Chapter 4: Playing Pretend

Chapter 4: Playing Pretend

Ji Duo was six years older than Ji Ze, and this year he was already twenty-eight.

For several years, the family had been trying to arrange a match for him, but he remained utterly uninterested. Whether it was a relative introducing someone or a friend introducing someone, he wouldn’t even look.

Once, Ye Minshu took action without consulting anyone, bringing someone home without prior notice, but he used the pretext of army business and coldly turned away. At that time, Ye Minshu felt quite embarrassed and complained for several days, saying she would never meddle in Ji Duo’s affairs again.

Because of this, there were some unkind rumors circulating about him behind his back, and in the past year or two, no one had been introducing him to potential partners anymore.

Of course, Ji Ze didn’t believe those rumors. He had always thought his uncle was completely focused on his career, intending to spend his life with his troops. Who would have thought he would be here, having a quiet conversation with a young girl, and they were standing rather close to each other.

Ji Ze couldn’t help taking an extra look at Lin Qiao.

Honestly, she was dressed rather plainly, but her face was exceptionally beautiful, especially her eyes, which were bright and alluring. It was no wonder his usually stubborn uncle had finally shown interest. Perhaps there was something truly special about her.

Ji Ze felt that he had probably guessed it right, but the two across from him looked at him in disbelief.

Especially Ji Duo, who remained silent for a moment before saying, “This is the granddaughter of your grandfather’s veteran comrade.”

He didn’t mention the arranged marriage, afraid that Ji Ze wouldn’t be able to accept it right away.

Ji Ze scratched his head upon hearing this, “Ah? Was it a mistake?” Feeling a bit embarrassed, he made to leave, “You guys talk. I’ll go check on Grandpa.”

“I’ll remind the nurse.”

Ji Duo said to Lin Qiao before following Ji Ze out.

As they neared the nurses’ station, he said in a low voice, “By the way, my sister-in-law brought someone over as a date for you. The person is still in the ward.”

“Did my mom bring a date for me?”

Ji Ze was initially shocked, and then felt quite uncomfortable, “Didn’t I say I’m only twenty-two and not ready yet?”

He quickly ran to the end of the corridor and pushed open the ward door, “Mom, why are you meddling in matchmaking?”

Ji Duo remained standing there, unmoved.

His earlier statement had been deliberately vague. It could mean either ‘my sister-in-law brought your match over,’ or ‘my sister-in-law brought someone and says it’s your match.’ How it was understood depended on whether Ji Ze actually had this so-called match.

Now, it seemed...

Ji Duo lowered his eyes and glanced at the time, then lightly knocked on the nurses’ station, “Remove the needle for bed 33.”

Ye Minshu was still praising Song Jing when Ji Ze burst in, freezing her smile on the spot.

She immediately turned to Old Master Ji, her expression clearly flustered, “X-Xiao Ze, weren’t you in the army? Why are you back?”

She desperately tried to signal her son with her eyes.

Ji Ze wasn’t sure what was happening, but he wasn’t stupid. He could feel the shift in his mother’s expression and the stifling atmosphere in the ward.

He hesitated for a moment. “I met Dad on the way and heard Grandpa was unwell.”

“This Ji Jun, he couldn’t come because of his business trip, so he sent you back.”

Ye Minshu tried to steer the conversation to her husband, but Old Master Ji clearly wasn’t buying it. He stared at her for a long time before suddenly saying, “Xiao Ze, close the door.”

Having been in power for a long time, when he was expressionless, a sense of authority naturally exuded from him.

Ji Ze didn’t dare to waste any time and hurriedly turned around to close the door properly. Before he could fully turn back, a furious shout was already directed at Ye Minshu, "You actually found someone to pretend to be Xiao Ze's partner! How could you do such a thing? Do you think I'm a fool, or that I'm already dead?"

These words were rather harsh. Not to mention Ye Minshu, even Ji Ze felt a sudden shock.

Ye Minshu, who was at the center of this storm, turned pale, then flushed red, and her eyes welled up with tears, "Dad, do you really think I'm that kind of person? When you decided on the Lin family girl for Xiao Ze without even asking me, I didn’t say a single word."

Though she had long since transitioned from dancing to administration in the arts troupe, the moment her eyes turned red, she still exuded a look of fragile vulnerability.

Ji Jun always softened whenever she cried. He couldn’t bear it. But Old Master Ji had a hot temper and hated that at her age, she still acted this way, "Is it that you don’t want to say, or can’t say? Do you think I don’t know what you’re thinking?"

