Chapter 67 Rainy Day, A'Luo, do you have no idea what I mean...?
The vast hall was silent. Old Madam Jiang's face was ashen, while the man standing in the hall stood straight as a pine tree, his face cold and resolute, his posture unyielding, the atmosphere tense and fraught with danger.
"Jiang Yunjin, have you lost your mind! Even if you had a childhood friendship with her, you shouldn't gamble with the Jiang family. Are you going to destroy the Jiang family for her sake?!"
With a series of crashing sounds, Old Madam Jiang lost her composure. The medicine bowl on the table, along with the blue-and-white porcelain tea set with intertwined branches, was swept to the ground and shattered. Everyone in the hall immediately lowered their heads, not daring to breathe.
While trying to soothe Old Madam Jiang, Minggu hurriedly advised Jiang Yunjin, who stood unmoved in the hall, "Young Master, stop being so stubborn. Are you trying to anger the Old Madam to death? Quickly apologize to her. She's only thinking of the Jiang family and is afraid you'll be misled!"
Jiang Yunjin coldly raised his eyes and glanced at Minggu. His sharp gaze immediately chilled Minggu to the bone, and she couldn't utter a single word.
After Minggu fell silent, Jiang Yunjin turned to look at Old Madam Jiang, who was using her cane to steady herself.
“Grandmother, I am now in charge of the Jiang family. I can hand over this business to whomever I wish, and I am not asking you for anything. Besides, you were in charge of managing the Jiang family business because I was not yet married. Now that Yiluo is my wife, you may not believe she can manage the Jiang family well, but I do. The business should rightfully be handed over to her. I will take responsibility for any mistakes! If you still consider me your grandson, you should not make things difficult for my wife.”
Jiang Yunjin went straight to Minggu and said, "Give me the keys to the accounting room."
Minggu was startled by Jiang Yunjin's sudden sharpness and fierceness. She was the dowry maid of Old Madam Jiang and had watched Jiang Yunjin grow up. Although he was cold and indifferent in the past, he was always respectful and gentle to his elders. He was also very respectful to her, an old woman who had served Old Madam Jiang for many years. But today he was so strong and stubborn, as if he had torn up all the rules and etiquette he had always followed.
Before Minggu could move, there were several more muffled thuds from her cane hitting the ground, as if Old Madam Jiang was about to smash the ground to pieces.
"No!"
Minggu naturally listened to Old Madam Jiang's words, and turned her toes back as she had been pointing outwards.
“Minggu, don’t forget who’s in charge of the Jiang family now.”
Under Jiang Yunjin's oppressive gaze, Minggu wavered, but she was Madam Jiang's person. If she obeyed Jiang Yunjin now, wouldn't that be openly betraying Madam Jiang?
"We've heard the news!"
Jiang Yunjin turned his head slightly and called to Wen Feng, who was guarding the corridor. Wen Feng responded and quickly led a team of guards to search the backyard.
Madam Jiang stared wide-eyed in disbelief, suddenly realizing why Jiang Yunjin had brought a team of guards earlier.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Yunjin was determined to hand over the family business to Cui Yiluo. Old Madam Jiang was so angry that she almost fainted. "Cui has already gone to Qingzhou, and before she left, she voluntarily handed over the affairs of the eldest branch to Aheng. This is not something I forced her to do! She herself didn't want to manage it, so why do you insist on handing it over to her? You're really crazy. Do you like her that much?"
When Jiang Yunjin heard that Cui Yiluo had voluntarily handed over the main house to Wang Yuheng, his expression immediately darkened. However, after the old lady Jiang waited for a while, he only pursed his lips and remained silent, not answering her questions. Clearly, he was still determined to let Cui Yiluo take over.
Before long, Wenfeng found the keys to the accounting office and showed them to Jiang Yunjin.
As Madam Jiang watched Wen Feng take the keys to the accounting room, and as Jiang Yunjin turned to leave, she finally closed her eyes and fainted on the couch.
Minggu rushed forward to catch the falling body of Old Madam Jiang, "Old Madam! Quickly help Old Madam to the bed!"
