The Double
Chapter 233 - 233 102 The Play Ends

233: Chapter 102 The Play Ends 233: Chapter 102 The Play Ends The guards dragged them all away, the brightly dressed actors, stripped of their splendid costumes, unable to move, collapsed on the ground, the sight of them being pulled along was truly a sorry state.

Golden Mansion, which once enjoyed fame, had in an instant become prisoners at the mercy of others.

What awaited them was an ending even more tragic than the play “Bells on the Edge of the Sword.”

Jiang Li watched Little Peach Red’s retreating figure.

Such a charming and lively Dan was hard for even her, a woman, not to pity; yet Jih Heng remained unmoved.

Jiang Li turned to look back at Jih Heng.

His red clothes stood out starkly in the somberly black and white courtyard, looking especially vivid.

The stage, which earlier had been filled with the lilting strains of opera, was now silent.

Only the blood and swords scattered on the ground bore witness to the confrontation that had just taken place.

But the beautiful young man lightly waved his folding fan, his face showing leisurely grace, betraying none of the ruthless coldness seen just moments before.

His heart was like steel, yet he showed a facade of tenderness, Jiang Li had never seen someone like this before.

He could kill amid laughter, without batting an eyelid.

“Why does Miss Jiang the Second look at me in such a way?” he smiled radiantly.

“The play earlier was exquisite,” Jiang Li said, “I admire the Duke greatly.”

Jih Heng closed his folding fan and said, “I do not act.”

“Indeed,” Jiang Li said, “the Duke does not take part in the play, that’s why the Duke won.”

Jih Heng was far too lucid, Jiang Li had realized that a long time ago.

His heart differentiated everything clearly, like his red clothes in the starkly clear black and white courtyard, he saw everything sharply and with understanding.

Therefore, when Little Peach Red on the stage sent him flirtatious glances and the opera moved the audience, he had a smile on his face, but his heart was filled with scorn.

As for the fact that Golden Mansion had followed him to Xiangyang, apparently to ingratiate themselves but actually to attempt an assassination, he had understood that from the beginning.

He could have made preparations earlier, yet deliberately waited until this very moment, allowing Golden Mansion to perform the entire play.

He only wished to watch the play.

Jiang Li thought that perhaps in Jih Heng’s eyes, her own family, the Jiang Family, as well as the Ye Family, were nothing but a play as well.

His interest was merely because he still found them somewhat amusing; as to how much he really would invest himself, it was only a play after all, why expend too much effort?

One should not take it seriously.

“Does the Second Miss feel touched by something?” Jih Heng asked.

Jiang Li smiled and said, “It’s just that life is unpredictable.”

“Is Miss Jiang the Second satisfied with the play?”

“I wouldn’t dare to be dissatisfied,” Jiang Li said with a smile.

“Don’t speak as if I’m someone to be feared,” Jih Heng’s lips curled up, his voice lowered to an intimate murmur, “just now, when the Second Miss was in danger, didn’t you seek refuge in my arms without hesitation?”

Jiang Li nearly coughed.

In that critical moment, if she hadn’t found a shield, dying by a blade meant as a mistake would have been a terrible injustice.

Naturally, she needed to put Jih Heng in front of her.

Now that he mentioned it, it made her actions seem to carry a different meaning.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Jiang Li said with a forced smile, “I have offended the Duke, and I am truly sorry.”

For a woman to use the word “took liberties” to a man, if this were to spread to Yanjing City, it would surely cause others to laugh uproariously.

“No matter,” Jih Heng said, his gaze falling on the ground, and suddenly he bent down to pick up something.

Jiang Li saw that it was the Jade Pendant that had been redeemed earlier, the one that Xue Huaiyuan had personally carved with a knife when she was born.

She was startled and immediately touched her neck, only to find the cord had snapped, most likely during the chaos that had just unfolded.

Jiang Li said, “That’s my Jade Pendant.”

Jih Heng caressed the Jade Pendant in his hand, his gaze lingering on it for a while, taking in the lifelike civet carved into its surface.

Jiang Li was anxious and, disregarding everything else, reached out to snatch it back, but Jih Heng did not oblige, leaning back slightly and raising the Jade Pendant high out of reach.

Jiang Li couldn’t reach it and said, “Duke, that is my Jade Pendant, please return it to me.”

“I heard that Miss Jiang the Second goes by the single name of Li,” he said with a smile.

Jiang Li felt stifled, as everyone in Yanjing City knew her as Jiang Li; Jih Heng’s words were clearly deliberate.

“The people of Ye Family call you Jiang Li; I wonder which Li it is?

Is it the pear of pear blossoms or the Li of civet?” he looked down, the smile deepening at the corner of his mouth, his eyes seemed to carry a faint coldness, yet also seemed affectionate, leaving one deeply confused.

For a moment, Jiang Li felt as if the blood in her veins had frozen over.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.