Chapter 21 If I no longer like her, she…
The living room was much quieter now, with three women chatting idly around the mahjong table.
Li Pan, with her legs crossed and a look of impatience on her face, said, "Where did Qin Wu go? We're one short, it's so annoying!"
Wang Yuxuan chimed in shrilly, "Her mother, who became the wife through a mistress, was so glamorous back then when she drove away the original wife. Now that she's seen the daughter born to the original wife, she's probably too ashamed to show her face and is hiding away, isn't she?"
The two burst into shrill laughter.
"I heard she was originally going to marry Brother Song, but what happened? Ha! She was blinded by greed and fell for that worthless illegitimate son of Chu Laosan! They even secretly got their marriage certificate? What a shame, a bitch and a dog!"
"Hmph, at least she has some self-awareness, knowing that Brother Song doesn't like her! It's just a pity for our Brother Song, who has been cuckolded by these two bitches! Qin Ruhai is afraid that the Chu family will turn against him, so he quickly picked up his abandoned daughter to fill the hole... Tsk tsk, this Xie Tang, even her father dislikes her so much, in the end she still has to clean up the Qin family's mess, she's really pitiful..." another woman chimed in.
Li Pan scoffed disdainfully, "Pitiful? Stop with your saintly sentimentality! Don't you even know who she married? The heir to the Huasong Group! Chu Song's net worth is so high that even if all our families combined, we couldn't afford him! If I could marry him, I'd do anything, even lick his shoes!"
"Is that bitch Qin Wu coming back or not? Give her a call and urge her..."
Xie Tang had no intention of eavesdropping; she was simply sitting quietly on the backlit sofa, while the others were too engrossed to notice.
Although she disliked Qin Wu, Xie Tang felt a pang of pity upon hearing these vicious words.
"Since you look down on her so much, why force yourself to hang out with her?"
"If it weren't for the fact that she still has some use..." Li Pan blurted out, and then she and Wang Yuxuan turned around in astonishment, meeting Xie Tang's cold gaze. Their faces flushed red and then turned pale.
"It's you? You walk so quietly!" Li Pan said, both embarrassed and angry.
Xie Tang stood up, took two steps closer, and said with a hint of sarcasm in her eyes: "Gossiping about 'friends' you've known since childhood behind their backs, and saying such nasty things... that's really tasteless."
Li Pan retorted, as if her tail had been stepped on: "Qin Wu's mother stole your mother's position, she stole your home! What are you pretending to be magnanimous for? We were just telling the truth, we didn't do anything to her!"
"Whether I hate her or not is my business," Xie Tang said calmly. "What does it have to do with you?"
"Ha! Xie Tang, have you lost your mind?" Li Pan said as if she had heard something absurd. "I'm just standing up for you!"
Xie Tang was too lazy to argue with her.
Looking at the empty mahjong table, and thinking about the party that had ended sometime later, she casually walked over and sat down: "We're one short? I'll play a game with you guys?"
Li Pan's eyes darted around, and a malicious smile curled at the corner of her lips: "Alright! But we're not playing for money..."
She drawled, "The winner spills wine all over the loser's face. How about it? Dare to play?"
"Okay." Xie Tang smiled slightly, meeting her provocative gaze.
As I twirl a bamboo mahjong tile between my fingertips, the fine bamboo feels warm and smooth, like jade, its texture enhanced by years of polishing.
"However, the loser... shouldn't act like a cheater when they were a kid."
These words, though spoken lightly, struck at Li Pan's weak point.
The real estate tycoon's darling daughter was spoiled from a young age and disregarded rules, especially not allowing Xie Tang to be even slightly better than her.
Xie Tang had learned his fair share of those childhood tricks of tattling and twisting the truth when he couldn't win a fight.
Li Pan's face instantly darkened, her nostrils flared, but she swallowed back the insults that were about to come out of her mouth, and only glared fiercely at Xie Tang.
The game was halfway through, and the atmosphere was tense.
Wang Yuxuan carefully brought over a glass of red wine that was almost overflowing and placed it in the center of the table.
Xie Tang caught a glimpse of Li Pan quickly giving a look to her left and right – a look that was both fierce and urging.
Xie Tang tapped the smooth surface of the cards with her knuckles, her gaze sharp as she looked at Li Pan: "What, you can't beat me without cheating?" Li Pan, like a firecracker that had been lit, slammed a card heavily on the table with a "bang," "Bullshit! Who cheated? Which of your dog eyes saw that!"
He almost spat out his saliva.
"Pong." Xie Tang calmly collected the card that had been played.
Li Pan gritted her teeth in anger, turned to the two people beside her and hissed, "What are you looking at! Hurry up and play your cards! Useless trash!"
The pressure instantly shifted to Wang Yuxuan.
Xie Tang turned his head slightly, his gaze falling on her face, the corners of his lips still holding that faint smile that made people's hearts ache.
Wang Yuxuan's heart tightened, her fingers trembled, and the card almost flew out of her hand.
"I won." Xie Tang's voice was calm and even. With a flick of her slender hand, she spread the tiles in front of her across the room.
The uniform set of cards was like a silent mockery.
“You—” Li Pan’s face instantly turned a deep liver color, and her eyes flashed with resentment.
Rage consumed her reason; she sprang up from her chair with such speed that it created a gust of wind.
He stretched his five fingers toward the full glass of red wine in the center of the table.
Xie Tang reacted even faster, her slender fingers gripping Li Pan's wrist like iron clamps, twisting it with the force of the twist.
