On the wedding day, my wife was abnormal

Murong Yan was silent for a long time, and the warm ginseng tea in the cup gradually cooled down.

She suddenly sighed deeply, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

She put down the teacup, stretched out her hand, and took the initiative to hold Lin Zhen's warm and broad palm on the stone table.

Her voice was filled with fatigue, apology, and deep dependence:

"Alas, my husband, I am also a woman. Living in this position of power, I always want to fight for all the women in the world, even if... even if I have to walk a little hastily..." She raised her beautiful phoenix eyes, which were filled with complex emotions: guilt, gratitude, and relief after being enlightened. "Don't blame me."

Lin Zhen completely wrapped her soft hand in his palm, gently stroking the back of her hand, his voice low and gentle:

"You and I are one, husband and wife. How could I blame you? Your ideas and ideals—aren't they something I'm willing to help you realize? If it weren't for your commitment to implementing the new policies, I would have long ago executed officials like Xia Zhu, who disregarded human life and acted in a perverse and unjust way, to serve as a warning to others. Yesterday... I couldn't have..."

"Yesterday? How could that be impossible?!" Murong Yan was so perceptive!

She instantly caught the slightest pause and unfinished meaning in Lin Zhen's words!

Her eyes, which had just calmed down, suddenly stared at Lin Zhen with an intimidating aura!

A woman's intuition set off alarm bells in her heart! "Speak clearly! What did you do to her yesterday?! Huh?"

Lin Zhen opened his mouth and closed it instantly.

The usual look of control on his face rarely showed a slight flicker.

This subtle avoidance was like a bucket of cold water poured on Murong Yan's fire of doubt that had just been calmed down!

"Lin Zhen!" Murong Yan's voice suddenly rose, filled with anger of being deceived and shocked.

"You, you didn't do anything to Xia Zhu?!"

She was so angry that her words were incoherent, her plump breasts heaved violently again, her eyes were wide open, burning with rage!

Seeing that he didn't say anything, she suddenly shook his hand away!

He jumped up and clapped his hands!

"How could you do this!" She pointed at Lin Zhen, her fingers trembling, her pretty face flushed with anger, and she almost spoke without thinking.

"Besides! She's already over 30! What good is there in an old maid? If you have time, why don't you come to the palace and spend more time with me? To coax me, you actually go to a place like the Censorate to sleep with an old maid?! Do you have any shame?!"

The pavilion suddenly became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop!

Musk Moon was so frightened that her face turned pale and she could hardly hold the tea tray in her hands. She quickly lowered her head and dared not look again.

Faced with his wife's anger and such merciless accusations, Lin Zhen was not panicked. Instead, he frowned slightly, as if he was suffering from some kind of grievance, but there was calmness in the depths of his eyes.

He sighed, his voice filled with helplessness and the profound meaning of "I've sacrificed so much for you":

"Yan'er, don't be so quick to scold me. Isn't this also for you?"

"For me?!" Murong Yan was so angry that she almost laughed, her voice was sharp, "You sleeping with Xia Zhu, what does that have to do with me?! Nonsense! This is clearly an excuse! You are just... just obsessed with sex!"

"How can it not be related?!" Lin Zhen's voice also rose a few degrees, with a kind of misunderstood eagerness and a self-evident analysis, "This is a huge connection!"

He stood up and took a step closer, his gaze locked onto Murong Yan's angry eyes. "Yan'er, think about it! Who is Xia Zhu? She's a proud and talented woman, to be sure, but she's also incredibly proud and arrogant, someone who once she sets her mind on something, no one can stop her! When I went to see her yesterday, you didn't see her like that. Even when she was locked up in the Censorate, her eyes still shone with the desire to trample men underfoot! She's as stubborn as a rock!"

Lin Zhen tapped his temple lightly with his fingers, his eyes like the most astute hunter reviewing his plan.

"Do you think that just by preaching to her, by painting a rosy picture for her—'Go to Wuqing County and work hard, the king has high hopes for you,' she'll be obedient, put away her extreme ways, and follow your path of 'rehabilitating the reputation of female officials'? Impossible! She'll just think I'm brainwashing her, suppressing her! She'll only harbor more resentment, thinking 'all men are obstacles!' Once she arrives in Wuqing, she'll only intensify her brutality! By then, with Wuqing County's unique location, close to the capital, and its mixed crowd, she could fabricate a few more false cases, sparking a popular uprising or overwhelming opposition from the literati, Yan'er!"

Lin Zhen's voice suddenly grew stern. "That's what we call shooting yourself in the foot! Xia Zhu alone will destroy the entire plan to promote female officials! There will be no turning back! Those officials in the court who are already restless and dissatisfied with women serving in office will immediately submit a petition, and everything we've planned will be thwarted!"

These words, like the sharpest scalpel, peel off layer by layer of the cruel reality.

He took a breath, lowered his voice, and spoke with unquestionable control:

"So, the only way is to use the most direct and thorough method! Let her understand! Who she belongs to! Who controls her future path? Let her completely dismantle the rebellious force in her bones! Let her know—your path, Murong Yan, is my path, Lin Zhen! Her struggle for the path of a female official is essentially working for me, Lin Zhen! She must follow my plan!"

Lin Zhen leaned slightly closer to Murong Yan, his voice low and full of allure, yet with a hint of unquestionable strength:

"And this method is more effective than making her completely submit to me from body to soul! It's more direct! It can better ensure that she won't have second thoughts and won't mess up our plans in Wuqing again! Do you understand now, Yan'er? I slept with her not for anything else, but to ensure that your new policy can proceed smoothly! It's to extinguish the last spark that could start a prairie fire!"

Murong Yan stood there in a daze, listening to Lin Zhen's analysis which seemed "righteous" and "selfless" but was actually logically rigorous and extremely cold. The rage that had been surging in her heart was like ice and snow melting, and it slowly...dissipated.

The shock in her heart was beyond words.

She understood that what he said was true! Xia Zhu's personality was indeed such that she could do something like that, preferring to die in glory rather than live in disgrace.

And once things get out of control to the extent described by Lin Zhen.

The consequences could be disastrous!

Reason told her that Lin Zhen's approach might really be the safest and only way to control someone like Xia Zhu.

But...but this method...this method itself!

The awkwardness in her heart and the jealousy as a woman could not be eliminated no matter what!

Especially when she thought of her husband going to conquer another woman in that way, even if it was for the so-called "big plan", she still felt as uncomfortable as if she had swallowed a fly!

She stopped cursing, but she also stopped talking.

She pursed her lips tightly and turned her face away stubbornly, not wanting to look at Lin Zhen's smug look, as if he had accomplished something great.

Lin Zhen wanted to pull her hand again, but she shook it away with a "snap"!

She sat back heavily on the brocade cushion, with her back to Lin Zhen, leaving him with only a stiff back that said "I'm angry but I don't know how to refute you."

Her plump breasts rose and fell violently under the phoenix robe with her rapid breathing.

Lin Zhen looked at her, feeling angry but unable to vent her anger, and a barely perceptible smile flashed across his eyes.

He walked around to her, leaned over slightly, and got close to her red ears, with a hint of ambiguous flattery and tentative comfort:

"Okay, Yan'er, don't be angry anymore, okay? Okay? I'll spend the night with you and help you calm down, how about that?"

"Hmph!" Murong Yan turned her head abruptly and glared at him fiercely. Her eyes were filled with shame and annoyance, with a hint of panic as if her thoughts had been exposed.

But the next moment, under the dual stimulation of jealousy and a sense of being sacrificed, he blurted out an extremely tough condition:

"Once isn't enough! At least five times!"