Chapter 1409 - 764: I Promise You (Double Length) (Part 2)

"My lord isn't a whore." As soon as she said that, Zhu E couldn't help getting angry and said,

"A whore is a whore."

Zhu E felt a bit of fire in her heart, on Qin Qingluo's behalf and on Chen Yi's, and instead spoke with a biting, sarcastic tone: "Since that's the case, Qing Luo, you'd better really yield him, and don't get angry over this again in the future."

"Zhu Liaoao, shut up."

The tall woman was briefly furious, then reined in her expression, turned her head and fixed her gaze on Chen Yi:

"I didn't expect that in your heart, the weight of me and her would differ so much. All my devotion, and I even painted for you.

Chen Yi, oh Chen Yi, I really have been played in the palm of this whore's hand by you."

Zhu E added fuel to the fire with a faint smile: "Qing Luo, you only realized that today?"

Chen Yi was caught in the middle, cold sweat threatening to seep from his forehead again, the scroll in his palm warming slightly. For a moment he very much wanted to suppress them by force, but then felt he'd be in the wrong toward them. He couldn't figure out how things had turned out like this; clearly there shouldn't have been any mistake. Three candies or one candy were only a pretext, yet without that pretext things wouldn't have escalated to this point. But he clearly had asked Yue'er to give Qin Qingluo three candies as well…

Thinking of this, Chen Yi's eyes widened again, then slowly slid toward Qin Yue, who was still eating tangyuan.

The wet nurse had at some point hurriedly slipped away behind the screen, staying out of the quarrel; at the small table sat only Qin Yue.

Qin Yue seemed to feel something was wrong, and lowered her head guiltily.

"Yue, Yue'er…" Chen Yi called.

Qin Qingluo's expression changed again; she gave a furious, bitter laugh and said, "You're going to use her to threaten me again?"

"N–no, I had her bring you candies, not just one; maybe she stole some and ate them." Chen Yi explained quickly, and added in passing, "I won't use her to threaten you anymore. She's our daughter."

Once these words came out, whether because of the first half or the second, even with those serpent eyes Qin Qingluo's expression grew less stormy, her face easing a little.

"Yue'er, come here. Your father is angry again. Go talk to your father and explain, all right? All right?"

With Qin Qingluo and Zhu E both present, Chen Yi could only soften his tone a little.

"Yue'er, Yue'er doesn't know…"

"The candy Daddy asked you to give, you went and gave it, so how can you not know?"

Faced with a somewhat aggressive father, Qin Yue burst out crying.

"The cand–candy ran into Yue'er's mouth all by itself!"

As soon as she cried, the originally drawn-sword, tense atmosphere in the hall became like water poured onto a hot pan; a mist rose and then quickly dispersed. Both Qin Qingluo and Zhu E paused, calmed down, and a hard-to-name sense of guilt surged up in their hearts.

Only Chen Yi nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood. So in the end the mistake lay with Qin Yue—damn, the kid坑爹.

Qin Yue stood up and, stepping off the small table on her short little legs, ran over. She first threw herself into Qin Qingluo's arms, then turned and hugged Zhu E. Whether deliberately or not, she even rubbed her tear-streaked face against both women's clothes for quite a while.

"Father King and Mother… don't fight. Yue'er, Yue'er is scared…"

Seizing the opportunity, Chen Yi used the calmest tone he could manage and said, "Qing Luo, Aunt Zhu, Yue'er is still little. Tonight is New Year's Eve, we're supposed to stay up and reunite; don't scare the child." He paused, lowered his voice further, with a hint of pleading. "Everything… can wait until after tonight, all right?"

Qin Qingluo closed her eyes briefly; when she opened them again, the storm in them had calmed somewhat. She no longer looked at Zhu E, nor at those three candies, but silently reached out, picked up the candy wrapper of her own candy from the table, and clenched it tightly in her palm, her knuckles turning white.

Then she stood up.

Her tall figure stretched a long shadow in the candlelight.

"We are weary." Her voice had returned to its usual cold hardness, yet carried a deep exhaustion. "Yue'er is sleepy; We shall take her to rest.

Staying up for the New Year, the intent is enough. Since Aunt Zhu still has feelings left unspoken, then… suit yourself."

After speaking, she bent down and gently picked up the bewildered Qin Yue.

Qin Yue was crying, but it was in the end a fake cry; she mumbled,

"Yue'er isn't sleepy."

