Chapter 18

Several filthy words pierced Jiang Yunchan’s ears, instantly flushing her cheeks a deep red. She cast a pleading glance toward Xie Yan.

Xie Yan was sipping tea, the porcelain cup blocking her view, so their eyes did not meet.

Jiang Yunchan panicked and took several steps back. “N-no, this won’t do.”

Lu Chi, however, looked puzzled and shrugged. “You’re his woman. If you don’t go see him, do you expect me to?”

“N-no, it’s not like that!” Jiang Yunchan quickly denied any relationship between the two, her eyes still flickering toward Xie Yan.

Perhaps he was unwell, for his tea-drinking was slow and he did not look up to rescue her.

Jiang Yunchan was caught on the spot, unable to leave or stay.

With her face burning red, almost bleeding, she timidly said, “I…I have not consummated my marriage with the heir yet!”

“You two… haven’t consummated? Why not?” Lu Chi’s voice rose several degrees in surprise, as if afraid the servants in the courtyard might not hear.

A few ambiguous gazes fixed on her from behind and in front, making her utterly uncomfortable.

She and Xie Yan were cousins; what marriage could there be to consummate?

Jiang Yunchan felt at a loss for words, placing the soup bowl on the round table before Xie Yan. “I’m just here to deliver the soup!”

Before she could finish, she turned to flee.

“Brother Lu, don’t scare her; she’s timid,” Xie Yan finally put down his cup and glanced at her flushed face with a gentle smile. “Is there something you need?”

Knowing she never came without cause, Xie Yan patted the stool beside him, inviting Jiang Yunchan to sit.

Having just been teased, embarrassed to no end, Jiang Yunchan refused to sit shoulder to shoulder with him.

Instead, she lowered her head and stood by his side, too shy to meet his warm, smiling eyes. Gathering her courage, she whispered, “There’s a spy in the heir’s residence. Last night, they were watching me.”

She recounted all the strange occurrences she had sensed over the past few days and the tricks she had played in the ashes near the kitchen.

Xie Yan listened calmly, while Lu Chi beside him was so shocked his jaw nearly dropped.

With his face stiff from astonishment, Lu Chi squeezed between them, staring at the masked girl like he saw a ghost. Then, he patted Xie Yan’s shoulder and whispered in his ear, “A spy reporting on a spy?”

What on earth was going on? What a grand spectacle!

Swallowing hard, Lu Chi turned to ask Jiang Yunchan, “You don’t know who’s been watching you?”

She shook her head, confused.

Finding it amusing, Lu Chi looked back at Xie Yan. “This dancer is simple-minded. Why don’t you just take her in? That way, next time the emperor sends a smarter concubine, she won’t be so easy to fool… ouch!”

Mid-sentence, a stool suddenly slammed into Lu Chi’s knee from behind.

He fell heavily onto the round stool, swallowing all his words.

Xie Yan cast a steady glance at Lu Chi, then turned to Jiang Yunchan. “The dancer was sent by the emperor. Since they haven’t consummated their marriage, they must cover their tracks. Naturally, someone is watching her. You need not pay attention to her.”

Lu Chi’s pupils dilated again from the shock.

Why was Xie Yan now endorsing the dancer?

Wasn’t she supposed to be a spy?

He stood dumbfounded, unable to piece it together.

Seeing him so dull-witted, Xie Yan sighed. “Jiao Jiao, remove your veil. Brother Lu is one of us.”

Jiang Yunchan realized the relationship between Lu Chi and Xie Yan was close, though they appeared adversarial on the surface.

She untied the string by her ear, letting her pale pink veil flutter down, revealing a face carved with exquisite beauty.

Lu Chi’s mouth dropped even wider. “Th-this, this, this, Miss Jiang! You’re not… Gu…”

He nearly uttered that name.

Hearing it, Jiang Yunchan’s eyes brimmed with tears. She bent her knees and bowed before taking her leave.

Lu Chi stared at her lonely, dejected figure, stunned for a long while. Then, he awkwardly grabbed the fish soup, hoping a sip would steady his mind.

A slender, jade-like hand swiftly took the soup bowl first, lifting the steaming broth.

The sound of the soup dripping intermittently into the bowl brought Lu Chi back to his senses, just as he saw Xie Yan leisurely tasting the “fishy and unbearable” broth.

Lu Chi knew well of Xie Yan’s feelings for his cousin.

This move by Xie Yan achieved two goals at once: removing the dancer-spy by using the dancer’s cover, and binding Jiang Yunchan to himself.

“But this can’t last forever!” Lu Chi worried.

After all, Jiang Yunchan had been tricked into staying by Xie Yan. Love requires sincerity; how could such a tactic endure long?

Xie Yan frowned and sipped the soup lightly, his long, dark lashes casting mottled shadows beneath his eyes. “If I want her forever, then she must be mine forever.”

His words were final and unchallengeable.

Lu Chi was unconvinced. “But do you expect Miss Jiang to live her life forever as a mere dancer? Who is she then?”

“I have given her chances.”

Before Jiang Yunchan married, Xie Yan had warned her of the hardships on the way to the Gu household, hoping to dissuade her from marrying out.

But she had risked everything for Gu Huaizhou, even disfiguring herself!

Now, having lost her status, who else could she blame?

Losing her status was perhaps a blessing; without it, she wouldn’t keep running around.

Xie Yan paused stirring the soup; the rippling surface distorted the angelic features of his face.

“She needs no other identity. Now, in the future, in this life, she has only one identity…”

He was to be Xie Yan’s companion for life.

“Xie Yan, that’s not right!”

No one is destined to be another’s possession.

But Lu Chi knew Xie Yan never hesitated to use any means to achieve his goals.

Unable to dissuade him, he asked, “Have you thought about… Gu Huaizhou? What if he returns one day?”

Gu Huaizhou was the newly minted top scholar and the emperor’s protégé. Though kidnapped by bandits and missing, the emperor would surely find him to preserve royal dignity.

If Gu Huaizhou returned, he would undoubtedly seek his betrothed.

Jiang Yunchan, now with no support, had no choice but to cling to Xie Yan’s estate. If Gu Huaizhou came back, how could she remain by Xie Yan’s side, veiled in ambiguity?

“Gu Huaizhou?” Xie Yan lightly uttered the name, casually asking Lu Chi, “Do you know where he is?”

The emperor cared deeply about the case, issuing orders for Lu Chi to investigate Gu Huaizhou’s whereabouts.

The imperial edict demanded the truth within half a month.

With time passing and no leads, Lu Chi frowned and shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“Could it be that you know where Gu Huaizhou is?” Lu Chi countered.

At that moment, Jiang Yunchan recalled she had forgotten to salt the fish soup. As she reached to retrieve it by the rear window, she overheard Lu Chi’s question.