Chapter 125: So Much Like Her in the Past

Lu Fengzhou certainly did not believe Qiao Jiu’s nonsense, but he still laughed. “You should have said so earlier. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have come home tonight.”

Qiao Jiu gave a little hum. “Then why don’t you come over now?”

Lu Fengzhou lowered his voice. “You think I don’t dare?”

He did dare, and Qiao Jiu knew it perfectly well. She did not want to continue down that path, so she changed the subject. “Why are you still awake this late?”

Lu Fengzhou imitated her tone from earlier. “I can’t sleep. I miss you.”

Qiao Jiu did not believe his nonsense either, but she cooperated by laughing softly.

Not knowing that she was outside, and seeing that it was already late, Lu Fengzhou reminded her to go to bed early.

Qiao Jiu hummed twice, then glanced back at Jiang Qingchen’s mother. “All right. I’m going to sleep now.”

After hanging up, she walked over to the hospital bed and carefully examined the woman lying there.

Jiang Qingchen did not look much like his mother. Perhaps it was because of the injuries on her face, but there was something painfully tragic about her appearance, and she looked thoroughly dispirited.

Qiao Jiu sat down beside the bed and casually scrolled through her phone.

She did not know what thought had stirred inside her, but her fingers paused on the screen. A moment later, she switched to a local gossip forum.

This time, she searched directly for gossip about the Jiang family. The scandal that had once engulfed them had caused quite a stir, and for a long while it had been the favorite subject of conversation among the upper classes.

The articles appeared immediately. They were all old reports, exposed back when the affair had been at its height.

Qiao Jiu skimmed through several of them before her gaze stopped on one particular piece.

There was a photograph attached to the article. It had been taken outside the gates of the Jiang family’s old residence, where a man and a woman were grappling with each other.

The Jiang family’s story was straight out of a melodrama. The Jiang family’s eldest master was notorious for his womanizing and had no shortage of women outside the home. His wife, the principal madam of the household, had usually turned a blind eye.

But one of those women, whether because she had been favored or because she was particularly calculating, had actually given birth to a child.

The principal madam could tolerate her husband playing around with other women, but she absolutely could not tolerate him having another child.

Thus, the anger she had accumulated over many years erupted all at once.

Though she was ordinarily easygoing, when her temper truly flared, no one could restrain her.

The eldest master might have been a libertine, but he was not foolish. He had no intention of destroying his current family for the sake of a woman outside it.

So as soon as the affair came to light, he made his position clear: he would return to his family and sever all ties with the woman outside.

Naturally, that woman refused to accept it. She took her child to the Jiang family’s old residence to demand an explanation.

The commotion had been enormous. Qiao Jiu had still been young at the time and had not paid attention to such matters, but she had nevertheless ended up hearing the entire story by accident.

She enlarged the photograph in the article and studied it carefully. Her brow slowly furrowed.

She hurriedly turned to look at the woman on the hospital bed, then set her phone beside her for comparison.

Perhaps her eyes were playing tricks on her in the middle of the night, but why did the woman in the bed look a little like the woman in the photograph on her phone?

Qiao Jiu drew in a breath. Then she thought of Jiang Qingchen’s appearance. He did resemble the Jiang family’s youngest son.

She was still comparing the two women when the hospital room door was pushed open.

Startled, Qiao Jiu quickly put away her phone. Jiang Qingchen had returned rather quickly. He had changed clothes and appeared to have washed up as well.

The moment he entered, he thanked her. Qiao Jiu nodded. “It’s nothing.”

After a moment’s hesitation, she asked, “I heard the doctor say earlier that your aunt had been stabbed. Did something happen to you?”

Jiang Qingchen sat down beside the bed with his lips pressed together. “No.”

Qiao Jiu continued, “If nothing else, you should report it to the police. They’ll help you.”

Jiang Qingchen shook his head, his expression somewhat complicated.

Seeing his attitude, Qiao Jiu could not say anything more. She stayed and kept him company for a while before getting up to leave.

