0084 084 Gengxu hour, suitable for offering sacrifices to the gods.
Sitting in Tu Mi's carriage, Qi Shuyao touched and looked at everything, nodding repeatedly.
Wow, the big boss is amazing, he can even pick up a car now.
"Of course, I've even learned to drift, look..."
"Hey, hey, stop!"
Qi Shuyao hurriedly grabbed Tu Mi's eager hand, breaking out in a cold sweat.
This little girl has the strongest execution ability she's ever seen; she's a woman of her word, and the next second she might actually drift on this main road.
"Watch where you're going. How long have you had your driver's license and you already want it taken back?"
"I'm just so excited. I've been so busy with the renovations these past few days that I haven't had a chance to go out and have fun."
"You've got it done pretty fast! It's only been a short time and you're already open for business."
"Hurry up and hurry up, alright, stop talking about me. Where have you been these past few days? Nobody could find you, and you took so long to reply to my messages."
"Going abroad involves constant travel and jet lag, which is hard to adjust to."
She yawned as she spoke, and Tu Mi was momentarily stunned, muttering to herself.
"Time difference, another new point of knowledge."
But she quickly adjusted her mindset.
"What did you go abroad for?"
"Qi Yu has been promoted and sent on a diplomatic mission. I'm just a family member accompanying him."
"Wow, another promotion."
"Didn't you see the news? It happened this month."
“I used to enjoy watching the news. Manager Chen told me not to believe anything else except the news. After I came up the ladder and learned some things, I stopped watching the news altogether. Anyway, it’s all just what other people want you to see. If you watch too much, you’ll just follow their line of thinking.”
"Yes—that's true."
The car turned onto the street where the club was located and stopped at a red light. Tu Mi tapped the steering wheel rhythmically with her long fingernails, keeping her eyes on Qi Shuyao's direction.
"Just say what you have to say. Why are you hesitating?"
"Xu Mei got married, did you know?"
Qi Shuyao stared straight ahead, not replying for a long time.
The red light turned green, the car started moving, and she reached out to pull the seatbelt that was fastened to her chin, then sat up straight.
"I heard that he came to Qi Yu for help before because of his identity issue."
Even the rose of Sharon smiles.
"I really don't know what she's thinking. She has a problem with her own identity, yet she still insists on marrying a soldier. Now she has to go through a political review, keep a low profile, and live a simple life. Can she handle it?"
"Maybe people's pursuits change after they get a certain age. I remember her exes were all in charge of the money."
Arriving at the location, Qi Shuyao got out of the car and looked up at the newly renovated, tall gate, unable to resist giving it a round of applause.
"I think my aesthetic sense is pretty good. Although we want to make it big and lively, the appearance is still low-key. I think we are very similar in this respect."
Tu Mi walked over, took Qi Shuyao's arm, and led her upstairs. The elevator went straight to the top floor. Qi Shuyao leaned against the glass mirror and asked her,
When did you find out about our relationship?
"A long, long time ago, before we even met."
Upon reaching the top floor, the elevator doors opened, revealing a corridor resembling a medieval castle. Qi Shuyao had to admit that they were indeed very similar in terms of aesthetics.
"Actually, those of us living underground aren't as ignorant as they imagine, especially after we got cell phones and we come into contact with some men of status every day. Even if we just guess, we can figure out some things. For example, that sister named Xiaolan, her purpose in going down there was to find me, right? I saw her hiding my hair, but I didn't say anything. Later, I saw her again at the hospital and threatened her a little. Then she showed me that DNA test report. She didn't use Xu Mei's sample; it was yours."
Even if she could guess the outcome, she never expected the process to be so bizarre. But by now, Qi Shuyao was no longer surprised. She casually leaned against a pillar in the corridor, avoiding direct eye contact with her.
What did you threaten her about?
"It wasn't exactly a threat, but I felt she knew the environment of that underground dance hall too well. She didn't seem like someone who had just gone down there. So I asked her if she had ever been there before, and she said yes."
"Sister Xiaolan, I've known her for a long time, and she's never left my side since. So, she's been at the dance hall for a long time?"
"Maybe so. Everyone has a past."
"And what about you?"
"What about me? Don't you already know about my past?"
"So from the moment we met at the hospital, you knew that you were my sister."
"Yes, you have no idea how much pain I was pretending to be back then. I have an older sister, my own sister. She's so good to me, always telling me interesting things I've never heard before, and her eyes are so pure when she looks at me. I really wanted to rush over and hug you, but I saw that you seemed to know nothing and were living such a happy life, so I held back."
The more she talked, the lower Qi Shuyao's head sank, and her tears fell onto the carpet without leaving any trace.
"Then do you hate me?"
"Why would I hate you? It's not like you threw me away. Manager Chen said he found me when I was just a newborn. I did the math, and we're less than a year apart. You must have been a baby back then too, and your life probably wasn't easy either."
"Have you ever thought that Qi Yu is your father?"
“I never thought of that, and I could tell at a glance that you two probably aren’t father and daughter.”
Qi Shuyao cast a curious glance at her, and Tu Mi smiled and walked over, putting her arm around her shoulder.
"Don't think that just because I only followed Pei Youwen when I was down there, my eyesight is recognized by all the sisters as good. I can see through many people at a glance. Didn't I tell you before, it might be a small matter for others to be inaccurate in judging people, but for us, being inaccurate in judging people and saying the wrong thing is a matter of life and death."