Ye Minshu was left speechless, and this time, tears of embarrassment actually fell.

When the two families had arranged the engagement, she indeed didn’t dare say anything. For one, Ji Jun didn’t object, and for another, her family faced some issues at the time and sought help from the Ji family. She was trying to win Old Master Ji’s favor, so how could she possibly object?

But she had raised her son so well, and who would want a country girl as a daughter-in-law?

No family background, no culture, no sophistication. It was embarrassing enough to talk about, let alone introduce her publicly.

So, when the nanny brought a letter with "Lin Chang" written on it, she immediately insisted there had been a mistake. And when that girl shamelessly got into the second son's car, in her panic, she decided to have Song Jing pretend to be Xiao Ze’s girlfriend.

She didn’t think Old Master Ji would really break them up if Xiao Ze already had a good partner.

Fortunately, thanks to the good relationship between the two families, Song Jing agreed to help without hesitation.

But she never expected her son to come back so suddenly and reveal the truth. Even more so, she didn’t expect Old Master Ji to not give her any face, reprimanding her in front of the younger generation, saying such harsh words. Song Jing was an outsider, after all.

Feeling more and more wronged, she covered her face and turned to Xu Li, "Our two families haven't had much contact for many years, Mom. You know that too. Who even remembers that silly childhood engagement? I just saw that Dad was sick and wanted to make him happy, so I brought Xiao Ze's partner over."

"Don't tell me you haven't met Lin Qiao," Old Master Ji interrupted her.

Still trying to defend herself, insisting that Song Jing was indeed Xiao Ze's partner, when Old Master Ji saw she was stubborn, he directly asked his grandson, "Xiao Ze, tell me, are you and Miss Song from the Song family in a relationship or not?"

Since entering, Ji Ze had been bombarded with unexpected news.

First, his mother actually brought someone and claimed she was his partner, then he learned about the childhood engagement.

Ji Ze was dumbfounded, looking at Old Master Ji, then at Ye Minshu, he lowered his head and said nothing.

His silence was taken as a tacit confirmation that Song Jing was his partner, and Ye Minshu immediately gained confidence, "Dad, as you can see, I didn't lie to you. Yes, I had my own selfish reasons. When the Lin family girl came to the door, I deliberately told her she had the wrong person. But Xiao Ze had no idea about the childhood engagement and was already in a relationship. Should I have forced them to break up just because she showed up?"

Ji Ze stood silently by the side, neither interjecting nor looking at Old Master Ji.

It was clear that the mother and son agreed, which made Old Master Ji’s anger surge, his vision darkening, and he almost fell off the sickbed.

Ji Ze was startled and was about to step forward when Xu Li beat him to it, supporting Old Master Ji, "Everyone, let's calm down a bit." She then addressed Old Master Ji, "You almost scared us to death when you fainted at noon. Do you not know your own blood pressure? And you're still getting angry."

Although she was talking to Old Master Ji, Ye Minshu felt like she was being blamed for making him angry.

Feeling wronged, she blurted out, "If it weren't for the Lin family girl coming to the door, there wouldn't have been so much trouble."

At this, Old Master Ji’s anger surged again, his face flushing red. Just then, a nurse opened the door, "Is patient 33 removing the needle?" Noticing the tense atmosphere, she immediately frowned, "Why are there so many people here? Don’t you know the patient needs rest?"

After removing the needle for Old Master Ji, the nurse quickly fetched a blood pressure monitor.

Upon measuring, the blood pressure reading was dangerously high, with the systolic at 203 and the diastolic at 164.

As the nurse helped Old Master Ji remove the cuff, her tone was not polite, "This blood pressure is quite dangerous. It could result in a cerebral hemorrhage. If the patient doesn’t know how to control their emotions, shouldn’t you, as family members, know better? There shouldn’t be this many people in the hospital room."

Hearing that Old Master Ji's blood pressure had risen again, Ji Ze, already filled with regret, felt even more ashamed.

He hurriedly led his mother out, saying, "Then we won't disturb Grandfather's rest. You should take a break first. I'll come visit you again another day."

Considering Old Master's health condition, some matters really couldn't be rushed. What if he got so mad that it affected his health?

Ye Minshu remained silent, and as soon as the door closed, she looked at Song Jing with a hint of embarrassment. "I've made a spectacle of myself in front of you."

