His gaze was far too serious. Qin Mingzhi could not shake the feeling that he was about to come over and say something.
Her heart skipped two beats, and her breath caught. Against her will, her mind flashed back to everything this man had said last night.
—Could he really be planning to marry her in place of Xiao Xingjie?
Qin Mingzhi swallowed with difficulty. As Xiao Wangnian’s footsteps drew closer, each step seemed to pound against her heart, completely throwing her thoughts into disarray.
Judging from the determination in Xiao Wangnian’s eyes, it really did seem possible.
Moreover, he was the kind of meticulous and frighteningly responsible man who would never treat something as important as marriage casually.
If he had done something, admitting it outright seemed exactly like his style.
The more Qin Mingzhi thought about it, the more panicked she became. She felt as though she could barely breathe.
She was terrified that Xiao Wangnian would confess everything that had happened last night right in front of Xiao Xingjie.
But now was definitely not the right time!
If he was going to say anything, he had to wait until after she and Xiao Xingjie had obtained their divorce certificate!
She was already thinking about how she would stop him if he really admitted it, steer the conversation elsewhere, and cover up what had happened.
Before she could figure it out, Xiao Wangnian stopped in front of them.
His gaze shifted from Qin Mingzhi to Xiao Xingjie.
Speaking as an elder, his tone was unmistakably commanding. He got straight to the point.
“Go get your divorce certificate with Qin Mingzhi.”
The moment those words fell, Qin Mingzhi breathed a sigh of relief.
Xiao Xingjie, however, stared at him in shock.
“Uncle, what did you say?”
“You… you also think the two of us should get divorced? But…”
Xiao Wangnian’s expression was solemn.
“Are you planning to jeopardize your chance to join the army?”
Xiao Xingjie froze.
After thinking for a moment, he shook his head.
Of course he didn’t want that.
Right now, nothing was more important to him than joining the army.
Not even Qin Mingzhi.
“So, Uncle, you mean I should really divorce Qin Mingzhi and marry Qin Mengxue?”
Xiao Wangnian coldly looked away.
“You decide for yourself.”
“There’s only one thing I care about. Get your private affairs in order. Otherwise, even Grandpa won’t be able to help you.”
Xiao Xingjie lowered his head hesitantly. His hands slowly clenched into fists at his sides, his mind wavering.
Thinking back on his marriage to Qin Mingzhi, he had never really had any feelings for her.
If it hadn’t been for that marriage arrangement, he wouldn’t have wanted to marry Qin Mingzhi at all.
When he first learned about the engagement and realized he would be forced to marry her, he had even felt a certain disgust toward her.
Yet somehow, little by little, something seemed to have changed.
Choosing between joining the army and maintaining his marriage should have been an easy decision.
But at this moment, agreeing to a divorce had somehow become incredibly difficult.
Everything had spiraled completely out of control. Almost every part of the situation had gone beyond his expectations and control.
Looking back, the whole affair seemed strange at every turn.
What bothered him most was the fact that his uncle, who had always disliked him and normally couldn’t care less about him, had suddenly involved himself in this matter.
It made Xiao Xingjie feel that something was gradually going wrong.
A strange premonition quietly surfaced in his heart, as though…
if he really made this decision, he would definitely regret it.
Xiao Xingjie had always prided himself on being a rational person.
Yet at this moment, he inexplicably wanted to be sentimental for once and simply follow his feelings.
He looked at Xiao Wangnian, took a deep breath, gathered his courage, and met Xiao Wangnian’s cold, sharp eyes head-on.
“This is my personal business. It has nothing to do with you, does it, Uncle?”
“You may be my elder, but at the end of the day, you’re still just a relative. This is a matter between me and my wife…”
As he met Xiao Wangnian’s gaze, Xiao Xingjie’s voice grew softer and softer for no apparent reason.
The air around them seemed to gradually solidify, becoming suffocating.
Xiao Wangnian’s dark eyes appeared devoid of emotion, yet for some reason, they made it impossible for anyone to continue staring into them.
