Chapter 326: Got The Keepsakes 1
After rus.h.i.+ng to the front hall.
Jiang Siliu saw Qi Qingyao sitting there, smiling as she drank tea. Her lungs almost exploded from how angry she was.
“Qi Qingyao, don’t cross the line! I’m already packing my things! I’ll be leaving Qingzhou City tomorrow morning! Why have you still come to my house?”
Qingzhu walked in behind Jiang Siliu and saw the bright-looking young woman at a glance. The young woman was wearing a luxurious cotton robe. She was sitting there with a languid expression while drinking tea leisurely, radiant as a camellia in the afternoon!
There was also a graceful-looking youth standing behind her. The youth’s aura was like that of lotuses in water, peaceful and cold.
Qi Qingyao did not even spare the effort to look at Jiang Siliu. She got up and glanced at the s.p.a.ce behind her, instantly recognizing her sister in the crowd from the original Qi Qingyao’s memories.
Her sister grew up looking somewhat mature and steady. Her appearance was average but she looked honest.
Qi Qingyao offered a greeting.
“Qingzhu.”
“Sister.” Qi Qingzhu looked back at her quietly.
The exchange between the two rendered Jiang Siliu utterly flummoxed.
She realized that Qi Qingyao was completely ignoring her.
Then she voiced out, unable to hold herself back.
“What do you mean by ‘sister’?”
Qi Qingyao looked at the clueless Jiang Siliu with a superficial smile. Amused, she said, “I’m her elder sister. I heard she was working for the Jiang family so I’ve come to buy her back.”
“…” Ah!
Jiang Siliu stood there in a daze.
She felt as if she were a clown.
What the f*ck.
This Qi Qingyao, whom she had recently had some enmity with, was actually the elder sister of her maid!
This… how was this possible?
Jiang Sili’s mind went blank.
However, she managed to respond rather quickly and firmly.
“You can forget about buying her freedom. The contract she signed states that she has to work for the Jiang family for three years.”
Qi Qingyao did not make a fuss out of it, she just asked, “How much do you want to be willing to let her go?”
Jiang Siliu deliberately faced Qi Qingyao and stuck out her tongue. “I will not let her go, ever! What are you going to do about it?”
Qi Qingyao ignored Jiang Siliu’s shamelessness. She instead addressed the steward. “How much is the penalty for breaking the contract?”
“Based on the contract, it is at least fifty taels of silver,” the steward answered carefully.
Qi Qingyao made a gesture at Si Jin.
Si Jin hurriedly fished out a pile of silver from his bosom and extracted fifty taels, which he handed over to the steward.
“Fifty taels!”.”
The steward held the paper money, looking at Qi Qingyao with bewilderment.
Qi Qingyao said to the steward, “I’m giving you fifty taels. Let her go.”
In this situation, the steward did not dare make any decisions alone.
He looked at the lady cautiously.
Jiang Siliu replied intimidatingly, “I don’t want money. I also will not let her go.”
Qi Qingyao gave a dark but alluring smile.
Just as she was about to say something…
Someone else walked in.
It was Lu Yan.
While he was making his way over, he heard the sounds of their quarrel from afar.
He spoke.
“Jiang Siliu, do you really plan to make such a scene?”
“Brother Lu…” Jiang Siliu was caught off guard by Lu Yan’s abrupt appearance.
Jiang Siting also did not expect Lu Yan to show up.
Jiang Siting was silent for a moment. Then, pus.h.i.+ng aside the matter of Qi Qingzhu’s freedom, he asked Lu Yan.
“Lu Yan, what is your relations.h.i.+p with this widow? Why do you keep defending her? Could it be that you have forgotten how she humiliated you the other day?”
Lu Yan, “…” He had only spoken one sentence and they already pulled in the matter about their relations.h.i.+p. How was he supposed to answer?
Qi Qingyao smiled radiantly and said, “Second Young Master Jiang, you need not be worried about our relations.h.i.+p.”
