Chapter 448: The Secret About the Past (66)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
After holding eye contact for several seconds, Jin Qingyue snapped back to reality and let out a shriek of terror before wrapping the towel around herself quickly.
Ling Ciye turned so his back was facing her; the shock had sobered him up a little. “Um… Qingyue, I’m sorry, I entered the wrong room…” he spluttered nervously.
Jin Qingyue understood that he did not mean to walk in on her showering since he had had one too many to drink. Although she was incredibly embarrassed, she still walked out of the bathroom nonetheless and said, “It’s alright, go get some rest.”
“Okay…” Ling Ciye exited the room, feeling a strong urge to just bury himself underground.
Jin Qingyue locked the door from the inside, overwhelmed with a mix of emotions.
At the thought of the scene earlier…
She could not sleep well for the rest of the night and woke up extremely early in the morning.
Who’d have known? So did Ling Ciye.
He didn’t seem to have had a good sleep either.
They were both rather awkward and embarrassed when they bumped into each other again in the morning.
Ling Ciye was a man after all and ought to be able to stoop or stand. Thus, he greeted her calmly, “Good morning.”
“Good morning. Are you leaving now, Brother Ciye?”
“Yes.”
“Drive safe along the roads.”
“Alright.” He suddenly stopped in his tracks and apologized, “Qingyue, I’m so sorry.”
Jin Qingyue smiled and said, “It’s alright, I’m not a maiden anyway. Besides, you didn’t do it on purpose. I don’t hold it against you.”
“I’ll be taking my leave now then.”
Just as he left, Jin Qingyue saw An Xiaoning coming out from another guest room.
“Sis-in-law… did you sleep in the guest room last night?”
An Xiaoning stifled a yawn and answered, “Yes. Why are you up so early?”
“I didn’t sleep well last night. I couldn’t fall asleep. Did you have an argument with Brother?”
An Xiaoning sat down beside her and leaned back against the couch sluggishly. “Your brother infuriated me.”
“Teach him a lesson then, see if he dares to incur your wrath again.” As soon as she finished speaking, her phone began to ring all of a sudden. It was a call from the servant at Mrs. Jin’s place.
“Hello.”
“…”
“What? She came back so late? She bought health supplements again?” Jin Qingyue asked in disgruntlement.
“…”
“Got it, I’ll go over when I’m done eating.” After ending the call, Jin Qingyue hissed in contempt, “Mother must be bewitched.”
“What’s wrong?”
“She spent tens of thousands on a bunch of health supplements. I bet she got scammed. I found many identical supplements online that are sold at a much cheaper price. When I first found out about it a few days ago, I told the servants to inform me as soon as she returns home. I then went over to her place and gave her a lashing. Yet, she actually went to buy more supplements and she didn’t even go home last night. Mother is seriously getting more and more muddled up the older she gets. I’m going to tell her off again when I go there after lunch,” said Jin Qingyue.
Upon hearing her words, An Xiaoning said, “There’s no use in scolding her.”
“Sis-in-law, what do you think I should do then? I’m afraid she’ll ruin her health by taking those dubious supplements. We have to find a way to stop her,” Jin Qingyue said worriedly.
An Xiaoning turned to face her and said, “I don’t think she’ll change even if you keep lecturing her, because she probably knows she’s in good health and doesn’t need to take those supplements at all. If that’s really the case, I doubt she’s buying them for the sake of improving her health.”
“What do you mean?”
“Go shadow her today and find out what else she’s up to apart from purchasing those health supplements. We’ll discuss our next move afterward,” said An Xiaoning, who actually did not wish to meddle with Mrs. Jin’s matters. However, she did not want to see her mother-in-law ruin her own health either.
“Will do,” Jin Qingyue agreed with a nod.
—
Jin Qingyan woke up in the morning to find that An Xiaoning was not around. He then headed to the guest room to check again.
“Brother, don’t bother looking for Sis-in-law. She’s already left for the office.”
“I was just checking if Ciye was up yet,” Jin Qingyan denied, refusing to admit that he was looking for An Xiaoning.
Having seen right through his lie, Jin Qingyue chuckled and said, “Drop the act. Do you really think I can’t tell that you were looking for Sis-in-law? How did you make her upset?”
“It was a trivial matter,” said Jin Qingyan as he took a seat.
“Sis-in-law looks really infuriated. She seemed sulky and in low spirits. Lovers’ quarrels are soon mended. Buy her a present later to coax her,” Jin Qingyue suggested.
“No.”
Staring at him, Jin Qingyue exclaimed, “Seems like you really lost your memory. Otherwise, Sis-in-law would never sleep in the guest room.”
“Why?”
“Because you wouldn’t have allowed it. I have something to attend to, I’m leaving now,” said Jin Qingyue as she stood up to leave.
Staring at the breakfast spread before him, Jin Qingyan suddenly lost his appetite at the thought of what Jin Qingyue had just said.
“Young Sir, if the dishes are not to your liking, shall I fix you something else?” Auntie Chen asked meticulously.
“It’s alright, I’m not hungry. You may take your leave. Do we have surveillance cameras at home?”
“Of course we do. There’s a room meant for monitoring the footages from all the surveillance cameras. It’s right upstairs.”
“Got it.” He made his way upstairs and arrived at the monitoring room.
To his surprise, he discovered that there were still some footages from a long time ago.
Jin Qingyan was bewildered to find that there were still footages of An Xiaoning from a few years ago, but there were none of Jin Yiheng. What was going on?
Filled with questions and confusion, he decided to ask Fan Shixin about it.
Fan Shixin was slightly taken aback by his question and answered truthfully, “Previously, Young Madam lived in M Nation for five years together with Little Sir. The woman in the footage who looks exactly like Young Madam isn’t actually her.”
“Why?”
Fan Shixin looked at him and explained everything bit by bit, starting from when they first got married, up until the present. Fan Shixin was parched from all that talking, and his thirst could not be quenched even after drinking several cups of water. He spent the entire afternoon doing nothing except tell Jin Qingyan about the past.
After hearing Fan Shixin out, Jin Qingyan was in utter disbelief of everything that had happened, though he knew that Fan Shixin would not lie to him.
Jin Qingyan could tell from the way Fan Shixin had spoken that the latter had a great ton of respect for An Xiaoning.
He could also tell what kind of a person An Xiaoning was.
Thus, he learned that An Xiaoning was not the type to get upset at him over trivial matters.
Could it be that she wasn’t angry at me for blaming her for telling Ling Ciye’s fortune? he wondered.
What else could it be then?
Could it be that she had seen me talking to Bu Xianxian?
After recalling her words, he deduced that that was very likely to be the case.
I shouldn’t have kept it from her.
Jin Qingyan instantly regretted his actions.
He tried to call her repeatedly but to no avail.
Thus, he had no choice but to drive to the office to look for her.
Just as he drove out of the garage, he was stopped by Jin Yiheng.
“Daddy, where are you going?”
“To look for your Mommy.”
“Could you bring me along?”
Thinking that bringing his son along would get in the way of him explaining things to her clearly, Jin Qingyan decided to turn him down. “No, stay at home.”
“Daddy, I want to come along too.”
“Be good at home. I’ll play with you when I return.”
“…”
Jin Yiheng watched as his father drove away. He stomped his foot in annoyance and returned inside the house.
Jin Qingyan went to the office only to find that An Xiaoning was not around as she had gone out for a meeting.
He had no choice but to wait for her in the office.
An Xiaoning finally returned to the office hours later, at four o’clock in the afternoon. m