Chapter 23

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Chapter 023: To Evade

Pei Cheng was not used to staying alone in a room with Jiang LinZhi, so he would involuntarily avoid Jiang LinZhi’s eyes, “Second Master, Do you have any instructions to tell me alone?”

Jiang LinZhi seemed to have noticed Pei Cheng was repellent towards him. He pressed his lips close lightly, and sat on the edge of the bed without saying a word. Until Pei Cheng, who was lying on the bed, was almost turned stiff, only then, he said: “YanZhi’s body needs to recuperate for a while. Before that, don’t let him be alone anymore.”

Pei Cheng’s eyes were slightly confused, but he quickly became sober, “Second Master, is this the solution you said?”

Pei Cheng expressed his dissatisfaction very straightforwardly. Thus, it was easy for Jiang LinZhi to notice it, but Jiang LinZhi still didn’t mean to explain it to Pei Cheng. He just said casually: “I have said. YanZhi’s accident, I’ll deal with it.”

“Second Master, there are some things I don’t care about. But I can’t help but care about this.” Pei Cheng supported his upper body, straightened his waist up with much difficulty, and looked at Jiang LinZhi solemnly.

Jiang LinZhi never felt that Pei Cheng was a stubborn person, but the Pei Cheng now had completely overturned his previous understanding of Pei Cheng.

Pei Cheng licked his dry lips and continued: “What’s more, in the first place, YanZhi should not have suffered this misfortune. If it weren’t for us, he.......”

Jiang LinZhi looked at Pei Cheng calmly.

Pei Cheng couldn’t speak anymore, and took a deep breath, “I can’t just leave it like this.”

After Pei Cheng had nothing to say, Jiang LinZhi said, “The Liu family delivered a box of things to the Eastern Courtyard last night. After a while, I’ll let the servants bring it to you.”

Pei Cheng was a little annoyed, “What Liu SongWu did, does the Liu family want to offset it by a mere box of messy things?”

“Whether it is offset or not, I have the final say.” Jiang LinZhi said indifferently.

Pei Cheng suddenly couldn’t say anything. He couldn’t guess what Jiang LinZhi was going to do. So, he could only test it again and again, in order to make Jiang LinZhi admit personally that he would not give up easily and let Liu SongWu take responsibility for the wrong thing he did.

And now, Jiang LinZhi personally admitted that he would not just let it go.

Pei Cheng felt relieved.

Jiang LinZhi stared at Pei Cheng’s lips for a while. He then stood up, walked to the round table, and conveniently poured a cup of water, handed it to Pei Cheng, and said, “You have to wait for the time being.”

Pei Cheng took the water cup. He raised his head and drank it.

“Yeah.” Pei Cheng said in a low voice, finally believing Jiang LinZhi.

Jiang LinZhi gestured to Pei Cheng with his eyes. The latter understood, and Pei Cheng said, “I’m still a bit thirsty.”

So, Jiang LinZhi poured another cup of water for Pei Cheng.

Pei Cheng’s sleepiness surged, “Second Master, it’s not early.” The implication was that Jiang LinZhi could leave (now).

It was not known if there was really nothing to do, or as if he did not understand the meaning of Pei Cheng’s words, Jiang LinZhi didn’t even mean to leave. Instead, he walked to the bookshelf and picked up a book, and then sat directly at the round table.

Confused, Pei Cheng laughed dryly and said: “Second Master, in your courtyard......”

Before he finished speaking, he only heard Jiang LinZhi say: “Go to sleep, don’t think too much.”

Just this one sentence. Then, all the things Pei Cheng wanted to say were completely blocked. Pei Cheng hesitated for a while before lying down helplessly, lifting the quilt up, closing his eyes, and he fell asleep after a while.

Jiang LinZhi quietly looked at the direction of the bed, then lowered his head and continued reading.

When Pei Cheng woke up again, the sky outside the window was completely dark, and candles were lit in the room, while Jiang LinZhi was still sitting at the round table and reading, but the book he had read was changed.

Jiang LinZhi said lightly: “Wake up?”

Pei Cheng nodded in a daze, wondering why Jiang LinZhi was still there.

Jiang LinZhi walked to the bed, he got closer, and stroked Pei Cheng’s forehead lightly with his hand.

It may be due to long-term poor health, so Jiang LinZhi’s body temperature was lower than that of ordinary people, and Pei Cheng, who was still experiencing a high fever, shivered involuntarily as soon as Jiang LinZhi touched him.

Jiang LinZhi quickly pulled his hand back, a trace of imperceptible regret flashed under his eyes, but his face was still indifferent, “It’s not hot anymore, but you still need to drink medicine.”

Pei Cheng weakly shrank in the bed and nodded.

“There will be the Lantern Festival in a few days, so let’s go out to see the Lantern Festival together when Madam gets better.” Jiang LinZhi watched the changes in Pei Cheng’s expression secretly, and said, “It’s not good for your body to stay in the room for a long time. Go out for a walk more.”

Pei Cheng didn’t speak, and hesitated in his heart.

He had no longing for the Lantern Festival, but according to his understanding of Jiang LinZhi during this period of time, the other party was not likely someone who would ask to go out to watch the Lantern Festival for no reason.

In the end, the curiosity in his heart defeated Pei Cheng’s worries, and Pei Cheng nodded in agreement, “Okay.”

After receiving the answer, Jiang LinZhi left straight away.

Pei Cheng was a little dazed, why did he leave so suddenly?

After a while, after Jiang LinZhi left, ErXi walked in with the still steaming hot meal, and not long after, SanXi also walked in with the freshly decocted medicine.

Pei Cheng frowned. He didn’t like all smell of the bitterness of the decoction in the room, so he said: “Open the windows and doors to dissipate the smell.” ErXi responded, and ran all the way to open the window to dissipate the smell.

