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Once the truth of what happened later was known, anyone who saw Sheng Congyuan in this state could only assume that he must have committed some utterly depraved deed and achieved his desire through despicable means.
In broad daylight, amid the comings and goings of the crowd,
he had brazenly fixed his gaze upon a woman whose fiancé was still sitting beside her, right there at a banquet filled with guests.
Song Jinyao irritably lowered her brows. Truly, every single wretched thing was enough to give her a headache.
Still, after Sheng Congyuan had stirred up such trouble and the annoying Zhu Mingxuan had left, Song Jinyao remembered that she had intended to return the jade pendant to Sheng Congyuan at the banquet today.
She had never wanted any further contact with him, and now she was even more inclined to retreat.
How troublesome.
She was almost afraid that if she did not return it today, Sheng Congyuan would walk straight up to her in full view of everyone, spread out his hand, and say, “Miss Song, please return my jade pendant to me.”
Good heavens.
That man was absolutely capable of doing such a thing!
Little did she know that the man suspected of harboring such mad intentions was seated far away at that moment, with no intention of taking things so far.
He merely had a surge of anger trapped in his chest. Darkness churned beneath his eyes, difficult to suppress.
He admitted that his thoughts were indeed impure.
How could desires accumulated over more than a decade remain pure? Long ago, they had seethed restlessly within his heart, roiling into a murky darkness.
He also admitted that, having recognized reality, he ought not to cling to delusions any longer.
Yet he could not control himself. He had acted without thinking, as though driven by instinct.
Knowing that she would attend the banquet today, he had been unable to resist standing by the entrance, hoping to see her figure the moment she arrived.
He had also deliberately arranged for her seat to face his own.
His wandering gaze had drifted in her direction.
And then he had seen Song Jinyao chatting happily with her fiancé.
Sheng Congyuan lowered his eyes desolately, but his thoughts would not settle.
If he did not exert all his willpower, he might still be unable to stop himself from looking over there, as though bent on tormenting himself.
He only wanted to watch her.
Amid the endless flow of people, he could find her at a glance.
His fists clenched for an instant, and Sheng Congyuan abruptly rose to his feet.
The attendant waiting nearby, Xinyun, stepped forward half a pace. “Young Master, where are you going?”
Sheng Congyuan ordered coldly, “Do not follow me. I am going out for some air.”
Xinyun parted his lips slightly and instinctively glanced toward the seats opposite.
He withdrew his gaze after only a moment, naturally not daring to say another word.
Song Jinyao was still hesitating when, with another glance, she saw Sheng Congyuan stride away from the banquet for no apparent reason.
He was alone, walking quickly, and before long he vanished into the crowd.
Song Jinyao’s heart tightened. With no other choice, she hurriedly rose as well.
She would take this opportunity to return the pendant to him, give him no chance to say anything, and leave the moment it was back in his hands.
She had fled from his father’s birthday banquet. Surely he could not really ignore all propriety and come after her to drag her back.
With that plan in mind, Song Jinyao quickly wove through the crowd in the direction Sheng Congyuan had taken.
The Sheng residence was enormous, and Song Jinyao was unfamiliar with its layout.
As she followed the narrow path onward, the banquet’s clamorous sounds grew more distant. In the end, the silence was so complete that only the sound of her own footsteps remained.
Song Jinyao gradually slowed, her brows drawing together. For a moment, she did not know whether she had taken a wrong turn. If she went any farther, she might never catch up with Sheng Congyuan.
Just as she was thinking this, she stopped and began to turn around.
The moment she moved, a blur flashed before her eyes. A black robe embroidered with cloud patterns suddenly appeared in front of her, startling her into retreating several steps.
When she looked up, she found Sheng Congyuan standing behind her—though he should have been walking ahead of her.
“You—you… How did you… You…”
Song Jinyao was so shocked that her face turned pale with fright, and even her tongue nearly tangled itself into knots.
Sheng Congyuan stopped at once and obediently took half a step back. Yet, strangely, a flush crept up from his ears and spread all the way to his cheeks.
