Chapter 62: 062: The Jiang Family’s Secret, Jiang Zhi’s Illness
“Last ti I saw you was Mid-Autumn Festival last year,” Jiang Weikai said with a stern face, “Fifth, what have you been so busy with that you can’t even find ti to co back?”
Jiang Wei’er answered casually, “Not busy with much, just ssing around.”
“Still at the Taekwondo Hall?”
At this mont, Jiang Weili across the table joined in, seemingly joking, “Big brother, you might not know, but Wei’er has switched careers.”
Wei Li, who often dealt with political affairs, was a smiling tiger, and his wife, Luo Changfang, a businesswoman from the Luo Family, was diplomatic. The couple had only one daughter, Jiang Fuli, whom they raised to be intelligent and efficient.
“Have you returned to the company?” Jiang Weikai, who was usually busy, didn’t inquire much about the family matters. He thought that as Fifth was of age, it was ti for her to return to the family business.
Jiang Wei’er, sipping tea, said evasively, “With my sister-in-law at the company, it’s better I don’t get in the way.”
Luo Changfang laughed off her nonsense and steered the conversation back, “The entertainnt industry is murky. It’s okay for Brother Zhi since he’s a boy, but Wei’er, you need to be cautious.”
Jiang Wei’er put down her teacup.
This couple from the second branch…
“You entered the entertainnt industry?” Jiang Weikai finally realized she had switched to an entirely different line of work.
Lazily sitting, she responded, “Just assisting soone, not really an insider, just playing around.”
“You are a girl after all—”
She cut off her elder brother, quickly pleading, “Big brother, I rarely co back, please don’t nag anymore.”
Jiang Weikai’s face stiffened, and he dropped the subject.
Outside, the old butler, Jiang Chuan ca in to announce, “Old Madam, the young master has arrived.”
Hearing this, Old Lady Jiang got up with the aid of her walking stick and instructed the maidservant beside her, “Ah Gui, go fetch two hand-warming stoves.”
“Yes, Old Madam.”
The courtyard door was open, letting bursts of winter wind in, and at this mont, the servants outside cried, “Young Master!”
Jiang Fuxi stepped forward, received the guests, took over their wind-chilled coats, and handed out a towel, “Xiao Rong, go to Brother Zhi’s room and fetch so clean clothes.”
Xiao Rong acknowledged.
Jiang Zhi, wiping his hands with the towel, walked slowly inside.
The room had its door wide open, a brazier burning inside. The Jiang family, quite conservative in their ways, knew he was susceptible to cold; during winter, Old Lady Jiang would always have a brazier lit and several hand-warming stoves ready for him.
Old Madam had passed her septuagenarian years, her hair white and hairdo ticulous, making her look spirited, though her mobility was hindered, needing a walking stick to move around.
“Brother Zhi, what happened to your hair?”
As soon as Jiang Zhi entered, Old Madam’s gaze fixed onto him.
Jiang Zhi, taking the coat handed to him by a servant and putting it on, replied, “I dyed it.”
“Just normal, why dye it such an indecent color?” Old Madam stared at his blue hair, hardly befitting a nobleman, too plebeian.
Jiang Zhi disagreed, “What’s indecent about it?”
Old Madam scolded him fondly, “Nonsense.”
He chose a spot nearest the brazier to sit and still felt cold, he drew his clothes tighter, took the tea offered by a servant but before he could drink, a coughing fit ca over him.
As he coughed, so tea spilled from his cup.
“Why such severe coughing?” Old Lady Jiang asked, “Your dicine, did you take it on ti?”
His voice hoarse from coughing, “I did.”
“What does Shiyu say?”
Covering his mouth with a towel, his eyes tinged red, “The dicine isn’t really working anymore, judging by the ti,” he said nonchalantly, “my end is probably near.”
Old Madam scolded, “What nonsense are you talking!” She walked over to her grandson leaning on her walking stick, instructed a servant, “No need to set the al, take Brother Zhi’s soup and dicinal dishes to his room.”
“Yes, Old Madam.”
“Fuxi, co help Brother Zhi.”
Jiang Fuxi stepped forward to assist, but Jiang Zhi dodged, laboriously dragging his steps toward the stairs, his cough still audible from afar.
Jiang Fuxi paused briefly, then followed upstairs.
Jiang Zhi’s bedroom was on the second floor, the room with the best light. Due to his frail health and aversion to cold, the floor was covered with warm jade. Old Madam doted on him, moving all sorts of fine objects into his room, including the most paintings and vases.
Jiang Zhi, refusing assistance, laid down by himself. His pale, delicate face struggled for breath, not to ntion how frail he looked.
Old Madam sitting by the bed asked, “Feeling any better?”
He responded weakly, “Yeah.”
After his response, he started coughing again.
Old Madam, both angry and distressed, helped smooth his breathing, chiding him, “Don’t scare this old lady by pretending to be so weak; you’re not going to die.”
