Chapter 68. Who exactly sent her the love letter? ...
"..." The man looked away. "Hmm."
"Come sit here."
She lowered her head and walked towards the man, but couldn't find a stool. She hesitated for a long time before realizing it.
So she smiled, sat on the man's lap, leaned on his shoulder, and glanced sideways at the mountain of books piled on the table.
"Is my lord very busy?"
"Hmm." Yin Yuan said calmly, "There are still a few regulations to revise."
"……oh."
She frowned, thinking that since she hadn't figured out how to bring it up yet, she might as well go with the flow and make an excuse to leave.
Just as she was about to get up, the man asked again.
"What's wrong?"
He closed the book, glanced at me sideways, and asked, "Is something on your mind?"
"I...I wanted to ask you," she said, feeling embarrassed by the man's gaze, "How have you been feeling lately? Are you feeling any better?"
"You don't need to worry about these things."
“However, thank you for your concern,” Yin Yuan said with a slight smile, “I’m fine now.”
She raised an eyebrow: "Is everything alright? Is there anything wrong? Do I still need to take medicine every day?"
Upon hearing this, the man pondered for a long while, then withdrew his hand from her waist and began to undress.
After unbuttoning his collar to reveal his thin neck, he slowly raised his eyelids, his eyes sometimes bright and sometimes dark.
Did he think she was trying to seduce him? The cold green candle flickered in and out of focus.
How did he manage to take the bait so easily?
“I,” she said, loosening her grip on the handkerchief and reaching for the belt around her waist, her words and actions contradicting each other, “that’s not what I meant…”
“I found some leftover medicine residue in the sink at home. I was curious, so I took it back to show Leng Zhen. He said that the medicine… was used to treat infertility.”
The man paused, taking out the jade ring: "Whose is it?"
He placed the jade ring on the table and wrapped it around her waist: "You care about this?"
"I'm just curious... who in this manor needs to take this kind of medicine?" She glanced at the man's expression.
Yin Yuan's face showed little emotion, only his brows were slightly furrowed.
"I will have someone investigate."
"You're just curious about this?"
"Hmm." After saying that, she put her arms around the man's neck and added, "I came to see you not just for that."
"It's still for you." She smiled gently, placing a soft kiss on the man's cheek. She raised her hand to wipe away the lipstick mark, but her wrist was grabbed.
"No need."
"Why?" she asked bluntly. "You can't bear to part with it, you want to keep it forever, right?"
The man's hand gripping his wrist visibly stiffened.
She gently stroked the man's cold face with the back of her hand, smiled and squinted, responding with ease: "Then keep it."
"Consider it..." She placed the back of her hand down, tracing it across the man's neck and down to his chest, her fingertips hooking the undone clasp at his neck. "A gift of thanks to you, or rather, a reward for being obedient and helping me investigate?"
"Whether it's a thank-you gift or a reward is entirely up to you. Anyway, I've delivered it. Don't blame me for being cold to you again, okay?"
"Um."
"Will you stay tonight?" The man tightened his grip on her.
She ignored him, turned her head to play with the calligraphy brush on the table, measuring the brush handle, and only asked him a question after a long time.
"What are you staying for?"
“Didn’t you say,” she mimicked a man’s tone, “that you’re very busy and have a few regulations to revise? I wouldn’t dare bother you.”
The man frowned, seemingly conflicted, but finally spoke: "...Stay and sleep together."
He forced a smile at her, the lip print on his cheek still vivid, like red plum blossoms in the snow.
Lengcui nodded.
After all these tests, it seems that Yin Yuan doesn't actually have the infertility disease that Si Qing claimed he did; at least he seems completely oblivious to her.
We still need to investigate in person.
Moreover, we must find out everything before others discover it.
Yi Yinwan was practicing archery in the courtyard when she saw Leng Cuizhu passing by as she came out of the study, and she quickly called out to her.
"Hey!" Yi Yinwan raised her bow and arrow. "Didn't you say before that you wanted me to teach you? I'm in a good mood today, so I can reluctantly teach you a little."
