At the end of the alley, Jie Jingjue had dragged Jie Jingchen over to lie in wait.
After Qin i left, Jie Jingjue hadn’t gone ho. Instead, he had hunkered down to stake out the area. This was the only way back to their house, and he was determined to wait here until Qin i returned from her tryst so he could catch her red-handed. It would be even better if her lover was the one to escort her ho.
But instead of Qin i and her lover, the person he ended up waiting for was Jie Jingchen.
"Jing Si, just a little longer," Jie Jingjue said, seeing Jie Jingchen about to leave. He grabbed his brother’s arm and refused to let go.
"Jie Jingjue, let go," Jie Jingchen ordered in a cold voice.
"Jing Si, I’m not lying! I really saw her with another man..."
"Jie Jingjue," Jie Jingchen warned, his voice like ice. "If you dare slander her again, I swear..."
"Jing Si! Jing Si! She’s back! Look!" Jie Jingjue cut him off excitedly, pointing into the distance.
Jie Jingchen followed his brother’s finger and saw a bright light in the distance. The beam of the flashlight was glaring under the moonlight, making it impossible to clearly see who was on the bicycle.
’Crap.’ Mrs. Xie, however, could see the two figures in the distance and instinctively switched off the flashlight strapped to the bicycle.
"What is it?" Qin i asked, looking bewildered. With the flashlight off, she couldn’t see clearly, but by the moonlight, she could just make out two faint silhouettes in the distance.
"It’s Jing Si and Jing Wu," Mrs. Xie said, hopping off the bicycle. She yanked the handlebars around, about to get back on and make a run for it.
Qin i was caught completely off guard by Mrs. Xie’s sudden move. Her hands were full holding bags of urea, and when Mrs. Xie abruptly wrenched the handlebars, Qin i lost her balance and tumbled off the bicycle.
"Ah!" Qin i cried out as she hit the ground in a heap.
"Xiao i!" Mrs. Xie jumped, dropping the bicycle to help Qin i up. "Are you okay? You didn’t get hurt, did you?"
’Oh no, they’re trying to escape!’ Jie Jingjue sprinted forward faster than he ever had in his life. Mrs. Xie had just helped Qin i to her feet when a sharp pain shot through her shoulder. Soone grabbed her and threw her with trendous force. Caught by surprise, Mrs. Xie stumbled and fell. An instant later, a hand seized her by the collar. "You shaless howrecker! Trying to run? Not a chance!"
"Mom!" Qin i cried out in alarm. A silver needle appeared between her fingers, but just as she was about to flick it, she heard Jie Jingjue’s voice. She froze, instantly understanding what he was doing.
"Calling for her mom won’t help you, you shaless adulter—" Jie Jingjue’s voice died in his throat. He stared in astonishnt at his own mother, asking in disbelief, "Mom? How can it be you?"
Qin i retracted her silver needles and crossed her arms, her almond-shaped eyes glinting with the playful amusent of soone watching a good show unfold.
"Jie Jingjue, have you lost your mind? Let go!" Mrs. Xie ached all over from the fall, and now Jing Jue was still roughly holding her up by the collar.
"Mom, how is it you?" Jie Jingjue couldn’t accept this. ’How could my sister-in-law’s lover be my own mother?’ "Mom, why are you wearing n’s clothes?"
"Jie Jingjue, do you not want your allowance this month?" Mrs. Xie demanded, fuming as she straightened her collar.
"No, Mom, it’s a misunderstanding! A huge misunderstanding!" Jie Jingjue frantically helped his mother straighten her collar, his eyes filled with concern. "Mom, are you okay? You didn’t get hurt just now, did you?"
Jie Jingchen finally arrived, shooting a cold glare at Jie Jingjue before stepping forward to check on Qin i. "Are you all right?" he asked, his deep voice laced with concern. "Did you get hurt?"
Qin i said nothing, just shaking her head. She dusted herself off, picked up the two bags of urea, and started walking.
Jie Jingchen imdiately followed, reaching for the bags. "Let take those."
"The luggage last ti was much heavier than these two bags of herbs," Qin i retorted, the corner of her lip curling in a sneer. She ignored his outstretched hand. Back in Shanghai, she’d not only had to carry her own luggage but his as well. And to top it all off, she’d had to support him physically.
’He’s all chivalrous now, but where was this gentlemanly behavior when I actually needed it? It’s too late. I don’t need it anymore.’
Jie Jingchen rubbed his nose awkwardly. "That was a different situation," he argued laly.
Qin i ignored him and kept walking, still carrying the urea bags.
