Seeing how drunk Fang Tianrui had become, Jiang Ying grew increasingly anxious. She knew she had a clear conscience and had never been involved with Fang Tianrui, but if he started making wild accusations while intoxicated, it could become a serious problem.
Her wedding to Tianyun was only days away. If rumors began circulating that she was entangled with both Fang cousins, she would become the laughingstock of Wuti City, even if the misunderstanding were eventually resolved.
“Tianyun, your cousin is terribly drunk. I think you should take him home first,” Jiang Ying said worriedly.
Fang Tianyun did not want outsiders to see the Fang family’s future heir in such a state, dead drunk in a little tavern. He immediately summoned two servants to help Fang Tianrui home.
After settling Fang Tianrui into bed, Fang Tianyun looked at his sleeping cousin and felt a headache coming on. Word of today’s incident was bound to reach his elder uncle. Given his elder uncle’s temperament, his cousin was in for a difficult couple of days.
“Ying’er, do you know what happened?” Fang Tianyun asked Jiang Ying, pointing at the drunken Fang Tianrui.
Jiang Ying shook her head. Although Fang Tianrui and Fang Tianyun were cousins, their personalities could hardly have been more different. Compared with the stern, taciturn Fang Tianrui, she loved Fang Tianyun’s cheerful, sunny nature.
Yet the look of despair and betrayal on Fang Tianrui’s face had been so convincing. She could not imagine what he would gain by inventing such a lie.
Unless…
Jiang Ying’s heart gave a violent leap. She hurriedly lowered her head to hide the panic in her eyes. Fortunately, Fang Tianyun was busy caring for Fang Tianrui, who was now loudly demanding water, and noticed nothing strange about his fiancée.
After bidding Fang Tianyun a hurried farewell, Jiang Ying rushed home. Worry lurked in her eyes, and she was so distracted that she did not even notice several cousins greeting her.
“Hmph, what’s so special about her? She only managed to hook the Fang family’s second young master!” A girl in a pale yellow dress complained bitterly as she watched Jiang Ying disappear through the moon gate.
A pink-clad girl beside her frowned. “That’s enough. Watch what you say.”
The girl in yellow curled her lip, unconvinced. Her father was the current patriarch’s younger brother and had also reached the Meridian Condensation realm. He had always told her that her grandfather originally intended to pass the patriarch’s position to him, only for her eldest uncle to steal it away.
So she had always believed that, if the current patriarch had not seized the position from her father, she would be the pampered daughter of the Jiang family! If she were the patriarch’s daughter, Fang Tianyun would surely have chosen to marry her, not Jiang Ying, who was inferior to her in every way!
The thought filled the girl in yellow with hatred, but she dared not reveal the slightest trace of it. Jiang Tianxing’s control over the clan was absolute. Her father’s little grievances were the sort of things he could only grumble about in front of his daughter.
She understood the Jiang family’s situation well. However unwilling she might be, she would not show it too plainly. Still, whenever she thought of Jiang Ying marrying the handsome Fang Tianyun in a few days, her resentment became almost unbearable.
“Come on, let’s go. Have you finished today’s lessons?” The girl in pink knew only that the girl in yellow was jealous of Jiang Ying. In fact, few among the younger generation of the Jiang family were not.
People throughout Wuti City were saying that the Jiang family wanted to attach itself to the Tianyu Sect, which was why they had arranged Jiang Ying’s marriage to Fang Tianyun. But as a member of the family, the girl in pink knew how deeply the patriarch adored Jiang Ying. If Jiang Ying did not love Fang Tianyun, he would never force her to marry him for any reason.
Comparing that with how her own father treated her, the girl in pink could not help sighing softly.
How could anyone not envy someone as fortunate as Jiang Ying?
Neither the yellow-clad girl’s resentment nor the pink-clad girl’s reflections disturbed Jiang Ying in the slightest. Ever since leaving the Fang residence, she had been too distracted to notice anything around her.
Fang Tianrui’s conduct had frightened her, but what troubled her even more was the vague emergence of an appalling suspicion.
Upon returning to her courtyard, she dismissed all the servants except her personal maid, Qilan. Taking Qilan into the rear garden, she walked a peculiar pattern around a rockery.
The rockery was formed from five strangely shaped enormous stones. They had been piled at just the right angles to leave an opening beneath them, slightly taller than a person.
Ordinarily, however, that entrance was concealed by an illusion formation. Only the steps Jiang Ying had just followed would reveal it.
Leaving Qilan on guard, Jiang Ying hurried into the opening. The cave formed by the rockery was naturally shallow. When Jiang Ying reached its far end, she felt along the wall and pressed a hidden mechanism.
Without a sound, another opening appeared two steps away from Jiang Ying, leading down into the ground. Jiang Ying took a deep breath and jumped in.
Jiang Ying followed the underground passage downward, then upward. Only after walking for quite some time did she see a door ahead.
Jiang Ying slowly pushed it open and found herself gazing at a scene as beautiful as a painting.
A handsome young man sat reclining beside a bed, engrossed in a book. Sunlight filtered through the window and fell upon him, bathing his figure in a faint golden glow.