Only after seeing that her fright had eased somewhat did he speak awkwardly. “This is my bedchamber.”
As he spoke, he raised a hand slightly and pointed toward the residence beside the path.
Song Jinyao: “…”
Why was he blushing?
Could he possibly think that…
Sheng Congyuan asked, “Are you lost?”
Song Jinyao: “…”
If only he would restrain the smug delight in his eyes, she might have been able to calm herself a little.
Song Jinyao drew a deep breath to steady her racing heart. As she took something out, she said, “I followed you here.”
Sheng Congyuan froze. The excuse he had been about to invent caught in his throat, clearly because he had not expected her to admit it so directly.
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Then Song Jinyao took from her waist the jade pendant he had deliberately dropped in front of her that day.
“This is the jade pendant you dropped that day.” Her expression was cold, but her heart was pounding. The two of them were still several paces apart; even with her arm fully extended, she could not reach him. Nevertheless, she spoke quickly. “Here. Take it back.”
Song Jinyao did her utmost to keep her gaze steady, looking straight ahead.
Fortunately, Sheng Congyuan was tall. Looking forward in this way, she could see only the area below his neck and would not have to face whatever devious expression he might be wearing.
In truth, if Song Jinyao had lifted her eyes for even a moment, she would not have seen any sinister expression at all.
Sheng Congyuan was still dazed. He slowly raised his hand, the gesture seeming almost cautious.
His movements were unhurried. No one could tell what he was thinking—or whether he was deliberately dragging out the moment.
When his large hand finally hovered in midair, Song Jinyao suddenly stepped forward, hurriedly stuffed the pendant into his palm, and immediately turned to leave.
“Since the item has been returned to its rightful owner, I shall take my leave.”
“Wait, Miss Song…”
Wind rushed past Song Jinyao’s ears as she left Sheng Congyuan’s hesitant murmur behind without stopping.
That had nearly scared her to death.
She had no idea when he had realized she was following him, yet he had still pretended to ask whether she was lost.
He had clearly brought her to his bedchamber on purpose!
What was he trying to do?
The more Song Jinyao thought about it, the more flustered she became, and the faster she walked.
It was only after turning around a fork in the path that she suddenly fell into confusion.
She had been so intent on catching up with him that she had paid no attention to the route.
Now, with silence all around her and greenery blocking her view, she could not tell which way would lead back.
Just as she was considering her options, she suddenly heard footsteps behind her.
Song Jinyao’s back stiffened. She did not dare turn around. Unsure whether Sheng Congyuan was pursuing her or whether a servant merely happened to be passing by, she hurriedly chose a direction at random.
She had walked most of the way before realizing that she had taken the wrong path.
The farther she went, the farther she seemed to be from the banquet, with no sign whatsoever that she would return to it.
When the sounds behind her ceased, Song Jinyao gradually slowed.
She was still debating whether to turn back or continue forward when a commotion suddenly arose ahead.
“We can stay here. It would be better not to go any farther.”
The speaker was a woman. Her voice sounded somewhat familiar, but Song Jinyao could not identify her.
Song Jinyao paused. She had only been trying to avoid the possibility of Sheng Congyuan catching up with her; there was no need to hide from anyone else.
Yet the familiarity of that voice stirred the same strange sensation she had experienced before.
Before she could think it through, another voice sounded.
“All right. I will do as you say.”
This time, Song Jinyao recognized it with certainty. It was Zhu Mingxuan’s voice.
At the same time, she understood why the woman’s voice had seemed familiar: it gave her the exact same feeling she had had the first time she heard Sheng Congyuan speak.
They were strangers, familiar only from her dreams.
When a dream entered reality, it became both familiar and strange.
Song Jinyao’s heartbeat abruptly missed a beat.
The conversation continued.
“Did you miss me?”
“Do not say such nonsense. We only saw each other a short while ago.”
“A day apart feels like three autumns. I miss you in my heart. Do you not feel the same?”
