Chapter 172 - Stop Flirting with Each Other in front of Me!
Chapter 172 Stop Flirting with Each Other in front of Me!
After hearing his words, Deng Yi was surprised. His gaze was complicated as he looked at Qiu Yelan, “Surely you two…” Although he didn’t like girls at all, even Qiu Yelan was his fiancée and stunningly beautiful, he didn’t like her at all. They were engaged at this moment, but Jiang Yashuang appeared in Qiu Yelan’s room. It was obvious that he knew the place well upon the way he went into the room. Seeing him and what he did, Deng Yi felt very unhappy anyway.
“You really do treat me like I’m dead!” Deng Yi snorted and mocked, “In the past, I said I would let you go after I marry somebody else. I didn’t expect that I hadn’t begun to see anyone yet, but you have seen him first?”
For Qiu Yelan, this kind of mockery wasn’t even a deal. She was calmed and straightforward, “What? You’re allowed to like young and white-skinned boys, but not me?”
“You!” Deng Yi was furious!
Jiang Yashuang, who originally wanted to speak out for his beloved, was now in a good mood. He smiled, “So you always think that I am a handsome and white-skinned boy?”
“Surely do.” said Qiu Yelan proudly. “Do you think I am the one who would fall in love with the ugly?”
Jiang Yashuang smiled, “I recalled someone once said she did not like me at all. But she is saying she likes me truly now…”
“I didn’t come to see you flirting!” Deng Yi couldn’t stand it any longer and slapped the table, shouting in a low but angry voice, “Shall we get down to business?!”
Only then did Jiang Yashuang looked at him and said, “Didn’t I just talk about the business? As long as you’re willing to break off the engagement, the premise is negotiable with us. If you want servants, I’ll give you servants; if you want money, I’ll give you money… just say your price!”
Deng Yi was so displeased with his overbearing gesture. Why did he have to study so hard all these years and why did he have to go through so many robust experiences before he had a chance for his examination. In the sharp contrast, Jiang Yashuang, who was the same age as him, could pose as a rich man effortlessly?
With envy and hatred, Deng Yi said indifferently, “Can you agree to the condition of having Her Majesty to give up her power, live in the Imperial Harem and return the power to the Empress Dowager?”
Jiang Yashuang smiled, “You do not want to negotiate at all.” His smile was cold.
Deng Yi wasn’t afraid of him, because firstly, they were in the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe, and secondly, they were in Qiu Yelan’s room. His visit today was a very formal one. If Jiang Yashuang kicked him right here in Qiu Yelan’s room, Qiu Yelan’s reputation would definitely be bruised. A Commandery Princess colluded with her paramour to harm her fiancé. This charge would definitely cause public outrage and become big news!
After sensing his killing intent, Deng Yi still sneered, “Negotiate? How to negotiate? I grew up in the Prince’s Mansion of Guangyang, and the blood of the Gu Family runs in my veins. If I joined your family, would the Gu Family let me go? And your family would defend me with all your heart? The most you would do is to protect me until the end of the metropolitan exam, after that, any servant sent by the Gu Family could kill me!”
“What you said as if we don’t have servants in the Jiang Family!” Jiang Yashuang said without hiding his killing intention.
Deng Yi coldly said, “If servants sent by your family wanted to kill me, they would have to deal with the Gu Family first. As long as the Gu Family doesn’t fall in my life, you can do nothing about me! But could your family protect me forever?”
Jiang Yashuang acrimoniously said, “The Gu Family is willing to protect you for the rest of your life? Do you want Gu Yan to protect you by holding you in his arms? If you were in our family, whoever dared to treat their cousins like what you have been going through would have been killed by my grandfather already!”
“That’s because he is your cousin!” Deng Yi’s face paled for a moment. He clenched his fists and said word for word, “But I’m not your cousin!”
Qiu Yelan frowned, “Stop arguing for now!” She asked Deng Yi, “You came here today to persuade me to marry you? You didn’t think I’d say yes just because you said so, did you? Where are your final cards? Just take them straight out, don’t waste our time!”
Deng Yi snorted. He gave Jiang Yashuang a meaningful look, “It has something to do with Ruan Qingyan, do you really want him here to listen?”
Qiu Yelan was alarmed and immediately said, “Yashuang, you go back first.”
Jiang Yashuang frowned, “Is Brother Ruan in trouble? I think I can help.”
“He’s in trouble just because of your help!” Deng Yi said coldly at Qiu Yelan, “Now you should understand what I mean, right? Even if we break off the engagement and you marry him. Do you really not care about Ruan Qingyan anymore?!”
