How could he possibly let her have her own way? Chu Beijie widened his eyes, not saying a word, as he stared back at her.

His gaze sharpened.

The stronger his was, the weaker hers was. If one became more charming, the other became more delicate, revealing her intense stubbornness.

The more stubborn, the more adorable.

Chu Beijie's heart softened. He couldn't help but sigh.

In a battle of the two, it was not the stronger who would win.

No wonder it was often the gentle person who became a true hero.

"Open your mouth." Chu Beijie was helpless, and took the bowl from Zuiju's hands.

The moment his words rang out, smiling joy immediately surfaced from Pingting's sad, pale face. Her pouty lips formed a smile of unlimited potential. Chu Beijie shook at the appearance of her smile. His hand that held so many swords could not stable itself, spilling drops of the hot soup onto the purple blanket.

"Drink it properly." Chu Beijie lowered his voice, composing himself.

Laughter was hidden in the bottom of Pingting's eyes. She obediently opened her mouth and swallowed a mouthful of the hot soup. The lotus was sweet; the ham was mellow.

"Blow it again," she suddenly said.

"Eh?"

"Blow it again." Her smile deepened, her dimples showing shyly. "It's hot."

The Chu Beijie who had commanded millions of soldiers had never guessed that he'd feel so powerless on this one day. He was literally sucking up to this insatiable woman. Each word put him completely to shame.

He stiffly bent down, blew until the soup was cold before clumsily bringing it to her lips.

Pingting obediently opened her mouth once again and drank the delicious lotus and ham soup. Leaning on the pillow, she chuckled, "This is the best soup I've ever had, doesn't Duke agree?"

Chu Beijie replied bitterly to this, "How would I know?"

Pingting saw his stoic expression but couldn't suppress her laugh. Seeing Chu Beijie with just a passing trace of exasperation, her scallion-like, white fingers of jade took the spoon off him. She filled it before carefully bringing it to his lips.

Chu Beijie looked at her.

Her eyes were completely clear, much like the fresh springs of hills, without a trace of impurity. This looked too sore and too sour in his eyes. He refused to open his mouth. With just this spoon, she had disappointed the skies, disappointed the most disappointing.

How despicable, how annoying!

He bit his lip tightly, but suddenly seemed to change his mind. His expression changed to one made at a decisive moment in a battle. He abruptly opened his mouth wide and stuffed the whole spoonful of soup into his mouth. His upper body uncontrollably pitched forward, one hand clutching firmly onto the soup bowl and other resting on Pingting's shoulder, forcing his lips to hers.

What came over, other than soup, were also Chubeijie's strength, intelligence, dominance and arrogance.

How could he so willingly agree to her conditions?

Pingting's eyelashes trembled. She closed her eyes, her thin delicate arms wrapping around Chubeijie's generously wide shoulders. Through gritted teeth she whispered, "From today onwards, if Duke is mean to Pingting, Pingting will be 100 times meaner to herself. No matter what, I only have one life, wasting it is fine too. Duke might as well give up."

She was in Chu Beijie's warm arms and felt his whole body stiffen as he muttered, "How many times do you plan to go against me?"

"A hundred times is not enough. Even a thousand times isn't enough." She answered in a very low voice, without a shred of apology.

Twice as angrier than before, Chu Beijie rose but was stopped by two slender arms wrapped around him. He looked down and saw tears had filled her face. Her teardrops delicately balanced on her ivory-like skin, falling yet not falling. Her snow white teeth tightly bit onto her bottom lip, refusing to let others hear the sound of her sobs.

Her bright profound eyes were not afraid of his sharp gaze, desolately earnest and ultimately they did not seem to be concealing hidden intentions.

His anger vanished immediatelyat that very moment like a hundred years of refined steel suddenly malleable once more.

"So hateful! So evil!" Chu Beijie hugged her tightly and seemed to want to plunge her into his own bones. "You're so hateful Bai Pingting! Evil Bai Pingting...."

The sun hid behind the clouds; delicate snowflakes slowly drifted down once more.

It wasn't a problem though. The room was incredibly warm. Although it was winter, the room seemed to be a landscape in spring.

Hongqian stole a look, blushing furiously. Her expression was immediately replaced with a frown. "You've messed up. The soup isn't even finished. That isn't good, is it?"

Zuiju smiled faintly. "There are people caring for Miss Bai's body, so why should we? Come, since it's snowing so wonderfully, we should quickly go into the yard and build a snowman."

No longer caring the affectionate flirting in the house, the aftermath from battles of love and fate, everyone else looked outside, to the yard piled high with snow.

Dear Teacher, it seems that the Duke has fallen for such a pain-in-the-neck kind of girl.

The invincible Duke of Zhen-Bei of the battlefields was defeated by the Bai Pingting who did not fear death.

He was not convinced nor willing to submit.

Just that when he looked into her two eyes, all of the displeasure and dissatisfaction disappeared.

Who told him to harden his heart or use ruthless means?

Who knew Pingting would expose such a beaming innocent smile from seeing his expression or by relaxing his brows, show even the slightest bit of compassion would result in so much in return, making it truly the world's most worthwhile action?

Bai Pingting was as relaxed and free as a willow branch swaying in spring breeze. She felt merry. She understood that compromises were useless and, in all fairness, intended to take the initiative to recover from her eight months of suffering.

Until then she would get out of the bed to admire the snow.

Hongqian cleared out the pavilion and asked Moran to bring the qin, before fetching the alcohol.

Chu Beijie had yet to enter the room when he already heard the sound of qin floating through the walls.

He paused, narrowed his eyes and listened.

Distant and light; calm and happy.

As free as clouds drifting, as strict the orbits of the moon and stars and an ample laziness that made anything seem possible with time.

Only mountains would stand quietly, straight and unyielding. Numerous small animals were on the mountain, not afraid of the wind and snow. The moment the snow stopped, out they came with snowball fights. They dug snow caves and picked the final few pinecones of a tree, forming a scene of fierce competition. What exhilaration!

Chu Beijie couldn't help himself, but he wanted to be closer to the qin sound. Proudly, he turned into the courtyard where there was a small pavilion, a guqin, good alcohol, some servants, and the incredibly merry, yet incredibly lazy woman who held his heart.

Ping! The qin sound was stopped by an abnormal noise.

Chu Beijie paled in shock. His mind raced as he flew into the pavilion. "What's wrong?"

Pingting lowered her head, holding her right hand. Her index finger had been sliced by the sudden break of the string, causing a single thin wound.

"Why are you so careless?" Chu Beijie's eyebrows were tightly knitted. He grabbed the soft hand. "Does it hurt?"