Chapter 86 - Confrontation I
Jiang Ruolan shuddered. For unknown reasons, she felt there were many things that Cui Liuxian wanted to convey to her. The battle will begin now.
"Are you getting used to the Xian Family?" Cui Liuxian walked gracefully step by step with a sinister smile on her face. She saw doubt in Jiang Ruolan's eyes and walked towards her.
Cui Liuxian in front of her was different from Cui Liuxian who was in Greenville Residence.
The person in front of her was the real Cui Liuxian. The one in front of the Xian Family was the fake one.
If that was the case, then Jiang Ruolan couldn't help but admire this two-face woman in front of her.
Zhan An had once comforted her (Jiang Ruolan) when Cui Liuxian had brazenly provoked her, and Xian Zihao had explained everything that she had said to her. He also once said that Cui Liuxian was still immature, which was why she acted like this.
Cui Liuxian was the younger sister who was taken care of by Xian Zihao until she was an adult. No matter how stubborn she was, it was natural that he didn't think too much about her behaviour.
From Jiang Ruolan's point of view, although she did not want to compete with Cui Liuxian for anything, but from her (Cui Liuxian) sinister look, she (Jiang Ruolan) still could not prevent herself from being an enemy to her.
Among women, especially love rivals, there was never true harmony. Not to mention, no one was stupid, so they all know how to control themselves.
At this time, Xian Zihao was upstairs with the Old Man. Cui Liuxian knew this, that's why she suddenly came downstairs and took this opportunity to confront her.
"That was Tie Guanyin that grandpa and dad loved to drink. This is a good quality Tie Guanyin delivered every year by a 100-year-old tea house in Fujian. Grandpa was too old to drink too much tea, but every day he would behave like a child and ask me to make him bubble tea using that tea." Cui Liuxian's gaze landed on the teacup next to Jiang Ruolan.
"I can see that the Old Man really likes you." Jiang Ruolan smiled sincerely as she looked at Cui Liuxian right in the eye. "With you by his side, he will be the happiest thing in the world."
Cui Liuxian smiled proudly as her gaze shifted to two ink and water paintings at the bottom of the stairs. "Both paintings were painted by me when I was in high school, and I gave them to grandpa as a gift for his seventy-fifth birthday. They have been there ever since, for so many years."
Jiang Ruolan looked at the two paintings without batting an eyelid, "So you painted them? I only know a little about this aspect, so I can only say that it is very beautiful.
Cui Liuxian looked at her for a long time before finally saying, "Dad will be back in a while. Zihao is currently with grandpa, do you want to accompany me for a walk?"
"Alright, I was just feeling bored sitting here by myself."
Cui Liuxian pursed her lips. She seemed to have noticed the softness and lack of edge in Jiang Ruolan's words, so she restrained herself and walked towards the door.
Not that Jiang Ruolan did not know what Cui Liuxian was trying to convey. She understood what she (Cui Liuxian) was trying to say; her importance to the Xian Family, her position in the Xian Family and even more so, her position in Xian Zihao's heart.
However, Jiang Ruolan deliberately acted foolishly and pretended not to understand what she said. When Cui Liuxian didn't receive a response from her, she will naturally stop using words to coerce her.
If her guess was right, Cui Liuxian would force herself to back down by using any means at all. This was just the beginning.
Cui Liuxian was smarter than she imagines. At the very least, in front of Xian's Family members, she (Cui Liuxian) was very good at restraining her temper, making people gasp in admiration.
"I grew up with the Xian Family since I was little. Zihao was the only boy that I've only had around me."
The two of them walked along a small path paved with goose eggs, passing through a scattered bamboo forest on both sides, and slowly paced around a perfectly formed swimming pool in the front yard of the Xian Residence.
Jiang Ruolan didn't say anything as she listened to Cui Liuxian's words. She quietly looked at the natural rocks around the pool. Some of the rocks had sharp horns.
"Zihao really loves me. Since I was young, no matter if I'm crying or making a fuss, as long as he's by my side, he will hug me, wipe my tears, pushed Guiying, who always bullied me aside, and protects me behind his back from time to time again. When I was very young, I've always thought that when I grow up, I'll marry him."
