Contractual Cohabitation GL - Chapter 27

There were only a few scraped areas on her knuckles, but it was hard to guarantee whether the bones were injured. Ye Luochen looked around but didn’t see a restroom. She unscrewed the mineral water she had bought earlier and sprinkled it little by little onto the wound, then gently wiped away the water droplets with a tissue. She then spread out a tissue, wrapped it around her hand, pressed lightly on the knuckles, and looked up seriously at Jing Xiaonan, “Does it hurt?”

Jing Xiaonan shook her head, looking down at the woman, not wanting to miss a single expression on her face at that moment.

Ye Luochen slowly bent each finger joint, then asked again: “Does it hurt?”

The answer was again a shake of the head, and since she didn’t look like she was in pain, Ye Luochen finally felt relieved. Her gaze fell again on the scraped area, feeling that the exposed, tender wound was quite an eyesore, and subconsciously lowered her head to gently blow on it.

A few strands of hair fell in front of her eyes due to the downward movement, obscuring Ye Luochen’s expression. But Jing Xiaonan’s gaze remained fixed on the person in front of her. When she saw her perform such a silly and cute action, she couldn’t help but feel amused, but her smile faded, and she continued to look at her in the same way, her eyes full of emotion.

Ye Luochen was completely unaware. She looked at the wound with a hint of reproach, pouting: “You, you just like to show off and pretend to be a hero.”

She sighed and raised her head as if to say more, but her mouth was unexpectedly blocked by a pair of soft, warm, thin lips.

Considering they were outside, Jing Xiaonan’s kiss was very brief; the lips barely touched before pulling away. But even this small gesture ignited Ye Luochen’s cheeks. Her fair skin quickly flushed, and her heart rate became a little irregular.

She pushed her hand away, taking care not to hurt the other person’s wound despite her slight anger. Ye Luochen turned away, not looking at her, unable to articulate her complex feelings, but cautiously allowing only an expression of annoyance to show on her face.

She paused slightly, and when she spoke, her voice was cool: “Jing Xiaonan, don’t you remember what the first clause of our contract stipulates?”

“I remember,” Jing Xiaonan tilted her head, her originally cute look replaced by that irritatingly arrogant smile, “You said that cohabitation is only a formality, and I cannot force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“Then you…!” Raising her voice slightly, she glared resentfully at the person’s nonchalant appearance. How could she be so shamelessly despicable and self-righteous?

“I didn’t force you. I just kissed you; I didn’t ask you to respond.” Jing Xiaonan shrugged, replying as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“You~!” She was naturally calm and reserved, but encountering this little rogue always managed to infuriate her. Ye Luochen turned away completely, refusing to engage with her, and muttered angrily in a voice Jing Xiaonan couldn’t hear: “Bad person!”

“Alright, alright,” Jing Xiaonan coaxed with a beaming smile, “I’ll let you kiss me back next time!” Having said that, and without giving the person who absolutely didn’t want to kiss her any chance to object, she put her arm around her and pointed at a peacock roaming freely in the distance in the zoo, “Isn’t it beautiful?”

Ye Luochen rolled her eyes at her, subconsciously and subtly pouted, but didn’t speak. Jing Xiaonan, still smiling, pretended not to notice her dissatisfaction and engaged her in conversation with a barrage of unrelated questions. This scene of the two of them was observed closely by a man in a gray coat some distance away. He secretly congratulated himself that the two, completely focused on each other, had not noticed him following them from morning till afternoon.

The living room of the Jing residence.

Gao Jiong, completely oblivious to her status as a guest, was lounging on the sofa, one foot swinging and propped up near Jing Xiaonan’s face, who was sitting in a single armchair.

“Are you saying that the target of that person should be your Miss Ye, not you?”

Jing Xiaonan pushed Gao Jiong’s ankle, “Luochen is coming over; sit up properly.” Yet, there was no sign of blame or dissatisfaction in her expression.

“You call her so intimately now, sigh. It really is true that a girl who marries is like water splashed out to wash feet. Fine, I’ll be left alone to slowly be a single aristocrat.” Despite her words, Gao Jiong adjusted to a more proper sitting posture. “The stalking incident, continue. How did you find out?”

“In a place as cute as a zoo, it’s highly unlikely to see a middle-aged man dressed inappropriately, without his wife or children, staring blankly at the animals in the cage, yet with such piercing eyes, right?”

“Hmm…” Gao Jiong pouted and pondered, maintaining her usual irreverent manner, swaying her body as she nodded. “It is strange, but you can’t rule out other possibilities, can you?”

“Actually, it’s mainly intuition. Luochen and I walked around for most of the loop, and two or three times I looked back, he was following not too far behind.”

“Someone from the Ye family?” Gao Jiong looked up.

“Very likely, but it doesn’t rule out others.” Jing Xiaonan thought for a moment. “By the way, why did you come today?”

“Nothing much. I just wanted to come and see your blissful life with your hidden beauty and ruin it a little, by the way.”

“I thought you were coming to discuss the plan to expand Pengju’s recruitment.” Jing Xiaonan chose not to stoop to her level.

“That was just an excuse, alright? Interviews are next Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. What’s there to discuss? Ah, it’s after work hours, let’s not talk about work. Can’t I forget my identity as a capitalist exploiter for a day?”

