Against the Current - Chapter 288

Chapter 288 - Reluctance (Part 2)

Jiang Xiyun accompanied Madam Jiang to Changchun Hall, where both Qin Clan and Lin Jinlou were present, their faces as gloomy as standing water. Chunling was prostrate on the ground, her face the color of beaten gold, groaning incessantly and barely able to kneel, while Shuran stood to one side serving tea.

Madam Jiang glanced at Chunling and asked in astonishment, "What is the meaning of this? Could this be a joint tribunal?" With that, supported by Jiang Xiyun, she sat down.

Lin Jinlou did not rise to offer formal greetings, but merely said with a dark expression, "A demonic wind blew into the estate today, and someone actually dared to play tricks right under my nose. Elder Yi Niang, you tell me, isn't this eating the heart of a bear and the gallbladder of a leopard? If I don't properly roll up my sleeves and deal with this, people will think Lin Jinlou is a spineless wretch. Tsk tsk, how is this master supposed to face people once word gets out?" As he spoke, with a sharp crack, the folding fan in his hand was snapped in two by his grip.

Jiang Xiyun raised her eyes slightly and caught sight of Lin Jinlou's grim, freezing smile, causing her to shudder involuntarily. Previously, although Lin Jinlou possessed immense authority and arrogance, he had always been pleasant and genial toward the Jiang family, like a spring breeze. This was the first time she had ever witnessed him turning hostile, and it struck a natural, spontaneous terror in her heart—he looked like a man-devouring beast, completely different from any man she had ever known. A sudden sense of dread gripped Jiang Xiyun's heart.

Madam Jiang maintained a calm expression and said, "Brother Lou, have a sip of tea and calm down. Mind you don't fall ill from excess anger." Turning her head to address Qin Clan directly, she asked, "I wonder why my nephew's wife has summoned my two granddaughters here? Dan girl has been feeling unwell all day, and now she has taken ill, confined to her bed." She let out a long sigh as she spoke. "Sigh, since Brother Lou's summons was so urgent, it must be on account of some grave matter, so I accompanied them here."

Hearing Madam Jiang smoothly pivot the conversation, Qin Clan could not help letting out a secret sigh of relief and asked, "What kind of illness does Dan girl have? Is it serious?"

With a look of worry on her face, Madam Jiang replied, "She fainted once just now and only came to after someone pinched the philtrum beneath her nose. She kept complaining of chest pains, and a physician has already been called."

Qin Clan said, "She is so young; how did she come down with a chest ailment?"

Madam Jiang only shook her head and sighed, "The child is delicate in constitution. Perhaps she ate something excessively cold last night, which failed to digest and settled heavily in her chest. Today, a gust of wind caught her and stirred the illness into flare-up."

Qin Clan accompanied her with a sigh of her own.

Lin Jinlou tossed the broken folding fan aside and merely sneered in silence.

Jiang Xiyun's heart fluttered with panic, but she quickly steadied herself. Chen Xianglan possessed such a pitiful appearance, and she had heard she was prone to weeping and quite clever to boot; she would likely figure out the connections and cry to Lin Jinlou... Fortunately, she had always avoided open conflict with Chen Xianglan in daily life, especially in front of Lin Jinlou, where she always maintained a harmonious and warm facade. This matter on her part had merely been going with the flow, executed cleanly enough that even if it came to light, she would be able to extricate herself. She only wondered what would become of Jiang Danyun. Turning her head, she looked at the trembling Chunling, let out a tiny sigh, and softly comforted Madam Jiang, "Grandmother, don't worry about Fourth Sister..." She then produced a pair of insoles and handed them to Lin Jinlou, her face already plastered with a charming and ingratiating smile as she said, "Elder Cousin-in-law, the weather is gradually turning cold. I made a pair of thick fleece insoles; they'll keep your feet warm inside your boots." Her bright eyes blinked repeatedly at Qin Clan's face, and seeing the latter's cool expression, she pouted slightly and said with spoiled cuteness, "It's just that this fleece fabric is so thick; every time I pushed the needle through, it poked and hurt my fingertips." With that, she opened her palms to show Qin Clan.

