NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 17: Why Not Marry Both?
Chapter 17: Why Not Marry Both?
Given how far their words had gone, Qiao Nian truly wanted to turn and leave if she could.
However, she had no money and no friends outside. If she left now, she didn’t know where she would go.
Moreover, her grandmother was still here.
How could she bear to make the Old Madam worry?
So, no matter how hurtful Marquis Lin and Lin Ye’s words were, at this moment, she could only listen and endure.
Her gaze fell on the bowl placed in the center of the table, and Qiao Nian understood the crux of this drama.
There was clearly a glimmer of tears in her eyes, but she forcefully held them back.
Then she picked up her chopsticks, took the fish from the bowl, and put it in her mouth.
A mocking cold laugh came from Lin Ye nearby, “Now you’re willing to eat? It seems the title of the Marquis’s young lady is quite attractive!”
Qiao Nian gave Lin Ye a bland look, ignoring his mockery. She only looked at Marquis Lin, gave a slight bow, and then spoke.
“Please calm your anger, my lord. I didn’t intentionally refuse to eat the fish the young lord served. It’s just that my body was damaged in the past two years, and eating fishy things now causes me to break out in an unbearably itchy rash. So today, not just the fish, but I haven’t touched any of the shrimp or crab either.”
Hearing Qiao Nian’s words, Marquis Lin and the others were all shocked, and they all looked at the plate in front of Qiao Nian.
Indeed, there wasn’t even a bit of shrimp or crab shell.
Lin Ye’s heart skipped a beat, but he suddenly thought of something and said, “If you had said today that your stomach was too damaged to eat, I might have believed you more. But you clearly loved fish the most before, and I’ve never seen you break out in any rash!”
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Qiao Nian raise her hand.
Her sleeve was lifted, revealing whip marks on her arm, as well as a large patch of red rash.
“How could this be! Quickly, call the family doctor!” Madam Lin said as she was about to come forward.
But at this moment, Lin Yuan suddenly started coughing.
As if she had choked, she coughed severely, and Madam Lin couldn’t attend to Qiao Nian anymore, hurriedly calling people to take care of Lin Yuan.
Lin Ye, looking at Qiao Nian’s arm, was momentarily flustered.
He didn’t mean to.
He thought she was deliberately giving them the cold shoulder, not even giving face to their father, which was why he said those hurtful words.
He didn’t know how his sister, who once loved fish the most, had become someone who would break out in a rash at the mere touch of fish.
It was just that small piece of fish, but now, Qiao Nian even had a rash on her face!
Marquis Lin was also a bit flustered. He had naturally heard from Madam Lin about the injuries on Qiao Nian’s body, but seeing it with his own eyes was different.
Along with those rashes, it only made his heart chaotic and oppressed, to the point where he didn’t even dare to look at Qiao Nian for a moment.
And Lin Yuan was coughing severely, so he simply shouted, “What are you all eating for? Hurry up and help your young lady back to rest!”
Saying this, he actually went along with the servants to send Lin Yuan away.
Madam Lin left too.
The hastily arriving family doctor, seeing this situation, thought he had been called for Lin Yuan, so he also left.
In the vast hall, only Qiao Nian and Lin Ye were left facing each other.
“You…” Lin Ye opened his mouth, but didn’t know what to say.
Qiao Nian was also afraid he would suddenly say some caring words, which would leave her not knowing how to respond, so she said, “It’s getting late, I’ll take my leave first.”
With that, she turned and left.
Lin Ye stood there in a daze for a good while.
An indescribable sourness wrapped around his heart, and a thought suddenly popped into his mind.
How is it like this again!
Since Qiao Nian’s return, in just three short days, he had hit a wall in front of her who knows how many times.
Every time it was him misunderstanding, and then she would explain, and in the end, it was as if he had bullied her!
But, clearly, she could have said those things much earlier.
Just like earlier, if she had told him she couldn’t eat fish now when he served it to her, how could he have said those hurtful words?
Lin Ye’s chest heaved violently, he almost wanted to raise his hand and flip over this table full of delicacies!
But in the end, he only left with a sweep of his sleeve.
On the other side, as soon as Qiao Nian returned to Fanghe Court, she hurriedly asked Ning Shuang to fetch some cold water.
Ning Shuang didn’t understand why, but she went to fetch the cold water as told. However, she didn’t expect that after Qiao Nian took it, she would pour the entire basin of cold water directly on herself.
With a splash, from head to toe.
Ning Shuang was stunned, “What are you doing, Miss!” She hurriedly brought a towel, continuously wiping Qiao Nian, “You just fell into water yesterday, why are you mistreating yourself like this again today!”
But Qiao Nian grabbed Ning Shuang’s hand, smiling and shaking her head, “Only this way can these rashes subside.”
This was something Qiao Nian had discovered by accident. At that time, her whole body had broken out in a rash, and she happened to be schemed against by some palace maids who pushed her into the laundry pool. When she climbed out, she found that the rashes on her body had all disappeared.
Since then, whenever her body broke out in an unbearably itchy rash, she would pour cold water on herself.
Ning Shuang, with red eyes, watched as the large patch of red on Qiao Nian’s face subsided slightly, only then did she feel relieved.
She brought clean clothes, waiting until Qiao Nian felt it was about right before helping her change, and then brewed some ginger soup for Qiao Nian to drink.
Qiao Nian sat by the window, covered with a heavy cloak, holding the ginger soup personally brewed by Ning Shuang in her hands. Thinking of the words Marquis Lin and Lin Ye had said earlier, waves of coldness kept surging in her heart.
Although she had long prepared herself to live under someone else’s roof, and had long known that they no longer loved her, when she heard those words from her former father and brother with her own ears, her heart still couldn’t help but ache.
But what could she do?
Everything she ate and used now belonged to the marquis’s household. If she left this place, what could she do?
What could she do to reassure her grandmother and prevent her from worrying about her to the point of damaging her own health?
Meanwhile, at the Zui Xiang Lou…
When Xiao Heng arrived for the appointment, Lin Ye had already been drinking quite a bit in the private room.
As soon as he entered, Xiao Heng smelled a strong scent of alcohol and immediately saw Lin Ye lying on a rocking chair not far away, drinking from a wine jug.
He frowned, but his gaze swept to the other side of the room.
Seemingly noticing his action, Lin Ye laughed coldly, “Don’t bother looking. It’s just me.”
Hearing this, Xiao Heng’s brow furrowed even more. Remembering that he had made plans with Qiao Nian earlier in the day, he felt somewhat displeased.
She actually dared to stand him up.
“But who are you looking for?” Lin Ye spoke again, his face flushed with heavy intoxication, his eyes filled with an unclear mockery, “Is it Yuan’er, or Qiao Nian?”
Qiao Nian?
Xiao Heng heard something in this form of address and immediately asked, “Did you have another argument with your sister?”
“Hah!” Lin Ye laughed coldly, raised the wine jug and took two big gulps, then wiped his mouth and sneered, “How dare I argue with her? She’s quite capable, you know!”
Knowing that he was now speaking drunkenly, Xiao Heng didn’t respond. He just walked to the table, sat down, and poured himself a cup of wine.
The next moment, Lin Ye stood up from the rocking chair, walked behind him, and hooked an arm around his neck. In a drunken slur, he said, “Xiao Heng, why don’t you marry both of them?”