【Perhaps because his rejection had been too direct and decisive, even after Cheng Xin married his younger brother, the two rarely crossed paths despite living under the same roof. On the few occasions they happened to meet, she would merely press her lips together, give him a polite nod, and softly address him as “Big Brother.”
Later, Xie Jing needed to expand into international markets and spent most of his time overseas. The two practically had no further contact, except for the occasional sound of her voice when he video-called his younger brother.
Unlike the awkwardness she displayed in his presence, Cheng Xin’s voice was sweet and coquettish whenever she was with his younger brother. Sometimes, she even got angry and scolded him. She was far more lively and expressive than the wooden doll she’d once resembled.
Xie Jing had always known that his younger brother, Xie Yan, loved having fun and fooling around. What he hadn’t expected was that, after getting married, Xie Yan would bring his shy, introverted wife along on his adventures.
While living abroad, Xie Jing once came across a photograph on social media. His younger brother had just won a racing championship. In the picture, Xie Yan held the trophy in one hand while wrapping his other arm around his newlywed wife’s waist, kissing her cheek without the slightest concern for the people watching.
The comments beneath the photograph were filled with envy, admiration, and blessings.
Perhaps because this wealthy couple was so strikingly attractive, they began frequently appearing at the top of trending searches on domestic social media.
Their love was passionate and spectacular. In almost every photograph, they were smiling—brightly, beautifully, radiantly.
But now, his younger brother was dead.
And Cheng Xin was like a summer flower deprived of water, rapidly withering away.
Xie Jing silently glanced at the gravestone directly ahead of him. The photograph displayed a handsome, high-spirited man whose features bore a considerable resemblance to his own. His lips tightened, and his gaze slowly returned to his sister-in-law’s tearstained face.
He reached into his breast pocket, took out a handkerchief, and offered it to Cheng Xin.
Cheng Xin didn’t react immediately. Only after two seconds did she slowly raise her hand and gently accept the silk handkerchief, murmuring a quiet “Thank you.”
The long, gloomy funeral finally came to an end, and the mourners began making their way out of the cemetery.
Cheng Xin and Xie Jing trailed behind the others. Still in a daze, Cheng Xin suddenly stumbled.
Catching sight of her from the corner of his eye, Xie Jing immediately reached out and steadied her.
“Are you all right?” Xie Jing asked softly.
Having cried so much, Cheng Xin took two full seconds to regain her senses. She glanced at him before giving an almost imperceptible shake of her head.
Only then did Xie Jing notice that her fingers were shockingly cold. Not only that, they were trembling slightly.
He instinctively lowered his gaze, but Cheng Xin had already withdrawn her hand and slowly continued walking.
When they reached the foot of the mountain, the relatives and friends who had attended the funeral came over one by one to bid farewell to Xie Jing, Cheng Xin, and their parents.
Although he still couldn’t make out any of their faces, Xie Jing didn’t find anything strange about it. He simply thanked them politely for attending.
Just then, a light drizzle began falling from the sky. Since it was inconvenient to continue talking in the rain, everyone gradually got into their cars.
It was only at this moment that Xie Jing noticed how frighteningly pale Cheng Xin looked as she stood a short distance beside him. Even her breathing had become somewhat rapid, and there wasn’t a trace of color in her lips.
Xie Jing suddenly remembered that his younger brother had died in a car accident.
And the person sitting in the passenger seat beside him at the time had been Cheng Xin.
Generally speaking, when drivers encounter danger, their instincts make them turn the steering wheel to the left to protect themselves. However, doing so places the passenger in greater danger.
Yet when his younger brother encountered danger while driving, he’d turned the steering wheel sharply to the right instead.
In the end, Cheng Xin escaped completely unharmed, while his younger brother suffered a fatal injury to a vulnerable area at the back of his head. By the time the ambulance arrived, there was nothing left to do but contact the funeral home.
Therefore, Xie Jing was inclined to believe Cheng Xin’s current reaction was caused by PTSD—post-traumatic stress disorder.
The accident had been so traumatic that merely seeing a car was enough to trigger such a response.
Xie Jing frowned slightly and slowly approached her. “Cheng Xin, you’ll ride in the same car as me.”
Cheng Xin abruptly raised her head. Meeting Xie Jing’s pitch-black eyes, she remained frozen for a long moment before finally nodding stiffly.
“Okay,” she said.
“If you’re frightened, you can close your eyes. We’ll be home soon,” Xie Jing added before they got into the car.
Cheng Xin didn’t respond. Her limbs felt numb as she climbed into the back seat of the black Bentley.
The car slowly started moving. Xie Jing turned his head and glanced at the woman beside him.
