NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4: One Who Resisted
Chapter 4: One Who Resisted
Seeing Qiao Nian rebuff Lin Yuan’s kindness, Lin Ye immediately retracted any guilt he felt and said coldly, “You don’t need to be so sarcastic. If you had injuries, why didn’t you say so earlier? Don’t you have a mouth?”
If she had told him earlier, he would have certainly gone to the Imperial Medical Office to get ointment for her!
“I wanted to say it earlier, but the young master didn’t give me a chance,” Qiao Nian replied flatly, finally withdrawing her hands from Madam Lin’s grasp.
Lin Ye’s eyes darkened. She had already returned to the manor, yet she still refused to call him brother?
His anger unabated, he snapped, “I’d also like to ask, you’re still a young lady of our Marquis’s household, trained in martial arts since childhood. What kind of expert was in that laundry bureau that could injure you like this?”
His words made Qiao Nian’s heart suddenly freeze.
She lowered her eyes and pulled down her sleeve. Her gentle voice carried a chilling coldness that made people shiver, “I did resist at first. As the young master said, those palace maids were indeed no match for me. But when they couldn’t beat me, they would use underhanded methods. For example, pouring buckets of cold water on my bed while I slept, ladling out slop water for me while others got soup at meals. Throwing the clothes I had just washed into the latrine, or pushing all their workload onto me.”
At this point, she raised her eyes to look at Lin Ye. Her cold gaze seemed devoid of emotion, yet it made Lin Ye’s hands tremble involuntarily.
“I once sought help from the matron in charge, but all I got was a whipping. So gradually, I stopped resisting. If the bed was wet, I’d sleep on the floor. If there was slop in my food, I’d still eat it. Once, the matron almost beat me to death, but perhaps out of concern for the Marquis’s household, she wasn’t as harsh after that.”
Seeing the disbelief in Lin Ye’s eyes, Qiao Nian’s lips curled into a sneer, “So, does the young master think I deliberately suffered all this to gain your guilt and regret?”
“Don’t be foolish. How could I not understand my own status? You might feel guilty, but you’ll never regret it. Hearing all this, you’re probably just relieved that it was me who was punished and sent to the laundry bureau, and not Lin Yuan, right?”
Faced with the accusation in Qiao Nian’s eyes, Lin Ye felt as if a hand was violently tearing at his heart.
But he couldn’t utter a single word of rebuttal.
“Nian Nian, stop talking!” Madam Lin clutched her chest, crying so hard she could barely breathe. “It’s all mother’s fault. Mother has wronged you.”
“Madam hasn’t wronged me,” Qiao Nian’s voice was still soft and gentle, sounding very kind.
But this kindness was completely different from Lin Yuan’s.
Lin Yuan’s gentleness made people feel sympathy and comfort.
But Qiao Nian’s was like a soft sword, each word cutting people to the bone.
“Madam raised me for fifteen years. I owe you the kindness of upbringing. Everything you do is justified.”
“But you hold a grudge!” Lin Ye spoke again, the tearing pain in his heart making him inexplicably irritable.
As if he had seen through Qiao Nian, he laughed coldly, “Everything you’re doing now is deliberate. You’re intentionally being cold and distant to us, deliberately falling in front of mother. Did you use the same trick in front of Xiao Heng to gain his sympathy and ride in his carriage back? Lin Nian, get this straight, Xiao Heng is no longer your fiancé. He’s Yuan’er’s fiancé now, and they’re about to get married!”
Looking at Lin Ye’s angry face, Qiao Nian couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. After all, he had been her brother for fifteen years. Each of Lin Ye’s words accurately stabbed her heart.
Fortunately, her heart had been tempered for three years and was now immune to all poisons.
“The young master is busy with important matters and may have forgotten that three years ago, he pushed me down a small building. I sprained my ankle then, and before it healed, I was sent to the laundry bureau. For these three years, my ankle injury has often flared up. Today, when the young master kicked me off the carriage, I twisted it again, so I really did lose my balance earlier. As for General Xiao… how could the young master think he would feel pity for me? Are you overestimating me, or underestimating Miss Lin?”
These words left Lin Yuan beside them feeling utterly ashamed.
Lin Ye couldn’t help but glance worriedly at Lin Yuan before shouting at Qiao Nian, “Stop trying to sow discord here. I know your character best. Even after three years, you’re still as vindictive as ever! I’m warning you, as long as I’m here, don’t even think about bullying Yuan’er!”
“Brother…” Lin Yuan’s tearful voice sounded, “Don’t be like this. Sister has never done anything to me.”
“Yuan’er, you’re just too kind!” Lin Ye’s brows furrowed tightly as he pointed at Qiao Nian. “But she’s not like you. She’s the most deep-thinking and grudge-holding! We threw her into the laundry bureau for three years without a word, now that she’s out, she must want revenge on us! She knows mother cares for her the most, yet she deliberately distances herself, deliberately shows her injuries in front of mother. Look at how mother is crying!”
Lin Yuan looked at Madam Lin, who indeed was crying uncontrollably, leaning on a maid and gasping for air.
Hearing Lin Ye’s words, Madam Lin seemed to want to object, raising her hand to wave, but couldn’t say a word.
Lin Yuan thought, she had never seen mother like this. Even when Qiao Nian was sent to the laundry bureau, mother only shed a few tears and then turned to comfort her!
But now…
Could it be, as brother said, that all this was Qiao Nian’s deliberate doing?
Could Qiao Nian really be so calculating?
She couldn’t help but look at Qiao Nian again, only to see Qiao Nian looking back at her. Those eyes were as cold as frost, yet extraordinarily sharp, like a knife cutting deep into her heart, making her unable to keep looking. She hurriedly averted her gaze.
Qiao Nian, however, merely bowed to Madam Lin, “It seems today is not suitable for Qiao Nian to see grandmother. Please trouble Madam to inform grandmother that I will visit her tomorrow.”
With that, Qiao Nian turned to leave, not sparing another glance at any of the Lin family members.
But her limping figure was deeply etched into the hearts of every member of the Lin family.
Including Xiao Heng.
Lin Ye only saw Xiao Heng after Lin Yuan had taken Madam Lin back.
He was standing in the corridor not far away, and should have seen everything that had just happened clearly.
Lin Ye frowned a bit irritably before going to meet him, “Why are you here?”
“The Emperor bestowed some precious medicinal herbs. I thought I wouldn’t use them, so I came to pay respects to Old Madam Lin,” Xiao Heng said unhurriedly, his face as calm and impassive as ever.
But Lin Ye seemed to have noticed something. His brows furrowed as he looked Xiao Heng up and down before speaking, “To be honest, did you come here for Nian Nian?”