Jiang Zhi replied weakly, “Qin Shiyu said all my internal organs are ruined.”
“Even if they are completely ruined, I can still keep you breathing with dicine,” his grandma retorted.
He grunted, breathing heavily, lacking the energy to speak.
Seeing him like this, Old Lady Jiang spared him further lecturing, “Fuxi, go to the kitchen and hurry them up. Why hasn’t Brother Zhi’s soup been served yet?”
“I’ll go right now.” After Jiang Fuxi left, she closed the door behind her.
With everyone else gone, Old Lady Jiang spoke to Jiang Zhi, “Xiaolin and Fuli have lately been increasingly unrestrained.”
“Uh-huh, I’ve heard,” he responded listlessly, his pale-blue hair limp over his brows, casting scattered shadows in his eyes, which carried a hint of lazy despondence.
“You’ll just let them ss with the family business? You don’t plan to co back and take control?”
He slouched bonelessly, “It’s cold, I can’t manage.”
“You just trouble this old bag of bones then,” the Old Madam scolded, no longer indulging his recklessness, “When spring cos, I’ll transfer your father’s portion to you. Grandma is old; one foot is already in the coffin. The road ahead, Brother Zhi, you must walk on your own.”
The Old Master Jiang had left a will when he passed away, dividing the family estate into six parts—one for each of his five children and his wife. However, it was not equally divided, nor did he appoint a head of the family, creating restlessness among them all.
Only the youngest, Jiang Zhi was sick, and had beco a hands-off manager.
He still had no proper concern, “Both my feet are in the coffin, yet I can’t die. You, on the other hand, still have life left.”
Old Madam chuckled and scolded him for being a rascal.
“You may let other matters slide, but for those involving the Lu Family, you must handle them personally.”
Speaking of the Lu Family sparked a hint of interest in Jiang Zhi, “Did the Lu Family secure that piece of land?”
“They did, and thanks to your maneuver, they paid extra, which really annoyed them,” Old Lady Jiang said with a laugh, her eyes revealing undeniable pleasure and satisfaction.
Among the Four Great Families, the Jiang and Lu Families were like fire and water, famously at odds with each other in the Imperial City. They had been covertly and overtly fighting for over a decade, yet why and for whom they fought remained a mystery.
Even Jiang Zhi was kept in the dark.
“Grandma, give so straight answers today,” he looked up at the Old Lady, “What exactly is the grudge between you and the Lu Family?”
This required personal involvent indeed.
Truly curious.
He joked in a casual tone, “I’ve heard that you once had a special relationship with the deceased Old Sir Lu.”
Such words, only he dared to utter.
Old Lady Jiang glared at him, “Once you take over the Jiang Family, Grandma will tell you everything.”
He harrumphed, dropping the conversation.
“Is the trouble with the Jin brothers your doing?”
“Mm.”
“Don’t worry about it from now on,” Old Madam stood up leaning on her cane, “Those who bully the Jiang Family really think this old woman is dead.”
Outside, dark clouds obscured the moon.
The Lu Family ancestors had started with the jade business, possessing wealth comparable to the Jiang Family. They had ventured into the pharmaceutical industry starting from Old Sir Lu’s generation.
The Lu Family tower was located in the most prosperous area in Imperial City, the tallest building in the city, offering a panoramic view of the city’s neon lights from the top floor.
“Miss Second.”
A young girl sat in the boss chair, squinting and napping, not bothering to open her eyes, she asked, “Did you find out?”
“The one competing with us was indeed the Young Master of the Jiang Family,” said the secretary approaching her, impeccably dressed, his hair neatly combed. “Sohow he got wind that we must obtain that plot of land, so he deliberately doubled the auction price.”
The girl opened her eyes.
Her eyes were long and sharp, her face small, her arched eyebrows spirited, her appearance exquisite, her deanor striking.
Despite her youthful appearance, barely in her early twenties, her single eyelids and lustrous black pupils exuded an assertive presence. Yet a slight upward curve at the corners of her lips added a touch of girl-next-door charm and cleanliness.
She rubbed her brow, annoyed, “This Jiang Zhi is really botherso.” She muttered, then lowered her head to check her watch, “It’s nine o’clock.”
The secretary was montarily puzzled by her half-statent.
“His radio show is starting.” She then pushed aside the project files worth hundreds of millions on her table and turned on the radio on her tablet.
“I really like a passage by Wang Xiaobo—I give you my entire soul, along with its quirks, moods, light and darkness, and a thousand and eight hundred flaws. It’s truly annoying, with only one redeemable quality—its love for you.”
The male voice on the radio was warm and deep, intoxicating like wine, like the wind in April, like a cello softly playing by the ear.
“Good evening, I’m Zhou Qingrang.”
The secretary, oblivious to the allure of the voice, was puzzled.
Miss Second had recently beco a fan of a radio host nad Zhou, what was the term for it?
Oh, a voice fetish.
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