Chapter 28

Little A was feeling a bit worried and anxiously said to Yan Yiming, “Do you think Jian Yuyan might really never come here again because of what Jian Yu’er said?”
In Yan Yiming's current identity, she could disregard her reputation and act as she pleased, but she was also quite restricted. For instance, if Jian Yuyan truly never came to see Yan Yiming again, there would be no way for her to meet him.
If she couldn't see Jian Yuyan, then the mission would be impossible to carry out.
Yan Yiming sighed. “It's possible, but he'll definitely come today. So, we need to find a way to keep him here.”
Little A nodded. It would leave the method to the host to figure out; it was only responsible for reminding her. “Last night, after Jian Yuyan finished talking with Jian Yu’er around 2 a.m., his favorability toward you suddenly increased by twenty percent.”
Little A didn't quite understand why, after speaking with Jian Yu’er, Jian Yuyan's favorability toward Yan Yiming had suddenly risen.
“Because of guilt,” Yan Yiming said calmly. “Jian Yuyan feels guilty for involving an innocent person due to his own selfish desires. Now, this innocent person is about to be hurt because of his selfishness, so of course he feels guilty. Besides, he's already starting to like this person.”
Because he promised Jian Yu’er, Jian Yuyan would definitely come to the Plum Garden today to satisfy her.
But because of his guilt, Jian Yuyan would surely try to compensate Yan Yiming.
Sure enough, within half an hour, the maid outside the door, now accustomed to his visits, greeted him with a “Greetings, Young Master.”
Little A immediately perked up.
Jian Yuyan's tall, elegant figure appeared at the doorway. He looked somewhat haggard; he must not have slept well last night. But his expression was as if nothing had happened. He even acted as usual, intimately wrapping his arm around Yan Yiming's waist, kissing her cheek, and asking,
“Did you sleep well last night?”
Yan Yiming showed a flicker of surprise, but quickly composed herself and cooed as usual, “Of course I couldn't sleep well without you. Was there something urgent yesterday?”
Jian Yuyan's eyes dimmed slightly, and his smile seemed forced as he replied, “Yes, there were some urgent matters.”
Yan Yiming nodded, then after a pause, asked softly, “Will you be returning to the estate tonight as well?”
“A’Ming,” Jian Yuyan suddenly called her name.
Yan Yiming lifted her head to look at him. Meeting her clear, expectant gaze, his heart softened once again.
He had intended to tell Yan Yiming today that he would never come again, but when the words reached his lips, he realized that hurting her was far more difficult than he had imagined. He couldn't bear to say such things and make her sad.
He was the one who had pursued her.
And now, he was the one who would make her suffer.
The words “I will never come again” remained stuck in his throat. After a moment's hesitation, Jian Yuyan continued, “A’Ming, how about I redeem your freedom for you?”
Once the words were spoken, Jian Yuyan suddenly felt a great sense of relief.
During the time he had spent with Yan Yiming, he had been both captivated and inexplicably anxious. He constantly worried that someone acquainted with Yu'er might see Yan Yiming and see through his intentions, and he was even more afraid that Yu'er would discover Yan Yiming's existence.
Yesterday, when Yu'er mentioned that she had seen him with Yan Yiming, Jian Yuyan broke out in a cold sweat. Only later did he recall that Yan Yiming had been wearing a veil that day, which eased his mind.
He didn't want anyone else to see Yan Yiming, and now was the perfect opportunity. That was why he asked her, “How about I redeem your freedom for you?”
The maid beside Yan Yiming covered her mouth in shock, her gaze filled with envy as she looked at Yan Yiming. Yan Yiming's eyes froze for a moment before she suddenly understood Jian Yuyan's actions and intentions today.
Yan Yiming couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Jian Yuyan truly lived up to being the most emotionally intelligent of the four male leads, his tactics were exceptionally refined.
Redeeming her freedom was, of course, a form of compensation. For a woman of the pleasure quarters, this was undoubtedly the greatest temptation.
But Jian Yuyan's move was brilliantly executed. He never once mentioned ending their relationship, and even now, his gaze remained tender, as if he truly adored her and couldn't bear to see her suffer, which was why he made such an offer.
Redeeming the freedom of an entertainer was a trivial matter for Jian Yuyan, and securing a stable future for her was equally simple. Even if they were to part ways later, sending her away would be framed as being for her own good, as staying entangled with him would only waste the best years of a woman's life.
The one who had wronged her the most had instead become the object of her gratitude.
Moreover, this matter served two purposes: not only had he agreed to Jian Yu'er's request, but from now on, no one would see her face and uncover his secret.
Yan Yiming suddenly felt a surge of anger. How could he stir up her feelings and then run away so easily? She raised her eyes to meet Jian Yuyan's still affectionate gaze, her red lips parting slightly as she uttered one word:
“No.”
Jian Yuyan's smile faltered for a moment but quickly returned to normal as he asked gently, “Why not?”
“Because,” Yan Yiming walked over to Jian Yuyan, sat on his lap, wrapped her arms around his neck, and whispered softly in his ear, “because I know that if I redeem myself, I will truly never see you again.”
Jian Yuyan's expression changed abruptly, as if all his thoughts had been laid bare. His arm around her waist tightened involuntarily as he forced a smile and said, “That won't happen.”
Yan Yiming chuckled. “Brother Yan, you're nervous. You didn't even notice that I just called you 'Young Master'.”
Jian Yuyan fell silent.
“Brother Yan, are you wondering how I knew? Actually, I've been thinking all along, when you first saw me, you were so shocked, and then you treated me so specially. You've seen so many beauties, and I know I don't have a face that could topple cities. So, the only reason you would care so much must be because this face resembles someone else...”