A wave of revulsion washed over Song Jinyao. She did not need to think any further. She had accidentally stumbled upon the evidence she had been searching for all along.
In her dreams, Zhu Mingxuan had secretly met this woman in exactly the same way, without her knowledge.
Sometimes it was in a secluded corner of a banquet, away from the crowd. Sometimes it was in a private room or pavilion, with one entering just before or after the other.
If she had never had those dreams, if she had never crossed paths with Sheng Congyuan,
then today she would have remained seated until the banquet ended, never knowing that Zhu Mingxuan—who appeared to care for her so deeply—had left midway to meet his lover.
Song Jinyao could also imagine that among the past events not shown in her dreams, Zhu Mingxuan must have done such things more than once.
From secret meetings behind her back at the beginning, to increasingly brazen entanglements later on, he had continued until their wedding date drew near, and she had remained completely unaware.
“Look at what I brought you today.”
“This jade bracelet? I heard a wealthy merchant bought it at the last auction. How did it come into your hands?”
“I knew you liked it. I was delayed by something that day and could not attend the auction, so afterward I found the merchant and bought the bracelet from him privately.” After a brief pause, Zhu Mingxuan said, “Try it on.”
The woman sounded astonished. “How much did it cost?”
“No amount would be too much. It suits you perfectly. You look beautiful.”
From where Song Jinyao stood, she could not see what the two of them were doing, nor could she see what the jade bracelet looked like.
But her instincts told her that the auction Zhu Mingxuan mentioned was the very one at which she had bid on the painting.
The reason he had been “delayed by something” was that he had been busy putting on an extravagant show before her despite not having the means.
Zhu Mingxuan had been unwilling to spend money bidding on the painting for her, pinching every coin until he ruined her chance to obtain it. She had been forced to seek out Sheng Congyuan privately before she could finally buy it.
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He had probably learned this trick of privately seeking out a wealthy merchant from her.
But an ordinary wealthy merchant was not the same as Sheng Congyuan, who had ulterior motives.
Since the bracelet had been purchased privately, it could not possibly have been at the original auction price.
The money Zhu Mingxuan had been unwilling to spend on her, he had turned around and spent without blinking, lavishly purchasing a jade bracelet for someone else as a gift.
Song Jinyao’s heart went cold, and she found it utterly laughable.
Having heard enough of the conversation, she no longer wished to listen.
The timing was perfect. She strode directly forward.
The sudden sound of footsteps caused the two people to fall silent.
When Song Jinyao emerged from around the corner, she looked up and saw the pair standing several paces apart with exaggerated awkwardness.
It was roughly the same distance that had separated her from Sheng Congyuan moments earlier.
Yet from that distance, she had not even been able to hand Sheng Congyuan the jade pendant.
These two were supposedly overflowing with affection as they exchanged gifts. Could they even receive a bracelet from so far away?
Zhu Mingxuan forced his expression to remain composed. Only the tightness in his voice betrayed his panic as he spoke.
“Jinyao, why are you here?”
Only then did Song Jinyao truly see the woman’s face.
It was exactly the same face she had seen in her dreams.
Now that matters had come to this, every guess and every uncertainty had become fact.
Those dreams had been some inexplicable ability to foresee the future, and they had all been real.
Song Jinyao showed no trace of furious distress. Her voice was merely cold as ice.
“Should I not be asking you that?”
Zhu Mingxuan’s expression shifted. He hurriedly put even more distance between himself and the woman, then strode toward Song Jinyao.
“Jinyao, what do you mean? Do not misunderstand. I merely happened to meet Miss Lin here.”
The surname Lin.
Song Jinyao understood at once. The woman before her was Lin Qingmiao, the cousin of Prince Jin.
No wonder that after returning to the capital, she had so often heard her father mention the Prince Jin’s residence, with which they had previously had no connection whatsoever. He had said that Zhu Mingxuan now had frequent dealings with the prince’s household, and that establishing ties with its influence would benefit his future official career.
