Chapter 2

Xu Lianqiao had wanted to say this for a long time, and she had been holding it in her heart for a year.

Since Jiang Huai hates her so much, why should they stay connected? She would have given up her position earlier so he could marry the woman he likes.

“What did you say?”

When Jiang Huai said this, Xu Lianqiao clearly felt the coldness on his fingertips.

It was the kind of chill that went deep into her bones.

Jiang Huai thought he heard it wrong. He couldn’t believe she was saying these words. 

He couldn’t believe that after all the effort she put into marrying him, she was now talking about ending things so easily.

She could get married if she wanted, and divorced if she didn’t.

Did she think he, Jiang Huai, was like a street vendor?

She could just choose whenever she liked.

“Hmph.” He sneered.

Jiang Huai stared at her. Her face was so small that he could control it with one hand. Her face was also very clear, and even in the dark, he could see her breathing heavily and the pink tint on her face.

He tilted her head and forced Xu Lianqiao to look at him.

The air was tense. After a long pause, he finally spoke:

“Xu Lianqiao, you are dreaming.”

It wasn’t Xu Lianqiao’s place to control Jiang Huai.

“You think too highly of yourself. If you want to leave Jiang Mansion, you have two choices: One, you die, or two, my son asks for a divorce.”

Heli^[1]refers to a divorce or separation in traditional Chinese contexts, specifically a formal divorce where the couple part ways but maintains a level of respect, often without further conflict.!

She was just an orphan, with no family to support her. If anyone knew he was agreeing with her, it would ruin the reputation of the Xuanwu Marquis Mansion.

Jiang Huai thought that after saying this, Xu Lianqiao would give up the idea.

But instead, she just lowered her head and thought for a while. When she looked up again, a faint smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

In fact, Xu Lianqiao knew that reconciling with Jiang Huai was impossible. With her background, marrying her had already embarrassed his family, let alone trying to fix things now.

“If you don’t want it, then I will ask Prince Jiang to send me a divorce letter formally tomorrow.”

“You…”

Seeing her calm and indifferent, Jiang Huai grew angry. He hated her “hard-to-get” attitude, and he also hated himself for still caring about her.

The hand on Xu Lianqiao’s chin moved down and started to pinch her neck.

Pain and suffocation came over her, and Xu Lianqiao weakly tried to pull his hand away, fighting his deadly grip.

Even though the night was dark, Jiang Huai’s deep eyes were still visible under his furrowed brow, like he saw her as his enemy.

She didn’t want to leave Jiang Mansion like this.

“Jiang… Jiang, if.. you..killing…”

She tried to speak, but the words “You must pay with your life” got stuck in her throat. Suddenly, a thunderclap echoed outside.

It really was going to rain.

Because of her struggles or the thunder, Xu Lianqiao felt the strength on her neck start to lessen.

Finally, she lost her strength from fear. When Jiang Huai fully released her, she collapsed to the ground, covering her chest and gasping for air.

“Cough, cough, cough…”

As the warm air filled her lungs, she slowly recovered.

When Xu Lianqiao was finally able to breathe again, Jiang Huai was gone, leaving only the door swinging in the night wind.

Ill.

She cursed Jiang Huai secretly, but still felt scared. This was the first time she had seen such a cruel side of him.

Thinking about how her husband might have killed her because of Lu Siqing or Yu Siqing, Xu Lianqiao became even more determined to leave Jiang Mansion.

–

Sleepless Night

Xu Lianqiao lay in bed at night, unable to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she remembered the suffocating feeling she had just experienced. The sound of heavy rain outside her house made things worse. She had a headache.

By morning, Xu Lianqiao was sitting in front of the mirror, her eyes dark from lack of sleep.

She looked strange in the mirror, with her messy hair and pale lips.

She thought back to the night before she married into the Jiang family, sitting alone in front of the mirror. 

At that time, she didn’t know how to feel. Eight years ago, Jiang Huai had saved her, and even though they hadn’t seen each other in those years, she felt she should marry him out of respect for the kindness he’d shown her. 

She never expected that their marriage would turn out like the stories where everything was perfect. She only hoped that they would respect each other. But instead…

It seemed that God never fulfilled her wish.

In the end, she was always alone.

As she thought more, tears started to blur her vision, and a few drops fell onto her wrist.

She wasn’t the type to cry often, but everything happening lately had made it hard for her to hold back.

She usually didn’t like crying.