The crimson wine changed direction in mid-air, instead of splashing towards Xie Tang, it poured over his head!
"Ah—" Li Pan's short scream got stuck in her throat.
The cool liquid rolled down her carefully styled hair, and a strong aroma of fermented grapes filled the air.
Wang Yuxuan covered her mouth, her eyes wide open as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.
Li Pan stood frozen in place, her makeup ruined by the spilled alcohol.
An unprecedented sense of humiliation surged in my chest like magma, instantly engulfing my reason.
"Xie Tang—" she roared, slamming the empty cup to the ground!
Crystal shards scattered everywhere, just like her crumbling dignity.
Xie Tang had already stepped back half a step, coldly watching her hysteria.
A faint smile appeared on her lips. "More than a decade has passed, Li Pan, and your ability to 'sore out of losing' hasn't improved at all."
"You!" Li Pan's eyes were bloodshot, and the anger in her eyes almost burned through Xie Tang, but her body seemed to be nailed to the spot.
She didn't understand, she just couldn't figure it out!
She twisted her face, trying to regain some of her composure: "You're willing to risk offending me for that bitch Qin Wu? Just you wait! I'll take this to the Chu family! Let's see how they deal with you!"
Xie Tang, as if he'd heard a joke, said with a nonchalant mockery, "Oh? Whatever. First, a bet's a bet, it's your bad luck, what does it have to do with anyone else? Second, you can knock on the Chu family's door if you want, see if anyone's on your side. Finally..."
She leaned forward slightly, her sharp gaze piercing Li Pan's eyes: "Qin Wu—if you see her on the street in the future, please..."
She said, slowly and deliberately, "Take a detour."
"Are you crazy?! What kind of spell did she cast on you...?" Li Pan was furious.
"I didn't give her any soup." Xie Tang interrupted her, his voice suddenly turning cold. "Even if I dislike her, she's still my sister. She—is not someone for outsiders to trample on!"
This sentence was like a heavy hammer blow to the shadows at the corner of the stairs.
Qin Wu leaned against the cold wall, her fingertips digging hard into her palm.
Xie Tang's words were like a scalding hot iron, unexpectedly burning her cold heart.
A strange yet surging warmth suddenly washed away the long-standing grievances and barriers, and my nose instantly felt sore and uncomfortable.
"You're insane! You're a lunatic!" Li Pan completely broke down, her anger, which had nowhere to go, turned to Wang Yuxuan beside her, and kicked her hard: "Get out of the way! What are you blocking! You're bad luck!"
Wang Yuxuan cried out in pain and staggered aside, but still hurriedly followed like a shadow.
The hall emptied instantly, leaving only the cloying aroma of red wine and a mess on the floor.
Xie Tang didn't turn around, but went straight to the sofa and sat down.
She noticed the shadows created by the light at the top of the stairs. "Had enough of the show? Aren't you coming out?"
Qin Wu lowered her head and slowly emerged from the shadows.
When she looked up at Xie Tang again, her eyes were red-rimmed, her lips moved, and the word "sister" almost slipped out, but she swallowed it back, only managing a moist and grateful smile.
Seeing her so cautious, Xie Tang felt a surge of anger rising within her. She spoke with a mocking tone, "You're the daughter of the Qin family, and you've married into the Chu family. With the Chu family as your backing, what are you hiding from? What are you afraid of?"
"I...I'm not afraid," Qin Wu's voice was barely audible, "it's just...I don't want to cause trouble, and I don't want to have anything to do with them..."
"Trouble? Ha..." Xie Tang scoffed, stood up, took two steps closer, and looked down at her: "Things are different now. The Li's Real Estate brand is completely ruined, and bankruptcy is just around the corner! Even if Cisco Group isn't what it used to be, a lean camel is still a hundred times stronger than the Li family's foundation! Does your good mother still need to curry favor with Mrs. Li?"
Qin Wu sensed the barb in her words, but strangely, she didn't feel wronged.
Her intuition told her that there was no malice behind the sharpness she had imagined.
Xie Tang scrutinized her silence, frowned, and pressed, "What do they want from you?"
Qin Wu quickly glanced around, lowering her voice even further: "They said they wanted to find out some information about Brother Song's surroundings from me, and wanted to make contact with the people around him..."
"Stupid!" Xie Tang scolded, his disappointment almost overflowing. "Qin Wu, don't you have a brain? How dare you get involved in something like this? Do you think your life is too peaceful now, or do you think the Chu family is too polite to you?"
Qin Wu felt flustered under her sharp gaze and quickly explained, "That's why I'm avoiding them! I promise this will never happen again!"
Seeing Xie Tang's still icy expression, she bit her lip, determined to confess something to her as a token of gratitude: "And that... I really didn't mean to make you clean up my mess by marrying into this family, nor did I intend to... to put that kind of cuckoldry on my second brother..."
"Chu Yi and I have been together for a long time. I resisted the arranged marriage! It was my mother! She forced me to marry my second brother! I had no choice but to... I registered my marriage with Chu Yi first..."
She stole glances at Xie Tang, her voice growing softer and softer, "I thought that since the deed was done, the Chu family, who valued their reputation so much, would definitely call off the engagement. But I never imagined that my second brother would agree, or that my father would come to you... The most, most unexpected thing is that you... you actually agreed..."
Xie Tang turned her face away and looked out the window at the deep night.
She was too lazy to comment on this fate that had been forcibly reversed.
Ironically, if the person in front of her hadn't deserted at the last minute, how could she have had such a brief encounter with Chu Song?
Only she herself knows the complex feelings involved.
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