Ji Ze was also lost for words. "Why did you pull Song Jing into our family drama?"

"What was I supposed to do? You want to marry some country girl?"

Just bringing it up made Ye Minshu angry. Song Jing also lowered her head, feeling a bit embarrassed. "It was just a small favor. I didn't have anything else going on anyway. I didn't play my part well enough, and Old Master Ji saw through it, which made him angry."

Hearing this, Ji Ze looked back at Ye Minshu. "Mom, are you talking about the one who was with my uncle?"

"Have you seen her?" Ye Minshu immediately became alert. "Don't think just 'cause she looks presentable, you should listen to Grandfather."

"No, I thought she was Uncle's girlfriend because I saw her with him."

"It'd be better if she were your uncle's girlfriend..." Ye Minshu was about to say more, but when she saw someone approaching the stairwell, she swallowed her words.

As the elder sister-in-law, she had to keep up appearances in front of her brother-in-law. She just said the nurse didn't allow too many people in the room.

Ji Duo didn't ask further, and Ji Ze was even less likely to bring up what had just happened in the room. As he passed by Ji Duo and Lin Qiao, he looked somewhat evasive.

This made Lin Qiao raise her eyebrows slightly, a hint of suspicion in her expression. She was somewhat suspicious of what Ji Duo had chased after Old Master Ji to talk about.

Ye Minshu's expression made it clear that things hadn't gone well with Old Master Ji.

Was Old Master Ji unhappy with the daughter-in-law candidate she brought, or was he just upset that she brought someone to see him?

Could this have anything to do with her?

But if Xiao Ze was really the male lead and his mother was so against it, how could Old Master Ji have casually arranged a childhood engagement for his son?

Old Master Ji still had a younger son who was around the same age. Even though they were from different generations, they weren't closely related. Why arrange for the grandson to marry instead of the son?

Lin Qiao found it hard to understand. But compared to figuring out who the male lead really was, there were clearly more important matters at hand.

In the room, Old Master Ji was also thinking about why Lin Qiao had been forced to come this time.

Xu Li, seeing that his mood had gradually calmed down, peeled an apple for him. The thin apple peel dangled from the knife in a long strip. "Are you still angry? I don't think it's all the kid's fault. Even in our time, there were people who didn't accept arranged marriages. He just found out about it suddenly. You should have a proper talk with him. If you have to, let the two kids spend more time together. Xiao Ze knows what's what."

She only mentioned Ji Ze, trying to make the matter sound lighter, but Old Master Ji shook his head. "This might not be so easy to handle. Xiao Ze seems easygoing and always cheerful, but like his second uncle, he probably has his own ideas. It's also 'cause the second uncle didn't set a good example. When Xiao Ze was little, he followed his second uncle around all the time, picking up all the wrong things. He didn't pick up anything good but got real good at making people mad."

"Alright, alright. It's all my fault for not teaching the second uncle properly, okay?"

"It's not entirely your fault. I spoiled him a lot when he was little. He's my son from my old age and was born after you had a tough time."

Bringing up old issues was off track, so Xu Li steered the conversation back to the childhood engagement. "If it doesn't work out, don't push it. There are other ways to repay the favor. Looks like their family isn't too excited about it either."

Old Master Ji fell silent, and just then, hearing footsteps approaching, they stopped the conversation.

Lin Qiao and Ji Duo entered, and the four of them tactfully avoided mentioning what had just happened. By then, Old Master Ji had also calmed down. Seeing that Xu Li had finished peeling the apple, he directly told her to give it to Lin Qiao. "You didn't finish explaining earlier. What's really going on with your family?"

As soon as Lin Qiao walked in, she immediately felt the heavy atmosphere.

She thanked him and accepted it, then, without adding any extra details, told him exactly what happened.

Old Man Ji had already figured that Lin Qiao would run out, probably because something was off about this marriage, but he didn’t expect it to be this messed up.

They sold her without even asking her, and on top of that, they took her household registration and all her IDs, so the girl had to sneak out to get help. Their methods were just too much…

Old Man Ji frowned hard and, after a while, asked, "When is it set for?"

"The day after tomorrow."

This time, Old Man Ji stayed quiet even longer before looking over at Ji Duo, sitting on the other bed. "Do you have time these next two days?"

Asking this now clearly meant something was up. Ji Duo thought for a second and said, "Yeah, I’ve got a few days off."

"Then go with Qiao and help her sort out her family stuff first."