Chapter 334: His Confession 4
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The children were sleeping in their room. After Qi Qingyao sent Jiang Yeqian off, she sat alone in the hall, thinking about what Jiang Yeqian had just said with a frown. Si Jin was munching on puffed rice candy at the side, his expression concerned as he watched her. When the white cat came scurrying and hopping into Si Jin’s lap, Si Jin carried it and went out. After a while, Lu Yan, whose complexion was still pale, came walking in. He sat on the arhat couch beside the stove table, stoking the flames of the brazier for a while before he spoke.
“What were you thinking about?”
“Let me tell you a story, as a friend.” Qi Qingyao picked up the rattle on the nearby stove table and shook it. It was one of the three kids’ toys.
Lu Yan said, “Speak.”
Qi Qingyao shook the rattle again and calmly recounted, “Four years ago, no, it’s already the end of the Lunar New Year now so it should be, five years ago! I… I went to my aunt’s house in Qingzhou City… as a guest! Then… you know, I came back a few days later, and after that I became pregnant and gave birth to triplets!”
“A lot of people know this.” Lu Yan’s expression was much calmer than hers. He even seemed a little curious why Qi Qingyao had now suddenly begun thinking about this.
Qi Qingyao continued unhurriedly, “Did you know that my memories about this particular incident are completely blank? That is, my memory is blank from the moment I left my aunt’s home. I can’t recall what happened.”
Lu Yan suddenly felt a little sorry for her because he thought that she might have experienced something similar to what he had. The only thing different between the two of them was their s.e.x. He was a man and could not get pregnant. She was a woman… and was left to bear children.
Lu Yan said, “It could be that the memory from that time was too painful and you’ve chosen to forget about them.”
Qi Qingyao was mostly very logical so she did not notice the sympathy and bitterness in Lu Yan’s words. She even replied rather seriously, “Someone had the Zhaixing Administration investigate what happened to me back then, and they said that the intelligence report from the Zhaixing Administration found nothing, which means there was nothing to be found.”
“Is it Jiang Yeqian?” Lu Yan instinctively asked.
“How did you know?” Qi Qingyao asked.
Lu Yan smiled and said, “He had deliberately come to the mansion looking for you and you chased him away in a hurry. This means that you found whatever he had to say to you unsatisfactory. You found what he said boring and chased him away.”
Qi Qingyao raised her brows and looked at Lu Yan. Gaze s.h.i.+fting, she said, “You’re quite perceptive. You deserve to be the future head of the Lu family.”
Lu Yan did not respond to this praise, instead he solemnly said, “He bought the information from the Zhaixing Administration. It’s unlikely to be false.”
It did seem like it was probably true, but… “What kind of conditions do you think are required for something to happen but not leave a single trace behind? Not to mention, the person involved doesn’t remember anything.”
Lu Yan answered, “There are two possibilities. The first… something similar to what happened to me back then. You had been forced upon, and so your mind chose to forget.”
Qi Qingyao, “…” F*ck me, what do you mean something similar to you? Was he implying that Qi Qingyao had been raped back then? What the h.e.l.l was that! Should she be hugging him and crying together now as they mope about life now?
As the saying went, life was not easy. Qingyao sighed!
Lu Yan continued, “The second possibility is that the other person had abducted you and kept you captive for a few days, which is why there are no clues. The process could have been horrifying, and so you chose to forget about it.”
Devastated, Qi Qingyao said, “Is there a difference between these two scenarios? Either way wasn’t I f*cking raped?”
Lu Yan shook his head and said, “They’re not. For the first one, you had willingly gone off by yourself, so that definitely would have left clues. Putting it another way, the first case means that you forgot, but the people who have seen you wouldn’t have forgotten, so there would be clues! And the Zhaixing Administration should be able to find these clues. As for the second scenario, you were taken away by someone in a sack right after you left. There would be no trace at all—you simply went missing. If the abductors were backed by some powerful figures, then… the incident would have been concealed and the Zhaixing Administration would not have found anything. Of course, these are all based on the fact that you used to be a fool.”
Qi Qingyao was starting to get convinced by Lu Yan’s imagination, but still she felt it improbable. She retorted, “We can rule out first since the Zhaixing Administration did not find anything. For the second, while my memory afterward is vague, I still remember something. Since there were no signs of abuse on my body, we can also rule out the ‘play’ that of me being held captive.”
“That leaves the third,” Lu Yan said. Hold on, say what?
“Speak,” Qi Qingyao said.
Lu Yan looked at her quietly. “If we don’t consider you once being a fool and take a look back then with you now and your current mind, you would have been completely capable of getting out quietly while avoiding anyone’s eyes, then return in complete secrecy!”
Qi Qingyao, “…” That made a lot of sense.
However…
“I only awakened recently.”
“So you got intelligent after you awakened? You also know how to treat illnesses.” Lu Yan looked at her with a superficial smile.
Indeed, this explanation was not clear but there was also no other way to explain this. Qi Qingyao shrugged, her expression saying that she did not care as she said indifferently, “Then just think of it as me having been struck by lightning, and I suddenly know a lot of things after that.”
Lu Yan smiled but said nothing.
He knew that the situation was odd, and she also knew that. At the end of the day, however, it was likely that only she could know anything. If she were not a fool back then and had only been putting on an act, then it would be easy to explain the incident four years ago. However, based on her expression just now, confused and conflicted and even deliberately bringing up the topic with him, it was unlikely it was a facade.
This incident was perplexing.
Perhaps the truth would surface soon.
There was no use making guesses now.
…
Qi Qingyao found it boring to be in the hall so she said she would head out for a walk. Strolling leisurely and peacefully all the way to the side of the pond in the garden, she looked at the youth who was hugging the cat as she sat by the pond. Si Jin heard footsteps and turned around to face Qi Qingyao. He went up to her, grumbling softly.
“Sister, I haven’t seen you these two days. Jiang Yeqian came as soon as you were back. It’s obvious he had targeted the timing.”
“Huh? Come again?” There was a fleeting thought in Qi Qingyao’s mind.
Stupefied, Si Jin asked, “What?”
“What did you say just now?” Qi Qingyao sensed that it was something really important.
“Which one?” Si Jin asked.
“What you said just now!” Qi Qingyao said anxiously.
Si Jin repeated what he said in a daze. “Jiang Yeqian came as soon as you were back. It’s obvious he targeted the timing..?”
Yes, that was the one. Qi Qingyao tiled her head and she said as if talking to herself, “Why would he come only now? What about yesterday? And the day before yesterday, did he come?”
“No.” Si Jin shook his head.
Qi Qingyao rubbed her lower jaw with her fingers, taking a seat on a rock beside the pond. She did not seem to have sensed the coldness of the rock, instead she murmured seriously, “He came just as Lu Yan and I had gotten home. Isn’t this too much a coincidence?”
“?” Si Jin widened his eyes, silent as he carried the cat.
The white cat in Si Jin’s arms looked at the woman beside him curiously with its gold eyes. It knew that Lu Yan was interested in this woman and his liking for her was growing. Listening to her muttering under her breath and seeing her beautiful profile, it thought that this woman was indeed quite intelligent.
Qi Qingyao pondered for a long time before saying to herself. “Perhaps it was just a coincidence.”
Si Jin, “??”
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