She had obediently closed her eyes as he’d suggested, but her dreadful complexion hadn’t improved in the slightest. In fact, she was trembling even more violently than before. Her lower lip was caught tightly between her teeth, as though she might draw blood at any moment.
After hesitating briefly, Xie Jing let out a quiet breath. As though making a difficult decision, he slowly reached over and took Cheng Xin’s slender, pale hand in his own.
“Everything will be all right,” he reassured her softly.
Cheng Xin’s fingers stiffened at first. Then, like a drowning person who had finally found a piece of driftwood to cling to, she gripped Xie Jing’s fingers tightly.
Xie Jing kept his hand wrapped around hers.
The rain grew heavier and heavier, as though even the heavens were weeping in sorrow.
The falling rain blurred the mountain road. The driver momentarily lost concentration, and the wheels skidded. The front bumper suddenly scraped against the rocks along the roadside.
“Ah!” Cheng Xin let out a sharp scream.
Almost instinctively, Xie Jing pulled her into his arms.
Startled, the driver slammed on the brakes. He was just about to turn around when his employer’s cold voice immediately sounded behind him.
“It was only an accidental scrape. We’re fine. Keep driving.”
“Ah, yes. Yes, sir.”
Through the rearview mirror, the driver caught sight of the Second Young Madam curled entirely in the Eldest Young Master’s arms, her face completely hidden.
As though his eyes had been scalded, he immediately looked away, fixed his attention straight ahead, and concentrated wholeheartedly on driving.
Unaware that the driver had witnessed their embrace, Xie Jing lowered his head to look at the woman in his arms.
He discovered that her entire body was trembling like a butterfly’s wings quivering in a bitter winter wind. The fabric over his chest had already been soaked with her warm tears.
After a moment’s hesitation, Xie Jing slowly raised his hand and gently patted Cheng Xin’s slender back.
“It’s all right now. Everything’s fine. You’re safe.”
Only after reassuring her several times did Xie Jing notice that the trembling of the woman in his arms had finally eased somewhat.
He assumed his comforting words had worked. However, when he turned his head, he unexpectedly noticed that Cheng Xin was clutching a teardrop-shaped emerald pendant tightly in her hand, as though the pendant could provide her with an endless source of strength.
He remembered that pendant.
It belonged to a set of emerald jewelry owned by his mother. She’d once said that the set would eventually be passed down to the next mistress of the Xie family—in other words, Xie Jing’s future wife.
After all, his younger brother loved having fun and had absolutely no interest in taking on the responsibility of managing the Xie family.
Even so, after Xie Yan married Cheng Xin, he’d persistently coaxed and pleaded with their mother until she finally gave him half the jewelry set.
His reasoning had sounded perfectly noble: Cheng Xin was also a daughter-in-law of the Xie family. Other things could be overlooked, but his wife absolutely had to have such beautiful jewelry.
At this thought, a complicated emotion flashed through Xie Jing’s eyes.
Even he himself couldn’t understand what exactly he was thinking at that moment.
Apart from that minor incident earlier, the car eventually arrived safely and smoothly at the Xie family’s ancestral residence.
After Cheng Xin and Xie Jing got out of the car, they discovered that although Xie Jing’s parents hadn’t returned yet, Cheng Xin’s father was already sitting comfortably in the Xie family’s living room.
The moment the middle-aged man saw Xie Jing, his expression immediately turned ingratiating. He then explained that he’d come today mainly because he had a few things to discuss with his daughter.
Since he’d put it that way, Xie Jing couldn’t very well continue lingering in the living room.
However, he noticed that the instant Cheng Xin saw her father, a trace of aversion flashed through her eyes. Even the tips of her feet unconsciously began turning toward the exit.
Having studied psychology, Xie Jing naturally understood that this was a subconscious indication of her desire to escape and avoid the situation.
His brows drew together almost imperceptibly. Nevertheless, out of his usual courtesy and good manners, he nodded toward Cheng Xin’s father.
“Of course, Uncle. Please talk. I’ll excuse myself.”
Cheng Xin didn’t even need to think to know why her greedy, profit-driven father had come looking for her at a time like this.
It could only be about money.
Sure enough, he hadn’t even managed to maintain his loving-father act for two seconds before steering the conversation directly toward whether Xie Yan had left her an inheritance and shares in the Xie family business.
He repeatedly emphasized that they were her real family. Now that Xie Yan was dead, Cheng Xin ought to return home and live with them. Her younger brother missed her terribly.
Cheng Xin finally couldn’t bear it anymore.
