Chapter 25
Jiang Yi brought over the hair dryer, intending to dry her hair, but when she plugged it in, it did not move at all.
Was it broken?
She checked the plug and the switch, but it still would not work. Frowning, Jiang Yi gave it a few taps before setting it down and heading outside.
Eldest Aunt’s room was also on the second floor, though it was rather far away.
Jiang Yi knocked on her door.
“Eldest Aunt, the hair dryer in my room is broken. Do you have a spare one I could borrow?”
“Wait a moment. I’ll get it for you. I remember there being one inside.”
Jiang Yi waited outside for more than ten seconds before Eldest Aunt returned, rubbing her hands together apologetically.
“Jiang Yi, look at my memory. That aunt’s daughter came over and borrowed it just now.”
“I understand. I’ll ask someone else.”
Eldest Aunt nodded.
“All right. Doesn’t your Auntie Shen live next door to her? Ask her.”
Jiang Yi’s expression stiffened slightly.
“No need. Someone else will have one.”
Eldest Aunt did not know about their situation and thought of another possibility.
“Are you afraid of her? Let me tell you, even though your Auntie Shen’s family owns a company, she won’t give you a hard time for no reason. You’re still her niece, after all. Come on, I’ll go with you to borrow it. It’s hardly a big deal.”
As she spoke, Eldest Aunt took Jiang Yi by the hand and led her toward Shen Siyun’s room.
When Jiang Yi tried to refuse, she was even told, “You’re already grown up. Why are you still afraid of something like this?”
“…”
Jiang Yi truly had grievances she could not voice.
“Eldest Aunt…”
The sight of the door filled Jiang Yi with resistance.
Only a little over an hour ago, she and Song Rao had both given Shen Siyun the cold shoulder. There was no chance that woman would lend her a hair dryer now.
The door opened.
A tall figure stood inside, backlit and indistinct. The jasmine fragrance of body wash drifted from her.
“Little Auntie, the hair dryer in my niece’s room is broken. She wants to borrow yours for a while.”
Jiang Yi raised her head.
Shen Siyun was also drying her hair.
“Eldest Aunt, she needs it too. I’ll ask someone else.”
“Look at you, walking around in nothing but pajamas. There are plenty of male relatives here too. Don’t let anyone see you like that,” Eldest Aunt said disapprovingly.
“Come inside and dry it.”
Shen Siyun’s gaze swept over the silky slip dress Jiang Yi wore. She moved slightly aside to let them enter.
“I won’t go in. Jiang Yi, spend some time talking with your Auntie Shen.”
Leaving those words behind, Eldest Aunt turned and walked away.
Jiang Yi stood awkwardly in place.
After considering it, she turned to leave.
“I’ll borrow one from someone else. I won’t disturb Auntie Shen.”
Shen Siyun immediately gave a mocking laugh.
“Are you afraid of me, or do you think I’m so petty that I’ll make things difficult for you? Jiang Yi, when did you become such a coward?”
Jiang Yi stopped and looked at her calmly.
“This has nothing to do with cowardice. I’m a married woman now. Do you understand the need to avoid suspicion?”
Inside their room, Song Rao emerged after washing up and did not see Jiang Yi.
Her phone was still on the table. Jiang Yi generally never went anywhere without it.
After thinking for a moment, Song Rao went outside to look for her.
The moment she stepped out, she saw Jiang Yi standing before the neighboring room.
Shen Siyun stood across from her as Jiang Yi said, “This has nothing to do with cowardice. I’m a married woman now. Do you understand the need to avoid suspicion?”
Song Rao walked over.
“What happened?”
Seeing her approach, Jiang Yi visibly relaxed.
“Song Rao, you’re here. The hair dryer broke, and Eldest Aunt told me to borrow hers. But she wanted me to go inside and dry my hair, so I refused.”
After hearing Jiang Yi’s explanation, Song Rao looked at Shen Siyun with a rather subtle expression.