“Ah,” Leng Cuizhu was caught off guard and nodded repeatedly, “Oh, okay.”
As Yi Yinwan taught her how to draw a bow and shoot arrows, she asked with a smile, "What did you talk about when you went in to see the master?"
"……nothing."
Yi Yinwan pursed her lips, this time without rolling her eyes or clicking her tongue, and waved her hand with a smile: "If you don't want to talk, that's fine, I won't force you to."
She raised her eyebrows in surprise: "Why is Madam so happy today?"
“My mother-in-law died,” Yi Yinwan said without hesitation, “leaving her an inheritance.”
“In a few days, I will go back to my hometown with Yin Qiuran. After the funeral, I will receive the money. He told me that he would give me the money and the inherited land deeds to manage.”
“I lived in the Yin family for a long time when I was young. During that time, Yin’s mother took care of me. She was very strict with me. I didn’t like her, and she didn’t like me either. She thought I was unruly and a wild man, and that I was a menace to the world.”
"Now it's all good, that old hag is finally dead." Yi Yinwan drew her bow and shot an arrow, hitting the bullseye. "I don't have to go back every New Year to suffer insults and abuse anymore."
She looked up and let out a long sigh, then dropped the bow, turned around, sat down on a stone bench, picked up the medicine bowl on the table, and took a big gulp.
"She doesn't like me, and I don't like her either. I cursed her to die every day, but I never expected that I would actually curse her to death."
Leng Cuizhu rubbed her sore and numb arms blankly, then sat down next to Yi Yinwan: "Mother Yin is dead, then, won't Lord Yin feel any grief?"
"Who cares?" Yi Yinwan raised an eyebrow. "Do you care?"
"Most people would be saddened by the death of their biological mother. I don't know what the master was thinking. But I guess he was probably secretly pleased, right? After all, he was punished no less often than I was when we were young. Although I was punished by being beaten with a board and kneeling in the ancestral hall, he was punished by copying books and memorizing family rules." She rubbed her forehead and rolled her eyes.
“His parents had high hopes for him, especially his mother, who wouldn’t allow him to make any mistakes in his life. When your affair was discovered by Madam Yin, he was locked in the ancestral hall and made to kneel for seven days. That old hag originally planned to make me kneel as well for failing in my duty as the legal wife, but luckily I ran fast and sneaked back to the mansion after getting the news.”
"My business?" Leng Cuizhu was horrified.
She always thought that not many people knew about her relationship with Yin Yuan, at least not his family. Little did she know that she had already been exposed.
Yi Yinwan nodded: "Father and Mother Yin believe that keeping a mistress is dishonorable and a disgrace to one's private morality. As an official in the court, one should be well-versed in the rules and regulations and strictly discipline oneself."
"Later, because of this incident, that old hag scolded me less and became more restrained in her words. Little Leng, I really have to thank you."
"...Madam, is that really so?"
"Fine, if you don't believe me, I'm going to practice archery." Yi Yinwan got up, took the bow handed to her by the maid, and drew the bow to shoot an arrow.
Leng Cuizhu was shocked to realize that she knew nothing about many things.
She disliked this feeling of helplessness, knowing everyone else was in the dark but she was the only one kept in the dark. And yet, Yin Yuan kept doing things like this.
She was displeased with his restraint and resented his lack of self-awareness.
After having dinner at the Yin residence in the evening, she secretly slipped into the kitchen to find some medicine residue while Yin Yuan and Yi Yinwan were both busy.
The cook was stewing something in a pot when he saw her sneaking in. He called out, "Oh, good day, Miss Leng. Are you hungry and looking for something to eat?"
"Um, I..." She put her hands behind her back and looked away, "I was just wandering around and ended up here. You don't need to worry about me, just do your thing."
The cook nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.
She pretended to stroll around the kitchen, and when she saw the cook relax his guard and busy stirring the soup, she quickly squatted down in front of the swill bucket, picked at it with chopsticks, and sure enough, picked out the dregs of the medicine.