"Ruolan, I understand that you are also a victim of those circumstances. Even you also disagreed with this marriage, right?" Cui Liuxian suddenly turned to look at her.
Jiang Ruolan raised her head and looked at Cui Liuxian pleading gaze. She couldn't answer for a while, so she could only stiffly look at Cui Liuxian's tantalizing tears that were about to fall.
Did she guess correctly? Cui Liuxian will force her to back down from this marriage.
"Before you get married, Zihao promised grandpa that we would find a good day to fulfil his wishes after next year's Spring Festival. Initially, we were supposed to take wedding photos in the coming months and start testing the wedding dress, but the news from two months ago turned all the happiness we had planned into futile." Cui Liuxian said with a wry smile.
"Zihao is very disappointed as well. But to appease the public opinion, he took responsibility for everything that happened and had no choice but to marry you. I know you are not happy with this marriage either."
"Jiang Ruolan, this marriage was opposed by the Xian Family. You probably should leave."
"Miss Cui, you may have misunderstood." Jiang Ruolan finally could not hold it in anymore.
Cui Liuxian was such a f*cking hypocrite and two-faced!
Since you wanted to be Lin Daiyu so much, this old lady will also use Xue Bao Chai method.
Cui Liuxian's pitiful acts may be effective against others, but not for Jiang Ruolan!
Cui Liuxian was not stupid but she, Jiang Ruolan was even more so!
"The decision of this marriage has never been mine. Whether it is because you want to comfort me or to sympathize with my misfortune, I think I can only thank you. As for my feelings for Xian Zihao, outsiders have no right to know and intervene. As for your statement that this marriage restrained me, it did not exist at all!"
Cui Liuxian looked at her for a moment before giving her a gentle smile. "In the end, you just don't want to let go, right?"
"My husband, why should I let go?" Jiang Ruolan''s clear and limpid eyes looked at her in such a manner. There was no hostility in them, nor was there any intention to show any signs of weakness. She was merely stating a fact.
Since Xian Zihao didn't treat this marriage as child's play and would keep his distance from Cui Liuxian, what reason did she Jiang Ruolan have to back down?
"Your husband?" The smile in Cui Liuxian's eyes finally evoked a bit of arrogance and coldness, "Apart from the marriage certificate, and the media, who else knows that Zihao is married? Are you engaged? Has the marriage ever happened? Has the wedding ever happened? Have you met with each other's relatives? Did you take a wedding photo? And rings, do you have them? Seeing that the two of you are so distant and polite with each other, I believe that he has never had the interest to touch you, right?"
Suddenly, she raised her hand and pulled out a white gold necklace with a diamond ring hanging in the middle of its collar. The word "WQ" appeared to be engraved on the bottom of the necklace.
"This is the wedding ring that grandpa asked Zihao and I adjusted last year. It's a pair of rings, one with my name engraved on it, the other with Zihao's name engraved on it. That ring should still be at Zihao's place, have you seen it?"
Cui Liuxian's small face emitted a trace of coldness and resolution under the moonlight. She believed that Xian Zihao had always loved her. She stared at Jiang Ruolan without blinking, "Jiang Ruolan, other than legally being his wife, what else could you be?"
Jiang Ruolan looked at the arrogant Cui Liuxian in front of her in silence.
"Do you really expect Zihao to fall in love with you?" Cui Liuxian's smile suddenly became somewhat strange as she walked closer step by step. She whispered into Jiang Ruolan's ear with a chuckle,
"Did you know that when I was nineteen, I was already his woman?! Five years ago, when he came back from Boston, he drank so much that he couldn't even walk steadily, and was sent back to his room by the driver at around midnight. The driver was afraid that he would disturb his grandfather and father, so I was the only one who helped him go back to his room. You should be able to guess what happened that night? Xian Family still doesn't know about this matter, and this is a secret between Zihao and me. Have you ever thought about it?"
Jiang Ruolan was still looking at her silently. She did not react as to whether she believed Cui Liuxian's words or not.