Chapter 67 "Because he was originally ours..."
"How come you haven't had a son in all these years?"
"Huh?" She pursed her lips. "Just like you said, Yin Yuan isn't in good health."
"And we don't really like children, so we always use contraception."
"Every time? There's never been an accident?"
"For example, it broke? Or it was in too much of a hurry..."
Her cheeks burned: "No."
Why did Si Qing bring this up out of the blue? She was already feeling dizzy from being caught in the rain during the day, and now he kept asking her about what happened between her and Yin Yuan in bed, making her even more overwhelmed and unsure of what to say.
"Don't ask anymore..." She raised her hand and wrapped it around the man's neck, her eyelashes fluttering.
The man stared at her, then suddenly chuckled softly.
"Sister, I'm not angry with you, I'm just curious."
He stroked the strands of hair around her temple, kissed the bridge of her nose, then kissed her soft eyebrows. He opened his lips as if he wanted to say something, but met her confused yet truly beautiful eyes, closed his lips, and kissed her cheek.
Leng Cuizhu's face felt itchy from the kisses: "Stop kissing my face."
When the man ignored her, she raised her hand to block him, saying, "I just applied cream, don't ingest it."
"Why not?"
“I… I heard from others that daffodils are poisonous, and that cream smells like daffodils, so what if it’s poisonous too?”
She tilted her head and whispered timidly, "You've been poisoned. I'm not responsible."
"It's okay, I just want to be irresponsible."
"Yin Yuan will get furious if you have other men. I don't care if you have a husband or children. I just want you, to look at me more, and to love me more."
"I don't care who my husband is or whose children he is, and I'm too lazy to waste my energy on people who are irrelevant to me."
He kissed her again.
This time, however, the kiss landed elsewhere, eagerly drawing out the essence, savoring its nectar.
The next morning, Si Qing personally sent someone to pick up Chen Xun.
“This, the name following the land buyer,” Chen Xun glanced furtively at the person next to him, “why is it Leng Niangzi…”
Si Qing sat in the chair, casually playing with the pipe in his hand: "Lord Chen, you might as well take a few more glances."
Upon hearing this, Chen Xun lowered his head, looked at the paper again and again, and then smiled and said, "Actually, at first, Brother Li and I only planned to rent it. We didn't expect that the Marquis would be willing to sell the land to us and not charge us any money. The Marquis is truly reasonable and a great philanthropist!"
“Why thank me?” Si Qing stood up. “You should thank Lady Leng. She has spent countless days and nights working on this. If I hadn’t been moved by her sincerity, I wouldn’t have signed this transfer document.”
He slowly walked outside.
Leng Cuizhu stood by the table, staring blankly at the man's departing figure, lost in thought.
Chen Xun looked at the land deed on the table, grinning from ear to ear. After stamping it, he held it up to show her.
"Lady Leng, it's all thanks to you! And Miss Miaolian too. If it weren't for you two sisters, how could this have been accomplished!"
"When we get back, I'll send word to Li the Salt Merchant and tell them to come back. We'll throw you a big celebration banquet!"
“My lord, there’s no need for a victory banquet,” she waved her hand repeatedly. “Don’t make too much of a fuss, lest it reach Lord Yin’s ears.”
"I only want to ask about that agreed-upon reward..."
"Of course," Chen Xun grinned. "Brother Li has many businesses in the Jiangnan area. A few days ago, I started thinking about whether to give you a restaurant or a few clothing and jewelry shops."
“But I’m not very good at cooking, and my taste isn’t that great,” she said, fidgeting with her hands. “Can’t you pay in cash?”
"My lady, you are mistaken."
"If you really give all the silver and gold to your wife as revenge, what if Lord Yin comes to your house for a meal and accidentally stumbles into your secret stash? He'll definitely confiscate it. So, having capital that can make money from money is the key. Keep it firmly in your own hands, and no one can steal it."
"To be a boss, you don't necessarily have to be an expert. As long as you have money, everything else is the servants' business."
She turned her head, and the light, pattering rain outside slanted across her face.
“What Lord Chen said makes perfect sense, I have learned a lot.”
"So, the contracts for those shops will also only have my name on them, just like this time?"
She had to admit that she had never felt this kind of exhilaration before. This feeling that made her feel spirited and full of confidence.
Originally, nothing truly and completely belonged to her, not even the children she raised with her own flesh and blood.
She doesn't even own a husband, let alone Yin Yuan, who isn't her husband at all.
Perhaps for this reason, she always felt uneasy, her whole body always tense.
She lived a life that was far too superficial, with nothing to rely on. Men could be depended on, but that was all; it couldn't compare to taking her own destiny into her own hands.
“Of course, that’s something that belongs only to you,” Chen Xun raised an eyebrow, “it’s yours to keep.”
A smile played on her lips: "Alright, then I'll do as you say, sir."
She and Chen Xun discussed it inside the house, and the rain outside gradually stopped.
Chen Xun, clutching the official seal, happily went out to prepare the horses. She sat at the table, sipping tea, propping her chin on one hand, and silently read the land deed on the table again.
The characters on the paper were written in the most neat and standard regular script, with no difficult or unfamiliar characters; she recognized them all.
She smiled as her fingertips touched the ink mark at the end of the ink.
"Sister Little Candle".
She turned her head: "Si Qing."
"What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
Without saying a word, the man covered his lips and rushed into her arms, unexpectedly kneeling down and burying his tear-streaked face in her knees.
Are you really leaving?
"Didn't we agree on this last night..."
The man interrupted her: "I can go talk to him."
"No matter how unwilling he is, I will definitely be able to persuade him. You believe me, okay?"