Jiang Yunjin glanced at Minggu and a few maids, then easily helped the old lady Jiang, whose eyes were closed, to the back. He turned halfway back and said, "Go and fetch Doctor Xu."
He responded immediately. He could easily tell that Old Madam Jiang was faking her fainting, but of course a doctor should be called.
Jiang Yun carefully ordered Wen to put away the key. After Doctor Xu arrived, he rode away from the Jiang residence and headed straight for Qingchi Lane.
The snowstorm had stopped, and the servants had swept the snow outside the bedroom and piled it on the roadside. The wind chimes hanging from the eaves swayed slightly, and thick, windproof embroidered curtains hung under the corridor, embroidered with bright red plum blossoms that were so lifelike that one could almost smell their fragrance. The place was incredibly quiet and elegant.
But the room was a complete mess.
Jiang Yunjin looked around at the doors and windows. The locks were secure and showed no signs of tampering. His tense expression relaxed slightly.
The door opened, Jiang Yunjin stepped into the room, and then locked the door again.
The embroidered curtains inside the room had already been torn apart by Cui Yiluo in the midst of the commotion, and the originally sealed curtains were half-open, revealing the scene inside. Jiang Yunjin turned around and met the gaze of the woman sitting on the chair.
The room was a mess, yet Cui Yiluo was like a lotus blooming in the mud. She was wearing the nightgown he had personally changed her into after bathing her. This nightgown was something he had ordered someone to bring from the Jiang residence. The style of the high-waisted ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) revealed the beauty of her snow-white, full breasts. Scattered, varying shades of red and purple marks spread downwards, new ones covering old ones, and there were bite marks on her neck. If what was exposed was in such a state, it was clear that something intense had happened.
The ground was covered with broken porcelain shards. Jiang Yunjin subconsciously looked at her feet, and only looked away when he saw that she was wearing silk stockings and cloud-patterned shoes.
Cui Yiluo looked at him coldly. When she faced him before, although she knew she was just a pawn, she still pretended to be gentle. But after these few days of fierce fighting, the two of them had completely torn off their pretense. At this moment, she didn't even want to pretend anymore.
"Back at the Jiang residence?"
He was dressed neatly, and his body reeked of the biting cold wind, clearly having ridden a horse for some time. He had been tormenting her day and night for the past few days, and now that he had stopped for a short while, he was naturally going back to his residence.
He must have known that X was going to marry Wang Yuheng as his concubine, and his return to the Jiang residence was probably to arrange this. And then? He came back to see her again, continued to keep her locked up here, making her his plaything to satisfy his desires.
Cui Yilu felt a tightness in her chest, and her gaze grew even colder.
Jiang Yunjin gave a short "hmm," walked straight over, and skillfully picked her up. Just like the past few days, he sat her on his lap and held her tightly in his arms.
Cui Yiluo was still struggling, but he swiftly locked her wrists in his hands and gently stroked the red marks on them.
He was unusually calm, perhaps because the absurdity of the past five days had finally given him a sense of satisfaction.
He said, "I went back and got the keys to the Jiang family's accounting office."
She had already handed over the accounts of the main branch to Wang Yuheng, and he had even made a special trip to get the keys to the Jiang family's accounting office to give to Wang Yuheng. In the past three months, he had never taken the initiative to mention handing over the Jiang family's affairs to her.
Cui Yiluo turned her face away from him, her tone indifferent as if devoid of any emotion: "When will you let me go?"
The large hand gripping her wrist tightened instantly, and Cui Yiluo couldn't help but cry out in pain. She glared at him fiercely, meeting Jiang Yunjin's dark eyes, which were so black they seemed bottomless.
"Where do you want to go?" Jiang Yunjin's expression turned cold instantly.
On the painted boat on her birthday night, she said she liked the house in Qingchi Lane. At that time, she deliberately lured him away from returning to his residence. She longed to be alone with him then, but now she's tired of him and wishes she could stay far away from him.
He dared not think about what would have happened if he had returned from Yunzhou any later. Would she have gone south with Yuan Ling? He had specially sent Yuan Ling to Jiangnan, but he hadn't anticipated that she would secretly try to take him away.