The sound of the door opening disturbed him. He looked up, and a gentle smile appeared on his face when he saw Jiang Ying. “Ying’er, you’ve come.”
“Big Brother…” Jiang Ying called softly, biting her lower lip.
“Mm. It’s been a long time,” the young man answered with a smile.
Anyone who barged into the room just then would have been astonished, for the young man’s face was identical to Jiang Ying’s.
Everyone in Wuti City knew that Jiang Ying was Jiang Tianxing’s only daughter. But except for a handful of people, nobody knew of the existence of this man, who was clearly related to Jiang Ying and whom she addressed as her elder brother.
Hearing his remark about how long it had been, Jiang Ying felt guilty. Since falling in love with Fang Tianyun, she had visited her brother far less frequently. Yet there was little she could do. When a man and woman were in love, even a day apart felt like three autumns. How could she remember to visit an elder brother she was somewhat afraid of?
Yes, afraid.
Jiang Ying felt a fear she could not explain toward this brother of hers, who had been born with a Demon-Attracting Dao Body.
The Demon-Attracting Dao Body was the ideal constitution coveted by demonic cultivators. Anyone born with it could cultivate demonic techniques at an astonishing speed and was all but destined to become a demon lord whose hands were stained with blood.
Jiang Tianxing had initially hidden his son, Jiang Ying, in order to protect him. Too many cultivators, on encountering someone with such a constitution, would immediately think of killing him before he grew into a threat.
Jiang Tianxing did not want his son to die for no reason. But he had not anticipated that, as Jiang Ying grew older, a frightening change would occur within him.
After that change appeared, Jiang Tianxing immediately confined Jiang Ying. Protection turned into imprisonment, and the small chamber hidden deep within the Jiang residence became Jiang Ying’s entire world.
Jiang Ying always felt uneasy around her brother, Jiang Ying. However gently he spoke and however refined his movements, she could never shake the chill running down her spine.
Her eyes flicked toward the black iron chain around her brother’s ankle, and Jiang Ying relaxed a little. The chain was not particularly thick, but it was made from thousand-year refined iron. Without Meridian Condensation cultivation, it would be impossible to break.
After a few polite exchanges, she cautiously brought up Fang Tianrui’s name and probed her brother’s reaction. But her brother, Jiang Ying, seemed entirely unfamiliar with Fang Tianrui’s name and showed no sign of recognizing it.
Having discovered nothing, Jiang Ying soon left. Judging by everything she had seen and heard, her brother and Fang Tianrui did not know each other at all. Reassured that her brother had no connection with the incident, Jiang Ying turned her attention to resolving Fang Tianrui’s strange behavior. At the very least, she needed to warn Fang Tianyun. Someone might have laid a trap for the two of them.
The marriage between the Fang and Jiang families meant more than a union between two young people; it would also bind the two clans together. That alliance was far from good news for Wuti City’s other families. Jiang Ying would have readily believed that one of them was trying to cause trouble.
Not long after Jiang Ying left, her brother Jiang Ying’s gentle smile suddenly changed. His scholarly demeanor vanished in an instant. Although his appearance remained identical, the man now smiling faintly carried an air of wicked charm.
“Your dear little sister isn’t stupid. She actually thought to come and question you.” The roguish Jiang Ying chuckled.
Jiang Ying’s expression changed again, and the refined, handsome Jiang Ying from moments earlier seemed to return. “She’s your little sister too. And we have the same face. What’s so strange about her suspecting me?”
The refined Jiang Ying gave way once more to the roguish Jiang Ying, whose lips curved upward even as his eyes remained cold. “My little sister? Heh, don’t make me laugh. They’d all love to tear me to pieces. It’s only because they can’t bear to lose you that I’m still here.”
The refined Jiang Ying frowned. “What nonsense are you talking now? I am you, and you are me. Do I really have to explain that over and over again?”
The roguish Jiang Ying sneered and fell silent.
The refined Jiang Ying tapped a finger lightly on the table. “Ying’er’s wedding is about to take place. That Fang Tianrui… what are you planning to do about him?”
The roguish Jiang Ying stiffened, then gave a cold laugh. “What am I planning? Whatever happens, happens! He’s just… something to pass the time.”
The refined Jiang Ying knitted his brows. “Do you really mean that? Just… something to pass the time?”
The roguish Jiang Ying faltered again but stubbornly insisted, “Of course.”
“Enough! I’ve told you, we’re one person! Do you think I don’t know what you’re thinking?” The refined Jiang Ying rapped the tabletop forcefully to express his displeasure.
The roguish Jiang Ying was finally struck speechless. After a long while, he burst out indignantly, “It’s that fool’s fault! He’s been with me for so long, and he still doesn’t even know whether I’m a man or a woman!”
Elio’s Notes: A little name trap: the bride is 蒋英, while her hidden brother is 蒋鹰. Both are pronounced Jiang Ying, even though the Chinese characters differ. We’re keeping the same spelling in English, so the scene’s context is the clue to which sibling we’re talking about.