"…Yue'er, she's not sleepy."

Zhu E snapped back to herself, feeling guilty, and hurriedly called out.

She had intended to turn and leave then and there, but that one sentence forced Qin Qingluo to halt mid-step, leaving her suddenly at a loss, and she said, "I'm giving him to you, Aunt Zhu, and you still don't want him?"

"Qing Luo, Aunt, Aunt shouldn't have spoken to you like that. It's Aunt who was impatient."

As she spoke, Zhu E hurriedly pinched up the candies on the table, peeled two, and stepped forward to press them to Qin Yue's mouth, saying:

"Look, Aunt has just one left too, just like you.

Aunt… all Aunt wants is just to be able to occasionally be with our lord, that's all. Aunt isn't trying to fight with you.

Qing Luo, don't be angry with Aunt."

Qin Qingluo's back-turned figure clearly stilled for an instant. In her arms, the little one blinked her tearful eyes in confusion, candy juice from the piece Zhu E had just given her clinging to the corner of her mouth.

That "Yue'er isn't sleepy," and Zhu E's following attempt to hold her back, were like tiny hooks gently tugging at her steps as she tried to leave.

She slowly turned around, her tall figure once more falling within the circle of candlelight. Those serpent eyes held a complicated mix of emotions—fatigue, chill, and also… a faint, indescribable softening.

She looked at the single candy left in Zhu E's hand, then at the plea-softened tenderness in Zhu E's eyes, and finally let her gaze sweep over Qin Yue, who was tilting up her little face with a hint of unease.

As always, Aunt Zhu was the one yielding to her.

These helpless feelings rose up; even though she had just been stabbed to the quick, the bond of many years between aunt and niece was far from something a moment of anger could sever. Qin Qingluo was not someone who didn't know gratitude, nor truly stone-hearted; she was just… too proud, and too used to being in control—especially when it came to Chen Yi, that scheming whore.

Qin Qingluo had not truly vented her anger on Zhu E; at this moment, she instead belatedly felt a rush of guilt. Why had she needed to argue to such an irreconcilable point over this?

She tightened her hold slightly on Qin Yue's hand; the rage in her chest had mostly dissipated, though that stifled frustration, the unwillingness of giving a painting in vain, could not simply vanish.

Thus, her gaze, heavy with pressure, slowly shifted toward Chen Yi.

He was the source of all this trouble, the chief culprit—as he had been four years ago, and even more so now.

Chen Yi felt a faint prickling on his scalp under her stare.

"Fine, I'll agree to you. From now on, I won't concern myself with the affairs of the household either." She was speaking to Zhu E, yet stared straight at Chen Yi. "Only, I've now guessed what this whore is thinking."

She hooked up a very cold corner of her mouth, her serpent eyes tightly locking onto Chen Yi's slightly stiff face.

"I agree to you," she repeated, then added, "but I will never agree to him."

Hearing this, Chen Yi's heart gave a jolt, then he felt a sense of helplessness. He understood: Qin Qingluo had seen through how tonight he'd used the Western Jin matter, used New Year's Eve, to step by step create a romantic atmosphere, trying to make her willing.

In the end, she took the step down that Zhu E had offered, no longer insisting on monopolizing him, yet also forcefully drew a new boundary.

Thinking how to argue it, Chen Yi's mind spun quickly. To deflect and change the subject? In a situation where she had already seen through him, that would only seem ridiculous. To outright deny it? At this moment, any superfluous words might just add fuel to the fire.

After this incident, it seemed unlikely that they'd be sharing a bed in harmony tonight. And once bitten by a snake, ten years afraid of a well rope—who knew if he'd ever be able to make her truly willing in the future.

Besides, among all the women, for various reasons, Qin Qingluo was the one who trusted him the least. No matter how inseparable they seemed, she always kept her guard up.

Forget it; between two harms, choose the lesser. Better to soothe her first.

Chen Yi quickly adjusted his strategy, took a deep breath, and let a hint of dejection—at being seen through—show on his face, preparing to say some conciliatory words, something like "I was too impatient" or "I shouldn't have schemed like this."

However, just as his lips parted and his throat had yet to move,

all of a sudden, a panicked cry came from outside the door.

"Something's wrong! Something's wrong!" It was Xiuhe's voice, tinged with sobs, drawing close from afar, hurried footsteps echoing along the corridor. "Madam, Madam has collapsed!"