Little did he know that these were not the sort of ties he imagined.
Still, Lin Qingmiao was merely a cousin of Prince Jin.
The connections he could gain through her were not enough to make Zhu Mingxuan abandon the benefits he would obtain through marrying into the Song family.
If Lin Qingmiao had been Prince Jin’s own daughter, this marriage might never have existed.
But now it no longer existed anyway.
Song Jinyao said, “The Sheng residence is enormous, with winding paths everywhere, and yet you happened to encounter Miss Lin here in such a remote and secluded place. You and Miss Lin certainly seem fated.”
Zhu Mingxuan’s gaze darkened. “Jinyao, do not make wild accusations. Miss Lin and I truly happened to meet by chance. This is not some remote and secluded place either. You wandered here unintentionally yourself.”
Song Jinyao gave a cold laugh inwardly.
Zhu Mingxuan was certainly cautious. Even now, he dared to turn the matter around and use her as proof of his innocence. It seemed he was quite certain that no one had noticed him leaving the banquet.
Lin Qingmiao, however, was not nearly as skilled at pretending.
She had been completely thrown into a panic the moment Song Jinyao appeared. Now, under Song Jinyao’s cold yet imposing pressure, her entire body had gone weak with fright.
She lowered her eyes to conceal her disorder and said nervously, “Miss Song, Young Master Zhu and I truly happened to meet by chance. I lost my way, and Young Master Zhu merely pointed out the direction back to the banquet. I shall not disturb the two of you any longer. I will return to the banquet first.”
With that, she turned to leave.
Song Jinyao strode forward, passed Zhu Mingxuan, and stopped her directly.
“Wait. Let me see what this is.”
Song Jinyao reached out and seized Lin Qingmiao by the wrist, lifting her hand.
The sleeve slipped down, clearly revealing the jade bracelet Zhu Mingxuan had just placed on her wrist.
Lin Qingmiao’s pupils contracted. Her face turned deathly pale, and she did not dare struggle too forcefully.
Song Jinyao did not spare her another glance. Turning to Zhu Mingxuan, she said, “Is this not the jade bracelet we bid on at the auction in the Glazed Pavilion that day? You gave it to Miss Lin?”
Zhu Mingxuan was frantic beyond measure. He could not even calmly consider how much Song Jinyao had heard.
He knew only that he could admit nothing. Absolutely nothing. He had to deny it.
The smile Zhu Mingxuan managed to force onto his face was awkward and false.
“Jinyao, do not make unfounded suspicions. You and I were together throughout the auction that day. When could I possibly have bid on the bracelet? This belongs to Miss Lin herself. What does it have to do with me? Miss Lin was merely passing by. It is extremely improper for you to hold her like this. Let her go at once. Stop making a scene.”
Song Jinyao narrowed her eyes slightly and looked him up and down with undisguised disdain.
The man she had known for more than a decade now seemed both unfamiliar and foolish to her. Yet she also regretted that, had she not known what would happen in the future, she might never have seen through his true nature.
She had never truly held Zhu Mingxuan in her heart, and so she had never cared to observe his every move.
The mistakes of her dreams, in which she had failed to cut her losses in time, were nauseating enough even now that she had finally awakened to the truth.
Song Jinyao let out a mocking laugh.
“Zhu Mingxuan, let our engagement end here. If you still wish to argue, I do not mind inviting that wealthy merchant to tell everyone himself how much he paid for this jade bracelet at the auction, how much he sold it to you for, and how it ultimately came into Miss Lin’s possession.”
The enormous weight suspended in Zhu Mingxuan’s heart finally plunged to the ground, striking him with such force that every part of him ached. Yet helpless and panicked, he could only move toward Song Jinyao.
“No, Jinyao, it is not like that. Listen to me. I can explain…”
Song Jinyao released Lin Qingmiao’s hand.
With a sidelong glance, just before Zhu Mingxuan could touch the hem of her clothes, she rebuked him coldly and with disgust.
“Get lost.”
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