Xiao Xingjie’s throat bobbed several times.
His mind went blank for a moment, and he suddenly couldn’t remember what he had intended to say next.
Qin Mingzhi’s gaze moved back and forth between the two men.
The atmosphere and their overwhelming presence made her feel as though she were standing right in the eye of a storm.
There was an indescribable sense of suffocation, mixed with something strangely unsettling.
She could clearly feel Xiao Wangnian’s presence growing stronger by the second, despite him doing nothing.
The sun outside was bright and warm, yet Qin Mingzhi felt a chill run through her entire body, as though a storm were about to break.
The aura and look in Xiao Wangnian’s eyes didn’t seem like those of an elder disciplining a younger relative.
It felt more like two sworn enemies confronting each other.
Even Qin Mengxue, who had been pretending to cry and had only just raised her head, sensed that something was wrong.
Her shocked gaze darted back and forth between Xiao Wangnian and Xiao Xingjie.
She had only looked away for a dozen seconds or so.
How had the atmosphere suddenly become like this?
Something was wrong.
Very, very wrong.
The mere fact that Xiao Wangnian had appeared here was already highly unusual.
As far as she knew, Xiao Wangnian had never paid much attention to Xiao Xingjie.
Normally, whenever they saw each other, he barely wanted to exchange more than a few words with him.
In her previous life, she had once accidentally witnessed the two of them together.
Xiao Xingjie had kept his distance from Xiao Wangnian, following several yards behind him with his lips pressed tightly together, not daring to say a word.
At the time, she had even thought the two of them must have some kind of grudge against each other.
Only later did she learn that they were actually uncle and nephew.
But this scene now…
Xiao Wangnian looked almost eager for Qin Mingzhi and Xiao Xingjie to hurry up and get their divorce certificate.
Qin Mengxue’s mind filled with question marks. Even she was startled by the thought that suddenly occurred to her.
Ever since she was little, she had hated studying but loved reading all kinds of cheap romance stories sold at street stalls.
When it came to relationships between men and women, she was especially perceptive.
The undercurrents between the people in front of her really did look exactly like one of those dramatic love triangles described in novels.
So what exactly was going on?
Could these two men really be fighting over Qin Mingzhi?
The thought made Qin Mengxue’s heart sink.
When she looked up again, the more she watched, the more convinced she became.
An indescribable wave of jealousy surged through her.
She was practically furious enough to laugh.
The first thought that popped into her mind was—
Why?
Why was Qin Mingzhi so popular with men?
Having Xiao Xingjie wasn’t enough for her.
Now even Xiao Wangnian had been seduced by Qin Mingzhi.
What was so special about Qin Mingzhi?
She was nothing more than a woman with slightly prettier features, a slightly slimmer waist, a slightly fuller chest, and slightly longer legs…
Qin Mengxue had originally intended to comfort herself.
But the more she followed that train of thought, the more bitter and jealous she became. She ground her teeth so hard they practically squeaked.
Qin Mingzhi, startled by the strange noise, thought a rat must have somehow gotten inside and was gnawing on a piece of wood.
She frowned and nervously lowered her head, looking around.
She was absolutely terrified of rats.
Qin Mengxue silently ground her teeth for a while before suddenly feeling that something about the situation was strange.
Wasn’t Xiao Wangnian supposed to have no interest in women?
Qin Mengxue remembered that in her previous life, Xiao Wangnian had never had a girlfriend from beginning to end.
He had devoted himself entirely to his military career. Every day, he was either training or out on missions. His obsession with his career had almost reached an unhealthy level.
Some people said he simply had impossibly high standards and couldn’t find a woman he liked.
But Qin Mengxue had heard that one of his former commanding officers in the army had once tried to introduce him to his own granddaughter—a stunningly beautiful woman who was talented in practically every way.
In an attempt to bring the two together, the old commander had even deliberately forced Xiao Wangnian to take leave and arranged for the two of them to spend time together.