As evening fell, Jiang Chengli rode up on horseback. After arriving at the Marquis of Zhongyi's residence, he immediately threw the reins to a guard and hurried into the residence.
When the steward saw him return, he immediately came to greet him and awaited his orders.
"What happened in the manor?" he asked in a cold voice.
The manager was taken aback for a moment, then immediately replied, "Nothing happened."
Jiang Chengli paused, because Xing Xiaoya was in the mansion. To avoid being influenced by her, the men of the Jiang family all chose to stay away from the mansion. He was also summoned to the palace for questioning and then stayed at the Embroidered Uniform Guard. As a result, he received a letter from the mansion yesterday, asking him to return home. He thought it was an urgent matter, otherwise they would not have called him back at this time.
But knowing that nothing had happened in the mansion, he paused slightly and frowned, but said nothing and continued walking inside.
The letter had already been delivered to the Embroidered Uniform Guard, so there must have been a reason for it.
Today happened to be a day off, and he was invited to the backyard, where the whole family was there.
He could hear laughter and chatter even before he entered the room; it was clearly a lively scene.
As soon as he entered, he saw everyone sitting at the table. Not only were the women there, but his father and second brother were also present. Although the two of them didn't say much, they looked quite relaxed.
He glanced around and saw Xing Xiaoya among them; she was even the first person to spot him.
"Brother Dazhuang!" Xing Xiaoya was so excited when she saw him that she couldn't help but stand up and call out to him.
All eyes immediately turned to her, and Xing Xiaoya gave an awkward smile.
Jiang Jinyu, however, smiled and came to her rescue: "Sister Xiaoya, you should change your address now. We're family now, so you should call me Third Brother."
Xing Xiaoya gave an awkward smile, sat down somewhat dejectedly, and tried to speak, but couldn't bring herself to say "Third Brother".
Seeing her like this, no one pressured her; instead, they called out to Jiang Chengli.
"Third brother, come quickly, we've been waiting for you to come back so we can have a meal together. Today is a family dinner," Cen Ying said softly.
Jiang Chengli walked over and sat down next to Xu Wanying. As husband and wife, they naturally had to sit together. As for Xing Xiaoya, who was a few seats away from him, she couldn't help but feel lonely when she saw this scene, but she had to suppress it and dare not show it at all, lest she give others something to gossip about.
Jiang Chengli was puzzled. He didn't expect that with Xing Xiaoya present, his father and second brother would sit here so openly. Weren't they afraid that he would lose control and do something shameful?
But the dinner went very peacefully, and none of his worries came true.
Xing Xiaoya's presence was almost negligible. Her second brother even frequently served food to his sister-in-law and showed concern for her well-being. They seemed very loving and harmonious. Even the Marquis of Zhongyi served Cen Ying a few bites of food, though Cen Ying only ate one bite.
Even the system found this situation strange and couldn't help but mutter to itself.
[What's going on? Are these jerks blind? Didn't they see Xiaoya barely ate anything? She's just been eating rice! What's with them serving food to others?!]
Everyone present, except Xing Xiaoya, could hear the system's complaints clearly, but no one paid any attention to them at the moment.
Xu Wanying chuckled softly but did not reply.
However, the system was not discouraged. Instead, it firmly stated: "It's alright, they're not important. Jiang Chengli will definitely take care of her from now on."
Upon hearing his name, Jiang Chengli paused slightly in his eating, but pretended not to hear and continued eating.
The meal was almost over, and everyone had already drunk tea and rinsed their mouths, but none of the Jiang family men had greeted Xing Xiaoya.
The system completely broke down: [How could Jiang Chengli be blind? This is his savior, the person he loves! Not even a word of concern? Is he even human?]
Xu Wanying rolled her eyes: "He's not even human. Look at him since he came in—who has he cared about? His father, mother, and wife are all here, and he hasn't said a word. Does Xing Xiaoya even count?"
"That's different. In this world, love is sacred and great!" the system tried to correct her thinking.
Xu Wanying scoffed: "That was before. The situation has changed a lot. You're still living in your old dreams!"
She had witnessed Jiang Chengli kill Xing Xiaoya twice; the plot could never go back to what it was before.
The system was still muttering to itself, but the atmosphere at the dinner table remained unchanged.
Jiang Chengli put down his teacup. In fact, he was the most nervous person at the table. He had been very uneasy ever since the system started speaking.
He hadn't forgotten that when he didn't follow the script and kept his distance from Xing Xiaoya, his body would become uncontrollable. By the time he regained consciousness, he had already started helping Xing Xiaoya.
But this time, he didn't lose consciousness until the very end.
"Are you done using it?" Jiang Chengli put down his teacup and asked the person next to him.
Xu Wanying nodded, and he stood up and said, "I have a few words to say to you."
The couple left the dining room one after the other, and even though Xing Xiaoya's ardent gaze followed him closely, he didn't even turn around.
What are you trying to say?
Upon returning to the courtyard, Xu Wanying immediately asked, not because she was in a great hurry, but because the system was practically going crazy, constantly nagging in her head.
"It's nothing serious, I just brought you some books. My second sister-in-law said you really enjoy reading storybooks." Jiang Chengli casually pointed to a large box in the room, which was probably full of books.
"Okay." Xu Wanying nodded.
The two looked at each other in silence, and soon Jiang Chengli made an excuse to leave.
[Host, would you like to go check on Xing Xiaoya? She's hiding in her room crying.] The system's unpleasant voice came again.
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