Jiang Siting said firmly, “How can I not be worried? I fear you might have hoodwinked the young master of the Senluo Chamber of Commerce, widow.”
Jiang Siting looked at Lu Yan who was still silent and felt even more nervous. “Lu Yan, say something. What’s going on between you two?”
Dong Jing looked at his master, curious and nervous, somewhat antic.i.p.ating the master’s answer.
After a beat.
Lu Yan replied, “She’s a good friend.”
Jiang Siting rolled his eyes. “How could a good friend humiliate you like that, she even made you out to be a eunuch! How can you still play around with her? If you two were just normal friends, why would you defend her to this extent?” What a joke.
Jiang Siliu took the opportunity to add, “That’s right, Brother Lu! Don’t be fooled by this vixen.”
Lu Yan had never in his life been pushed into a spot like this.
He had never had a fiancée or a woman he fancied. When he was in the Capital City before, he would turn and leave whenever women came close to him. As such, he had never been put in a situation where he had to answer questions like this.
In the end, of the two times he visited the Jiang residence, he had ended up being rendered despondent by Qi Qingyao the first time, and driven to silence by the Jiang siblings’ questions the second.
Could he just turn around and leave?
Alas, he could not.
If he were to turn head and leave now, he would only end up running away with a guilty conscience.
Qi Qingyao noticed that Lu Yan was calm but his gaze was tormented; she knew that he had never experienced something like this.
When it came to women, someone like him who always rejected women with every fiber of his being…
It seemed like if she did not say anything, it was only a matter of time before Lu Yan would flee in awkwardness!
Qi Qingyao walked to Lu Yan’s side. She hooked her arm on his shoulder very intimately without asking for permission and said high-handedly, “Hehe! Our relations.h.i.+p is very sweet and close! Why would Lu Yan keep helping me if not?”
Lu Yan, “…” This woman!
She.
She…
She was standing too close.
There was a kind of shackling pain in Lu Yan’s subconscious. The unbearable memories from that year once again surfaced in his mind. He could not help but move a bit to the left. He realized her arm was not really pressing down hard, only just resting gently against him.
It seemed that he could break free anytime he wanted
Stunned, Lu Yan froze on the spot. He turned his head like a machine and quietly looked at Qi Qingyao’s profile that was far too close to his own. The woman’s appearance was arrogant and domineering and the tips of her brows were surging high into the sky. Her gaze as she watched the Jiang siblings was one of extreme focus and slyness. It did not seem that she was even paying any attention to him.
This instantly reduced the panic and pain that Lu Yan was feeling.
Only his consciousness was telling him, “Stop!” That he should force himself to not avoid this.
There was also a voice in his heart that was constantly telling him that she was a man, she was just a man! It would be fine, it would be fine… she was a man!
Jiang Siliu noticed the continuous micro-changes in Lu Yan’s expressions.
Lu Yan had sneakily glanced at Qi Qingyao, his look panicked but also pained. In the end, his expression relaxed as he tolerated the woman’s arm on his shoulder.
Could these two… be having an illicit love affair?
Jiang Siliu stared at Qi Qingyao’s arm enviously. “Brother Lu, quickly refute her words. There’s no way it’s what it sounds like, right? She’s a widow! How could she match up to you?”
“Lu Yan, could she actually be your concubine?” Jiang Siting suggested while also looking at him in disbelief.
Qingzhu, “…???” What was going on? Why would the lady say that her little sister was Lu… Master Lu’s concubine? Qi Qingzhu’s expression was blank, eyes wide as she watched the scene.
“What nonsense are you saying?” While Qi Qingyao did not move, she still noticed Lu Yan’s expression from the corner of her eye and realized that he was in pain in this situation and wanted to escape. However, he was steeling himself and she did not dare add on any pressure.
She retracted her arm calmly.
Then she said to Jiang Siliu, “Stop dilly-dallying, I’ve already given you the money, so quickly release Qingzhu.”
Without waiting for Jiang Siliu to reply, she said to Qi Qingzhu, “Qingzhu, why are you still dazing around? Go pack your bags quickly.”