Dragon Palace Home #10.
When Lin Yehan and Yu Mo arrived at the mansion later that evening, Iris was accompanying Jin Liwei in the kitchen for his late dinner. Jin Liwei just returned home from work. Iris and the others already ate dinner earlier. Since Lin Yehan and Yu Mo hadn’t eaten yet, they also joined their third brother.
Lin Yehan was restless. “Where’s Miss Jiang? How is she feeling? Is she okay? No, what a stupid question. She obviously won’t be okay.”
“Ying Yue is already asleep in her room when I got home,” Iris replied. “Clover said that she looked exhausted and terrible which is understandable given what she went through during the court hearing today.” Her expression became dark. She hissed, “I heard about the baseless accusations thrown at her. How dare he?! That man is not my brother! I have no brother who’s a stupid and malicious craven!”
Jin Liwei’s expression became colder but his hand resting on her shoulder was gentle as he began massaging her tense muscles. “Don’t worry, love. Jiang Ying Yue is the mother of our godson and your friend, not to mention that she’s part of our household, our family. Nobody touches anyone from our family and gets away with it.”
Iris nodded. His words calmed her down but couldn’t relax her completely. Then she turned to Lin Yehan who hadn’t touched his food yet. “Eldest Brother, you’ve been dragged into the mess created by my bro—I mean, by Long Hui.”
“Don’t worry about me, Xiulan.” Lin Yehan’s smile didn’t reach his eyes as if he was forcing it, but his usual gentle expression was back. “I’m a grown man. I can handle something like this, no problem. I’m more worried about Miss Jiang. She may look strong and tough on the outside but she’s actually very soft-hearted and delicate on the inside.”
The three raised their eyebrows at his statement and glanced at each other with a meaningful look but didn’t interrupt him. Yu Mo wisely decided to keep his mouth shut and not crack a joke at this time.
It seemed that their eldest brother had been paying a rather close attention to Jiang Ying Yue. He was even able to grasp her real personality with great accuracy despite only occasionally interacting with each other. Was he always this observant? Wang Yingjie was usually the most observant among the brothers when it came to people’s characters and relationships, but it seemed that in the case of Jiang Ying Yue, Lin Yehan had become quite observant as well. Did the two grow closer to each other without the others noticing?
Lin Yehan continued speaking, not noticing the weird looks the others were throwing at him. “All of these…are very unfair to Miss Jiang. It frustrates me that I’m also being used as a weapon to hurt her and to ruin her image to the public. She’s such a good person and a good mother. She doesn’t deserve something like this! I want to help her…I want to…to do something! But I’m afraid that if I do, I’ll just be feeding the fake rumours about us having an affair. I don’t want to cause her any more pain than she’s experiencing now. Dammit! I want to smash Long Hui’s face with my fists!”
The others were surprised at his outburst. Indeed, he looked frustrated and helpless at the same time, but there was also determination mixed in there. Like Wang Yingjie, Lin Yehan rarely lost his composure. Wang Yingjie was an extremely busy doctor so he thrived under pressure, even in literal life and death situations. That was why Wang Yingjie was already so accomplished in his profession despite his relatively young age among doctors with the same specialty as him. As for Lin Yehan, he was the eldest among the five and had long took it upon himself to become the source of stability for his brothers. He was also fiercely protective of those he considered family and suspicious of anyone popping up in their close, tight-knit circle all of a sudden like when he met Iris for the first time back then. He may look amiable and gentle but he didn’t trust anyone easily, so it was a big surprise to Yu Mo, Jin Liwei and Iris that he would react this strongly about Jiang Ying Yue’s current situation.
Iris opened her mouth about to say something but Jin Liwei gave a gentle squeeze on her shoulder, silently telling her to stay quiet. She frowned, displeased that he stopped her but upon seeing his expression, she understood his silent message. Although reluctant, she nodded and didn’t share any opinion out loud regarding Lin Yehan’s involvement in the mess that was the custody case.
[This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you’re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It’s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria]
The dinner became sombre after that, so Yu Mo steered the conversation to a much lighter topic. Later, Iris and Jin Liwei retired to their bedroom suite after bidding the others good night. Lin Yehan and Yu Mo decided to sleep over at the mansion because it was already very late and Lin Yehan’s farm was quite far from Dragon Palace Homes.
When the couple reached their bedroom, they began talking about the custody case while Iris helped Jin Liwei out of his suit and get him ready for bed. The furrow between her brows indicated that she was worried for her friend, Jiang Ying Yue. Jin Liwei kissed the space between her brows until the furrow disappeared.
“We’ll win this custody case. Our lawyers including Sir Deng Gui have formed a formidable team. We should trust in them,” he reassured her.
She sighed, smiling a little. “Yes, we should thank Grandpa Lu for inviting his long-time friend Sir Deng.”
“No. If we try thanking him, he’ll just scold us and tell us, how dare you treat your grandpa like a stranger? Bah! I’m only doing this for the sake of my beloved great-grandbaby, not for you rascals! And also, what’s wrong with you dunderheads for being so slow in giving me more great-grandbabies? I want to know! Get to work now! I’m not getting any younger!”
Iris was a little startled when Jin Liwei imitated Grandpa Lu’s usual words in a monotone voice and a deadpan expression that she honestly didn’t know how to react at first. Then she doubled over and pressed her face against his chest as she laughed so hard until her stomach ached. The corners of Jin Liwei’s lips lifted into a soft, doting smile. He wrapped his arms around her shaking body from too much laughing and pulled her closer.
“Feel better?”
“Love, I agree that we should be protecting Little Jun and make sure not to let that stupid idiot take our godson away from Jiang Ying Yue. She’s also your friend, so I understand that you’re worried about how she’s coping with the stress. But remember that she’s already a grown woman. We can’t always interfere on her behalf. We have already lent her all the tools she’ll need to win this custody battle and live a good life with Little Jun. Still, there are some things that she needs to face by herself. She’ll never get over Long Hui if we always shelter her. He’ll forever be a devil in her heart, casting an inescapable shadow over her and Little Jun’s lives in the future.”
Iris was quiet, feeling conflicted by his words, but she understood that he made sense. It was just that this was the first time in her two lives that she had real, close friends. She couldn’t bear to see any of them suffer.
“You’re her friend, not her guardian or provider,” Jin Liwei continued. He lifted her chin with his fingers and made her look at his eyes. “Don’t worry about her. My wife’s friends are not weak cowards. Trust in your friend. She’ll get through this with her own strength. We just need to be there for her and let her know that she’s not alone.”
“Yes, you’re right. I should trust my friend more.”
