The Double
Chapter 328 - 121 Setting Off

Chapter 328: Chapter 121 Setting Off

"Actually, you don’t have to pretend to be obedient, Ah Li," he said.

Jiang Li looked at Jih Heng with some confusion; his tone was too familiar. She could clearly hear that he was calling her "Ah Li," not "Ah Li."

Perhaps from the beginning, he had seen through her, just as she had seen through him.

Jiang Li shrugged: "I’m used to it."

In her past life, she was truly obedient, though it hadn’t brought her any good outcome, but rather a life full of blood and tears, and even dragged her family down. Now, she had become more cautious and careful; hence, impersonating an obedient character was even more effortlessly infiltrating, deeply ingrained in her bones.

Jih Heng always talked about how deeply actors must immerse themselves in their roles; wasn’t she an actor as well? Her face was painted with makeup, hiding her own thoughts, going through endless changes on stage, all while exuding a murderous aura.

Jih Heng looked at her for a while and said, "You should go back." He handed the umbrella to Jiang Li, like a passionate young master who hated to see his beloved suffer the slightest cold.

Jiang Li paused, took the umbrella from his hand, stood up from the stone, and said with a mischievous smile, "Then I thank the Duke very much."

"No need to thank me," Jih Heng said, "I’m just protecting my own things, as I should."

"You say that," Jiang Li pondered, "and it makes me feel as if I have a great backer, and I want to let go and make trouble without any concerns."

"Haven’t you caused enough trouble already?" Jih Heng was unconcerned, "With or without a backer, you’re just as aggressive."

"That’s true." Jiang Li nodded, "I’m leaving now." She saw that the plain white surface of the umbrella was sporting a peony embroidered with thread, faint and almost invisible unless one looked closely, but it was indeed Jih Heng’s preferred style.

They went back to the room with the umbrella, followed by Tonger and Bai Xue.

Jih Heng did not leave right away.

He stood by the pond, and whether it was an illusion or not, the snow in the sky seemed to grow slightly larger. The wind blew diagonally, snowflakes skimming over the surface of the water, white and sparkling, vanishing quickly from sight.

Wen Ji stood quietly behind Jih Heng and asked softly, "My lord, why do you help Miss Jiang the Second?"

Wen Ji, who had been with Jih Heng since he was ten, shared over a decade of master-servant loyalty. Jih Heng was a lonely man. Others feared him, dreaded him, calculated against him, and trapped him, hardly daring to openly ask him "why." But Wen Ji dared.

Jih Heng answered, "To place one’s life in another’s hands is to forever walk on thin ice, yet still able to smile." His voice held a laugh, yet it also seemed to carry an echo of vast loneliness, "Wen Ji, don’t you think, she’s very much like me?"

The difference was, he fell into the abyss, bloomed flowers out of darkness, while Jiang Li cut through thorns, attempting to grasp a shred of sunlight through the gaps in the forest.

She embarked on a path starkly different from his, which is why he felt compassion for her. Like those exotic flowers in his garden, born from hardship and danger, struggling to climb upwards – without meticulous care, they would blossom briefly and wither quickly, disappearing forever from the world.

So many exotic flowers in the world, yet there was only one Jiang Li.

She had disrupted his plans time and again amidst chaos, though without any significant harm, revealing to him this fierce and distinctive Man-eating Flower. Jih Heng could see her pretense and exploitation, as well as her occasional sincerity and sorrow.

He wanted to place this seemingly gentle yet fierce plant into the garden of Yanjing, to see what would remain after the struggle.

They met on stage, in a narrow way, stripping off each other’s masks amidst a game of chess. Both deceptive and sincere, they harbored a speck of genuine mutual sympathy amidst their own agendas.

How marvelous.

Life is short, and to encounter such a person – remarkable similar to oneself and yet so different – was indeed an interesting thing.

So, he hoped she would live.

At least for now.

...

The next day, Jiang Li and Ye Mingyu’s group set off for Xiangyang.

Many of the townsfolk from Tongxiang volunteered to go to Yanjing with Jiang Li to file a complaint, not only to punish Feng Yutang but also to seek justice for the deranged Xue Huaiyuan. Jiang Li thought there were too many people, but the villagers were incensed—seeing Xue Huaiyuan who had lost his senses, many had tears in their eyes.

In the end, apart from the elderly, the frail, and the women who could not travel far, everyone else joined the caravan.

As for the expenses, Feng Yutang had been extorting wealth for his planned escape with treasures. He hadn’t expected to be stopped by the villagers at the county government office before getting away. The large chests full of gold and silver treasures he failed to take with him were enough to cover the expenses for the villagers’ journey to Yanjing.