“…” Qi Chenglin was left speechless.

After the kid finished showing off, he ran to Little Muran and said, “Since I’ll receive a lot of gifts today, don’t forget to come over to my house and play!”

Little Muran, who was eating a lollipop, nodded in response. She figured she should share anything that she liked to Youxuan, who was treating her exceptionally well.

Thus, Little Muran took out the half-melted lollipop from her mouth and offered it to Youxuan. “Brother Youxuan, I have a lollipop. We should eat together.”

The exhilarated kid’s eyes turned into crescent moons as he stared at the round and shiny lollipop that was enveloped in Little Muran’s saliva, and without further hesitation, he put it into his mouth.

Hey, indirect kisses were embarrassing!

The kid sucked the lollipop intensely before passing it back to Little Muran. “It’s sweet. Mumu, here you go.”

Little Muran figured that she was sharing happiness with Youxuan so she continued eating the lollipop with delight without thinking of it.

Coincidentally, Wei Ziqi witnessed this scene and walked toward them with a darkened expression. He would definitely throw this brat out of the room if it was not his birthday today.

Wei Ziqi was merely a few moments late and this brat had already taken advantage of his precious daughter. This brat surely knew how to seize every opportunity, and preventive measures proved to be useless against him!

Ruan Danchen noticed that Wei Ziqi was on the brink of an explosion and wanted to direct his rage on the rascal who dared to take advantage of his daughter, and this rascal happened to be her own son.

Thus, Ruan Danchen announced quickly. “Let’s head up, delicious food and entertainment are prepared. We even prepared many Disney cartoons and toys for playing house for the girls on purpose as well.”

“Yay!” The children yelled in joy and excitement as their parents brought them to the wonderland, which slowed Wei Ziqi down.

Ruan Danchen quickly seized this opportunity and dragged her troublesome son with her.

Wei Ran held Little Muran’s hand in the meantime. However, Qi Youxuan seemed to have a death wish when he turned around and yelled at Little Muran, “Mumu, come over to my house later to play house! I’ll act as the father while you’ll play as the mother, and Zhang Mingming will be our son!”

“…” Zhang Mingming and his mother were at a loss for words.

…

…

The birthday boy blew out the candles after making birthday wishes and received a lot of birthday presents. Chang Zhiyuan even gave him seven birthday presents as compensation for missing out on his previous birthdays.

The children had a piece of cake in each of their hands with creams smeared across their mouths and cheeks; it made them look like a kindle of kittens at the moment.

On the other hand, the adults were chit-chatting in another corner. Since they were all parents of Qi Youxuan’s friends, Qi Chenglin gave them the respect they deserved too.

It was then when the manager walked toward Qi Chenglin and uttered with a normal tone, “Young Master Lin. Grandmother Chang, Chang Zhixing, and Liu Xiangwen wish to attend Little Master’s birthday party. They’re sitting downstairs in the dining hall as we speak.”

Chang Zhiyuan raised his eyebrows curiously. He did not expect Grandmother Chang to swallow her pride for Chang Zhixing’s sake.

Since Dynasty’s VIP card was registered under Chang Zhiyuan’s name and in his hand as well, it was pointless for Chang Zhixing to bring his own VIP card. Thus, without a choice, the trio had to wait in the hall downstairs.

“Well, we didn’t even invite them. If we agree with every family’s demand on attending shamelessly, what’s the point of invitation cards? Who’ll hold the Qi family in high regard if everyone can come and leave as they wish? Let them wait if they’re willing. Please convey my message to them without missing a word, and make sure everyone can see them.” Qi Chenglin placed his chopsticks down.

The indomitable manager nodded before returning to the trio and conveyed Qi Chenglin’s every word to Chang Zhixing. He was the manager of Dynasty; he had absolutely no reason to fret about the Chang family.

Chang Zhixing was mortified. His cheeks were flushed red, and rage started to boil within him.

Grandmother Chang fought the urge to run straight into the party and confront Qi Chenglin. Her only reason being here was because of Chang Zhixing, who returned last night and explained the trouble Changhe faced recently. He begged Grandmother Chang to reconcile with Qi Chenglin and Ruan Danchen before Changhe was liquidated.

Despite the reluctance, Grandmother Chang had no choice but to swallow her pride for the sake of her son and the company.

However, Grandmother Chang ended up meeting with a rebuff at this moment.

Grandmother Chang lost her temper out of humiliation. “I told you I didn’t want to come and yet you insisted. They’re youngsters. An elder like me isn’t supposed to come over personally!”

“Mom, the elders in the Qi family and Ruan family are here tonight, so it’s more appropriate if you can attend personally,” Chang Zhixing tried his best to persuade Grandmother Chang.

“Appropriate? Well, here I am, but they refused to meet us and even asked an outsider to convey a message. It’s very obvious that they want to embarrass us!” Grandmother Chang’s expression contorted in wrath.

Chang Zhixing was furious too. All this would not have happened if Grandmother Chang did not offend both the Qi family and the Ruan family.

Grandmother Chang stood up abruptly. “I’m not going to embarrass myself further in this place. I’m leaving!”

Chang Zhixing sighed. “Why don’t you instruct the chauffeur to send you home while Xiangwen and I continue our wait?”

Grandmother Chang nodded reluctantly but Liu Xiangwen protested, “I think I should accompany Mom–”

Before Liu Xiangwen could finish her sentence, Chang Zhixing glared at her furiously. She took part in offending Ruan Danchen and even tried every attempt to push Chang Zhiyuan away from the Chang family, but she wanted to escape at this moment?

“Stay here! You created all this mess, and now you’re thinking about running away? We’ll wait here if they don’t let us attend the party, and you’ll apologize to them once they’re done with their celebration.” Chang Zhixing glared at Liu Xiangwen.

Naturally, Grandmother Chang would not scold her son for the sake of her daughter-in-law, and she would give her unfailing support no matter what Chang Zhixing said.

Grandmother Chang even ignored Liu Xiangwen’s desperate act of grievance.

Liu Xiangwen then pondered in resentment. Chang Zhixing was blaming her for everything at present, but why did he allow everything to happen in the first place? He only knew how to speak righteously and pretended that he had never thought of fighting for possession with Chang Zhiyuan at all. However, he was not stopping her wholeheartedly at that time, so it was obvious that he had the same thought in his mind as well and was merely putting on a show. He wanted to be a good cop, so she had no choice but to be a bad cop instead.

When everything had gone to hell at this moment, they put all the blame on Liu Xiangwen.

Grandmother Chang was unconcerned about this matter. When she was about to leave, the housekeeper at home pushed Chang Jingqiu into Dynasty.

Chang Jingqiu was wearing a blue-white striped chiffon shirt with a high-waist milky white long dress to cover both of her lower limbs completely. The chiffon shirt was tucked into the dress which made her appear graceful and charming like an elegant angel.

Moreover, Chang Jingqiu put on a light Korean-style makeup with a bitten-lips look. Pink-colored lipstick was applied on the inner part of the lips and a lighter colored lipstick applied on the outer aspect. Since she was sitting in a wheelchair, she appeared especially fragile and delicate like a sick beauty.

Chang Jingqiu’s every movement radiated pride when she was initially well and healthy, but after suffering from an injury and was forced to sit in a wheelchair, she appeared delicate and weak which could induce sympathy in others as well.

“Grandma, Younger Uncle, Younger Aunt,” Chang Jingqiu greeted and instructed the housekeeper to leave after she was pushed to the trio’s front.

“Why did you come?” Grandmother Chang asked out of shock.

Chang Jingqiu answered softly, “I knew you came here to reconcile with Ruan Danchen, and since I took part in offending Ruan Danchen, why shouldn’t I come? We’re a family in any case, so we should unite and face every trouble together. I’m the cause of this trouble, so how can I hide at home while you stand on the front line? I’ll apologize to Ruan Danchen and beg for her forgiveness. She won’t embarrass me further since I’m disabled now, right? We swallowed our pride to beg for their forgiveness, and if they continue their revenge on us, then they’re—”

“—They’re heartless and without conscience!” Grandmother Chang completed the sentence coldly.

Qi Chenglin and his family were fully aware of the conversation that was going on between the Chang family.

Embarrassment was torturing Chang Zhiyuan. Both Grandfather Qi and Grandmother Qi were smoldering underneath their stony expressions. Steam hissed through Grandfather Ruan’s nose as he commented without scruple, “Bunch of imbeciles!”

Chang Zhiyuan was mortified but words failed to come out of his mouth in response.

Qi Chenglin’s expression remained cold and flat. He merely dialed a phone number and said, “Everyone’s present. Let’s begin.”

…

…

The members of the Chang family, who were waiting in Dynasty’s dining hall, failed to notice Jiang Yuan’s car which was parked close to Dynasty. Then, two individuals exited the car momentarily—Huang Pinggui and Wang Lixia.

“Let’s go. You’re experts in what’s coming soon, so act professionally.” The corners of Jiang Yuan’s lips curled up in contempt.

“Mr… Mr. Qi needs to keep his promise. My son’s future is at stake,” said Huang Pinggui out of worry.

“You’re staying in B City recently so it’s natural that you’ve no idea what had happened back in your village. You’ll know once you give your son a phone call right now,” Jiang Yuan answered calmly.

Joy started spreading within Huang Pinggui as he dialed his home number quickly.

“Dan’er, how’s everything at home?”

“Everything’s fine. By the way, dad, I received an offer letter from University A yesterday, but the university entrance exam was over just recently and I haven’t even started filing my application form yet. Why would University A send me an offer letter? Is this a fake? I’ve heard that there are many fake offer letters recently too.”

Huang Pinggui asked quickly, “Where’s the offer letter? Did you throw it away?”

“No, the offer letter is designed very beautifully. I don’t feel like throwing it away even if it’s a fake.”

“Oh, thank goodness. Don’t throw it away, the offer letter is real,” Huang Pinggui advised.

“What do you mean?” Huang Jincheng was frozen on the spot.

“Well…” Huang Pinggui found it very difficult to explain, so he created an excuse instead. “Didn’t I work in town previously? I have a close friend whom I met coincidentally in B City this time. That friend of mine earned a fortune and is very successful right now. He knew you were having a university entrance exam this time, so he asked a friend of his to get you into University A directly.”

Huang Pinggui was not an educated man and this excuse had many flaws in it. How influential his friend needed to be in order to instruct a well-reputed university to deliver an offer letter as he wished?

Did Huang Pinggui think that everyone was Qi Chenglin?

However, Huang Jincheng graduated from high school not long ago and was born in a village, thus he was inexperienced in social affairs. Thus, this offer letter came as a pleasant surprise to him as he believed his father’s explanation.

Huang Pinggui could even hear the incoherence and quiver in his son excited tone as they continued chatting for a while.

Huang Pinggui noticed the expressionless Jiang Yuan after hanging up the call and promised immediately. “I feel at ease right now. Don’t worry, my wife and I will do our best later.”

Jiang Yuan nodded and brought them to Dynasty’s main entrance before gesturing them to enter.

After Huang Pinggui and Wang Lixia built up their emotions at the main entrance, they entered Dynasty and saw the Chang family’s location straight away.

Wang Lixia let out a thunderous sound of wailing as she ran straight toward the Chang family.

“Jingqiu, you’re so cruel to disown your own parents. You were afraid that your true identity would be revealed, so you threatened us and wouldn’t even let your brother further his study in a university. How could you do that?”

The Chang family was caught off-guard and failed to react immediately when Wang Lixia pounced on Chang Jingqiu, grabbed her shirt and lifted her up.

Wang Lixia was as strong as an ox since she was used to wielding hoe and shovel in the agricultural work, so she actually lifted Chang Jingqiu off the wheelchair at this moment.

The ashen-grey faced Chang Jingqiu screamed at the top of her lungs and Chang Zhixing quickly came over to drag Wang Lixia away from her. “What are you doing? Why did you come here acting like a barbarian?”

“Chang Jingqiu, you’re ruthless and cruel. You pushed Chang Zhiyuan down the slope which nearly cost him his life at that time, and now you want to harm us too. What comes around goes around; lightning will strike you one day!”

There were many customers in Dynasty at the moment and Wang Lixia’s voice was loud and clear too, so they were all taken aback after listening to Wang Lixia.

“This… this is hogwash!” Blood was drained from the bewildered Chang Jingqiu’s face. She was framed this time, but unable to defend herself due to her soft voice since Wang Lixia was consistently shaking her body.

“You wanted to disown your own parents for wealth and prosperity. You’re heartless and without conscience!” Wang Lixia released her grip and threw Chang Jingqiu onto the ground since Chang Zhixing was trying to pull her away.

“Ah!” Chang Jingqiu dropped onto the floor on all fours and her long dress was lifted up in the process, revealing a pair of legs that were devoid of all sensations.

The pair of ballet flats flew off her feet and scattered onto the floor.

Chang Jingqiu put the dress down quickly to cover up her exposed legs. It was not embarrassing to expose her lower limbs before this, but they appeared disgusting after she was paralyzed.

She could not even reach her shoes since they were so far away.

Then, she lifted her head and scanned the crowd in the dining hall. All of them seemed to be mocking her no matter how she looked at them.

The shock that was registered on their faces appeared as if they were laughing at her current identity at the moment.

When Chang Zhixing was about to help Chang Jingqiu, Wang Lixia turned around and grabbed Grandmother Chang’s shirt. Grandmother Chang had lived her life comfortably and luxuriously, so there was no way she could dodge Wang Lixia. Before she realized what had happened, Wang Lixia held onto her shirt and shook her repeatedly, messing up her initial tidy hair as she was struck dumb with astonishment.

“What… What are you doing? You lunatic!” Grandmother Chang yelled in fear and surprise, but her opponent was strong and formidable. She was nothing but a dough whom Wang Lixia could handle at will.

“Let me tell you something. We’re fearless and ready to risk everything so that the wicked like you won’t have everything you wish!” Wang Lixia screamed angrily.

Chang Zhixing had no choice but to leave Chang Jingqiu aside and protect Grandmother Chang. Chang Jingqiu remained a mess on the ground and she could not even sit up herself without the wheelchair’s support.

In the meantime, Huang Pinggui complained to the customers in the dining room while Chang Zhixing was busy protecting his family. “The Chang family is a bully! After Chang Jingqiu realized her true identity, she gave us eight hundred thousand Yuan to zip our mouths and disowned us. Grandmother Chang even threatened to destroy my son’s future and he wouldn’t be able to further his study in any university no matter how many exams he took! She was boasting! They tried to hide their hostility toward us from the public! Who did she think she was to disallow anyone from passing the university entrance exam? Is the Chang family really that powerful?”

“Even though we’re Chang Jingqiu’s biological parents, I can see that she’s just a greedy and selfish white-eyed wolf. She’ll leave the Chang family in an instant if there’s a greater benefit elsewhere. The time will come, Chang family! However, Grandmother Chang was willing to disown her biological granddaughter for the sake of this white-eyed wolf. She spread rumors about her biological granddaughter and was eager to see her divorce so that she’d live her life alone and helpless.”

“Everyone, our house is located in a village in J City’s district, and we perform our duty honestly and earnestly. Look at our clothes; we’ve been wearing them for years. We’ll only go to the market and buy a new set of clothes for a few Yuan which can last us for years. Do you know why? It’s because we’re poor! Chang Jingqiu despised us because of this and was worried that we’d reveal her true identity that embarrassed her. This was exactly why Grandmother Chang threatened to cause my son’s misfortunes if this secret was leaked out.”

Huang Pinggui stomped his foot angrily and continued. “Who do the almighty Chang family think they are to look down on us? There are more powerful families out there, but none is as outrageous as the Chang family! We stand here right now in front of everyone to debunk every dirty thing that the Chang family did! Do you have the courage to harm my son now? If anything happens to us, everyone will know this is the Chang family’s doing! Don’t you want respect? Are you looking down on us? You’re worse than pigs or dogs!”

“Chang Jingqiu, by standing here before the crowd, I announce that you’re the daughter of two farmers. You don’t have a noble identity, so you’ve no right to act like you’re Miss High and Mighty who’s more superior than us! You’re always looking down on others, right? You’re the actual one who was born at the bottom of the pyramid! That isn’t the problem frankly, but it’s your self-abasement and guilty conscience that disgraced you! You dared to disown your own parents for identity and status!”

“Everyone, you’re our witnesses right now. Take a look at these evil and wicked people of the Chang family!” Huang Pinggui yelled at the top of his lungs.

The crowd discussed and pointed their fingers at the Chang family. The dotard’s attitude with an incredible fatuity was totally unexpected at all.

Chang Zhixing finally pulled Wang Lixia away and said, “Stop making nonsense!”

“This isn’t nonsense!” Huang Pinggui waved the document in his hand and continued. “This is a report of a genealogical DNA test which proved that we’re Chang Jingqiu’s biological parents. She disowned us and made no attempt to visit us even once, so we’re here today to seek justice for us and our precious son! Chang Jingqiu was willing to sacrifice her only brother for wealth and prosperity.”

Wang Lixia collapsed onto the floor and yelled, “My poor son! We’re good and honest people, but who knows we’d give birth to a vile spawn. The Chang family is heartless and cruel to chase away the only granddaughter and eldest son for a couple of useless idiots and bully us! God, you must see that justice is served. You must punish them for their sins!”

“Ladies and gentlemen, you’re all respectable individuals, so please help us! Is there anyone who’ll punish them for their unreasonable bullies? The Chang family is outrageous to think that they’re the law. Who do they think they are to destroy our lives as they wish? That’s because we gave birth to a vile spawn named Chang Jingqiu. This is retribution; this is karma! She can punish us today, but the Chang family will suffer from her punishment tomorrow!” Wang Lixia tapped her thigh and wailed.

Chang Jingqiu seemed to hear a voice among the crowd. “No wonder Chang Jingqiu went off the grid recently. She’s paralyzed.”

“I think these two are speaking the truth. It also explains why Chang Zhiyuan quitted Changhe.”

“Changhe without Chang Zhiyuan. Tut-tut.” A random stranger shook his head.

“I’ve heard that the Qi family organized a birthday party for the little master upstairs, so why is the Chang family still here?”

“It’s not that they haven’t gone up, they’re not invited at all. I’ve heard that the Qi family only invited Chang Zhiyuan’s family.”

“I’ve heard everything while I was sitting beside the Chang family just now. The Qi family didn’t welcome these people, and that was the reason why they didn’t receive the Qi family’s invitation. They wanted to go upstairs shamelessly but the Qi family disagreed.”

“I’ve heard that Changhe is facing difficulty at the moment. Most of the partners who had collaborations with Changhe didn’t continue their contracts since the Chang family didn’t get along well with the Qi family. That was why Changhe suffered quite a huge loss.”

The commotion was getting hectic and noisy, all thanks to Huang Pinggui and Wang Lixia. The teary-eyed Wang Lixia ran toward Chang Jingqiu again, grabbed her shoulders and wailed while shaking her repeatedly.

Chang Jingqiu had lost her mind at the current moment. She no longer cared about reasons or theatricality and deceptions. Her hair ended up in a mess like a crazy madwoman after she was shaken consistently by Wang Lixia. The only thing she could do was to scream with a high-pitched tone, “Let me go, you lunatic! I want to disown you. Who are you to demand my recognition? Let me go!”

Chang Zhixing’s cheeks were flushed red out of embarrassment and anger as he yelled for help. “Is there a shortage of staff in Dynasty? Why did you even allow these lunatics to wreak havoc in this place? Is there anyone who can control this situation?!”

“Hey, what’s with all this noise? What happened?” A typical bystander’s thunderous voice appeared out of nowhere.

The Chang family had no time to search for the owner of the voice at this instant. However, someone else answered for them, “Grandfather Ruan!”

“Eh? Xiao Liu?” Grandfather Ruan sounded pleasantly surprised.

Anyone who recognized this “Xiao Liu” would have their lips twitched since Grandfather Ruan might be the only one who dared to greet him as Xiao Liu.

“Why did you come here?” Another elderly man squeezed through the crowd and stared at Grandfather Ruan while blowing his mustache.

“You’re here too?” Grandfather Ruan nearly jumped.

“I’m having lunch with Xiao Liu!” Grandfather Xiao rolled his eyes and shifted his gaze to the busy Chang family. “Aren’t they your in-laws?”

“What in-laws—we don’t even recognize them. My in-laws are celebrating Youxuan’s birthday upstairs.” Grandfather Ruan pouted, and the crowds could hear their conversation very clearly too.

Those who recognized Grandfather Xiao informed those who were clueless about his identity, and slowly but surely, the identity of Grandfather Xiao traveled to Chang Zhixing’s ears, which gave him quite a shock.

