Qin Jiaxu noticed Qin Nian’s lack of response and gently tugged at his hand. “Xiao Nian, why aren’t you greeting Father?”
Before Qin Nian could reply, Qin Jiaxu turned to Qin Ru and said, “Xiao Nian might be feeling shy.”
Qin Nian subtly withdrew his hand from Qin Jiaxu’s grasp, leaving Qin Jiaxu momentarily stunned, a hurt expression crossing his face.
Turning to Qin Ru, Qin Nian softly called out, “Father.”
Qin Ru nodded in satisfaction. The child looked much better than in the photos. The private investigator’s pictures had shown Qin Nian looking disheveled no matter what he wore. If he had arrived at the Qin Family looking the same, Qin Ru would have thought the child unworthy of the family.
In social settings, it was usually Qin’s mother who spoke, while Qin Ru rarely did. After a moment’s thought, he remembered what he wanted to say. “It’s good that you’re here. Your mother and I have been busy lately, so we couldn’t pick you up. I hope you don’t mind.”
Qin Nian smiled. “Of course not. It’s normal for Father and Mother to be busy managing such a large household.”
Whether they came to pick him up or not was no longer important to him.
Qin Ru looked at him, increasingly pleased. “I’ve seen your previous family. Their upbringing can’t compare to the Qin Family’s, but since you are originally from our family, you are indeed more sensible than most children.”
Qin Nian glanced at Qin Ru’s satisfied smile, the curve of his own lips deepening, his gaze growing colder.
He recalled how, in his previous life, when he first returned, Qin Ru’s attitude was cold and distant, even rejecting his attempts to get close, as if he were some kind of virus or a poor relative from a TV drama.
The Qin Family never needed someone like him, bound by blood, but rather a child worthy of the family.
Seeing Qin Ru’s attitude towards Qin Nian, Qin Jiaxu felt alarm bells ringing in his mind. “Father, the food in the dining room is almost ready. Let’s go eat first.”
Qin Ru seemed to have a good impression of Qin Nian from the start. Qin Jiaxu was terrified that if the two spent more time together, he would be at a loss.
He didn’t mind Qin Nian returning because he had already learned what kind of person Qin Nian was.
Poor, frail, talentless, ordinary.
Aside from slightly better grades, there was nothing remarkable about him.
Eighteen years of different environments had already created a vast distance between them.
Having lived in the Qin Family for eighteen years, Qin Jiaxu knew exactly what his parents were like: elegant, picky, and cold.
He didn’t mind Qin Nian returning because it would only make him look even more perfect by comparison.
But the current situation was slipping out of his control.
So at the dining table, Qin Jiaxu was particularly anxious.
Faced with a table full of delicious dishes, Qin Jiaxu surprisingly lost his appetite.
Meanwhile, Qin Nian had an unusually good appetite. Having eaten Qin Family’s food for four years, these dishes didn’t hold much appeal to him now, but for his body, which often went hungry four years ago, they were irresistibly tempting.
At his adoptive mother’s place, even if he took an extra piece of meat, she would slap his chopsticks away, frowning and complaining, “All you do is fight with your dad for meat. You never work hard.”
But now, Qin Nian finally had no such worries and could eat whatever he wanted.
Coincidentally, Qin Nian was seated directly across from Qin Jiaxu, creating a stark contrast between the two.
One was savoring the food, while the other had no appetite. To Qin Jiawei, it seemed that during his absence, Qin Jiaxu had been treated unfairly, or perhaps the newcomer Qin Nian had bullied the gentle Qin Jiawei.
He helped Qin Jiaxu by placing some of his favorite dishes into his bowl. The already distracted Qin Jiaxu was startled by Qin Jiawei’s sudden action.
“What’s wrong? You seem distracted.”
Hearing this, Qin Jiaxu instinctively glanced at Qin Nian, who was eating across from him.
To Qin Jiawei, this action naturally suggested that Qin Jiaxu’s unusual behavior was due to Qin Nian. Although his guess wasn’t entirely wrong, he interpreted it as Qin Nian eating without a care while Qin Jiaxu couldn’t eat, clearly indicating that Qin Nian had bullied his brother.
For a moment, his gaze at Qin Nian grew increasingly displeased.