She was hugged by Qi Shuyao, who held her head and pressed her head into her arms. The forced smile on her face disappeared into the darkness, and her young eyes were filled with confusion.
"From now on, your older sister will protect you."
"Let me protect you, my young lady."
She burst out laughing again in an instant, wriggled out of Qi Shuyao's embrace, and hugged her back, raising her eyebrows slightly, laughing arrogantly and cockily.
The two sisters sat together in a corner of the spacious, luxurious corridor, their hair tangled together.
Do you think we both have the same father?
"Well, although I don't really want to mention him, I think the 'Shu' in your name is our father's surname."
"So the man who took you away, is...is it this person?"
Qi Shuyao took out her phone and found the surveillance footage of the day she was stopped by the man. When Qi Yu was looking for her, he enlarged the image and made it clear, so her face was clearly visible.
She handed the phone to Tu Mi, who glanced at it and then turned her head away.
"Yes, it was him. He seemed a bit crazy. He said his name was Shu Cheng, and he even gave me the name Shu Yan. But the room in his house, which he said was for the children, wasn't just two rooms; there was another one."
"Three rooms? I thought he had four children."
"Four, who else?"
The two sat up straight, looking at each other with their disheveled hair.
"I don't know either, but I always feel that it's all related to Xu Mei. Xu Mei was at the dance hall at the time, so maybe there were other men there?"
"Who are the other two children you mentioned? Do I know them?"
“There is an older sister named Jiang Yu. I think she is, and she even knows my identity. She looks a lot like Xu Mei, but if she really is her daughter, then Xu Mei got pregnant at the age of fifteen.”
"What's impossible about that? I did it back then."
"There's another one, I just suspect, her name is Li Qing."
"That writer? I've seen her news."
The corridor fell silent again. Qi Shuyao looked down at her hair, which was flying wildly in the wind. A thin arm squeezed next to her and pressed her into Tu Mi's arms again.
"Alright, stop thinking about it. This isn't something we should be doing."
The heavy topic was put aside, the sun had set, and Tu Mi's phone kept ringing, all asking about the procedures for tomorrow's opening.
Qi Shuyao's phone also rang, but it was drowned out by Tu Mi's loud voice, and she didn't hear it for a while.
After she finished the call, she fell silent. Tu Mi finished dealing with the nagging lobby manager with a few words and leaned down to press her face against hers.
"What's wrong?"
"Jiang Yu called. She said she wanted to go out for a drink with me tomorrow."
"You're going to abandon me."
"That's not the problem; she never drinks."
"What's wrong with that? Everyone has sad stories and wants to get drunk. Why don't you just have her come here?"
Qi Shuyao's eyes lit up, and she immediately edited the message and address and sent it. Jiang Yu quickly replied, saying okay.
"Do you know her? Tell me about her."
Tu Mi rolled up her coat to use as a pillow, and the two of them lay down together. Gazing at the murals on the ceiling, Qi Shuyao began to reminisce.
"Actually, I don't know her very well. I've only met her a few times. When I was little, I felt that she was inexplicably kind to me, almost to an exaggerated degree. At that time, she had a little boy with her, who was probably about the same age as her. They always played together. Later, I moved to Yangcheng with Qi Yu and didn't go to Jingyang often. When I heard from her again, she had already gone to Changgang with Zhu Jiangxu. They stayed there for six years, leaving quietly and returning in a high-profile manner. I once bumped into Xu Mei arguing with her in a temple. They sounded very familiar, but she didn't call her 'Mom.' She seemed to be in a lot of pain, and it wasn't all of her own choice."
"Is that Zhu Jiangxu getting married? His fiancée came to my place for drinks, and she seemed reluctant."
"Actually, they are all bricks, used to patch up one wall from another."
“I understand. There is no true love in arranged marriages. Feelings are a major taboo in one’s career.”
"Do you still like Pei Youwen?"
"I'm not going to pursue a career in government."
"But he is, after all, the only descendant of the Pei family, and there must be secrets about him that we don't know yet."
"Actually, I don't know him very well. I think I might fall in love with him, but I can't understand why he would fall in love with me."
"If one day he gets arrested for something, you..."
"That's why I didn't let him fund my clubhouse."
She interrupted Qi Shuyao, nimbly got up from the ground, pulled Qi Shuyao up as well, and pinched her face with her hand.
"Okay, don't think about it so much. From the first moment I saw you, I felt that you had a lot on your mind. But no matter how much you think about it, things will develop step by step. It sounds good to be prepared for a rainy day, but who can really plan for it a few times? I don't want to think about that. I only know that I need to go downstairs now to check if the wine for tomorrow is ready."
She pushed Qi Shuyao down the stairs, constantly trying to make her laugh.
"Just now for the inspection? Didn't you say everything was ready?"
"Isn't it because an important guest is coming? I have to treat this sister well. Even if she's not my biological sister, she's been so good to my sister, so I have to treat her well."
"Our Tu Mi is so loyal!"
"Of course, but should we also steal a hair from her and have it analyzed?"
"Didn't you just say you didn't care?"
"I'm afraid you'll be unable to sleep because you're thinking about this, and your dark circles will be bigger than your eyes."
"Your dark circles are quite noticeable too."
"Seriously, have you noticed? Our dark circles are the same shape..."
They chatted and laughed as they went down the stairs, just like two ordinary sisters who had grown up together.
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