Chapter 65: Two-faced
"Ah?" Chai Xiao was panicked.
"Didn't my mother just leave?"
Maid Tian'er said, "It's most likely that someone outside discovered the girl jumping into the river and reported it to the higher-ups, so they're all heading here now."
Chai Xiao was even more frightened than when she jumped into the river just now. Her arms were shaking so much that her sleeves were trembling. "What should I do? What should I do?"
Jiaoran and the maids helped her sit down and comforted her, "Don't be afraid, you have changed your clothes."
Jiaoran asked Tian'er, "Have you put away all the clothes from earlier?"
"Don't worry, it's already been washed. Madam won't notice."
Jiao Ran said, "When they all come, you can deny it and say the guards were mistaken. You can say you were learning housekeeping, reading, or doing accounting... It's all fine."
The maid was very considerate and quickly handed a book to Miss Chai Liu.
After a while they all came.
What surprised Jiaoran even more was that Mu Jin was also there.
Why would he come along to join in the fun?
Judging from his gorgeous clothes, he must have hurried here after a banquet.
Chai Xiao imitated her usual behavior, put down the book, and said softly, "Daughter pays respects to father and mother——"
Before he finished speaking, the governor slapped Chai Xiao in the face.
A flash of murderous intent flashed across Chai Xiao's eyes, but she quickly suppressed it and lowered her eyes. "I don't know why my father hit me. Did Xiao'er do something wrong?"
"How dare you say that? Someone just came over and said you jumped into the river and committed suicide!"
"My daughter doesn't have one."
"Are all those eyes outside blind?"
Tian'er immediately came over to help, "Sir, please calm down. The Sixth Miss was reading by the river and accidentally got her clothes wet. She just came back and changed. She didn't mean to commit suicide."
Seeing that his sister's face was already swollen, Chai Lie couldn't help but say, "Perhaps they saw it wrongly. Xiao'er is timid by nature. How dare she act like this? She has been preparing for her wedding recently and has been very well-behaved."
Chai Che also walked in front of Chai Xiao, fearing that her father would hit her again. She was weak and had never practiced martial arts, so she could not withstand another slap.
The lady just sat on the pearwood chair by the window, looking at Chai Xiao and her two sons without saying a word, as quiet as if they didn't exist.
Mu Jin's gaze swept across Jiaoran without lingering for long.
She changed her face again, and Mu Jin probably wouldn't be able to recognize her.
Oh no, I just got soaked in water. I hope my disguise will be broken.
Mirror, mirror.
Jiaoran hurriedly touched his cheeks and chin.
Fortunately, the face-to-face relationship was not broken, so it should be fine.
"Don't make excuses for her. She used all means to avoid marrying into the Lu family."
Jiaoran rolled his eyes. This man was so heartless. His daughter was so determined not to get married, but he was still nagging here. What did he want?
Chai Xiao was determined to go all out. She knelt down and said, "My daughter jumped into the river to commit suicide, but was rescued by my second brother's friend, Miss Xiaoyu. After Miss Xiaoyu's words of comfort, my daughter has come to understand her mistakes. Marriage is a woman's top priority. My daughter should never have been so reckless. I will stay at home for the next few days to reflect on my mistakes and will not leave Shuangyu Garden until I get married."
She had said so much that the governor could not say anything more. He turned his eyes to Jiaoran and asked, "Are you Che'er's friend in the martial arts world?"
Jiao Ran nodded and lowered his voice, afraid that he would hear it, "That's right."
Chai Yu said, "Since you saved Xiao'er and persuaded her to change her mind, we at the Governor's Office will repay any favor. Tell me what you want."
Jiao Ran said, "It was just an unintentional act, no reward is needed."
Chai Xiao stood up and said, "I heard that Second Brother's friend is quite skilled in martial arts, but he doesn't have a proper weapon. I have a knife here that I accidentally found under a pile of rubble in the garden. Although it's been in the warehouse for a long time, it's still as sharp as ever, and can cut through iron like mud. It can be considered a sharp weapon."
She asked someone to fetch it, "Please don't refuse, Miss Xiaoyu."
Jiao Ran could tell that Chai Xiao really wanted the gift, "Then... thank you very much, Sixth Miss."
Only Mu Jin frowned, and Jiaoran noticed it out of the corner of her eye. When they looked into each other's eyes, he relaxed his brows again, still looking calm and gentle.
He's so stingy. Even though she got a good weapon, he still couldn't stand her. He's just petty.
Someone brought it in a moment.
At this moment, everyone present had different expressions when they saw the knife.
Chai Che was particularly surprised as to how it could be this Crescent Shark Knife.
The knife was slightly curved, and there was a section of the blade with regular teeth on the back. It looked extremely strange. Jiaoran had never seen such a strange knife before.
Chai Xiao said, "Don't be fooled by its strange appearance, it's very sharp. When I touched it that day, it started bleeding. Miss Xiaoyu, you have to be careful."