Focused on his meal, Qin Nian felt someone staring at him. Looking up, he saw Qin Jiawei glaring at him as if he had committed some unforgivable crime. Qin Nian looked puzzled, but even so, he didn’t stop eating. He took a bite of the asparagus with his chopsticks, glanced at Qin Jiawei with mild confusion, then continued his meal.
Qin Jiawei admitted he initially just wanted to intimidate Qin Nian, but seeing Qin Nian’s reaction felt like punching into cotton, leaving him deflated.
Even more infuriating was that Qin Nian’s expression made him seem like an innocent youth, while Qin Jiawei felt like a troublemaker.
Qin Jiawei angrily lowered his head and continued eating.
Qin Jiaxu, observing the scene, felt a slight comfort. At least in his brother’s eyes, long companionship was more important than blood ties.
He followed Qin Jiawei’s example, adding some food to his bowl, and smiled. “It’s nothing, just the hot weather making me lose my appetite.”
Qin Jiawei said, “True, in this heat, eating so well must mean he’s a glutton reincarnated.”
Qin Nian raised an eyebrow, realizing the comment was likely directed at him.
Qin Jiaxu glanced at Qin Nian, full of apology. “Xiao Nian, don’t mind what my brother says. He speaks without thinking.”
It was initially a hint, but whether Qin Jiaxu was eager to show off his good relationship with Qin Jiawei or did it deliberately, he directly pointed out Qin Jiawei’s implication.
Qin Nian ignored him, looked at Qin Jiawei with a smile, and calmly said, “Then you’re born of the same mother as a glutton. What does that make you?”
Qin Jiawei’s face turned an ugly shade at these words. He slammed the table, about to say something, when Qin Jiaxu patted his arm. “Brother, Father’s here. Keep it down.”
Qin Ru was on a company call, standing by the dining room. It wouldn’t be good to draw his attention with too much noise.
Qin Jiawei reluctantly withdrew his hand, glaring fiercely at Qin Nian.
Qin Nian found his furious expression amusing. If it were his former self, his biological brother’s attitude would have made him first reflect on what he did wrong, and second, feel deeply hurt by such treatment.
However, to him now, Qin Jiawei’s behavior seemed nothing but rude and unreasonable.
He put down his bowl and chopsticks and said to Qin Ru, who had just finished his call, “Father, I’m done eating. I’ll head back.”
Qin Ru hadn’t noticed the sparks flying between the three at the table. He nodded and didn’t pay further attention to his returned son.
Back in his room, Qin Nian took a shower and reflected on past events.
Looking back, he realized that revolving around the Qin Family in his past life had left him oblivious to everything else around him.
This time, the Qin Family’s attitude towards him had changed somewhat due to his actions.
Qin Nian knew of the butterfly effect: a butterfly flapping its wings in the tropics could cause a tornado far away.
So once he made changes, differing from his past life, his future trajectory would also differ.
In this light, the reference value of his past life seemed not very significant. Qin Nian stared at the chandelier above his bed, sighing deeply.
What exactly happened when he returned to the Qin Family?
If there was a starting point for the unfair treatment he received upon returning, it must have been the small banquet scheduled for the following night.
That banquet didn’t invite many people, just those with some status and close ties to the Qin Family, both in business and socially.
Embarrassing oneself among a group of strangers was bad enough, but doing so among people who would be closely connected in the future was far worse, as it meant interacting with those who had witnessed your humiliation.
Qin Nian remembered that night vividly. The banquet was a refined gathering of familiar faces, with Western-style dining.
Having grown up in a poor family, Qin Nian had no idea how to use Western utensils. Moreover, amidst the formal attire, the Qin Family hadn’t prepared anything for him. His parents were preoccupied, and Qin Jiaxu was busy setting up the venue.
So when Qin Nian appeared at the Qin Family’s banquet in cheap clothes from a street stall, though no one said anything, the disdain was palpable.
There was even a friend of Qin Jiaxu’s who outright accused Qin Nian of abandoning the parents who had raised him for over a decade.
Qin Nian had never faced such a scene before. His pleading gaze turned to his parents, but his mother merely rolled her eyes helplessly and mingled with the Group of Noblewomen, while his father didn’t spare him a glance, shaking his head and leaving.
In the end, it was Qin Jiaxu who came to his rescue, and the subsequent praise for Qin Jiaxu became the theme of the banquet. The accolades for Qin Jiaxu and the disdain for Qin Nian nearly drowned him.
Thus began his painful life in the Qin Family.