Jiang Qingchen walked her to the elevator. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly asked, “I’ve seen the news about you before. After your family fortune was taken from you, were you willing to accept it?”

Qiao Jiu did not know why the conversation had turned to her, but she answered seriously, “No.”

Jiang Qingchen kept his gaze fixed ahead as he murmured, almost to himself, “And what could you do about it? You couldn’t beat them.”

Qiao Jiu more or less understood what he meant. “That may not be true.”

She raised her hand and patted him on the arm. “It depends on whether you have the will to fight.”

The elevator doors opened. Qiao Jiu turned and stepped inside, while Jiang Qingchen remained outside, staring straight at her.

…

The next morning, Qiao Jiu was awakened by knocking at the door. She knew who it was without having to think.

Still bleary-eyed, she staggered over and opened it.

Lu Fengzhou stood outside. Seeing that she had not yet gotten up, he looked slightly surprised. “Do you know what time it is?”

Qiao Jiu blocked the doorway. “What are you doing here?”

Lu Fengzhou was carrying breakfast. “Eating breakfast with you.”

With that, he pulled the door open, slipped inside, and walked straight toward the dining room.

Qiao Jiu looked back at him. She was not fully awake yet, but that did not stop a trace of mockery from appearing in her expression.

What was wrong with this man? Where had his former aloofness gone? It felt as though their positions had been reversed. The way he was acting now was exactly like the old her.

Yawning, Qiao Jiu went to the bathroom to wash up. By the time she came out, Lu Fengzhou had already set out the bowls and chopsticks.

She dropped into a chair. “You’re seriously frightening when you act like this. Why don’t you tell me the truth? What else do I have that you could possibly want?”

Lu Fengzhou’s expression froze. After several seconds of silence, he said, “I don’t want anything from you. Really.”

Qiao Jiu pursed her lips and picked up her chopsticks. “I also think that, as I am now, there isn’t much about me that you could find worth wanting.”

Lu Fengzhou looked at her without speaking. The relaxed expression he had worn when he entered was gone.

There was still a barrier between them. No matter how well they pretended not to mind, it failed them when it truly mattered.

Qiao Jiu had not slept enough and barely ate anything.

When she was more or less finished, she stretched and headed toward the bedroom. “Make yourself at home. I’m going back to sleep for a while.”

She had not returned home until well past midnight, and she had spent the night thinking herself into a dozen knots. Now she was exhausted.

Lu Fengzhou said nothing, but he did not leave.

Qiao Jiu went back to her room and burrowed beneath the covers. Just as she was drifting off, she heard the door open. Lu Fengzhou came in.

She curled up with her eyes closed and showed no reaction at all.

Lu Fengzhou walked to the bed and sat down, letting out a sigh.

After a while, he took off his shoes and climbed onto the bed, leaning against the headboard.

Qiao Jiu thought about it for a moment, then moved closer and wrapped her arms around his waist.

Lu Fengzhou stroked her hair. Several seconds later, he said, “I’ve released Zhao Shuo. He’s in the hospital now. The Zhao family only hired a caregiver to stay with him; none of them have gone to see him.”

Qiao Jiu paused. “The Zhao family isn’t taking care of him anymore?”

“It’s not that they’re refusing to take care of him,” Lu Fengzhou said. “At least the caregiver was hired by the Zhao family. It’s more accurate to say they’re completely disappointed in him.”

After a long pause, he suddenly added, “Zhao Shuo’s room is very close to Zhou Qingqing’s. I heard the two of them ran into each other last night. It wasn’t a pretty sight.”

Qiao Jiu opened her eyes at once. “Did they fight?”

“Not exactly.” Lu Fengzhou said, “Neither of them is in any condition to put up a fight. One is in a wheelchair, and the other can’t even get out of bed. They couldn’t very well hit each other.”

Zhou Qingqing was in slightly better shape. She had wanted to make a move, but she had her own reservations.