For some reason, Chai Lie suddenly said, "I'll give you a sword instead. This... weapon is too murderous. It's not a good idea to leave it to you."
Chai Xiao looked at Jiaoran with great disappointment. She felt that this weapon was just right for Jiaoran.
Seeing her so depressed, Jiao Ran said, "Although this knife is strange, it is a token of Sixth Miss's love. I will respectfully obey your command."
The family still had something to say, so the maid soon asked Jiaoran to leave first.
Jiaoran got a knife for no reason, and after leaving Shuangyu Garden, he thought about finding a place to test the knife.
At the fork in the road between Shuangyu Garden and Siyu Garden, there was a small pavilion for people to rest. Jiaoran heard bursts of coughing behind him.
As soon as she heard the voice, she knew who it was.
Still want to play dumb and get away with it.
But after the coughing subsided, the other party said, "Long time no see."
She was silent for a moment, not knowing how he could tell, since he clearly hadn't even approached her.
Was he trying to trick her? She could only remain silent and wait to see what he was up to.
"There's only you and me here, so there's no need to be so formal with me," he said.
Jiaoran snorted coldly. He was still trying to get close to her. Of course, he was someone she had to be distant with. "You saw that a long time ago?"
"Is it difficult?"
"Why don't you just stay with your mother? Why did you come back?"
Mu Jin took a few steps closer, but she took a few steps back.
As she stepped back, she realized that she was no longer the same person she was three years ago. Her martial arts skills were no match for Chai Che's, but she could still fight with him.
"What do you want to do?" Jiaoran asked him.
"Give me that knife."
Jiaoran said, "No, what I get is mine."
Before it even feels warm in my hand, he's already thinking about taking it away. What kind of person is he!
"Don't trust anyone from the Chai family." Mu Jin said coldly.
"Yes, I forgot that you are also a nobleman raised by the Chai family. I shouldn't have believed you, but I still believed you, so I almost died in your Governor's Mansion three years ago." Jiaoran retorted to him rudely.
He still stretched out his hand, "Give me the knife, don't take it."
"Why, this is a thank you gift from someone to me for saving her."
Mu Jin laughed heartily. She was truly foolish. "Do you think Chai Xiao is some innocent little girl from an ordinary family?"
"At least she's much better than you, Chai Che, and Chai Hui. You're a bunch of two-faced bastards."
"Then did that girl you mentioned who is not two-faced tell you that Xiaoju is with her?"
"Xiao Ju is in Shuangyu Garden?" No, she had never seen Sister Xiao Ju even once when she went to Shuangyu Garden.
"Nonsense, if she is really in Pisces Garden, how could I not see her?"
Mu Jin couldn't handle her sharp response and sighed, "Anyway, you should spend less time with Chai Xiao and Chai Che."
Jiaoran put the knife behind his back and said, "You are the one I should avoid dealing with the least, or you might kill me one day."
"How about this?"
"What?" Jiaoran took another step back, fearing that he would play tricks.
"Since you hate me for plotting against you once and nearly killing you, why don't you kill me once? As long as you succeed once, I will never appear in front of you and cause you any trouble again. If you fail once, I will not die at your hands, and our relationship will be over."
A scheme for a scheme, a life for a life, seems fair enough.
Jiao Ran saw the dark circles under his eyes and the persistent cough. He wondered if his beautiful wife, Madam Cheng, had drained him of his body. A wave of inexplicable bitterness and anger washed over him. "Alright, take care of yourself first. Otherwise, it would be easy for me to kill you, and that would be pointless."
"I'm waiting for you."
Naturally, the newly acquired knife was not given to Mu Jin in the end. It was a gift from the Sixth Miss, so how could she give it away casually?
Three days later, Mu Jin's prediction came true.
It was an early morning, the sky was just beginning to brighten, and she was still asleep.
The candles in the room went out early yesterday. She rarely slept so soundly. Because of the foreign attacks in recent days, Chai Hui pestered his mother to go watch the war, so there was no one in Jinlin Garden to disturb her rest.
He originally wanted to take her to Hongqiu City, but she would rather die than go, and in the end he had no choice.
Jiaoran didn't want to be too far away from her senior sister. It would take several months to go back and forth. If something happened to her senior sister during that time, it would be too late for her to rush back.
She was sleeping soundly with her arm resting on the sword.
At first she had many beautiful dreams, but when she turned around, her face was suddenly splashed with blood. Senior Sister Mingguang appeared in front of her again, with the weapon in her hand still stained with blood. Jiaoran vaguely saw in her dream that Senior Sister Mingguang was using the sword given to her by the Sixth Miss.
She was surprised to see the man who was killed by her senior sister, stretching out his hands towards her in a pool of blood, as if he wanted to drag her into hell. She was terrified and hurriedly called for her mother, who came out quickly and hugged her tightly.
She was just feeling relieved, but the next moment, her mother wanted to strangle her to death. She cried and asked her mother to see clearly that she was Xiao Jiaoer.
