Empty Promises: The CEO Cunning Bride

Xiong Jingfei closed her eyes as she held onto Yang Zheyan's hand and listened to the waterfall coming from the distance. She looked up at him, "Was the waterfall beautiful?"

"It was," Yang Zheyan replied and pulled her closer to his side. "Are you hungry?"

She stared at his face for a moment before replying, "I'm craving for potatoes."

Both of them walked hand in hand down the same pathway they had taken before in the past.

***PAST***

"Xiong Jingfei!"

"Wake up!"

Who? Xiong Jingfei couldn't open her eyes, but she could vaguely hear someone calling her name. Who is it that is desperately calling out my name? Who…? She fell unconscious again.

By the time she regained consciousness, she found herself laying on the cold ground with a thin robe covering her body. Nearby was a fire going to keep the room warm, or what looked like to her was the inside of a cave.

Xiong Jingfei slowly pulled herself to a sitting position, even though she felt dizzy as if she hit something pretty hard. The last thing she recalled was getting pushed off the cliff, and Mae was blocking someone from trying to save her. Why?

She shivered and rubbed her arms. Her eyes immediately became alert, and she quickly spotted her almost dried robe hanging on a stick near the fire. Who took it off!? She didn't realize she only had on her innerwear until she felt that chill down her body.

Xiong Jingfei was going to grab it, but right then, she heard footsteps approaching the entrance of the cave. All she could do was wait and see what this person would do to her.

"Zheyan!?" Xiong Jingfei was surprised and relieved to see that it was him. She looked past him to see if there was anyone else to witness her messy appearance. Her reputation as an ugly monster was already famous enough as it is. She tucked her disheveled hair behind her ears, thank goodness it was only him, but it made her realize something else. She narrowed her eyes and covered anywhere showing skin with the robe acting as a blanket, "You took off my robe!"

Yang Zheyan dropped a heaping pile of sticks on the ground and stabbed his sword next to it. He wiped his hands clean with the corner of his robe, "Never have I thought I would be using my sword to chop down sticks."

He added more wood to the fire and poked at it a couple of times to stop it from dying out. Then he finally looked up at Xiong Jingfei, who was covered with his robe but the corner of it slipped down and showed her bȧrė shoulders. He looked away, but nowhere was he showing his generous smile and calm demeanor.

"You-! Zheyan." Xiong Jingfei felt her boiling with anger. Doesn't he know this will ruin her reputation?

Yang Zheyan held up his hand and began putting each finger down as he recounted what happened to her, "Kidnapped, chased, fell off a cliff, and you're worried about your missing outer robe?"

Xiong Jingfei felt a different type of shiver down her spine. He was angry… She never saw this side of him because he always plasters that fake smile on his face that traps others to trust him, unconditionally. There shouldn't be a reason for him to be mad at her when he had the upper hand in their marriage contract. She didn't do anything to violate their agreement.

Yang Zheyan started moving towards her and she couldn't find herself to move away. He held a firm grip on her shoulders, "Why would you jump down the cliff!? You-! Do you not value your life?"

What? Xiong Jingfei was taking a second to register what was being said to her. He is saying that she jumped off the cliff of her own free will?

Before she got a chance to correct his point of view of what happened. She was pulled into his embrace, but she didn't want to pull away after hearing him breathe out a huge sigh of relief. Did she cause him to worry? Was he the one who jumped off that cliff after her? He should have known he could've died doing it. .

Xiong Jingfei couldn't convince herself to believe it. The Yang Zheyan, who put on a mask filled with kindness, but the real him sleeps quietly behind it. It made more sense that he jumped off the cliff because she was still of use to him. There's no way he will put all his plans in jeopardy because of her.

"A-achoo!" Xiong Jingfei sneezed, causing the germaphobe Yang Zheyan to immediately let go of her. She sniffed, "Sorry, I couldn't help it."

Yang Zheyan cleared his throat and got up, "Move closer, so you can get warm faster. Your robe should almost be dry."

Xiong Jingfei nodded her head. She hasn't moved closer to the fire yet, so why do her cheeks feel like they're burning?

Yang Zheyan needed to find a distraction and fast. He doesn't understand why he did such a thing to her. They had a written agreement that around others they would act like a loving couple before and during their married life. Except there was no one here and he did it before he even realized what he was doing.

He grabbed a stick and poked inside the ashes, and out came rolling four small ashen potatoes. Even without looking up, he could see Xiong Jingfei's eyes lit up at the sight of food. He didn't realize he was also smiling without having to force it.

"They're still hot-…"

"Hot! Hot! Hot!" Xiong Jingfei screamed, dropping the one she picked up and rubbed her burning fingers together. She hasn't had a proper meal since she got kidnapped, so her hunger overcame her rationality.

Yang Zheyan's attempt to warn her ended in failure. He grabbed her hands and poured the cold water he collected onto her hands. Around her wrist had signs that a rope was used to bind her hands together, but that wasn't the only injury he saw when he had taken off her soaking outer robe. There were bruises that were in the process of being healed and cuts that had turned into scars over time.

"Zheyan?"

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" Yang Zheyan asked after letting go of her wrists. He picked up a potato and peeled away the skin, something those human traffickers will get once he's back at the capital. He handed the half-peeled potato to her, "Here."

