Ex-Wife is a Big Villainess
Chapter 70 - 66: Time Doesn’t Stand Still, Youth Has Slipped Away

Chapter 70: Chapter 66: Time Doesn’t Stand Still, Youth Has Slipped Away

Gazing at the woman’s charming smile, even the famed beauty from Silver Moon Tower couldn’t help but be momentarily lost in a daze.

Luo Shen, Luo Shen...

Could there be any woman under heaven who compares to you?

Li Guanshi asked, "Why didn’t you let me help your niece just now? Her injuries were no light matter."

The woman reined in her emotions and said indifferently, "What niece? I have no relation to her. Her mother was just someone our Jiang Family took in back then. The Jiang Family may acknowledge this daughter, but I do not recognize this sister."

"You and your sister were very close in the past," Li Guanshi said.

The woman, not wishing to discuss the topic further, changed the subject, "I don’t want to get involved with the matters of Pingyang the Mo Family, so I won’t help you find that remnant of the Mo Family. You will have to figure it out on your own. As for the secrets you’ve divulged to me today, I will let them go in one ear and out the other, forgotten after a good night’s sleep."

Li Guanshi chuckled, "Jiang Yi, you’re not that faint-hearted."

The woman named Jiang Yi retorted coldly, "I have a lot of courage, but I am also clear on who has granted me my status today. I will not play the hypocrite, praising someone when it suits me and cursing them when it doesn’t."

"Your position today was given to you by your deceased sister..."

"Li Guanshi!!"

Jiang Yi’s eyes grew cold, "Do you really think I dare not make an enemy of you!?"

Li Guanshi calmly said, "Ever since your sister died, you and I, once the best friends, have already become enemies. Who knows, perhaps one day, you might die at my hand, or... I might die at yours."

"I hope it’s you who dies at my hand."

Jiang Yi’s slightly narrowed almond-shaped eyes shimmered with moisture, her smile chillingly cold.

Li Guanshi said somberly, "I hope so too."

The oil lamp inside the carriage flickered gently, and the beautiful lady’s figure had vanished.

Jiang Yi leaned against the carriage wall, staring blankly into space.

Once upon a time, those two best friends, hand in hand, carefree, lay among the hills covered in camellias, admiring the rouge of distant mountains, the gleam of autumn waters, the leisurely drift of white clouds...

Back then, they naively swore an oath that even if they were to marry, they would marry the same man.

Time flows like a river, clouds pass by like smoke.

The living still exist, but are no longer young.

Those memories are now just memories.

Jiang Yi wiped the corner of her eye with the back of her finger, dispelling the fragments of memory in her mind, and asked at an angle, "Dong Xue, has there been no word from Qiuye?"

The female guard outside the carriage shook her head, "Ever since Third Sister went to investigate Xichu Pavilion, we’ve lost contact. She left a message before, saying that Xichu Pavilion seems to be researching something, secretly buying a lot of young girls. He Daya’s daughter, He Lianlan, is very likely inside. Moreover, Xichu Pavilion seems to have also lost a cat demon spirit."

A cat demon spirit?

Jiang Yi furrowed her brow, murmuring, "It seems they truly believe Netherworld Demon Qi can bring the dead back to life."

But the question is, can it truly revive the dead?

This secret is known only to the insiders of Sky Demon Sect.

——

The waning crescent moon, like a shard of broken glass, was forlornly embedded in the sky.

Jiang Shouzhong looked at the equally solitary woman and said softly, "I’m sorry to have troubled you. Are you hurt?"

The pallor on Ran Qingchen’s snow-white face was evident.

"No."

Her tone was as indifferent as usual.

Jiang Shouzhong moved his lips, knowing some things shouldn’t be said, yet he prepared to speak.

However, the woman seemed to anticipate what he was about to say, her serene gaze sweeping past the small beggar hiding behind Jiang Shouzhong, she said coldly, "I don’t need you to decide what I do."

Jiang Shouzhong closed his mouth, resigned.

"If I hadn’t appeared just now, how would you have dealt with that situation?" Ran Qingchen suddenly asked.

"I don’t know."

Jiang Shouzhong scratched his head and chuckled, then said softly, "Miss Zhou was very close to me."

Ran Qingchen frowned, not understanding his meaning.

But when she noticed the exquisite pistol at his waist, her expression suddenly grew strange.

"A lion and a rabbit are ultimately not on the same level," Ran Qingchen implicitly cautioned him.

But Jiang Shouzhong just shrugged with a smile, "But even a rabbit will bite when cornered, right?"

Back at Cloud Lake, when he faced the third young master of Famous Sword Villa, Fang Ziheng, Jiang Shouzhong had no thoughts of resigning himself to fate. Trapped in a desperate situation, he would struggle if he could – sometimes, a chance for survival might just be wrestled out.

And this time, he was also betting on whether Mr. Yan would intervene.