A Niang pinched her tighter and tighter, almost suffocating her. Jiaoran couldn't help but yell, "Let me go, A Niang!" Then she suddenly woke up.
It would have been fine if she hadn't opened her eyes, but when she did, she saw three or four people holding her down, with their hands and legs tied with ropes.
She didn't understand what was happening yet and turned over to beat them down, but these people were extremely strong and her hands and feet were tied with ropes, so she couldn't get away no matter what.
"Who are you? Why are you tying me up?" Perhaps because they were worried that she would break free, they tied Jiaoran up with a few more ropes. After tying her up, the people who tied her up also took a lot of effort and were so tired that they kept gasping for breath.
Jiao Ran was furious. "Is it that bastard Chai Hui who wants to kidnap me and take me out of the city with him? Humph, what a damn bastard!"
The man who was ordered to tie her up said, "It's the governor who wants to arrest you."
Jiao Ran yelled, "Why? I didn't do anything wrong!"
What's going on? They tied her up like a robber.
"Young lady, please don't struggle. The Master and the Madam are waiting for you. Just let us take you there and we'll have done our job."
Jiao Ran cursed, "Then let me go and I'll go with you. Why did you have to tie me up?!"
She raised her head and bumped into people. One of the people who tied her up let out a strange cry and started swearing at her. Almost all of her ancestors had been cursed by Jiaoran and this man.
Jiaoran was so exhausted from arguing that he finally decided to shut up and take a break.
These masters who were ordered to come to Jinlin Garden to capture Jiaoran were all exhausted and sweating.
I don’t know what this girl ate, but she was as fierce as a cow. Fortunately, I brought enough ropes, and if I took one less, I wouldn’t be able to tie her up.
After a while, Jiaoran, with his arms tied behind his back, was forced to kneel in front of the governor.
She was tied up with thick ropes all over her body and a piece of cotton cloth was tied around her mouth.
The precious sword was placed in front of Jiaoran.
Jiaoran kept exerting all his strength to try to break free from the ropes.
"Take the cloth off her mouth!"
Jiaoran looked at everyone in the room, confused, not knowing what was going on.
At this time, everyone in the Chai family had arrived, including several young ladies.
Chai Che kept staring at her, almost staring a hole in her. Jiaoran looked back at him, but couldn't understand the meaning of his eyes.
"What kind of courage did you have to assassinate the third son of the Lu family?"
It was now bright outside, and Jiaoran could clearly see the expressions on each of their faces.
Chai Lie still had a smile on his face, always laughing, while Chai Che had a serious expression. Mu Jin had a bad cough and was suppressing it lightly, not looking surprised.
The sixth young lady cried in her mother's arms, saying that she was going to be a widow before she even got married.
Jiaoran was about to explain himself and say that he knew nothing about the assassination.
Miss Chai Liu interrupted, "Miss Xiaoyu, please explain to your father and mother. How could it be you if it wasn't you? Although I've long since confessed to you that I'm still young and don't want to get married, you've always comforted me by saying that things will work out in the end. Could it be that you really did something so horrible because of my ignorant words?"
Jiao Ran hurriedly explained that he had not done so. "I have never left the Governor's Mansion, so how could I have gone to assassinate someone from the Lu family? Not to mention your fiancé."
She was extremely sad about being framed. Chai Xiao trusted her very much, and she also believed that Chai Xiao was her good sister. When something like this happened, she must have been at a loss. Poor Miss Chai Liu, at such a young age, she was forced to be helpless by a series of blows.
"You're still quibbling!" The governor's slightly black tongue made Jiaoran want to vomit when he spoke.
"Ask the Lu family to come and identify it."
As soon as he finished speaking, two maids and four servants came in.
Jiaoran knelt on the ground, grasped her chin with one hand, and lifted her face up, "Come and identify me."
A person with a clear conscience fears no slander. Jiaoran raised his head high without anyone holding his chin, and said, "Look, is it me?"
The two maids, frightened by her raising her face, kept backing away and pointing at Jiaoran, saying, "It's...it's her..."
"Ah?" Jiaoran felt wronged. "I've never left the Governor's Mansion. How could I have tried to assassinate your young master?"
The servants looked at the weapons on the ground and were even more certain it was Jiaoran. "It was her. That was the weapon she held that day."
The governor gritted his teeth in anger, "Has this knife ever left your side?"
Jiaoran said no, "I have been holding it all the time and never left it."
The lady hugged her daughter and comforted her, saying, "Since you admit it, my lord, please give this unruly woman to the Lu family as an apology."
Jiao Ran was confused. "What did I admit?"
Chai Lie kindly reminded, "Miss Xiaoyu, you said this knife has never left your side, so there's no possibility of it being stolen. This knife was originally forged by an elder of the Chai family, and there's no other like it in the world."
Jiaoran was really carried away, "Even so, even if it is..."
She was also speechless.
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