She wiped her tears with her soft cotton skirt, which made her feel a bit sore.

Looking in the mirror, she noticed the marks under her eyes from crying.

She covered her eyes with her hands to try to relieve the tiredness.

She paused for a moment, and the more she thought about things, the more frustrated she felt. She stomped her feet in anger, wishing she could release some of it.

Sometimes, she wondered if she should just become like her father and not care what others thought. But looking at her long black hair, she felt too attached to it.

She sat quietly for a while, thinking.

After a while, she stopped crying and thought it would be best to try to sleep. Just as she was about to lie down, she heard someone outside the door.

“Xu Lianqiao, Xu Lianqiao.”

Then, she heard the door to the yard being kicked open.

Soon, Jiang Xi’s angry footsteps approached.

“Xu Lianqiao, come out and face me. Don’t you care? If you hurt Siqing and my brother’s child, you won’t be afraid of what will happen to you later! You’ll end up in hell!”

When no one answered, Jiang Xi’s temper flared. She cursed loudly:

“You’re useless. You just can’t stand to see others happy. You’re so jealous and cruel!”

Xu Lianqiao didn’t respond. She was still slowly brushing her hair, and she could hear every word Jiang Xi was saying.

She wasn’t surprised by her anger; she had heard this kind of talk many times before. It didn’t bother her much anymore.

She felt like no one really cared for her, not even the person who had left her without saying goodbye.

Sometimes she wondered if she was as bad as others said, and if she was the cause of all the problems between Jiang Huai and the people he loved.

Xu Lianqiao wasn’t surprised that Jiang Xi came to blame her for what happened with Lu Siqing. After all, Lu Siqing is the daughter of Jiang Huai’s nanny, and they had all grown up together.

But Xu Lianqiao never understood how much Jiang Huai actually liked Lu Siqing. After all, he had many concubines, including Lu Siqing, and a fourth one was coming soon.

Xu Lianqiao put down her comb, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She told herself not to get angry, because it would only hurt her more.

She applied lipstick while thinking that Jiang Xi would probably continue yelling at her when she got no response.

Sure enough, she didn’t stop:

“My mother says you’re bad luck. You ruined your father’s life, made your mother remarry, and now you’re ruining ours…”

Jiang Xi really didn’t understand. She couldn’t see why her grandfather had made Xu Lianqiao marry into the family, just for a joke from over 20 years ago.

As she spoke, Jiang Xi approached the door and was about to kick it open when the door suddenly opened from the inside.

Xu Lianqiao stood there, wearing a simple bamboo-colored ruqiao^[2]is a traditional Chinese garment, often worn for formal occasions.. She had very little makeup on, just some rouge on her lips, but she still looked taller and more imposing than Jiang Xi.

In her mind, she was just a plain orphan girl with no value.

She puffed up his chest, trying to seem more important.

“Hey, I thought you were deaf.”

Xu Lianqiao didn’t want to argue. She was tired and just gave her a tired, indifferent look.

Jiang Xi was a spoiled 16-year-old girl with a cocky attitude. In a nice way, she could be called naive, but in a harsher way, she was bossy.

But Jiang Xi was the only daughter of the powerful Xuanwu Marquis Mansion, so it was natural she acted this way.

If Xu Lianqiao had her position, she might have acted the same way.

“I wonder if Miss Jiang has any advice?” Xu Lianqiao spoke softly, so softly it felt like Jiang Xi was punching cotton.

Jiang Xi was furious, but before she could respond, Xu Lianqiao interrupted:

“Don’t worry, Miss Jiang. You’ll be rid of me when your brother comes back. You won’t have to see me anymore.”

Although divorce wasn’t something to be proud of, Xu Lianqiao thought that mentioning it would force Jiang Huai to do something, whether out of guilt or obligation.

Jiang Xi didn’t know how to respond at first.

Before she could, the sound of hurried footsteps interrupted them.

Grandma, the steward of the Marquis Mansion, ran in, sweating from the heat.

“Miss, Miss, something’s wrong! The prince has fallen…”

The steward seemed to ignore Xu Lianqiao and rushed to find Jiang Qin.

From the broken words, Xu Lianqiao understood that Jiang Huai was in danger and had collapsed.

It seemed like even Jiang Huai’s mother had fainted from the shock.

Xu Lianqiao suddenly felt wide awake and realized she couldn’t sleep anymore.

Is this…

Was this a sign from fate?