“My younger brother misses me? I think what he misses is Xie Yan’s money! Ever since you married that woman and had a son with her, has there been any place for me in that family? After I got married, you even turned my bedroom into your son’s piano room! If I go back, am I supposed to sleep in the maid’s room? You’re only speaking to me so nicely because you suspect I have shares in the company. If I didn’t, you’d probably do exactly what you did when you forced me into an arranged marriage with Xie Jing! Who would you try to marry me off to this time? President Zhang or President Li? Those men are old enough to be my grandfathers!”
“Cheng Xin! Is that any way to speak to your father? Besides, how could you possibly not have any shares? You and Xie Yan were so close before. Don’t tell me all that affection was fake! If I’d known things would turn out like this, I should’ve made you keep pursuing Xie Jing. He’s the real head of the Xie family, after all…”
“Enough! I don’t want to hear another word of this.” Cheng Xin, who had always been prone to crying whenever she became emotional, felt tears welling up in her eyes again.
Her father completely ignored her and continued offering his terrible suggestions.
“When I saw you come back with Xie Jing just now, he even helped you out of the car. Do you think he might be interested in you? Well, that makes sense. My daughter is so beautiful. Anyway, you’re both single now. Why don’t you try seducing your brother-in-law? After all, you secretly loved him for seven or eight years back then. That’s why I swallowed my pride and used the favor your grandfather once did for the Xie family to arrange your marriage into their family…”
“Y-You… Get out! Get out! Don’t ever appear in front of me again! Even if I donate everything Xie Yan left me, I won’t let the Cheng family benefit from a single cent!”
As she spoke, Cheng Xin shoved her father.
Caught off guard, he nearly stumbled.
Fury surged through him, and he raised his hand to slap Cheng Xin across the face.
But before his hand could complete its movement, a long, powerful hand suddenly seized his wrist in an iron grip.
“Who gave you the audacity to strike a member of the Xie family on Xie family property?”
An icy voice rang out beside them.
Cheng Xin and her father turned their heads simultaneously.
The moment Cheng Xin saw Xie Jing, she bit her lip, overwhelmed by embarrassment and helplessness.
Her father, on the other hand, was left with nothing but terror.
“I… No, that’s not… President Xie, I…” Cheng Xin’s father stammered incoherently.
“If I remember correctly, the Cheng family has gained quite a few benefits over the past two years through its marriage ties with the Xie family. Do you believe I can make you spit out every last thing you’ve swallowed?” Xie Jing’s icy gaze settled on Cheng Xin’s father.
“N-No, Xie Jing…” Before Cheng Xin’s father could explain himself, Xie Jing had already instructed the butler to escort him out.
Seeing this, Cheng Xin’s father could only leave, unwilling and resentful.
Only Cheng Xin and Xie Jing remained in the living room.
For a moment, the atmosphere became rather strained.
After all, Cheng Xin had no idea how much of the conversation Xie Jing had overheard.
A long silence passed before Xie Jing finally spoke.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that rejecting the marriage arrangement back then would cause you so much trouble.”
Hearing this, Cheng Xin shook her head. “I’m the one who should apologize. Big Brother, please don’t take anything my father said to heart.”
“Which part?” Xie Jing suddenly asked.
Cheng Xin abruptly raised her head.
Their eyes met.
For one brief moment, even the wind seemed to stop blowing.
In the end, Cheng Xin was the one who looked away in embarrassment.
“All of it. You didn’t know about the marriage arrangement, so it was perfectly reasonable for you to refuse. You don’t need to feel sorry about that. And as for what my father said about me… about me secretly loving you before, that was all before I got married. I swear that after my marriage, I never once entertained the slightest romantic thought about you. And what my father said about me seducing… You can rest assured that something like that will never happen. Otherwise, may heaven strike me down with lightning and let me die a horrible death!”
As she finished speaking, Cheng Xin clenched her fists tightly and looked at Xie Jing with complete sincerity.
Hearing those words, the man’s heart suddenly gave an unexpected jolt.
The fingers hanging at his sides curled inward slightly.】
Xie Jing’s eyes flew open.
For a moment, his gaze was dazed and unfocused, but he quickly regained his clarity.
He looked around.
He was still in his apartment, and daylight had already arrived.
Raising a hand to massage his temples, Xie Jing couldn’t understand how he could have experienced such an extraordinarily vivid dream.
Cheng Xin…
*
Author’s Note: More red envelopes~
I’m just a sucker for those arrogant, overconfident domineering CEOs who miss their chance, regret it afterward, and desperately try to win their wives back~
Also, I feel like the existence of these little bedtime dramas perfectly solves the problem of the male protagonist being a virgin without much “practical experience.”
Although Xie Jing is a virgin, he’ll have plenty of experience in the future—and it’ll all be experience gained through practicing with his wife! Hahaha~