Just as she said this, Ye Luochen walked from the kitchen to the living room carrying a tea tray. When Gao Jiong saw her, she significantly toned down her ruffian attitude, stood up, buttoned her short suit jacket, and smiled as she addressed her…

“Sister-in-law.”

“……..”

She was walking gracefully with the tea tray, looking serene and elegant, but upon hearing this greeting, her footsteps involuntarily paused for a moment. Ye Luochen looked at Gao Jiong’s smiling face, then at the seated Jing Xiaonan, and remained silent.

Jing Xiaonan rubbed her forehead. It seemed her decision a few weeks ago to order Gao Jiong not to step into her house was indeed brilliant. Look, as soon as she arrived, she was like a mental patient released from the hospital, scaring people everywhere.

No one took the bait, but Gao Jiong’s high spirits were completely unaffected. She stroked her chin, scrutinizing Ye Luochen from head to toe, not missing an inch from her hair to her heel. While praising her, she muttered to herself in a loud voice:

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, this sister-in-law truly has an exquisite appearance!” Cocking her little finger, Gao Jiong posed dramatically, her charm rivalling a popular Thai cabaret performer: “It can truly be said: A slender waist like the Chu palace, with a thousand charms resting on her brows. The spring breeze brushes the railing with thick dewdrops, from this day on, the king misses morning court. What beautiful poetry, what a beautiful woman.”

What the heck is this nonsense…

Jing Xiaonan gave her a look that said ‘don’t mind her,’ walked over, took the tea tray, and placed it on the glass coffee table. She nudged Gao Jiong, who was still immersed in her artistic pose, and made her sit in the single armchair she had previously occupied. Jing Xiaonan herself sat on the multi-seater sofa closer to Gao Jiong’s end, leaving half the space empty to subtly gesture for the person she was protecting to sit down.

Gao Jiong took note of these small actions and became even more relentless.

“Luochen, you are our Deputy General Manager Jing’s legal person. If I don’t call you sister-in-law, should I call you sister-in-law’s sister?”

Ye Luochen glanced at Jing Xiaonan, who, surprisingly, had changed her demeanor, smiling as she poured tea for the three of them without responding, showing no intention of helping her out of the predicament.

It looked like she was quite pleased with this address…

Ye Luochen originally intended to reply with a simple, “You can just call me Luochen,” but she was subconsciously affected by that smile and didn’t say it. She leaned slightly forward and passed the tea Jing Xiaonan had brewed to Gao Jiong, who was sitting further away, looking straight into her eyes with calm composure.

Er, Gao Jiong took the tea, realizing that this sister-in-law she had acquired seemed not to be someone she could easily tease. She obediently took a sip of tea, then picked up a pastry from the tray and bit into it. A look of surprise immediately appeared on her face as she looked at the tea snack.

“What is it now?” Jing Xiaonan put down her teacup and asked helplessly. Is this person never going to stop?

Gao Jiong just stared at the matcha pastry, her admiration overflowing, and sighed dramatically, playing the role completely:

“This concubine originally thought the culinary skills of my palace’s imperial kitchen were already excellent, but only after tasting this unparalleled delicacy today do I realize what it means that there’s always something better. I privately think that if I can persuade my sister to contribute some to this concubine to take back to the palace, perhaps my imperial dog and I can share the joy after tea, and it would not be a waste of your grace.”

Here we go again. Jing Xiaonan sighed and yelled quietly: “Speak like a normal person!”

“The food you made is better than my nanny’s, and I want to take some back to feed the dog…”

Jing Xiaonan: “……..”

“Are you absolutely sure? Did you see clearly?”

At the same time, in the study of a villa hundreds of times more luxurious than the Jing residence in the Northern Hemisphere, an elderly, white-haired old man held a generations-old purple clay teapot, glaring with bull-like eyes as he sternly questioned the man standing before him.

The man stood respectfully, head bowed and hands lowered, and replied: “That is what he said.”

“Does this mean…” The old man withdrew his gaze, furrowing his brows in thought. After a long moment, he abruptly looked at the man again: “What is the movement from Zhou Hui and Tao Yu’s side?”

The man slightly bowed: “The Eldest Young Master and the Second Young Master have both secretly sent people to investigate.”

The old man smiled, his bright eyes showing a knowing and understanding look, “What about Han’er?”

“The Eldest Miss seems to have taken no action.”

“Good, good, good! Hongzhan, you know what to do next, don’t you?”

“Your subordinate understands.” The man’s reply was clean and concise.

The old man nodded in satisfaction, raised his hand and waved. At this gesture, the man retreated from the room. For a moment, only the old man in the grand armchair remained in the lavishly decorated study. Although his face was covered in wrinkles, he still looked energetic and powerful. He raised a hand, used the lid to skim the tea leaves in the cup, took half a sip, and then displayed that all-knowing smile again.

“This play is getting more and more interesting.” He slowly turned his head and whistled softly, teasing the bird in the cage hanging nearby. The old man smiled and slowly turned his chair, picking up the wolf-hair brush he had been writing with, dipped it in ink, licked the tip of the brush on the inkstone, and then smoothly wrote the following characters on the Xuan paper:

Hui’er, Yu’er, Han’er, Chen’er.

He thought for a moment, and used the tip of the brush to lightly touch the characters “Chen’er.”

“Do not disappoint your grandfather…”