Chapter 18

“Are you really Jiang Huai?”

Xu Lianqiao asked again when he didn’t answer or turn around.

Under the moonlight, in the long corridor, both men and women stood tall, and a gentle breeze made Ning Yuan’s heart feel uneasy.

Hesitantly, he turned around slowly.

He looked at the woman in front of him. Even in the dim light, he could clearly see that she was frowning.

He was only eighteen, yet he looked so worried.

Ning Yuan wanted to admit that he wasn’t Jiang Huai.

He really wanted to ask Ah Qiao if she remembered the man she met eight years ago.

But…

Ning Yuan noticed something in her eyes.

Before he could say anything, Xu Lianqiao quickly stepped forward, stretched out her hands, and pinched his cheeks.

She wasn’t gentle at all.

Ning Yuan was so surprised that he gasped.

“Strange.”

Xu Lianqiao pinched his face and found that there was no mask or hidden face as rumors suggested.

“Is this really him?”

She frowned, but her curious expression caught Ning Yuan’s attention. As her fingers gently touched his face, he felt tense all over.

He didn’t know when he became so hot and uneasy.

Xu Lianqiao kept examining his face.

She remembered that when she was a child, someone had told her that there were things in the world that ordinary people couldn’t understand and that some skills were hidden from the eyes of most people.

So…

She kept pressing on “Jiang Huai”‘s face.

If her earlier touch had been gentle, now her actions left red marks on his face.

Xu Lianqiao still wouldn’t give up and stood on tiptoe, trying to get a better look.

Unexpectedly, Ning Yuan looked at her closely as she leaned in. The scent of her skin filled his senses.

Her lively eyebrows, her pretty red lips, and the faint blush on her cheeks were all visible in the cold moonlight.

He was… a man, after all.

Feeling something strange, he hastily pushed her away.

He didn’t want to be treated like some animal.

Suddenly pushed away, and seeing him hurry off, Xu Lianqiao felt something was off about the person in front of her.

Why was he hiding?

“Let me take another look.”

Xu Lianqiao ran after him and tried to get a closer look again.

“Stop making trouble,” he said, but his tone was a bit gentle.

“How about we go back to the house and check?”

“Who wants to be in the same room with you?”

Unknowingly, they ended up chasing each other back and forth.

Hidden behind a door, a figure was silently watching them.

_

“Cough cough cough…”

A violent cough echoed from inside the house, and Zhou Wan’s footsteps stopped outside as she held the soup.

After pausing, she calmly pushed the door open.

“Husband, why are you coughing so badly again?”

As she spoke, she took a spittoon from under the bed and sat beside Jiang Lian. She patted his back and used the spittoon to catch the filth he spit out.

She had become used to it and no longer minded it as much.

Jiang Lian’s coughing lasted a while before it gradually stopped. He patted her hand, signaling her to put down the spittoon.

Then, he took the decoction from her hand and drank it in one gulp.

It was bitter.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Jiang Lian sincerely thanked Zhou Wan.

Zhou Wan smiled lightly. While helping him lie down, she said, “What are you talking about? I don’t mind doing anything as long as you get better.”

After covering him with a quilt, she was about to leave when Jiang Lian grabbed her wrist.

“Wan’er, I’ve been a burden to you all these years.”

Jiang Lian’s voice was rough from coughing, and it was clear his health wasn’t good.

“My body… ahem… I know it myself. But I don’t know how long I have left…”

“Husband, please don’t say such depressing things.”

She had heard too many of these words, and it was getting tiring.

But Jiang Lian didn’t seem to hear her. He looked up at the roof and said, “I know you married me. I feel like I’ve wronged you. The Jiang family feels sorry for you…”

“Husband, stop saying such things. I married you willingly. Please don’t talk like that anymore. The physician said your health is getting better day by day.”

Zhou Wan said this with a calm look on her face.

“Tomorrow is the fifteenth day. Mother said she would go to the Temple of the Reclining Buddha to pray for blessings. I think the Buddha will help you.”

The Temple of the Reclining Buddha…

When Jiang Lian heard this, he couldn’t help but sneer. How could his mother pray to Buddha to help him?

“Cough cough cough…”

Thinking about it, he coughed again.

Zhou Wan hurriedly comforted him.

After she left the room, Zhou Wan breathed a sigh of relief.

When would Jiang Lian’s health improve?

Was her dream… still accurate?

In her dream, when she was seventeen, she received a marriage proposal from the Jiang family. She thought she was marrying Jiang Huai and was thrilled.

But then, she ended up marrying Jiang Huai’s older brother, Jiang Lian, a sickly man.

She didn’t want to accept this, so she gave up all her pride as a lady and caused trouble for both the Jiang family and Jiang Lian.

Later, Jiang Lian got tired of her, so he sent her back to the Zhou family with a letter and some money.

