"Jie Jingchen, if I were ugly, would you have brought back to Shijiu City?" Qin i retorted.
"You’re not ugly." Not only was she not ugly, she was gorgeous. Everyone in the Qin family was attractive. Jie Jingchen refused to answer a hypothetical question.
"I said, *if*." Qin i enunciated each word, determined to force an answer out of Jie Jingchen.
"I only care about looks. I wouldn’t have even given you a second glance." Jie Jingchen mimicked her, his tone dripping with arrogance.
Qin i flew into a rage. She shot to her feet, kicked a table leg, and stord out of the kitchen.
’She’s angry?’ Jie Jingchen shook his head, exasperated. ’A woman’s mind is impossible to fathom.’
"Qin i." Jie Jingchen got up and went after her, but he was a step too late. Qin i had already gone into her room and locked the door from the inside. Locked out, Jie Jingchen gave a bitter smile. He knocked on the door and called in a low voice, "Qin i, open up."
"Get lost," Qin i shot back.
"Qin i," Jie Jingchen called out.
"Hmph!" Qin i sat on the edge of the bed, her face a mask of fury.
Jie Jingchen gave up on the door and went to the window. "Qin i, open up," he coaxed softly.
Qin i glared daggers at Jie Jingchen standing outside the window, then shot to her feet, slamd the window shut, and drew the curtains.
Jie Jingchen was stunned. This was the first ti Qin i had gotten so angry that she’d locked him out.
"Having a fight with your wife, Jing Si?" Jie Jingjue leaned lazily against the doorfra, a gloating look on his face as he watched Jie Jingchen.
Jie Jingchen shot Jie Jingjue a cold glare and strode toward Jie Jingshan’s room.
Jie Jingjue got the hint. He rubbed his nose and went back inside.
Seeing her chance, Xu Chunyan put down her knitting, got up, and headed outside.
"Where are you going?" Jie Jingwei called after her, looking up from checking Jie You’s howork.
"I’m going to find Aunt Zhang to plan our next move," Xu Chunyan said, stopping to turn and look at Jie Jingwei, who was sitting at the desk.
"Just be careful. Your father is still locked up," Jie Jingwei reminded her.
Xu Chunyan hadn’t been that angry, but the ntion of her father made hatred flare in her eyes.
Qin i didn’t have a single scratch on her, yet her father was locked up for "hooliganism." The charge was utter nonsense. If it had been for assault or attempted murder, she could at least understand it.
Aunt Zhang was in the bathroom, giving Jie You a bath. Jie You was eight years old and should have been bathing himself by now, but Xu Chunyan coddled her son, never letting him do anything. She was going to spoil him into incompetence.
"Auntie," Xu Chunyan said as she entered the bathroom, locking the door behind her.
"What’s wrong?" Aunt Zhang asked, looking at Xu Chunyan in confusion.
"Help Xiao You get dressed first." In Xu Chunyan’s mind, her son was more important than anything.
Aunt Zhang nodded and deftly helped Jie You get dressed. Once he was ready, Xu Chunyan sent him out of the room.
Aunt Zhang crouched down and began washing Jie You’s shorts. "Why all the secrecy?" she asked. "What on earth happened?"
Xu Chunyan crouched down beside her and whispered in her ear, "Jing Si and Qin i had a fight."
Aunt Zhang froze, giving Xu Chunyan a skeptical look. "Really?"
’I’ve been in here giving Jie You a bath,’ she thought. ’It’s hard to hear anything from in here unless people are really shouting.’
"It’s true. We all saw it. Qin i locked Jing Si out of their room," Xu Chunyan said, unable to hide her gloating excitent.
Aunt Zhang’s interest was piqued. She stopped washing the shorts. "But isn’t their relationship supposed to be so good? Why would they suddenly start fighting? What happened?"
Xu Chunyan didn’t know the details, nor did she care to find out. She waved her hand dismissively. "That’s not important. The important thing is that they’re fighting."
"It is important," Aunt Zhang countered, thinking differently from Xu Chunyan. "We need to know why so we can deepen their conflict. A simple quarrel won’t do any real damage to their relationship. What couple doesn’t fight? They’ll just kiss and make up."
But Xu Chunyan stuck to her guns. "Instead of wasting ti trying to figure out why they’re arguing, we should use this opportunity to create an obstacle that will tear them apart for good."
Aunt Zhang’s eyes lit up. "You an..."
