Chapter 125: Why Are You So Grudgeful, Lian Li?
“Quietly, you’re hugging a tree.”
Jin Shi Yue lowered his head to her shoulder and neck, his voice still lazy, “You told me to be careful on the road.”
Lian Li: “Be careful on the road.”
“Said see you next time.”
“See you next time.”
Jin Shi Yue: “Said you didn’t want me to leave.”
“I couldn’t say it.” Lian Li wasn’t indulging him anymore, “You said I was mute.”
Hearing this, Jin Shi Yue chuckled softly, “Why are you so resentful, Lian Li?”
“If you hadn’t said it, where would I get the resentment from?” Lian Li stated clearly.
The smile in Jin Shi Yue’s eyes deepened. He restrained himself from hugging her for long, releasing her after a minute.
Lian Li, as usual, saw him to the door, but not to the elevator hall, nor did she go downstairs.
She didn’t have strong feelings about partings, or about most things.
However, after seeing Jin Shi Yue off and returning to the house to eat hawthorn cake in the living room, she inexplicably felt the house was a bit empty.
So, Lian Li picked up the remote control and turned on the television to a lively program, and the house was once again filled with noise.
*
By the Rolls-Royce downstairs, Ling Yu took a can of candy from his pocket and was complaining to Li Ye.
“My brother argued with Miss Lian yesterday and left me here, asking me over a dozen questions.”
Li Ye found it strange that Ling Yu wasn’t beaten after answering over a dozen questions: “How did you answer them?”
“I answered them as you told me, that you two have the best relationship in the world, no one can compare, not even the eldest young master.”
Ling Yu popped a candy into his mouth and asked Li Ye if he wanted one.
Li Ye refused the candy and offered new advice: “Next time, just say Mr. Jin and Miss Lian are a perfect match.”
“Which Mr. Jin?” Ling Yu put the candy can back into his pocket.
Li Ye was different from Tao Su. Li Ye adopted the ‘gentle treatment’ and didn’t hit Ling Yu’s wooden head: “Our boss, the second young master.”
Ling Yu nodded as if he understood, indicating he had received the instruction.
After a moment, he began to lament that sending him to be a bodyguard for a girl was not his brother’s style.
Li Ye laughed at him, “You understand your boss’s style now?”
They chatted idly for a while.
Seeing a man with long legs striding slowly, Ling Yu jolted: “Brother is coming down!”
Li Ye immediately opened the car door, watching Jin Shi Yue slowly get into the back seat.
Li Ye walked around the back of the car to the driver’s seat and started the car.
The Jin Family was having a family dinner tonight, and the car drove all the way to a siheyuan deep in the hutong.
After passing through several checkpoints, Li Ye smoothly parked the car.
He glanced at the rearview mirror.
The man in the back seat leaned against the seat, a cigarette between his lips. He lit it, then held it in his hand, extending it out the open car window.
His fingers were slender and bony, like jade bamboo joints, with clear veins. On his lean wrist, he wore a custom wristwatch worth over ten million. The cuffs of his shirt were neat and perfect, without a single wrinkle.
Clean, perfect, with a sharp aesthetic.
Li Ye withdrew his gaze, “Director Xu asked if you were free and wanted to invite you to listen to music.”
The Director of the Municipal Station wasn’t thinking about listening to music, but about a son-in-law.
Jin Shi Yue: “No time.” He then said indifferently, “What’s Zhao Lizheng’s situation?”
Li Ye: “He’ll be discharged tomorrow.”
Jin Shi Yue’s long fingers, resting on the car window, flicked the ash from his cigarette, “Too early.”
Li Ye understood. This meant providing patients to the hospital, allowing Zhao Lizheng to stay longer. There were many ways to do this, and Zhao Lizheng had offended more than one or two people.
Glancing at the burning cigarette and recalling Ling Yu’s words, Li Ye asked, “Do you have any conflict with Miss Lian?”
Jin Shi Yue gave him a cool glance.
Li Ye reminded him, “You have an injury on your mouth.” If it’s not treated, your family will see it’s the work of a girl.
The feeling of Lian Li biting him last night resurfaced. Jin Shi Yue’s expression softened slightly, his coldness lessening: “Find an auntie who is good at making noodles for her.”
Who this “her” referred to was self-evident.
Li Ye agreed and didn’t ask further.
As night fell, the wind grew stronger. The lamplight cast on the long corridor of the siheyuan made the fine rain appear tangible.
