Back in his office, Qi Junlin sat in his swivel chair, distracted.
He had to find a way to get his sister away from the hospital.
Then an idea suddenly struck him.
After instructing his assistant to arrange the boxed lunches for Xue Yanxin, he immediately gave her a call.
“Hey, Sis. The lunch order’s all taken care of. Do you want to stop by the construction site and have a look?”
“No need. If you’re handling it, I trust you.”
With that, Xue Yanxin hung up.
Qi Junlin stared at his phone.
Looks like I’ll have to play dirty.
He called his assistant back into the office and quietly explained the next task.
Although the assistant looked puzzled and hesitated for a moment, he still carried out his boss’s orders.
Soon, the assistant arrived at the apartment directly below Huo Zhiyuan’s, on the second floor. After receiving the keys from the landlord, he dialed the number Qi Junlin had given him, Xue Yanxin’s phone number.
“Hello, is this Miss Xue Yanxin?”
“Yes, speaking. Who is this?”
She frowned at the unfamiliar number.
“Hello, Miss Xue. I’m the new tenant who just moved into the apartment below yours today. As soon as we moved in, we noticed water leaking from the ceiling. We checked our own apartment, and the problem isn’t on our side. It seems to be coming from yours.”
“I knocked on your door for quite a while, but no one answered, so I got your phone number from the property management office. Did you happen to leave a faucet running before you went out? The leak is pretty serious. Could you come back as soon as possible?”
“What? Our apartment is leaking?”
Xue Yanxin’s heart skipped a beat.
Did I forget to turn off the faucet?
Or did Huo Zhiyuan forget?
“I’m so sorry! I’ll be there right away!”
She ended the call and immediately explained everything to Huo Zhiyuan.
“Huo Zhiyuan, the people living downstairs just called. They said your apartment is leaking, and it’s already dripping into theirs. I’m going back to deal with it. I’ll hire a caregiver to stay with you.”
As she hurriedly packed her things, she kept talking.
“Our apartment is leaking?”
Huo Zhiyuan frowned.
When had someone moved into the apartment downstairs?
And how could the apartment suddenly start leaking?
Besides, if there really were a problem, shouldn’t the property management office have called him? He clearly remembered leaving his own phone number with them.
“Don’t panic,” he said as he swung his legs off the bed. “I’ll go back with you. I’m feeling much better anyway.”
Before he could stand, Xue Yanxin firmly pushed him back onto the bed.
“Much better? The doctor said you still have several more IV bags to finish before you’re discharged. Be good and stop trying to act tough.”
“I’ll go deal with the leak, turn off the water if that’s the problem, pay for any damages if necessary, and while I’m at it, I’ll make some soup and bring it back for you.”
After much persuasion, Huo Zhiyuan finally gave in.
He stubbornly refused to hire a caregiver, and seeing that he really did seem alert and capable of taking care of himself for the moment, Xue Yanxin reluctantly agreed.
Then she hurried out of the ward.
The moment she left, Qi Junlin walked in.
“Bro! Are you alright? How did you end up sick? Why didn’t you tell me?”
He immediately began looking Huo Zhiyuan over from head to toe, checking for injuries or anything unusual.
The instant he saw him, Huo Zhiyuan understood exactly what had happened.
The so-called apartment leak…
It had all been a trick to lure Xue Yanxin away.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry,” Huo Zhiyuan said calmly. “Once these IV bags are finished, your sister-in-law will come pick me up.”
“Fine? You’re in the hospital, and you’re still saying you’re fine?” Qi Junlin refused to believe him. “What’s the actual diagnosis?”
“I really don’t have any illness,” Huo Zhiyuan replied helplessly. “I just got food poisoning.”
Only after reading the examination report and looking at the IV did Qi Junlin finally relax.
“Good. As long as you’re okay.”
The tension visibly left his face.
The next second, Huo Zhiyuan lightly punched him on the shoulder.
“What’s good about it? If you wanted to lure someone away, couldn’t you have come up with a better excuse? You picked a leaking apartment. You’re at ease now, but because of one phone call, someone else spent the whole trip worrying herself sick.”
Just thinking about how panicked Xue Yanxin had looked made him want to give this younger brother a proper beating.
“I was worried about you, Bro.”
After being scolded, Qi Junlin looked pitiful, his shoulders drooping.
Seeing him like that, Huo Zhiyuan’s anger quickly faded.
After all, this was still his younger brother.
