Shen Shixun sat down, looking directly at Xiang Jingyi with deep eyes, "Do you think he's using me as a pawn?"
Xiang Jing nodded.
Shen Shixun continued, "I am a pawn with no background and am not favored by the Xiang family. What can he expect me to do for him if he treats me as a pawn?"
So far, Xiang Nanzhi has hardly mentioned Shen Shixun at home.
"So your explanation is..."
“I do know Yan Dong; we are old friends of many years. But I knew nothing about Yan Dong and Xiang Ciyuan’s joint investment in real estate.”
“You’re from Saigon, and you said you’ve hardly ever left the grasslands in recent years, so how would you know Zhang Yandong?”
Zhang Yandong's wealth is not as great as the Xiang family's, but he is still considered a prominent family in the ancient city. He is far inferior to Shen Shixun.
It all started when Shen Shixun was in Saigon.
That year, Shen Shixun was still herding sheep at home. One day, after finishing his work, he was asked by someone to go to an ancient temple on the grassland to retrieve something.
Because it was getting late and he was in a hurry, he took a mountain path. When he reached the middle of the mountain, he smelled blood. A man and a wolf lay in a pool of blood, with two bloody leg bones.
In previous years, Zhang Yandong loved adventure. Besides diving, mountaineering, and interacting with wild animals in Africa, he also enjoyed visiting some pristine places in China to find joy in life.
In the eyes of these grassland herders, these Han Chinese were just people who had nothing better to do than eat their fill.
Zhang Yandong brought one other person with him, intending to climb the mountain to the ancient temple near the grassland to spend the night, but unexpectedly they encountered wolves.
His other friend was targeted by wolves and bitten to a bloody pulp. Zhang Yandong watched as his friend was bitten to death, so he pretended to be dead and stabbed the wolf in the neck while it was tearing at him.
He didn't kill the wolf with his first strike, but it bit his arm. Zhang Yandong was in so much pain that his mind went blank. He struck again, and only then did he kill the wolf completely.
He was so frightened that he fainted.
Shen Shixun immediately knew what had happened. He carried Zhang Yandong to the ancient temple and had the temple staff heal his injuries.
Speaking of this, Xiang Jing should have had some doubts, but he also knew about it.
"The dead man was named Zhai Ming?"
"Um."
This incident even made it into the ancient city's newspaper back then. Zhai Ming, the only son of the Zhai family, and Zhang Yandong grew up together, sharing a love for adventure. However, in an accident, Zhai Ming was killed by a wolf.
The Zhai family went to Saigon to search for the body, but in the end they only found a few bones on his body; he had died without a complete corpse.
"So when you came to the ancient city, you immediately contacted Zhang Yandong."
The debt of saving a life is no ordinary favor.
"I haven't contacted him."
Shen Shixun had almost forgotten about this person. He met Zhang Yandong again at the construction site. He was working when Zhang Yandong, as an investor, came to inspect the work and recognized Shen Shixun at a glance.
Xiang Jingyi's eyelids twitched. The construction site where Shen Shixun was working was indeed a project invested by Zhang Yandong.
"He saved your life, and didn't he even offer to help you out?"
Xiang Jingyi sneered, "Your gratitude for saving his life seems to be nothing more than this."
“I didn’t orchestrate the accident involving Xiang Nanzhi. I also had no idea what projects Zhang Yandong asked your Xiang family to invest in. I’m telling you all this just to explain the situation.”
I cannot disclose any further details about his interactions with Zhang Yandong.
Xiang Jingyi is Xiang Nanzhi's older brother. He treats her well and respects him, but Zhang Yandong is also his brother.
Shen Shixun left, and Xiang Jingyi picked up a bunch of keys from the table.
Xiang Ciyuan came out of a private room and sat down opposite him. "Are you done asking? What did you say?"
"Perhaps I'm overthinking it."
"What is Dad thinking? Does he really want Zhizhi to spend her whole life with this kind of person?"
"Second brother, that's not how you judge people."
"Then what do you think, elder brother? I don't have that ability; I can't judge a person's character by their appearance."
Xiang Jingyi glared at him, and Xiang Ciyuan had no choice but to stop joking. "What Xiang family bloodline? It's all fake."
If Xiang Zhengyi were so rigid and truly valued bloodline, he would have secretly arranged for Jiang Yao to give birth to that child back then, instead of keeping it a secret, aborting the child, and pretending nothing had happened.
Later, when Xiang Nanzhi got into trouble, Song Ze announced his relationship with Jiang Yao, but Xiang Zhengyi did not react at all.
Xiang Ciyuan still feels a bit scared when he thinks about it; he almost married this woman...
Xiang Ciyuan was not yet twenty years old that year, just when he was experiencing the first stirrings of love. Although he was a playboy outside, he was still a little hesitant to get serious. Just then, Jiang Yao appeared. She took advantage of her good relationship with Xiang Nanzhi and often came to his house.
Xiang Ciyuan didn't pay much attention at first, but Jiang Yao always took the initiative to talk to him, telling him that she was having a hard time in the Jiang family and was being bullied by her stepmother and sister.
Like a pure white flower waiting for him to pick it...
The Xiang family has a good atmosphere, but Xiang Ciyuan can't understand the feeling of being bullied, so he just lets it go in one ear and out the other.
One night, he got drunk while out partying, and Jiang Yao stayed at the Xiang family's house. In a moment of impulse, he hugged her and kissed her twice, but the woman became bold and said she was willing to give herself to him.
He slept with her as if possessed, and was terrified when he woke up.
Later, when Jiang Yao became pregnant, Xiang Ciyuan had no choice but to find Xiang Zhengyi, who almost broke his ribs.
Only Xiang Nan knew about this in the entire Xiang family. Xiang Zhengyi said that he, as the older brother, had not set a good example for his younger sister, which was shameful and made him look bad as an older brother.
He was also punished by being forced to work on the assembly line at his family's factory for six months, where he had to screw in screws.
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