Ji Shileng switched off the screen, remembering to remind Su Ke, “There are people all around us. We should watch what we say”
The nearby guests thought he was about to tell Su Ke to stop insulting people. Instead, his next words were, “If you’re going to curse at them, do it louder. We wouldn’t want everyone thinking we’re talking about them behind their backs”
Sorry, but they were not gossiping in secret. They were doing it openly.
The guests: “…”
The sheer arrogance.
Ji Shileng had a face so gentle it seemed to soften even the light around him, yet his words spared no one’s feelings.
There was nothing the guests could do. The Ji family was hardly a decorative fixture in the Federation.
Many business families were still hoping to establish ties with Ji Shiyun and restore trade between the Empire and the Federation.
No one dared breathe too loudly, afraid of provoking this little lord of the underworld.
Ji Shifeng laughed at his brother’s remark. After enjoying himself for a moment, he said, “Still, ease up on the insults. You should think about your reputations”
Unable to escape his arm, Su Ke simply gave up. “What reputation? Mine isn’t exactly good in the Federation either. I care even less about what people here think”
He had not done anything particularly outrageous back home. Most of his bad reputation came from association with his disreputable friends.
It was already ruined, so he no longer cared.
Ji Shileng cared even less. “Shifeng, do you think I have any reputation left to protect?”
Not only the entire Empire, but most of the outsiders following the spectacle online had guessed that he was the former “admiral’s spouse.”
And what good reputation had that version of him ever had?
Ji Shifeng patted Su Ke’s shoulder and considered it. They had a point.
He knew both of them well. “True. Your bad reputations are one thing. Besides, this is what you’re really like. There’s no need to pretend otherwise”
Then he added disdainfully, “A good reputation doesn’t bring you anything worthwhile anyway”
It only made people seem gentle and timid, inviting others to bully them.
Ji Shileng gave him a helpless look. Definitely his own brother.
He never missed an opportunity to slip in a jab.
Personally, Ji Shileng did not think he had pretended all that much before.
He simply had not cared.
Back then, Shang Jianli had been the only person who mattered to him, so he could not be bothered to take issue with anyone or anything else.
“Are we leaving?” he asked.
Ji Shifeng tipped his chin. Ji Shileng and Su Ke followed his gaze and saw Ji Shiyun being held up in conversation by Minister Zhou of the Ministry of Publicity.
“Do you two want to head back first? I’ll wait for Shiyun”
Although he asked whether they wanted to leave, his arm around Su Ke did not loosen in the slightest.
Ji Shileng looked around but did not see the person he wanted to meet.
“I’ll wander around for a bit, then go back with you”
Su Ke wanted to accompany him, but Ji Shifeng held him firmly and refused to let go.
With no other choice, he resigned himself mournfully to staying at Ji Shifeng’s side.
Plenty of people wanted to approach Ji Shileng, but fear that he might settle old scores brought them all to a halt.
They were afraid he would remember their past behavior and come after them one by one.
Just like Imperial Capital News, whose “death” this time had been particularly gruesome.
Ji Shileng made his way leisurely past them. Suddenly, a lavishly dressed woman blocked his path.
After waiting a few seconds without her moving aside, he looked up and met the furious eyes of Shang Jianli’s mother.
Seeing an old acquaintance put him in an unexpectedly good mood. He smiled and waved. “Long time no see, Mrs. Shang”
She gripped her crocodile-leather purse so tightly that several cracks split its surface.
She valued appearances. In front of others, she had always maintained the lofty bearing of a wealthy society lady.
However angry she was now, she could not let outsiders laugh at her.
Forcing herself to remain calm, she asked, “Could we speak privately?”
Ji Shileng tilted his head and did not answer immediately.
During those few seconds of waiting, everyone’s gazes seemed to roast Mrs. Shang over a fire, turning her again and again.
Keeping her carefully made-up face composed, she took several deep breaths to relieve the pressure.
“Of course”
Ji Shileng agreed without imposing any conditions.
He was not afraid she would do anything to him.
Even with a twisted ankle, he could still defend himself against a pampered woman who could barely lift or carry anything.
Mostly, he wanted to enjoy the show.
He was rather curious about what she had come to say.
Leaving the guests’ discreetly curious looks behind, he followed Mrs. Shang to an open-air balcony on the second floor.
The moon was full that night, a golden-orange circle hanging on the horizon, radiating an endless loneliness.
“Ji Shileng”
After bracing herself so thoroughly, Mrs. Shang only managed his name.
He had expected something shocking. Instead, after all that waiting, she had merely addressed him.
Wearing his standard, perfunctory social smile, he took the initiative. “Hello. What did you want to speak to me about, Mrs. Shang?”
She remained standing, looking him up and down several times.
“When Jianli first brought you home, I sensed something about you that didn’t quite fit”
“And?”
“I thought it was because you’d risen above your station” She looked away, her eyes vacant.
Then she murmured, half in disbelief, half in reflection, “Who could have imagined it? A young master fallen on hard times, finding his way into the Shang family”
In the first version, Ji Shileng had married above his station.
In the second, the Shang family had married above theirs.
The two felt entirely different.
Ji Shileng looked up at her. When it came to Mrs. Shang, he simply disliked her as a person.
There was something he had wondered about for a long time. Since they both seemed calm, he decided to ask. “Then why did you agree to let me marry into the Shang family back then?”
“It was the first time I’d ever seen Jianli look at someone that way”
Ji Shileng adjusted his posture, indicating that he was listening.
“The way he looked at you was different from the way he looked at anything else” She paused, searching hard for the right description.
“There was desire in his eyes when he looked at you”
Ji Shileng watched her without speaking.
“With everything else, he was indifferent. Whether he could have it or not, his emotions never changed” She smiled bitterly. “He liked you. He just didn’t know it himself”
Ji Shileng looked away. He had thought she might have something more convincing to say.
“So you let me into the Shang family just because he looked at me differently?”
Mrs. Shang shook her head. “Not entirely”
She drew a breath and continued, “Before he brought you home to meet us, he got into a fight with his father”
That caught Ji Shileng somewhat off guard.
Shang Jianli had never told him.
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