“Si Qing,” she said in a low voice, stroking the damp hair on the man’s forehead, “this is not a matter of whether Yin Yuan is willing or not. Just like you said before, he and I only have the de facto relationship of husband and wife, but not the name of husband and wife. What can he do to stop me?”
"It's just that I didn't want to..."
"Walk with you? Where to go? And then walk back alone after you're gone?"
"I can leave all my property to you."
She shook her head: "No, I don't want it."
The man still said, "As long as you are willing to marry me, after I die, all the Si family's property will be yours, and Leng Zhen can also inherit my marquisate."
She was surprised: "How can I monopolize your family's property... Besides, what right does Leng Zhen have to inherit your marquisate?"
"Because he is our child."
"Stop talking nonsense, okay?" She tugged at the man's sleeve, trying to pull him up. "Get up first."
The man remained motionless, burying his head even deeper.
"Sister, I'm not talking nonsense."
"I've checked."
"...What did you investigate?"
"Your water card book from back then."
The man looked up, his eyelids red with tears: "If Leng Zhen is his child, then she should be a premature baby born at seven months."
"But he isn't, am I right?"
She was startled.
"What book? I... I don't understand..." When she was a prostitute, she did have a separate book shop where she recorded the number of days she spent in bed with her clients each month. The names and identities of the clients were written on the book to make it easier to count the days.
“If you were born at full term… that month, excluding the seventeen days when you had your period and rest days, for the remaining thirteen days, you would spend eight days downstairs playing the pipa and selling your smile, and for the remaining five days, one day would be with me, three days with my two older brothers, and one day with an old man.”
"Compared to those who are old and faded, I'm more likely to be the child's biological father, aren't I?" He narrowed his eyes. "Would you like me to take out the notebook and help you remember?"
She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth.
She didn't completely disbelieve Si Qing's words, but deep down she dared not believe them, and was even less willing to admit it herself.
Yes, Yin Yuan's health has always been poor, so it's not impossible for him to have no heir. They haven't always used protection over the years; sometimes the urge just didn't come in time. Perhaps in a month, that doesn't seem like many times, but considering the more than ten years they've spent together, it must have happened at least five or six hundred times.
Five or six hundred times, how could you possibly be so lucky every time?
"And, you know what?"
Si Qing leaned closer to her: "The Yin family sends people every month to purchase medicine to cure childlessness."
"Sister, guess who's taking this medicine?"
Her eyes widened suddenly, her voice trembling and hoarse: "What?"
"You didn't know?" The man rested his head on her lap, frowning as he murmured, "I thought my sister knew, but she was just putting on a brave face. It seems I misunderstood you."
Are you telling the truth?
"Absolutely true."
"If you don't believe me, why don't you go back and ask Lord Yin yourself?" Si Qing crossed her arms. "But more likely he's just furious than telling you the truth."
He circled around her, stopped behind her, and leaned down to rest his head on her shoulder: "No matter what the final outcome is, come see me again in four days. I will cure the poison in your body, and from then on, we will have nothing to do with each other."
"If you don't solve it soon, no one will be able to solve it after I die, unless..." He smiled and kissed her neck, "I will wait for you, and then come to me again."
On the way back, Leng Cuizhu remained preoccupied. She ignored Chen Xun's kind offer to ask if she wanted some pastries and sat by the window, staring blankly at the trees receding into the distance.
"Wife, are you feeling unwell?" Chen Xun peeked around, looking her up and down. "You don't look too well."
She suddenly realized and said, "...Nothing. I'm just sleepy, sir. Please let me be alone for a while."
"Oh, okay." Chen Xun lowered his head and stuffed some pastries into his mouth.
She turned her head back to one side.
If Yin Yuan were truly childless as Si Qing claimed, wouldn't he have known about Leng Zhen's background long ago? Yet, over the past ten years, he has never expressed any dissatisfaction or criticism about it.
Was Yin Yuan deliberately teasing her? Did he find her tense and anxious expression amusing?
Watching her go mad, watching her become hysterical and unrecognizable, he, who already knew everything, was merely observing a plaything.
He knew she was lying to him, he was fully aware of her schemes and plots, yet he repeatedly indulged her.
It wasn't love, but his desire for control that drove him to lie in the shadows for ten years, watching how she gradually donned her disguise.
But what if Leng Zhen is Yin Yuan's biological child, and the infertility was a later affliction?
She had no idea when he contracted the illness; perhaps Yin Yuan was deliberately hiding it from her.
So, should she write to Yin Yuan, who is magnanimous and willing to raise someone else's child for more than ten years, or should she interpret Yin Yuan's concealment of his illness as a sign of guilt?
She preferred the latter, so that her situation wouldn't be so difficult and she would have more confidence.
If it were the former... she simply couldn't bear to think about the consequences of this matter becoming widely known.
Yin Yuan will definitely be angry, right?
No, it wouldn't just be anger; he would probably lock her up and give her a good scolding.
If she has both, it's not just a matter of being angry. If word gets out that she's trying to find someone to take over her life when that person happens to be childless, she'll definitely be condemned by everyone.
Not only will she be criticized, but Yin Yuan and his wife will also be ridiculed, as will Leng Zhen.
That would be utterly devastating.
Therefore, regardless of the truth, she should take the initiative and strike first.
Only in this way can we have time to think of a solution before chaos ensues.
Upon arriving at the Yin residence, she went straight inside to find Yin Yuan in the study.
"that……"
Yin Yuan looked up and saw her suddenly appear in front of him; his hand holding the pen trembled slightly.
He lowered his eyes and picked up his pen: "What is it?"
“Yin Yuan.” She twisted her handkerchief.
The man looked up again and put down his brush.
"Speak if you have something to say."
Her eyes darted around, the words stuck in her throat, her lips parted, and in her haste, she blurted out a sentence.
"I miss you."
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