As soon as Xie Jianguo returned home, he sat there with a grim expression, his sharp gaze fixed on Xie Qingping:
“Qingping, did you know about this?”
Xie Qingping jolted, kneeling straight on the floor, his back ramrod straight, eyes lowered:
“I… I only found out in the past couple of days.”
Xie Jianguo looked at his selfish eldest son with a complicated expression and angrily rebuked:
“Why didn’t you tell us earlier that Mu Bozhou has designs on your sister?”
“Dad, Mingyue and I are truly in love. It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you, it’s just…”
Xie Qingping trailed off, stammering and unable to get another word out.
Xie Jianguo’s patience was completely worn out. He shouted irritably:
“What is it? Just say it!”
He really didn’t like Xie Qingping’s tight-lipped, uncommunicative nature.
Seeing her father’s face flushed with anger, Xie Qingtao quickly poured a glass of water and handed it to him:
“Dad, calm down. Have some water to settle your nerves.”
Xie Jianguo took the water, drank a sip, and his fury subsided slightly.
He didn’t speak, just watched Xie Qingping calmly.
Xie Jianguo was waiting, waiting for Xie Qingping to be willing to speak up and explain the reason.
Since he remained silent, naturally no one else dared to make a sound.
The main hall of the Xie household was deathly quiet, so silent you could hear a pin drop.
The atmosphere was so oppressive it felt hard to breathe.
Xie Qingtao unconsciously softened her breathing, afraid of disturbing Xie Jianguo.
Xie Qingxiao stood to the side, watching coldly, his icy gaze sweeping over Xie Qingping.
He was particularly furious about Xie Qingping’s attempt to sell out his sister.
After hesitating for a moment, Xie Qingping gritted his teeth, looked up, and met Xie Jianguo’s eyes directly:
“Dad, I must marry Mingyue, because… because Mingyue is pregnant with my child. I’m even willing to marry into the Mu Family. Dad, I beg you.”
Xie Jianguo’s pupils contracted sharply. His face turned ashen, and his eyes blazed with furious fire as he roared:
“What? You wretched scoundrel!”
With that, his thick hand swung through the air with a fierce gust.
A loud SMACK echoed.
The slap seemed to reverberate through the main hall of the Xie house.
For a moment, the room was pin-drop silent. The atmosphere was as stifling and oppressive as the muggy heat before a rainstorm, both hot and suffocating.
Xie Qingtao didn’t dare breathe heavily, keeping her breaths extremely light.
Everyone in the room remained silent for half an hour.
Xie Jianguo lifted his head, his face expressionless, and asked again:
“So you planned from the start to have your sister exchanged in marriage so you could get a wife? What a shrewd scheme! Xie Qingping, you get to enjoy the benefits, while your sister bears the consequences. If I agreed to the marriage exchange, Taotao would face all sorts of gossip and slander from now on. Taotao is truly cursed for eight lifetimes to have a brother like you.”
Xie Jianguo grew increasingly disdainful of this timid, uncommunicative eldest son.
If he didn’t look so strikingly similar to himself, Xie Jianguo would hardly want to acknowledge him.
He couldn’t help but suspect whether Xie Qingping was really his own flesh and blood.
Staring with his half-swollen face, Xie Qingping stubbornly met Xie Jianguo’s gaze:
“Dad, please! I… I know I’ve wronged my sister, but I truly love Mingyue. I must marry her.”
As he spoke, tears burst forth like a breached dam. He cried so hard his whole body trembled.
Xie Jianguo’s face was cold, his gaze as indifferent and piercing as ice.
Liu Guiyun’s expression was indifferent, even her brow carried a chill:
“Qingxiao, take your sister back. This matter is not for you to interfere with.”
Xie Qingxiao’s face was expressionless, his jawline tense, radiating a cold sternness:
“Alright!”
He took Xie Qingtao’s hand and turned to leave, his gaze indifferent and naturally icy as he did so.
Xie Qingping, kneeling on the ground, looked rather pitiful.
Inside Xie Qingtao’s room
Xie Qingxiao looked at Xie Qingtao and spoke calmly:
“Sister, tell me what you really think.”
Xie Qingtao lowered her eyes, fidgeting with her hands, her expression unnatural, her large eyes filled with confusion:
“Brother, I don’t know either.”
The idea of marriage felt so distant to her.
Xie Qingxiao sighed and said,
“Taotao, I’m asking you again, do you have any feelings for Mu Bozhou?”
Xie Qingtao thought seriously for a moment before slowly replying:
“Feelings? Elder Brother Mu is very handsome, and he does make one’s heart flutter.”
Xie Qingtao recalled how Mu Bozhou looked each time she went to see Mu Mingyue.
Mu Bozhou was handsome and noble, cool and reserved, like an elegant nobleman from ancient times. His aura lay somewhere between a mature man and youthful charm.
Such a man was hard not to be moved by.
Upon hearing this, Xie Qingxiao’s brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, and he explained with a serious expression:
“Taotao, momentary infatuation cannot last. I know your judgment is clouded because of our elder brother. Please think it over carefully. I don’t want you to sacrifice your marriage because of him.”
After speaking, Xie Qingxiao left, leaving Xie Qingtao alone in the room, her gaze vacant.
The Gossip System in her mind quietly gathered information.
In the Xie family’s main hall, Xie Qingping continued kneeling.
The summer heat made the hall feel like a steamer, hot and stifling.
Large beads of sweat formed on Xie Qingping’s forehead, his hair sticking together in damp strands from the perspiration. The back of his white shirt was soaked through, clinging to his skin.
He looked utterly disheveled, a far cry from the neat and tidy appearance he had when he went to propose at the Mu Family earlier that day.
Xie Jianguo and Liu Guiyun simply pretended not to see him and retreated to their room.
Only Xie Qingping persisted alone.
Xie Qingtao zoned out for about ten minutes when the quiet Gossip System in her mind suddenly spoke:
[Host, you could actually have some feelings for Mu Bozhou.]
[Feelings? I don’t know if what I feel for Mu Bozhou is liking. In my past life, I never even dated before I died.]
Xie Qingtao’s delicate brows furrowed, her eyes clouded with confusion.
In her past life, after being reported for cheating by Liu Yunyun, she lost her chance to take the college entrance exam.
Later, her third brother’s college admission letter was intercepted.
Upon learning the truth, her third brother went insane on the spot, his intellect regressing to that of a young child. He would sometimes act crazed, other times as innocent as a child.
And she died on her way to seek justice for her third brother.
The Gossip System, thinking of the information it had just checked, didn’t want Xie Qingtao to miss out on a high-quality prospect. It continued to coax her in a tempting tone:
[You could marry first and cultivate feelings through dating later. Someone as outstanding as Mu Bozhou is definitely worthy of you.]
The information showed that in the past life, Mu Bozhou remained alone until his death. He publicly stated that there was someone he had missed in his heart, leaving no room for anyone else. Marrying someone else would be disrespectful to that girl, and he didn’t want to let another woman down.
Xie Qingtao hesitated:
[“But I’m not ready to get married at all!”]
Her heart was filled more with panic and fear.
The Gossip System suddenly detected something, its tone turning anxious:
[“But, Host, this matter with your eldest brother really can’t wait any longer…”]