But since she had been married before, things got complicated during the marriage talks. In the end, she had to marry a low-ranking official, who was of first or sixth rank, as her stepmother.

Fortunately, Jiang Lian’s health had been improving…

Many things in her dream came true. So when the Jiang family sent a matchmaker to propose to her, even though she knew she was marrying Jiang Lian, she didn’t reveal that she had already married someone else.

This way, she could still make Jiang Lian feel guilty toward her.

Things went as she expected. She married Jiang Lian, and he felt guilty for her.

But she couldn’t remember when Jiang Lian’s health had gotten better in her dream.

She didn’t know how long she would have to serve this man.

_

The Mid-Autumn Festival has arrived in the middle of the month as promised.

Today is the day when Mrs. Jiang and her family go to the Temple of the Reclining Buddha to offer incense and fulfill their vows.

Although many things happened during the first two days, it ultimately ended without major trouble.

Siqing and the child are safe.

Overall, for Mrs. Jiang, it was simply the loss of Nanny Xu.

Nanny Xu had been just a servant. Although Mrs. Jiang felt sadness, she didn’t take it too seriously.

Thus, even with a planned wish, she couldn’t give up just because of it.

Going out of the city to pray and fulfill vows is a rare opportunity for women from high-ranking families to travel, so the atmosphere is inevitably cheerful.

Especially Jiang Xi, who pulled Zhou Wan and happily chatted.

However, Xu Lianqiao didn’t want to go at all.

She didn’t feel that the Buddha was watching over her here.

And… she didn’t really want to visit the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.

Unfortunately, with her current situation, she had no choice but to comply.

She gritted her teeth and stamped her feet.

But when she reluctantly followed Mrs. Jiang out the gate, she unexpectedly saw Jiang Huai, wearing a dark blue round-neck robe, rushing toward her anxiously.

However, before he could reach her, Mrs. Jiang stopped him.

“Huai’er, your body is not fully healed yet. What are you doing here?”

Ning Yuan glanced at Xu Lianqiao and, after bowing, responded seriously to Mrs. Jiang:

“Since my mother is fulfilling her vow for me, how can I not accompany her?”

Although it is usually women in the household who handle such tasks, Jiang Huai spoke without hesitation.

After hearing this, Mrs. Jiang had no rebuttal and could only agree with a nod.

After arranging the carriages, Ning Yuan stepped forward, grabbed Xu Lianqiao’s sleeve, pulled her to his side, and continued speaking to Mrs. Jiang:

“Since you want to take Ji Yu with you, then Qiao and I can take a carriage. This way, mother can travel more comfortably.”

With a polite bow to Mrs. Jiang, he helped Xu Lianqiao into the last parked carriage.

Mrs. Jiang, momentarily caught off guard, had originally planned to make Xu Lianqiao and Ji Yu ride with her, to give Xu Lianqiao a bumpy ride.

But she didn’t expect her plans to be disrupted like this.

Ji Yu, who was standing beside her, also couldn’t help but look disappointed when she saw Jiang Huai helping Xu Lianqiao into the carriage.

It wasn’t until Xu Lianqiao was inside that Ji Yu realized Jiang Huai had called her “Ah Qiao.”

How long had it been since anyone called her that?

Ning Yuan couldn’t bear Xu Lianqiao’s questioning gaze. When their eyes met, he remembered the dreams he’d had last night.

Who could understand the embarrassment he felt when he woke up this morning?

“Didn’t I say yesterday that you don’t have to go if you don’t want to?”

He knew what the Temple of the Reclining Buddha meant to Xu Lianqiao, so he didn’t want her to revisit painful memories.

Seeing Jiang Huai’s caring words, Xu Lianqiao felt awkward and looked away.

After pulling herself out of her sadness, she slowly replied:

“Actually… it’s not a big deal.”

It was just that her father, according to rumors, had been a monk at the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.

Other than that, it wasn’t really important.

Ning Yuan was always patient with Xu Lianqiao. Noticing that she didn’t want to discuss the past, he didn’t press her further.

He didn’t trouble her throughout the journey.

However, Xu Lianqiao knew that he was still paying attention to her.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have given her water when she was thirsty, pastries when she was hungry, or even a piece of ginger when she felt sick from the bumpy ride.

Such Jiang Huai…

Xu Lianqiao felt unfamiliar with him,

but it was undeniable that she also felt at ease.

She almost despised herself for feeling this way.

_

They set out at Chen o’clock^[1]a time around 7-9 AM. and arrived at the Temple of the Reclining Buddha just in time.

Xu Lianqiao initially thought this was just a regular temple visit.

However, she saw several carriages stopping next to theirs…

The people in these carriages began to get out.

Xu Lianqiao realized they were from the Wei Mansion.