Even Grandmother Chang failed to realize that Grandfather Ruan was acquainted with many reputed individuals and that Chang Zhiyuan was telling the truth after all.

“Everyone, please be the judges! Boohoo! We’re so unfortunate!” Wang Lixia would not let Grandmother Chang go.

Grandmother Chang’s skin went pale as she pointed at Wang Lixia with a trembling finger. All of a sudden, her eyes rolled back and darkness consumed her completely.

“Mom!” Chang Zhixing carried Grandmother Chang and rushed to the hospital.

Grandfather Ruan clicked his tongue in response. “What a disturbance. Well, I should return to continue Youxuan’s birthday celebration.”

Then, Grandfather Ruan left with his hands clasped behind his back.

Grandfather Xiao figured that if Lao Ruan was here, Lao Qi would be here too. Thus, he followed closely behind Grandfather Ruan. “I’m going too. Xiao Liu, prepare a set of chess. Hurry!”

“Why are you following me? I didn’t invite you,” Grandfather Ruan joked with a tone of disgust.

“Who’d chase customers out like you did?” Grandfather Xiao was not annoyed and instead followed Grandfather Ruan with perseverance. The crowd had a feeling that Grandfather Xiao was an obsequious elderly man at the current moment which was quite a rare sight.

“There’s no problem in attending, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to attend Youxuan’s birthday empty-handed.” Grandfather Ruan came to a halt and waited for Grandfather Xiao.

Grandfather Xiao pouted in response. “You’re so materialistic. Fine, do I look like a stingy person to you?”

“I can see that you’ve come empty-handed.” Grandfather Ruan then took out a red packet from his pocket. “This is for you and don’t forget to make it thick. Youxuan is very practical and will be very happy if you give him money.”

Grandfather Xiao almost choked and accepted the empty red packet begrudgingly. “Do you have more red packets?”

“Eh? You wish to give two red packets? How sincere of you, I feel embarrassed!” Grandfather Ruan’s eyes turned into crescent moons at the thought of an exhilarated Youxuan when he received the money.

Grandfather Ruan took full responsibility for bringing these moneybags to Youxuan!

“Dream on!” Grandfather Xiao hissed through gritted teeth and wondered if this elderly man had any moral principle left of a scientist. “Xiao Liu needs to prepare a gift too, yes? He’ll be embarrassed to attend the birthday party empty-handed, am I right, Xiao Liu?”

Grandfather Xiao noticed Xiao Liu, who was actually a man of high authority, while he was answering Grandfather Ruan’s question. A Dynasty’s waiter was following closely behind Xiao Liu with two boxes of chess pieces and a chessboard in his hand.

“Ha ha.” Xiao Liu smiled begrudgingly before accepting the red packet from the delighted Grandfather Ruan.

…

…

The children had no idea regarding the commotion with the Chang family and ended the birthday party with great satisfaction.

Qi Chenglin received a phone call from Jiang Yuan stating that Grandmother Chang was sent to Chutian Hospital for treatment. Even though she was awake at the moment, her health deteriorated after receiving a huge psychological impact and required adequate rest to recuperate. It was speculated that her condition would get worse if she received further emotional and psychological trauma.

“Then we should trigger her more,” Qi Chenglin replied before hanging up the phone call. He tapped gently on the table with the tips of his fingernails before making another phone call. “Hi, Wen Ren…”

…

…

Grandmother Chang was resting in a VIP sick room in Chutian Hospital, languished after receiving emotional trauma which led to vasovagal syncope.

Geriatrics could not tolerate physical or emotional triggers well. One’s vitality would be damaged even if he was merely suffering from a normal disease, and his health would deteriorate immediately to the extent that his remaining life could be deducted by days with senescence clearly visible to the naked eyes.

Grandmother Chang was lying on the sickbed with the head end of the bed raised, assuming a sitting position. There was a small over-bed table in front of her with a bowl of bird’s nest on it. Despite the constant nutrient replenishment with ginseng and bird’s nest, Grandmother Chang appeared weak with an ashen-grey complexion and sunken eyes, and even her lips were barely there. The wrinkles on her face were more visible at present too.

“Hey, Old Madam, why haven’t you recovered after consuming all those tonic soups and nutrients?” A woman greeted while walking like the wind into the room and sat on the chair beside Grandmother Chang’s sickbed.

Grandmother Chang’s expression darkened at the sight of this woman. She was Aunt Wu, the woman who witnessed Grandmother Chang having a conversation with Ruan Danchen at the entrance of Chutian Hospital’s outpatient department last time.

Aunt Wu’s grandchild was discharged from Chutian Hospital after his successful treatment for acute appendicitis not long ago, but her second daughter-in-law was hospitalized for labor and currently stayed in Chutian Confinement Center at this instant. After visiting her daughter-in-law, she would take the trouble to visit and disgust Grandmother Chang daily and without fail.

Grandmother Chang merely gave a few comments about Aunt Wu last time, right? Thus, Aunt Wu came here every day to inform her about everything that had happened in the outside world.

“Aunt Wu.” Chang Jingqiu managed to squeeze a smile onto her face.

Chang Jingqiu came to visit and accompany Grandmother Chang every day too. Recent events had discredited the Chang family and Changhe’s performance had gone downhill as a result. The troubled Chang Zhixing sighed and was forced to work overtime in Changhe every day.

On the other hand, Chang Jingqiu could no longer tolerate the staff’s peculiar gazes and planned to stay away from all those disgraceful matters for a few days.

“Hey, Jingqiu is here every day too!” Aunt Wu recalled something all of a sudden and covered her mouth while giggling. “Well, it’s troublesome for you to go out on these days anyway, and it’s good that Old Madam is able to rest here without any disturbance. You’ve no idea about the comments they gave about the Chang family in the society right now. They said the Chang family failed to distinguish right from wrong, and you…”

Aunt Wu pretended to twitch her lips awkwardly and continued. “They said you were a malicious woman who attempted to harm your biological granddaughter. The outrageous rumors went flying thick in the social circle, stating that your youngest daughter-in-law and you combined forces with Chang Jingqiu—an outsider—to coerce your eldest son’s resignation from Changhe, and even tried to defame Ruan Danchen by spreading the news about her overpowering those close to her and attempted to demand her divorce.”

“Tut-tut.” Aunt Wu shook her head. “Are these for real? There’s evidence supporting these rumors! Tut-tut… If the rumors are true, how unusual would your mind be to perform? Did your son return to tell you all these? Those within the social circle ceased any form of communication with the Chang family because of these rumors except Chang Zhiyuan since they only considered Chang Zhiyuan to be the person in charge of the Chang family.”

Grandmother Chang pursed her lips tightly out of exasperation but Aunt Wu ignored her and continued. “I’ve heard that Chang Jingqiu offended the Shen family as well. What happened at that time? Care to enlighten me?”

The curious Aunt Wu shifted her gaze to Chang Jingqiu, who avoided direct eye contact, before continuing, “I’ve heard that the Shen family contributed to the trouble Changhe faced at the moment too.”

“That’s enough!” Grandmother Chang slammed the half-empty bowl of bird’s nest on the table. “You’re not welcome here.”

“Hey, why did you become angry?” Aunt Wu stood up. “Old Madam, there’s no need to act like a boss here, it doesn’t work on anyone anymore. Do you still think you’re the same Grandmother Chang of the Chang family? No one recognizes your side of the Chang family now.”

Aunt Wu smiled faintly. “I think you failed to realize that to the outsiders, your side of the family is considered a poor collateral branch of the Chang family. You need your eldest son to continue the wealth and status of the Chang family.”

“Get out!” yelled Grandmother Chang, who had reached the end of her forbearance.

Aunt Wu remained unbothered and left the room with a smile.

Then, Aunt Wu met with Chang Zhixing and Liu Xiangwen at the doorstep. It was obvious that they had overheard their conversation and Grandmother Chang’s furious roar because Chang Zhixing was smoldering underneath his stony expression.

Aunt Wu pretended as if nothing had happened and greeted the duo before leaving.

The relaxed Aunt Wu hummed softly while she was on her way toward the confinement center and dialed a phone number at the same time. “Mrs. Qi, it’s me, Xiao Wu.”

“…”

“Don’t you worry. I’ve been reporting to Grandmother Chang every day. She wants to rest peacefully? Ha ha.”

“Sorry to trouble you for these few days. Let’s play mahjong together next time,” replied the satisfied Guan Liya who was holding the phone in one hand with a slice of watermelon on the other hand.

“Hey, it’s not troublesome at all since I’m quite bored as well. It’s just a small issue anyway. Let’s play mahjong together next time, that’s a deal,” Aunt Wu replied with a smile.

…

…

Chang Zhixing frowned and sat opposite Grandmother Chang, who was coughing and hacking continuously after getting insulted by Aunt Wu. Her initial pale skin was flushed red after the constant tussis but it was not a sign of good health.

Liu Xiangwen and Chang Jingqiu were by Grandmother Chang’s side. One of them tapped her back gently while the other held a glass of water to feed her.

Grandmother Chang finally regained her calm after a while. After noticing Chang Zhixing’s wish to speak but stop on second thought, her expression softened and gaze full of love. “Are you tired after handling the problems in the company?”

“Mom, I think…we…should ask for Big Brother’s return.” Chang Zhixing’s tightened fist relaxed momentarily. He appeared dispirited, reluctant to voice out his opinion, but more importantly, he was helpless when the trouble overwhelmed him.

“What happened? Zhixing, I trust you. I believe you can solve the trouble Changhe is facing currently. You—”

“It’s not like that,” Chang Zhixing interrupted. He glanced at Grandmother Chang for a brief moment before shifting it elsewhere and sighed. “A shipment of solid wood furniture was detained recently due to disqualification, but it’s an urgent and huge shipment. It’ll be a breach of contract if we fail to deliver the shipment on time. The company paid a lot of money just to expedite the production process, so we can’t afford to suffer losses. We really need the rest of the shipment payment to solve the current situation, but now we can’t receive the balance amount and the shipment can’t be delivered on time. Not to mention that we have to return the down payment and pay an indemnity according to the contract too. The company can’t afford to suffer such a huge loss.”

“To be honest, this shipment has the same quality as all the previous shipments. Not all the goods will have the same qualification if these cargos are checked randomly and they usually turn a blind eye toward it. Every company will face the same issue no matter what kind of goods they sell. That’s why there are frequent consumers’ complaints regarding some faulty products. It’s fortunate that we aren’t selling electronic products and there won’t be much of an effect if the products fall slightly under the approval standard. Everything should be fine unless there is obvious adulteration or change in material.” In all honesty, there were many unscrupulous merchants who camouflaged the adulterated products into seemingly perfect goods.

“We’ve no idea what happened this time. They were strict in the quality assessment of our products and wouldn’t certify us in any case. We tried every method but the authority acted just and stern all of a sudden,” ended Chang Zhixing.

“Could this be the Qi family’s doing?” Grandmother Chang was annoyed after this thought occurred to her.

Chang Zhixing’s gaze at Grandmother Chang flabbergasted since it was a rare sight for her to figure things out intelligently.

“I’ve tried asking around. Do you remember Mr. Liu who was with Grandfather Xiao in Dynasty at that time? Well, he mentioned this issue to the authorities.” Chang Zhixing peeled an apple for Grandmother Chang before continuing, “Grandfather Xiao is a good friend of Grandfather Ruan, who’s also Ruan Danchen’s grandpa.”

Chang Zhiyuan had reminded them about the intimacy between Grandfather Ruan and Grandfather Xiao, but none of them took this to heart.

Grandfather Ruan seemed to be related to this issue no matter how they looked at it.

“He… He…is an unfilial son!” The exasperated Grandmother Chang pressed on her chest, which felt painful whenever rage consumed her ever since she suffered from vasovagal syncope last time.

“Mom, I think Big Brother was expecting this outcome. Didn’t he mention before leaving the house that he won’t be bothered if anything happened to Changhe? He won’t care if we prosper or fail. I think he must be waiting for this exact moment,” Liu Xiangwen reminded while supporting Grandmother Chang.

Chang Zhixing smiled out of anger. Liu Xiangwen was complaining despite the fact that the company was on the brink of collapse. “Shut up! Why are you preventing Big Brother’s return in any case? Are you happy if the company faces bankruptcy?”

“That’s not what I mean! I’m just saying that his attitude is beyond measure. His words were sugar-coated when he said that he wouldn’t go against the company, but in mere days after he left, Changhe started to face trouble,” the teary-eyed Liu Xiangwen protested.

“That’s enough! Grandfather Ruan is avenging Ruan Danchen in this issue and may not be related to Big Brother after all,” replied Chang Zhixing.

Liu Xiangwen smirked. Chang Zhixing’s words sounded nice and just but he could not refrain from defaming Chang Zhiyuan too.

“Mom, we need to compensate for the breach of contract and pay for the disqualification of products’ penalty charges. If Big Brother doesn’t come back to solve this problem, the company won’t really go into bankruptcy, but half of our assets will be gone,” Chang Zhixing hissed the truth through gritted teeth.

Grandmother Chang was truly surprised at this moment. How huge the loss would Changhe suffer if Changhe had to bear half of the losses based on its strong foundation?

Frankly speaking, this was partly Chang Zhixing’s fault too. Many canceled their collaborations with Changhe previously and caused Changhe’s performance to decrease for almost forty percent instantly. Chang Zhixing’s reputation was at risk at the moment.

There were voices of disagreement in the company recently too, stating that Chang Zhiyuan should not resign from the company and that he was more capable of managing the company than Chang Zhixing ever could.

Work stress had overwhelmed Chang Zhixing during this period, and when this shipment order arrived at Chang Zhixing’s doorstep, he accepted the order without thinking this through. Who could have expected this to end up disastrously?

“Why…why aren’t you careful in making decisions?” Grandmother Chang pressed on her chest again due to dyspnea.

“Everyone seems to be chatting happily.” All of a sudden, a male voice that radiated contempt traveled into the room.

The Chang family turned toward the door and saw Qi Chenglin wearing a business suit set, standing tall and straight at the doorstep with his head almost touching the top of the door frame. Despite his slim and tall build, his presence seemed to have occupied every space the door had to offer.

Qi Chenglin’s aura was too strong!

Even though Qi Chenglin wore a flat expression, they could see the contempt on his face as if he was taking pleasure in their misfortunes.

“What are you doing here?” Grandmother Chang complained harshly since she did not welcome Qi Chenglin at all.

Qi Chenglin remained silent and simply stepped aside. Then, a woman rushed into the room.

Chang Jingqiu’s face turned chalky in an instant upon seeing the woman and tried to move her wheelchair backward subconsciously.

The woman who rushed into the room like a lunatic was actually Liu Ronghua!

Liu Ronghua looked so much different than her usual self. Previously, Liu Ronghua appeared delicate with smooth, tender and fair skin, and looked at least ten years younger than her actual age. Her name fully described her temperament—elegant and graceful. Her delicacy felt as if she could not lift anything with her shoulders or hands at all.

However, Liu Ronghua wore handwoven cloth and her initial glossy hairs had become a fractious mess of tangles with white hairs visible among the heap of dried grass, tied behind her head at the current moment. Her initial fair and smooth skin had turned shriveled and sallow, with melanin overproduction underneath her skin that appeared as though coal was smeared across her skin, obviously due to prolonged exposure to sunlight without proper ultraviolet ray protection.

There was no delicate makeup on Liu Ronghua’s face. Her eyebrows were so thin that they were barely there. The crow’s feet were long and deep, with obvious cracks on her lips due to prolonged dehydration.

Liu Ronghua’s fingernails were usually beautifully polished, but they were currently cut short and appeared dull due to lack of care. Her exposed wrists and hands were especially dark too.

Liu Ronghua currently appeared like a woman who lived in a village in a remote mountain area at first glance.

“Chang Jingqiu, you’ll feel my wrath!” Liu Ronghua rushed forward, grabbed Chang Jingqiu’s hair and pulled her off the wheelchair single-handedly. Even the wheelchair could not escape its fate of smashing onto the floor.

A delicate woman who could not open a bottle cap herself initially had become strong like an ox.

Liu Ronghua yearned for Chang Jingqiu’s death. On the same day she was sold to Crippled Wang in the village, she woke up to see the unfamiliar mother and son in front of her.

The mother, who looked tough and fierce, merely told Liu Ronghua that she was sold to them and that she would teach Liu Ronghua a lesson if Liu Ronghua disobeyed them.

Liu Ronghua did not sign up for this, so there was no way she would comply. She yelled and screamed for help like a lunatic for quite a while but the mother and son merely stared at her coldly. The mother allowed her to scream as much as she wanted since her attempt would be futile anyway and merely sat on the wooden chair with her leg over another, enjoying the scene with an icy cold and cruel smile on her face.

However, Liu Ronghua was famished and dehydrated, and she ended up losing consciousness again after a while.

Liu Ronghua was drained of energy when she regained consciousness. They made no attempt in feeding her in fear that she would try to escape.

When the mother and son went to the field for work after the sun had risen, Liu Ronghua tried to escape since she was alone and met with a few villagers after a while.

The female villagers recognized Liu Ronghua and said, “Are you the wife Crippled Wang bought? Where are you going?”

Liu Ronghua hastily begged for the female villagers’ help, figuring that they should sympathize with her since they were all women. They could at least provide her with some food so that she could regain some energy to continue her escape.

The teary-eyed Liu Ronghua pleaded for food; even a sip of porridge would help greatly. She even mentioned that she would reward them handsomely if they could assist in her escape.

However, the women became angry after realizing that Liu Ronghua attempted to escape and dragged her back to where she belonged.

Hunger and thirst gnawed at Liu Ronghua and she barely had enough energy to even walk, so how could she fend off these women?

Thus, they took Liu Ronghua back to the house and one of them even went to the field to explain Liu Ronghua’s attempt to flee.

This raised an uproar, and Crippled Wang and his mother rushed back home in an instant. The ferocious mother entered the house and fed Liu Ronghua with punches and kicks. She even tightened her grip on Liu Ronghua’s hair and slammed her foot onto Liu Ronghua’s abdomen with all her might.

A woman’s abdomen was very fragile and could be damaged fairly easily. The constant kicks made Liu Ronghua feel nauseous, but nothing was ejected from her mouth due to an empty stomach after prolonged fasting.

Crippled Wang did not want to miss all the fun. He walked over with the aid of his walking stick and smashed the crutch on Liu Ronghua’s body. Liu Ronghua had never suffered such physical torture before this and there was nothing she could do except to curl herself up like a prawn while tears and snots smeared across her face.

On the other hand, the women who took Liu Ronghua back home showed no sympathy at all. They merely stood aside and glanced coldly while scolding that Liu Ronghua was a discontented wife.

They also commented that Liu Ronghua was a foxy woman who did not behave like a wife and merely knew how to hook up with other men.

Liu Ronghua lacked the energy to beg for mercy at that time. In fact, she was too weak to cry or even sniffle. Thus, tears and snots streamed down her face like a river escaping a dam.

The mother continued her reprimand, “Go ahead and run! Come on, run for your life! We’ll teach you a lesson every time you try to escape. Let me tell you this, once you’re in, you can never go out of this village anymore, so accept your fate and work for us. Serve us well and we can let you have your meals. No one will bat an eye if you’re beaten to death! For your information, many wives have died after suffering from tortures, but none came to punish us. Even the police could do nothing against us!”

Liu Ronghua lost consciousness again.

It was midnight when Liu Ronghua woke up, disturbed by the strange sensation on her body. It almost felt like her world was spinning and her reaction time was a fraction slower due to prolonged hypoglycemia, and it was after her conscious mind asserted control again when she realized that someone was humping her crazily.

Liu Ronghua could even hear the disgusting pant of ecstasy and smell the foul stench of long term tobacco usage mixed with halitosis. All these made Liu Ronghua feel like throwing up.

Liu Ronghua felt an excruciating pain down her body but she was too exhausted to resist. Tears rolled down her cheeks due to overwhelming humiliation as the man on top of her continued his exercise to release his sexual tension.

In the end, Crippled Wang let out a foul breath of euphoric bliss before turning over from Liu Ronghua’s side and started snoring.

The duo finally gave Liu Ronghua food the next day, but it was just a bowl of rice water with a few rice grains floating on it. It was pathetic to even consider it as a bowl of porridge.

The mother went to the field after finishing her meal while Crippled Wang stayed at home to watch Liu Ronghua, who was expected to wash all the dirty clothes and prepare lunch.

However, these were all Greek to Liu Ronghua. When there was any slight lagging in her movement or even a mere expression of reluctance, Crippled Wang would punish her with more beating with his crutch.

Liu Ronghua’s previous injuries had not healed with no medication to hasten the healing process, and she had to endure Crippled Wang’s sexual assault in the middle of the night. How could she possibly endure more beatings?

