Chapter 300: Domineering Female Doctor Skilled in Gu Poisoning VS Distressed Laborer and Prodigal Son (27)
Jiang Zhiyi looked up and saw Xiao Che standing in the courtyard. His face was gloomy, and he was obviously angry.
"What's wrong?" Li Chaoye followed her gaze and looked outside, quickly noticing Xiao Che as well.
He had just asked Jiang Zhiyi, and she told him that there was nothing between her and Xiao Che. She didn't like Xiao Che, but he had been bothering her a lot lately.
Li Chaoye subtly withdrew his gaze and said, "Young Master Xiao has arrived. Is he here to see you, Junior Sister?"
Jiang Zhiyi: "I don't know."
Li Chaoye: "Most of the people who come to this clinic are poor, so he must have come to see you. Junior sister, didn't you say you wanted him to stop bothering you? I have a good idea now..."
"Hmm? What's the good idea?" Jiang Zhiyi asked, puzzled.
Li Chaoye reached out and pulled her into his arms. He smiled and straightened the hairpin in her hair, a very intimate gesture.
“Senior brother…” Jiang Zhiyi subconsciously wanted to push him away. Although she and Li Chaoye had a deep relationship, she was indeed not used to being so close to him.
Li Chaoye saw her resistance and said, "Junior sister, since you don't like him, you should make it clear to him that there is no possibility between the two of you. You can't bear to refuse him in the past, which makes him mistakenly believe that he may still have a chance, which is why he keeps bothering you. Now it's better to let him see clearly so that he can give up completely."
Jiang Zhiyi knew that what he said made sense, but she felt inexplicably guilty and her heart was beating very fast.
Li Chaoye: "When you were little, you always clung to your senior brother to hold you. If I didn't agree, you would throw a tantrum on the ground, crying pitifully. Your crying could be heard several medicinal fields away. Master always thought I had bullied you and would punish me by making me copy books."
Jiang Zhiyi: "I was naughty and ignorant back then, please don't blame me, senior brother."
Li Chaoye: "Your senior brother has never blamed you. I'm telling you these things just so you know that, whether in the past or now, I will always be your senior brother. You can always trust me."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Zhiyi responded softly and did not resist his approach any longer.
The two hugged for an unknown amount of time.
Li Chaoye said calmly, "He's gone."
Jiang Zhiyi immediately turned her head to look, but the person who was just in the courtyard had disappeared.
Xiao Che is gone...
She didn't know how she felt at that moment; she just felt a little empty inside.
Jiang Zhiyi stepped out of Li Chaoye's arms and took a few steps back, saying, "Senior brother, I'm a little tired today, and I'd like to go back first."
"Okay, you can go back now." Li Chaoye nodded.
...
Xiao Che returned to the Xiao residence in a daze.
As soon as he entered, Su Yun called him over, saying that his cousin from the Su family had been staying in Yan Hong Pavilion for several days and that he should bring him back.
Although Xiao Che was very unhappy at the moment, he had no choice but to obey his mother's orders, so he went to Yan Hong Pavilion.
The Su family cousin ordered many courtesans in the pavilion and made a ruckus for several days. When Xiao Che arrived, he was covered in alcohol and completely unconscious.
Xiao Che had no choice but to have his servants carry him away, and then they rode back together in a carriage.
The next day.
Jiang Zhiyi took some herbs to sell at the market, and there were many other small vendors nearby.
After selling the herbs, she wandered around for a while and stopped at a stall selling clay figurines.
"Little girl, what kind of clay figurine do you want?"
Jiang Zhiyi: "Let's make a little clay figure that looks exactly like me."
This vendor works efficiently; his hands, though rough, are exceptionally skillful, and the clay figures he sculpts are lifelike.
Seeing the pairs of clay figures displayed on the stall, Jiang Zhiyi said, "Make me another clay figure, a tall man, dressed in black, with a somewhat smug look, frowning and looking like he's asking for a beating, eyes and nose..."
She said many things based on her own imagination.
When the vendor handed her the finished clay figure, she felt that the little clay figure looked a lot like Xiao Che.
Jiang Zhiyi went to the food and tea stall again.
She sat there drinking tea when she suddenly overheard people talking about the Xiao family. They said that the young master of the Xiao family was very generous and spent a fortune at Yan Hong Pavilion, summoning all the most famous courtesans there...
The Xiao family's carriage seemed to be deliberately waiting at the back gate to avoid being seen, but it was still spotted by others.
Some people joked, "What's so strange about that? What man in the world isn't a womanizer? If I ever have money, I'll definitely go and see for myself. I wonder what it's like to have those beauties..."
Jiang Zhiyi felt a surge of anger.
It seems Xiao Che didn't truly love her; he's surrounded by beautiful women. Those rumors from the past might not all be true...
Suddenly losing interest in continuing her stroll, Jiang Zhiyi returned to her courtyard early.
She lay on the table, lost in thought, not in much interest.
She tossed the two little clay figures she had just liked into a corner, out of sight, out of mind.
Suddenly, several noises came from outside.
Jiang Zhiyi walked over and opened the door, where Xiao Che was standing.
"What are you doing here?" she asked irritably.
Seeing her face full of impatience and disgust, and recalling the scene of her embracing her senior brother that day, Xiao Che felt a sharp pain in his heart.
He said in a deep voice, "I came here today to ask you, do you have even the slightest feeling for me?"
Jiang Zhiyi smelled a faint fragrance on him, which she wondered was coming from some woman. She suspected that his current dejected appearance was all an act, a deliberate attempt to deceive her.
She replied defiantly, "No."
Xiao Che's heart sank.
He had anticipated her answer before he arrived, but he still found it hard to accept when he actually heard it. Undeterred, he asked her again, "Really not even a tiny bit?"
"Yes, not even a little bit! You're just being delusional. I not only don't like you, I hate you."
Xiao Che clenched his fists so tightly it seemed he could crush his bones. After a long while, he said, "Fine, from now on, it's as you wish. I won't bother you anymore."
Since she only likes her senior brother, and since she has no feelings for him, then he doesn't need to deceive himself anymore.
Jiang Zhiyi remained silent, which was taken as tacit agreement with his words.
Xiao Che looked at her, a self-deprecating smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, then turned and strode away.
After he left, Jiang Zhiyi sat at the table and quietly looked at the scenery in the courtyard outside. Before she knew it, raindrops began to fall, and the sound of rain was soft and steady.
Outside the courtyard wall, a peddler carrying groceries on a shoulder pole was taking shelter from the rain under the eaves of a nearby house. After calling out a few words, he began humming a tune to himself, which, upon closer listening, turned out to be a farewell poem: "Today I leave, and we may never meet again..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