The Old Madam and other female family members were praying in the backyard. In the tea house in the front yard, a six-fold lacquered screen inlaid with various treasures separated the inner and outer rooms.
Jin Shi Yue’s gaze swept over the celadon Ru ware vase displayed on the shelf, and he walked into the inner room.
Incense mist drifted like a thin veil from an exquisite xiuyu censer. Jin Yan Ting sat on a huanghuali wooden chair carved with lifelike lotus patterns, leisurely brewing tea.
He was wearing a dove-gray pinstripe suit, impeccably neat. His jacket was off, revealing a shirt and vest. His tall figure was bathed in light, exuding solemnity.
Jin Shi Yue sat down on the Grand Tutor’s chair opposite Jin Yan Ting.
Jin Yan Ting slightly raised his gaze, looking at him with calm eyes.
Jin Shi Yue leaned back lazily in his chair, casually picking up the books the Old Madam had recently translated from the coffee table, his long fingers flipping through them absentmindedly.
Unlike other old ladies who dedicated their later years to studying scriptures and living a monastic life in temples, Old Madam Jin, like in her youth, focused on translation, translating difficult poetry and classics into other languages to spread culture abroad.
Elder Mei called her a “desperate woman,” and it wasn’t without reason.
Jin Shi Yue and Jin Yan Ting sat facing each other across the sandalwood coffee table. The latter poured a cup of tea and placed it in front of the former.
Jin Yan Ting noticed a distinct, fresh wound on Jin Shi Yue’s lips.
In Jin Yan Ting’s memory, although his brother had a relaxed personality, he rarely stooped to physical confrontation. Once he did, no one could match him.
The location and size of this wound didn’t look like it was caused by a fight; rather, it resembled a bump or a bite.
“In a good mood?”
Jin Shi Yue spread his long legs slightly, met Jin Yan Ting’s gaze, and said, “Do I look like it?”
Hearing this, Jin Yan Ting’s lips curved up slightly on one side. Even when he smiled, his eyes remained unfathomable.
“To be able to make our second young master so happy, it seems it’s not an ordinary person.”
Jin Shi Yue’s personality was capricious, sometimes lazily unconventional, sometimes indifferent, but always cold and unfeeling.
No one inside or outside the family could make him happy. The Old Madam often said that Yue was easy to coax, but it was very difficult to coax him.
“Just a momentarily shining ancestor.”
The incense burner’s mist swirled and diffused. Jin Shi Yue’s lips curved into a smile as he picked up the teacup and took a sip, his entire demeanor relaxed and noble.
It was top-grade Longjing tea, the first harvest of the spring, fragrant and mellow.
Jin Yan Ting did not interfere in his private affairs and got to the point: “Don’t be too harsh with the Zhao family matter.”
The Zhao and Jin families had a friendship spanning generations. For the sake of maintaining appearances, any conflict between the younger generation would inevitably affect the reputation of the elders.
Jin Shi Yue said in a light tone: “I’ll leave him his life.”
His fingers, like white jade, were long and slender. Holding the teacup, he was unhurried, his demeanor exuding the nobility of a top-tier aristocratic family.
Jin Yan Ting took a sip of tea, “Did Zhao Lizheng provoke you?”
It was a question, but his tone was declarative.
“I don’t like the look of him,” Jin Shi Yue said with disinterest.
Both brothers had witnessed the extravagant scenes of the world and always acted without fault, never giving cause for criticism. They understood each other to a certain extent.
The Zhao family was in decline, now merely a facade. Outsiders might not know, but they were aware.
The Pei Family kept to themselves and did not accept the Zhao family’s cooperation plan. Pei Qingji likely received this information from Jin Shi Yue.
Jin Zhengchuan had retired, and Jin Yan Ting was gradually taking over his duties, so he hadn’t met with Jin Shi Yue much recently.
Today happened to be a family dinner, so the two brothers talked more, with the content primarily related to Sheng Jing Group and military industrial business.
The night rain fell in countless strands, blown askew by the wind. As the family dinner time approached, a servant came to invite them to dine.
The Jin Family’s style had always been low-key. The banquet was not extravagant; it was a meal prepared by the chef according to the family members’ tastes, catering to everyone.
After the meal, Jin Shi Yue walked to the long corridor, about to call Lian Li.
Suddenly, he heard He Shu ask Jin Yan Ting: “Are you visiting Elder Mei with Miss Lian as usual this year?”