Liu Ronghua yielded without a choice, but the desire to escape this hellhole persisted. She lived a wonderful life in B City previously and was forced to endure inhuman tortures in this god-forsaken village at present. How could she possibly find peace at such a huge contrast?

Any normal human being would not spend all of his life in such a desolate place, not to mention being touched by that wretched man.

Liu Ronghua was disgusted and nearly puked after taking a good look at Crippled Wang in broad daylight. Never in her life had she been touched by such a grotesque man!

This routine persisted for a few days with the mother working in the field while Crippled Wang stayed at home as a guard. She would consume a bowl of rice water for three meals each day and Crippled Wang would dip his wick on her every night.

The mother mentioned that there was not enough rice for the three of them, but Liu Ronghua figured that they disallowed her to eat her fill on purpose so that she would not have enough energy to flee.

On the other hand, the mother and son would always have a full bowl of rice to consume each meal with no meat but a plate of greens as the main dish. Even so, Liu Ronghua was craving for a bowl of plain white rice after drinking rice water all this while.

After living such a miserable life for quite some time, the mother figured that Liu Ronghua gave up her attempt to escape and instructed Crippled Wang to work in the field together with her. Liu Ronghua, who appeared ten years older than her actual age, sallow and emaciated due to prolonged hunger, had not given up on fleeing this place. She would not beg for those women’s assistance anymore as her consequence would be disastrous once she was caught.

Thus, Liu Ronghua had no choice but to fight the urge to escape. An escape plan needed to be formulated beforehand and if possible, she would scout for escape routes personally.

Liu Ronghua pretended to have given up hope and accepted the fate that she was going to live here for the rest of her life. She performed her work in the day honestly and would eat some rice or a few vegetables stealthily while she was preparing lunch.

After the mother and son dropped their guards, Liu Ronghua seized the opportunity and tried to stop by each house to grasp the routes on this mountain.

However, it was unexpected that the women considered Liu Ronghua’s behavior as trying to hook up with their men at home. They remained silent in her presence but would complain to the mother and son secretly instead.

Thus, the mother and son resumed their beating on Liu Ronghua every meal and scolded. “Hook up with men! Not perform your duty well! Horny! Lustful!”

Liu Ronghua pleaded for forgiveness and begged for mercy. “I won’t do it again!”

However, Crippled Wang and his mother refused to believe Liu Ronghua. She would receive a beating from them if she shifted her gaze ever so slightly to the side even though they were alone outside.

If someone dropped by the house and the visitor was unfortunately a man, Crippled Wang and his mother would still torture Liu Ronghua if the man nodded or even peeked at her for a very brief moment, not to mention if it was just a simple chitchat.

Although Liu Ronghua became sallow and emaciated after constant tortures, she was still the most beautiful woman as compared to other women in this village as she took care of herself well before this. Even though there were young women aged between eighteen to twenty years old in the village, none looked as pretty and delicate as Liu Ronghua.

All the women had become rough after living in this village for so long.

Thus, the men could not help but glanced at Liu Ronghua subconsciously, which Crippled Wang and his mother remained silent about this in the visitors’ presence. Instead, they would punish Liu Ronghua terribly once the male visitors left the house.

Liu Ronghua suffered from physical tortures in the day and aggravated sexual tortures by Crippled Wang at night.

Those physical injuries left Liu Ronghua drained of all energy to escape and nearly descended into insanity.

Days went by and Liu Ronghua was driven to the edge of lunacy, but on the bright side, she became tough and hardy with a tremendous increase in her physical strength after all those training sessions.

Finally, a group of people visited the village yesterday and insisted on bringing Liu Ronghua home.

Initially, fear struck Liu Ronghua since she had no idea who these people were, worrying that they were kidnappers or human traffickers in charge of bringing her to a worse hellhole.

In the end, Liu Ronghua was informed by the leader that they were from the Wen family and responsible for bringing Liu Ronghua back to B City.

Even though Liu Ronghua did not encounter the Wen family before this, she had heard rumors about them. At least none dare to impersonate the Wen family to swindle and bluff nowadays.

Tears of joy and excitement rolled down Liu Ronghua’s cheeks. All the emotions which accumulated within her after all those tortures—grievance, agony, peace and various emotions—exploded at that instant.

Liu Ronghua returned to B City this morning. Those from the Wen family brought her straight to Chutian Hospital’s main entrance without providing her with any change of clothes.

Qi Chenglin, who was waiting for Liu Ronghua at the main entrance, gave her a chance to seek revenge on Chang Jingqiu, who was present in this building at the moment.

Liu Ronghua recalled all the humiliation, tortures and inhuman treatment during her period of stay at that hellhole.

If it was not for the fact that Liu Ronghua feared death, she would commit suicide if she had any courage to end her life.

The nightmares gave Liu Ronghua post-traumatic stress disorder, and any flashbacks would give her the urge to vomit and welcome death. Her eyes would glow red with fiery rage whenever she recalled Crippled Wang and his evil, wicked mother. Even Chang Jingqiu’s life could not compensate for the terrors she endured during that period and calm her rage.

No, Liu Ronghua wanted Chang Jingqiu to experience the same hell she walked through. Chang Jingqiu needed to suffer a hundred or a thousand times worse than the torment she endured even though her hatred would not be satisfied.

Liu Ronghua was once a woman of fashion in high society in B City but ended up in that desolate village to be tortured by the grotesque Crippled Wang. She could not wait to skin those who bullied her alive, cut their tendons, and chop their bones and flesh to mere pieces.

Liu Ronghua even wanted them to enjoy her sweet revenge while still being alive!

Even though Liu Ronghua was always in the receiving end during the beating, she became experienced and learned Crippled Wang’s mother’s powerful whacking skill.

Even the likes of Wang Lixia was incomparable to Crippled Wang’s mother. They were not in the same category after all.

Everyone in the sick room at this moment was used to a comfortable and luxurious life since young, so they merely knew how to retaliate with words to those they disliked. None of them would solve an argument with a fistfight, let alone using the fighting style of a shrew.

Chang Jingqiu could not take such a beating even in her best condition, not to mention in her current disabled state too.

There was no delicacy or feminism noted in Liu Ronghua’s face at this moment, only a cruel ferocity when she fed Chang Jingqiu with punches, slaps, and kicks.

“B*tch! B*tch! B*tch!” Liu Ronghua roared through gritted teeth, fighting the urge to bite every piece of flesh off Chang Jingqiu at this instant. One of her hands which was holding Chang Jingqiu’s hair shook violently as if trying to separate the cranium off of the cervical spine.

Chang Jingqiu’s lower half was incapable of movement and her lower limbs rested powerlessly on the floor, but her body was in the air, attached to the hair which was entangled within Liu Ronghua’s fingers, and her head seemed to be on the verge of disconnecting from her body at the current moment.

Grandmother Chang was frozen to the spot, afraid and surprised. This was the first time she witnessed such a crazy beating style, and there was nothing she could do but to scream at the top of her lungs with a chalky complexion.

“Let me go! Let me go!” Chang Jingqiu exclaimed. Her usual image disappeared into thin air as she waved her arms frantically in the air, but failed to connect with Liu Ronghua’s hands.

“Let her go!” Chang Zhixing yelled, attempting to step forward and stop Liu Ronghua.

All of a sudden, two men rushed into the room and closed the door. One of them darted toward Chang Zhixing and pinned him down while the other stood still in front of Liu Xiangwen, who was too afraid to move a muscle.

“Who are you people? Qi Chenglin, what the hell are you doing?” Chang Zhixing struggled but his attempt proved to be futile when the stranger seemed to have blocked his acupoints by pinning his wrists down.

“I borrowed them from Wen Ren and mean you no harm. You only need to stay calm and listen to what Liu Ronghua has to say,” answered Qi Chenglin in a calm voice as he stood close to the door. “Why did she bear such a huge grudge for no reason?”

Perhaps the term ‘Wen Ren’s people’ worked like a charm. Chang Zhixing stopped struggling instantly after hearing that term and stared at the two strangers with fright and doubt.

The duo wore flat expressions and their auras radiated icy cold of death.

Was this a usual aura radiated by those trained in Lanshan Institute?

Grandmother Chang pressed on her chest again, helpless to stop Liu Ronghua. Even if there was no one guarding Liu Xiangwen, there was no way she would fight with Liu Ronghua for Chang Jingqiu’s sake too.

Liu Xiangwen was reluctant to lose her dignity, and she was too weak in comparison with the enraged Liu Ronghua.

Thus, all of them watched helplessly as Liu Ronghua rampaged like a tough and ferocious wild woman with their eyes widened in disbelief. What sort of resentment caused Liu Ronghua to acquire an entirely new appearance and attitude?

Since no one dared to stop Liu Ronghua, she enjoyed her sweet revenge while making sure that Chang Jinqiu was alive to experience the agony.

Most of the time, Liu Ronghua grabbed a bunch of Chang Jingqiu’s hair and tore it apart from the scalp, leaving the bloody hairs scattering on the ground in a mess.

Whatever Crippled Wang and his mother did to Liu Ronghua at that time, she gave Chang Jingqiu the exact same way.

Occasionally, Liu Ronghua would pinch Chang Jingqiu’s flesh with all her might while connecting her foot with Chang Jingqiu’s lower abdomen fiercely from time to time, attempting to damage Chang Jingqiu’s uterus so that she would be incapable of conceiving in the future.

Chang Jingqiu’s scream of agony echoed in the room, but the outside world remained clueless due to superb sound insulation in every sick room in Chutian Hospital.

Qi Chenglin kept this a secret from Ruan Danchen since the gore and violence was not a pleasant sight for the pregnant Ruan Danchen. Moreover, the Chang family was her mother’s home. No matter what became of the Chang family, the outsiders would give derogatory comments about Ruan Danchen if she took part in any events related to the Chang family.

Some people would give criticisms from a moral standpoint on issues which were none of their concerns. Those were the people who liked to put themselves in the opposing party and find fault in others no matter what choices were made. However, they failed to realize that they might consider the same choice too if they put themselves in others’ shoes. It was despicable that they assumed that they were the only sensible parties with their words always right and just.

Other than Chang Jingqiu’s body, Liu Ronghua did not spare her face too. Initially, Chang Jingqiu was able to guard her head with both her arms, but after Liu Ronghua’s constant punches, kicks and slaps, Chang Jingqiu went limp like a doll whom Liu Ronghua could punish at will.

Chang Jingqiu’s initial pretty face became badly mutilated. Her lips were swollen like two dark purple sausages with blood oozing out of split flesh.

The pain numbed Chang Jingqiu’s face, and her eyes were swollen and painful. Her vision blurred as everything seemed to be badly pixelated.

Her insensitive lips felt warm and wet, with a metallic taste at the tip of her tongue.

Crimson fluid trickled down her body and splattered onto the ground. Chang Jingqiu was dumbfounded.

Everyone in this room except Qi Chenglin and two undercover bodyguards from the Wen family were frozen to the spot.

Chang Jingqiu felt something hard with blood pooling in her mouth. Since she could not swallow them, she spat them out.

An audible click followed; it was a broken tooth sitting among the pool of blood on the ground.

Liu Ronghua’s raging fire showed no sign of extinguishment. How she wished Crippled Wang could come over and decimate Chang Jingqiu as he wished.

During those days, Liu Ronghua received physical punishment every meal daily and was sexually tortured by Crippled Wang at night. The beating Chang Jingqiu received at this moment was nothing compared to those miseries.

Liu Ronghua was fully aware that this was her only chance to seek revenge on Chang Jingqiu, so how could she feel satisfied with only one round of beating?

After Chang Jingqiu was left devastated without any ability to resist further, Liu Ronghua yelled while delivering whacks on her. “B*tch, I gifted you wealth and prosperity when I delivered you to the Chang family, or else you might be sold to some shabby villages in the mountain and left to suffer.”

The exasperated Liu Ronghua regretted her decision to buy Chang Jingqiu initially and should have let her suffer hardships and tortures somewhere in the mountain at that time!

“I merely asked you for some money. Even if you were reluctant to comply, you didn’t have to be ruthless and cruel by selling me to the human traffickers who traded me to a remote village in the mountain. The tortures I endured during that period were unimaginable. Even your death can’t get rid of the hatred I have for you!” Liu Ronghua howled while sending fists and kicks to Chang Jingqiu.

Finally, Liu Ronghua’s energy was used up, and she threw Chang Jingqiu’s head onto the ground angrily.

The lateral side of Chang Jingqiu’s head slammed onto the floor which was covered by a thick carpet, so there was no loud sound produced from the knock.

However, Chang Jingqiu’s mind had fogged up after receiving constant blows. Even though her head was knocked against a soft carpet, she still experienced a dull ache in her scalp.

The exhausted Liu Ronghua panted and pointed toward Chang Jingqiu while speaking to the emotionally unstable Grandmother Chang, “I bought this piece of sh*t from a couple in a village, but I think you’re aware of this by now. I sold them to you, which there’s no need for you to know the reason, but at least I gave her wealth and prosperity. I encountered some financial difficulties so I told her the truth. If she gave me the money I requested, I wouldn’t bother her anymore or tell you the truth, but she had a guilty conscience. I don’t know from where she was acquainted with those people, but she sold me to a remote village and let me suffer!”

“She realized that she wasn’t born in the Chang family but chose to keep this a secret from you; she didn’t want to leave all this wealth and status behind after all. If Chang Zhiyuan didn’t suspect that she was a fake, she would continue to impersonate your granddaughter and lie to you for the rest of your life! She was a malicious and wicked lady and yet, you treasured her so dearly.” Rage consumed Liu Ronghua again as she delivered another kick on Chang Jingqiu.

“You assumed that she was a kind lady but in fact, she was crueler than any of us! Initially, she wasn’t aware that she had an identity exchange with Ruan Danchen. She was just jealous of Ruan Danchen and for that reason alone, she tried to get close to me and ingratiate me on purpose so that I would provide information about Ruan Danchen’s past. Then, she exposed everything to defame Ruan Danchen.”

“Humph!” Liu Ronghua smiled coldly. “She gave quite a few bad remarks on Ruan Danchen to you, right? She pretended to do good to you and made you believe that you shared a common enemy. Only an old fool like you would believe that b*tch. Did you truly think she did it for your own good? She was jealous of Ruan Danchen initially, and you were her weapon to defame Ruan Danchen. Since Qi Chenglin didn’t accept her, she didn’t want Ruan Danchen to live a good life either. It was for the best if she could destroy their relationship with your own hand.”

“What about you? Stupid old fool who was used by her every single time. You even scolded your biological granddaughter for that b*tch! I’ve heard that you scolded your daughter at that time too, is it true? Ha ha, don’t pretend that you’re not a stupid old fool.” Liu Ronghua smirked.

“After that, she realized that Ruan Danchen was the actual young madam of the Chang family, so she tried her best to slander Ruan Danchen in your presence so that your hatred toward Ruan Danchen would grow stronger. She was afraid that she could no longer stay in the Chang family once the truth was discovered, so she planted the impression that she was far better than Ruan Danchen in your mind. On the other hand, you were so conceited that you were unwilling to admit your mistakes. You rather made the whole situation worse and hypnotized yourself that you weren’t in the wrong. Thus, you had walked yourself into inhumanity and injustice, all thanks to her.”

“I didn’t treat Ruan Danchen well since she wasn’t my biological daughter after all. I caused her to lose her identity as the young madam of the Chang family since birth and used her to brighten up my future path in the Shen family, but I raised her instead of allowing her to live her life in the street. I guess we don’t owe each other anymore by now, but you tried to harm her when you didn’t even raise her yourself after all these years. You won’t have the courage to face your daughter when you die!”

The moment Liu Ronghua mentioned Chang Yuehuan, Grandmother Chang’s face turned completely blanched. Even so, she could not bring herself to believe Liu Ronghua’s words; she was still trying to run from the truth. She mumbled weakly, “No… That’s impossible…”

“Impossible?” Liu Ronghua stomped on Chang Jingqiu again. “Why don’t you tell her yourself? Tell her that you did all those sinful things!”

Chang Jingqiu refused. She could not muster up enough strength to say a word anyway, merely lying down lifelessly on the floor.

Liu Ronghua tugged on her hair, pulling her limp body up from the ground.

Chang Jingqiu was completely disheveled, her face swollen beyond recognition. Her eyes were so swollen that they were merely two thin lines and was even blood dripping from the corner of her eye.

Her swollen lips made it impossible to close her mouth. They were drenched in blood and more was oozing out of her parted lips.

Her appearance right now would make anyone’s stomach turn.

“Come on, spit it out!!” Liu Ronghua yanked Chang Jingqiu’s hair aggressively, making her head spin.

Finally, Chang Jingqiu could not bear this torture anymore. “That’s right! I did it! I did it all! What did Ruan Danchen do to deserve such a good fate? She had men drooling over her since high school! She’s clearly a cunning vixen, yet she pretends to be as pure as a white lotus. I can’t stand her deceitful act! She’s a b*tch! Even if she’s lucky enough to marry Qi Chenglin, she shouldn’t have toyed with me! She’s already living a good life with Qi Chenglin, yet she never bothered to tell me; she wanted me to lose all my dignity and ridicule me for it.”

As Chang Jingqiu spoke, she sprayed out a mixture of saliva and blood.

Qi Chenglin scoffed coldly. “It was your own fault for looking down on her. You’re the one making all the assumptions, thinking that she’s so useless she can’t even get a man. You never verified any of that with her, yet you were confident that it was the case. If you’ve never asked her, how can you blame her for not telling you? You two aren’t even close, so why would she tell you something like this? Even if she does tell you, you’ll accuse her of showing off anyway. No matter what she does, you’ll still find a way to hate her, so stop making petty excuses.”

“Ahh, nonsense!” Chang Jingqiu’s expression was that of a maniac. “The worst thing she did was stealing my identity! She already has everything, so why does she want to take away what’s mine? Why should she sit so high up above me? Why must she be part of the Chang family while I’m the daughter of those two villagers? Why? Why?! Why am I born into such a lowly life? Why must she be better than me?!”

“If we’re talking about stealing identities, you’re the one who stole hers,” Qi Chenglin mocked, scoffing disdainfully. “She never planned to let the Chang family find out about this. She knows Grandmother Chang’s personality full well, and since no one in the Chang family knew, she was going to leave it be. She merely wanted to find her true parents. You may treasure the ‘Miss Chang’ title deeply, but she barely bats an eye to it. If it weren’t for you being such an ingrate, stealing her identity and tainting her name, she would’ve taken it to the grave.”

Chang Jingqiu paused for a while, then resumed her lunatic screams. “Stop putting her up on such a high pedestal—she doesn’t deserve it! All she does is act to deceive!”

“Hehehehehe!” Chang Jingqiu turned to Grandmother Chang with a petrifying bloody grin. “Why do you all have to ruin this for me? I wouldn’t have ended up here if it weren’t for all of you exposing me! Don’t say I took advantage of this old lady—it’s her own fault for being so stupid!”

Grandmother Chang could not believe those words came out of Chang Jingqiu’s mouth; she prayed that she misheard it.

However, Chang Jingqiu, who was spitting out blood-laced foam, shrieked, “She’s so dumb that she can’t even recognize her own granddaughter. If it weren’t for her stupidity, how could I have used her? Besides, all these years, I’ve been by her side, enduring her temper, flattering her and making her happy. I must deserve some repayment! Her helping me exert revenge on Ruan Danchen should’ve been my compensation!”

Beaten to a pulp, Chang Jingqiu’s thinking was slightly impaired; she thoughtlessly spat out every word that came to mind. Like a drunk mad lad, all she cared about was the sense of satisfaction screaming it all out brought.

Grandmother Chang stared in disbelief. How could someone she cared so genuinely for thought she was a mindless fool? How could Chang Jingqiu see her as a burden and was only using her this entire time?

“You…” started Grandmother Chang, but when she saw Chang Jingqiu’s guiltless and deranged expression, she abruptly felt breathless.

Her chest tightened—it hurt awfully.

Grandmother Chang opened her mouth, yet she still could not breathe. Just then, her vision turned pitch black and her eyes rolled to the back of her head.

“Mom!” Chang Zhixing yelled frantically.

This time, the undercover bodyguards did not stop him. Chang Zhixing bolted to her bedside and pushed the call bell immediately.

Qi Chenglin was not going to linger around anymore. He strode out of the ward with his two undercover bodyguards following close behind him. Seeing this, Liu Ronghua quickly followed them out too.

Just then, the doctor and nurses came rushing into Grandmother Chang’s ward.

“Qi Chenglin,” called out Liu Ronghua as she finally caught up to him.

Qi Chenglin stopped and turned around to hear Liu Ronghua reminding him, “You promised to put Chang Jingqiu in jail.”

