Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The message the servant brought was that something had gone wrong with the business, and he couldn’t get away.

I went to the prayer hall and spent the day keeping my mother-in-law company.

She had not involved herself in household affairs for a long time. Before I married into the family, everything in the residence had been managed by my father-in-law’s Concubine Fang.

Perhaps because both of us came from humble beginnings, my mother-in-law had always treated me well.

This time, when I returned, she showed no surprise. She only stroked my face gently and said, “You’ve grown thinner.”

I forced back the sting in my eyes and nodded. “I can put the weight back on.”

That evening, my mother-in-law had the servants prepare a vegetarian meal, along with a nourishing medicinal soup made from precious herbs.

She turned the prayer beads between her fingers and watched me eat, then sighed. “You and I were once very much alike.”

On the first day I married into the family, my father-in-law had said the same thing. He said I resembled my mother-in-law when she was young-not in appearance, but in temperament.

There was nostalgia hidden in the way he looked at me, and he was especially lenient with me. When I had first started managing the household and made mistakes, he never blamed me.

Sometimes I would see him staring absentmindedly in the direction of the prayer hall, but he would never go to see my mother-in-law.

She was the same.

I rarely saw her meet with my father-in-law. They were like strangers living under the same roof.

I hadn’t understood it back then. When I asked Jiang Chengning, he would only give vague answers and refuse to explain in detail. Every time I brought it up, he would hold me tightly and say that he and I must never become like his parents.

My mother-in-law asked me, “Will things still be the same as before?”

I shook my head. “Being courteous and respectful, like Father-in-law and Mother-in-law, is fine too.”

A crisp shattering sound came from the doorway.

I looked toward the noise and saw half a jade hairpin lying broken on the floor.

Above it was Jiang Chengning’s stunned face.

Chapter 7

After leaving the prayer hall, Jiang Chengning did not say a single word to me.

I followed him quietly back to our courtyard.

The moment we stepped inside, he turned and shut the door, blocking all the servants outside.

With one hand pressed against the door, he seized my wrist with the other.

“Being courteous and respectful like my parents is fine too?”

His grip was strong. My wrist hurt a little.

I frowned, and heard him take a deep breath. “I know you were wronged by being kept in prison for a month. It’s normal for you to be angry. But you shouldn’t joke about our relationship. How could what we have possibly be like my parents?”

I didn’t understand. “What’s wrong with the way your parents are? They each live their own lives in peace. Both of them seem quite comfortable.”

“But they…”

Jiang Chengning’s tone was a little anxious. “How are they still like husband and wife? They’re worse than strangers. Is that what you want us to become?”

I met his gaze. “Then do you want me to keep managing you the way I used to?”

Hesitation crossed his face.

I continued, “But that made me miserable. And you couldn’t treat Lady Jiang openly either. All three of us suffered, didn’t we?”

He seemed so angry he laughed. “Now you’re being considerate of her?”

I threw his own words back at him. “She’s a woman making a living alone out there. It isn’t easy.”

Jiang Chengning clenched his jaw and stared straight at me. “Fine. Since you’re so concerned about her, we’ll bring her into the residence another day. That way, the child in her belly can have a proper status too!”

I froze.

Jiang Ying was pregnant.

Jiang Chengning seemed to take pleasure from my reaction. He released me, his tone cooling. “But if you mind, I can also have her child gotten rid of. As an outside mistress, she shouldn’t have a child before the legitimate wife in the first place…”

“All right.”

I agreed, and his voice cut off abruptly.

I repeated myself. “All right. Bring her in.”

At last, he reacted. His lips trembled slightly. “Liang Jixue, did you just say… all right?”