Ran Qingchen was about to speak when suddenly her complexion turned pale. The woman turned around, a fist pressed against her lips as she coughed lightly, and said faintly, "You should head back and rest early, be careful on the way."

After saying this, the woman strode away, her raven-like waist-length hair swaying lightly.

Upon entering the carriage that was waiting at the entrance of the alley, Ran Qingchen could no longer suppress it, and fresh blood spurted out, her pretty face devoid of any color.

"Miss!"

The maidservant Jinxiu was extremely anxious as she gripped the other’s damp, cool palm.

Ran Qingchen, exhausted, gestured with her hand and took out an elixir to swallow. "The Crown Prince was right; although we are at the same realm, I am no match for that person. However, I am certain that considering my status, he wouldn’t dare to fight me to the death, so in this way, my victory is somewhat dishonorable."

Jinxiu’s eyes reddened as she choked up and said, "Miss, if you don’t like the son-in-law, why do you protect him so?"

Ran Qingchen fell silent with a sorrowful expression.

After a long while, she sighed softly, "But he is still my husband, after all."

——

Around the corner, the belatedly aware skinny, dark-skinned girl hurriedly released the man’s clothes that her small hand was clutching.

It wasn’t out of the demureness and shyness of a young lady, but because her own hand was very dirty, and she was afraid of soiling her benefactor.

Jiang Shouzhong didn’t mind and asked softly, "Has your grandfather been buried?"

The skinny, dark-skinned girl nodded.

Jiang Shouzhong felt a pang of remorse.

Back in Xing’an Lane, if it wasn’t for the old man’s lingering soul, he wouldn’t have left the girl with a couple of broken silver coins.

His original intent was for the girl to wait for a wealthy family once again.

Now it seemed that she had only used the two pieces of silver he gave her to bury her grandfather, probably just in a thin wooden coffin.

Jiang Shouzhong pulled out a few pieces of broken silver and copper coins from his person, placed them in the girl’s hand, and said earnestly:

"Buy some clothes, eat something, just find a... If you can’t do any craft, then go to the Confucian Street outside the city. With some luck, you might find a large house to serve as a maid. Don’t come looking for me again, I don’t want a maid, and I’m not used to having one."

The skinny and dark-skinned girl gazed blankly at the handsome man’s cheeks, a bit at a loss.

Like a little dog that had been abandoned.

All of a sudden, she clutched at the man’s sleeve, instinctively releasing it again, and vigorously rubbed her hands on her clothes.

Realizing that her own clothes were just as dirty, she lowered her head in disappointment.

Jiang Shouzhong said gently, "There is a distinction between poverty and wealth among people, this world is inherently both fair and unfair. If you live diligently, you’ll always feel that you have worth."

Jiang Shouzhong patted the girl’s head softly, then turned and left.

The girl followed him instinctively, took a couple of steps, stopped, chased after him for another couple of steps, and then came to a halt...

In this way, the girl walked and stopped intermittently until she finally confirmed that the man didn’t want her. Only then did she stand still, forlornly watching his gradually blurring figure, like a little plant uncared for by anyone.

At this moment, the girl also finally realized,

With her grandfather gone, she truly was alone in this world.

——

Under the night moon, a young man dressed in white stood thoughtfully in front of the dilapidated mill shed of Ms. Zhang’s house.

The man’s figure was slender, and upon closer inspection, he had a captivating peach blossom gaze, graceful and elegant.

Even on usual days, walking on the street, he could easily ensnare the souls of many women.

The handsome man looked towards Zhao Wancang’s house, somewhat reproachful, "It was just a few exchanges with your wife, why did you have to kill her? Such a pity to waste such a good alchemical cauldron."

He turned his head to look at Zhang Yunwu’s house.

"There’s a better one here."

"No, no, after all, there’s a relation, it’s too immoral."

"Already a flower thief, and yet concerned about morality? Every time you seduce someone’s wife, you leave their family broken and destitute."

The man’s face was filled with conflict, as if two little people were fighting inside his head.

In the end, the white-clothed man’s greed overpowered his reason, and he approached the front door of Zhang Yunwu’s house and knocked.

After a while, the courtyard door opened.

We Zhaodi looked perplexedly at the handsome and unfamiliar man outside, "Whom are you looking for?"

"May I ask if this is Zhang Yunwu’s house?" asked the handsome man with a voice as smooth as jade.

We Zhaodi was surprised, "You are looking for my husband?"

The man feigned astonishment, his peach blossom eyes slightly lifting at the corners, as captivating as the petals of peach blossoms blooming in early spring, "So it turns out to be my sister-in-law."

He bowed to the woman, "Greetings, sister-in-law, I am a distant cousin of Zhang Yunwu, residing in Mo State. I came to the Capital for business, and when I learned that my aunt was ill, I thought to pay a visit.

Oh, that’s right, I forgot to introduce myself. My surname is Jiang, and my name is Jiang Qing."