The Overnight Chosen Wife: darling, kiss me deeper

Jiang Xingyu’s back went cold. It took him about two minutes to believe that his father had just uttered the words he had heard. Did he just call Luna a murderer? His chest heaved up and down as he swallowed hard. He clenched his fists as he spat each syllable through gritted teeth, "Take that back!"

Jiang Xingren stood up, his eyes bulged in anger. "How dare you speak to your father like that, punk!"

"Hey hey! What’s going on here?" Madam Jiang, who had just arrived, rushed over to stop them before it could escalate into an actual fight. She looked at her husband then at her fuming son. "What happened?"

"He actually called Luna a murderer." Jiang Xingyu fumed. "Which eye of yours saw Luna kill anyone?"

"I said what came out of her mouth. And what she said with her own mouth is that she murdered the detective. What does that make her?"

"That’s enough." Madam Jiang interrupted as she patted her son’s back.

"I don’t know what era he is stuck in. People actually still force women onto their sons. Wow, just wow." Jiang Xingyu huffed and stormed off. Madam Jiang glanced in her son’s direction then turned to glare at her husband. "What are you doing? What is all this about?"

Jiang Xingren took her hand. "Honey, I’m only looking out for him."

"But you do know that he only loves Xia Luna. By introducing a woman to him at such a difficult time, aren’t you stabbing our own son in the heart?"

Jiang Xingren was helpless against this mother-son duo. "My wife, do you really believe that an innocent person would plead guilty, and there will be nothing to prove that she is lying? This time she murdered a detective. The next victim could be you, or me or our son. I’m only trying to ensure that our son is safe and if the threat to his safety is the woman he loves, I will not hesitate to separate them."

Madam Jiang could only sigh. She couldn’t blame her husband. He was only doing the best for their son. Unlike her and Xingyu, he didn’t trust Luna.

Actually, it was ridiculous for her to trust Luna too. After all, she had only known her for a few months and Luna was already wanted by the police when they first met. However, all she knew was that she liked the girl and wanted to believe her no matter what. It was something inexplicable—something that was probably not in her husband.

Jiang Xingyu looked out through the window of his room. He was displeased about his father bringing a woman to match make him with but what displeased him all the more was the woman’s identity. Out of the billions of women in the world, why did he have to bring Cedric Han’s sister? It was as though he did it on purpose—because he knew that Jiang Xingyu had rejected Han Xiaoli before.

As it turned out, predicaments worked like magic at times. They could make people show their true colors, weaken their resolve or make them give up on something—or someone.

Only a tiny fraction was willing to struggle to the end, and Jiang Xingyu was just that tiny fraction.

He was still trying to find evidence to prove Luna’s innocence. If he couldn’t get any, he would wait for Luna to complete her jail term. It didn’t matter how long it took.

She would be released in the end, and regardless of their ages, they would resume what they had and get married.

_

On the same evening, in the Ji Mansion.

"My dear, eat more. You have become skinnier." Wen Lin’s heart ached as she urged Lanni to eat more. Not only had she lost some weight, but she also looked dull and had slight dark circles under her eyes. She shot a sideways glare at her son and looked back at Lanni. "Is Xiehan giving you a hard time?"

Ji Xiehan was speechless. If Lanni didn’t look well, it was because he was giving her a hard time?

Lanni smiled as she shook her head. "No aunty, Xiehan dotes on me too much."

"Then why..." Wen Lin suddenly remembered. There was news a while ago about a wanted criminal being convicted. Although the name was Xia Luna, the photo of that criminal was identical to Lanni. Even she had almost believed that it was Lanni! It was only when she recalled that Lanni should have a twin that she understood what was going on. It must be the twin that was convicted.

Since that was the case, it was also obvious why Lanni was unhappy. She carefully asked, "is your sister doing alright?"

Lanni’s hand froze for a moment. The expression on her face changed slightly and she could only sigh. "I don’t know for sure."

She would have been sure if Luna had let her visit but she wasn’t—because Luna wouldn’t let her visit. She could only let her imagination run wild with all sorts of guesses. What if Luna was being mistreated? She wouldn’t even know. And no one would because like the oddball that Luna was making herself, she had rejected everyone’s visit. The frustration in Lanni’s heart couldn’t be expressed verbally.

Seeing Lanni become sadder and hearing her response, Wen Lin felt bad for asking. "We..."

She was about to offer her help but she stopped. How could she utter such words as "we will help you get her out"?

With the Ji family’s connections, they really could. Through underhanded means and corruption, of course. However, wouldn’t that be ironical?

They had not helped their own daughter out. It was not that she was complaining, the girl needed to learn her lesson.

And since they were letting their daughter learn a lesson by serving her jail term without getting any help out of it, they couldn’t possibly help someone else escape charges.

Of course, Wen Lin knew nothing about Luna being forced to admit to commiting the crime. She thought Luna was indeed guilty, which was why she was comparing her situation to Ji Fiefei’s.

"If it wasn’t for this incident, I would have thought that you were cheating on Xiehan." She remarked, trying to lighten up the mood. "The two of you are so identical."

After the news blew up and Wen Lin remembered that Li Yuming had twins, she had figured out that the girl she saw at the Jiang’s was probably Lanni’s twin. How identical!

Lanni chuckled when she heard the remark. She already knew that months ago, Wen Lin had mistaken Luna for her. She was relieved now that her future in-laws knew the truth and no longer misunderstood her. She was even happier that Wen Lin didn’t rush to judge her.

When Ji Xiehan heard what his mother just said, he narrowed his gaze. "Mother, what kind of statement is that? How could you utter such words?"

Wen Lin chuckled. "Oh come on. I don’t mean Lanni could do anything to betray you. I know she wouldn’t."

Lanni smiled slightly and Xiehan let it go too. They talked about all sorts of random things but it was apparent that the weirdness unintentionally brought about by Wen Lin’s statement still lingered. That was one of the most awkwards meals they had ever had together.

After dinner, Ji Xiehan said that he would drop Lanni home.

"Why don’t the two of you stay over tonight?" Wen Lin suggested, giving the two of them a meaningful look.

Ji Huifen understood his wife’s train of thought and glared at her. He didn’t say anything against it though, because he hoped for that too. If Lanni and Xiehan stayed over, they would obviously share a room and that would increase their chances of engaging in meaningful activities. Who didn’t want a few cute little grandchildren to play with?

Lanni thought about it and had to turn down the offer. "I have to go somewhere early tomorrow in the morning and I need to make preparations."

"Oh, don’t sweat it then." Wen Lin took Lanni’s hand. After urging her to eat more healthy food, have enough sleep and endlessly nagging her son to take better care of her, she and Ji Huifen finally saw them off.

"Where are you going tomorrow morning?" Xiehan asked as they entered the car.

"Nowhere else. I’m going to spend the day with my dad." Lanni responded, a flash of sadness tracing her face.

Xiehan ran a thumb down her face and when it reached her jaw, he used it to raise her chin. "It will be okay, my love. All of this will end."

"But when?" Lanni breathed out a sigh of tiredness. She was seriously tired of all this. What did it take for a girl to live a normal life? She closed her eyes to rest a little. Xiehan saw her recline with her eyes closed and slightly increased the temperature in the car so she would be warmer while sleeping.