Jiang Yunjin's voice was icy: "Yuan Ling has already set off south and won't be back for three months. Even if you leave, you won't see him."
Cui Yiluo was almost laughing in anger at him. Too lazy to explain, she turned her head away.
But her neck was firmly held, and Jiang Yunjin instantly covered her, his eyes like ice, biting her already swollen lips with anger.
Why do you care about him so much? Is he really that good?
Was his personality really that interesting, so interesting that she couldn't forget him, yet so interesting that she got tired of him so quickly?
Cui Yiluo was swept away by the tide again, almost suffocating from his kisses, only able to let out muffled sobs. She kept pushing against his hard chest, barely managing to gain a moment's respite.
Cui Yiluo had reached her limit. "When have I ever cared about him?"
Jiang Yunjin stared at her with almost obsessive intensity, seemingly unwilling to miss any of her reactions: "Then why have you been seeing him every day these past few days?"
Cui Yiluo turned her face away: "This is my business, it has nothing to do with you."
The next instant, he grabbed her chin and turned her face, forcing her to meet his gaze forcefully.
"A-Luo, don't forget, we are husband and wife."
He spoke with utmost seriousness. He had said these words several times before, each time with the same earnestness and solemnity, which was why she believed him then, until she discovered he was taking contraceptives and learned that she had overheard his conversation with Xiao Jing outside the study after the palace banquet that night.
Cui Yiluo chuckled softly, "Husband and wife? Jiang Yunjin, didn't you say you were going to marry a concubine?"
Jiang Yunjin's expression instantly darkened, as if filled with gloomy clouds. He spoke in a low voice, "Is that all you think of me?"
"Or perhaps you really don't mind at all that I marry someone else?"
She was even willing to watch him marry someone else, and even burned the letters he wrote to her.
His gaze was sharp, as if he could see right through her. Cui Yiluo felt inexplicably guilty under his gaze, so she pushed him away and turned to leave.
But after taking only a few steps, she suddenly felt a tightness around her waist, and a warm sensation covered her back, wrapping around her tightly like vines, following her wherever she went.
His resolute yet obsessive voice came from the top of his head: "I will not marry her, nor will I marry anyone else."
It was as solemn as a promise. Cui Yiluo stood frozen in his arms, the most unlikely possibility faintly surfacing in her mind.
"What do you mean?"
"A-Luo." Jiang Yunjin chuckled self-deprecatingly, the sound vibrating slightly in her eardrums, yet it seemed to resonate deep within her heart.
"Don't you know anything about my intentions?"
Cui Yiluo's breath hitched. Her gaze was fixed on a fragment of a blue-and-white porcelain vase with a cloud pattern on the ground. She stared at it for a long time. Jiang Yunjin did not speak, but he still held her tightly from behind, not allowing her to escape from him for a moment.
After an unknown amount of time, Cui Yiluo finally sneered, "Jiang Yunjin, you just love to lie."
She almost believed it.
The man behind her paused, then turned her around without giving her a chance to speak, embracing her face to face and showing her her expression. His sharp eyebrows were furrowed, and his eyes were fixed on her with a probing gaze.
"What's the meaning?"
His long, slender fingers gripped her chin; he wouldn't allow her to escape, determined to get to the bottom of it.
Cui Yiluo met his gaze and said clearly, "You didn't forget to use contraceptive medicine when you returned home today, did you?"
Jiang Yunjin's expression changed drastically.
Cui Yiluo took in the shock in his expression, curled her lips into a cold smile, and lightly traced the scratch marks she had left on his neck with her fingertips, moving downwards like a babbling brook until it reached his heart.
She stared at his face with a mocking smile, speaking softly as if in a lover's murmur.
"But husband, after so many times these past few days, and with such deep penetration, do you think the contraceptive you took today will still be effective?"
Author's Note: Her mouth is getting bigger and bigger [yellow heart]. A'Luo is jealous without even realizing it.
I asked my cousin and Aro if they had met six years ago; I suspect neither of you read chapter 13. [doge emoji]
Thank you to all the little ones who watered with nutrient solution! [heart emoji]
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