"I’ll deal with you when we get ho," Mrs. Xie said fiercely to Jie Jingjue. She dusted herself off, hurried to catch up with Qin i, took the bags from her, and shoved them at Jie Jingjue. "You carry them."
And so, Mrs. Xie and Qin i walked ahead empty-handed while Jie Jingjue trudged behind carrying the bags, and Jie Jingchen followed last, pushing the bicycle.
Back at the Jie Family’s ho, in the main hall, Mr. and Mrs. Xie sat in the seats of honor. Jie Jingchen and Qin i sat to one side, while Jie Jingjue knelt on the floor, pulling at his ears in a gesture of punishnt.
"Mom, I was wrong," Jie Jingjue admitted, his posture one of perfect contrition.
"And what was all that about a ’howrecker’?" Mrs. Xie demanded, her face cold.
At the ntion of the lover, Jie Jingjue’s confidence suddenly returned. He shot a contemptuous look at Qin i and spoke bluntly. "Dad, Mom, she cheated on Jing Si! And she’s secretly pregnant with another man’s child."
Mrs. Xie was incandescent with rage. She shot up, rushed over to Jie Jingjue, and slapped him hard across the face. "Jie Jingjue, what vicious rumors are you spreading?!"
"Mom!" Jie Jingjue was stunned. He clutched his stinging cheek and stared resentfully at his furious mother. "I’m not making it up! It was written clearly on the miscarriage report—the one you wrote with your own hands! Weren’t you suspicious? She was supposedly a month pregnant. A month ago, where was she? And where was Jing Si?"
Jie Jingchen raised a hand and massaged the bridge of his nose. ’This idiot just can’t let this go.’
Mrs. Xie looked at her foolish son. ’Normally, he doesn’t care about anything besides matters related to Jing Qi. Why is he so fixated on this?’
A sly smile touched Qin i’s lips, and she spoke with a provocativeness designed to drive him mad. "What does it matter if the baby isn’t your brother’s? As long as the wife is his, that’s all that matters."
Jie Jingchen’s sharp brows furrowed. Seeing the undisguised amusent and mockery in her eyes, a flicker of exasperated helplessness surfaced in his own amber gaze.
Qin i’s scandalous words made both Mr. and Mrs. Xie’s hearts jump. Their gazes shot to Jie Jingchen in unison.
But he remained perfectly calm, as if he weren’t the one being cuckolded, and was indulgently allowing his wife to spout nonsense. The older couple exchanged a look and said nothing.
"Dad, Mom, did you hear that? Jing Si! She admitted it herself! She’s utterly shaless!" Jie Jingjue was running out of words to describe her.
"Jing Wu, you’ve misunderstood your sister-in-law," Mrs. Xie said, genuinely afraid Qin i would say sothing even more outrageous just to spite him. Seeing Jie Jingchen’s silent consent, she decided to just tell him the truth. "She was never pregnant."
"Even if she wasn’t pregnant, that doesn’t—" Jie Jingjue’s voice cut off. The indignation on his face gave way to blank confusion. "Mom, what did you just say?"
"You blockhead," Jie Jingchen muttered, taking a breath to compose himself. The displeasure in his eyes was bone-chilling.
"Bro," Jie Jingjue whined, feeling wronged and innocent. The mont his mother said, "She was never pregnant," he’d had a vague sense that sothing was afoot.
"Think about the situation. If we hadn’t made a big scene, all they had was Xu Anshan kicking over a stone table. The police wouldn’t have had direct evidence to arrest him. With no one actually injured, it would have been dismissed as a simple family dispute." It was a rare mont of patience from Jie Jingchen, actually explaining things clearly to his younger brother.
"The miscarriage... Jing Si, did you and she plan that together, or was it an improvisation?" Jie Jingjue asked curiously. Thinking about the utter farce he’d made of trying to catch her cheating, he felt too guilty to even look Qin i in the eye.
Jie Jingchen glanced sideways at Qin i. "We improvised."
"You two have such great chemistry. A true married couple," Jie Jingjue gushed, trying to suck up to them.
"Dad, Mom, we’re going to our room now." Jie Jingchen stood, pulling Qin i up with him and leading her out of the main hall.
After the two of them had left, Mrs. Xie pointed a finger at Jie Jingjue’s nose and let him have it.
"Just look at you! How did I give birth to such a foolish son? No wonder your brother keeps things from you. You’re completely unreliable! I don’t even know what to say. ’Catching a cheater?’ The fact that you even ca up with that... it’s just unbelievably stupid!"
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