The Jade Gentleman - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The carriage rumbled onward.

On the road to Yuanyin Temple, Sushang rode with me, while Yin Congjian accompanied us on horseback outside the carriage.

He had been born with exceptionally good looks.

His bearing was handsome and refined, his features as fine as jade, yet his temperament was cool and distant.

In Wangjing, he was famously rigid and prudent, a man who observed propriety with elegant restraint.

Just like now. The weather was so hot, yet he still had himself wrapped up from head to toe, without the slightest thing out of place.

The curtain over the carriage window was loosely drawn.

Through layer upon layer of gauze, Yin Congjian’s noble, composed profile appeared and vanished by turns.

Listless, I leaned against Sushang’s shoulder without saying a word, so quiet it was almost unnatural.

The person outside the window was the first to lose his composure.

Turning his head to look at me through the gauze curtains, Yin Congjian asked gently, “I was busy some days ago and couldn’t come see Bao’er. Do you still like the kaleidoscope and dove cart I had sent over?”

At that, I lifted my lashes slightly.

I still refused to acknowledge him.

Yin Congjian did not get angry. He let out a sigh so faint it was barely audible, then softened his voice even further. “…Is Bao’er angry with Second Brother?”

Only then did I finally react.

Lifting my head from Sushang’s shoulder, I slowly straightened and said at a crawl, “Yes. I’m angry with Second Brother.”

“Why?”

“I had a dream. In the dream, Second Brother made me sad.”

Hearing this, Yin Congjian fell silent for a time.

After a long while, he turned to look at me.

“I’m sorry, Bao’er.”

The person outside the window spoke in a low voice, filled with pity and guilt, and even a trace of self-reproach. “…It was all Second Brother’s fault for making Bao’er sad.”

“Mm. It was all Second Brother’s fault.”

After a brief pause, I said with a solemn expression, “So Bao’er is going to punish you.”

Sushang, seated beside me, could not help covering her lips as she laughed softly.

She looked out the window, her tone carrying a helpless note. “Seventh Miss has a delicate constitution and cannot bear being upset. I must trouble my lord to be more tolerant with her.”

“It was my fault to begin with. It is only right that Bao’er is angry.”

His beautiful, slender fingers tightened around the reins. Yin Congjian’s tone was full of patience and indulgence.

Yet the more patient and indulgent he was, the angrier and more displeased I became.

Pressing my lips together, my expression darkened.

I did not tell them that yesterday, I had dreamed again.

In the dream, Yin Congjian, after losing his memory, was holding a strange woman in his arms as they lay intimately together on a couch decorated with pomegranate blossoms.

I could not see the woman’s face. I only saw Yin Congjian’s eyes, devout and obsessed, as he panted softly and bent down, lingering and sensuous as he tangled lips and tongue with her.

There on the bed, he seemed as though he had never lost his memory at all. Gentle and elegant, still the familiar person he had always been.

Yet he was terrifyingly unfamiliar too.

The Yin Congjian before me had always been restrained and proper, upright and self-possessed, never crossing the line by even half a step. When had he ever been so wanton and unrestrained?

I felt as though I had been betrayed.

Furious, I picked up a vase and flung it at him!

The scene before my eyes rippled, warped, and dissolved. Immediately after, I startled awake from the dream.

The dream ended abruptly.

But my resentment lasted until now.

My own possession had been marked by someone else.

No one would feel good about that.

Especially since I had always regarded Yin Congjian as a treasure. I cherished that face of his beyond measure. I had not even had the chance to play with it myself, yet someone else had kissed it first.

How could I possibly accept that!

So after we arrived at Yuanyin Temple, I used the excuse that I wanted Yin Congjian to copy scriptures for me and coaxed him into the Buddhist hall sponsored by the Xiao clan.

Yin Congjian believed in Buddhism and had studied Buddhist teachings and sutras deeply.

Ever since I was young, he had fasted and prayed for blessings for me every month. Copying sutras was something he had long since become thoroughly practiced at.

Unfortunately, I was an ignorant, stubborn person who could not be taught.

Behind Yuanyin Temple, the rear mountain was lush with greenery.

Inside the Buddhist hall, Yin Congjian had just knelt down on the prayer cushion when I shut the door behind him.

The person kneeling before the Buddha looked at me in confusion. “…Bao’er?”

The Bodhisattva’s jeweled countenance was solemn and dignified.

I slowly paced up to Yin Congjian and looked down at him from above, tilting my head. “…Do you remember what I said?”

“Second Brother, now Bao’er is going to kiss you.”