Qin Clan looked down and saw faint red marks on those white fingers, evidently caused by a thimble rubbing against them during needlework. She could not help taking that hand and stroking it continuously. Just moments ago, Lin Jinlou had invited her into the main hall, instructing her that she need not participate in the matter while urgently dispatching people to summon the Jiang sisters. Qin Clan's heart felt unsettled; she vaguely guessed what had happened yet dared not confirm it. She terrified lest Lin Jinlou kick up a storm beyond control, yet realizing that this deed was done by the Jiang sisters, a sense of disgust rose in her chest as well—which was why she had been rather cold toward Jiang Xiyun just now.

However, Qin Clan had always favored Jiang Xiyun for knowing how to act spoiled and obedient. Seeing that sweet face brimming with total innocence, and recalling how docile, observant, and genuinely kind the child usually was, she concluded she must have guessed wrong and said, "What a good child, it must have been hard on you." She then glared at Lin Jinlou and said, "Dan girl is ill, yet Elder Yi Niang and Xi girl still hurried all the way over here. What on earth is this momentous matter of yours that you had to discuss it right this instant?"

Lin Jinlou chuckled softly and said, "A piece of sensational news broke out in the household today, and it happens to be quite entertaining. I specially invited Elder Yi Niang and my cousins here to listen to it." Tilted his chin, he gestured toward Chunling and said, "Speak."

Jiang Xiyun's heart sank, and she thought to herself, It's here!

Chunling instantly lost her composure and burst into loud sobs, crying, "Master! Everything this slave said just now is the absolute truth! The child-destroying pills in Yi Niang's medicinal decoction were not planted by me! If I utter a single false word, let Heaven claim my life right this instant! I was the one brewing the medicine; if any misfortune befell Yi Niang, this slave wouldn't be able to live either, so why would I ever commit such an act of stealing what I am sworn to guard?"

Lin Jinlou said with icy grimness, "If not you, then who?"

Chunling wept so hard she was gasping for breath. "This slave... when I was brewing the medicine, only the two young misses of the Jiang family entered the tearoom..."

Lin Jinlou said slowly, "Oh? By that, you mean these two individuals intended harm to your mistress? The maids say that you had fallen out with Yi Niang and grown extremely close to the Jiang family's fifth young miss." With that, he raised his head and cast a meaningful, penetrating glance at Madam Jiang and Jiang Xiyun.

Chunling felt a surge of intense hatred. A moment ago, when she was being beaten half to death, Shuran had hurried over to report matters in a low voice to Lin Jinlou. After Lin Jinlou got up and headed to the bedchamber, Shuran had strolled leisurely over to her side and sneered, "Why put yourself through this? It was clearly the Jiang sisters who found Yi Niang an eyesore, teaming up to set a trap—one engaged you in conversation while the other planted the drug, framing you to take the fall. And yet, you used to treat those poisonous vipers like bodhisattvas!" Chunling was not utterly devoid of sense; turning the sequence of events over in her mind, she realized it matched Shuran's words down to the letter. The more she thought, the angrier she grew, and she gritted her teeth, declaring, "This slave did have grievances against Yi Niang, but I would never dare administer such a lineage-destroying poison! Only these two young misses came by while the medicine was brewing; this drug was most likely slipped in by the two of them!"

Madam Jiang flew into a rage, slapping the armrest as she pointed and cursed, "Nonsense!" With that, she broke into a violent fit of coughing.

While smoothing Madam Jiang's breath, Jiang Xiyun raised her head, opened a pair of bewildered eyes, looked at Qin Clan, then at Lin Jinlou, and finally back at Chunling, asking in a dazed tone, "Chunling... I have no enmity or grudge against you; how can you say such a thing?"

Chunling wailed shrilly, "It's my fault for treating you like a good person in the past, never imagining you were harboring such deceit! You and your sister—one deliberately lured me to the doorway to talk while the other drugged the medicine inside! I only hate myself for being blind—why did I ever make your acquaintance in the first place!" Her voice grew even sharper. Glaring at Jiang Xiyun, her eyes looked as though they were about to bleed.

Jiang Xiyun looked blankly at Lin Jinlou and Qin Clan as tears suddenly welled up in her eyes, rolling down her cheeks like heavy pearls. Biting her lips in silence, she choked out, "Does Auntie and Eldest Brother-in-law truly believe I am the sort of person who would harm others?"

Recalling how poised, sensible, and cleverly behaved Jiang Xiyun always was, Qin Clan found it deeply hard to believe she could do such a thing, and thus said to Lin Jinlou, "Could there be some hidden circumstances behind all this?"