“Auntie Shen and my wife should keep an appropriate distance from each other.”
Song Rao wrapped an arm around Jiang Yi’s shoulders.
“Especially after what happened today. I imagine Auntie Shen doesn’t want to embarrass herself in front of so many friends and relatives either.”
“Song Rao, very good.”
Shen Siyun slammed the door shut.
“Jiang Yi, go back to our room first. I’ll borrow one for you,” Song Rao’s voice came from outside.
Hypocrite!
Shen Siyun stood behind the door with her arms folded, glaring at it.
Xin Wenyue came upstairs from the first-floor hall carrying a small plate of fruit. She pretended to pass Jiang Yi and Song Rao with perfect seriousness.
Then she pushed open Shen Siyun’s door.
Seeing Shen Siyun standing behind it with an indescribable expression, Xin Wenyue was in an excellent mood. She held the fruit out in front of her.
“Would you like some?”
Shen Siyun did not even spare her a glance before turning and walking farther into the room.
Song Rao returned after borrowing a hair dryer.
By the time Jiang Yi finished drying her hair, it was already ten at night.
The two prepared to sleep.
“I’m turning off the light, Jiang Yi.”
“Go ahead.”
Lying on one side of the bed, Jiang Yi yawned.
“All right.”
With a click, the room fell into darkness.
Wearing gray long-sleeved pajamas and trousers, Song Rao walked to the bed, lifted one corner of the blanket, and lay down.
But as she settled in, something hard dug into her.
She frowned in confusion and reached toward her lower back.
A rectangular object was caught beneath the hem of her top.
Song Rao pulled it free and held it up in the faint moonlight, but she could not make out what it was.
She turned it over.
The moonlight reflected off its glossy surface.
Glossy…
It could only be that shiny clip.
“What is it?”
Jiang Yi looked over.
Seeing something in Song Rao’s hand, she was about to reach out from under the blanket and touch it.
But Song Rao put it away.
“It’s nothing. Go to sleep.”
A trace of doubt passed through Jiang Yi’s mind.
“All right.”
Early the next morning, the people in Second Great-Uncle’s household woke at five or six and began bustling around the courtyard, preparing food and arranging everything needed to welcome the bride.
Although they deliberately kept their voices low for the sake of the elderly guests, Jiang Yi was still inevitably awakened.
“Don’t you want to sleep a little longer?”
Song Rao noticed her tossing and turning before finally getting up to wash.
Jiang Yi walked to the bedside table and picked up her fully charged phone.
When she pressed the button, the screen’s glow illuminated her delicate, fair cheeks, lending them a gentle warmth.
“It’s almost six.”
Because her home was close to the office, she had not woken this early in quite some time.
“Then I’ll get up too and see whether there’s anything we can help with.”
Song Rao switched on the light and walked to the window.
The first floor and courtyard were brightly lit. Beyond the mansion gates, a long road stretched all the way into the forest.
The faint light of dawn could be seen among the trees. The air was filled with the fresh, green fragrance of the forest in the early morning.
After washing up, the two went downstairs to look around. Eldest Aunt happened to be awake too.
“Why didn’t the two of you sleep longer? It’s still early,” Eldest Aunt said.
“We came down to see whether there was anything we could help with.”
Jiang Yi glanced at Song Rao beside her.
Eldest Aunt laughed.
“All right, all right. Even I can’t help with much, let alone you two. The wedding customs on your Second Great-Uncle’s side are different from ours, and there are many rules. We’d better not interfere. If we accidentally bring them bad luck, we’ll only cause trouble instead of helping.”
Then she added, “Song Rao, if you truly have nothing to do, you can go teach that aunt’s daughter for a while. Her mother said she has a monthly examination next week. Any little bit you can teach will help. She talked to me all night yesterday and was extremely satisfied with you.”
Song Rao considered it briefly before agreeing.
“All right. We’ll go after breakfast.”
At eight in the morning, Second Great-Uncle led a group out to collect the bride.
