Chapter 313: Hot Mountain Springs Villa 13
“Do you need to pretend you don’t know me when there’s nobody here?”
Qi Qingyao did not understand why Jiang Yeqian was being so stubborn with this topic. “If there’s nothing else Master Jiang would like to speak with me about, I’ll head back first,” she said, resigned.
She turned around and was about to leave.
Jiang Yeqian shouted, “Stand right there.”
“Is there something wrong?” Qi Qingyao turned back to look.
Jiang Yeqian felt that his and the woman’s destinies were probably incompatible. He, who had rarely suffered defeat in his life, had practically never been able to gain the upper hand when talking to her. She would crack down on all his emotions until nothing was left. He could not help but feel resentful. “Do you have to make us estranged?” he asked.
“Why is there a need for us to be familiar with one another?” Qi Qingyao asked back, really not understanding the situation. She added, “Jiang Bai, we’re like apples and oranges. There’s no need for you to know me. It’s better for you if we pretend to not know one another.”
Jiang Yeqian, “…”
Of course, it would be better to not know her.
However, the moment he thought about how they would not cross paths ever again in the future, Jiang Yeqian became inexplicably angry.
He was such a brilliant man, yet she was able to pretend that they did not even know one another!
She had no intention of playing up to him at all…
Qi Qingyao said, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll leave first.”
“Stand right there,” Jiang Yeqian called out again, more hurriedly.
Qi Qingyao was speechless. “You keep telling me to stop but you don’t say anything. I’m very confused.”
Jiang Yeqian’s emotions were very complicated as well. “I…”
Qi Qingyao fixed her constantly shifting gaze on him and watched him for a bit. Without any hesitation, Qi Qingyao said, “The way you always look at me these days is very complicated and conflicted. It feels like you have something to say to me. I’m starting to wonder if you’ve started to fancy me a little.”
Jiang Yeqian, “…” Ah!
Qi Qingyao was calm, as if she were talking about something unrelated to her. Unperturbed and indifferent, she continued, “But because I have children, and am a widow, that makes you very conflicted! In other words, you don’t want to believe that you fancy someone like me which is why your emotions now are on the verge of collapse.”
In just a few simple words.
She had dissected his emotions thoroughly.
Jiang Yeqian felt as if he were a blank piece of paper laid out in front of her.
He felt somewhat flustered and said, “You’ve got it wrong, don’t be so full of yourself!! Who would fancy a peeping tom who enjoys sneaking looks at men bathe.”
“Then, perhaps I was wrong,” Qi Qingyao said calmly.
“You’re definitely wrong. Absolutely wrong!” Jiang Yeqian could not help feeling vexed. “Your personality is so self-opinionated, watch out that you don’t bury yourself alive with it one day.”
“Thanks for the reminder, I’ll be careful not to overthink too much.” Her analysis was wrong—what a failure. Qi Qingyao began reflecting.
Jiang Yeqian spat, “Then go away and get lost now.”
“Okay!”
Qi Qingyao furled her lips tightly in scorn and left Qingyi Pavilion.
Lu Yan waited for her to come over before asking, “What did he want?”
Qi Qingyao shook her head. “He just threw a tantrum. He didn’t say anything!”
Lu Yan, “???”
How was that possible?
Everyone knew the two powerful officials of this dynasty.
One was the Head Grand Secretariat, Jiang Yeqian; one was the State Preceptor, Li Ruoxuan.
These two figures were shrewd and wise and every action they did had a purpose. How could they be seen acting without rhyme or reason… and just throw a tantrum?!
Lu Yan was a little stunned.
…
That night, Jiang Yeqian left the Hualian Mountain Springs Villa. After he found Bai Mei, he asked, “Do you guys still have no results after searching these past few days?”
“No…” Bai Mei bowed her head very awkwardly, not daring to look at the leader’s eyes.
Jiang Yeqian was so angry he kicked over the flower wall by the road. “Are you all useless? Not even one of you has found anything. Has the Zhaixing Administration really turned to shit now? How absolutely disgraceful.”
Bai Mei was silent as she let the master vent.
Once Jiang Yeqian was done venting, only then did Bai Mei dare speak up. “Master, regarding her life four years ago, the strangest thing was that after she disappeared from her grandaunt’s home, she vanished with a trace. It was like she dissipated into thin air.”
Jiang Yeqian said, “Where could an entire adult disappear with no trace at all? Even a goose would leave some sort of sign, let alone a whole person.”
Bai Mei replied, “Master, we have considered a possibility.”
“Speak.”
Bai Mei replied seriously, “Qi Qingyao is not ugly. She is, in fact, rather good-looking. If she disappeared four years ago, abducted or otherwise, she would definitely have been in Qingzhou City. It so happened she was in Qingzhou City during that time. If she had appeared publicly on various occasions, I think the people who met her four years ago should be able to recognize her.”
“You want to use her as bait to fish out the truth from four years ago?” Jiang Yeqian asked blankly.
Bai Mei sensed that the master’s tone was quite mocking, and cold sweat began forming on her forehead. “That is what this subordinate had planned.”
Jiang Yeqian said, “You think I need you to teach me such a method? You fool!”
Bai Mei, “…”
Jiang Yeqian paced along the tunnel for a while.
Then he thought of something.
“There’s another possibility,” he said. “If she disappeared deliberately, then there wouldn’t be a trace.” With the current state of that woman’s mind and knowledge, she could easily disappear if she wanted to without leaving a trace.
Bai Mei pondered about this possibility. “If it were the fool Qi Qingyao, her face would have left a deep impression on others wherever she went. But if she had vanished deliberately and she covered all her tracks, then it would make sense that we weren’t able to find any clues.”
Jiang Yeqian, “…”
The Zhaixing Administration had never failed like this on a singular person before.
Many things about that woman were a mystery.
They simply could not find anything on her no matter how they searched.
It was very illogical.
Assuming that she had “disappeared” for several days four years ago, the problem could either be a big one or a small one.
It might mean that she had never been stupid and her brain had always been in a good state, and that she disappeared deliberately…
However, they could not be sure.
With how the woman behaved in recent times, if she had always possessed a working mind, how could she stand staying with the Qi family for so long with that temper of hers!
It really did not make sense…
There were a lot of things that were contradictory.
Bai Mei said again, “Master, Qi Boli and Madam Wu have also arrived in Qingzhou City. They are currently staying with the old lady at the Jin’s home! They had also made a trip to the Qi Residence but we’re chased away by Steward Zhang.”
Jiang Yeqian raised a brow and said, “They’re fast. It seems like someone has deliberately spread the news to them and wanted them to come looking for trouble.
“Then we…”
“No need to bother, she can deal with this matter on her own.”
What they had to worry about now was the multiple mysteries connected to that woman! It looked like they would have to personally tell her and make her jog her memory of the incident from all those years ago.