Struggling forward on her knees by a few inches, Chunling wept, "I beg Madam and the Master to summon the Jiang family's fourth young miss! She is likely just feeling guilty as a thief and feigning illness!"

Lusu stepped forward, pointing and scolding, "Nonsense! Our fourth young miss is sick in bed and completely unconscious, yet you are running your mouth with wild fabrications to smear our young miss's reputation!"

Gritting her teeth until they clicked, Chunling shouted harshly, "I am not! I am not! I am not!" She began knocking her head repeatedly against the floor toward Qin Clan and Lin Jinlou, crying in a hoarse, desperate shriek, "Madam, Master! If I did this, I would gladly accept being hacked into a thousand pieces... This slave, this slave is truly, thoroughly wronged!" Her forehead slammed against the ground with loud, hollow thumps, and before long, blood began to show.

Inside her sleeves, Jiang Xiyun's hands slowly clenched tight. If the Lin family had let the matter slide and treated it as finished by using Chunling as a scapegoat, this affair would have been like a stone tossed into a lake—creating a few ripples before growing completely silent. But Lin Jinlou's current stance, insisting on dragging the matter into the open to investigate and displaying an attitude of tearing down all pretense of civility, had indeed exceeded her expectations. Jiang Danyun was currently scared out of her wits; if she were brought over, she might spark other complications, whereas Chen Xianglan was merely a concubine of humble servant origins...

Biting her lip, she raised her head, looked at Qin Clan with an expression of tender, childlike admiration, and said, "Elder Aunt-in-law, you have always been wise and discerning; Fourth Sister really and truly has fallen ill..."

Qin Clan sighed, stroked Jiang Xiyun's hair, and was about to speak when Lin Jinlou already instructed Shuran, "Go and check on the state of Jiang Fourth Miss's illness. If she still has a single breath left in her, carry her over even if you have to use a bench!"

Madam Jiang instantly turned crimson with rage. Smacking the table, she stood up, pointed at Lin Jinlou, and cursed, "You! How dare you!" She then gave a cold laugh. "Good, good, good, good one, General Lin, Master Lin! Interrogating cases right up to our Jiang family's doorstep, drawing swords and brandishing weapons against relatives—you've certainly grown up now, haven't you, daring to act wild in front of your elders! Fourth girl is a member of our Jiang family; let's see who dares lay a single finger on her today!" Turning to Jiang Xiyun, she said, "Fifth girl, we aren't staying in this place another minute. Go back and pack your things; we are leaving with your eldest brother!" Sensing the situation turning perilous, Qin Clan hurried forward to mediate. Madam Jiang coughed loudly, her body swaying as if she were about to faint. Qin Clan rushed over to help Madam Jiang sit down, while Jiang Xiyun hugged Madam Jiang's arm, tears streaming from her eyes as she wept uncontrollably.

Lin Jinlou stood quietly to the side, steady as a monolith without the slightest expression on his face. He stated, "This case today, I am determined to see through to the end. If I have truly caused offense, I will carry thorns on my back and submit to punishments from Elder Yi Niang later. But if anyone dares play tricks within the gates of my household..." With those words, he whipped a precious blade from his waist with a ringing shing. Throwing it with a flick of his wrist, the knife drove straight and true into a nearby tree, its chilling, flashing light striking terror into the hearts of all who saw it.

Everyone was struck dumb with shock, holding their breath and falling completely silent, no longer daring to cry out or argue. Lin Jinlou cast a cold glance around the courtyard and declared, "Regardless of who they are, today—even if you invite the Jade Emperor himself—it won't make a difference!" He barked in a deep voice, "Shuran!"

Shuran scurried forward to answer.

Lin Jinlou commanded, "Go and fetch Jiang Fourth Miss here!" Shuran acknowledged the order and withdrew.

Qin Clan's eyes grew red with anxiety. Fearing that Madam Jiang might be angered into some grave condition, she stepped forward, grabbed Lin Jinlou's sleeve, and whispered, "Brother Lou, what are you... why go to such lengths! No matter who did this, things have already reached this point. Why insist on offending the Jiang family? You..."

Looking at Qin Clan, Lin Jinlou abruptly spoke: "The Jiang family's young miss is a human being, but my concubine Chen Xianglan is also a human being—and she once saved you and my sister!" At those words alone, Qin Clan fell silent.

Lin Jinlou turned back, sat down, picked up the cup of tea beside him, took a sip, and added, "The tea has gone cold. Someone come, replace the tea for everyone."