Without time to examine it closely, she picked out the dregs of the medicine, drained them, and wrapped them in a handkerchief, picking them out piece by piece until she had filled a large, bulging bag.
She had just tucked the handkerchief into her bosom when she heard footsteps behind her. She quickly stood up and turned around to look.
"My lady, do you still remember me?" The woman, dressed in a pink dress and green clothes, smiled with her brows furrowed. "I am Mimi, from Lord Chen's residence."
Leng Cuizhu breathed a sigh of relief: "Oh...Miss Mimi, hello."
"How did you end up here?" She touched the handkerchief hidden at her waist.
“My lord had to go out on business, so he sent me to deliver some things to his residence and to pay my respects to Lord Yin,” Jiang Mimi raised an eyebrow. “I just came from Lord Yin’s place.”
"Oh, by the way, my lady, Lord Chen also asked me to bring you something." She handed over the cloth bag in her hand.
Leng Cuizhu took the cloth bag, took out a few sheets of Xuan paper, silently read the words on it, and said in a daze, "Is it really given to me so easily?" She didn't expect that the shop contract would be delivered to her so quickly.
She was given a jewelry store, and as the largest owner, she would receive seven-ninths of the annual profits. The exact amount of this seven-ninths wasn't written on the document, but Leng Cuizhu felt it must be quite a large sum of money for her.
"My wife, I have something to attend to, so I'll be leaving now."
"Yes, please thank Lord Chen for me." She was still looking down at the contract.
No sooner had Jiang Mimi left than she slowly walked towards the door, exited the kitchen, and returned the way she came, pondering the contract as she went.
With each glance, her smile deepened until it reached a radiant, almost maniacal, expression.
"...What are you laughing at?"
She suddenly raised her head.
What came into view was a pair of extremely melancholy eyes.
Yin Yuan appeared in front of her at some point, staring intently at her. His dim gaze slid across her face before finally settling on her smiling lips.
The smile on her lips vanished abruptly.
“Uh,” she clenched the contract in her hand, “Why is my husband here? Aren’t there still some regulations that haven’t been revised?”
"Let me check for you, the dregs of the medicine." The man gave a wink to the servant beside him.
The servant understood, lowered his head, and slipped away.
"My lord is so thoughtful..." She nodded, pursed her lips, folded the contract in her hand, and had just stuffed half of it into her purse when her wrist was grabbed.
What are you holding in your hand?
"Who gave it to you?"
There was absolutely no way she could show the contract to Yin Yuan, let alone confess to him.
If she told him that she had become the boss, wouldn't her intentions and schemes be completely exposed? He's so suspicious, he'll definitely find out everything she's hiding through the slightest clues.
"This was given to me by someone I don't know very well..."
"Man or woman? We're not even that close, yet you're laughing so happily." Yin Yuan's brow furrowed even deeper, and after a moment he withdrew his hand, his expression growing increasingly grim.
Which one is it?
"Huh?" She seemed to understand but not quite. "Which one? Just a friend I'm not very close to."
Yin Yuan's speech was becoming increasingly difficult for her to understand; it was all rather inexplicable.
"Having slept together doesn't mean we're not that close?" The man moved closer to her, pressing her relentlessly, "Then what about me? Am I your friend too?"
“Okay,” the man nodded, “then let me ask you, which of your ‘friends’ was it? Was it the white-haired one? Or the one who cast the spell on you? Oh, right, there was also the blond one.”
"Or is it something else I don't know?"
Yin Yuanru was being boiled over a fire.
Who exactly sent her the love letter?
Who exactly is trying to ruin their relationship?
Why didn't she answer?
Why did she try to brush him off?
"Is that person really worth protecting like this?"
"Uh." She looked up awkwardly.
"Then, what should we do..." She didn't know whether she was talking to him or asking herself.
"Do you want me to kiss you?" she asked, pointing to her lips and raising an eyebrow.
"..."
"Do you want it or not? If not, I'll be leaving now."
"Cold Green Candle".
The man called out to her.
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