Rose Lock - Chapter 74.1

In an alley off the left turn at the intersection of Nanhua Street, Jiang Yin tried hard to close the door, but the woman outside slipped her slender fingers into the crack. Jiang Yin saw her getting pinched, her long, narrow eyes furrowing in pain, and subconsciously loosened her grip. Gong Shulan seized the opportunity, pushed the door open, and walked in.

Jiang Yin turned her face away, not wanting to look at her. Her low-slung bun rested on her delicate neck, and her excessively pale skin conveyed a glass-like fragility. Clenching a handkerchief, she sat down at the round table, closed her eyes, bit her thin lip, and spoke in a soft voice, yet full of sharp thorns, “Why bother coming all this way to find me? Did you think you could continue to bully me because I didn’t die in that fire?”

Gong Shulan stiffened, speechless, “Is that what you think of me?”

Jiang Yin: “Otherwise, why would you come here? To repent?”

Gong Shulan was about to speak when she heard Jiang Yin, her voice vaguely choked with sobs, say through gritted teeth, “Forget it, I will never forgive you in this lifetime… Gong Shulan, I will never forget what you did to me.”

“Jiang Yin, I just wanted to come and see you…” Gong Shulan looked at her profile, “If you want revenge, I won’t fight back…”

Jiang Yin looked up at her, mocking, “If a dog bites me, do I have to bite it back?”

Gong Shulan was speechless, and the atmosphere became tense and fell into silence.

Jiang Yin: “How long are you going to stay here?”

Gong Shulan: “I want to stay here forever.”

Jiang Yin was shaking with anger, the handkerchief crumpled in her hand. She stood up and began packing her clothes in the inner room, “If you don’t leave, then I will.”

Gong Shulan grabbed her hand, “Don’t pack, I—”

“Don’t touch me!” Jiang Yin seemed extremely sensitive to her touch, instinctively shaking her hand off.

Seeing her like this, Gong Shulan knew she was having a stress reaction. She suppressed the discomfort in her heart and apologized, “I’m sorry… From now on, I probably won’t appear in front of you again. Jiang Yin, it was my stubbornness that caused me to make such a big mistake and hurt you repeatedly. I know you resent me. You can hit me, scold me, or even take my life.”

“What would I do with your life? Gong Shulan, you really are a lunatic.”

Jiang Yin looked at her with a look of unfamiliarity. Gong Shulan stared back, almost greedily. Once these words were spoken, there was no turning back. She was destined to have no future with Jiang Yin in this life.

“Jiang Yin… please take care of yourself.”

“Hurry up and leave,” she urged.

Gong Shulan looked desolate, turned, and walked toward the door. However, just as she stepped out, she heard the sound of a heavy thud from inside the room.

She looked back and saw the woman, who had been as fragile as a vine, suddenly collapsed on the floor, unconscious, “Jiang Yin!”

In a clinic, the electric lights were bright. A foreign doctor removed the stethoscope from his ear and frowned, “Her body is in a state of depletion, what you Central Plains people call ‘very weak,’ in all aspects…”

The doctor shook his head, “She’s very weak in all aspects and needs to recuperate. Also, her mental state is constantly anxious, which is very unhealthy.”

Gong Shulan thought about the years of pressure she had put on Jiang Yin, and how Jiang Yin had been constantly worried after escaping to Haicheng (Sea City). It was a miracle her health hadn’t completely broken down earlier. “What should be done?”

“Let her relax and keep her spirits up every day,” the foreign doctor said truthfully.

Outside, the rain was pouring, beating relentlessly against the window frames. The dazzling white electric light had been turned off, leaving only a small kerosene lamp flickering.

In summer, Haicheng had frequent thunderstorms. The dampness, combined with Jiang Yin’s weak constitution, caused her to develop a fever in the middle of the night. In her daze, she felt someone wiping her sweat, from her forehead and temples down to her back and chest. She wanted to push the person away, but her arms were too weak to lift, and she could only let the other person have their way.

Cough, cough, cough—

A few coughs broke the silence of the early morning. The rotary dial of the phone in the room was turned, circle after circle, by someone. A woman’s voice was lowered, “I need a car here. Tell someone to drive it over, and please book me a boat ticket back to Nancheng… Yes, I’ll marry Zhang Qi as soon as I return. Grandmother also wants to hold a grandson… One of us has to pay a price…”

After hanging up the phone, there were a few more coughs, sounding harsh. Jiang Yin’s eyelids trembled. Suddenly, a feeling of endless sorrow and resentment spread through her heart, making her feel suffocated and miserable.

