Jiang Mingzhe thought Ye Yunniang wanted a title. "Once you're done nursing, I'll take you as my concubine."
"I won't be a concubine," Ye Yunniang refused.
Jiang Mingzhe paused his movements. "You want to be the Second Madam of the Jiang Family?" His impression of her kindness and gentleness began to crumble—Ye Yunniang had ambitions too.
"No, I never thought of that," Ye Yunniang replied, stunned by his assumption.
Jiang Mingzhe really had quite the imagination!
Realizing his mistake, Jiang Mingzhe softened slightly. "Then what do you want?"
Ye Yunniang thought: I want you to never bother me again. But she didn’t dare say it aloud.
"I don’t want anything."
"Liar." Jiang Mingzhe didn’t believe her. With a push, Ye Yunniang fell back onto the bed.
"Ah—!" She gasped in fright, scrambling to escape.
Jiang Mingzhe didn’t give her the chance, pinning her down.
"I told you—you’re mine. Until I’m tired of you, you don’t get to refuse." His grip tightened.
Rip—
"Let me go!" Ye Yunniang pleaded, crossing her arms to block his hands.
"No." Jiang Mingzhe bit down hard.
Stung by the pain, Ye Yunniang suddenly remembered Cai Damei’s advice.
Jiang Mingzhe had risen from an ordinary merchant to the wealthiest man in Jiangcheng—he wasn’t someone to confront head-on. She had to be subtle. No hiding her thoughts—she needed to speak plainly.
"Second Master, please spare me. I’m afraid of dying," she whimpered.
"Who’s threatening you?"
"You." Her answer made Jiang Mingzhe freeze.
"How am I threatening you?"
Ye Yunniang laid out her fears without holding back.
"After you made your intentions clear, I thought it over. A lowly wet nurse like me can’t fight against someone like you. There’s no escaping.
I’ve been eating foods to boost milk production, and… it’s stirred up certain desires.
My mother said there’s no shame in wanting intimacy. Second Master, you’re not bad-looking—being with you isn’t a loss.
I won’t stay in the Jiang Family forever. So why not indulge in a short-lived…" She trailed off, embarrassed.
"I know you’ve had countless women. You’ll tire of me soon enough."
A pang of bitterness flickered in her chest, but she pushed it aside.
"Life goes on. Once I leave, I’ll take my earnings home to my mother and son."
Thinking of Cai Damei and Pan'er, she managed a small smile.
Jiang Mingzhe chuckled. At least this little woman knew her place.
"Never considered that I might get addicted to you and refuse to let go?"
Ye Yunniang: (⊙ˍ⊙)！
"Second Master, don’t scare me like that! I’m timid—my heart can’t take it."
"Timid? You’re bold enough to use me as your stress reliever." He bit her again.
"So you knew…" She forced a laugh, internally panicking.
What now? Mother never taught me how to handle this!
"Ye Yunniang, what are you really afraid of?"
"I’m afraid Second Madam will kill me if she finds out about us."
"She won’t."
"How can you be sure?"
"I guarantee she won’t act out."
"I don’t believe that. Young Master never offended her, yet she still harmed him. And Chuntao’s cousin, and all those maids who got pregnant—each one died ‘accidentally.’"
She scoffed. One stillbirth might be plausible, but eight or nine? Who’s fooling whom?
Then she remembered her own position—a hidden affair, tangled in Jiang Tingjun’s kidnapping.
Terror coiled tighter. Her body trembled uncontrollably.
"Second Master, I keep dreaming of Second Madam hacking me to death with a cleaver."
Jiang Mingzhe had no rebuttal.
After five childless years of marriage, he’d wanted an heir. When Zhuang Meixue offered him maids, he accepted.
The first pregnancy thrilled him—finally, a child.
He still remembered that winter: snow a foot deep, yet he’d rushed home, desperate to see the baby born.
Instead, he found a lifeless, blue-faced infant. "Stillbirth," they said. The mother had suffocated it in the womb.
Zhuang Meixue played the devoted wife. He believed her "accident," buried them both, lit eternal lamps for their souls.
But after repeated "accidents," he investigated. Every death was staged.
The truth left him locked in his study for a day and night.
He couldn’t expose Zhuang Meixue. The Jiang and Zhuang families were too deeply entwined.
His only path was to sever ties gradually.
Assuming she simply refused to share motherhood, he stopped taking concubines, buried himself in work.
Then he’d noticed his younger brother’s wet nurse.
Then Zhuang Meixue’s pregnancy—and her scheme to swap babies after a risky conception.
He’d planned to reverse the switch, but fate intervened: she miscarried, left barren.
The news brought rage, then relief.
He used the scandal to topple Immortal Lady Ma and her patron, installing Bao Min as Jiangcheng’s new magistrate. He pitted the Zhuang and Lin families against each other, draining both.
Yet his calculations failed to predict Zhuang Meixue’s vendetta. First Bai Xiuxiu’s miscarriage, then her plot to sell Jiang Tingjun.
Pulling the shivering Ye Yunniang closer, he murmured, "Dreams aren’t real."
She clutched his robe. "Master, I’m terrified—truly."
"What do you want me to do?"
Ye Yunniang thought: Leave now and never crawl into my bed again.
But what she said was: "Could you… visit less often?"
Jiang Mingzhe, who negotiated with foxes daily, saw through her instantly.
"What you really mean is ‘don’t come at all.’"
Obviously, she mentally rolled her eyes.
"At least save me some dignity." Now that things were laid bare, her usual cheekiness surfaced.
Amused, Jiang Mingzhe didn’t take offense.
"Fine. I’ll visit less."