“Rest assured, she’s the one who broke the law,” Qi Chenglin commented coolly, then walked away.

…

Ruan Danchen only found out about Grandmother Chang’s incident a few days later.

It was Chang Zhiyuan’s birthday, but he did not want a grand celebration—he was in no mood for it anyway. All he wanted was a warm and cozy meal with his family.

Thus, he called Ruan Danchen’s family of three over. Mo Yuxin even cooked personally for this special occasion.

Everyone gathered around the dining table. Just as Chang Zhiyuan blew out the candle, the doorbell rang.

His housekeeper announced, “Sir, Madam, it’s the second Mr. Chang.”

A moment later, Chang Zhixing walked in.

“What brings you here today?” questioned Chang Zhiyuan, not even standing up to greet him.

“Well, what else could it be besides to celebrate your birthday?” answered a somewhat abashed Chang Zhixing.

When he saw the two families gathered around the table, a strong sense of unbelonging overcame him. It made him feel rather miserable.

Chang Zhiyuan smiled at him. “If you’re truly here for my birthday, you wouldn’t have come alone.”

Chang Zhixing chuckled awkwardly. Chang Zhiyuan offered, “Come, have a seat.”

Cheng Zhixing took a seat beside Chang Jingwan.

“So, what’s the matter? You already came all the way here, no need to be shy.” Chang Zhiyuan ordered the housekeeper to bring an extra bowl and set of cutleries for him.

Chang Zhixing’s face flushed red as he revealed, “Mom had a stroke due to the emotional shock, and she’s now bedridden. Chang Jingqiu was involved in human trafficking, and although not convicted yet, there’s a high chance she’ll end up in jail.”

Ruan Danchen’s confusion was evident on her face. ‘It has only been a few days—how have so many things happened?’ she thought.

Seeing this, Chang Zhixing was going to explain. However, he received intimidating glares from Qi Chenglin and Chang Zhiyuan, warning him to keep his mouth shut. He did.Visit on our vipnovel.com

Grandmother Chang was severely depressed. She lied still on the sickbed, unable to move. Chang Zhixing had employed someone to look after her. As for Chang Jingqiu being taken into custody, Grandmother Chang could not care less about it. After all, Chang Jingqiu used her as a tool without a shred of guilt. Grandmother Chang regretted the years of care she bestowed upon that ingrate; Chang Jingqiu deserved to be punished.

Sadly, Liu Xiangwen, who had always flattered Grandmother Chang to make her happy, was nowhere to be seen since she was admitted into the hospital. Even her dearest grandson, Chang Jianan, never came to visit.

Grandmother Chang yelled and cried out of rage every day. She hated herself for raising all those ingrates.

“I know.” Chang Zhiyuan nodded. “I’ll visit Mom.”

Chang Zhixing stared at him as if he had something to say, but could not force the words out of his mouth. Finally, he gathered up enough courage and begged, “Big Brother, please come back to Changhe—the company can’t be without you. The company is suffering from immense losses lately, and you know full well that I’m not right for this position.”

Although the company was being attacked deliberately, he was still at fault for not being cautious.

When Chang Zhiyuan was in charge of the company, there were still countless attacks targeted at their company. Nevertheless, he never slipped up. Thus, Chang Zhixing could not use it as an excuse for his failure.

Chang Zhiyuan shook his head. “I’ve said it before, I’m not going back. Changhe is yours now, and no matter good or bad, it’s none of my business.”

Chang Zhixing opened his mouth, but before he could utter a word, Chang Zhiyuan interrupted, “Listen, I’m not throwing a tantrum or anything like that; I’m completely serious. I want to retire. I’m already half-retired now, and my children handle most of the matters in my company—I merely supervise them occasionally. I know about Changhe’s losses, but it’s not something that it can’t bear. Just be more cautious next time. Even if you can’t help Changhe return to its original state, I’m confident that the company won’t go bankrupt under your watch. It’s possible to maintain the position it is in now. Bottom line is, you shouldn’t take too big risks anymore. Don’t be so fixed on achieving grandiose things. This only happened because Danchen’s grandfather wanted to stand up for her, and I wholeheartedly agree with his decision. As long as you don’t hurt Danchen again, you don’t have to worry about it happening again.”

“Take this loss as a chance to learn from your mistakes—it’ll benefit you,” advised Chang Zhiyuan.

This matter hurt the Chang family’s position in their social circle quite badly. Nonetheless, Chang Zhiyuan was not bothered by this at all. After all, he was already retiring—he need not socialize with those powerful families anymore.

As for Chang Jingwan, with Ruan Danchen around, she would never be at a disadvantage. Moreover, no one would look down on Chang Jingwan just because of Changhe.

Hence, Chang Zhiyuan truly had nothing to worry about.

Although Chang Zhiyuan spoke calmly, Chang Zhixing knew that he was serious. Thus, he did not try to convince him anymore.

In the end, Chang Zhiyuan asked him to stay until the end of his birthday celebration.

…

In the evening, Qi Chenglin and Ruan Danchen went home with the little one. On the way, they received a call from Guan Liya.

“All of you must hurry to the hospital! Chengyue is going into labor!”

* * * * * *

It was a brisk winter in December and a lively time in the Qi family household.

It was Christmas eve the night before and although the elders of the family do not fancy western holidays, they still celebrated it for the children’s sake. The number of children in the family seemed to be growing; there was Qi Youxuan, Little Youjin, on top of the four-month-old child of Qi Chengyue and Cheng Dongge, and an additional unborn child still in Ruan Danchen’s womb.

Even the decorations around the house were specially made for the children.

Stickers were scattered and stuck on pretty much every corner in the house by Qi Youjin—there was even a Spider-man sticker stuck on the wall by Qi Youxuan. Piles of toys were scattered around both Little Youjin and Little Xi Cheng’s cribs that were arranged side by side against each other.

Since Ruan Danchen was thirty-two weeks pregnant with her unborn child, the elderly Madam Qi prepared an extra crib for her future great grandkid in a separate room. After Ruan Danchen birthed her child, she would then take the crib out and have it placed in the living room with Little Youjin and Little Xicheng.

Since it was Little Youjin’s first year old celebration that day, the entire family placed an extremely tall Christmas tree in the living room to commemorate such a special occasion along with celebrating Christmas. The Christmas tree was decorated with loads of lights and streamers, and there was even a tiny little angel placed on the very top of that tree. Placed under that tree was a couple of adorable little boxes of gifts, waiting for the children to open them later.

They were waiting for Little Youjin to be brought over for the anniversary party set up just for him.

Since Ruan Danchen was pregnant, she could not bear the cold; she was also afraid that the cold was freezing Little Youjin and Little Xi Cheng. Although the heater was already on in the house, the elderly Madam Qi proceeded to warm up the house even more by setting the air conditioner to heater mode, causing the internal room temperature of the house to feel exactly like a summer day. Every single person had their shorts on indoors.

Not long after, Qi Chengzhi carried Little Youjin into the room with Song Yu, and Song Donglin and Yu Qianyin following behind them. Not long after they were all seated, both Qi Chenglin’s family and Cheng Dongge and his wife entered the room.

Since Cheng Dongge’s parents had come a long way from Li City, they were absent yesterday to greet the elders. Qi Chengyue had arranged for them to stay at Dynasty, thus their absence that day. They will be heading to Little Youjin’s anniversary party immediately from the guest room to the banquet hall.

Chang Zhiyuan along with the Ruan family would not be present too as they were heading over to Dynasty directly.

Due to the freezing weather outside, Qi Chenglin was worried about his wife, and thus he gave her two extra layers of clothing to keep her warm.

Since Ruan Danchen was thirty-two weeks pregnant at that moment, she felt as if she was a giant ball rolling as she walked.

The instant she entered the room, she was greeted by the lively environment indoors. As she entered the house, she was completely soaked in her sweat, and thus, she proceeded to remove the many layers of clothing, leaving behind only the thin maternity top which instantly relieved her.

The elderly Madam Chang had gone through a serious stroke, in addition to her astoundingly horrible temper, on top of being used and thoroughly betrayed by Chang Jingqiu; and since she was crippled, her daughter-in-law, Liu Xiangwen had completely disregarded her respect, on top of the drastic downfall of Changhe making her temper exponentially worse, hence causing her to unleash her unchained fury upon her caretaker.

Any ailment would undoubtedly cause anyone to lose their temper, hence the doctor’s advice to stay calm and ride out the storm. However, the elderly Madam Chang was constantly uptight and upset—it was as if she had become addicted to anger.

Ruan Danchen visited her once before. However, she was greeted by the elderly Madam Chang’s coldness and complete ignorance of her presence, thus since then, Ruan Danchen had never once gone back to visit.

Chang Zhiyuan and Mo Yuxin only occasionally visited her since the elderly Madam Chang had a horrible temper and she tends to scold them every time she laid her eyes on them. Hence it was only natural for the married couple to visit her less frequently. They only visited her two to three times a month.

Chang Jinqiu however, was sentenced to five years in prison, and crippled Wang, on the other hand, was also sentenced since he was also involved in kidnapping then raping Liu Ronghua. As for the organization that Chang Jingqiu sought after, since both Chang Jingqiu and crippled Wang were merely an external party in the entire debacle, hence there was no information that crippled Wang could provide.

The only information Chang Jingqiu knew was a person only known as Brother Cheng. However, she ultimately decided to hold on to that piece of information since she had contacted Brother Cheng previously and he had already found a scapegoat, shouldering all the blame for him.

Chang Jingqiu had also known that before Brother Cheng had said anything, and if she dared to even speak anything else about him, she would never live in peace.

Even if Chang Jingqiu was in perfect health, her days in prison would be spent in fear for the squabbles and arguments at night; not to mention she was currently a drug addict. It would be uncertain how horrible she would be treated upon entering prison.

At that moment, the only person she could rely on was herself. Even though she was on friendly terms with Liu Xiangwen in the past, that woman had completely dismissed her existence and Chang Zhiyuan would never spend any time or money to ensure the conditions in her cell would be somewhat better. Chang Jingqiu could only hope Brother Cheng would spare some resources to make her living conditions slightly more bearable and arranged some people for her own safety and protection by the merits of her interesting personality alone.

Even by that fact alone, she was merely a piece of trash. Whoever that was assigned for her safety would be just as worthless and miserable as she was.

However, all Chang Jingqiu could do was bide her time and not rat Brother Cheng out. What misery life in prison was for her, would be a mystery to Ruan Danchen since she had not taken the time to even ask about her wellbeing.

Even more so, Qi Chenglin would never even be bothered to spend an ounce of his energy, time or wealth on a woman like her. He would only ask about her occasionally and he knew how miserable life would undoubtedly be for her since she had never once gone through anything relatively close to being a struggle, hence life in prison would be a living hell for her to bear.

Knowing that woman was having a miserable time made Qi Chenglin extremely relieved.

Since Ruan Danchen was carrying a huge belly at the moment, she found it difficult to sit down, hence, Qi Chenglin immediately placed a pillow behind her seat to support her back.

The instant Little Youjin laid his eyes upon Qi Youxuan as he entered, the toddler’s eyes instantly opened wide as he proceeded to swiftly crawl toward Youxuan, trailing behind him.

Little four-month-old Xicheng, however, was seated beside Qi Chengyue gleefully clapping her hands.

“Er Cheng, you should learn from your big bro here. Hurry up and learn to crawl. That way, you’d get to play with us!” Qi Youxuan said while pointing his chubby hands at Xicheng.

“Guu gaa!” Little Xicheng extended both her arms seemingly wanting to join in on their fun.

Cheng Dongge initially wanted to name his daughter Qi Chengyue, so that she could carry his wife’s name. However, since it was not appropriate for a lady, hence he decided to name her Xicheng.

However, when Qi Chenglin and Ruan Danchen visited Qi Chengyue the very next day after she had given birth, Qi Youxuan unexpectedly pointed at his cousin and simply said, “Oh! This is Er Cheng! My dear sister, you will be nicknamed Er Cheng from now!”

It was unfortunate that Little Xicheng still could not grasp the complicated lessons of life. While she was still sound asleep in her mother’s embrace, her nickname was already given by Qi Youxuan.

Little Xicheng was wiggling her tiny butt while attempting to stand upright as she grabbed onto the edge of the coffee table. Her tiny, short arms were reaching for the center of the coffee table since she wanted to eat the pear that was placed on top of the table. Sadly, her arms were too short and she could not reach it.

Thus, Qi Youxuan extended his arms to grab a slice of pear for her. Little Xicheng held onto the pear fruit with both her chubby hands, as she felt that the fruit was slightly heavy.

It was difficult for her to take a bite out of the fruit with her tiny baby teeth. After several difficult attempts, she could only bite off the peels from the pear as she suckled on the watery juices from the fruit itself. She smiled widely and looked extremely happy from that bite.

Upon seeing such a messy look on his daughter, Qi Chengzhi became annoyed since his child looked normal only moments ago, and all it took was for her to play along with Qi Youxuan for a mere moment to have made such a mess.

“Is all the preparations for the ceremony later, there shouldn’t be any food in the pile right?” Song Yu asked with a concerned voice.

Since there was an ocean of people watching the anniversary ceremony later and Song Yu admitted she tended to be greedy, there should not be any food to tempt the little glutinous kid during the ceremony later. If food was present, this kid would without a doubt be tempted and completely ignore the ceremony planned for him.

Qi Chengzhi nodded seriously and said, “Orders were given already. There’ll be no food allowed.”

After hearing his reply, Song Yu finally let out a huge sigh of relief. However, she looked at her son with a heartbroken expression as she worried how her son would act in the future.

Thus, everyone got ready and was heading out to Dynasty. She had even arranged a huge table in the actual venue where the ceremony would take place so during the ceremony, every single person would have a clear view from the table.

At this moment, Qi Youxuan was pushing the baby stroller while Little Xicheng was seated in it. She was holding onto a box wrapped in a red piece of paper with the words ‘Box of Red Packets’ written on it.

It was obvious that Qi Youxuan was the person who wrote those words since they were written in horrible handwriting.

As Qi Youxuan pushed the stroller with Little Xicheng inside, they both stood by the entrance of the elevator, seemingly resembling two guardian deities. Little Xicheng was obviously completely oblivious to what exactly they were doing here, but since she was handed a box to hold onto, she did so without question.

Seeing that it was a rare occasion for her big brother to only bring her out to have fun, and did not bring Little Youjin along with them, she felt the need to live up to the high expectations of fun.

The instant the elevator doors opened, Yan Beicheng was instantly stunned the moment he walked out from Dynasty as he was greeted with Little Xicheng’s innocent face staring right back at him while holding onto a tiny box labeled ‘Box of Red Packets’.

“Uncle Yan, today just so happens to be Little Youjin’s anniversary party, so it’s only natural for me to collect some red packets,” Qi Youxuan said while repeatedly blinking as if hinting at him that if he refused to hand him a red packet, he would be bullying an innocent child. Yan Beicheng was completely befuddled at this point.

Thus, Yan Beicheng took out a red packet and placed it in the box. While walking away, he noticed Qi Chengzhi from a distance and proceeded to say, “Say, a red packet after birth, one more when the baby is one month old, another one during Chinese New Year, one more during the baby’s hundredth day, and one more during the child’s anniversary. We’re only two months away from Chinese New Year, I’m pretty sure you’re taxing me with red packets every one to two months!”

“Hehe,” Qi Chengzhi chuckled while carrying Little Youjin in his arms. He then said, “Can’t blame me for having a son earlier than you.”

After saying that, he looked down at his son and said, “Say hi to your uncle Yan. He’s giving you money.”

Little Youjin gleefully extended his chubby arms at Yan Beicheng and began waving merrily. It was almost as if he was actually greeting him. Every single guest that came after Yan Beicheng did not look too happy.

Since every single person was stopped by Qi Youxuan the instant the elevator’s doors opened. It was almost as if they were being ambushed and robbed. They did not look too happy.

Before the ceremony began, Song Yu carried Little Youjin and placed him on top of the huge table. It seemed Little Youjin had indeed become heavier as Song Yu was almost unable to carry the little child up the table.

All around Little Youjin was a book, a calculator, a pen, a drawing block, and a tiny wooden sword. Each with its own meaning.

In all honesty, it did not actually matter what Little Youjin picked, since his future was already determined by the Qi family since being born in the Qi family meant he would be amongst the best. No matter what he chose to be in future, his journey would be incredibly smooth.

“Go ahead and take your pick Youjin. Just pick anything you like,” Song Yu said in a whisper. In preparation for the actual day, they had already practiced and rehearsed at home beforehand, and it was extremely smooth during the rehearsals.

Staring at three items placed in front of him while he sat on the table, the child proceeded to stand up with his tiny legs, as he turned around to look at the remaining two items behind him, it seemed to him that nothing caught his attention.

Thus, he proceeded to sit down on the same spot, without moving an inch.

Every single guest present witnessing the event was completely shocked by his actions.

“…” Qi Chengzhi proceeded to gently nudge his son and said, “Be a good kid now, go on, pick one. Anything will do.”

Every single item was placed with good will and held a deep intricate meaning behind. Hence, choosing anything would not be embarrassing at all.

However, Little Youjin was staring directly at a couple of dishes placed on the table in front of him. He mumbled, “Gaaaaa.”

“Go ahead and pick first, we’ll eat after that,” Song Yu said while blushing.

Unexpectedly to everyone’s surprise, Little Youjin refused to cooperate as he was incredibly tempted by the presence of food.

While gently rubbing Ruan Danchen’s belly with his tiny hands, he softly whispered, “I’ve told you earlier, we can bait him with food by pointing the food at the direction of whichever item we desire.”

Before Ruan Danchen could even stop Qi Youxuan, that little kid ran off with some snacks in his hands the instant he was done speaking.

“Come on now, little brother!” Qi Youxuan proceeded to wave the snacks at him.

Upon noticing the tempting snacks, Little Youjin immediately crawled toward him while arching his tiny little butt. The little kid then snatched the snacks from Youxuan’s hands and shoved it directly into his mouth, completely stuffing his tiny mouth full.

Worried that the kid might choke after such a huge bite, Song Yu proceeded to pour out a glass of warm water for him.

Qi Chenglin noticed the growing fury of Qi Chengzhi and proceeded to forcefully grab his son back to where he was.

“Hurry up and take your pick since you’ve already had your snack,” Qi Chengzhi said in an increasingly annoyed tone.

Little Youjin was stunned as he turned back to glance at Qi Chengzhi’s black pearly eyes. The child felt as if something was pricking his tiny butt as he swiftly crawled back to where he was.

He paused directly in front of a book, Song Yu stared at her son excitedly but remained silent.

Thus, Little Youjin proceeded to extend his little chubby arms and grabbed onto the book, and then under the staring gaze of every single person, he shoved it in his mouth only to realize it tasted exactly like paper.

“Bwaah!” Little Youjin violently spat out everything from his mouth and tossed the book onto the ground.

The little kid then proceeded to pick up the pen. However, once again, he shoved it in his mouth and started eating it like a lollipop. As expected, once again, the kid spat it out and tossed the pen onto the ground while screaming, “Bwaaah!”

The remaining items could not escape the fate of being shoved into the child’s mouth. Soon, the only thing left on that table was Qi Youjin.

It was unknown which child started laughing first. “Hahaha! It’s my first time seeing something like this. Hahaha!”

Hence, Song Yu’s cheeks instantly turned red. As Little Youjin noticed that there was nothing left for him to grab, he started to crawl toward Qi Chengzhi while wiggling his tiny butt and shamelessly grabbed onto Qi Chengzhi’s belt and climbing onto him like a tree.

Qi Chengzhi stared coldly at him and said, “You want cuddles after not picking any items?”

Hence, he stood idly unmoving, not willing to carry his son.

At that moment, Little Youjin was standing on top of Qi Chengzhi’s belt on his toes while frantically screaming as he was at the brink of tears.

Song Yu could not bear as she noticed her son gradually tearing up, thus, she carried the kid in her arms.

At that moment, the toddler was only able to sneakily peek at his father’s furious expression. Upon noticing how angry his father looked, he recoiled his neck back slightly while nervously pointing at the ground saying, “Gwaaah… Gwaaah….”

“Do you wanna go down buddy?” Song Yu asked.

“Gaaaah!” Little Youjin responded while violently nodding his head.

Thus, Song Yu placed the kid on the ground. However, the little kid could only manage to walk a couple of steps as he found it difficult to walk. Like a penguin, he waddled his way to where the calculator fell earlier, then suddenly he lost his balance and tipped over with a bang onto the ground.

Fortunately for him, the ground below was laid with a thick carpet, thus the fall was not hard at all.

