Chapter 42 It seems like maintaining the relationship isn't so bad to show weakness to her once...

The two returned to the villa.

The lights were on inside.

Jiang Xuchi suddenly stopped at the door, and Qin Man almost bumped into him.

She hadn't even had a chance to reprimand him.

I caught a glimpse of a person sitting on the sofa in the center of the living room. He was upright, dressed in a sharp suit, and his somewhat aged face showed signs of fatigue. He had a resemblance to Jiang Xuchi in terms of his features, but was more rounded.

It was Jiang Xuchi's father, Jiang Chengxing.

Qin Man's heart skipped a beat.

In her memory, this uncle always sat upright at the head of the table, never glancing at the younger children playing beside him; he was a very indifferent adult.

I never expected him to be here tonight.

She subconsciously looked at Jiang Xuchi.

Jiang Xuchi's face quickly darkened. He didn't say anything, but instead closed the door.

The room was eerily quiet.

Jiang Chengxing stood up, glanced at the two of them, and then coldly fixed his gaze on Jiang Xuchi. "Come here."

Jiang Xu didn't move.

Jiang Chengxing strode over, raised his hand, and slapped him hard across the face.

The crisp sound made Qin Man's heart tremble.

Jiang Xuchi in front of him did not dodge. He just tilted his head slightly, half of his face was red from the slap, and his eyelashes were drooping, as if he was used to it.

"You good-for-nothing." Jiang's father's voice was deep and sarcastic. "Instead of thinking about helping your brother Jiang Chenyao with the project, you're digging a pit for him."

Qin Man stood to the side, looking at Jiang Xuchi's unusually quiet demeanor, and felt a sudden pang of pain in her heart.

He didn't offer a single word of explanation.

Why?

Does he really think he deserves to be slapped?

Anger slowly welled up inside him.

Qin Man was so nervous she felt suffocated, and her mood became increasingly unpleasant.

The next second, she took a step forward, shielding Jiang Xuchi behind her, raised her chin, and said in a slightly trembling voice, "Uncle, it's best to talk things out reasonably. Such a crude act as resorting to violence is really beneath you. Besides, this is your son, it's your family matter. I'm here, yet you don't avoid suspicion. Are you treating me like I'm invisible?"

Jiang's father was stunned for a moment, then sneered and shifted his gaze to Qin Man: "Who do you think you are, daring to stand up for him? You're so young, yet you dare to boss adults around."

Before he could finish speaking, the man raised his hand again.

Qin Man gritted her teeth, not intending to dodge.

But the slap never landed.

Jiang Xuchi suddenly reached out and pulled her behind him. He stared at Jiang Chengxing, his eyes dark and gloomy, as if he had reached his limit. His tone and voice were filled with suppressed anger: "Enough."

"..."

"We'll talk about it when we get back."

Qin Man looked up and met his eyes.

Jiang Xuchi said, "I'll go back to the old house with Dad first."

"But……"

"Grandpa's there, everything's alright."

Jiang Chengxing sneered. He had calmed down a bit now and seemed to remember that as an adult he also needed to save face, so he stopped making any moves.

He stared at Jiang Xuchi and said, word by word, "Don't think your grandfather will still help you."

Qin Man watched as the father and son left the villa one after the other and got into the same car.

The villa was empty, and Qin Man had no desire to stay there. She grabbed her bag, called a car, and decided to go and bother Qin Chen, something she hadn't done in a long time.

Qin Chen now lives in a large, rented apartment in the city center, and she has a spare key to his place.

Qin Man took a taxi downstairs, glanced up, and found that the car was still on.

When she pushed open the door, the room was filled with the smell of alcohol.

The pungent smell, mixed with tobacco fumes, made her instinctively frown.

The table was a mess, with several empty bottles lying on their sides and the ashtray filled with cigarette butts.

On the sofa, Qin Chen lay half-reclined with his head tilted back, two buttons of his shirt undone, and his hair a mess, as if he had just been in a fight with someone.

Qin Man was stunned.

That's unbelievable.

Why do they all look so disheveled today?

