The sudden voice made Jiang Nuan look up at Mu Jiuchen and her father.
"Dad, Husband, you're back?"
Jiang Nuan's soft "Husband" dissolved all of Mu Jiuchen's unhappiness.
Han Yifan's hands, resting on his knees, tightened slightly.
"Yes! What's wrong, Young Master Han?" Mu Jiuchen walked over, sat beside Jiang Nuan, and naturally wrapped an arm around her waist.
Han Yifan's eyes swept over them. With an outwardly calm smile, he said, "I'm injured. I came to find Nuannuan to help me bandage my wound. Her medicine is better, and it can help me recover faster."
Mu Jiuchen responded smoothly, "My wife's medical skills are superb, so it's only right for you to come to my wife. After all, you are friends. However, if it were me, having hurt her so excessively before, I wouldn't appear before her even if I were to die."
"My wife felt life was worse than death because of you. Therefore, Young Master Han, it's better to go to the hospital when you're sick next time. After all, not everyone is as magnanimous as my wife, who can still smile when facing someone who made her feel life was worse than death."
"But I, Mu Jiuchen, am different. I, Mu Jiuchen, was born without much emotion. You hurt my wife completely, yet you appear before her with a smile. I'm sorry, I cannot tolerate it."
Han Yifan narrowed his eyes. He thought Mu Jiuchen wouldn't dwell on this matter anymore, but Mu Jiuchen held grudges more than he imagined.
"Ninth Master, I've already apologized to Nuannuan. As for Ninth Master, you've been uninterested in women, wine, and tobacco since you were young, living a pure and detached life. How did you suddenly fall for Nuannuan? I remember you once said that you would never fall in love with another woman."
"I strongly doubt your love for Nuannuan!"
Mu Jiuchen's陰翳 (yīn yì - gloomy, shadowed) gaze flickered with coldness. His solitary figure seemed to be enveloped by a faint aura of hostility.
Hearing this, Jiang Nuan also looked at Mu Jiuchen beside her in confusion.
Had he ever said such a thing?
Jiang Nuan, focused on the wound, also sensed a battlefield without smoke.
Mu Jiuchen asked coldly, "Where did you hear me say that?"
"When I was abroad. Although we weren't in the same country, our talents were often compared. I went near your school and happened to see you eating with friends. A friend asked you, 'You've quit wine, tobacco, and women; what's the point of living?'"
"Didn't you reply at the time that you would never fall in love with any woman in your life?" Han Yifan said with a smile.
Mu Jiuchen narrowed his eyes. So Han Yifan had already noticed him at that time.
Jiang Nuan: "..."
There was such a past between these two.
Mu Jiuchen's voice was sonorous and powerful: "I only abstained from the charms of other women, but I did not abstain from my wife's charms. In other words, besides my wife, I love no one else."
Jiang Nuan: "!!"
Everyone present could feel the thick gunpowder between the two.
Han Yifan smiled, not entirely believing Mu Jiuchen's words.
"I thought Ninth Master would keep his word and truly not fall in love with any woman. I thought you married Nuannuan just because she gave birth to your three children."
Every word Han Yifan spoke was provoking discord in the marital relationship.
It was as if Mu Jiuchen married Jiang Nuan solely out of obligation.
The Lu family members: "..." Were there such reasons for stirring up trouble?
Jiang Nuan frowned, her bandaging speed increasing significantly.
Mu Jiuchen's deep eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Han Yifan, you are not me, and you are not qualified to make decisions for me. Furthermore, you are not qualified to feel my experiences. As an outsider, can negating my love cause my wife and I to break up?" Mu Jiuchen's indifferent tone was like a cold wind that penetrated Han Yifan's heart.
He was still too hasty.
He lowered his eyes, recalling the first time he saw Jiang Nuan's photo at Cape No. 1. The girl in the photo was a 19-year-old maiden, dressed in black clothes and black pants, with exquisitely perfect features without a trace of flaw. Her cold demeanor was not repulsive but deeply attracted him.
At that time, the woman in the photo became his faith.
And his gentlest secret.
He could never forget the moment he saw Jiang Nuan at Cape No. 1. He stood under a tree, smiling warmly as she walked towards him, while his heart was already a chaotic mess of nervousness.
Naturally arrogant, he had never fallen for anyone, yet he willingly fell for Jiang Nuan.
He was a genius in everyone's eyes, but not in Jiang Nuan's eyes.
On their reunion, Jiang Nuan already had someone she loved.
And he, tormented by illness, could not leave the villa.
He had always wanted to get closer to her, but he missed many opportunities.
He let his heart settle, transforming himself into the gentle and kind Han Yifan, solely to present her with a beautiful youth when he approached her.
He succeeded, but another him suddenly appeared, disrupting all his plans.
"Alright, Young Master Han." Jiang Nuan's neither warm nor cold voice pulled him back from his thoughts.
"Thank you, Nuannuan. I just remembered I have something to do. I won't be staying for dinner. Nuannuan, please treat me another day!" Han Yifan stood up and said goodbye to the Lu family before leaving.
After Han Yifan left, the atmosphere remained very strange.
The coldness on Mu Jiuchen's handsome face showed no sign of easing.
During dinner, the atmosphere was also very oppressive.
Lu Jinyan could only eat a few bites before feeling unable to eat anymore.
Mu Jiuchen was very angry. When he was angry, even the environment he was in wouldn't feel comfortable; he always felt a chill down his spine.
Lu Jinyan looked at his sister with some concern. The person concerned, however, was calmly eating dinner.
Lu Jinyan said in a low voice, "Little sister, come find me after dinner. I have something to tell you."
Jiang Nuan smiled at him, "Okay, little brother."
"Hehe... This 'little brother' sounds so doting." Lu Jinyan left with a smile, his mood improved. He grabbed a chicken leg, eating as he went upstairs.
Jin Yan and Lu Chengsi saw this and quickly sped up their eating. Their son-in-law's face was black as the bottom of a pot!
The couple felt some sympathy for Mu Jiuchen, pitying him for being provoked by a love rival who showed up at their doorstep!
Jiang Nuan put down her chopsticks and said, "I'm going to find Third Brother."
Then she left the dining room, ignoring Mu Jiuchen's mood.
Lu Chengsi instantly felt that his son-in-law was truly miserable.
Watching his daughter go upstairs, Lu Chengsi couldn't help but ask, "Xiao Jiu, are you okay?"
Mu Jiuchen looked at his father-in-law's sympathetic gaze and pursed his lips, "Dad, to be honest, I'm not very well!"
"Oh! How about I have a couple of drinks with you to relieve your boredom?" Lu Chengsi was afraid he would take his anger out on his daughter, thinking that if he appeased him, Nuannuan wouldn't suffer.
Mu Jiuchen stood up and said, "Sorry, Dad, I've quit drinking. I'm eager to have a second child."
Lu Chengsi and Jin Yan: "!?"
On the third floor, in Lu Jinyan's room, he looked at his sister and asked, "Sister, can I give Director Wang the video of Ye Anran hitting the old lady?"