“Next time you need to distract someone, call me first. I’ll cooperate with you.”
Qi Junlin’s eyes immediately lit up.
“Okay! I got it, Bro!”
Huo Zhiyuan pointed toward the fruit basket nearby.
“Want some fruit? I’ll peel you an apple.”
Offering him food had always been Huo Zhiyuan’s way of comforting him.
Sure enough, the moment he heard those words, Qi Junlin’s gloomy expression disappeared.
“No, you’re the patient. I’ll peel one for you.”
A few moments later, he handed over a neatly peeled apple.
“Here, Bro.”
Huo Zhiyuan accepted it and took a bite.
“Any news from Li Junmin?”
“Not yet,” Qi Junlin replied. “The police still need time to question him, and it takes time for us to gather information too. Just wait. Grandpa and I are both keeping a close eye on it.”
Huo Zhiyuan nodded.
“I understand.”
After a brief silence, Qi Junlin spoke again.
“There’s something I should explain first.”
“The day… when Sis… I mean, when Xue Yanxin came to my company’s celebration, I was the one who invited her.”
“I only changed my attitude because I noticed yours had changed first. From now on, I’ll treat her with the respect she deserves.”
“She went to your celebration?”
Huo Zhiyuan lowered the apple and looked up sharply.
It was obvious.
He hadn’t known about this at all.
Qi Junlin’s hand trembled.
He nearly dropped the fruit.
Did I just expose myself?
“Bro… you didn’t know? Weren’t you having people keep an eye on her?”
Huo Zhiyuan looked away and awkwardly rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Ahem… after investigating her, I found nothing suspicious, so I withdrew everyone.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
He coughed again.
“You were so prejudiced against her before that I was worried you’d… anyway…”
He looked at Qi Junlin seriously.
“From now on, however you treat me, that’s how you should treat her.”
“You can trust her completely.”
After saying that, an unusually shy expression appeared on his face.
It was the unmistakable look of a man in love.
Qi Junlin completely broke down.
“What do you mean I should treat her the same way I treat you?”
His voice rose higher and higher.
“Are you planning to turn this fake marriage into a real one? Or… or has it already become real? What exactly have you done with her? Don’t tell me you’ve already done everything!”
The more he spoke, the more agitated he became.
He shot to his feet beside the hospital bed, his face filled with despair.
Huo Zhiyuan blinked in confusion.
“Why not?”
He genuinely couldn’t understand why Qi Junlin was reacting so dramatically.
“Because you can’t!”
Qi Junlin practically shouted.
“Bro, I was wrong about you! You’re a complete hypocrite! A beast in gentleman’s clothing!”
Huo Zhiyuan fell silent.
He had no idea why the younger brother who had always admired him so much had suddenly turned against him.
It was almost like an obsessive fan discovering that his favorite celebrity had started dating and instantly becoming an anti-fan.
After thinking it over, Huo Zhiyuan assumed Qi Junlin still disliked Xue Yanxin and simply couldn’t accept her.
He sighed.
“Why can’t I?”
“You can’t let your past prejudice stop you from accepting her.”
“I’m your brother, yes, but I’m also an independent adult. I have the freedom to fall in love.”
“I know that in your eyes I may seem perfect, and you think no one is worthy of me, but…”
“Who the hell cares about you?”
Qi Junlin exploded before he could finish.
“She’s my sister!”
“The first family I’ve ever truly had!”
“The person closest to me!”
“Even closer than you!”
Those words hit Huo Zhiyuan like a thunderbolt.
Now that the closest person in my life is going to be taken away by you!”
“Sister?”
“Family?”
The ordinary words suddenly sounded almost impossible to comprehend.
“If she’s your sister…”
Wouldn’t that make her my…
His entire body went rigid.
It felt as though lightning had struck him.
After slowly processing the horrifying possibility, words poured out of him in one breath.
“What kind of joke is this? I remember Aunt only had one child, you. Where did another sister come from? Did you even do a DNA test? She doesn’t resemble you in the slightest. How could she possibly be your sister? If she really is, why didn’t you tell me earlier? Why keep it secret? Wait… she’s Old Master Xue’s daughter. How could she be your sister?”
It was the first time Qi Junlin had ever heard his taciturn brother speak so many words in one go.
Apparently…
His brother wasn’t any less devastated than he had been moments earlier.
It was also the first time he had ever seen so many emotions on Huo Zhiyuan’s usually composed face.
Shock.
Panic.
Disbelief.
Utter despair.
