Chapter 72 Tonight, you are the most special person to me.
On New Year's Eve, it snowed in Shengjing, which had not seen snow for a while. The smell of the biting wind and snow mixed with the smell of firecrackers filled the air on New Year's Eve. The stove in the house was burning brightly, and occasionally a few crackling sounds were heard, which were soon drowned out by laughter.
Only on New Year's Eve would all the rooms gather together for meals. This was the first time Cui Yiluo had seen the Jiang Mansion so lively since she entered it. Perhaps because it was New Year's Eve, even Old Madam Jiang looked much better to her. The Third and Fourth Madams, who usually treated her coldly and with contempt, also suddenly became friendly.
But she also remembered that in recent days, the Third and Fourth Madams had sent gifts to Yuzhuyuan respectively, far exceeding the quota of New Year gifts, and occasionally sent her invitations to small banquets... It seemed that it was not just because of the New Year's holiday that people should be in a peaceful mood and calm down.
And one day after she returned home, she heard that Wang Yuheng had ended her "short stay" in the Jiang Mansion and was escorted back to Gunzhou by someone sent by Old Madam Jiang.
Cui Yiluo glanced at Jiang Yunjin who was sitting next to her.
Amidst the laughter and noise of the crowd, he sat quietly, his posture erect, his aura as cool and serene as the snow on a mountain. Even when he spoke so little, it was particularly striking. Tonight was lively, everyone toasted, and he drank a few glasses as well, but his features remained clear, his thin lips only slightly stained with water. His cold, pale skin, in the candlelight, was as smooth and smooth as jade, as sapphire and jadeite.
He seemed to be very sensitive to her gaze. As soon as she looked at him, he turned his head and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong?"
Cui Yiluo came back to her senses and realized that she had been absent-minded for a while. She turned away and said, "Nothing."
A soft chuckle reached her ear, and Cui Yiluo felt her palm warm, like a slender vine climbing up and clasping between her fingers. Before she could react, Jiang Yunjin had already clasped her hand tightly, intertwining their fingers, just as she had done countless times before when seducing him.
There were drinks and laughter on the table, and fingers were intertwined hidden under the sleeves.
Cui Yiluo struggled to break free, but she remained motionless, unable to break free at all. Jiang Yunjin was so strong that he even used his mind to caress her with his thumb, sending a warm and tingling sensation.
She whispered, "You're crazy!"
There were so many people here tonight, and many servants were waiting in the hall, but he was holding her hand as if no one was around, without caring about the risk of being discovered at any time.
He used to be the most law-abiding person, but now he is even more unruly than her. No matter how unruly she was before, she would never be intimate with him in front of so many people.
Cui Yiluo's eyes were filled with astonishment, but she could only scold him in a low voice. When she struggled just now, Jiang Zhaoyue immediately noticed and looked over, then smiled mischievously, not knowing whether he noticed or not.
Hearing her whispered reprimand, Jiang Yunjin raised the corners of his lips ever so slightly, and a hint of aggressive arrogance and paranoia appeared on his usually cold and ruthless face.
Cui Yiluo struggled again, but was still held in his big hand. While the two were entangled, her uncle Jiang Wen happened to raise the glass to toast Jiang Yunjin.
Suddenly, everyone's eyes at the table were focused on Jiang Yunjin.
Even Cui Yiluo's heart couldn't help but beat faster at this moment.
But Jiang Yunjin looked calm and composed, and even squeezed her hand, as if to comfort her, or as if to deliberately tease her.
He raised the cup with his free hand in return and spoke a toast calmly, quoting from classics and using neat parallelism. His toast was so sonorous and melodious that it was undeniable that he was indeed the most brilliant and talented man in Shengjing.
They could hardly imagine that the gentleman who had always been dignified, serious, self-disciplined and polite was holding his wife's hand tightly under the table, interlocking their fingers intimately.
He didn't let go of her hand until they stood up to leave. He had held her hand for so long, and his palms were burning hot. A thin layer of sweat formed on Cui Yiluo's palms where they had been pressed against his. As soon as he let go, she immediately wiped them with her handkerchief.
Jiang Yunjin was a very clean person, and Cui Yiluo couldn't believe he didn't seem to notice the stickiness of her palm, holding her hand for so long. His personality had changed drastically, like he was a completely different person, but Cui Yiluo subconsciously felt that this was the real him.
She and Jiang Yunjin were walking out side by side, a perfect distance between them, with no trace of the intimacy they had just shared. Suddenly, someone bumped her shoulder gently, and she subconsciously leaned towards Jiang Yunjin. She turned her head and looked back, only to be met with Jiang Zhaoyue's teasing smile.
She said quickly, "You and Big Brother are a little too affectionate."
After saying that, she walked away quickly, as if she had just passed by Cui Yiluo.
Cui Yiluo heard it clearly, and Jiang Yunjin had extraordinary hearing and eyesight, so he could hear it even more clearly.
So on the way back to the hospital, when there were few people around, his fingers just touched hers and were pushed away.
Jiang Yunjin was not displeased. He took her hand forcefully, inserted his fingers into hers one by one, and said calmly, "Are you angry?"
