132: Chapter 81 Future_4 132: Chapter 81 Future_4 In such circumstances, Jiang Li dropped the note, and Jiang Yue certainly couldn’t have missed seeing it.

Jiang Yue didn’t call out to her, which meant she must have read the writing on the note clearly.

What Jiang Yue intended to do was nothing more than to seek favor from Ji Shuran by reporting this, but even if she gave Ji Shuran the note, it could prove nothing, since Jiang Li ultimately did not keep the rendezvous.

However, if Jiang Yue had paid attention to what Jiang Li said along the way, she might have made a different choice.

With Jiang Yue’s competitive nature and unwillingness to be inferior to others, it was easy for her to be blinded by immediate benefits.

Jiang Li’s comment, “Being a concubine to Zhou Yanbang is better than being a wife in some common family,” would be dismissed by any woman with brains and dignity, but not necessarily by Jiang Yue.

For the moment, she just needed to deal with this situation at hand.

Following the leading palace maid, Jiang Li turned another corner and finally reached the tea room at the end of the corridor.

The maid smiled and said, “Miss Jiang the Second, please go in and rest.

There are tea and snacks inside, and I will bring some copper ice to cool you down.”

Jiang Li replied, “Go ahead.”

After the palace maid left, Jiang Li sat down quietly.

Shortly after, she stood up, walked to the burning incense in the room, and with a corner of her lips hooked, she effortlessly snapped the incense stick in two.

Perhaps because she had gone through such an experience once, at this moment, Jiang Li felt unusually calm.

Her hand felt the small curved knife hidden in her sleeve, a gift from Jiang Jingrui when he had heard she was going to Mingyi Hall for studies.

That knife was now concealed in Jiang Li’s sleeve, and no one in the palace would suspect that Jiang Yuanbai’s daughter would bring such a weapon inside—or else Jiang Li would not be able to explain herself.

She was not in a hurry.

She sat down again at the small table, rested her head on her hand, and appeared to be dozing off, while her other hand softly tapped on the tabletop.

The oil lamp in front of her sent a shower of sparks falling, dazzlingly bright.

The palace maid outside wouldn’t leave just yet, Jiang Li reckoned, at least not until Ye Shijie joined her.

She wondered how conscious Ye Shijie was at this point.

However, if Ye Shijie was seriously inebriated, Jiang Li wouldn’t mind using the threat of bloodshed to sober him up, as she gently caressed the curved knife in her sleeve again.

After some time had passed, she noticed that the oil in the lamp had decreased by half.

Suddenly, voices could be heard from outside.

A moment later, the door creaked open, and someone entered from outside.

Jiang Li continued to feign sleep, propping her chin.

“Young Master Ye, please rest here for a moment.

I will fetch some more tea and snacks,” a female voice said.

Not understanding, Jiang Li heard the door gently close again, followed by staggering footsteps suddenly drawing near.

Jiang Li’s heart tensed up, and she smelled a strong scent of alcohol assailing her nostrils.

She endured, not knowing whether the palace maid outside was still there, but felt someone pushing and shoving at her.

At that moment, memories from a previous life suddenly flooded into her mind.

Even though Xue Fangfei remembered nothing but being drunk, when she woke up to face countless disdainful eyes and accusations, she had replayed the possible events over and over in her mind, becoming more disgusted and terrified by the thoughts.

Even though it was later proven to be a conspiracy, the weak, powerless self at that time, at the mercy of others, was something she could never forgive.

Suddenly, Jiang Li drew out the curved knife from her sleeve and pressed it accurately against the other person.

Her voice was cool and restrained yet carried an uncontrollable wildness, “Ye Shijie.”

The other person’s breathing suddenly evened out.

When she opened her eyes, she saw her knife tip at Ye Shijie’s throat.

His cheeks were flushed red with the smell of alcohol, making him undoubtedly appear as a drunkard, yet he gazed at her with a startled expression.

Jiang Li frowned slightly.

Ye Shijie wasn’t drunk; he was sober.

…

Jiang Yue was led by a guiding palace maid to another room to wait for a change of clothes.

Actually, she was somewhat impatient to show Ji Shuran the note she’d hidden in her sleeve, and she lacked the patience even to wait for the person bringing clothes.

As she grew agitated, she couldn’t help but scrutinize the note that had fallen from Jiang Li once again.

Jiang Yue thought to herself, not expecting that while Jiang Li outwardly claimed to be indifferent towards Zhou Yanbang, she was, in secret, still maintaining a connection with him.

Speaking of which, Jiang Li was also Jiang Yuanbai’s daughter—if this matter were to be exposed, it would put Zhou Family in a difficult position, offending one of the legitimate daughters was out of the question, and it was uncertain whom Zhou Yanbang would end up marrying.