Chapter 228 Are you keeping a mistress?
"Mr. Jin, you should know very well what Yao Yao has gone through because of you."
She's been by my side ever since we divorced. I've seen clearly how she got through these past two years.
Your presence is a disturbance to her, so please leave and stop affecting her, okay?
After a brief silence, Lady Rongyue hardened her heart.
"I won't leave," Jin Qingyu said. "I can stay by her side silently, but I will never leave her."
"You're a respectable person, after all. It's not right to go back on your word after making a promise," Madam Rongyue reminded her.
She still didn't understand Jin Qingyu enough to say such naive things. Jin Qingyu didn't even change his expression: "The morals you talk about can't bind me."
Even if I were willing to compromise, it would only be for Yao Yao's sake; I can't leave her.
Madam Rongyue's expression twisted slightly; she truly hadn't expected Jin Qingyu to be so brazen in his attempts to renege on his promises.
No wonder Jiang Xingyao was manipulated by him back then. A person like him has no morals and cannot be restrained.
"I promise you, until Yao Yao's competition ends, I will do my best to comply with her wishes. This is my final concession," Jin Qingyu said.
Lady Rongyue couldn't reason with him, and seeing that his attitude was acceptable, she could only give up for the time being.
After Madam Rongyue left, Jin Qingyu stood there for a long time without leaving. His gaze remained fixed on the bare rose bushes. The maid, Lucy, cautiously observed him from a distance for a while before mustering her courage and approaching him: "Sir, is there anything I can help you with?"
"What's wrong with this flowerbed?" Jin Qingyu asked.
Lucy said, "This yard has been idle for a long time. These roses have long since withered. Miss Qu said before that she would take some time to tidy up this place and plant other flowers when the weather gets warmer. But she hasn't had time to do so yet."
Jin Qingyu said, "Then leave this to me."
From the moment he arrived, he noticed that the layout of this villa was very similar to that of the previous Wangshan Manor.
Without even asking anything, he seemed to know why Jiang Xingyao chose to stay here temporarily.
Wangshan Manor was already dirty, and Yaoyao didn't want to go there anymore, but it held memories of her and her grandfather. Perhaps, in a foreign land, this similar layout reminded her of her grandfather.
When Madam Rongyue returned to her room, Jiang Xingyao and Fila were sitting in the living room talking. Jiang Xingyao seemed a little absent-minded, glancing towards the door every now and then.
Upon seeing Madam Rongyue, she went straight to the point: "Aunt Yue, what did you talk about with him? He didn't offend you, did he?"
Jin Qingyu's mouth was clearly a ticking time bomb, and Jiang Xingyao was afraid that he would say something indecent in front of Madam Rongyue.
Madam Rongyue said, "I didn't say anything. I just asked him when he was leaving."
Upon hearing this question, Jiang Xingyao immediately stopped asking further. She already knew the answer in her heart: given Jin Qingyu's persistent and clingy attitude today, he would definitely say he wouldn't leave.
Fila remained as eager to learn as ever. This time, she brought a small notebook filled with the problems she had encountered.
Seeing that Madam Rongyue had some free time, she immediately came over to ask questions, while Jiang Xingyao went directly to the music room to practice the zither.
The window of the music room faces the courtyard, which is full of rose bushes.
It's usually very quiet here, but today Jiang Xingyao heard occasional, sparse noises coming from outside.
The sound was much louder than the sound of wind blowing through dry branches.
Jiang Xingyao walked to the window and, by the dim moonlight, saw Jin Qingyu cleaning up the withered rose branches outside.
He only had one hand that he could use, and his movements looked a bit clumsy. Lucy was behind him and said she would find someone to help, but he refused outright.
Perhaps sensing something, Jin Qingyu suddenly looked up and his gaze met Jiang Xingyao's, who was standing by the window.
"What are you going to do?" Jiang Xingyao asked.
Jin Qingyu said, "I heard you want to plant flowers here, so I'll help you clear the space."
"No need to trouble you, I'll find a few gardeners in a few days," Jiang Xingyao said.
Jin Qingyu's hands didn't stop moving: "I just wanted to do something for you, Yao Yao, don't be so quick to deny me, okay?"
His head was covered with broken twigs, and his clothes and trousers were scattered with fallen rose thorns. In the dim moonlight, Jiang Xingyao could also see that blood was seeping from several spots on his fingers.
Without a doubt, these are traces left from clearing the flowerbeds.
Jiang Xingyao's gaze lingered briefly before she looked away. She said, "Keep it down, don't disturb my piano practice."
Since he chose to suffer on his own, she couldn't persuade him, and there was no need to try anymore.
Jin Qingyu readily agreed, and the noise indeed subsided considerably.
Jiang Xingyao cleared her mind and stopped paying attention to Jin Qingyu, practicing the piano for two hours as usual.
She had just finished when there was a knock at the door. Qin Jiangnan walked in carrying a plate of cut fruit, his voice muffled: "Miss, have some fruit to calm down?"