Qin Chen has always been a carefree and irresponsible person. He has only ever bullied others since he was a child. He would never have witnessed this scene today.

Qin Man didn't have time to appreciate his miserable moment. She changed into slippers, walked over, and kicked his dangling arm with her foot.

"Hey, wake up."

"What are you doing?" Qin Chen was still relatively sober and could hear the door opening.

"What are you up to now?" Qin Man threw her bag on the table, her tone angry.

She was still feeling suffocated because of what had just happened, and had nowhere to vent her frustration. Seeing Qin Chen like this only made her angrier.

Qin Chen looked up, a half-smile on his face: "I'm exhausted, why ask so many questions?"

Qin Man's anger flared even more at his nonchalant attitude: "With you like this, you'll break up with Sister Lingqing sooner or later."

"We broke up a long time ago." As Qin Chen said this, he propped himself up on the sofa and looked at her with half-closed eyes. "Why did you suddenly contact me?"

Qin Man asked in surprise, "They really broke up?"

Qin Chen remained silent.

Qin Man scoffed, "Serves you right."

"Do you want to die?" Qin Chen's expression was fierce, but his mood was clearly not high, so he didn't seem threatening at all.

Qin Man looked away, refusing to look at him. She turned and went to the kitchen to get a glass of warm water. She then unscrewed the medicine bottle, poured out two hangover candies, and placed them on the coffee table. "If I hadn't come, you wouldn't even know you were dead tonight."

"You don't need to collect the body." Qin Chen leaned forward, picked up a water glass and a sugar cup, and swallowed them together.

Qin Man opened her phone, scrolled through the food delivery app, and said, "I'm hungry, so I ordered two pancakes for a late-night snack."

"..."

"Could I use the restroom? I'm going to take a shower first."

After finishing these trivial tasks, Qin Man soaked in the bathtub, but the tightness in her chest did not dissipate.

Certain images keep flashing through my mind, and just thinking about them makes me feel upset.

After she finished her bath, the takeout she ordered had arrived. She put on her bathrobe, walked to the door, picked up the takeout, unpacked it, and sat down at the other end of the sofa to start eating.

Qin Chen took a sip of water, glanced at her out of the corner of his eye for a while, and suddenly said, "I have a question for you. Why did you suddenly come here? And in the middle of the night."

He still keenly sensed that something was wrong with Qin Man.

Qin Man instinctively wanted to deny it, but when she met Qin Chen's sharp eyes, which were still sharp despite being drunk, she couldn't say anything.

"Why should I tell you if you don't even reply to me properly?"

"Oh, it's about that kid again."

Damn, he always guesses so accurately.

Qin Man silently finished the pancake, took a tissue to wipe her mouth, and then got up to take a can of iced cola from the refrigerator.

However, she didn't intend to leave and sat back down on the sofa.

Qin Chen watched her fuss for a while, and it seemed she had something to say.

"Say it now, while I'm in a good mood."

"Are you in a good mood?" Qin Man asked back, her gaze sweeping over the pile of empty beer cans on the table. "Are you sober or not? Suddenly you're playing the role of a kind and approachable older brother next door?"

Qin Chen sneered: "Is the boy next door your brat?"

The topic then turned to Jiang Xuchi, and Qin Man couldn't help but ask, "How much do you actually know about him?"

"..."

Qin Chen shut his mouth and waited for her to continue.

Qin Man fell silent, realizing that she didn't actually know Jiang Xuchi very well.

The brother and sister were both habitually arrogant and disdainful of others.

“I actually know,” Qin Chen said after a moment of silence, “Jiang Xuchi hasn’t been having an easy time lately. Don’t jump into that fire pit, understand?”

"..."

“It’s not that I’m protecting him, it’s that I’m protecting you. If you’re really bullied, who will back you up? It certainly won’t be him,” Qin Chen continued. “He still has a lot of problems to put out.”

Qin Man looked up. "You know about his family?"

Qin Chen seemed to have heard an extremely ridiculous joke, and he twitched the corner of his mouth, "His family's affairs have caused quite a stir, everyone knows about them, they've spread throughout the industry."

