Chapter 4

Chapter 4

He narrowed his eyes at me.

“You… mean that?”

I nodded. “Of course. After a month in prison, I’ve thought it through. In the Jiang Family, my in-laws favor me and the servants support me. My life is already better than most people’s. I shouldn’t force you to lose the woman you love and leave everyone exhausted in body and mind.”

Jiang Chengning’s brows drew tight. “The one I love is you.”

I froze for a moment, then answered, “All right. You love me.”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Are you still angry with me?”

I denied it sincerely. “I’m truly not. I cherish my days as Young Madam Jiang now. From here on out, I won’t restrain you anymore. Do whatever you want.”

He studied me. “You won’t be unhappy?”

I tilted my head slightly and looked back at him. “Wasn’t the whole point of making me leave for over a month to help me understand all this?”

His gaze flickered, and he instinctively avoided my eyes.

I did not expose his guilty conscience, nor did I point out just how much of a hand he had in the reasons and circumstances behind my imprisonment.

At least there was one thing he had said right.

Given my current situation, I still could not leave the Jiang Family.

Compared to the dangers outside, life in the Jiang Family was safe, privileged, and comfortable.

As long as I no longer depended on or loved Jiang Chengning, the rest of my life would be peaceful and unharmed.

And to the current me, losing my dependence on him and my love for him could hardly be considered a loss at all.

A fish losing feathers. A bird losing scales. Me losing Jiang Chengning.

All of them things that were never necessary to begin with.

“Ah Ning, I really have thought it through. Don’t worry. I won’t make you suffer like before, torn between two sides.”

I spoke with such sincerity, yet Jiang Chengning looked at me as if I were a stranger. He should have been happy. The corners of his mouth tugged upward, but he could not manage a smile.

He took my hand and pressed it to his cheek, then turned his head and kissed it lightly. In a murmur, he said, “It’s good that you’ve come around.”

Warmth seeped into my palm. This gesture of intimacy, so familiar in the past, now filled me with an indescribable discomfort.

It was as if a swarm of ants were crawling from my palm all over my body.

The revulsion was so intense that I immediately pulled my hand away.

Jiang Chengning was startled.

To cover it up, I raised a hand to my lips and yawned. “I’m still a little tired, Ah Ning. I want to rest some more.”

He began taking off his outer robe. “I’ll stay with you.”

A trace of irritation rose in my chest.

Just then, a voice came from outside. It was his page. “Young Master, someone is causing trouble at the opera troupe in the south of the city. The troupe master asks that you go over.”

Jiang Ying’s courtyard was in the south of the city. She came from an opera troupe and performed dan roles.

Jiang Chengning’s fingers paused on the buttons of his robe.

I urged him, “Go. Proper business comes first.”

Jiang Chengning turned his head and snapped coldly, “Get out. If I have to handle everything myself, what use are any of you?”

The page hurriedly withdrew.

Jiang Chengning turned back and said gently to me, “Sleep. I’ll stay with you.”

He held me in his arms, and just as we had once done, we fell asleep embracing each other.

Very early the next morning, he got up. Thinking I was still asleep, he lowered his voice and asked the servants, “What happened over there?”

The servant answered in an equally low voice, “Lady Jiang fainted last night. The physician took her pulse and said…”

The last few words were spoken so softly that I did not hear them.

After the sound of his hurried footsteps faded away, everything fell silent.