Sheng Qing blinked. Did Qin Shi have a thing about cleanliness?
Feng Xiaojing’s face flushed bright red. Only the food in front of her was a little dirty; everywhere else was clean.
Steward Zhong had the kitchen bring out a fresh meal.
Qin Zhen frowned. “Xiaojing, did you really say that?”
Feng Xiaojing hurried to explain. “Brother Qin Zhen, I just saw that Sheng Qing had changed her style today, so I made a couple of offhand remarks. I wasn’t trying to drive a wedge between you.”
Steward Zhong brought Qin Shi a fresh cup of coffee.
Its rich aroma drifted through the room.
Sheng Qing picked up her milk and took a couple of sips, then said leisurely, “I was only making an offhand remark, too. Don’t get so nervous.”
“…” Feng Xiaojing cursed Sheng Qing up and down in her head. “I’m not nervous. If you’re unhappy, just say so to my face. Why bring it up in front of Brother Qin Zhen and stir up trouble?”
Sheng Qing turned to Qin Zhen. “Brother-in-law, do you think asking you directly counts as stirring up trouble?”
Feng Xiaojing: “!!!”
What the hell was wrong with Sheng Qing? Why couldn’t she play by the usual rules?
“Of course not,” Qin Zhen said. “Stirring up trouble means talking behind someone’s back. You said it in front of all of us. That’s honesty.”
Sheng Qing nodded earnestly. “Right? I think I’m really straightforward, too.”
Qin Shi lowered his gaze, a quiet laugh rising in his throat. This wild girl was more than Feng Xiaojing could handle.
Feng Xiaojing gritted her teeth, pushed back her chair, and stood. “Brother Qin Zhen, I’m going to be late for work. Take your time eating. I’ll head out first.”
Sheng Qing said, “Then you’d better hurry. You still have to catch the bus.”
Feng Xiaojing glared at her and stormed off.
Sheng Qing looked aggrieved. “I was only looking out for her. Why did she glare at me?”
“…” Qin Zhen wasn’t an idiot. How could he fail to see that Sheng Qing had been taking little digs at Feng Xiaojing, both openly and subtly?
He studied her. “Sheng Qing, you seem different from last night.”
Sheng Qing knew she couldn’t fool the clever people in the Qin family.
She set down her glass of milk and said seriously, “Brother-in-law, I used to be immature. I won’t act so recklessly anymore.”
Could someone really change so much from one moment to the next?
Qin Zhen gave his foxlike younger brother a look, signaling him to probe her.
Qin Shi couldn’t be bothered with beating around the bush. He asked outright, “You’ve always thought the Qin family was a den of wolves. You wished we’d all die. Why have you suddenly become so obedient?”
Qin Zhen: “…”
I told you to probe her, not ask her outright!
Sheng Qing’s eyelashes fluttered. “Everyone makes mistakes in life. I’ve made them, too.”
“But I’ve come to my senses now. I don’t want to keep acting so recklessly and immaturely.”
“You may not be used to it yet, but given time, you’ll slowly accept the change in me.”
“Oh?” Qin Shi’s gaze was deep.
Her words sounded so sincere and earnest that even he couldn’t find fault with them.
Sheng Qing was actually a little nervous.
After all, these two Qin men were both formidable figures who held sway in business and the military.
Under their thoughtful scrutiny, she was starting to crack.
Especially beneath Qin Shi’s deep, shadowy gaze, which seemed to see straight through her soul.
“Brother-in-law, I want to go upstairs and see if Older Sister is awake.”
“All right. Go check on her.”
Sheng Qing hurried away.
“Did she… suddenly have some kind of revelation?” Qin Zhen found it strange.
From her very first day in the Qin family, she had shown nothing but resistance, anger, and hatred.
Now she had suddenly become docile, obedient, and sensible. It was as if she were a different person.
Qin Zhen looked at his younger brother. “What do you think?”
Qin Shi leaned back in his chair, lit a cigarette, and took a half-lidded drag. “She’s an adult now. She ought to know better. In the Empire, assaulting a servicemember carries a minimum sentence of death.”
Qin Zhen glanced at his arm and frowned. “You think she’s pretending to give in and saying all the right things because she’s afraid I’ll throw her in prison?”
“Who knows?” Qin Shi chuckled, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.
Qin Zhen fell silent, unsure whether he should believe Sheng Qing.
After breakfast, Qin Zhen stood. “I need to talk to you. Come with me to the study.”
Qin Shi stubbed out his cigarette.
The two went upstairs. As they passed the bedroom, Sheng Xue’s faint, hesitant voice suddenly came from inside. “Qingqing, are you calling him Brother-in-law and putting up with him because you’re afraid he’ll send you to prison?”
Qin Zhen stopped in his tracks.
Qin Shi raised an eyebrow.
…
Looking at her sister’s pale, worried face, Sheng Qing smiled gently. “Older Sister, believe it or not, even if I didn’t give in or call him Brother-in-law, he still wouldn’t send me to prison.”
In her previous life, Qin Zhen really had considered sending her to prison.
But later, for her sister’s sake, he had softened.
