Chapter 186 — A Sleeve's Flick (Requesting Pink Tickets)

Given what had happened before, Dou Yong and his wife found it somewhat strange, but Dou Yong assumed Dou Yan meant to ask about Ji Lingze, and as Dou Yan and Ji Yong stepped outside, he explained in a low voice to his wife.

Even so, watching Ji Yong follow behind Dou Yan without a word, docile as a lamb, Han-shi still found it hard to believe.

Since when had that arrogant, domineering Ji Jianming of the Ji family become so easy to talk to?

Dou Yan naturally had no idea what Han-shi was feeling. She came to a stop beneath the pomegranate tree in the courtyard and asked Ji Yong, "The Northern Zen Temple alley—what exactly happened there?"

"Eh!" Ji Yong's eyes went wide. "How do you know about that?" Then a possibility occurred to him, and like a man who had eaten something spoiled, sour bile rose in his heart. He could not help saying, "I never thought you'd be so concerned about Wei Fan—keeping people watching his every move. In that case, why ask me at all? Go ask Wei Fan directly! See what he has to say, and come back and interrogate me then, if you like! Don't you know what sort of creature he is? Or are you really thinking of marrying him?"

Dou Yan stared at the reckless, unbridled Ji Yong, furious beyond words. Then she thought of the business with Dou Ming—how he had accused her of taking Dou Ming's side simply because Dou Ming was her sister. She drew several deep breaths and steadied herself. "So by your account," she said, "you were justified in ruining the Marquis of Jining's good name?"

"Ruining his good name?" Ji Yong lifted his chin and said scornfully, "In the capital, does he even have a name to ruin? If he hadn't latched onto Song Yan, heir of the Duke of Ying, do you think a single noble house in all the capital would know who he is?"

How had Song Yan gotten dragged into this again?

Dou Yan felt a headache coming on.

Ji Yong was even more displeased at heart.

He had come to see Dou Yan in high spirits, and before a single civil word was exchanged, the two of them were quarreling—and over that cockroach Wei Fan, no less.

Both of them fell silent at the same moment.

Dou Yan urged Ji Yong, "Don't do this anymore. Good deeds leave their mark, and bad deeds leave theirs. Would you rather everyone liked you, or everyone hated you? I imagine if everyone hated me, I wouldn't be able to sleep easy at night..."

"Then he'd have to have the ability to keep me awake first," Ji Yong muttered. But in the end he did not storm off in a huff.

Dou Yan smiled despite herself.

Ji Yong's mood improved along with hers. He called out to her, "Hey—tell me the truth. What did you come to the capital for?"

Dou Yan truly did not want Ji Yong meddling any further. If he drew Song Zhi's attention again and Song Yan caught a whiff of something, that would be disastrous.

So she could only say, "I've thought it over carefully. Sooner or later I must marry. I may as well marry Wei Fan—at least he's honest and dependable..."

"Is honesty and dependability all it takes to find a husband?" Ji Yong exploded. "Men like that are a penny a dozen—what's so special about them! Besides, is Wei Fan honest and dependable, or is he just weak and useless? Open your eyes and look, won't you? Even if you want to marry, you don't have to marry someone like Wei Fan! You don't even know—when he saw Zhao Zishu, that pitiful look on him, his eyeballs nearly fell out of his head. He can't even control his own feelings..."

How many people in this world are as fierce and formidable as you, Ji Yong!

Most people are ordinary.

Dou Yan smiled bitterly.

Ji Yong, however, took it for surrender.

He flung his sleeves and stalked off.

Coming the other way, he ran straight into Ji-shi, who had hurried back upon hearing that Ji Yong had come.

"Jianming..." she called to her nephew, all smiles.

But Ji Yong brushed past her with a face like stone.

Ji-shi was baffled. She asked Dou Yan, who stood in the courtyard wearing a helpless expression, "What's the matter with him now? Who's set him off?"

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Adding the May 2nd update!

ps: I'll keep writing the May 3rd bonus chapter in a bit.

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