Chapter 41 Outbreak
The setting sun cast a soft glow on the man's handsome face, but it only made his eyes appear even colder.
She lifted his hand, placed the back of his hand on her soft cheek, and tried to show him weakness and affection.
She softened her tone and said gently, "I know you have misunderstood me because of what my family said. Please give me a chance to explain, okay?"
He remained silent.
The sounds of a young woman rummaging through drawers and cabinets inside the house could be clearly heard.
She removed his hand from her cheek and clung to it affectionately.
She glanced in the direction of the house, then looked away, asking him with a puzzled expression, "What does Master want to do?"
He finally spoke, his tone feigning indifference: "I'm sending you home, you swallow."
She was stunned for a moment, looking both cute and obedient.
When she came to her senses, disbelief filled her face: "Wh-what?"
He removed his large hand from her delicate fingertips and calmly repeated, "Sending you home like a returning swallow."
She seemed unwilling to believe what she was hearing, staring at him for a long time until tears slowly welled up in her eyes, before she asked, her voice slightly choked, "Why, why?"
"It's not advisable for you and Xiao Cong to fall out for the time being."
"Then, what does that have to do with me?"
Instead of answering, he asked, "Didn't Xiao Cong treat you well?"
She remained silent.
He couldn't help but feel a surge of anger when he thought of Li Rong's sharp-tongued and sarcastic words.
He struggled to suppress his anger, pretending not to care, and answered for her: "He never fails you."
"I'll take you to appreciate the spring flowers and autumn moon, I'll give you wealth and brocade, I'll teach you to read and write, and I'll promise you the position of a noble concubine!"
"They love you so much that they extend that love to your family, showing you the utmost affection."
He then asked, "Is Xiao Cong ugly?"
Xiao Cong lacked the ruthless and decisive air of Zhou Jin, but he possessed an innate nobility.
As a renowned handsome man in the Yan region, he was naturally not ugly.
He answered for her, "I heard you praised him as 'A gentleman as jade among men, unparalleled in the world!'"
Before she could explain, he continued, "Does Xiao Cong have any quirks that no one knows about?"
As the heir of the Prince of Yan's mansion, Xiao Cong had lived under strict rules and regulations since childhood, and his behavior was orderly and without any bad habits or quirks.
She knew what he meant.
She tugged at his sleeve, looking at him with a wronged expression: "Even if he is the best person in the world, I don't like him. Am I wrong?"
He finally snapped, grabbing her cheek and demanding, "Do you dislike him, or do you simply not want to be someone's concubine?"
Tears that had been building up for a long time rolled down his cheeks as he roughly handled them.
Xu Mama was so frightened that she trembled all over, closed her eyes and shrank her shoulders, not daring to breathe even a little.
"In order to find you, he was even willing to give up 20% of the profits of his Xianbaozhai, which was making a fortune every day, and to expand Xianbaozhai beyond Yan territory, all for the purpose of expanding his influence southward."
"Tell me, how can you remain unmoved when such a handsome and noble man showers you with affection and bows down to you?"
"You say you don't like him, do you even believe it yourself?!"
"You're just too proud of your intelligence and independence to become someone's concubine!"
"Xiao Cong treated you with all his heart, yet you still spent six years planning your escape south. I, on the other hand, have only known you for a short time, not even a fraction of what Xiao Cong did. How dare you tell me you 'like' me!"
"You've deceived me time and time again! Did you really think I wouldn't do anything to you!"
He pinched her hard with his fingers, making her jaw ache.
She reached out and pried his fingers off, but he angrily flung her away, causing her to stumble and fall to the ground.
Granny Xu was so frightened that she quickly went to help Li Qu.
Li Qu felt numbness in her coccyx.
She used Xu Mama's arm to get up, rubbing her tailbone as she looked at him with a wronged expression and shed tears.
It's like a child being bullied by adults, with nowhere to reason with them.
Weak, helpless, pitiful.
Zhou Jin thought about how he had erased her traces of going south because of her saying "I like you, sir," but she had been lying to him. He couldn't suppress his desire to take revenge on her.
His heart was churning like dark clouds before a storm, but his face remained calm.
He looked at her unmoved: "Go back to the North and perform for Xiao Cong."
"How can you be so unreasonable, sir?" she accused him, but still relentlessly went forward to get closer to him.
She seemed terrified that he would strike again, and reached out to carefully pinch the corner of his sleeve: "Even though you are the bright moon in the sky, illuminating the boundless night for me, I still hate the dark!"
"Except for the matter of Young Master Wu, which I had no choice but to lie to you about, I have never lied about anything else."
She felt extremely wronged: "Didn't you know that I didn't want to be a concubine before, sir?"
"But I just happened to run into you, my lord. You have provoked me."
She loosened his sleeve, tremblingly raised her arm, and slowly took a step towards him.
Seeing that he was not angry, she put her hands around his waist and threw herself into his arms.
"Waaah... I don't know when love began, but it has grown so deep. What will you do with me?"
"Now that I have fallen for you, how can you be so heartless as to push me away to someone else?"
She buried her face in his chest: "I don't want anyone else, I only want you, my lord. Don't send me away, sob sob sob..."