Sheng Xue shook her head. “You don’t understand. When he really gets angry, he’s terrifying. Don’t assume he’ll keep indulging you just because you’re young…”
“Older Sister, don’t you understand? Brother-in-law doesn’t spare me because I’m young and he doesn’t want to hold it against me. He puts up with me for your sake.”
“We don’t have parents. If I lost you, I’d be an orphan. So no matter how much he dislikes me, he’s never once said he’d throw me out.”
Sheng Xue froze.
Sheng Qing continued, “Brother-in-law is a good man. He treats you well, and he treats me well, too. Try to feel that for yourself.”
Sheng Xue stared at her in shock. “Haven’t you always called him a bastard and told me to leave him?”
“He repaid kindness with betrayal, broke up your family, and forced you to stay by his side… I really did hate him for all that.”
“Then why…”
“People change.”
Sheng Xue lowered her head and bit her lip.
Sheng Qing sighed. “You’ve always refused to accept him. Are you still hoping Dong Changping will come looking for you?”
“He’s my husband. Of course he’ll come for me…”
“It’s been five years,” Sheng Qing said. “Why hasn’t Dong Changping called you even once?”
“Your number has never changed. Has he ever sent you a single text?”
“If he really loved you, would he have left you in the Qin family for all these years?”
The color drained from Sheng Xue’s face.
This was something she had never wanted to face.
Seeing how deathly pale her sister had become, Sheng Qing swallowed the words that had been about to leave her mouth.
Some truths couldn’t be told.
Otherwise, her sister wouldn’t be able to bear them.
If she hadn’t lived another life, she wouldn’t have known Dong Changping’s true nature either.
“Forget him, Older Sister. He hasn’t come looking for you all these years. Maybe he’s already forgotten you.”
Sheng Qing held her sister and spoke softly. “Qin Zhen may not be as gentle as Dong Changping, but he’s no worse than him.”
Outside the door, Qin Zhen was stunned.
Qin Shi was a little surprised, too. Was this little girl really trying to make peace with the Qin family?
Back in the study, Qin Zhen sat in his office chair without saying a word.
Only after a long while did he speak. “So the reason she suddenly changed was that she found out about that Dong fellow.”
Qin Shi leaned against the sofa at an angle. “Are you still going to send her to prison for reform?”
“Could a delicate little girl like her handle a place like that?” Qin Zhen waved a hand. “Let’s just say she stabbed me and let it go. She’s one of our own.”
“If she’s your daughter, then what does that make you and Sheng Xue?”
Qin Zhen: “…”
After a moment’s silence, Qin Zhen said, “As long as she stops hating the Qin family, from now on she’s one of us.”
“Bring me Lu Yun’an’s file. I want to look it over again.”
A shift in perspective changed how he felt about the whole matter.
An hour ago, Qin Zhen hadn’t felt much about Sheng Qing dating a boyfriend.
Now that he saw her as family, the thought of it left him deeply uneasy.
She was so young. How could she have a boyfriend?
Staring at Lu Yun’an’s photograph, Qin Zhen wished he could go to the Lu family right then and deal with the bastard himself.
“If he genuinely liked that girl, I might let it pass. But his intentions are impure. He’s asking for trouble.”
Qin Zhen slammed the file onto the desk. “I wouldn’t trust anyone else to handle this. Qin Shi, you take care of it.”
Qin Shi raised an eyebrow. “Me?”
“What, you’re unwilling to teach your little sister’s scumbag a lesson?”
“…” Qin Shi didn’t mind doing that.
It was just… where had this little sister suddenly come from?
The Qin family had strong genes. For generations, they’d had boys, and most of his uncles’ and great-uncles’ families had boys, too.
A delicate girl was a rare thing in the Qin family.
Qin Shi didn’t want to deal with this headache, but Qin Zhen glared at him.
He had no choice but to walk over to the desk and pick up the file. “Fine. I’ll handle it.”
Qin Zhen knew his younger brother’s methods better than anyone.
He gave him a worried warning. “Go easy on him. Don’t kill the guy. That girl seems to like Lu Yun’an quite a bit.”
…
When Sheng Qing came out of her sister’s room, she happened to see Qin Shi leaving the study.
Back when they lived under the same roof in the Qin family, they had barely spoken.
He hadn’t liked her.
And she hadn’t liked him, either.
But when she was in danger, he was the only one by her side.
He had even lost his life for her.
Thinking about it made Sheng Qing’s heart ache terribly.
“Crying again? Are you planning to cry every time you see me?”
Only then did Sheng Qing realize that tears had somehow started falling.
She hurriedly wiped them away and said awkwardly, “No. Some dust got in my eye…”
Qin Shi: “Hmm?”
Sheng Qing froze. When she realized what she’d said, she covered her face.
A low laugh escaped Qin Shi’s throat. “It seems your mouth is attached to your hands.”
Sheng Qing grimaced. “Second Brother, don’t tease me.”
Qin Shi’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Second Brother?”
Sheng Qing gazed at him with moist eyes. “If you don’t like me calling you Second Brother, I can call you Second Young Master, like Uncle Zhong does.”
If it was something he didn’t like, she wouldn’t do it.
“With Elder Brother so fond of you now, if he found out you were calling me Second Young Master, he’d skin me alive.”
Qin Shi lightly tapped the top of her head with the file folder. “Come with Second Brother.”