"Yes, yes, that’s exactly what I an," Xu Chunyan said, nodding vigorously.
"Chunyan, who do you think would be the most suitable?" Aunt Zhang asked tentatively.
"Teacher Lin," Xu Chunyan blurted out. Aunt Zhang’s expression imdiately soured. Knowing her aunt wouldn’t agree, Xu Chunyan quickly pressed on, "Auntie, I know you don’t like Teacher Lin, but trust , sending her to get close to Jing Si right now is the smartest, most perfect move. Teacher Lin is in love with Jing Si. To be with him, she’ll use every trick in the book to seduce him until he’s completely smitten and can’t pull himself away."
"Wan’er is in love with Jing Si, too," Aunt Zhang said. "If we arrange for *her* to get close to him, she can also use every trick to make him completely smitten and unable to pull himself away."
On the matter of who should get close to Jing Si, each had her own candidate. Both selfishly wanted to push their own person, and on this point, they could not agree.
"Distant water can’t put out a nearby fire," Xu Chunyan argued. "By the ti Wan’er gets here, Jing Si and Qin i will have already kissed and made up."
"It won’t happen that fast. Didn’t you just say Qin i locked him out?" Aunt Zhang said.
Xu Chunyan raised an eyebrow. She’d been trying to be diplomatic to save her aunt so face, but since Aunt Zhang refused to see reason, she couldn’t be blad for being blunt. "Auntie, I’m sure you won’t like hearing this, but I can’t worry about that right now. Wan’er isn’t good enough for Jing Si."
Aunt Zhang flew into a rage, her voice rising uncontrollably. "Xu Chunyan, what’s that supposed to an?"
"Shh!" Xu Chunyan pressed a finger to her lips, all but clamping a hand over her aunt’s mouth. She shot a wary glance at the door before whispering a warning, "Auntie, keep your voice down! If they hear us, neither of us will be able to arrange anything."
"We’re arranging for my Wan’er to get close to Jing Si," Aunt Zhang insisted, pausing before continuing. "Arranging for Teacher Lin isn’t a sure thing. She has a job, so her ti to pester Jing Si is limited. Wan’er is different. She doesn’t have a job, so she has all the ti in the world to be with him. Besides, she’ll be staying here at the Jie family ho. Proximity is a huge advantage. Can *you* arrange for Teacher Lin to move into the Jie residence?"
’I can’t arrange that,’ Xu Chunyan thought. ’Forget about my father-in-law and Qiao Yanqiu disagreeing; even if they approved, the Lin family never would. Jing Si hasn’t even divorced Qin i yet. If word got out that Teacher Lin was seducing a married man, the entire Lin family would be shad.’
"Teacher Lin has a job, yes, but Jing Si is back at work too. They can commute to work together and co ho together," Xu Chunyan said, a picture of Teacher Lin and Jie Jingchen commuting together already forming in her mind.
Aunt Zhang rolled her eyes. "The machinery factory and the school are in completely opposite directions. Commute together? In your dreams."
"That’s not an obstacle. In the morning, Teacher Lin can drop Jing Si off at the factory before heading back to the school. After work, she can pick him up from the factory," Xu Chunyan said, determined to force them together for the commute no matter how contrived it was.
Aunt Zhang’s mouth twitched. That was a huge stretch. "Have you no idea how far away the factory is? Dropping Jing Si off... I can’t believe you even ca up with that. With that round trip, it’d be a miracle if Teacher Lin wasn’t late for work every day."
"What’s being late a few tis for the sake of love and marriage?" Xu Chunyan countered.
"To risk her job for a long-shot romance and a marriage that might never happen? Even if Teacher Lin was willing, would the Lin family just stand by and let her?" Aunt Zhang found the whole idea absurd. "My Wan’er is still..."
"Wan’er isn’t worthy," Xu Chunyan cut in. Facing her aunt’s humiliated fury, she took a deep breath and continued, "Wan’er had an abortion. She’s not... innocent. She’s not good enough for Jing Si. Qiao Yanqiu and my father would never agree to him marrying Wan’er, especially not Qiao Yanqiu."
Aunt Zhang glared at Xu Chunyan, her eyes so fierce they could have killed. "If Jing Si and Qin i divorce, he’ll be a divorced man himself! Wan’er was young and naive, so scoundrel took advantage of her! You’re her cousin-in-law. It’s one thing not to feel sorry for her, but to look down on her like this... Does Jing Er know you think this way?"
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