Last time, if it hadn't been for him bringing a dog back, Shen Xi would have had to undergo so many vaccinations and suffer so much, to the point where she still couldn't live like a normal person.
"You and she are family, but Si Yue and I are not," Qin Si Ye said, his eyes carrying two faint cold glints.
Qin Xiuzhi sighed lightly, "Si Ye, I know you've held a grudge against me for what happened back then. But my relationship with her truly began after your mother passed away. Why won't you ever believe me?"
Back then, two years after giving birth to his daughter, Qin Si Ye's mother died unexpectedly in a car accident. Qin Si Yu was only four years younger than Qin Si Yue, meaning that within a year of his mother's death, Qin Xiuzhi had a child with Jiang Jie. How could this not arouse suspicion?
"Not long after my mother passed away, you had a child with another woman. And Si Yue was so young then. Don't you feel, deep down, that you've wronged us, wronged my mother?" Qin Si Ye looked at him with melancholic eyes, unable to hide the pain in his heart. For so many years, every time he thought about this, a piercing pain would seize him. He couldn't understand why, after two people who loved each other so deeply, one passed away, the other wouldn't grieve and would so quickly be with another woman. He recalled Qin Xiuzhi once saying that men of the Qin family didn't settle for anything less in relationships, preferring to be alone than with the wrong person. Of course, this didn't apply to the man in front of him.
And all of this remained unknown until fifteen years ago, when Jiang Jie brought Qin Si Yu to their home, and their family learned of the matter. Qin Xiuzhi's good image in his heart plummeted. It was from then on that Qin Xiuzhi felt a sense of guilt, and after his university graduation, he handed over Zhuo Sheng entirely to him. Even so, Qin Si Ye refused to forgive him and treated him with indifference. To be able to sit here and talk with him today was a first in many years. These words were also being spoken by Qin Si Ye for the first time.
"Si Ye, it's not what you think. That night with Jiang Jie was an accident. I was drunk and mistook her for your mother. Later, she voluntarily resigned from the company. It wasn't until five years later, forced by life circumstances, that she found me with Si Yu." Qin Xiuzhi paused for a moment, his face etched with pain, and continued, "She was destitute and had a child with her. I couldn't just ignore her. That's why I had no choice but to register our marriage and give her legitimacy. I wanted to tell you all this long ago, but back then you were hot-headed and stubborn, and you simply wouldn't listen to me."
Hearing this, Qin Si Ye let out a bitter laugh, "So? You've told me all this today just to get me to forgive you and accept her? I'm telling you now, that's impossible. How do you know she wasn't the one who actively seduced you back then?"
"Si Ye, don't speak so harshly. You're already in your thirties now and in charge of such a large conglomerate. How can you make baseless assumptions? In your heart, is she truly that contemptible?" Qin Xiuzhi immediately sat up straight upon hearing this and reprimanded him.
Qin Si Ye suddenly stood up from the sofa, "Yes. You're right. In my eyes, she will always be the mistress. Judging by your constant defense of her, it's not hard to see that you've been quite satisfied with her all these years. Then you two live well together. If you want me to accept her, that's out of the question." With that, he strode out of the living room. The first long talk between father and son in over a decade ended unpleasantly.
In the first-floor corridor, Xu Zhilan had just emerged from her room when she saw Jiang Jie leaning against the wall, engrossed as if eavesdropping on something. "What are you doing here? Being so shifty," Xu Zhilan glared at her unpleasantly. Jiang Jie's body jolted, and her phone almost fell to the ground. She quickly turned around with a beaming smile and said, "Mom, you're back. Xiuzhi asked me to notify Xue Lan and Xiu Yi to come home for a family dinner. I was just about to tell you."
"Oh, really?" Xu Zhilan glanced at her dismissively and walked forward, half-believing. Jiang Jie reached out to help her, but Xu Zhilan skillfully dodged her. In the courtyard, Qin Si Ye was smoking a cigarette under the shade of a tree. "Si Ye, why are you standing here alone?" At that moment, Qin Xiu Yi's voice rang out from the entrance.