It did not matter if it were the Jade Field Park, Imperial Terrace, Zhijing Garden, the Prestige Residences or even Cheng Dongge’s home. They were all completely laid with carpet floors to make sure the kids do not get hurt when they fall.

Since Little Youjin had a habit of not sitting still and was not patient enough to sit down slowly, it was normal for the little kid to stumble and fall frequently. However, since it was laid with a thick layer of carpet, the little kid never gets hurt.

Not feeling much pain, Little Youjin extended his tiny chubby hands and proceeded to grab onto the calculator and started waving it around while exclaiming, “Gwaaaah!”

It was only after that did Qi Chengzhi felt better as his expression changed to a much lighter mood. He then proceeded to carry his son while nodding with incredible satisfaction, he said, “Yes, outstanding. This means he indeed has the heart to inherit the family business.”

“…” Every single person present was completely speechless.

In order to conclude in a much brighter note, Qi Chengzhi did his best to convince everyone of the deeper meaning of that choice.

…

Alas, once again the spring festival approached and Ruan Danchen’s expected delivery date was in a few days, hence making everyone extremely nervous.

It was to the extent of Qi Chenglin calling Chu Zhaoyang every single day to make sure every single doctor in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology department was on standby and were actually working. In addition to that, he had even requested for the full schedule of staff rotation and inquired about how these doctors worked.

However, he felt the doctors that were scheduled during the entire spring festivals were incompetent, hence he said, “Could you schedule more shifts for DIrector Lee since it’s quite uncertain when exactly Ruan Danchen would deliver her baby. I’ll have to make sure when she arrives, someone competent and reliable was on duty.”

“…” Chu Zhaoyang was speechless at his comment.

Chu Zhaoyang could not care less at his ridiculous request since every single doctor in his hospital was extremely reliable, hence it would be ridiculous to mess up the entire schedule just for him.

Hence, Qi Chenglin started spamming his Wechat texts.

[Gui Zhiqian : Could you stop bullying old Chu here Qi Chenglin! Do you actually think Chutian Hospital is your backyard?]

[Han Zhuoli : So what if your wife is giving birth? Who hasn’t?]

[Qi Chenglin : You.]

[Han Zhuoli : …]

After Qi Chenglin’s relentless persistence, Chu Zhaoyang finally caved in and agreed to change the schedule for him. Hence, he had to go through countless rants and yelling from Director Lee. Sadly for him however, he did not have an outlet to vent his frustrations.

However, Qi Chenglin shamelessly called him during the eve of the Spring Festivals to confirm if Director Lee was actually still working there.

Even as a man of few words, Chu Zhaoyang finally snapped, “The actual day of when your wife would deliver your child is still very much uncertain. Could you not force Director Lee up against a wall here, to spend countless days on standby.”

“Since it’s within these few days, so the best option is for him to be on standby,” Qi Chenglin replied shamelessly as he did not feel even the slightest hint that he was actually bothering people.

Hence, Chu Zhaoyang hung up on him furiously.

Little Youjin was already a year and two months old. Although he still did not know how to properly speak yet, he was able to say simple phrases.

Phrases like daddy, mommy, and cuddles.

However, he was much better at walking compared to the anniversary party a while ago. He was completely attached to and would tail Qi Youxuan, following behind him anywhere he went like his own tail.

Since he was not able to walk too fast, and every time he attempted to speed up, he would ultimately stumble and fall, Qi Youxuan matched his pace when he walked instead.

The courtyard was filled with children playing around with firecrackers ever since morning. However, they were not playing with anything too dangerous as it was merely simple sparkles and other small explosives.

Qi Youxuan told his dad to buy some fireworks that would explode into a blooming flower. It was only after that, he gave his father a tight hug.

“Uncle, uncle, bring us outside to play with some fireworks!” Qi Youxuan said while grabbing onto Qi Chengji’s leg. His chubby belly was squeezing up against Qi Chengji’s legs.

Thus, he brought the children out to play after placing everything that he had been carrying down.

Ruan Danchen was seated on the couch while watching the spectacular colorful display of fireworks while she listened to the children playfully screaming as they enjoyed themselves.

However, suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Ruan Danchen grunted slightly.

Qi Chenglin was watching her like a hawk for the past couple of days. Every time she felt her stomach hurting, he would look at his watch while he calculated how long the pain lasted.

However, Ruan Danchen’s expression changed. While he looked at his watch, he said, “Wait, isn’t today…”

“I think I’m going into labor now…” Ruan Danchen said in a slurred tone. She added, “This child really does know when to see the world!”

Thus, Qi Chengji immediately called the three kids that were playing outside back indoors; Cheng Dongge, on the other hand, took his car keys and said, “I’ll drive, you stay with her at the backseat.”

It was the very first time in Qi Chenglin’s life to have accompanied his pregnant wife who was going into labor. This was an entirely different feeling in comparison to when he was waiting outside for Song Yu to give birth to her child.

If it was not for his own wife, he would not be as anxious as he was at that moment.

Fortunately, it was the eve of the Spring Festivals and every single member of the family was present; Qi Chenglin however, was surprisingly dull at the moment and he was just nodding to everything Cheng Dongge told him.

Thus, he immediately carried Ruan Danchen with both his arms and proceeded to follow Cheng Dongge out the door.

It was ironic since it happened to be the eve of the Spring Festivals where the house would be filled with people. Instead, the entire house was empty since everyone else was hastily putting on their coats and rushing to the hospital.

While they were on their way to the hospital, Qi Chenglin made a phone call to Chu Zhaoyang to give him the heads up in order for him to get ready for their arrival.

Upon receiving Chu Zhaoyang’s phone call, Director Lee was relieved to know he would not be required to be at work tomorrow. If luck happened to be on his side, and the delivery was a smooth one, he would be able to return home and enjoy a reunion dinner with his family.

…

Since Ruan Danchen’s uterine opening was dilated, she was immediately transported into the operating room.

Qi Youxuan however, was spinning around in the hallway with his short tiny legs. He noticed the terrifying dark look on Qi Chenglin’s face, hence the little kid dared not disturb his father.

“Youxuan, can you stop spinning around. Your grandma… I’m getting dizzy too just by watching you spin around,” Guan Liya said as she pulled Qi Youxuan toward her. However, she noticed the worried look through her grandson’s teary eyes. It was obvious that he was worried about Ruan Danchen.

“Grandma, how does my sister come out from mommy’s belly? Will the doctor split mommy’s belly open?” The moment Qi Youxuan thought about the graphic and bloody image, he began to tear up while gripping onto Guan Liya’s shirt tightly. He said, “Did… Did I also come out from mommy this way?”

“No, God no,” Guan Liya replied. She was extremely worried about Ruan Danchen’s current condition in the operating room while also unsure of how exactly she could explain to her grandson. She glanced over to Qi Chenglin and noticed her son had not even once looked toward them as both his gaze was completely focused and fixed at the doors to the operating room.

“Don’t worry, that would only be a last resort, however, even so, the opening for that would not even be that huge, the thing is…” Guan Liya felt slightly conflicted as she would not wish to lie to her own grandson just because of his age.

Since her grandson was not too young anymore, he was already in the first grade of elementary school and he would be going to his second-grade class after another semester. If he was to tell anyone what he had imagined in any normal conversations, he would undoubtedly be made fun of.

Everyone present was trying to preserve Qi Youxuan’s self-esteem.

Upon noticing how hard it was for Guan Liya to explain to Youxuan, Song Yu proceeded to pull him toward her. She said, “My dear Youxuan.”

Qi Chengzhi was seated next to her and Little Youjin was cuddling up with him. However, that little toddler wanted to get down from him in order to play, since it was still a mystery to him as to what the adults were doing there.

“Giving birth is an extremely painful thing to go through. However, auntie here gave birth naturally and it was quite a smooth process. I believe your mother will have a smooth natural birth too,” Song Yu said in a soft tone. “Well you see, natural birth happens down there.”

Song Yu pointed downward as she explained, “We’ll have to push real hard for the baby to come out down there. Although the baby is tiny, for it to come out from there, we’ll have to go through an extremely painful process. However, if that was not an option or was ineffective to push the baby out, only then will the doctor split the belly open. Just like regular surgery. If you want to know more about the more detailed stuff, well, you’ll have to wait till you’re older. The only thing you have to know now is childbirth is extremely painful for your mother.”

Upon hearing such an explanation, Youxuan could no longer sit still and he started pacing anxiously in the hallway.

Little Youjin was seemingly able to sense the anxious and tense atmosphere in the hospital as he tried his best to cuddle up with Qi Chengzhi while extending his tiny chubby arms to comfort Qi Youxuan.

Ruan Danchen’s birth was quite a successful and smooth one since the entire childbirth had only taken an hour. In comparison to when she had given birth to Qi Youxuan, this was indeed an extremely smooth delivery.

When she was only four months pregnant, they had already gone over to the hospital to get a checkup done. It was a girl.

As expected, the child was a girl, and although it was not much of a surprise anymore, every single member of the family was still ecstatically happy.

At that very moment, both the Ruan family and Chang Zhiyuan’s family arrived. Both Grandfather Qi and Grandfather Ruan were present. They wanted nothing more than to cuddle up with their newborn granddaughter. However, that wish was not something that could be fulfilled in a short span of time thus, the only thing that could please them would be to have all four elders cuddle up with their granddaughter first before everyone else.

Even so, both Grandfather Qi and Grandfather Ruan were arguing with one another about who got to cuddle up with their granddaughter first. None were willing to back down.

However, this argument ended when both Grandmother Qi and Grandmother Ruan told both of them to stand in a corner, not letting either of them to cuddle up with their granddaughter.

Just like that, after a full round of passing around the newborn baby, it finally returned to its father, Qi Chenglin’s hands.

When Qi Youjin was born, Qi Chenglin had the opportunity to carry and cuddle up with him. However, he realized how wrinkly and ugly he looked. His skin had a slightly yellowish tint to it—it was not an adorable child at all.

However, it was his daughter’s turn, and he too, realized there was not much of a difference either, but he felt that his daughter looked slightly better than Qi Youjin.

Hence, he proceeded to exclaim, “Truly, she looks better than Qi Youjin.”

“Yaaaah Yaaaaah!” Little Youjin who was seated in the stroller protested while flailing his arms around.

Ruan Danchen looked at her daughter with the widest smile on her face, while gently brushing her soft, slender freshly trimmed tip of her fingers on her daughter’s round cheeks. She felt as if her daughter was extremely fragile and weak, a simple graze could seemingly cut her.

“We decided to name her Youning, Qi Youning,” Qi Chenglin told the elders.

“Wonderful, Youning sounds wonderful,” Grandmother Qi said with an extremely wide smile while nodding her head.

It was a special and different Spring Festival for the Qi family, as even the reunion dinner was sent to the hospital after being prepared by Aunt Liu. Every single moment was spent in the hospital.

Thus, everyone left after eating some dumplings, leaving only Qi Chenglin behind to accompany Ruan Danchen.

…

The maternity matron was employed for the month of maternity confinement when Qi Youxuan was born.

This time was no exception, as Guan Liya had once again employed the maternity matron to tend to Ruan Danchen’s needs. During the night however, her needs were tended by Qi Chenglin himself. This time was exceedingly blessed compared to the last time since even during the day, Guan Liya and Chen Mingxia took turns visiting and tending to Ruan Danchen’s needs.

The little toddler came by to visit every single day since he was still in his winter break.

School had resumed for Qi Youxuan the moment Ruan Danchen was released from the maternity confinement center.

The first thing Qi Youxuan used to do after he had returned home from school in the past was watch cartoons, and he would require Ruan Danchen’s constant attention to make sure he finished his school assignments.

However, things have changed for the little guy as the first thing he would do after returning home from school was to look for his sister.

“Ningning! My dear Ningning, your brother has returned!” Qi Youxuan exclaimed as he bolted straight toward Qi Youning’s crib while staring at her huge eyes, which immediately made him smile widely.

Little Youxuan’s heart was instantly melted by his sister, as he immediately carried his sister out the crib when he noticed his sister reaching both her arms toward him.

“Sister… My dear sister, wait till you’re able to eat better. Your brother will make sure to feed you the best food you’ve ever tasted. Both your uncle and aunt will always sneak some good stuff for us,” Qi Youxuan said as he climbed onto his bed and then proceeded to carry his sister and gently placed her on his lap.

All Little Youning knew how to do was giggle.

“Oh boy… Sister, you’re amazing at everything. The thing is, you’re a little silly and naive!”

…

Hence just like that, Little Youning naively grew up to be a year and a month old. Little Youjin was already two years and three months old at that point in time. Little Xi Cheng on the other hand, was a year and seven months old.

The slightly older than two Little Youjin was having the time of his life by spending most of his day playing like an unhinged kid. Qi Youxuan who was eight at that time however, had to go to school every single day, and whenever he had a chance to take a break, he was forced to attend several different classes, thus causing Little Youxuan to feel extremely jealous of the trio of kids.

One day, Qi Youxuan had just finished his piano lessons and was brought home by Xiao Yang. However, upon reaching the front door of his own house, he was greeted by a bawling Little Youjin while the kid bolted toward him.

The instant the little toddler laid his eyes on his big brother, just like a damsel in distress, he leapt into Youxuan’s arms and proceeded to bawl as his tears and snot flowed uncontrollably.

“Someone’s bullying me big bro!” Little Youjin said while grabbing onto Youxuan’s shirt tightly as he stained his shirt with streams of his tears and snot by wiping and rubbing his face against Youxuan’s shirt. It was extremely dramatic the way he acted. However, it was extremely convincing too.

After wiping away every drop of tears and snot cleanly off the little toddler’s face, he was staring at a huge black stain on Qi Youxuan’s shirt hence, he was reluctant to continue rubbing his face against his shirt any longer. After doing so, he looked up with his teary eyes to stare directly at the stunningly, good looking Qi Youxuan after being on a painful journey in losing weight for the last two years.

“…” Qi Youxuan was speechless as his face dimmed to a much frustrated expression while he lowered his head to stare at the wet, black stain on his shirt; he shivered and cringed. He then said, “Alright just let me get changed then slowly tell me what happened.”

Then, Little Youjin tailed behind Qi Youxuan while grabbing onto his shirt with his tiny chubby hands as both of them entered the house.

The instant they entered the house, every single person that was in the house was shocked and surprised by how awful Little Youjin looked.

“Oh my, what happened?” Guan Liya asked.

However, none of them assumed that it was Qi Youxuan who had bullied him since Qi Youxuan loved all his brothers and sisters as much as they do. There was never an occasion where Qi Youxuan had ever bullied his brothers and sisters.

Little Youjin only pouted as he felt there was no need for him to tell the adults, hence he proceeded to gently shake his head; all while he remained pouting and teary-eyed like a little girl.

Thus, Little Youjin followed Qi Youxuan up his room while he changed into a T-shirt. Little Youjin said, “It was Zhao Ranran. She’s always so clingy and obsessed with me. She was here today but I ignored her. She then started running home while crying. Who knew her brother would’ve come over in just a few moments. He punched me and he even said if I refused to play with Zhao Ranran, he would punch me again! Waaaaah! Boooohoooooo! He’s already six, how could he bully me!”

After hearing what Little Youjin had said, Qi Youxuan’s fury was boiling with the purest form of wrath. He said, “The audacity! Whose house doesn’t have a brother! Come on now, let’s go get your revenge with your big bro!”

Thus, the little toddler immediately stood up and followed behind his big bro.

That older brother of Zhao Ranran was six years old, right?

Since his big bro was eight, that would be amazing!

However, the instant they turned around, both Little Xicheng and Little Youning were both gathered by the door. Little Xicheng was now able to stand firm, but Little Youning, on the other hand, did not have the strength yet. Hence, after standing for a short while by the door, she proceeded to sit down while grabbing onto the wall and staring directly at both her big brothers.

After overhearing what both their big brothers were talking about, Little Youning and Little Xicheng were both furious. As they were thinking about how could anyone be as shameless to cling onto their brother, and even had the audacity to get her brother to threaten their big brother.

Just like that, both toddlers were waving their balled fists around in the air while protesting.

Although Little Youning was not able to talk and could only say simple words like daddy and mommy, she was capable of expressing herself quite well, even though the adults had a difficult time understanding what she was trying to phrase.

This was true especially when both kids were together, phrasing stuff together. It almost seemed as if they were actually having a conversation since they both were phrasing words excitedly.

At this moment, Little Xicheng was flailing her balled fist in the air furiously while saying, “Zhao Ranran, bad! Help… Help brother!”

“Sister, you know how to care for me the most!” Little Youjin was touched by his sister’s compassion and thus he gave her a huge bear hug.

“I… I… Cuddles!” Little Youning was frantic and anxious as she spoke. It would be rare for her to speak so much in a single day, however, she cared too much for her brother!

“Yeah yeah, I know Little Ning loves brother.” Little Youjin was extremely touched by his sister’s gesture of love, hence he proceeded to give her a really tight hug.

Just look at how thoughtful and caring both his sisters were, unlike that Zhao Ranran.

“Big bro, Er Cheng wanna come with.” Little Xicheng grabbed onto Qi Youxuan’s legs coquettishly.

Ever since Qi Youxuan nicknamed her Er Cheng, Little Xicheng was not even aware that her name had ‘Er’ added into it, in fact, she naively accepted that the little nickname her brother had given her.

“No, both of you walk way too slow. It would be troublesome to bring both of you along,” Qi Youxuan protested.

“Bring me along!” Little Xicheng grabbed onto Qi Youxuan’s leg tighter.

“I wanna come along! I wanna come along!” Little Youning would not let go of Little Youjin as she proceeded to start climbing onto him.

“Do you both not want vengeance for your brother?” Qi Youxuan said as he tried his very best to muster a convincing stern look on his face.

Ever since he was successful in losing weight, Qi Youxuan had become an extremely stunning and elegant looking boy, and when he had put on a stern and serious demeanor, he had somewhat reflected a little bit of Qi Chenglin’s ferocity through his gaze.

“I do!” Little Xicheng loudly exclaimed.

Little Youning too nodded strongly to express her strong desire for vengeance.

“Then you both should wait patiently for us big bros to return, or else if Zhao Ranran called for reinforcements and bullied you both, what would happen if we are unable to protect you two then? Both of us will be enough for vengeance,” Qi Youxuan explained.

Thus, Little Xicheng let go of Qi Youxuan and said, “Goodluck and godspeed big bro!”

After saying that, Little Youning got down Little Youjin’s body, and thus, hand in hand Qi Youxuan and Qi Youjin walked forward, while the two little toddlers waddled behind them.

Upon reaching the exit of the stairway, Little Xicheng intended to crawl her way down the flight of stairs. Little Youning on the other hand, turned around while facing her back to the flight of stairs and proceeded to climb her way down the stairs.

“…” Qi Youxuan was speechless.

It seemed these little kids climbed up the flight of stairs earlier just like that.

Thus, Qi Youxuan proceeded to carry Little Youning in his arms and the four of them got down the flight of stairs together. The girls walked their brothers to the door, then somehow the both of them mysteriously took out a piece of handkerchieves each and proceeded to wave at their heroic brothers’ goodbye.

Little Xicheng said, “Goodluck big bro!”

Little Youning said, “Luck! Luck!”

Thus, the girls watched from within the house as the boys left. They were anxious as their hearts were beating at a fast pace.

…

Qi Youxuan brought Little Youjin to a nearby mall. It was a minute away from their house on foot. Little Youjin felt odd as to why his big bro would bring him to a mall for vengeance.

However, since he had full faith in his big bro, Little Youjin proceeded to follow closely behind his big bro. To his surprise, he noticed Qi Youxuan bought a full bucket of pure pitch-black paint. He had also bought a brush and a foldable ladder. Upon extending to its full length, it was not extremely tall and was also quite light.

Thus, following behind his big bro, they carried the ladder together. Qi Youxuan was carrying the bucket of paint while leading Little Youjin out of the mall.

“Zhao Ranran’s house should be nearby. You can show me the way from behind alright,” Qi Youxuan said.

Both children were successful in locating Zhao Ranran’s house in no time.

The houses in the area were designed in old-fashioned traditional Chinese style courtyard. The only difference was, these houses differed in sizes.

The house was indeed huge—a luxurious mansion nonetheless. It was left behind by the Zhao family’s ancestors. However, it was not as huge as it seemed since it only had a courtyard and three rooms.

Thus, both children went into the courtyard. Qi Youxuan proceeded to place the bucket of paint down then extended the ladder. He told Little Youjin, “Keep a lookout by the door.”

Little Youjin nodded in response and thus, he went to stand by the door.

Qi Youxuan then opened the lid of the paint and as he carefully climbed up the ladder, he held onto the bucket of paint with one hand, then proceeded to paint the windows of that house with his paintbrush. The entire pane of glass had been painted black.

