The Substitute Bride and the Cripple

“You don’t want to drop out because you can’t bear to part with Ning Mufan, right? Young Master Ning is handsome and strong. He’s an important figure in his family… a far better man than my brother…”

Jiang Hanchen had heard enough. He stared at Tang Qiu with loathing, as if she were something vile and unspeakably offensive. “Get that slut out of my sight,” he commanded.

The butler wasted no time in calling the guards. When the two guards arrived, they cast fearful glances at Jiang Shaocheng. If they threw Tang Qiu out, would he order his aide to attack them? Earlier, He Lei had stabbed one of them without so much as blinking an eye. Still, they had no choice but to obey.

When they stepped towards Tang Qiu, however, He Lei blocked their paths, halting them.

“The Young Mistress didn’t say you could come near her.” His face betrayed nothing. “You’re not looking for trouble, are you?”

The guards froze. Jiang Ming shot to his feet. “My father gave a direct order.” His voice rose, riding on a wave of fury. “You’re nothing more than my brother’s lapdog, He Lei. Who are you to contradict him?”

He Lei didn’t blink. “Call me a lapdog all you like. Like you said, I serve your brother. I won’t let anyone lay a hand on the young mistress without his permission.” Even if Tang Qiu was indeed having an affair, it was Jiang Shaocheng’s right to discipline her and no one else’s. If anyone presumed to teach his wife a lesson, it would be an insult–contemptuous, provocative. And He Lei wouldn’t just stand there and let it happen.

They were interrupted by a cough from Jiang Shaocheng. He fixed his brother with his gaze; two dark pools, like the cold depths of an ocean at night. “If my wife isn’t welcome here, I’m leaving with her.” He made to roll his wheelchair out, and Tang Qiu–touched by his gesture of protection–hurried to help push him.

“Cease this nonsense!” Jiang Hanchen bellowed. “This is your home, Jiang Shaocheng. Where do you think you’re going?”

Jiang Shaocheng’s back was turned to his father, but mockery swam in his eyes. “My home, you say. Then why is it that I had to be searched in order to enter my own home? My wife and I are part of this family. Yet you call her an outsider and degrade her. Tell me: do you really think this place is my home?”

Jiang Hanchen was stunned. His elder son had always been mild-mannered, even as a boy; he had been obedient and intelligent. He had had high hopes for Jiang Shaocheng. He had given him a prestigious education, all to prepare him for one day inheriting the Jiang family business. However, a car accident when Jiang Shaocheng was eighteen had turned that dream into ash. Disappointed with Jiang Shaocheng’s failure to live up to his expectations, Jiang Hanchen had effectively ignored him since then, turning cold, curt, dismissive to the son he once looked upon with such pride.

Some time ago, Jiang Ming had told him that his elder brother was back in the country, and that his health had deteriorated, to the point of near-death. As Jiang Shaocheng’s younger brother, he wanted to find a bride for him–a perfect picture to paint just before he died, especially since the joyous occasion might lend him relief from his illness in his final days. But a few days later, Jiang Ming had come back claiming his brother’s bride had been replaced by a scheming woman.

He just hadn’t expected that she would be a whore as well, a blemish on the Jiangs’ reputation.

“You dare defy me? For her?” Fury broiled in Jiang Hanchen, wreathing his face in dark shadow.

Jiang Shaocheng looked back over his shoulder icily. “I’m merely stating the truth. I will have no other woman but Tang Qiu. If you won’t treat her with respect, there’s no point in me staying. When I die, she’ll take care of it. You won’t have to lift a finger over my dead body.”

“You wretch… What is this woman worth, that you should cling on to her? You–” ƒ𝗿e𝘦𝚠𝗲𝚋n𝚘ν𝙚𝗹.𝑐o𝙢

“She’s worth it if I say so.” Jiang Shaocheng beckoned for Tang Qiu to push the wheelchair. She glanced at Jiang Hanchen and hastily obeyed.

“Do you know what your leaving here means?” Jiang Hanchen’s roar chased them as they left. “Do you really want to sever ties with me over her?”

Him, and the possessions of the Jiang family, was what his father meant. Jiang Shaocheng didn’t even look back.

His son had just walked out without hesitation.

Blinded by rage, Jiang Hanchen hurled a teacup to the floor. It shattered at Jiang Ming’s feet, and he leapt back, startled. He hadn’t expected that Jiang Shaocheng would cut ties with his family over Tang Qiu. How could a cripple like him survive without the aid of the Jiangs? It was as good as courting death. But this surprise–if you could call it that–was a welcome one.

The butler was frightened too, but he dared not comment on what he had just witnessed. “Calm down, master,” he said in a mollifying tone. “It’s not worth it to ruin your health. He was probably trying to test that woman, to see if she would still stay with him even if he wasn’t the young master of the Jiang family.”