"Are you done admiring my handsome face?" Yang Zheyan couldn't continue ignoring her obvious stare. He looked away, but the tip of his ears was tinted with the color cherry. He muttered, "You're going to burn a hole through my face."

Yang Zheyan had only seen her a few times without her clothed mask. Some have indirectly mentioned that they sympathized that he is engaged to an ugly monster. Some have been silent about it while pitying him with their expression. Little did they know that the person they call an ugly monster was far from it.

There was a spark of happiness that he felt from only knowing her appearance was only shown to him.

"Thank you." Xiong Jingfei slowly rocked back and forth. "You didn't have to save me, but you did while putting your life in danger too."

"What is there to be thankful for when I was saving my future wife?" Yang Zheyan smirked. "I cannot take my eyes off you. You have a talent to find danger."

"Still, we are only engaged due to a promise made between the elders." Xiong Jingfei mumbled, it stung that her marriage was going to be a fake. "While I am bound to you as a wife contract, but as agreed on, I will not get in your way."

Xiong Jingfei's only husband will be Yang Zheyan, and she will be his legal wife. Yet, it didn't mean that he couldn't take in other women.

She already knew what she was getting into when she had agreed to Yang Zheyan's proposed contract. She will be nothing more than a pawn to his greater plans. So, she had to constantly remind herself that she cannot fall for him. It became harder to put up a wall on her heart when he was there every time for her. Then again, he agreed to become her human shield to protect her freedom after they're married.

Yang Zheyan needed her father's military power, and she needed a husband like him. If she can't escape a political marriage, then she might as well form a mutual contract with him. A civil and respectful marriage. Xiong Jingfei can see that what she asked for is possible, after all, they had kept their promises to each other all these years. At least, there was some form of trust between them.

"What if it no longer has to be that way?" Yang Zheyan said in a serious voice. "No contract. No promises made between the elders. Just a man and woman in love and wanting to get married."

"I-I don't understand…" Xiong Jingfei stuttered, feeling her lips tremble and her fingers gone cold. He is not saying that he loves her, right? She forced herself to smile, "That's not a funny joke."

"I'm not lying or playing a joke on you." Yang Zheyan gently lifted her cold fingers and put them on his ċhėst. "I don't want us to start our marriage on a contract or promises made by someone else. I want us to become husband and wife because we want to be together."

Xiong Jingfei felt his heartbeat against the palm of her hand, but she wasn't convinced of his sincerity. She pulled her hand back, "What about your plans?"

"I will give it all up for you."

Xiong Jingfei shuddered, she was beyond shocked to hear that sentence coming from his mouth. He was willing to give up everything!?

"What do I have to do to make you believe me?" Yang Zheyan picked her hand back up and planted a light kiss on her palm. "I am willing to give up everything and give you the marriage life that you're seeking."

The power struggle is endless.

Yang Zheyan doesn't know when he had stopped treating her like a pawn. Everything he had meticulously planned for the past years was thrown away the moment he saw her fall off the cliff. His heart came to a stop, and he didn't think twice to throw himself after her.

Growing up, all of his plans went according to his will, but the one plan he didn't calculate was to fall in love with the girl who got lost in his courtyard. She was like a frightened bunny that got caught by a hunter with nowhere to run when her veil blew away.

It was time that he stopped telling himself that he didn't see her in that way. He almost lost his chance to tell her how he truly felt, but he was afraid, what if she didn't feel the same way?

"Zheyan," Xiong Jingfei put her hand on top of his. "I feel the same way."

Instantly a smile that was never seen before was on Yang Zheyan's face. He pulled her in for a tight hug, afraid that he'll wake up and it was only a dream.

"So, how will the pampered Zheyan survive on his own without anyone serving him?" Xiong Jingfei teased, by giving up everything that means he will leave behind his status, power, and wealth.

"I-I can farm…?" Yang Zheyan stuttered because he couldn't confidently state that farming was a capability he could do. He put his hand into a fist, "I can learn how to farm! It shouldn't be too different from learning how to read, write, and swordsmanship?"

Xiong Jingfei burst out laughing. It was refreshing to see this side of him.

"Our home can be built near the river, and we can-!"

Xiong Jingfei covered his mouth to stop him from rambling, even though she couldn't stop smiling at how far he pictured their future together.

"Come with me."

He led her out of the cave into the world that was surrounded by darkness. Well, it wasn't completely dark when there was a full moon shining down on them.

Yang Zheyan suddenly went down on both knees, which she doesn't know why, but she quickly followed him.

"Let us have this moon be the witness to our love." Yang Zheyan turned his head to look directly into her eyes as he continued his vow, "I, Yang Zheyan, take Xiong Jingfei as my wife. To care and love during the good and bad times. She will be the only one for me and no others."

"I, Xiong Jingfei, take Yang Zheyan as my husband. To care and love him during the good and bad times." Xiong Jingfei shyly smiled as she felt her cheeks burning up. She confidently continued, "He will be the only one for me in every lifetime, I promise."

"No matter what happens." Yang Zheyan's cool finger brushed against her warm cheeks, "I will always follow her in every lifetime, I promise."

Xiong Jingfei laughed, shouldn't it be the wife who follows the husband?

Yang Zheyan tenderly lifted her face.. Sealing their promises and vow that was witnessed by the moon.