NOVEL NEXT Chapter 28: The Young Marquis Really Has No Memory
Chapter 28: The Young Marquis Really Has No Memory
Lin Ye was naturally stunned.
Yes, Qiao Nian had come to pray for Grandmother’s safety, how could he say such things?
What was wrong with him?
Why did he always act foolishly when encountering Qiao Nian?
Lin Ye’s heart skipped a beat, thinking that if something happened to Grandmother because of his words, not just Qiao Nian, but he himself would never forgive himself!
But, on the other hand.
Shouldn’t this be Qiao Nian’s fault?
Why could he be clear-headed when facing Yuan’er, but become enraged when encountering her?
Wasn’t all of this caused by Qiao Nian?
Saying that he had died three years ago, saying that he had no right to discipline her!
He would show her whether he had the right or not!
The anger that had accumulated since Qiao Nian’s return to the mansion finally exploded at this moment. Lin Ye suddenly stepped forward and reached out to grab Qiao Nian.
Qiao Nian was startled, not expecting Lin Ye to get physical with her here, but she reacted quickly, dodging to the side.
However, Lin Ye was a few years older than Qiao Nian and had practiced martial arts since childhood. His skills far surpassed Qiao Nian’s, and in a few moves, he had subdued her.
Qiao Nian’s hands were tightly restrained by Lin Ye, unable to struggle at all.
Seeing this, Ning Shuang immediately rushed over, “Young Marquis! This is a sacred Buddhist place, and the Prince is still here! Don’t do anything foolish, quickly release the young miss!”
“Get lost!” Lin Ye said without hesitation, kicking Ning Shuang away.
Ning Shuang was kicked and flew back, spitting out a mouthful of blood on the spot.
Qiao Nian’s eyes instantly filled with blood, “Lin Ye, you bastard!”
“I’m a bastard? I’ve protected you since childhood, fought for you, could get you anything you wanted to eat even in the middle of the night, personally carved your hairpin for your coming-of-age ceremony, and even traveled far to find the world’s brightest night pearl for you! I’ve done so much for you, and in the end, all I get is being called a bastard? Fine, then today I’ll show you who the real bastard is!” As Lin Ye spoke, he dragged Qiao Nian towards the temple exit.
Due to the commotion inside the Buddha hall, quite a crowd had already gathered outside. Now, seeing Lin Ye dragging Qiao Nian out, even more people gathered to watch the excitement.
Lin Ye then threw Qiao Nian to the ground in front of everyone.
Qiao Nian lost her balance and instinctively put out her hands to brace herself, scraping two bloody marks on her palms.
Lin Ye paid no attention to this and snatched a broom from a young novice monk nearby, then addressed the crowd, “Everyone, we’ve been siblings for eighteen years, but today she cursed me dead in front of the Buddha. If I don’t discipline her, she won’t know how to respect me as her elder brother. Please, everyone, bear witness!”
With that, he swung the broom down hard.
The temple brooms were made from mountain tree branches, as thick as an arm. Just one hit made Qiao Nian’s head spin, and she collapsed to the ground.
But Lin Ye didn’t stop.
He had been suppressing his anger for a long time, and today he was determined to vent it all!
Qiao Nian felt waves of pain on her back, each worse than the last.
In her daze, she seemed to return to her days in the laundry bureau.
She was also beaten by the matron and collapsed on the ground, surrounded by palace maids who were all laughing at her.
But, it was also different.
The matron was still a woman, and elderly, so she could never hit with the force Lin Ye was using now.
She didn’t know how many times Lin Ye had hit her, only that he finally stopped when the broom broke.
Laughably, Lin Ye seemed to have tired himself out, standing to the side and breathing heavily.
Among the onlookers, some recognized her and spoke up, “Isn’t this Miss Qiao from the Marquis’s mansion? I’m not one to say, but everyone in the capital knows how good your brother has been to you. How could you say such vicious words?”
“Yes, you’re not even the Marquis’s biological child. Haven’t you enjoyed enough years of wealth and luxury?”
“This is too much, cursing your own brother to die. Even the Buddha would be angry!”
With these few people speaking up, others who didn’t know Qiao Nian also began to chime in. Suddenly, Qiao Nian found herself condemned by thousands.
Perhaps it was because she had become accustomed to being beaten during those three years, but Qiao Nian managed to get up despite the severe beating.
She propped herself up to sit, and in response to the crowd’s accusations, she merely spat to the side casually.
If it weren’t for the bright red color of that spit, one couldn’t tell from her expression that she had been beaten.
She raised her head to look at the surrounding crowd.
Song Baixuan, Xiao Qingnu, Lin Yuan, Xiao Heng…
Some were gloating, some were pretending to be concerned, and others remained coldly indifferent from beginning to end.
Finally, Qiao Nian’s gaze fell on Lin Ye’s face.
This face, which once deliberately made ugly expressions to amuse her, now showed only endless anger and hatred towards her.
Looking at this face, Qiao Nian finally couldn’t help but laugh.
“Hehe, hahahaha…”
She laughed louder and louder, laughing so hard that the people around thought she had been beaten silly.
Laughing so hard that Lin Ye’s heart began to panic.
And as Qiao Nian laughed, she struggled to her feet from the ground, in an extremely miserable state.
Then, she finally stopped laughing, but still looked at Lin Ye with a smile, “It seems the Young Marquis really has no memory. The hairpin you personally carved for me? Why don’t you see whose head it’s on now?”
Hearing this, Lin Ye was stunned and instinctively looked at Lin Yuan.
He suddenly remembered that on the day of Qiao Nian’s coming-of-age ceremony, it was also the day Lin Yuan returned to claim her identity. So that hairpin, which hadn’t even been given out yet, ended up on Lin Yuan’s head.
“And you know better than I do whose room that night pearl you traveled far to find is in now.”
Of course, it was also Lin Yuan’s.
That year, Lin Ye said Lin Yuan was afraid of the dark, so he asked Qiao Nian to lend the night pearl to Lin Yuan. Once lent, Qiao Nian never saw that night pearl again.
Lin Ye felt as if someone had punched his heart hard, so hard that he staggered back a step, unsteady.
But as if grasping at the last truth, he shouted at Qiao Nian, “But it’s a fact that I’ve protected you since childhood. Who doesn’t know how much I treasured you?”
“Then look around now.” The smile on Qiao Nian’s lips grew deeper and more bitter.
Lin Ye’s gaze swept across the surrounding crowd of onlookers, including officials, nobles, and ordinary citizens…
Today was the holy day, and probably all families in the capital who were free had come.
Then, Qiao Nian slightly bowed to Lin Ye, “Thank you, Young Marquis, for bestowing this overwhelming humiliation. I, Qiao Nian, am deeply grateful. Should this beating today be enough to repay the kindness the Young Marquis has shown me in the past? If the Young Marquis feels it’s not enough, there’s another broom over there. I’ll stand here today until the Young Marquis is satisfied with beating me.”
Taking this beating would clear her debt for his past doting, cutting off all ties from now on, and spare her from having to remember that bit of kindness when she hates him in the future.
But Lin Ye couldn’t move.
He stood there as if petrified, unable to move even a finger.
At this moment, Prince Ming pushed through the crowd, “I am here, who dares!”