Jian Yuyan's heart suddenly tightened with panic.
“Brother Yan treated me well because of this person, and now you want to leave because of this person too, someone you love to the very core of your being, yet cannot have.”
Loved to the very core, yet could not have.
She knew everything!
Something in Jian Yuyan's heart seemed to collapse with a deafening crash.
Once, there was a woman who, on a quiet, deserted night, smiled and said to him, “We are clearly siblings, yet Young Master Jian has never treated Jian Yu'er as a real sister.”
Jian Yuyan would never forget the shock those words had brought him. But at this moment, Yan Yiming's words made him feel as if his breath had been stolen away.
He held Yan Yiming tightly in his arms, not daring to look at her face. He couldn't bear to think about when she had figured it out, nor why she had never said anything despite knowing everything.
He could no longer bring himself to speak of leaving. After a long while, he called her name with difficulty, “A’Ming...”
Yan Yiming lifted her head and gently pressed her lips to his, silencing his next words. After a long moment, she whispered softly, “Brother Yan, it must have been so hard, loving someone all these years without being able to have them.”
Was it hard? Jian Yuyan's heart ached with bitterness. How could it not be hard? After yearning for so many years, longing for so long, he no longer even knew what hardship felt like.
“So... since it's already been so hard, why not let A’Ming stay by your side? Actually, you want that too, don't you...”
That day, Jian Yuyan fled in disarray. Little A reported cheerfully, “Jian Yuyan's favorability has increased by another ten percent. Please keep up the good work, Host.”
Yan Yiming smiled silently. She had kept Jian Yuyan, and the effect was even better than she had imagined.
After that, Jian Yuyan never brought up the matter again, though he also said nothing to Jian Yu'er about it.
Jian Yuyan did not visit the Plum Garden for many days, not because he didn't want to, but because he didn't dare.
Sometimes when he closed his eyes at night, Jian Yu’er would come to mind, but eventually, those thoughts would always shift to a pair of eyes, sometimes mischievous, sometimes focused, with a red mole at the corner that seemed imprinted on his heart. Her smiling face, her tearful expression, the way she curled up peacefully in his arms as she slept.
Jian Yuyan suddenly felt an emptiness in his embrace.
When he jolted awake from his dream, Yan Yiming’s familiar voice echoed in his ears: “Brother Yan, it must be hard to love someone you can’t have, isn’t it?” Those words had lingered in his heart for far too long. “Since it’s already so painful, why not let me stay by your side?”
Jian Yuyan glanced at the empty space beside him and let out a bitter laugh.
Yes, truth be told, he wanted that too.
Unable to fall back asleep, he rose in the middle of the night and retrieved the unfinished painting from that day. The woman in the painting smiled like a blooming flower, yet her eye was missing a single, beautiful red mole.
Jian Yuyan picked up his brush, carefully refining the woman in the painting, and finally added that red mole.
There was no mistaking her now. A smile touched Jian Yuyan’s lips as he set down the brush, extinguished the lamp, and left the study.
The next day, Jian Yu’er came to visit Jian Yuyan. As promised, her brother had indeed refrained from going out to seek those people lately, and she was in high spirits as she searched around but couldn’t find him.
Jian Yuyan was no idle immortal; perhaps he had gone to the Eastern Palace or had important matters to attend to during the day. Jian Yu’er didn’t dwell on it. Since she was there, she decided to head to his study to find a book to read. Unexpectedly, she spotted a completed portrait of a beauty on the desk.
Jian Yu’er took one look and a smile bloomed on her lips.
Because the woman in the painting was unmistakably her.
With a playful pout, she wondered aloud when he had painted it without telling her. She picked up the painting and examined it closely for a long while, thinking to herself how her brother’s portraits of beauties were truly getting better and better. But when had she ever owned a pale-yellow dress like that?
Jian Yu’er couldn’t quite recall, but she didn’t dwell on it. Instead, she carefully noticed a small red dot at the corner of the woman’s right eye in the painting.
It would have been easy to miss if one didn’t look closely.
“Did he accidentally dot it there?” Jian Yu’er murmured, running her finger over the red spot, which remained unchanged.
She felt a bit regretful, but the flaw didn’t overshadow the painting’s excellence, it was still exquisite.
When Jian Yuyan returned from visiting Chancellor Jian, he saw Jian Yu’er gazing intently at the painting. A flicker of urgency stirred in his heart as he strode over and gently took the painting from her hands. “When did you arrive, Yu’er? Were you bored waiting?”
“Not at all. I was just admiring your painting. I’ve already seen it, why won’t you let me look?” Jian Yu’er asked with a smile. “When did you paint this, brother? You didn’t even tell me.”
Jian Yuyan had hurriedly tried to put away A'Ming's painting earlier because he didn't want Yu'er to see it. However, Yu'er's tone clearly indicated she had mistaken the person in the painting for herself.
Jian Yuyan suddenly froze, why hadn't he thought of that earlier?
Because he had been with Yan Yiming for too long, because Yan Yiming was no longer just a simple substitute to him. No matter how similar two people looked, after seeing them for so long, he could clearly distinguish them.
Yu'er was Yu'er, A'Ming was A'Ming.
Jian Yuyan put away the painting in his hand. “It's not finished yet. I'll give it to you after it's completed and framed.”
Jian Yu'er nodded happily, naturally without any objections.
That day, Yan Yiming received the beautifully framed portrait of a beauty in the Plum Garden, the very one Jian Yuyan had painted during their boat trip a month ago.
Yan Yiming looked at the woman in the painting with satisfaction, especially the corner of her eyes, and ordered it to be hung in her room. A trace of amusement flashed in her eyes as she murmured softly,
“The timing is right, it's time to add more fuel to the fire.”