Qin i suddenly stopped in her tracks. Jie Jingchen, walking close behind her, couldn’t stop in ti and bumped right into her.
"Jie Jingchen, you bumped into ." Qin i steadied herself, spun around with her hands on her hips, and glared at Jie Jingchen.
Jie Jingchen stiffened. Seeing how furious Qin i was, a flicker of helplessness crossed his face. "I didn’t an to. You stopped so suddenly, I couldn’t stop in ti."
Instead of arguing senselessly, Qin i mulled it over for a long mont. Then she tilted her face up and spoke with a solemn, earnest expression. "Jie Jingchen, I’ll forgive you this ti. But if you ever leave behind again, I swear, I will never look back. We will be over."
The word "over" struck him like a dagger to the heart. Jie Jingchen frowned deeply, gathering his thoughts. "There won’t be a next ti."
Qin i smiled, her anger dissipating. She was quite satisfied with Jie Jingchen’s attitude.
"You’re forgiven," Qin i said, feigning magnanimity.
Seeing her smile, Jie Jingchen let out a sigh of relief and reached for Qin i’s face.
"What are you doing?" Qin i jumped back a step, eyeing Jie Jingchen warily.
His hand froze in mid-air. Qin i’s reaction—as if he were about to hit her—and her guardedness made Jie Jingchen feel a little hurt.
"Your face is dirty," Jie Jingchen said, betraying no hint of awkwardness as he elegantly lowered his hand.
"Oh." Qin i grunted, wiping her cheeks haphazardly. ’I cried so hard just now, it’s normal for my face to be a ss.’ Qin i was thankful she wasn’t wearing any makeup, or she would have looked like a fright. "Mom’s gone. How are we getting ho?"
"How do you want to get ho?" Jie Jingchen countered.
Qin i shot him a glare and said irritably, "Other than walking, do we have a better option?"
Jie Jingchen remained silent. ’There is,’ he thought, but didn’t say it. Walking with her was quite nice.
Jie Jingchen took Qin i’s hand, and they walked toward ho by the light of the moon.
After so consideration, Jie Jingchen said, "Qin i, next ti you go to the black market, I’ll go with you."
Qin i hesitated for a few seconds, holding back a sharp retort. "I heard you. But it wasn’t who wanted to go to the black market this ti. It was Mom. She insisted on dragging there and didn’t give a chance to refuse. She wouldn’t even listen when Dad tried to stop her. Jie Jingchen, I have a feeling Mom is in a bad mood."
Jie Jingchen was silent for a long while, his grip on her hand tightening. "I’m sorry. I misunderstood you."
His apology wasn’t what Qin i was after. Feeling he’d missed her point, she said again, "Jie Jingchen, your mother is in a bad mood."
"My mom’s bad mood is my dad’s problem." A cold, mocking smile touched the corners of Jie Jingchen’s lips.
Qin i fell silent. ’If her own son is saying that, what can I, just the daughter-in-law, possibly say?’
They walked on in silence for a while before Qin i couldn’t hold it in any longer. "Jie Jingchen, Mom said Aunt Zhang is coming back tomorrow."
"Mm," Jie Jingchen grunted indifferently, not taking the conversational bait. He didn’t much care when Aunt Zhang was coming back.
"Judging by Jing Qi’s reaction, she isn’t exactly looking forward to Aunt Zhang’s return," Qin i said delicately. When Jie Jingchen didn’t respond, Qin i decided to be blunt. "Jing Qi doesn’t like Aunt Zhang."
"I don’t like her either," Jie Jingchen blurted out, a deep lancholy filling his eyes.
"Then why let her stay at the house if you don’t like her?" There was a mocking edge to Qin i’s voice. ’Inviting soone you dislike into your ho is just asking for trouble.’ Her thoughts drifted to Xu Chunyan, who was always at odds with her mother-in-law, constantly provoking the older woman, yet still lived in the sa house, happy as a clam.
’Then again,’ she mused, ’think of all those mothers- and daughters-in-law who are at each other’s throats but still have to live under the sa roof, constantly fighting and scheming.’
’A mother-in-law and daughter-in-law living under the sa roof, that Qin i could understand. But Aunt Zhang was the sister of her father-in-law’s deceased first wife. With her sister gone and her brother-in-law remarried, was it really appropriate for her to be living in his house?’
"We may not like her, but soone does," Jie Jingchen said aningfully.
Jie Jingchen didn’t elaborate, but Qin i understood. The Jie Family was split into two factions: one comprised of Mr. Xie and the children from his first wife, the other of Mrs. Xie and her children. Mr. Xie outwardly sided with Mrs. Xie, but no one knew what he was truly thinking. And then there was the unreliable Jie Jingjue, who would occasionally turn traitor and switch sides.
’The Jie Family’s relationships really were too complicated.’ Qin i couldn’t understand it. Mrs. Xie ca from a wealthy family, far better off than Mr. Xie’s, so why on earth had she married him?
’Love is blind, it’s true.’
’Mr. Xie wasn’t good enough for Mrs. Xie.’
’Then again, if Mrs. Xie hadn’t married Mr. Xie, Jie Jingchen and his siblings wouldn’t exist.’
"Jie Jingchen, if I rember correctly, you once said that this house we’re living in belongs to your mother." Qin i flashed a sly, fox-like smile.
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