later, the consequences would have been unthinkable.’

Recalling the events of that night, a vicious glint flashed in Pei Yan’s eyes.

’Setting aside the struggle for Imperial Power, the fact that the Useless Crown Prince dared to covet Ah Yin—dared to lay a hand on her—was reason enough not to let him live.’

Seeing the dark expression on Pei Yan’s face, Mei Wanying assumed he didn’t want her meddling in this affair.

Mei Wanying lowered her gaze. "I don’t want to just sit here and wait to be captured. I don’t want to put my fate in someone else’s hands."

’Perhaps Pei Yan would protect her, but she didn’t want to rely on him again, waiting for him to come to her rescue.’

’What happened before had taught her a bitter lesson.’

’Begging others for protection is the worst possible strategy. Only by saving herself could she hope for a change in fortune.’

Pei Yan understood her unspoken words and suddenly realized that he had truly underestimated Mei Wanying.

’He had always thought of her as a delicate, pampered girl who couldn’t endure hardship and was too timid.’

’But she was clearly nothing of the sort.’

’In their past life, she had dared to travel to the Border to find him, pregnant with their child.’

’She had endured so much hardship along the way, but none of it had deterred her.’

’In this life, she had borne so much pressure, giving birth to Lingling all on her own, and had never once complained.’

Pei Yan’s feelings were a complex mix.

There was a hint of pride.

But it was overshadowed by guilt.

’If only he had spoken honestly with Ah Yin in their past life, if he had let her know his true feelings, things would never have turned out that way.’

’His Ah Yin was in no way inferior to any man.’

Pei Yan stared at Mei Wanying, unblinking, as if lost in thought.

Mei Wanying didn’t press him.

Both were lost in their own thoughts.

After a long while, Mei Wanying heard the man ask, "Ah Yin, what do you want to do?"

Mei Wanying looked up, startled.

’She had braced herself for him to scold her, to tell her she was being foolish.’

’He might have tried to patiently persuade her not to get involved in such a dangerous matter.’

’Or perhaps he would have told her to leave it all to him, that all she needed to do was stay and look after Ling.’

’But instead, Pei Yan had actually asked for her plan.’

Mei Wanying was completely unused to this.

She took a deep breath. "I want to lure the snake out of its hole."

Without a stratagem, the world was a vast place. Finding the Useless Crown Prince’s whereabouts could take an unknown amount of manpower and time.

Perhaps it was a case of her daytime worries bleeding into her sleep, but for the first time, Mei Wanying dreamed of the Useless Crown Prince.

She was trapped in that villa again. There were no lamps, the windows were sealed shut, and everything was pitch-black.

She couldn’t see a thing.

The Useless Crown Prince had even snatched Lingling away, forbidding mother and daughter from seeing each other.

Originally, Mei Wanying had only wanted to send more men to search for the Useless Crown Prince’s whereabouts.

But after that dream, she didn’t dare delay any longer.

The plan was dangerous, but if it could solve the problem once and for all, Mei Wanying was willing to take the risk.

Pei Yan couldn’t accept the idea of Mei Wanying putting herself in danger. He couldn’t stop himself from picturing her lifeless form.

His limbs suddenly felt weak.

He couldn’t bear the consequence of losing Mei Wanying again.

Compared to that, he would rather have Mei Wanying hate him!

Before Pei Yan could speak, Mei Wanying asked, "You’ll protect Lingling, right?"