His voice carried a clear probing tone, and though he only said a few words, he looked up at Jiang Xingyao several times.
Jiang Xingyao knew that he was apologizing for what happened at the restaurant, and she said, "I'm not angry, you don't need to take it to heart."
Qin Jiangnan finally breathed a sigh of relief. He said, "That's good. I thought you were going to send me away. I..."
"If I ask you to leave, will I be able to?" Jiang Xingyao asked. During the time Qin Jiangnan had been around her, she had given him the order to leave more than once, but the young master always found a reason to stay.
Qin Jiangnan scratched his head, looking embarrassed: "That's different. Although I really won't leave, I don't want you to kick me out."
After a slight pause, he tentatively asked, "Jiang Xingyao, that matter is considered over now, right?"
"Mmm." Jiang Xingyao responded, and Qin Jiangnan's lips immediately curled into a smile. "I knew you were the most generous. Try this apple. Auntie just bought it today, and I cut it for you myself."
Jiang Xingyao glanced at the apple slices on the plate. She didn't know how Qin Jiangnan had managed to do it. Each slice was different in size and shape, and all sorts of things were piled up on the plate, making it look incredibly messy at first glance.
Qin Jiangnan scratched his head and explained, "Well... this is my first time cutting fruit for someone else, and it didn't look very good, so..."
Oh well, if you don't want to eat it, that's fine. Next time I cut it, I'll definitely impress you!
Feeling awkward, Qin Jiangnan picked up the fruit plate and was about to leave when Jiang Xingyao stopped him: "I didn't say I didn't want to eat, give it to me, our young master Qin has worked hard today."
Jiang Xingyao's voice was calm and even a little gentle. Qin Jiangnan grinned, but then seemed to realize something and said, "What young master Qin? Jiang Xingyao, who do you think you are?"
He put on a stern face, looking fierce, and Jiang Xingyao coaxed him in a very cooperative manner: "Okay, okay, I misspoke, Young Master Qin, please don't be angry?"
She stopped calling him Young Master Qin, but Qin Jiangnan still found everything she said strange.
With a cold snort, Qin Jiangnan raised his head and adopted an extremely arrogant demeanor: "Fine, seeing how sincere you are, I'll forgive you."
Jiang Xingyao nodded repeatedly in agreement, and in front of Qin Jiangnan, she ate two pieces of apple.
She and Qin Jiangnan were childhood sweethearts. Although they didn't have much personal interaction before, they grew up together. But she had never realized that Qin Jiangnan was so interesting.
"Why are you looking at me like that? All I did was cut an apple for you. Is it really necessary to be this touched?"
If you're so easy to please, then you're in trouble. Because from now on, I won't just cut apples for you; I'm also planning to carve flowers out of them.
"Jiang Xingyao, in that case, you wouldn't just offer yourself to me, would you?" Qin Jiangnan rambled on, his voice rising and falling, the constant adjustment of his volume revealing his intense emotions.
Before Jiang Xingyao could speak, a sarcastic laugh suddenly came from outside the window.
Qin Jiangnan immediately became alert: "Who's outside?"
He strode to the window and bumped right into Jin Qingyu, who hadn't finished cleaning the flower branches.
Jiang Xingyao rubbed her forehead, almost foreseeing that another major battle was about to break out.
Qin Jiangnan turned his head and said to Jiang Xingyao in an exaggerated manner, "Well, Jiang Xingyao, why didn't you tell me he was here? Are you keeping a mistress hidden away?"
Jiang Xingyao's brows furrowed; he simply couldn't follow Qin Jiangnan's train of thought. On the other hand, Jin Qingyu outside readily admitted, "Since you know that, why are you still getting in the way? Does carving a decoration on an apple make it not an apple? Qin Jiangnan, are you even five years old?"
"What do you know about my romance? I'm so old, and I'm just flattering you. You actually dare to accept it? Have you no shame?"
"Even if Jiang Xingyao really wanted to keep a mistress, she would have to choose someone young and clean like me. As for you... who knows how many women you've slept with, how dare you even respond?" Qin Jiangnan said sarcastically.
"What a sharp tongue!" Jiang Xingyao looked at Qin Jiangnan in surprise, and she was starting to look at him with new respect.
No, that's not the point at all. Jiang Xingyao said, "What do you mean by keeping a mistress in a golden house? Don't talk nonsense. His being here has nothing to do with me."
Qin Jiangnan said, "Of course. Some people are already dirty. Even if they are cleaned up, they can't change. If Yaoyao had to choose, she would definitely choose me."
Jiang Xingyao thought that, given Jin Qingyu's temper, he would have lost his temper with Qin Jiangnan after being provoked so many times, but he didn't. Accompanied by a slight gust of wind, she heard a man's solemn voice coming from outside the window: "Yaoyao, I've only ever been with you. I'm clean."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com