However, with a single pane of glass left, Qi Youxuan’s arm began to turn sore, it was also at this moment, Little Youjin came bolting in and said, “They’re back big bro!”

Without saying another word, Qi Youxuan threw the entire bucket of paint onto the ground and left the ladder there. He proceeded to grab Little Youjin by the hand and bolted back home.

The married Zhao couple had just returned home after getting some groceries from the local market. As they were just casually walking toward their house, they noticed the silhouette two children bolting out the compound.

Father Zhao said, “Those kids lool familiar.”

Mother Zhao replied, “That’s what I thought as well. They look like the kids from the Qi family.”

Father Zhao said, “Why are they running for? It’s as if they’re up to no good.”

Thus, oblivious to what those children had done to their courtyard, father Zhao held mother Zhao by her hand and proceeded to walk her in their house.

However, within the next instant, the courtyard was filled by father Zhao’s furious yelling. He yelled, “Where’s the damn broom! Get me a damn broom!”

At the final pane of glass, before Little Youjin had given the warning, Qi Youxuan could only manage to hastily paint a written message on the glass window. It wrote, “Don’t you dare bully my brother again!”

When brother Zhao returned home with Zhao Ranran, he was instantly beaten violently by his father and then brought directly to the Qi household.

When the elderly Grandmother Qi saw the extent of how badly beaten the Zhao’s kid was, she felt guilty for not punishing Qi Youxuan.

However, both grandmother and grandson were all bark no bite because even though it seemed like his grandmother was merciless in spanking her grandson and would hit hard, she gave him a light touch when her palm landed on his tiny butt.

Qi Youxuan too was keen on acting, as he forced a couple drops of tears out his eyes while screaming in pain every interval.

As Little Youjin stood on the side, he was completely terrified by the ‘fierce’ look on his grandma’s face, and thus, he began bawling. He screamed, “Stop beating big bro grandma! Waaaaah, stop beating big bro grandma! Big bro only wanted to help me, waaaaaah!”

As the little toddler cried, he felt that his big bro had been treated unjustly.

“Boohoohoo, big bro is innocent grandma! It was Zhao Chengwei who had beaten me first, so it serves him right to be beaten by his father. Big bro didn’t even beat him, all he did was paint the glass windows. He didn’t even cause any harm to their family, how unfair it is to have hurt big bro now! Boohoohoo!”

Both girls, Little Youning and Little Xicheng, who were watching from the side started bawling as well as they felt the main villain was the two adults who had just showed up.

Since it was them who had forced their grandma to beat their big bro up.

They too had heard what the boys had spoken earlier and it was this kid who had bullied their brother.

Thus, both girls ran toward father Zhao and started punching his leg pathetically with four tiny hands.

Although it was not painful at all and the girls’ strength was extremely weak, it was not a pretty sight regardless.

At the same time, Xia Wenna and Guan Liya both immediately scrambled to grab both girls away from his leg, while staring at father Zhao remorsefully, making father Zhao feel slightly awkward and guilty.

He was tempted to say, their grandmother was all bark no bite since the way their grandmother spanked their brother was not even close to inflicting any pain, and their brother would undoubtedly feel absolutely zero pain at all.

Him, on the other hand, had in fact mercilessly beaten his son.

The truth was, he felt awful about the costs for cleaning up their window panes!

It was unfortunate for them to have just reached home and were greeted with a layer of pitch-black paint on their windows, and was even more uncertain which brand of paint was used to have so effectively prevent even a single ray of light from entering his house, making the interior of the house as dark as the night sky was.

It would be a shame to waste such an impeccable talent for the eldest grandson of the Qi family’s talent in painting!

Thus, the entire debacle ended with Guan Liya paying for the repairs and damages for several window panes, since it was all caused by her grandson.

Father Zhao refused to accept her money several times and said, “We’re not here for your money.”

“It’s okay, please accept the money, since our kids were at fault here,” Guan Liya said.

Upon hearing her response, father Zhao’s face was slightly blushing since it was Zhao Chengwei who started the entire trouble first.

After refusing the money several times, father Zhao reluctantly accepted the money then proceeded to leave along with his son.

…

Thus, it was all due to Little Youning having Qi Youxuan as a brother and ever since she was able to eat normal solid food, she had been repeatedly fed amazing food by him. On top of his continuous feeding, she was wholeheartedly encouraged by Ruan Zeer and Chang Jingwan, making them essentially Youxuan’s accomplice.

Hence, Little Youning who was barely three years old then, had become a chubby little kid.

The gene pool from both Qi Chenglin and Ruan Danchen was amazing. Ever since her birth, Little Youning had been extremely stunning and elegant looking.

However, ever since she became chubby, she could no longer be called elegant looking even though her facial features were still visible—the nicest way to describe her would be a living plushie. According to grandfather Ruan, she was uncanny to the characters that were stuck on the walls as decorations by Qi Youxuan during the spring festivals back then.

Since Little Xicheng was raised by both her parents, she did not become a victim of Qi Youxuan’s crimes, hence, Little Xicheng looked normal—although there were some baby fat that still lingered on her. However, whether or not their appearance was normal was not too important to a child. She had the most tender and glistening, smooth white skin, and she had also inherited the dimples from Qi Chengyue on both her cheeks. Whenever she smiled, she looked extremely adorable.

Little Youning and Little Xicheng were in the same class in their kindergarten. They spent most of their time playing together.

On that very day, both of them were playing together during their outdoor activity session. As Zhao Ranran and a couple of her friends walked by, she noticed Little Youning squatting on the ground. She resembled a tiny ball from a distance.

Thus Zhao Ranran proceeded to provoke her as she mocked, “Qi Youning, if you keep growing fatter, sooner or later, you’d be rolling on the ground to get around places.”

There was nothing more Little Youning hated than being called fat since the only thing she loved and enjoyed was eating. Her brother had always told her, since her body was still healthy at the moment she should be enjoying food or else, when she was old and extremely ill, she would not have the opportunity to enjoy any good food even if she wanted to. As humans, everyone should appreciate great awesome things that they had, so when she could still eat, she should never turn down food and eat as much as she desired.

Hence, Little Youning hated food going to waste because any good food should always be eaten. Just like that, she had been fed by her brother into a chubby adorable little ball.

However, her great-grandpa also said that a little girl would look extremely adorable when they looked like a tiny round ball and her great-grandpa told her she was the most adorable little kid ever. A kid who was skinny looking would be as if that child was not properly fed hence that child would not be adorable at all.

Little Youning felt Zhao Ranran was the skinny-underfed child her great-grandpa told her about hence, she was not even the slightest bit adorable.

Thus, Little Youning snapped back at her coldly, “I’m not fat, I’m adorable!”

“Only ugly looking people would say they’re adorable since they have no idea what else to call themselves,” Zhao Ranran replied mockingly.

“That’s not true!” Little Youning replied furiously as she stood up.

“It’s true. Has anyone ever told you that you’re pretty? I think not! That’s because you’re ugly!” Zhao Ranran replied snarkily.

“B*tch, what the f*ck are you saying!” Little Xicheng immediately stood in front of Little Youning protecting her. She said, “My sister looks better than your b*tch *ss! You’re just jealous of her since you’re totally crushing on my brother but he hates your f*cking guts.”

“That’s not true. You’re lying. You…” Zhao Ranran was furious.The edges of her eyes gradually grew red. She was flailing her arms around and it was not very clear what exactly she was up to.

However, she was seemingly ready to punch Little Xicheng from the looks of things .

At that same moment, Little Muche, who was two years older than Little Xicheng was having outdoor activities too and had witnessed their argument as he walked by. Upon seeing such a heated argument, he immediately rushed toward the girls.

“Chengcheng is she bullying you? I’ll beat her up for you!” Little Muche said as he began rolling up his sleeves.

To have such an odd father such as Wei Ziqi, it was only natural for little Muche to inherit his odd antics.

The only women in Wei Ziqi’s eyes were his wife and daughter. Any other women out there was simply no one to him, hence he would not hesitate to beat those women without any discrimination if any women were to provoke him. There would not be much difference from the way he treated men.

Thus, in Wei Muche’s eyes, he too had the same principles as his father since the only women in eyes were his mom, his sister, and Little Xicheng. The other women and men out there would be treated equally.

Since Wei Muche did not seem as if he was joking about what he claimed, all he needed was Little Xicheng to say the word and he would without doubt swing at her. However, Zhao Ranran rambled for a short moment and suddenly, she started to bawl her eyes out while wailing and screaming, “Wei Muche is bullying me!”

Little Youning who was merely spectating from the side was completely used to this incident.

She had once seen her sister merely mention about beating someone up and Wei Muche actually went ahead and picked up a brick. From the looks of it, he was serious about assaulting someone.

She was so shocked when she had first witnessed such an act, but after several similar occasions, she had completely got used to such impulsive acts.

…

Little Youning was extremely envious since Little Xicheng could have someone so loyal to the extent of doing her bidding and beating someone up just for her. A servant so complacent was the subject of pure envy. Anytime Little Xicheng pointed at a specific target, Wei Muche would without question beat up that target and no one else. The instant Little Xicheng picked up a stick to beat up someone, Wei Muche would pick up a brick to help her.

At that moment, Little Xicheng was in the mood to do something mischievous, and without question, little Muche was getting ready to help her out. Little Xicheng’s favorite game was pretend princess, hence Wei Muche proceeded to wave around a white cloth behind her.

On that day, Wei Ziqi, Yan Beicheng, and several other people were gathered at Qi Chenglin’s house. Wherever Wei Ziqi went off to, he would bring his wife along with him. However, unfortunately for Yan Beicheng and the guys, they were all very single.

As the adults were busy talking in the living room, the kids wandered off to play in Little Youjin’s room.

The only problem was, Little Youjin was playing with some toy robots, all the other girls were completely uninterested in that. Thus, Little Youjin and Qi Youxuan were playing together in a corner. Little Xichen began to point at the curtains and bedsheets behind Little Youjin and said, “Brother Muche, I want it. Hurry up and take it down for me.”

Thus, little Muche immediately scrambled off to rip the curtains and the bedsheets out just for her. It was almost as if he wanted to destroy the house thus making Little Youjin extremely nervous just by watching him.

As Little Xicheng grew older, she was gradually growing into a little tyrant with little Muche as her personal manservant encouraging her tyranny. Little Youjin felt his future days would be miserable judging from how Little Xicheng had become.

As they tore apart Little Youjin’s room, and as a loving brother to his younger siblings, Qi Youxuan had no grievances toward their unreasonable actions. However, Little Youjin as the main victim felt slightly annoyed by their behavior, but before he could speak his mind, Qi Youxuan simply stared at him. Thus, he kept his opinions to himself.

Feeling slightly nervous, he stuttered and said, “Are these enough for you? If it’s not, my parent’s room has some left.”

Fortunately, Little Xicheng felt she had enough to play with. She was recently really into an ancient Chinese fantasy drama on TVB [1] but it was confusing for her to understand the plot of the drama. The only thing captivating to her was the silk drapes and fleeces on the costume design for the drama that looked pretty to her.

Hence, she proceeded to wrap the curtains around her body. While staring at the curtains, it somewhat resembled a dress and was long enough to be dragged on the ground! Thus, she was impressed by it.

She then proceeded to drape Little Youjin’s bedsheets on her shoulders, acting like it was a fleece coat. While staring at her reflection through the mirror, she was extremely satisfied and happy by how she looked.

Since it was still winter, there was not a single fan present in the house. It was unclear where little Muche managed to find himself a fan, as he proceeded to squat underneath Little Xicheng then began violently fanning her curtain dress, causing the dress to flutter in the wind.

Little Xicheng felt like an actual deity—she was extremely happy and satisfied with herself.

…

Aunt Yang was done preparing lunch and Wei Ziqi proceeded to walk up the second floor to Little Youjin’s room to get the kids down for lunch.

However the instant he opened the door, he was greeted by his very own son, squatting next to Little Xicheng, violently fanning her. It was an awkwardly dumb sight for him causing him to not even be able to look at his son in the eyes.

Little Youning was recording the whole ordeal with a phone. Upon closer inspection, one would find out that it belonged to Qi Youxuan, which was a birthday gift by Grandfather Ruan to replace his previous ‘Totoro’ phone.

“Brother Muche, fan harder. I wanna see the skirt fly higher!” Little Youning said excitedly.

Hence, Little Muche proceeded to fan with both his arms.

It was completely acceptable to watch other children do extremely dumb things. However, watching his son do something so profoundly stupid, Wei Ziqi was tempted to beat his son right there and then!

“That’s enough fun. Let’s have lunch downstairs.”

As he said that, all the kids began to put down their toys obediently.

However, Little Xicheng on the other hand, looked up as she cleared her throat and proceeded to say, “Ready my carriage little one. Make haste for we shall take our leave now!”

“…” Wei Ziqi was completely speechless by what he had just heard.

However, never did he expect his son to actually take a slight bow while gently holding onto Little Xicheng’s hand and said, “It shall be done, your grace!”

“Clang!”

Wei Ziqi was seemingly able to hear his heart shatter as he decided to give his own son a thorough and violent beating when they got home. This would undoubtedly guarantee his son to never utter anything close to ‘Your grace’ again.

Little Youning was unsure how hard of a beating little Muche received since he was still unfazed and had even grown more extreme in tailing behind Little Xicheng.

Little Youning was extremely jealous of her, and she too wondered when exactly would she get a man who would be willing to do her bidding for her.

Since she knew how adorable she looked, it would be impossible to not have a single boy going after her!

Little Muche was completely oblivious to what Little Youning thought about him. If he had known that Little Youning simply thought of him as Little Xicheng’s servant, he would be extremely angry!

…

As Little Youning got out of her kindergarten, she was surprised to see both her parents standing by the gate waiting for her.

Little Youning was ecstatic as she bolted out immediately. Qi Chenglin could not bear to watch as he noticed his daughter looked exactly like a tiny little ball when she bolted directly to them. From a distance, it almost seemed as if a very brightly colored ball was rolling directly to them. After he spent so much effort getting his eldest son to lose weight, he had to repeat the uphill arduous struggle to get his daughter to do the same. The only difference was, he could no longer implore the same methods he had been using on his son to his daughter since he could not bear to be as strict with his daughter as he did his son.

No matter how coquettish Qi Youxuan tried to be, it would result in vain. However, all Little Youning had to do was look up and stare at her father with her adorable cute face and call her father once, and Qi Chenglin would undoubtedly cave to her request.

Qi Youxuan was partly to blame for her weight and size,since it was partially his fault for feeding her so much, but Qi Chenglin himself was allowing his son’s unconditional spoiling of his sister. If he never allowed him to do so, there would never be a chance for him to even feed his sister. During Qi Youxuan’s uphill battle of weight loss, no amount of snacks he had attempted to hide could escape the glaring eyes of Qi Chenglin.

However, upon staring at his daughter’s watery puppy eyes, he could not bear to watch his daughter eat so little. Now that he was staring directly at his daughter, he could feel his heart progressively grow cold as he was exhausted by thinking about his daughter’s future.

“Daddy, mommy why did you both come to pick me up together today?” Little Youning said as she carried her tiny backpack on her back. Before both of them could stand straight, Little Youning immediately plunged herself into both of them.

Ruan Danchen was no longer able to carry her daughter and had completely left that task to Qi Chenglin alone.

Thus, Qi Chenglin proceeded to welcome his daughter with open arms. Even by doing so, as he carried his daughter, both his arms were weighed down by his daughter. It was only after a slight push was he able to lift his daughter up.

Hence, Qi Chenglin silently reflected in his mind; he too agreed and was willing to accept the fact that it was time for his daughter to lose some weight.

Ruan Danchen, who was standing on the side, proceeded to answer her daughter’s question first. She said, “Your uncle is hosting some guests in his house and has invited us to come along.”

…

Little Youning never bothered much about the guests that were invited to her uncle’s house since it had nothing to do with a child.

They arrived at Zhijing Garden, and the instant they opened the door, they were greeted by an extremely arrogant voice as swears and curses were being spouted every interval of every sentence. However, her father had an extremely curious and intrigued look on his face.

“I’ve traveled all this damn way and you arrogant a*s intend to send me off to Dynasty? I’m goddamn bored of Dynasty’s food. All I goddamn wanted was a home-cooked meal!” Wen Ren ranted as he sat on the couch as if it was his own home.

Seated beside him was a stunningly beautiful young lady. Her eyes looked sharp and pretty—not a single speck of dust was even present on her eyes, and her cheeks were slightly blushed. A young boy was seated beside her and he looked like he was almost the same age as Little Youjin. Judging from his look, he seemed like a hyperactive young boy but was taught well enough to behave.

Although he seemed as if he was unable to sit still, he forced himself to do so with the sheer force of his willpower alone. The only thing was, his eyes were wandering off to every single corner of the room. It was an intriguing sight to see indeed.

Upon seeing Little Youning and her family’s arrival, Qi Chengzhi proceeded to introduce everyone to them. It seemed Fang Jiaran and Wen Ren had been trying hard and struggling for all these years and they had finally conceived two children together.

Ever since her son’s birth, Fang Jiaran wished for nothing but to have a daughter of her own especially after she met Ning Wan’s daughter, who very much resembled a living doll—she completely adored her.

Unfortunately, her second child unexpectedly turned out to also be a son. Since her sons were all so young, there was no need for her to rush things. If her third child turned out to also be a boy, only would she be devastated and not know what to do.

Now that she had seen Little Youning who looked like a tiny ball, Fang Jiaran was completely in love with that little kid, thus, she proceeded to call her over.

However, as she attempted to carry her, she was surprised to find out that even though she used all her strength, she was unable to lift Little Youning up.

“…” Fang Jiaran was speechless and let out an awkward laugh. After that, she did not attempt to carry her again. However, she proceeded to take out a tiny box from her bag. She opened it to reveal a jaded leaf shaped necklace in the box. It was as big as a penny and it seemed as if the jaded leaf necklace was filled with water. The design was extremely intricate and even more so when it almost seemed as if it was glimmering on its own.

The moment Fang Jiaran took that jaded leaf out the box, the intricate webbed vein-like design was visible from the top side of the jaded leaf.

The leaf was threaded by a chain of silver. Fang Jiaran proceeded to put it around Little Youning’s neck with a huge smile on her face. As Fang Jiaran stared at that jaded leaf shaped necklace on Little Youning’s white tender skin, she thought that she looked extremely beautiful in it.

Thus, Little Youning gleefully thanked Fang Jiaran, making her even happier than she already was at that moment. It was also at that time that Little Youjin was done with his Wushu class and had just arrived. He greeted Wen Ren and Fang Jiaran, and then headed upstairs for a change of clothes.

After he was done and finally got out of his room, Wen Ming, who was seated quietly on the side, looked toward Little Youjin excitedly as his eyes lit up with pure joy. He really wanted to play with Little Youjin at that moment but was too shy to do anything.

However, it was unsure what Fang Jiaran had whispered to his ears that made the little kid’s eyes light up once again as he instantly climbed down the couch and went straight for Little Youjin.

“Hey, let’s go play,” Little Youjin said as he held Little Wen Ming by the hand.

Since Little Youning felt no meaning in staying there alone, she headed out over to the children’s play area after getting permission from her parents.

Little Youning loved playing in her uncle’s children’s play area within her uncle’s garden. There were tunnels and obstacles. There was even a spiraling slide, a see-saw, and a car-shaped spring-loaded rocking chair.

Since the children’s play area was only downstairs, hence it was not very far. All she needed to do was walk out a single door and she would arrive after a couple steps. Both Qi Chenglin and Ruan Danchen never had to worry since Little Youjin would bring her out to play.

In addition to that, Wen Ren was present today. Although it did not seem too obvious, the entire area was filled with undercover bodyguards watching over them, so they could not be any safer than that. Having a secret guardian watching over them was safer than any personal bodyguard.

Thus, Little Youning proceeded to run off over to the children’s play area on her own.

There were a ton of children playing on the slide. There were even kids who had brought along their own battery-operated toy car, hence, she could never join in on the fun.

However, there was a spring-loaded rocking chair that was shaped like a car that all the children were ignoring. She was tempted to sit on it.

Sadly, it was unfortunate that she was a little too short and that car-shaped chair that was stacked on the spring was as tall as she was.

Little Youning proceeded to stiffen her tiny face as her chubby little hands grabbed onto the edge of the tiny car, placing her entire body weight on the tiny car, causing it to lean entirely on its side.

Little Youning was shocked upon seeing that happen.

She… she knew she was weak! How was it possible for her to completely push the tiny car all the way down!

Thus, Little Youning immediately let go of her grip and watched as the tiny car sprung back and forth violently.