Reminded by him, Qiu Yelan suddenly understood, “The Empress Dowager has known my brother’s identity. If I marry Yashuang, in their opinion, the Jiang Family will become my brother’s supporter… The Empress Dowager definitely won’t allow it to happen!”
This was like forcing the Empress Dowager and her followers to mess everything up and leave no stone unturned to kill Qiu Jinglan!
Qiu Yelan was angry and gritted her teeth, “You are so cruel!”
Deng Yi sneered, “I’m just a messenger. When you deal with things, you must know who is primarily responsible for it. Don’t come to me for everything!”
Jiang Yashuang asked with a blank expression, “Lanlan, what is it? Can you tell me?”
“No, I can’t!” Qiu Yelan rubbed her forehead and said to him. She turned to Deng Yi and continued, “So, I have to marry you?”
Dang Yi said, “Unless you don’t care about Ruan Qingyan at all. But I know that’s impossible, right?”
Upon hearing that, Jiang Yashuang immediately looked at Qiu Yelan.
Qiu Yelan was silent for a long time before saying, “The engagement can remain in abeyance, but let’s not mention the wedding date.”
Deng Yi said, “You think I can make the decision? To tell you the truth, I’ve been worried about the provincial examination and metropolitan exam. I’d rather not mention the “engagement”. I am tired of it!”
Jiang Yashuang couldn’t stand it any longer. However, he was afraid of getting angry at Qiu Yelan, so he said, “It doesn’t matter about the wedding date if you die.”
“If I die, Ruan Qingyan won’t live either!” Deng Yi laughed heedlessly and stood up, “Commandery Princess Ningyi, think about it!”
After that, he ignored them and left!
Jiang Yashuang’s gaze was furious. He hesitated for a moment. He didn’t say or do anything. Instead, he looked at Qiu Yelan who had a confused look on her face before saying, “What did he mean? Why does his death have something to do with Qingyan’s life? Has Qingyan done something which was found by them?”
“No, I have nothing to say,” Qiu Yelan bit her lip. Only after a long time did she say, “I promised my brother not to tell anyone about this. You should go back. I need to think about it… ”
“What’s going on?!” Jiang Yashuang took a deep breath and tried to make his tone gentle as usual, “You’ve always been smart. If it wasn’t challenging, why would you be so hesitant? We’ll be family in one day, and so I am willing to share your difficulties.”
Qiu Yelan was distraught and said, “Well, you go home anyway!”
Jiang Yashuang looked at her steadily for a moment before saying in a deep voice, “Fine, I’ll go!”
She could tell that he was talking angrily. However, Qiu Yelan was distracted right now, and she wasn’t in the mood for talking with him. After seeing him off, she started thinking about how to solve the problem – The key issue was that Qiu Jinglan’s life was in Empress Dowager’s hands – It was noted that although Qiu Jinglan had the “Tianya”, if the Empress Dowager wanted to kill him without thinking the consequences, he would be dead definitely!
Otherwise, why would Qiu Jinglan hide her name?
“My brother must live, and I don’t want to marry, it seemed that only the Empress Dowager’s death is the only way to solve the problem. But how can she die as she is well now!” For several days, Qiu Yelan did not get a way out of this.
Everything normally went over the past few days in the capital. She sent servants to the Ruan Family for fetching the new messages, but nothing abnormal was reported.
It was only after Su He occasionally asked about that Jiang Yashuang hadn’t come over for a few days that Qiu Yelan noticed something unusual in the past these days. After thinking for a while, she insisted on not meeting him – she wouldn’t know how to explain after meeting him, so she determined to avoid the meeting… As for the consequence… She did not have time to consider it. The crucial problem she had to consider now was how to save her brother and her lives.
Qiu Yelan irresponsibly chose to deal with the problem without Jiang Yashuang. But she might not realize that after Jiang Yashuang left with anger, he had been waiting for her all the time. However, she did not show up. Instead, Jiang Yadan started mocking him, “I’ve told you that the little Commandery Princess is cheating on you. It must be Ruan Qingyan, but you chose not to believe me!”
Jiang Yashuang gloomily said, “We had a quarrel. Don’t talk nonsense, Yadan!”
“Still lie to me?” Jiang Yadan sneered, “If there really was a quarrel, you two fought because she is cheating on you, right? Otherwise, true to your nature, you’d have gone to apologize to her long ago instead of staying at home reading books.”