This is fine, too. She will go back to marry and have children, and she won’t bother me anymore.

Footsteps approached, and a shadow fell over her. Gong Shulan, wearing a white, knee-length skirt, her healthy legs long and jade-like, a French-style coat over an undershirt, and a wide-brimmed English hat in white and grey, looked ready for a long journey. She stood quietly by the bed, her thin lips tightly pressed.

“Jiang Yin, I’m leaving. Take care.” She left this sentence behind. The sound of a car was heard outside. She picked up her suitcase and turned to leave.

The car door closed, and the engine sound went from starting up to becoming increasingly distant. Inside the room, no sound could be heard from outside anymore, except for the bustling voices and shouts of pedestrians.

“Shulan…”

Jiang Yin slowly opened her eyes, her dry eyes stinging. A trace of blood overflowed from the corner of her mouth, consuming the last of her strength like the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

In June of the same year, Nancheng was suffering from unbearable heat, and ice and cold drinks were selling well in restaurants and teahouses.

In a stately, unique garden courtyard, servants carried several cold drinks, threading their way through the corridors, and arrived at a pavilion, setting down two cups, “Madam, Young Madam, the cold drinks are here.”

Hua Manyi took one of the cups and set it aside, having no mind to drink. Her willowy brows were tightly furrowed, staring at the Roman chess pieces on the stone table. She bit her lower lip, “A’Yan, can you let me have a few pieces?”

Gong Yan took a puff of her cigarette, her red lips expressing cold mockery, “First you wanted one by one, and now you want several at once? I’m not playing. Go play by yourself.”

Hua Manyi’s skin had thickened considerably; she said without blushing or a racing heart, “Does that mean you plan to concede?”

Gong Yan: “…”

Hua Manyi brought the cold drink to her, briefly stirred the blueberries inside, and used a small fork to spear a blueberry, intending to hint at someone, “Then tonight, will it be…”

The rest of the words, along with the blueberry, were held in her mouth, crushed by her pearly teeth, releasing sweet juice.

The implication was clear.

Gong Yan was stunned and uncomfortably stubbed out her cigarette, “I have things to deal with tonight.”

“In the study?” Hua Manyi saw through her embarrassment, raised an eyebrow, “That’s fine too.”

Gong Yan was speechless, and had no choice but to pick up a chess piece, “…I haven’t lost yet.”

However, this action angered Hua Manyi, “In the past, you could take from me unconditionally, but I have to beat you to take from you. What kind of logic is that? I’m not playing. Go play by yourself.”

Returning Gong Yan’s words exactly, Hua Manyi suppressed her temper and got up to return to her room. Seeing this, Gong Yan followed, explaining, “Yiyi… listen to me. We returned this time for Grandmother’s eightieth birthday. How can I think about those things?”

Hua Manyi didn’t look back, “Then let’s sleep in separate rooms. That way, neither of us will have to think about anything.”

Gong Yan: “…There’s no need for that.”

Stepping over the threshold, Hua Manyi turned back, intending to close the door and lock the woman behind it outside, but the woman stretched out her hand to block it. Annoyed, Hua Manyi simply ignored the door and walked away.

“Yiyi…” Gong Yan hugged her from behind and rubbed her ear intimately.

Hua Manyi didn’t fall for it and pulled her hands away, “Grandmother’s eightieth birthday is right around the corner. Didn’t you say we needed to be serious and proper? What kind of behavior is this, hugging and cuddling?”

Suddenly, the sound behind her ceased. Hua Manyi turned back in confusion, only to see that the open door had closed at some point. Gong Yan was walking toward her. Her wrist was grabbed and she was led into the inner room. Parting the bead curtain, Gong Yan pressed her against the table.

Before Hua Manyi could react, she was kissed. One by one, the buttons on her collar were undone.

“A’Yan, you…” Hua Manyi finally found a moment to catch her breath. Leaning on the table, drenched in sweat, her legs trembling.

“Tonight… don’t kiss there. We still have dinner with Grandmother tonight… A’Yan.” Hua Manyi tried hard to maintain her last shred of sanity, but as the movements intensified, she was completely swept away by Gong Yan…

Support Rose Lock