Thus, she pretended it was not her fault after looking at both directions and making sure no one saw her pull that off. She let out a sigh of relief.

However, never did she expect that the moment she turned around, she saw a teen boy standing on top of a flight of stairs staring directly at her.

The teen was extremely quiet, and judging from the way he looked, he seemed to be the quiet type and was not keen on socializing.

The teenage boy looked handsome, as his skin was elegantly white while his brows were neatly trimmed paired along with his black pearly dreamy cold looking eyes, making him seem unapproachable.

Judging from his appearance alone, Little Youning assumed he was slightly older than her brother—perhaps eleven or twelve judging from his looks. At that very moment, he was staring directly at her with a blank and emotionless face. However, he was not leaving the scene as well; merely staring and watching directly at her.

Little Youning was conflicted since she was unsure if he actually saw her pushing the tiny car all the way down with her bodyweight alone. How embarrassing that would be for her!

“What… What exactly did you see earlier?” Little Youning walked toward the stairs as she questioned while looking up directly at him.

Wen Xu looked down, as he stared at this chubby kid pinching her waist with her tiny waist. However, he remained silent.

He had seen everything, however he would not say. Since his mother once told him to never make any girl cry. He was unsure why he knew that if he had told her the truth, she would undoubtedly cry.

Wen Xu merely stared at the tiny car as it rocked back and forth then proceeded to glance back at this chubby girl. He was speechless. Since, it was impressive for a little girl to push the car all the way down since the thickness of the spring was extremely thick as well.

Although the tiny chubby girl was slightly overweight, she still looked quite pretty. Thus, his cold demeanor warmed up quite a bit.

Seeing that he would not speak, Little Youning mustered up all her courage and said softly, “I… I

Can’t get up that car, can you… You carry me up there.”

Hehe, there goes your tiny waist!

A slight glimmer of joy reflected through Wen Xu’s eyes as he jumped off the stairs, then proceeded to lift her up, seemingly without much effort.

Little Youning groaned a little as she opened up her tiny mouth. She was completely shocked.

Mom… Mom could not even lift her up!

Wen Xu stared at her innocent look. She had a round tiny pale face. There was a slight scent of milk emanating from her body. It was extremely adorable. Her cheeks were slightly blushed but it was also as soft as dough.

Wen Xu swallowed nervously, as he felt hungry. Then he proceeded to lower his head…

Bite!

He took a bite on Little Youning’s tiny face.

“!!! ” Little Youning felt she that had been violated!

Looking at that ruffian, it was baffling he could remain so calm. He simply looked back up then proceeded to carry her over to the tiny car as if nothing abnormal had happened!

Little Youning was seated in the tiny car. She then pointed at him with her tiny chubby hands and said, “How could you kiss me? My daddy told me to never allow any boy to ever kiss me.”

“… ” Wen Xu was speechless.

After waiting for a really long while, it seemed likely she would not get a response from him and he did not seem like he was leaving as well. She pouted in response as she was unwilling to lose. She then proceeded to say, “Then… Rock the car for me. ”

She had seemingly heard as if Wen Xu whispered “Sure” then proceeded to begin rocking the car for her.

However, Little Youning rolled her eyes and said, “I wanna play on the slide. Carry… Carry me up there!”

Little Youning indicated that she was too lazy to clamber up the slide herself.

Thus, Wen Xu picked her up again and placed her on top of the slide with the utmost care. His cautious and gentle behavior made others forget that he was merely eleven years old.

Little Youning cheered joyously as she slid down. She asked Wen Xu to put her on top of the slide again and again; even so, Wen Xu was not the least bit annoyed.

Although he was expressionless, he still fulfilled her every request.

Little Youning stared at Wen Xu with her grape-sized eyes, making the cool and distant Wen Xu quite uncomfortable.

“What’s your name?” asked Little Youning abruptly.

“Wen Xu,” he replied. Despite his voice still being squeaky like that of any child’s, his manner was extremely cold and aloof.

He acted distant yet obedient—this reminded Little Youning of Little Muche. “Are you… Are you willing to be my partner?”

The undercover bodyguards watching from a dark corner stumbled forward when he heard the chubby baby’s request. They were already astonished to see the young master of the house being ordered around by this chubby baby—how dare she ask such an absurd question.

“When I want to beat up someone, you’ll be the one with the bat; when I’m in an argument, you will always back me up; when I want to climb trees, you will be my stepping stool.” Little Youning stared at Wen Xu earnestly with her hands cupping her plump little face. “Are you willing?”

Wen Xu kept his mouth shut for a long while, then finally answered, “I live in T City—I can’t follow you around.”

Little Youning was caught completely off-guard. It was rare to find such a dignified yet obedient young boy—he was a lot more suited for the position than Little Muche.

“But I overheard my family’s conversation the other day. It seems like they plan to transfer me to Jixia Elementary School,” revealed Wen Xu.

Wen Ren planned to have Wen Xu’s Chinese Kungfu master move to B City with him. During the day, the boy was to attend classes in Jixia and practice his Chinese Kungfu when he gets home just as he did in Lanshan Courtyard. On weekends, he was to return home to Lanshan Courtyard.

That was also the reason for Wen Ren and Fang Jiaran’s visit; it was to discuss with the Qi brothers the procedures needed to get Wen Xu enrolled in Jixia Elementary School.

Little Youning’s eyes sparkled. “I’ll go to Jixia Elementary in the future too! You must wait for me! When I start school in Jixia, you must remember to be my partner!”

Wen Xu’s undercover bodyguards all had dark expressions as they stared wide-eyed at their young master’s blank expression. It seemed as though he was seriously considering the chubby baby’s ridiculous request.

That could not happen!

Just as Wen Xu was going to unveil his answer, he saw Ruan Danchen heading toward them to bring Little Youning back for lunch. Ruan Danchen heard from Fang Jiaran that her eldest son, Wen Xu, was also outside. Fang Jiaran even showed her a picture of him. Even so, Ruan Danchen never expected him to be playing with her precious little daughter—he was even holding her in his arms.

In his arms, her daughter was squished into a big fat ball of flesh. She was impressed by the fact that Wen Xu could still move.

“How did you two end up playing together?” inquired Ruan Danchen smilingly. She extended her arms to take Little Youning from his arms. After all, she felt guilty that an eleven-year-old child had to carry the little fatty.

To her surprise, Little Youning completely ignored her extended arms. Instead, she patted Wen Xu’s shoulders and announced, “Mommy, this is my new partner I just recruited!”

“…” Both Ruan Danchen and Wen Xu were utterly speechless.

Nonetheless, Wen Xu did not refute. Silently, he expressed that he had no comments regarding Little Youning’s claim.

On the way home, Little Youning did not ask to be put down. Thus, he carried her all the way home.

Indulged in the comfort of his arms, Little Youning did not feel like walking with her own feet anymore. She pointed her chubby finger at the sofa. “Big Brother Wen Xu, carry me to the sofa.”

“…” Without a word, Wen Xu headed toward the sofa. However, instead of putting her down, he sat down himself and positioned Little Youning on his lap.

Qi Chengzhi was dumbfounded by the fact that Wen Ren—a loud and annoying man—could have a son so distant and reserved.

Wen Xu was different from Chu Zhaoyang—Chu Zhaoyang was merely quiet and expressionless; Wen Xu, on the other hand, gave off an intensely intimidating aura.

Naturally, Qi Chenglin was even more bothered by this. He glared at the boy who had his precious daughter in his arms—disregarding the fact that he was only eleven.

“Ahem!” Qi Chenglin coughed loudly as he eyed Wen Xu with much intensity.

However, Wen Xu did not let go. Qi Chenglin wondered if he truly did not get the hint or was merely acting dumb.

He was not bothered by her heaviness either.

“Ahem, Ningning, come. Let Daddy carry you.” Qi Chenglin extended his arms toward Little Youning with the most tender expression.

Compared to Wen Xu, Little Youning was naturally closer to her own dad. Thus, without hesitation, Little Youning chose Qi Chenglin.

Wen Xu’s expression dulled instantly. He glared at Qi Chenglin as he handed Little Youning over reluctantly. When Qi Chenglin reached to hold her, Wen Xu still did not let go.

Left with no choice, Qi Chenglin clenched his teeth and warned, “Let go.”

Wen Xu blinked repeatedly, then finally let go. His arms felt empty without the chubby baby in them.

Qi Chenglin ground his teeth as he carried his precious daughter away. Finally, he understood Wei Ziqi’s feelings. He even decided to make his son hate Wei Ziqi even more—he could not be the only one suffering.

Only when Song Yu came out of the kitchen to announce that the food was ready did Qi Chenglin put Little Youning down.

“Carry me… Carry me to the dining room.” Little Youning was already too lazy to walk.

Wen Xu’s lips curled up. Just as he was going to pick Little Youning up, Qi Chenglin heard her voice and strode in with wide steps. He scooped Little Youning up instantly and even gave Wen Xu a menacing glare.

Qi Chenglin thought, “Tsk, that eleven-year-old brat. How shameless of him to want to kidnap my precious daughter because of something so small.”

Wen Xu’s lips twitched. The faint smirk he had on vanished instantly.

Fang Jiaran’s attention was fixed on her son the entire time. Her lips curled up excitedly, twitching sporadically.

“What are you doing standing here so suspiciously,” Wen Ren asked as he approached her from behind. His slender fingers landed softly on Fang Jiaran’s skull, gently rubbing her head.

“We’re guests in someone else’s home now—what are you doing?” Fang Jiaran mumbled with a flushed face as she tidied up her slightly disheveled hair.

“Why were you smiling so smugly?” teased Wen Ren in a low voice. Subconsciously, he started smirking wider than her.

Fang Jiaran was too lazy to argue with him. She tugged on his sleeves, beckoning him to lower his head. She whispered, “Xuxu seems to be very fond of Youning.”

“Oh?” Wen Ren raised an eyebrow. He noticed that their son’s attitude toward Qi Chenglin’s daughter was a little unusual, but he did not think Wen Xu liked her to the extent that Fang Jiaran suggested.

Fang Jiaran rolled her eyes. “You men are all so slow when it comes to love. Looking at them now, I can’t help but think, although I don’t have a daughter, having a daughter-in-law is almost the same thing! Look how adorable Youning is!”

“Isn’t it a little too early to be looking for a daughter-in-law for our son?” questioned Wen Ren as he glared at her suspiciously.

Wen Xu, who was entering the dining room, stopped in his steps. Fang Jiaran spotted him and beckoned him over.

Wen Xu approached her with an expressionless face, making her quite troubled—Wen Ren was in no way a reserved man and neither was she. The two of them could talk endlessly—there would not be a single minute of silence with them around.

Sometimes she wondered if it was because Wen Ren and she had too much to say, stealing away their son’s words—maybe that was why their son came out to be this little ice cube.

“Xuxu, do you like Youning?” whispered Fang Jiaran, grinning ear-to-ear.

Wen Xu looked at his mom, then glanced at Little Youning, who was seated in a highchair. His expression softened and his lips curled up. In his child-like voice, he declared firmly, “In the future, I will protect her.”

Fang Jiaran’s grin could not grow any wider. “My son, that’s all I need to hear! In the future, Youning will be part of our family!”

Wen Xu smiled faintly. He nodded.

Qi Chenglin, who was scooping food for his daughter, had no clue that his precious daughter just became someone’s target. They were even shameless enough to plan on dragging her into their family already.

Wen Xu turned to Wen Ren. Wen Ren bit his lips, revealing a galling expression. “Whoever our son wants to pursue, she’ll naturally belong to our family now. I’ll beat up whoever that tries to snatch her from us.”

Assured, Wen Xu turned around and headed into the dining room and sat next to Little Youning.

“Ningning, when I move here to attend Jixia Elementary School, I’ll be in a totally unfamiliar place, so you have to protect me.” Although his expression was still bland, his voice made him sound terribly pitiable.

Wen Ming, who had been sitting there eating silently the whole time, almost jumped out of surprise.

Little Youning, who was clueless about herself being Wen Xu’s target, pounded her chest proudly and gave herself out. “Don’t worry, I will protect you!”

“…” Qi Chenglin was rendered speechless.

“It must be fate that brought these two children together!” Fang Jiaran grinned and said as she shook her head.

Qi Chenglin was going to explode with rage. That rascal was eight years older than his daughter!

“Hmm, if I remember correctly, you’re seven years older than Danchen, right?” Wen Ren inquired abruptly.

“…” Qi Chenglin was at a loss for words.

— Daily Lives of the Qi Family · The End —

* * * * * * * * * *

The cemented wall in the pitch-black room had a stale putridity in addition to its icy cold humidity. Water droplets leaked from the corner of the ceiling, forming a dirty mud pool as they dribbled onto the floor, creating gentle plops that sounded especially creepy and eerie.

An elderly man and a young lady were sitting at both ends of the room respectively. The elderly man appeared dazed and drained of all energy, meanwhile, the young lady ignored the filth and leaned against the wall weakly.

Both of their mouths were taped shut. The elderly man’s eyes reflected the charcoal clouds, muddy and dispirited; whereas the young lady’s gaze was drifting in an uncontrolled fear, her breathing labored and heavy.

A countdown seemed to be running in the young lady’s mind.

Three… Two… One…

“Live or die, make your choice,” a harsh and horrible voice pierced through the eerie silence. They were unsure where the voice came from but it was obvious that there was a loudspeaker with a sound modulator attached to it hidden in the room. In the young lady’s opinion, the voice was basically the final nail in the coffin.

“Two in the room but only one will survive after tonight,” the voice, which sounded delighted and joyful, paused briefly before continuing, “The dagger before you is your only path for survival, but only one of you may live. The rules are simple, the first who uses the dagger to take your opponent’s life will survive. The choice of whom falls upon you.”

“On the count of ten, you can start fighting for the dagger and your life.” The voice stopped momentarily before initiating the countdown. “Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven… Six… Five…”

The young lady, whose hands were tied with rope and was mentally overwhelmed by anxiety and terror, rushed toward the dagger and picked it up quickly by the fifth count.

The elderly man remained on the floor without moving a muscle. His gaze on the young lady was full of despair.

The young lady darted toward the elderly man with the dagger in her hands. Her body trembled at the sight of the elderly man’s familiar face, and tears started to stream down her cheeks uncontrollably.

The elderly man seemed to have recalled something. His expression softened and his gaze was full of encouragement and forgiveness.

‘Sorry… Truly sorry…’

The young lady held the dagger high and stabbed down with all her might.

…

…

The alarm clock woke Wei Muran up. Her eyes snapped open and she felt something underneath her cheek instantly. She reached out to the unknown object with a cloudy mind only to realize that it was a book.

After rubbing the remainders of sleep from her eyes, Wei Muran recalled her eagerness in reading a newly purchased detective fiction novel before accidentally falling asleep at night. She had not even finished reading the first case yet.

However, the first case was already bloody and gory, involving the internecine fight between an elderly man and a young lady, and caused her to have the same dream as well.

Wei Muran sat up and rubbed the palms on her cheeks before tidying herself up in the washroom. She graduated from the police academy that year and worked as a cadet in the criminal investigation division. She was unsure if she would be permanently employed.

Wei Muran and another female forensic pathologist were the only females in the department; since any young lady with a sound mind would never consider working in such a dangerous place. Plus, some cases were actually very gruesome, hence there were more men than women working in the profession.

Wei Muran was told by her mother that she caught a handgun during her one-year-old catch[1]. She giggled at the thought of it before heading downstairs after she was done tidying herself up.

In the meantime, Wei Ziqi and Wei Ran were having their breakfast. Wei Muche, who was still studying in university, was up early too. Since his class started in the afternoon, he had to follow Wei Ziqi for practice in Wu Feng in the morning.

Wei Ziqi glanced at Wei Muran, who gulped down the porridge in a flash after sitting down.

Wei Ziqi peeked at the time and raised his eyebrows curiously. “There’s more than enough time, so no need to eat in such a hurry.”

“Hey, I’m used to it.” Wei Muran slowed down after realizing that there was ample time. “Cases can come to us during our mealtime and sometimes we’ll receive cases right in the middle of our lunch. We’ll have to get to the scene with an empty stomach if we eat slowly.”

“Bring food along with you next time,” Wei Ziqi advised grudgingly.

The daughter whom Wei Ziqi pampered since birth went to further her study in a police academy without any prior notice after she grew up. His feelings were indescribable when he stared at his little princess who was able to endure every hardship at present.

However, Wei Ziqi loved his daughter very dearly. His daughter was wildly enthusiastic about this profession, so he did not oppose her decision despite the reluctance. Instead, he requested the chief of the department to take care of Wei Muran as much as possible.

“Don’t worry, I brought food with me,” Wei Muran finished her breakfast hastily and took her bag before leaving the house. “Dad, Mom, I’m going to work now!”

…

…

Wei Muran was acting low profile in the department with the chief being the only one who knew about her true identity, but Wei Muran threatened him to keep this a secret even though Wei Ziqi had asked a favor from him.

Wei Muran graduated from the police academy all by herself, but others would assume that she merely pulled strings for her graduation if her true identity was disclosed.

Wei Muran merely wanted a Volkswagen Golf when Wei Ziqi suggested purchasing a vehicle for his daughter. It cost around two hundred thousand Yuan, which was considered low profile and to Wei Muran’s preference.

Wei Ziqi was reluctant to comply since he figured that his precious daughter must drive an extremely cool and expensive vehicle but gave up on that thought after receiving Wei Muran’s persistent rejection.

However, Wei Ziqi delivered the car to T City after payment was done and let the Wen family modify it to the extent that it was almost beyond recognition with its original bodyshell replaced with Volkswagen Golf’s bodyshell. According to Wen Ren, this modified vehicle could steamroll a humvee with ease.

This was Wen Ren’s exact words at that time. “Why don’t you just modify it to look like my Suzuki Alto if you want to stay low profile?”

The corner of Wei Ziqi’s eye twitched uncontrollably after hearing the question. It was very embarrassing for his beloved daughter to drive a fake Suzuki Alto no matter how low profile or godlike the car was.

The Volkswagen Gold’s limited interior space was fully utilized for a luxurious and yet low profiled design so that Wei Muran could drive happily and comfortably.

The vehicle’s interior was deliberately designed like a small bedroom in consideration of Wei Muran’s profession which required her to work overtime constantly which often resulted in a lack of sleep. A mechanism was installed in the vehicle’s seat which, with a press of a power switch, an extension would be drawn out of a hidden compartment and would widen the seat. Additionally, the head restraint could be withdrawn into the seat and aligned perfectly with the back car seat once the seat was folded down, forming a super single bed.

Below the seat was a drawer with Wei Muran’s daily necessities and a few sets of clothes in it.

Moreover, Wei Ziqi was worried about Wei Muran’s safety when she was on duty, so the vehicle was heavily armored with the same superb bulletproof effect as Wen Ren’s fake Suzuki Alto.

At least no one in the police department realized that Wei Muran’s inconspicuous vehicle was very powerful at present.

Coincidentally, Wei Muran met with Bai Mo—a twenty-seven years old female forensic pathologist who joined the forces four years earlier than her—upon exiting the car.

Wei Muran wore a normal T-shirt, a pair of jeans, and New Balance sport shoes to work for convenience’s sake. On the other hand, Bai Mo was dressed up in a printed shirt made of silk in addition to a skirt, which revealed her long and slender legs, with a pair of high heels on her feet. She would look professional and feminine after wearing a white coat in the department.

Those who worked as police officers would put their busy work as their top priority, so it would be extremely difficult for them to get into a relationship. Despite multiple matchmakings, many bachelors in the department failed in their relationships due to their girlfriends’ constant complaints regarding their busy schedules and the lack of time for companionship. Thus, many started to shift their attention to the females within the department and naturally, a few had a crush on Bai Mo.

However, Bai Mo remained single after all these years and treated everyone with the same kindness. Occasionally there were rumors about her going for a meal with a random personnel, but that was all, the story ended straight away afterward.

Wei Muran disliked Bai Mo for some inexplicable reason. She detested the way Bai Mo remained ambiguous in a relationship despite the lack of affection, but the male colleagues in the department fell for that nonetheless.

Bai Mo’s usual temperament and attitude felt insincere.

Bai Mo greeted Wei Muran with a nod and a smile, so she addressed Bai Mo politely. “Doctor Bai.”

After that, Bai Mo walked alongside Wei Muran. Since Bai Mo wore high heels, Wei Muran felt uncomfortable instantly after noticing the height difference between the two of them.

“By the way, I heard that Mr. Qi came to file a police report again yesterday?” asked Bai Mo with a faint smile on her face.

“…” Wei Muran was so embarrassed that she had no idea how to respond at that instant.