He grabbed her by the back of her collar, yanked her away from his embrace, and roared, "Still dare to use sweet talk!"
She looked extremely pitiful, with reddened eyes, tears streaming down her face, and bright red finger marks on her delicate face.
He grabbed her by the back of her collar, like he was lifting a stray cat that was meowing: "Shut your lying mouth!"
"Considering you served me, I will send someone to escort you north. I will also explain to Xiao Cong that your trip with me was not my intention at all..."
With a snap.
Li Qu's slap was completely unexpected.
The entire hospital seemed to have been put on pause.
Granny Xu was so terrified that she immediately knelt down.
Zhou Jin's cheeks were taut, and his face was ashen.
Before he could lash out, Li Qu spoke up: "If you are so heartless, why did you provoke me in the first place?"
"When I tried every means to leave, you forced me to do those shameless things with you."
“Now my heart and eyes are full of you, but you treat me like trash.”
"Should I be allowed to be toyed with by you, sir?"
"Your heart and eyes are only for me?" Zhou Jin found it utterly ridiculous. He grabbed her arm and dragged her onto the couch in the room where a basket was placed. "Is this how you show your heart and eyes for me?"
There were several purses inside.
There are four little girls' new embroidery works. The patterns are strange and it is impossible to tell what they are embroidering, but they are good for holding in purses. The styles are neat and they can also be used to hold small items.
There are also the purses embroidered by Granny Xu, Cuiguo, and Hongguo.
What's glaring is the purse embroidered by Hongguo.
The fabric used was the same as the purse that Li Qu had given to Zhou Jin before.
Even the embroidery patterns are very similar.
The one she gave Zhou Jin was an embroidery pattern of two fish playing among lotus leaves.
The one in the basket, however, is an embroidery pattern of a single fish playing among lotus leaves.
"You are skilled at embroidery, yet you lied and claimed that your own embroidery, done by a maid, was perfunctory! And you dare to be so glib and flattering!"
He was upset that the gift she gave him for the Mid-Autumn Festival wasn't something she made herself.
Li Qu did not immediately explain that she had actually prepared a bathrobe for him, but it was not yet finished.
She wondered why Zhou Jin thought the purse she had given her before was embroidered by her, and why he now knew that the purse was not made by her.
Some people took the opportunity to kick someone when they were down.
Her lack of immediate explanation was interpreted by Zhou Jin as a silent admission of guilt.
His eyes turned frosty.
Just then, Huaichun stepped forward with the items they had found and presented them with both hands: "Sir, the seal seems to be this bronze hairpin."
Zhou Jin reached out and took it. The head of the copper hairpin was covered with tiny ant-like characters wrapped in totems. Because the characters were so small and dense, at first glance it looked like a totem wrapped around a crudely made flower stamen.
Although he couldn't discern the content within the totem, Zhou Jin immediately recognized that the hairpin totem was a rubbing of the Tongbao Money Shop's totem.
Made for depositing and withdrawing silver coins.
In other words, this hairpin was undoubtedly the seal that Li Qu used to deposit and withdraw money at Tongbao Money Shop.
Having found what he was looking for, Zhou Jin indifferently looked at Li Qu, who was sitting crookedly on the couch.
He stepped forward and used a copper hairpin to gently lift her chin, meeting her gaze coldly: "Xiao Cong loves you to the bone. Sending you back north would be like releasing a fish into the water, making you happy as you please?"
He patted her face with the seal at the end of the copper hairpin: "I said it, I want you to marry into a higher social class, and you have no choice but to! I keep my word!"
Having said that, he straightened up, his face frosty, and walked outside.
Li Qu slumped onto the couch, his back soaked in cold sweat.
She knew Zhou Jin wouldn't let her go easily.
She was glad that she had stuck to her persona of 'liking him'.
Even if he doesn't believe it now, she has plenty of room to maneuver.
She slowly lay down on the couch, telling herself that it was understandable for Zhou Jin to have a temper.
Anyone would be furious if bitten by a pet.
Now, I have laid everything bare before him.
The situation in the future will never be worse than it is today.
Xu Mama nervously entered the room and found that Huaichun and the two other nannies had almost demolished the house.
Li Qu's clothes chest, jewelry box, and even her bedding and pillows were all in a mess.
She didn't have time to worry about any of that; she leaned close to Li Qu and asked, "Auntie, how are you?"
"It's okay." She closed her eyes wearily. "Let me sleep for a while. I'm really tired, and my head is very dizzy."
Hongguo and Cuiguo also came into the house and gathered around Li Qu.
Cuiguo angrily complained, "Auntie, it was Miss Huaichun who stirred up trouble and used the sachet as a pretext!"
Li Qu waved her hand: "I'll deal with her when I wake up."
Hongguo removed the basket: "Auntie, lie down and go to sleep."
Li Qu was helped up by Cui Guo and lay back down. Slowly relaxing, she said, "Hong Guo, put some medicine on my knee. Cui Guo, go find your brother and make a trip to the Hezhou Prison..."
The sound grew fainter and fainter until Xu Mama and the other two could no longer hear it at all.
"Wait until I wake up..."
Only the sound of even breathing could be heard from behind.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