The remaining relatives and friends gathered in groups of two or three and headed toward Tuli Yun Lake, about seven or eight hundred meters away.
Because the road had to remain clear for Second Great-Uncle’s wedding procession to reach the lakeside, everyone else had to walk instead of driving.
Seeing that it was time, Jiang Yi went to the aunt’s daughter’s room to call Song Rao and tell her to come downstairs so they could leave.
As she ascended the spiral staircase, she happened to encounter Shen Siyun and Xin Wenyue preparing to come down.
The two were almost the same height.
Shen Siyun wore a long, fitted black dress that outlined every curve, with a Chanel black blazer in soft fabric over it. A gold interlocking double-C logo adorned the chest. The tailoring was precise, and the sleeves reached the backs of her hands, revealing only half of her long, porcelain-white fingers.
Five silver buttons on either side of the blazer kept it from appearing too mature. A black-and-gold chain circled her waist like a belt, one end hanging lazily with a coin-sized golden charm.
Perhaps Shen Siyun particularly favored gold, because her earrings were golden as well. As she descended the staircase, she resembled an elegant wealthy lady making a public appearance, her understated luxury carrying a touch of relaxed ease.
Xin Wenyue beside her was no less striking.
The moment Xin Wenyue saw Jiang Yi, she reached out to stop her and smiled.
“Little Niece, I seem to have lost two shiny all-purpose clips. Have you happened to see them? I visited your room last night, and your wife entertained me.”
Xin Wenyue’s true intention was to stir up a crisis of trust between the couple.
After all, something like a hair clip could be considered rather personal. If it was found in a married woman’s room, the situation would become nearly impossible to explain.
However, Jiang Yi’s expression changed instantly, her face turning cold.
“Miss Xin, are you accusing my wife of taking your things? Do you have evidence? If you don’t, do you understand that you shouldn’t slander people carelessly?
“My wife is a professor. She has status, dignity, and no shortage of money. Why would she covet one of your clips? If you have no evidence, apologize to her.”
Xin Wenyue was directly rebuked into silence.
Her mouth opened, but she suddenly discovered that she had no way to answer.
Shen Siyun could not bear to look at her foolish expression and was about to leave when she met Jiang Yi’s questioning, mocking gaze.
“It seems Auntie Shen’s friend is nothing special either. She actually uses the same despicable tactics as Auntie Shen. You’ve truly broadened my horizons.”
“…”
For the first time, Shen Siyun felt like a dog walking peacefully along the road only to be kicked for no reason.
She was completely innocent!
“I have never used such despicable methods.”
Shen Siyun composed herself. On such an auspicious day, she did not want to argue with Jiang Yi.
“Has Auntie Shen threatened, coerced, and made things difficult for others so rarely? It’s only been a few days, and you’ve already forgotten? What impressive methods.”
Jiang Yi mocked her without mercy.
Under Xin Wenyue’s probing gaze, Shen Siyun remembered.
Jiang Yi was referring to the incident when she had hidden inside the wardrobe.
She had indeed threatened and made things difficult for her.
The two remarks stabbed Shen Siyun so sharply that her expression turned ugly, and she had no way to defend herself.
In the end, Song Rao’s arrival broke the standoff.
Song Rao emerged from the second floor, saw the three women at the staircase, and asked what had happened.
Jiang Yi brushed past the other two and walked over to link arms with Song Rao.
“Nothing. Someone tried to throw dirty water on you. After I refuted her, they couldn’t save face and probably felt embarrassed.”
“Let’s go. Eldest Aunt is waiting for us.”
Song Rao smiled gently.
“All right.”
The two walked past the women standing halfway down the staircase without sparing them a single glance.
They went downstairs, met up with Eldest Aunt, and departed for Tuli Yun Lake.
Xin Wenyue and Shen Siyun remained there for a long time, unable to calm down.
It felt exactly as though two dogs by the roadside had been kicked for absolutely no reason.
Worse, they had no justification to kick back.
It was infuriating!
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