"Jiang Yunjin, you really don't follow the rules at all."
His expression remained calm, not a bit uncomfortable. "Didn't you think I was old-fashioned before?"
She even complained privately that his bed was boring.
Cui Yiluo couldn't break free, so he held her hand gently. Hearing this, she scoffed, "My husband has changed so much from before."
Paranoia, cruelty, and recklessness, without even a transition in between, were like a raging flood that forced her to endure.
Her hand was suddenly pinched, and Cui Yiluo cried out in pain, then met his dark eyes in the next moment.
His voice was calm in the night, his handsome face half-lit and half-dark. "Did A'Luo ever think that Yuan Ling's personality was more interesting?"
Cui Yiluo frowned, "Why did you mention him?"
Last time in Qingchi Lane, she said that she had nothing to do with Yuan Ling. From the very beginning in Baoyue Pavilion, he knew the viciousness behind her gentle appearance. If she hadn't wanted to investigate what happened that year and had no one to find, she would have had to make a deal with him. She didn't want to have any contact with him at all.
But Jiang Yunjin inexplicably couldn't get along with Yuan Ling.
"You seem to have had some interactions with him in the past."
Cui Yiluo was stunned. "How did you know?"
He didn't pay any attention to her at that time, so how could he notice that she and Yuan Ling had any connection?
Jiang Yunjin recounted the story slowly, "At the Lotus Banquet, you fell into the water, and Yuan Ling put his outer robe on you. During the summer hunt, you returned the robe to him at Houqi Forest. Later, at the small banquet at Duke Zheng's mansion, you also spoke with him."
At the Lotus Banquet, she asked him if he was familiar with Yuan Ling, and praised Yuan Ling for his decisiveness, wisdom, and reputation.
During the summer hunt, she and Yuan Ling were talking in Houqi Forest. Xiao Zheng sent secret guards to kill her, but Yuan Ling blocked them for her and asked her to wash her clothes that were accidentally soiled. His tone was so familiar that she actually agreed.
At a small banquet at the Duke of Zheng's mansion, she returned the robe to him again. He chatted with her happily and even brushed away the crape myrtle flowers that had fallen on her hair.
She was stopped by Chu Ke's men, but Yuan Ling took the initiative to fight them off. The drug took effect on her and she leaned against the wall, while Yuan Ling stood by.
He didn't dare to think about that hypothetical situation. If he had arrived a little later that day, would she have given up on him and chosen Yuan Ling?
Cui Yiluo only saw his face grow increasingly gloomy, and she had no idea what he was thinking. His narration was so detailed that a flicker of surprise crossed her eyes.
As they talked, the two of them entered the bedroom. Cui Yiluo watched him turn his back and close the bedroom door. She felt something strange in her heart and asked him, "How do you remember it so clearly?"
Jiang Yunjin turned around, the candlelight illuminating his profile, making his features even more handsome, but his eyes were as dark as the abyss. He didn't answer, simply pulling her into his arms and kissing her.
Her mind was stirred, filled with displeasure and possessiveness, and he forcefully imbued her with his scent. Tonight's New Year's Eve dinner featured plum wine brewed in the mansion. They both drank some, and as their lips and tongues met, the wine wasn't overpowering, but rather carried a refreshingly sweet plum fragrance that nearly drowned Cui Yiluo.
She whimpered, her body softening as he carried her to the couch. When she came to, she was sitting on his lap, locked in his embrace, depriving her of her breath. Before everything got out of control, Cui Yiluo struggled to hold down his fingers on the laces of her dress.
"Wait, I have a question for you too."
"What?"
He finally pulled away, their lips still stained with lustful water, and they became dizzy in the flickering candlelight.
Cui Yiluo straightened her expression and said seriously, "Jiang Yunjin, are you hiding something from me?"
The lust on his cold face gradually faded, and a complex emotion flashed in his dark eyes. He remained noncommittal: "Why do you ask?"
"Is there?"
Jiang Yunjin's eyes darkened: "No."
Cui Yiluo sneered, her voice turning cold: "Liar."
Suddenly, the dim candlelight in the room flickered for a moment, and Jiang Yunjin's brows completely sank, and he looked a little gloomy.
He recalled the scene in the study a few days ago.
But no matter what, he would not let her go.
But the next moment, Cui Yiluo pulled out his documents from the small drawer on the couch. She had already entered and exited his study with ease, and the guards hadn't dared to stop her before, and now, even more understanding of the situation, they didn't dare to stop her.
Cui Yiluo saw his expression suddenly change, with complex emotions in his eyes, and looked at her solemnly.
She was clearly still sitting on his lap, and his arms were still around her slender waist, but the atmosphere between them suddenly became solemn and heavy.
The sound of firecrackers rang out in the distance outside the window, exploding in the lively New Year's Eve.
Cui Yiluo was about to speak, but was interrupted by the sound of firecrackers. She then calmly held the document and waited for the firecrackers to burn out. However, these few short breaths seemed to be stretched infinitely. Jiang Yunjin's face became more and more gloomy, as if a storm was about to come in the next breath.