Realizing that he had made a key point, Jiang Yashuang could only sigh, “It’s related to Ruan Qingyan indeed, but I don’t think there must be something happened between them or she would cover it up in front of me. She is not that stupid, isn’t she?”
“There is a saying in the Art of War: It’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not… Who knows if she deliberately deceived you in order to keep you from doubting, or she tried this to defend herself?” Jiang Yadan advised, “In my opinion, why do you torture yourself like this? Don’t put all your efforts into girls… Actually, it’s because you haven’t got her yet, or you won’t do like this!”
“I don’t want to talk with you anymore!” Jiang Yashuang also began to suspect Qiu Yelan’s relationship with Ruan Qingyan – and it was a deep suspicion. His original intention in talking to Jiang Yadan was to expect that his brother would deny his suspicions and say something to make him feel better. But in the end, Jiang Yadan increased his suspicions! Now the more he talked, the more depressed and angrier he became. He simply punched the table hard and strode out the door, “I’m going to go to practice Kung Fu with Ou Bicheng!”
Jiang Yadan said, “You’d better not use your full strength during the practice. That kid is stronger than a weak man, but not that strong. By the way, if you are upset and want to find someone to vent your anger, you should find someone stronger, at least better than me! Don’t hurt him. You know he’s going back to the north for the provincial examination in July at the latest!”
But he was worried about Ou Bicheng for nothing. After Jiang Yashuang rushed to the Ou Mansion and asked where Ou Bicheng was, he failed to say “practice Kung Fu” to him. Before he said so, a girl in red was one step ahead of him and asked for a match, “My brother is simply useless. He said he wouldn’t practice with me after taking a dozen moves from me! Yashuang, as you are here, let’s practice.”
This young girl was no more than fifteen or sixteen years old. She was pretty and had snowy skin. She had a pair of phoenix eyes beneath curved eyebrows. Her dark hair was not wrapped in a bun, but tied into a ponytail at the back of her head. She wore a fiery red costume, and a soft golden whip was tied around her waist. The dress with a pair of small boots made her valiant, and her name was Ou Qinglan, Ou Bicheng’s twin sister.
She had known Jiang Yashuang since her childhood. They had been practicing Kung Fu with each other all along. But this time, Jiang Yashuang rejected her request, “You’re back too? I have something to talk with your brother. Can we practice on another day?” He was not in the mood for a contest right now. It would be fine if it were Ou Bicheng, as the two were playmates since they were young. Even if they occasionally beat each other up, it wouldn’t be a big deal. But now it’s Ou Qinglan… although she was also an acquaintance, she was a girl after all. What if he really injured this lady during the practice? Who knew what kind of trouble it was after that?
Ou Bicheng, who had been tormented by his sister for a long while and couldn’t wait to get out of here to heal his tired heart, was relieved and passed him a grateful look, “Let’s go and talk in the study!”
“What is it?” Ou Qinglan asked curiously. “By the way, I heard you have a sweetheart, living next door to your side yard. And she looks fairly beautiful. Will you take me to see her? When I came over, Aunt Zhuang asked me to take a look at her. First of all, if she is not nice, I’m not going to help you put in a good word with Aunt Zhuang!”
In regular times, if she asked about Qiu Yelan, Jiang Yashuang would definitely brag for a while. After all, not to mention other things, she was the prettiest girl in Yashuang’s eyes. But now? Her words were like a dagger stabbing him where it had a scar already. Jiang Yashuang tried to restrain himself and said faintly, “Let’s talk about it later. I want to talk to your brother now.”
Ou Qinglan was very disappointed upon hearing his words. After Jiang Yashuang left with his brother Ou Bicheng, a maid came up, “Don’t worry, lady. There is a chance to meet Commandery Princess soon. Her Majesty’s birthday is coming, and you probably will meet her over there.”
“Good point!” Ou Qinglan’s eyes lit up. She clapped her hands and smiled, “I hope she’s a good one… Aunt Zhuang has repeatedly told me that if she’s not a good girl, whom Yashuang is obsessed with without following others’ advice, I have to do everything I can to break them up!”
The maid could not comment on this. She had to change the topic, “Two masters had gone. Are you still going to practice your Kung Fu or not?”
“No. I want to go to my room and see what jewelry I have. I’ve come back in a hurry this time, and I did not bring many costume items.” Ou Qinglan shook her head. “There’s a chance that I will be walking alongside Yashuang’s sweetheart. I’ll think about what to dress so I don’t lose in front of her. Or I may weaken my image!”