The West Garden.

The Old Lady covered her lips and chuckled twice, “That person still does not know how to take it easy when doing things. I thought that this Pei Cheng may be a somewhat powerful character, but it turned out that before he could ‘demand justice’ for Jiang YanZhi, he just fell sick.”

Hu XiaYun agreed with a smile: “ Second Master’s health is not good, and Pei Cheng is also suffering from illness very often, not to mention now that after YanZhi has fallen into water...... This Eastern Courtyard, and their future, it’s really hard to tell.”

The Old Lady sneered and ridiculed mercilessly, saying, “When people are vicious and heartless, even God can’t stand by and watch it.* Now, it’s not that we can’t spare the Eastern Courtyard, it’s that God refuses to spare the Eastern Courtyard.”

*(T/N: The raw here is ‘做事不厚道，老天都看不过去.’)

Hu XiaYun’s face was full of rejoicing, “Yes. But, mother, is that all how the Liu family’s side settled it? If Jiang LinZhi pesters with unreasonable demands, your parents’ home......”

The Old Lady waved her hand and said, “I’ve already sent someone home* last night. Big Brother will understand what I mean.”

*(T/N: The Old Lady’s parental home)

Hu XiaYun’s heart that had been hanging around was finally relaxed. In fact, after she left the main hall yesterday, she had been worried. If the Liu family was alienated from the Jiang family because of Jiang YanZhi’s accident, it would have an impact on the Jiang family and Qi’er’s future.

Therefore, when Hu XiaYun heard the Old Lady’s determined tone, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief, with a full face of rejoicing.

The Old Lady smiled and said: “That’s right. A few days before the Lantern Festival, you remember to take Qi’er to Liu’s house and pay a visit, and by the way, ask SongWu’s mother to go out to see the lanterns. Don’t let the two family’s relationship be drifted apart because of YanZhi’s accident.”

“Yes.” Hu XiaYun promised soon. In fact, she also thought to do so, because if the relationship between her and SongWu’s mother were really to be estranged because of Jiang YanZhi, then the loss really outweighed the gain.

The Old Lady lowered her eyes and did not continue to speak, and as Hu XiaYun did not dare to speak at will, the room was a little quiet for a while.

The study.

Master Jiang frowned and said, “Third brother, what do you mean?”

Third Master Jiang said nothing, with a cold face. After dealing with official affairs last night, he just took a rest in the office because it was late. So, he didn’t know what major event happened at home yesterday.

But as soon as Third Master Jiang entered the mansion this morning, before he had time to return to his room, he heard from the housekeeper that Jiang YanZhi was pushed into the lake by SongWu. Then, he went to the study of Master Jiang in the Northern Courtyard without stopping.

Third Master Jiang said with a stern face: “Could it be that Big Brother is going to protect SongWu instead! No matter who YanZhi is, he is also a child of our Jiang family, so we can’t let outsiders bully him like this!”

Master Jiang said impatiently, “Jiang LinZhi and Pei Cheng, even those two as the fathers are fine with it. You are just the third uncle but you came here and yelling in front of me.”

“Big Brother.” Third Master Jiang frowned, displeased.

Master Jiang rubbed his forehead, suppressing his anger, and said, “Third Brother*, SongWu is from the Liu family. We can’t handle it according to the rules of our Jiang family. Do you understand what I mean? What’s more, mother doesn’t approve of us directly going to the Liu family to make trouble.”

*(T/N: The raw is ‘老三’.)

Third Master Jiang suppressed the anger, “But, are we going to just forget about it? So, are you all going to let outsiders think as they want of our Jiang family! How will you make YanZhi raise his head in the Jiang family in the future, Big Brother!”

Master Jiang still remained unmoved, the corner of his mouth twitched, and he said, “Third Brother, you seem to pay too much attention to Jiang YanZhi recently.”

Third Master Jiang was startled. He frowned, and said displeasedly: “Big Brother, I don’t understand what you mean.”

“I still remember how you looked a few years ago when you saw Pei Cheng the first time, who was not yet married into the Jiang family.” Master Jiang squinted and looked  Third Master Jiang up and down, as if he was certain of something, but again not sure of it.

Third Master Jiang stood up immediately, “Pei Cheng is Second Brother’s person. How could I have that kind of thought to him? Big Brother, your guess is too trifling!”

Master Jiang retracted the look in his eyes. Third Master Jiang was angry, and the look he stared at the other person could not be too unscrupulous. Master Jiang’s tone eased and said: “It’s Big Brother who is abrupt. But Third Brother, I can understand that you do not take a fancy to Pei Cheng, but it doesn’t mean that others understand it.”

Third Master Jiang was very angry and laughed at the absurdity, “What does Big Brother mean? Isn’t it just all to keep my relationship with the Eastern Courtyard a little distant in the future? Why do you have to speak so scandalously?”

Master Jiang sneered: “If you did not come to find me in a hurry after you heard the news of the accident about the Eastern Courtyard, I also would not want to think more.”

Third Master Jiang was expressionless: “YanZhi just returned back from the auxiliary courtyard. I, as his third uncle, should take more care of him.”

Master Jiang waved his hand, unwilling to continue to talk to Third Master Jiang, and he was a little annoyed, “You don’t have to tell me this kind of thing. Third Brother, I’m just reminding you that there are some people you can’t touch, do you understand?”

Third Master Jiang, with a straight face, said stiffly: “Big Brother, if there is nothing else, I’ll go back to the room first.”

Master Jiang also didn’t expect Third Master Jiang to give him a good look after hearing these words, he said: “Go. Go back and think about it.”

Third Master Jiang swung his sleeves and left without looking back.

Master Jiang sat behind the desk, staring at the back of Third Master Jiang, his expression was full of coldness.\n\n