Chapter 105: Chapter 105: "Who Is Forcing You?

Ming Lingyi let out a soft breath. "What if I told you that being with me would bring you trouble?"

"What kind of trouble?"

"Your official career might hit a ceiling," Ming Lingyi said. "Or worse, not only would it stagnate because of me, but it might even regress. If that were the case, would you still be willing?"

Jiang Yuchuan furrowed his brow at her words. "What does this have to do with my career?"

’He couldn’t understand.’

"What if that’s simply the case?" Ming Lingyi asked.

But Jiang Yuchuan’s thoughts went to another possibility. "Are you the descendant of a disgraced official? Even if you are, it was your ancestors, your father’s generation, who made a mistake. It has nothing to do with you. The fact that you’re independent now is impressive in itself, and it won’t affect me. And even if it does, that’s my problem to deal with. You don’t need to worry about it."

If she were the descendant of a disgraced official, it might indeed cause him some trouble.

But he wouldn’t retreat because of such a minor issue.

’Besides, life is a journey of give and take.’

’In a choice like this, one simply has to choose the thing one most desperately wants.’

And what Jiang Yuchuan wanted, more than anything, was Ming Lingyi.

As for any other thorny issues, he believed he could handle them properly.

Ming Lingyi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She never expected his focus to be so completely different from what she had imagined.

"No." Ming Lingyi shook her head. She thought for a moment before saying, "What if there’s someone powerful and of high status in Shangjing City who doesn’t want you to be with me?"

She had rephrased it more tactfully.

Jiang Yuchuan’s expression changed instantly.

He frowned, the earlier shyness from having his confession overheard by Ming Lingyi completely gone. "Who is forcing you?" he asked, his face turning cold.

The way he looked now, it was as if he was ready to march off and have a thorough debate about Dayan Law with anyone whose name Ming Lingyi uttered.

Ming Lingyi was left speechless.

She just shook her head.

But now, Jiang Yuchuan was not entirely convinced.

"Even if someone with more power and a higher rank than me wants to stop us, that’s completely unreasonable. Besides, that only proves how wonderful you are, Miss Ming, and why so many people admire you. But I don’t need my superior’s approval to like someone. If such a situation were to arise, it would be my problem to handle, not something for you to worry about," Jiang Yuchuan said frankly.

Still, what he hoped for most right now was for Ming Lingyi to trust him. If there really was someone in the Capital City with ill intentions toward her, he hoped he would be the first person she thought of.

Ming Lingyi had to admit that her heart had fluttered for a moment. But this was all just a "hypothetical" discussion between her and Jiang Yuchuan. She tucked away that momentary feeling, but it didn’t stop her from being in a very good mood.

Ming Lingyi smiled and didn’t dwell on the issue any longer. ’Perhaps one day he’ll regret this, but not now.’

It was just as Jiang Yuchuan himself had said: even if someone did try to stop them, that was a problem for him to handle. All she needed to consider was a single question: whether or not she wanted to like the man standing before her.

When Jiang Yuchuan saw Ming Lingyi’s smiling face, he felt like he could finally let out the breath he’d been holding. At the same time, however, that earlier feeling of nervous bashfulness washed over him once again.

He looked at Ming Lingyi and asked tentatively, "So now, Miss Ming..." 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Jiang Yuchuan actually wanted to ask how Ming Lingyi felt about him.

He was dying of curiosity, his heart feeling as if it were being constantly scratched at by a cat’s paw.

Ming Lingyi winked at Jiang Yuchuan and gave him a wave. "Come eat at our restaurant again when you have time. But please, don’t bring so many people next time! Xiao Chun told me Lord Jiang spent a lot of silver today, so thank you for that! The hour is late, and you have to be on duty tomorrow. You should hurry home!"

After saying this, Ming Lingyi’s figure gradually disappeared from Jiang Yuchuan’s sight.

But Jiang Yuchuan remained standing there, showing no sign of moving, as if he had been frozen to the spot.

The vivid image of her smiling and winking at him replayed endlessly in his mind, like a scene from a revolving lantern.

Huang Yi waited for a while, but when his friend didn’t show up, he turned back to check. He found his friend—the one who was usually so pitifully stoic—smiling like a complete fool.

With that look on his face, where was even a hint of the "cold and ruthless" Junior Minister of the Ministry of Justice?

’He looks utterly smitten!’

"Snap out of it!" Huang Yi shouted.

If his shout hadn’t snapped Jiang Yuchuan out of it, Huang Yi would have seriously suspected that the young lady from Ming’s Restaurant knew some kind of sorcery and had put a hex on his friend.

Fortunately, what Huang Yi feared did not happen.

Jiang Yuchuan finally tore his gaze away from the direction where Ming Lingyi had long since disappeared. When he saw Huang Yi in front of him, he raised a thick brow. "Why are you still here?"

He’d assumed Huang Yi had already left.

Those words nearly made Huang Yi, who had been worried about him, keel over in anger.

’Great. Here I was, worried sick from a distance, and for what? I might as well have fed my concern to the dogs!’

"Was I supposed to just leave you here alone? What if that..."

"Miss Ming is not the kind of person you’re thinking of." Jiang Yuchuan cut him off before he could finish, not caring what Huang Yi was worried about.

Huang Yi was taken aback. "...She’s really from a merchant family?"

"Yes," Jiang Yuchuan replied.

"She doesn’t look like one," Huang Yi said.

Jiang Yuchuan stated, "Miss Ming is a very capable person."

Huang Yi was speechless.

’He can’t go more than a couple of sentences without praising that Miss Ming. He’s completely bewitched.’

"I wasn’t saying anything bad..." Huang Yi said, exasperated. "Do you even know who this Miss Ming is? When she appeared just now, if you hadn’t told me who she was, I never would have guessed she owned a restaurant."

Jiang Yuchuan was pleased to hear this. He pressed his lips into a smile. "Miss Ming’s ancestors must have included scholars." He then began to describe the characters on the sign of Ming’s Restaurant and the wooden plaques hanging on the walls—things Huang Yi had also noticed.

But at the time, with so many colleagues from the Ministry of Justice around, it hadn’t been convenient for Jiang Yuchuan to say much.

Huang Yi had indeed shown a great deal of interest in the calligraphy on the wooden plaques at Ming’s Restaurant, but he’d never imagined that the script wasn’t the work of some reclusive old master, but rather that of the young woman he had just met.

"How... how is that possible?" Huang Yi muttered.

Jiang Yuchuan smiled and walked away, leaving Huang Yi in shock with a parting, "And why not?" before heading home.

’After all, Miss Ming did say the hour was late and that he should go home.’

When Ming Lingyi returned to the restaurant, Xiao Chun saw that the green balls were gone from her mistress’s hands and knew they had been delivered.

She couldn’t help but hide a smile. ’After the master’s passing, I worried for a long time that with no parents, my young mistress would have a difficult time finding a husband. But now it seems it isn’t so difficult after all!’

Ming Lingyi went straight to the back courtyard. Only a few tables of customers remained out front, and she didn’t need to worry about cleaning up. She reclined on the wicker chair in her room, and the thought of Jiang Yuchuan from earlier tonight made her let out a soft laugh.