Rose Lock - Chapter 23

“Last night’s incident?” Hua Manyi tried hard to recall. The woman in front of her was staring intently, as if one wrong word would be a grave offense.

There was still a faint smell of smoke in the air.

Hua Manyi thought for a moment, straightened her posture, and looked up, “Gong Ma, I know you and Dr. Huarenson have done a lot for me, worrying about my injuries, and I am very grateful, but to avoid causing you any more trouble, I still plan to return to Fenghai.”

A sudden sneer rang out. Hua Manyi looked at her in confusion. A cold chill emanated from the tip of Gong Yan’s finger, like a basin of cold water poured over her head, seeping into her bone marrow and spreading through her limbs and joints. Her fingertip remained motionless for a long time.

Finally, before leaving, she glanced meaningfully at Hua Manyi’s apricot-pink lips, her red lips pressed with a hint of coldness, “Do as you please.”

Even if she were utterly oblivious, Hua Manyi knew that this “do as you please” was full of distance and coldness. She bit her lip, ignored the discomfort in her heart, raised her face, and forced a smile as she called out loudly to the departing figure, “Thank you, Gong Ma!”

The figure paused for a moment, then continued walking without responding.

…

Under the clear sky, in an underground wine cellar of the manor’s courtyard, the wall lamps were bright. Every wine cabinet was filled with dazzling red wine: Jacob’s Creek, Martell, Vodka, Rum, Lafite… everything was available.

In a hidden corner, the wheels of a wheelchair shook slightly. Two black, inch-high heels lay on the floor, and slender ankles were exposed to the air.

Jiang Yin was kneeling on the wheelchair, her knees spread open and pressed against the woman’s sides. Her slender, fair legs made the pulled-down black lace pants even more noticeable.

A hand, excessively pale and slender with long fingers, reached into the messy, skewed front of the qipao, gently toying with a certain sensitive spot.

“Shulan… will you let me go?” Jiang Yin’s face was flushed. With the woman’s cold, teasing caress and twist, she was already unable to face her own body, not even wanting to hear the gushing sound of water flowing down the woman’s hand.

Jiang Yin’s voice became tearful. Her sickly, delicate face seemed to be enduring an unbearable punishment at this moment, “Spare… spare me…”

The sentence was intermittent, nearly exhausting all her strength.

“It was my fault back then, I’m sorry…” Jiang Yin clung to her shoulder, trying to explain, “I’ve been… very guilty all these years…”

“Guilty?” The woman finally spoke, her question tinged with mockery, “I think you’ve been living quite well. My sister protected you, Boss Sun promoted you, everyone was enthusiastic and lauded you. And you say you’re guilty?”

Gong Shulan lightly glanced at Jiang Yin’s blushing cheeks, “If it weren’t for my legs, would you have such good treatment now?”

“I…” Jiang Yin was speechless. As her emotions surged, the hand resting on Gong Shulan’s shoulder couldn’t help but tremble, “I’m sorry… I wasn’t… I didn’t mean to push you down back then, Shulan…”

This secret was known only to her and Gong Shulan, and it was also the nightmare that had plagued her for half her life.

That year, Gong Ao, the young daughter of the former Nan Cheng Navy Governor, was abducted by Feng Wu, the leader of the bandit stronghold on Mount Hu. Also abducted was the daughter of rice merchant Jiang Feng. Gong Ao led troops to suppress the bandits overnight. After just one day and one night, the bandit stronghold was completely destroyed, and the ten-year-old Gong Shulan and eight-year-old Jiang Yin were successfully rescued.

However, tragically, Gong Shulan accidentally fell into a trap full of sharp thorns while trying to escape, resulting in her leg bones being pierced, leaving her permanently disabled. Jiang Yin, because she called for help in time and ran into Gong Ao’s troops, urged him to hurry and save the person, which saved Gong Shulan’s life. Because of this, Jiang Yin became the Gong family’s benefactor and was protected and respected by the Gong family for the next decade or so.

In reality, during Gong Ao’s bandit suppression, Gong Shulan had already used her wits to escape the bandit lair with Jiang Yin. While making their way down the mountain, Jiang Yin accidentally pushed Gong Shulan into the trap, piercing her leg bones. The sight of blood and broken bones terrified the eight-year-old Jiang Yin on the spot. She was beside herself and ran down the mountain without a second thought, completely ignoring Gong Shulan’s cries for help.

Later, she was lucky enough to run into Gong Ao’s troops. Her conscience not entirely gone, she led Gong Ao to the trap to rescue the person, but Jiang Yin remained silent about how Gong Shulan had fallen into the trap and ruined her legs. Over time, she tacitly accepted the Gong family’s kindness towards her.

