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Marriage of the Di Daughter Chapter 121 Part 1: Setting Off
“Actually, you don’t have to pretend to be lovable, Ah Li1.”
Jiang Li looked at Ji Heng in puzzlement. His tone sounded extremely familiar, she could still clearly hear that he was calling her “Ah Li*” and not “Ah Li”.
Perhaps he had seen through her from the start, just like she had seen through his schemes.
Jiang Li shrugged, “habit.”
In her previous life, she was truly lovable. Though it could not be exchanged with any good outcome, instead resulted in her suffering greatly, and in addition, she implicated her whole family. The current her was more prudent, as a result, acting lovable was even more skilled and it penetrated deeply in the bone marrow.
Ji Heng always talked about entering the play, how was what she had experienced not a play? On the face, various colors were smeared, concealing one’s own thoughts. On stage turning around hundreds and thousands of times, with subordinates running around full of murderous intent.
Ji Heng looked at her for a moment and said, “Go back.” He handed the umbrella in his hand to Jiang Li, like an affectionate young master wholeheartedly thinking of Jiang Li, who hated for his sweetheart to suffer from a bit of cold.
Jiang Li accepted the umbrella handed to her in a daze, stood up from the stone she was sitting on, and smiled timely while saying sweetly, “Then many thanks, duke.”
“No need to thank.” Ji Heng said, “It’s a given to guard my own things.”
“You saying it like so,” Jiang Li muttered to herself, “makes me feel that there’s a huge backer sitting behind. I really want to charge ahead, not in the least worried that I’ll invite trouble.”
“Are you telling me that the troubles you’ve caused are not enough?” Ji Heng simply did not care, “Whether there’s a backer or not, you’re still fierce.”
“That’s true.” Jiang Li nodded, “I’m going.” She noticed there’s an embroidered peony at the base of the plain white umbrella. Supposed that one could not see if not looking carefully as it was nearly indiscernible. However, it was also the appearance that Ji Heng was used to.
Holding the umbrella, she, Tong’er and Bai Xue returned to the room.
Ji Heng did not leave immediately.
He was standing beside the pool. He didn’t know if it was his illusion, the snow falling from the sky seemed to turn slightly bigger. The wind blew sideways, the snowflakes floating onto the pool’s surface were sparkling and translucent before quickly disappearing.
Wen Ji stood quietly behind Ji Heng and asked softly, “Master, why do you want to help Miss Jiang second?
Wen Ji had been following Ji Heng since he was ten years old. They had a master and servant relationship with each other for ten years. Ji Heng was a solitary person. Others were in awe of him, feared him, calculated him, framed him, not daring to simply ask him “why”, but Wen Ji dared.
Ji Heng said, “Holding her life to give to other people, her whole life would forever be hanging on a knife’s edge, but still able to smile.” There seemed to be a smile in his tone, yet it also carried emptiness and desolateness. “Wen Ji, don’t you feel that it’s the same as me?”
The difference was that he had fallen into the abyss and was like a flower, blooming in the darkness, while Jiang Li was splitting open a road through the thorns, trying to grab a tiny bit of sunlight through the crack in the woods.
The road she was walking was entirely different from him, therefore, he had compassion towards her. Just like those rare flowers in his residence’s garden. Under many dangers and difficulties, they managed to climb up and grow. If they were not protected meticulously, they would be short lived and withered immediately, forever disappearing from this world.
There were many rare flowers in this world, but there was only one Jiang Li.
She disrupted his plans again and again during the chaos. Although it was harmless, it made him discover this ferocious, outstanding man-eating flower. Ji Heng could make out her feigned civility, make out her exploitations, and also make out her occasional and genuine grief.
He wanted to see this seemingly gentle but violent plant placed in Yanjing as the flowerbed. After fighting tooth and nail, how many would remain.
They met through a narrow road in the midst of their schemes, tearing off each other’s masks in the game of chess. Both hypocritical and also sincere, while taking advantage of each other, there also existed a trace of genuine empathy.
It’s good.
In the short few decades of life, able to meet someone who was very similar yet entirely different from him, was truly a fascinating thing.
Therefore, he wished her to live.
At least, it’s like this for now.
……
On the second day, Jiang Li, Ye Ming Yu and their group of people set out to Xiangyang.
More than half of the residents in Tongxiang actively wanted to follow Jiang Li and the others to Xiangyang to complain. Not just to punish Feng Yu Tang, but also to seek justice for Xue Huai Yuan who lost his mind. Jiang Li actually thought that there were too many people, but the crowd of commoners were excited. Looking at the unclear Xue Huai Yuan, many of the people’s eyes turned moist.
Finally, aside from the elderly, women and children who could not travel far, the other people followed the team of carriages and horses.
As for the cost of the carriages and horses, Feng Yu Tang originally plundered the wealth of the people, planning to run away bringing the gold, silver, money and valuables. He did not foresee that he was late in escaping and was blocked by the yamen’s gate. It was also too late to take the several big boxes away. In the end, those gold and silver was enough for the people to travel to Yanjing.
Before going to Yanjing, they had to first go to Xiangyang to take the transfer order and conveniently clearly explain to the Ye family the reason behind this. Unexpectedly, the commoners were in a good mood. Jiang Li accompanied the crazy Xue Huai Yuan and sat inside a carriage. Xue Huai Yuan did not look at her, and happily played with the wooden statue on his own. His mouth kept calling, “Ah Li”, ”Ah Li”, once in a while he said, “I want to give it to Ah Li and Ah Zhao to play.”
Jiang Li felt sad as she watched him. Taking advantage of the resting time midway through the journey, Ye Ming Yu asked Jiang Li, “Ah Li, though at first we told mother and the others that I took you to help me do some things, now the matters have become big. How are we going to explain this now?”
There were many residents of Tongxiang, when Ye Ming Xuan and the others saw it, they would definitely be shocked. Going back to Yanjing, plus the Imperial Court of Judicial Review group, to the extent of using Jiang Yuan Bai’s name to make the Weaving Unit to come over and handle things. When Jiang Yuan Bai was aware of it, it’s unknown how he would reproach Jiang Li.
These were not trivial matters, first had to see how Jiang Li would turn around.
“No matter.” Jiang Li said, “I’ll explain to grandmother and the others.” Indeed, Ye Ming Yu was unable to explain these things as he and Xue Huai Yuan basically had no relations at all and it’s not worthwhile to do these things.
Jiang Li was different. Even though there was no way for her to explain, the Ye family would not interrogate her, perhaps even believing that these things were instructed by Jiang Yuan Bai. On the contrary, they might not think too much.
Footnotes:
1: From now on, Ah Li for racoon will be written in Italics while the Ah Li for pear (Jiang LI) will be written normally to differentiate between the two.
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