Then again…
Neither of them was exactly holding themselves together anymore.
“Who says family has to come from the same mother?” Qi Junlin shot back. “We’re not even born to the same mom!”
“If Aunt isn’t her mother… then who is she?”
Huo Zhiyuan’s heart leaped into his throat.
Please don’t tell me Grandpa secretly had another illegitimate child…
Qi Junlin shook his head.
“She’s… she’s my older sister from childhood.”
“When I was little, I was trafficked and sold to a family in the countryside.”
“They treated me fairly well at first. But after they had their own child, they beat me, cursed me, and never let me go to school.”
“I was already ten years old and still couldn’t read a single word.”
“It was my sister.”
“She secretly taught me.”
Back then, after Xue Yanxin had become Qi Junlin’s system guide, the vicious couple who had bought him from human traffickers refused to let him attend school.
So every night, she became his teacher in his dreams.
She taught him to read.
She taught him to write.
The couple knew that buying trafficked children was also a crime, so they watched him closely.
It was Xue Yanxin who carefully planned his escape route.
Many people in the village had silently protected the traffickers, so he didn’t dare ask anyone for help.
He ran all the way to the police station before reporting everything.
Even there, he remained on guard, afraid the officers might be involved.
Only after he was placed in an orphanage did he finally feel safe.
Qi Junlin’s mother had eloped with a poor man.
A few years after giving birth to him, the couple died in a car accident while desperately searching for their kidnapped son.
At that time, the Huo family didn’t even know Qi Junlin existed.
Nor did he know he had been born into such a powerful family.
It wasn’t until he completed every task assigned by the system and unlocked the next stage of his life’s story, just after graduating from high school and before entering university, that he learned the truth.
“My sister didn’t just teach me,” Qi Junlin continued quietly.
“She helped me escape.”
“She helped me through… everything.”
“She stayed with me during the darkest years of my life.”
“In my heart, she’s even closer than a biological sister.”
He lowered his head.
“Bro… when I first returned to the Huo family, I envied you so much.”
“You’d also lost your parents, but you grew up outstanding.”
“You had Grandpa, Uncle, Grandpa and Grandma on your mother’s side, your uncles, your aunts…”
“You had so many people who loved you.”
“You had everything.”
“Standing beside you, I always felt inferior.”
“But my sister…”
“She was the one thing I had that you didn’t.”
“The most precious thing I possessed.”
“The only reason I had the courage to keep moving forward.”
“And now…”
“Even she’s going to become yours.”
He forced out a bitter smile.
“Bro… I’ll bless the two of you.”
“I mean it.”
“But I really can’t accept it yet.”
“I only reunited with my sister not long ago.”
“And now she’s already becoming your woman.”
Huo Zhiyuan let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Thank goodness.
They weren’t actually biological siblings.
Feeling a pang of sympathy for everything Qi Junlin had endured, he reached over and gently ruffled his hair.
“Silly kid.”
“I’m your brother.”
“Why compare yourself to me?”
“Anything I have belongs to you too.”
“My grandfather is your grandfather.”
“My uncle is your uncle.”
“They’re your family as well.”
“From now on, all of us are your support.”
After a brief pause, he coughed awkwardly.
“As for your sister and me…”
“Nothing’s happened yet.”
“She doesn’t know anything.”
“And if Yanxin and I really end up together, she’ll become part of the Huo family.”
“She’ll be true family to you, and to all of us.”
“Wouldn’t that be even better?”
Qi Junlin finally calmed down enough to think.
“…I guess you’re right.”
“Better to keep the good things within the family than have her marry some outsider.”
Seeing that his younger brother was beginning to come around, Huo Zhiyuan continued.
“Besides, if your sister and I get together, we’ll be husband and wife.”
“We’re not becoming sworn siblings.”
“How could I possibly steal your sister from you?”
“Just because she marries me doesn’t mean she’ll stop being your sister.”
He smiled.
“And if your sister and I really get married someday, I’ll make sure our home has a room reserved just for you.”
“You’re welcome anytime.”
Qi Junlin snorted.
“Save it.”
“You just said nothing’s happened yet.”
After finally calming him down, Huo Zhiyuan suddenly remembered something important.
“You didn’t tell her…”
Before he could finish, Qi Junlin already knew what he meant.
He interrupted firmly.
“No.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
“The more people who know, the greater the risk.”
“Even your uncle and Zhiduo are still being kept in the dark.”
“So there’s no way I’d tell my sister.”