When Gong Shulan woke up, the situation was already a certainty: Jiang Yin was their benefactor. Whatever she said now would be useless, and she might even be condemned by the world as an ingrate.

Gong Shulan felt the tightness on her finger and pulled the person into her embrace in a strange and shameful position. Her right hand still refused to be taken out, while her left hand stroked Jiang Yin’s dark hair, “Jiang Yin, the birthday gift I gave you on your eighteenth birthday was not just about you becoming mine…”

Jiang Yin was lying on her chest, finally catching her breath, but before she could recover, she was gripped by this statement, which instantly pulled her memories back to that eighteenth birthday.

The twenty-year-old Gong Shulan was seen by everyone as delicate, refined, and understanding, yet it was this woman who wrote her a letter on her eighteenth birthday—asking her to come and stay with her at the Gong family. The price for not accepting the invitation was to reveal the truth from back then to the world. At the time, she was only consumed by fear and didn’t think too much about the loopholes in the words.

After accepting the invitation, the lights in this woman’s room stayed on all night. From then on, Jiang Yin understood what carnal pleasure was. Fortunately, not long after, Gong Ao sent the woman abroad for leg treatment, and she was thus liberated.

But now, the peaceful days were shattered by her sudden reappearance.

As her memories returned, Jiang Yin followed her words and asked, “What do you mean?”

“Jiang Yin, have you never wondered why there were suddenly so many weevils in your father’s rice storage back then?”

It was because of this incident that a major Nan Cheng rice merchant rapidly declined, and his daughter ended up working as a singing girl in the pleasure quarters of the Bailongmen.

The moment the words fell, a sharp slap echoed, and Gong Shulan’s face snapped to the side. Jiang Yin’s vision was blurred with tears, her chest heaving with mounting anger. “Gong Shulan, though my father wasn’t a good person, I repay this slap to you on his behalf.”

“Jiang Yin, what right do you have to speak for your father?” Gong Shulan inserted another finger, and Jiang Yin immediately gasped and gripped her lapel tightly.

“Without our Gong family, how could your father have climbed to the position of Nan Cheng’s number one rice merchant?” And all of the Gong family’s support for the Jiang family stemmed almost entirely from Jiang Yin’s supposed “life-saving grace” for rescuing Gong Shulan, which was based on a lie.

“As for why our Gong family helped your Jiang family, you, Jiang Yin, know best. Do you ever feel undeserving of this honor gained through lies? Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night, regretting not telling the truth back then?”

Jiang Yin closed her eyes in despair, realizing she couldn’t escape that mistake from years ago. Tears streamed silently down her face. Her chest and collarbone area constricted in waves of agonizing discomfort, her heart filled with bitterness. She bit her lower lip tightly, “Gong Shulan, what do you want to do to finally let me go?”

No sooner had she spoken than the wine cellar door was suddenly opened. Light from the surface spilled in, illuminating the few steps down and faintly lighting up the nearby darkness.

A graceful figure descended. The familiar qipao met their eyes, as did the faint smell of smoke. Uncharacteristically, she wasn’t smoking.

It was Gong Yan.

“Madam, do you need me to come down and help?” Butler Fu asked from outside the door.

Jiang Yin’s body instantly tensed upon hearing the voice, wanting to find a place to hide, but the woman beneath her held her in place, refusing to withdraw, rendering her immobile.

“No need, it’s just a bottle of wine. Go attend to your other duties,” Gong Yan’s voice was a few degrees colder than it had been in the drawing-room.

“A-Yan…”

They were behind the wine rack on the right beneath the stairs. Jiang Yin gazed blankly at the figure’s back and softly called out. Unexpectedly, the woman below suddenly intensified her movement, and the distinct sound of heavy liquid beneath them abruptly arose. Jiang Yin was frantic, clamping her legs together, “Please… don’t do this…”

Gong Shulan sneered, “A-Yan? You were calling out quite happily just now, go on, let her come and save you—”

The rest of her sentence was abruptly silenced as a pair of slender hands forcefully encircled her neck, attempting to squeeze the air from her mouth and lungs, preventing her from uttering another word.

Soft warmth pressed against her, perfectly sealed. Since her eighteenth birthday, she had fiercely guarded this lying mouth, allowing no one to touch it, and Gong Shulan herself had disdained touching those deceitful lips.

Yet, on this ordinary, unremarkable day, this woman was willing to abandon something she had defended for over twenty years, all to prevent Gong Yan from knowing what they were doing.

The author has something to say: Second update is here.

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