“Rumors were spreading in the department recently, stating that you brought your personal relationship into your work which would bring a negative effect on your work efficiency,” Bai Mo continued with a smile. Her long, black hair became slightly tangled as the wind blew softly on it, so she ran her slender and fair fingers through her hair to tidy it up, which appeared especially charming and attractive.

On the other hand, Wei Muran merely tied her hair into a ponytail for the sake of convenience. She appeared immature since she was a fresh graduate after all, and the way she dressed up made her look much younger than her actual age; as if she was going to further her study in a university after graduating from high school.

Moreover, Wei Muran seldom applied makeup since she preferred to use the time for more sleep. She would only utilize the time during traffic congestion on her way to work to put on a layer of CC cream and lipstick to appear more energetic, and that was all. Thus, she looked plain and immature when she stood beside Bai Mo who wore delicate and attractive makeup.

____________________________________________________________________________

Notes:

[1] One-Year-Old Catch (zhuā zhōu 抓周) is a tradition with a long history in China. It was recorded even when it was in the Song Dynasty (sòng cháo 宋朝). One-Year-Old Catch is usually held before eating the long-life noodles when it is on the day when a baby is one year old. The family will lay out sutras, brush pens, ink sticks, paper, ink slabs, abacus, copper coins, account books, pieces of jewelry, flowers, rouge, foods, toys, etc. For girls, scoops, scissors, rulers, thread, scissor-cut will be added. Then the parents put the baby in front of these articles and make it sit up. Nobody will give any instruction or cue to the baby so that it is left free to choose. Watching the baby catch the articles he likes, the family can then make predictions about his potential interests, future career and development.

- - - - -

Wei Muran remained silent since she was listless to explain her relationship with Qi Youxuan.

“Sergeant Jiang,” Bai Mo greeted all of a sudden. Her tone sounded the same but Wei Muran could detect the mellow and pleasant surprise in it.

Wei Muran raised her eyebrows curiously and turned around to glance at Bai Mo, who was smiling affectionately while trying her best to express her charm.

Wei Muran stared at Bai Mo dumbfoundedly before shifting her gaze to Sergeant Jiang. Something fishy seemed to be going on here.

However, Jiang Yuecheng—who treated everyone indifferently—merely nodded faintly in response, a contrast to Bai Mo’s enthusiasm. “Doctor Bai.”

Bai Mo stared at the handsome and phlegmatic man and walked beside him so that Wei Muran was separated from him, all while trying hard not to make her intention too obvious.

Jiang Yuecheng was well-reputed in the department not only due to his handsomeness or good temperament but also due to his family background. Everyone in the department knew that Jiang Yuecheng came here for training and was due a promotion after a few years.

“Sergeant Jiang, we’ve been colleagues for all these years and yet you’re still addressing me as Doctor Bai. It sounds like we’re unfamiliar with each other.” Bai Mo smiled faintly. Her voice sounded coquettish but it was not enough to induce disgust in others.

On the other hand, Wei Muran was eager to leave since she felt like a third-wheeler, but Bai Mo called out to her when she was about to excuse herself. “Muran, introduce your boyfriend to us some other time so that he won’t find excuses to come here every day. He lodged a police report after losing his phone, but that’s not part of our job scope too.”

Wei Muran was confused at this instant. Bai Mo’s intention to court Jiang Yuecheng was none of her business, so why did Bai Mo insist on dragging her into this matter? This was also one of the reasons why Wei Muran detested Bai Mo.

Fate could be quite marvelous and intriguing at times. When the seniors introduced Wei Muran to the department on her first day reporting to duty, she disliked Bai Mo at first glance before they even started initiating conversation.

This sort of aversion was related to the first impression and intuition as well.

“He isn’t my boyfriend,” Wei Muran answered calmly but felt uncomfortable after blurting out the response as if she was reluctant to admit it simply.

She squinted before adding on, “I’ll tell him to not keep creating problems.”

Jiang Yuecheng remained silent and glanced at Wei Muran before shifting it elsewhere.

Bai Mo returned to the forensic lab while Wei Muran followed Jiang Yuecheng into the criminal investigation department. Upon entering the office, they detected the fragrant scent of Tianjin-style Jianbing and Tofu brain[1] and saw Zhang Ming wolfing down the food on the table.

Wei Muran did not expect Zhang Mingming, who had an intimate friendship with Qi Youxuan since young, to work as a police officer too. He was given the name Zhang Mingming since birth but figured that it sounded too childish as a grown-up and thus decided to take the extra ‘Ming’ out of his name. Even so, Zhang Ming reckoned his name remained plain and dull.

Zhang Ming mentioned that even his name was not used in primary school’s English textbooks anymore and blamed his parents for not taking this seriously before bestowing the name to him.

Zhang Ming’s father was the chief of this department before he was transferred to the Ministry of Defense, so Zhang Ming might be following his father’s footsteps when he became a police officer. Initially, Zhang Ming’s mother intended to fund Zhang Ming for entrepreneurship without demanding him to earn a fortune. She merely wanted her son to live the rest of his life peacefully instead of involving himself in such a dangerous profession, but who could have expected Zhang Mingming to join the police force anyway?

Zhang Ming and Jiang Yuecheng’s family backgrounds were almost identical, but Jiang Yuecheng joined the police force earlier than Zhang Ming. Thus, according to the seniority, Zhang Ming was assigned as the corporal of the department, a rank below sergeant. After that, he gave an order that everyone must address him as Corporal Zhang instead of calling his name directly due to the embarrassing name his parents gave him.

Even so, everyone in the police department knew Corporal Zhang’s full name, all thanks to Qi Youxuan who would still greet him as Zhang Mingming loudly. Zhang Ming was so exasperated at that time, he started an argument with Qi Youxuan immediately.

Zhang Ming swallowed the last of Tianjin-style Jianbing and gulped down the Tofu brain after noticing Jiang Yuecheng and Wei Muran walking into the office together.

Zhang Ming’s gaze drifted across both Jiang Yuecheng and Wei Muran before he used rubbish disposal as an excuse to leave the office and dialed a phone number stealthily. “Youxuan, Jiang Yuecheng and Muran came into the office together this morning.”

If Wei Muran overheard Zhang Ming’s report, she would have figured out the reason why Qi Youxuan knew everything about her whereabouts like the back of his hands. There was a spy in the department all along!

…

…

After hanging up the phone call, Zhang Ming returned to the office and opened the windows so that the scent would not linger in the room.

“Sergeant, Corporal, we have a problem.” Zhao Yiyang fought the urge to quench his thirst and announced upon entering the office. “We received a report stating that a corpse was found in Xijiao.”

Then, Zhao Yiyang poured a glass of water for himself before continuing. “The victim is an elderly man but other details remain unknown. The informant is a villager living nearby, but he was scared to death.”

“Tell everyone to suit up and head to the scene.” Jiang Yuecheng took his cellphone and car key before leaving the office.

Wei Muran and the rest followed behind promptly.

…

…

Bai Mo was examining the corpse in the meantime. Wei Muran started her work in the police force just recently and she did not expect her first case to be so gory and gruesome.

The corpse was initially buried at the foot of the mountain but there was a downpour two days ago that lasted until last night, which had probably washed away the mud and revealed the corpse underneath.

“Sergeant Jiang, the first witness is Zhao Zhengguo, a forty-one-year-old man who lives in the Zhao family in a nearby village. He came here to catch some cicadas to sell in the market today and saw a section of a lower limb after the mud was washed away by the heavy rain. He noticed the corpse at seven o’clock in the morning and ran back home out of fear to explain the situation. He was then told to report this incident to the police afterward,” briefed Zhao Yiyang.

Bai Mo, who was wearing a surgical mask and a pair of gloves, knelt beside the corpse for a thorough examination. After that, she stood up, removed the surgical mask and reported. “The victim aged between seventy to seventy-five years old. Estimated time of death was between eleven to one o’clock, postmortem examination is required for the determination of an accurate time of death. There are four stab wounds on the deceased’s chest so far, but they’re starting to fester and decompose. Detailed analysis will have to wait until we return, but this stab wound in the middle of the chest is the cause of his death. It’s also obvious that this isn’t the primary crime scene too.”

Bai Mo frowned before continuing, “Many pieces of evidence were washed away after the downpour.”

Jiang Yuecheng nodded and instructed the corpse to be transferred back to the department first.

“Sergeant Jiang.” Xing Jiadong returned after finishing the questioning with the villagers. “I’ve asked everyone and none of them recognized the victim. It seems like the victim doesn’t live anywhere near this village.”

Jiang Yuecheng was not expecting to identify the deceased here since Bai Mo mentioned that this was not the primary crime scene. “Put him into the system for cross-referencing later.”

…

…

The squad returned to the police department and saw the police technician, Yang Shaozhan standing in front of the office with a peculiar look on his face.

“Muran, he came to lodge a report again!” Yang Shaozhan yelled at Wei Muran like she was his lifesaver.

“…” Wei Muran was stupefied.

“Hey, what did he lose this time?” asked Zhang Ming with a wink.

“…” The dumbfounded Yang Shaozhan then answered, “Wallet.”

“This isn’t part of the criminal investigation division’s job scope,” Zhang Ming’s thunderous voice pierced into the office.

“…” A stupefied Wei Muran walked into the office and saw Qi Youxuan sitting on the chair in a relaxed manner like he was enjoying himself at home.

Well, Qi Youxuan came here daily with different excuses, so it was natural that he had already familiarized himself with this place.

Qi Youxuan lost his credit card two days ago, his cellphone yesterday, and his wallet today. He would lose one of his belongings every day anyway.

Qi Youxuan would still come here to “lodge a police report” even though he was informed that the criminal investigation division was not in charge of lost and found.

Qi Youxuan had lost his chubby appearance at present. His facial features remained the same but he appeared stern and cold whenever he kept quiet. Well, it was only limited to the time when he did shut his mouth.

“Muran, a word please,” Jiang Yuecheng announced all of a sudden.

Wei Muran glanced at Qi Youxuan before leaving the office with her head lowered.

“Muran, I don’t care about your relationship with Qi Youxuan, but I hope you’ll take this job seriously and as your priority in the police force. He’s your friend, and that’s the only reason why we didn’t chase him out despite his daily visit. I hope this won’t be an interference to the job, especially when there’s a case right now and we won’t have time for him,” Jiang Yuecheng’s tone was calm and steady and yet it induced embarrassment in Wei Muran.

“I apologize for the trouble, Sergeant. This won’t happen again,” replied Wei Muran while avoiding direct eye contact with Jiang Yuecheng. She then rushed into the office and dragged Qi Youxuan out again.

Wei Muran was holding Qi Youxuan’s tie like she was taking her dog for a walk, which left Qi Youxuan speechless.

“Mumu…” Qi Youxuan whined at the back.

“Can you please stop playing the fool?” Wei Muran pulled Qi Youxuan into a corner and rebuked, “Don’t disturb me ever again. I’ve been very busy recently and there’s a major crime case today. I really don’t have time for your nonsense.”

Qi Youxuan wanted to say that he was not playing the fool but before he could mutter a response, Wei Muran returned to the office without giving him a chance to defend himself.

Qi Youxuan stared at Wei Muran’s back as she hurried back to the office with narrowed eyes.

A major crime case?

…

…

“Sergeant Jiang, we’ve identified the victim.” Yang Shaozhan passed the deceased’s personal information to Jiang Yuecheng before continuing, “The victim’s name is Zheng Wentao, a seventy-two male who lived in unit fifty-two in Xiang Yang Street, Nancheng Subdistrict with his wife. He was blessed with a son, two daughters, a grandson and three granddaughters, but none of them lived together with the victim. He went missing a week ago and a police report was lodged at the local police station at that time, but his whereabouts remained a mystery until now. I’ve notified his family members regarding this issue.”

Jiang Yuecheng nodded and said, “Jiadong, follow up with Doctor Bai to check if there’s any postmortem examination report.”

“Sergeant Jiang can just give me a phone call.” Bai Mo, who had a white coat on her, walked into the office with a faint smile on her face and a document in her hands.

“The result came out?” Jiang Yuecheng was stunned.

Bai Mo nodded and passed the document to Jiang Yuecheng. “The time of death was between eleven to twelve o’clock last night, and he was tortured for a period of time before his death. There isn’t much food in his stomach which indicated that there was prolonged fasting before this. There are flagellation wounds and abrasions on his body, and some of the flagellation wounds were newly created yesterday. The stab wounds on his chest are the cause of death. There are a total of six stab wounds on his chest and the entrance of each wound is messy, suggesting that the assailant was stabbing the victim in a panic state. The first two stab wounds missed the vital organs, but the third stab wound was the actual cause of his death. The following three stab wounds were created when the assailant panicked and was unsure if the victim was dead.”

“He must be in so much agony to die in such a way,” replied Wei Muran with a frown.

How spiteful could the assailant be to torture a seventy-two years old man in such a way?

“Muran, since we’re discussing the case, let’s be serious here and allow me to finish my report, alright? You can express your sympathy after work.” Bai Mo was annoyed at the sudden interruption and expressed her dissatisfaction in a professional manner. It brought a message that Wei Muran was unprincipled in handling her work and used her personal feelings to aid the investigation.

“Haha, Muran was a fresh graduate and joined the police force for only a couple months. Everyone would experience this initially too.” Zhao Yiyang mediated a dispute and said, “Doctor Bai, please continue.”

Bai Mo shook her head at Bai Muran disappointingly before shifting her gaze to a stoic Jiang Yuecheng and continued, “There aren’t any signs of struggle other than the wounds inflicted on his body, but it’s possible that the evidence on his body may be washed away by the downpour. I’ve taken his clothes for analysis, hoping that we can find something else which can help in the investigation.”

Then, a heart-wrenching wail pierced through the door and traveled into the office after Bai Mo finished reporting.

“Husband! My husband!”

They went out and saw an elderly lady wailing under the support of her two daughters, on the brink of collapse.

The elderly lady shoved her daughters’ hands aside and rushed forward after noticing Jiang Yuecheng and his squad. “Police officer, you must catch the murderer and bring justice to my husband! Police officers!”

Despite the constant sniveling, the elderly lady’s emotion was stabilized when Wei Muran returned after preparing tea.

“We have some questions for you, so please try your best in providing details to us that could aid in our investigation to locate the murderer,” said Jiang Yuecheng.

The elderly lady continued to shed tears while nodding. “Ask all you want, I’ll tell you everything I know.”

“When did Mr. Zheng go missing?”

“Exactly a week ago. He usually goes to the market every morning and purchases ingredients for everyday meals, but he didn’t return home after leaving the house that morning. If I knew… If I knew things would end up this way, I wouldn’t let him leave the house on that day.”

“Was there anything suspicious about Mr. Zheng lately?” asked Jiang Yuecheng.

“No, it was the same as usual,” The elderly lady shook her head, looking blank.

“Did Mr. Zheng incur hatred from anyone recently?” Jiang Yuecheng asked again.

“No, my husband has a good temper and won’t even start an argument with others, not to mention any enmity that would take his life away.” The elderly lady hesitated before answering the question, looking confused and blank.

Jiang Yuecheng threw a few more questions but the answers were not helpful to the investigation until Xing Jiadong came over and whispered something to him.

Jiang Yuecheng froze momentarily before glancing at the elderly lady again. “I think that should be all. We’ll come to you again if there’s any problem.”

“When… When can we take my husband back home?” asked the teary-eyed elderly lady.

“When the case is closed. There might be clues that we’ve yet to discover on the deceased,” answered Jiang Yuecheng.

“Are… are you guys going to dissect him?” The elderly lady wailed after imagining the bloody scene. “He passed away in agony, his soul can’t leave this world in peace, and his corpse can’t even be left intact.”

“I’m sorry, but I can assure you that the corpse will be dealt with as intact as possible. I believe you’ll find the murderer answering to his crime at the earliest more important than this issue,” Jiang Yuecheng replied in a professional manner without showing much sympathy.

“That’s right, Mom, it’s more important to locate the murderer in any case. Dad won’t be able to rest in peace no matter how intact his body ends up.” One of her daughters comforted the elderly lady.

The elderly lady gave up on her request and left the office with a howl.

“Which university did the victim’s granddaughter study in?” asked Jiang Yuecheng.

Before Xing Jiadong could answer the question, Qi Youxuan walked into the department again.

“Why did you come again? We have a case right now and have no time for you.” Xing Jiadong was irritated at the sight of Qi Youxuan returning to cause trouble again and complained without attempting to hide the detest on his face.

It was tolerable for Qi Youxuan to visit the department when they were not caught in cases, and he was Wei Muran’s friend after all, so they basically treated him as one of their colleague’s family members.

However, Qi Youxuan was acting without regard to priorities when he came over at this hour. Xing Jiadong even blamed Wei Muran as he eyed her annoyingly.

Zhang Ming walked toward Qi Youxuan quickly to drag him away. “We’re really caught in a major crime case this time, and everyone is very busy at the moment. Jiadong wasn’t complaining on purpose so don’t take it to heart, alright? You’re a busy man too, so stop visiting us every day, will you?”

Wei Muran’s cheeks were flushed pink with awkwardness and embarrassment when she walked toward Qi Youxuan, but before she could mutter a response, the department chief entered the office.

“Hey, why are you guys blocking the entrance?” The chief glanced at Zhang Ming and Wei Muran kindly before shifting his gaze to Qi Youxuan with more fondness on his expression.

“Come, let me introduce him. He’s Qi Youxuan, who’s also my good friend’s son. I’ve heard about the case today and coincidentally, he has time to spare, so I swallowed my pride and invited him over to aid in your investigation,” explained the department chief.

“Chief, I don’t think it’s appropriate for an outsider to assist in our investigation,” Xing Jiadong frowned and complained without attempting to hide his loath.

“Haha, it’s natural that you’ve not heard of the name Qi Youxuan, but at least you were aware of the major case that happened in Huai City, right?” The chief shifted his gaze to Qi Youxuan. “Young man, still like to be low profile, huh?”

“I’m always acting low profile.” The smile on Qi Youxuan’s face was extremely warm and gentle but somehow made the others wish to connect their palms with it.

“It’s said that they received help from an expert to solve the crime in Huai City one year ago, but none knew his identity and he wasn’t even a well-reputed expert throughout the world. Chief, do you mean—” Zhao Yiyang’s eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at Qi Youxuan.

This young man appeared to be in his twenties, almost the same age as they were at present.

“I’m here to help, but don’t forget to keep this a secret. I prefer to stay low profile because the stress will be overwhelming if I become famous. To be honest, the reason why I came here to lodge police reports for the past two days was to test your investigation skills, haha,” Qi Youxuan explained with a grin.

Bloody hell!

What a shameless and brazen man!

Everyone in this room roared silently in their minds at this exact moment.

How could a lost cell phone and wallet possibly test the police officers’ investigation skills?

However, Qi Youxuan mentioned it like this was the truth. What a shameless bastard!

“Alright, Yuecheng, please explain the case to Youxuan,” the chief instructed before leaving.

Jiang Yuecheng frowned slightly while Zhang Ming informed Qi Youxuan of every clue they had obtained so far. Then, he could not help but complain after finishing the explanation, “You’re not being a good friend, mate. You didn’t even inform me that you were the one solving the case in Huai City.”

“Why are you complaining when Mumu doesn’t even know about this?” Qi Youxuan rolled his eyes in response.

Everyone shifted their gazes on Wei Muran when Qi Youxuan blurted out her nickname affectionately.

Blush seared through Wei Muran’s cheeks at this instant.

Qi Youxuan was the only one who would address Wei Muran as Mumu since young, but they were working in the department at this moment, so what the hell was he doing?

Jiang Yuecheng glanced at Qi Youxuan before shifting it elsewhere. “The forensic science division reported that they found traces of Zheng Xiaorui’s blood in the victim’s blood. Zheng Xiaorui was the victim’s granddaughter.”

Then, Xing Jiadong added further information. “Zheng Xiaorui, aged nineteen years old, studied in a fine arts course at Jiao University last year. Even though her house is in B City, she stays in the hostel and returns only on weekends.”

“Muran, follow me to Jiao University,” instructed Jiang Yuecheng while ignoring Qi Youxuan.

____________________________________________________________________________

Notes:

[1] Douhua (Chinese: 豆花; pinyin: dòuhuā) is the short form of doufuhua (Chinese: 豆腐花; pinyin: dòufuhuā). It is a Chinese snack made with very soft tofu. It is also referred to as tofu pudding and soybean pudding. In northern China, douhua is often eaten with soy sauce, thus resulting in a savory flavor. Northern Chinese often refer to douhua as doufunao (豆腐脑; dòufunǎo; “tofu brains”, often shortened to 豆脑; dòunǎo).