Bride Swap Backfire: My Cousin's Rebirth Made Us a Power Couple-Chapter 38 - 35: A Slip of the Tongue
The smell of ginger soup still lingered in the kitchen, thick with the scent of smoke and cooking fires.
Chen Wanyue looked at the handsome, refined man standing by the stove and felt an inexplicable sense of suffocation, as if the room were closing in on her.
She discreetly tugged at her collar to breathe more easily before finally asking Zhao Jing, "What were you doing on the mountain today? Did you find something on Xiaoao Mountain that brought the Government Officials from the county seat?"
Zhao Jing lifted his eyes to look at her, his gaze calm and undisturbed. After a long moment, seeing her anxious and resentful expression, he said, "What if we did, and what if we didn’t? What does this have to do with you?"
Zhao Jing always had a way of easily provoking her anger.
He didn’t even need to say anything harsh. Just looking at her with that cold gaze was enough to drive her to the brink of collapse.
Chen Wanyue had intended to speak with him calmly, to coax him into revealing what was happening on the mountain and, while at it, persuade him to break off their engagement.
But now, she clenched her fists, gritted her teeth, and glared at him, wishing she could grab the kitchen knife by the stove and chop him in two.
’How can he be so detestable?’
’Is he even capable of speaking like a normal person?’
’Why is it so difficult to have a simple conversation with him!’
"Zhao Jing, I’m asking you nicely, and I hope you’ll answer me just as nicely. Even if only for the sake of my grandmother having saved your mother’s life, I hope you can be honest with me."
The corner of Zhao Jing’s lip curled into a mocking arc.
"Ah, yes. The life-saving debt."
Because of that "life-saving debt," the third branch of the Chen family had practically latched onto his family like leeches, draining their blood.
He wouldn’t even mention how he had inexplicably ended up with a fiancée. Or how, because his father ran a private school, Chen Lian got to study there without paying a single cent of tuition. He could let those small things slide.
But the Chen family grew bolder. Complaining that Chen Lian was slow-witted, they would come over every evening, begging his father to set aside time to tutor the boy.
Even during the last year of his father’s grave illness, the Chen family seemed terrified that once his father passed, no other teacher would be willing to pour their knowledge into Chen Lian. They would often wait at the gate, and the moment they saw his father had a sliver of energy, they would push Chen Lian inside.
His mother was too soft-hearted to turn anyone away, but he had the gall and the hard heart to do it.
But his father wouldn’t allow it. He’d said that even without the engagement, they were still fellow villagers. Since they had come asking for help, there was no reason to push them away.
It was hard to say how much of a role the Chen family played in making his father’s final days so difficult.
But Zhao Jing believed they were responsible, which only deepened his disgust for this family that knew no boundaries.
And now, Chen Wanyue was bringing up the past again, still posturing as a "savior." Zhao Jing found it laughable.
But beyond the absurdity, he found her utterly shameless.
When they forced the engagement, they were the saviors. When they wanted to break the engagement, they were still the saviors. In short, they could never be wronged, and their needs always had to come first.
Zhao Jing’s face was cold. "Whether we went into the mountains, and whether we brought the constables, has nothing to do with you. What I’m curious about is why you went up the mountain in this downpour and are now grilling me about it. What’s the matter? Is there some kind of treasure hidden up there you’re so worried about?"
As if he’d struck a nerve, Chen Wanyue immediately stiffened her neck and cried out, "What treasure? Xiaoao Mountain is barren and desolate. You can’t even grow a bit of grain on it. Expecting to find treasure on Xiaoao Mountain is harder than climbing to the heavens!"
"I’m not so sure. The way you’re acting makes me even more certain something is hidden on that mountain. What kind of treasure could it be? Did you hide it, or did someone else? The Chen family came here as famine refugees; I know your background inside and out. So, it must be treasure someone else hid, right?"
From Zhao Jing’s words, Chen Wanyue gleaned the information she wanted.
’The treasure chest hasn’t been dug up yet!’
She was delighted, but a faint feeling of unease lingered.
Unwilling to consider the worst-case scenario, she reassured herself. ’The chest is buried underground. Who would just randomly start digging in the ground?’
But so many constables had come to the mountain, and they had sealed it off with such fanfare...
’That’s it!’
’They must be investigating Shusheng’s death. Or, at worst, they found the skeletons left behind by the rebels years ago.’
’That has to be the truth.’
’My treasure chest is safe. The constables are busy with something else.’
With the treasure chest’s safety confirmed, the anxiety that had been gripping Chen Wanyue’s heart finally eased a little.
But she couldn’t let her guard down. Zhao Jing was too clever; he was on the verge of guessing the truth.
Chen Wanyue cut in anxiously, "What are you rambling on about? You sure have a wild imagination! Always pondering such useless things. No wonder you’re still just a commoner at thirty."
The moment the words left her mouth, silence fell over the kitchen. It seemed as if the very air had gone quiet.
Chen Wanyue realized what she had said. Her pupils dilated, her mind went blank, and she froze, completely dumbfounded.
She didn’t dare look up at Zhao Jing, her words tumbling out incoherently. "I was just talking nonsense, I was just cursing you! It’s your fault for always being so cold to me, for looking down on me. I know you’re unhappy that my grandmother used the life-saving debt to force you into an engagement with me. But since you accepted it, you should treat me well! Look at how you’ve acted. We’ve been engaged for years, have you ever said a single word to me on your own initiative? If I hadn’t shamelessly thrown myself in front of you, you probably wouldn’t even know what I look like!"
"I’ve figured it out. I’m not what you want, and you never had any intention of marrying me. I’m a perfectly respectable young woman, but because of this engagement, my reputation has been ruined and my best years wasted. Tell me, with you being so detestable, am I wrong for wanting to break the engagement? What’s wrong with cursing you a little?"
Zhao Jing remained silent, merely staring at Chen Wanyue with his dark, deep-set eyes.
His gaze was so tangible it made her scalp tingle, and her heart clenched tight.
She dug her nails into her palm, frantically slapping herself in her mind. ’How could I have let that slip?’
’If Zhao Jing doesn’t take it to heart, it’ll be fine. But if he does, how am I going to clean up this mess?’
The thought that Zhao Jing might uncover the secret of her rebirth sent Chen Wanyue into a panic. She was like a cat on a hot tin roof, completely flustered.
The more she panicked, the more helpless she felt, and the more she felt she had to say something to patch things up.
But how could anyone speak coherently when they were in such a frantic state?
In her haste and panic, she only ended up misspeaking again.
"You don’t like me, and it’s not like I’m desperate to marry into your family. I just want us to part on good terms and find our own happiness. I know you like my cousin. All you have to do now is return my family’s engagement token, and I can ask my grandmother to speak with my uncle’s family. Then you can finally be with the woman you love. Isn’t that better than wasting all those years before finally marrying my cousin?"
As Chen Wanyue said this, she suddenly jolted.
’What "like my cousin"? What "wasting all those years before finally marrying my cousin"?’
’That all happens more than ten years from now! How could the current me possibly know that!’
’It’s over. This time, it’s really over.’
How could Chen Wanyue dare to pressure Zhao Jing to go home and get her family’s engagement token now?
Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, she turned and fled in a panic.