After the firecrackers burned out, silence returned all around.
"You know." Jiang Yunjin said solemnly.
Cui Yiluo opened the document and placed it on the table. The candlelight shone through the lampshade embroidered with lotus flowers in the color of imperial concubines, illuminating the document clearly.
It was clearly written on it that he left the capital in February of the 15th year of Yongming and arrived in Ningzhou in March.
Cui Yiluo hummed softly, "You've been to Ningzhou, and you've seen me back then, right?"
Jiang Yunjin looked at her without flinching, his past exposed to the world, he no longer concealed it, "Yes."
Although Cui Yiluo guessed that they had met before when she saw the signature in his old clothes, otherwise Jiang Yunjin would not have told Mrs. Jiang that they had a childhood friendship, but she was still shocked when he actually admitted it.
"when?"
The man who held her on his lap did not answer, but looked at her with dark eyes.
In an instant, Cui Yiluo's expression changed, and the look in her eyes when she looked at him turned into shock that she could hardly suppress, and her voice almost trembled.
"The person in the cave... is it you?"
She had never before pitted the down-and-out, hopeless young man in the cave against the handsome, elegant, and gifted son of heaven in front of her.
But in March of that year, she did not go out very often. After Yao deliberately left her in the wild during an outing and returned home, she was even more obsessed with taking back the shop under her biological mother's name, so she went out even less.
Wang Yuheng once mentioned that when Jiang Yunjin's mother passed away, she came to Shengjing to attend the funeral. At that time, Jiang Yunjin was sixteen years old and had grown into a handsome and elegant man.
Jiang Yunjin was fifteen when he arrived in Ningzhou, but he must have been an extraordinary man at that time, so it was impossible for her to forget him.
Unless, she didn't see his face clearly at all.
The forsythia flowers in the study, which had long since dried up and would crumble to pieces if touched, but were carefully treasured by him, were a gift from her.
The forsythia tree he planted in front of his bedroom, which she could see when she looked out, looked carefully at the roots and height of the tree. It seemed that the forsythia tree was five or six years old. He planted it after he came back from Ningzhou.
The reason she had such an impression of the silky feel of his old sleeves was because when he was walking her down the mountain, the mud was slippery after the rain, and she stumbled. He helped her up, and at that moment, her hands were clasped on his sleeves. She had never touched fine silk before, so she was impressed.
In the cave, the person who listened to her talk about her father's cowardice, her stepmother's indifference, and her younger brother's bullying, understood her scheming and cruelty, knew her past embarrassment and misery, and even gave her advice and used it to get the shop back was Jiang Yunjin.
No wonder Manager Liu knew she'd managed the shop. She'd initially thought it was Old Madam Jiang who'd checked on her, but Old Madam Jiang hadn't been aware of it. So that's how it was.
In the dim candlelight, the man's face in front of her was still handsome, but Cui Yiluo felt it was blurry and unfamiliar.
Her unfamiliar look seemed to hurt him. He suddenly tightened his arms, letting her press closer to him. The tip of his upright nose lightly touched her tender cheek, and a strong sense of possession flashed in his dark eyes.
"It's me. Luo doesn't want that person to be me, right?"
During the summer hunt in the cave, she lied that she and he were alone in the cave to avoid the rain. Although this was true, she clearly did not know that he was also the person from Ningzhou. In her eyes, he was a past that she wanted to erase.
His low voice shook Cui Yiluo's ears, making her heart tremble.
Before Cui Yiluo could answer, he said, "Aluo, I hope you remember me, but I also hope you forget me."
Cui Yiluo was stunned. "Why?"
His thin lips curled slightly, but what was suppressed in his eyes was bitterness and self-mockery.
"Back then, you didn't want me to know your miserable side. The same was true for me, especially now."
Cui Yiluo remembered his pain and depression at that time, but she didn't expect that he deliberately hid it from her and even lied to her when she asked about it for this reason.
As if he saw the surprise in her eyes, he spoke softly, his voice sounding unreal in the deep night, "You are the most special person to me. I also hope that you have me in your heart."
If you knew that he had such a shameful past, you would inevitably feel disgusted.
The room was silent for a few moments. Jiang Yunjin's eyes grew darker and darker, like a criminal awaiting his final judgment, but the guillotine never fell. In the end, the light of hope in his eyes was almost extinguished.
He pursed his lips, his face tense, as if he was trying hard to suppress the turbulent waves surging in his heart.
"You need to keep watch tonight. I can do that. You can go and get settled first."
He changed the subject, turned his eyes away, and was about to lift her off his legs.
Cui Yiluo suddenly put her arms around his neck and spoke in a deep voice.
"If that's the case, then why did you still have feelings for me when you knew everything about me from the beginning?"
Jiang Yunjin's body suddenly stopped, and he looked up at her. The candlelight reflected in his dark eyes. He stared at her for a few breaths, as if he had finally realized the meaning of her words, and slowly spoke.
"So, you have me in your heart?"
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The author has something to say: A Luo: I didn’t say that [dog head]
Thank you for the nutrient solution [heart]
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