"What exactly happened?" Qin Man pressed.

Qin Chen narrowed his eyes.

He stared at her, remaining silent for a long time.

Qin Man asked anxiously, "Are you going to tell me or not?"

Qin Chen replied slowly and deliberately, "So concerned, did you just come from Jiang Xuchi's place?"

"..."

How can the older brother be so shrewd?

She didn't tell her about her current situation with Jiang Xuchi.

Why can't you learn from other people's slow-witted children?

Qin Man couldn't help but retort: ​​"It's none of your business to interfere in my private affairs."

"Is this a private matter?"

"Then tell me first how you broke up with Sister Lingqing."

"Don't call her Sister Lingqing."

"..." Qin Man really couldn't understand his thought process. Was it fun to argue with people?

It's so frustrating.

No wonder Gu Lingqing couldn't stand him.

Seeing that Qin Chen still refused to talk, Qin Man stood up and went back to her room, collapsing wearily onto the bed.

She took out her phone, wanting to send Jiang Xuchi a message, but no matter how she edited the message, it felt strange, so she simply gave up and just said that she was staying with Qin Chen.

*

Jiang Xuchi returned to the old house and, under his grandfather's supervision, did not have any further conflicts with Jiang Chengxing.

But he also got a scolding.

Jiang Shuhai called him over until he was exhausted, and said to him earnestly, "Company projects are not child's play. Your brother is still in school. His mother has connections and is just helping him out. You've messed things up and ruined everything. Favors don't matter, but all the money will be lost. Is that worth it?"

Jiang Xu remained silent, his expression calm and indifferent.

"You're just a junior employee at Jiang Chengxing's company right now. You only need to familiarize yourself with the projects; you don't need to get involved in so much."

Jiang Shuhai sighed.

“A few days ago, I heard that the project you were working on suddenly lost 2 billion yuan. I thought it had nothing to do with you, but I didn’t expect that the investigation would come to you.”

"You've always done a good job, never interfering in things you shouldn't, but this project is all because of you."

"Look how angry your dad is! Your behavior is practically slapping him in the face." Jiang Shuhai coughed so hard he bent over, his chest heaving.

Jiang Xuchi waited for him to finish coughing before whispering, "My dad asked me to pave the way for him at the company. I disappointed him; I didn't do a good job."

Jiang Shuhai, leaning on his cane, pointed the tip sharply at his lowered head. "You did this on purpose. You two could have helped each other out. Instead, you've caused such a huge mess."

Jiang Xuchi kept his eyes downcast and remained motionless.

"Now you're playing dead? Aren't you afraid of being scalded by boiling water?" Jiang Shuhai's cane tapped the ground with a dull thud. "Lift your head up."

Jiang Xuchi slowly raised his head, his eyes indifferent, and a coldness emanating from his brows.

"He can go to the branch office later."

"Isn't this what you wanted?" Jiang Shuhai sneered. "Fine, you've really blocked all your path."

Jiang Xuchi returned to his room and opened his phone to see a message from Qin Man.

She gave a brief explanation of where she went, and that was it.

He glanced at the time, figuring Qin Man should already be asleep, so he turned off the screen, got up, and turned on the computer.

Jiang Chenyao is unaware of this matter yet, but he will find out sooner or later.

He suddenly remembered Jiang Chenyao's smug look next to Qin Man earlier that day, his fingers twitched, and he took out a cigarette case and lighter from his pocket and went to the room's balcony.

My hand holding the phone unconsciously opened the video app.

His only follower hasn't been updated in a long time.

But its popularity remains high.

The number of likes and comments kept increasing, and passersby were always amazed by her.

Although she didn't show her face in the video, Jiang Xuchi could always imagine what kind of expression she had after dancing the dance.

After all, he had seen all kinds of expressions on her face since he was a child.

But today, she stood in front of him, earnestly defending him, her aggressive and menacing demeanor directed at others.

This is the first time I've seen this.

The more he recalled it, the weaker his desire to win against her became.

It seems that showing weakness to her once wouldn't be so bad.