Chapter 49

Chapter 49: She Has Never Changed

Right after Du An Rao finished talking, another transfer popped up on her phone.

This time, it was from Xi Jing Yue.

“Mr. Xi?”

“My cousin asked me to send it. He wants to thank Miss Du for her help today.”

“That’s right,” Li Zhao Yang said, turning around with a bright smile. “When I was about to send it, I realized I didn’t have Master Du’s contact. Would I have the honor of adding you?”

Du An Rao had just taken their money and also glanced at her fourth sister. She could only take out her phone and scan Li Zhao Yang’s code.

Li Zhao Yang tried to add Du Yu Xi too, but she turned her head away first, clearly not wanting to pay him any attention.

He had no choice but to comfort himself. At least he had added Du An Rao.

By the time he faced Du He Xuan’s near-exploding expression and delivered the two sisters home safely, it was already late at night.

Li Zhao Yang wanted to build a good relationship with this brother who had raised Du Yu Xi, but before he could finish his sentence, the door was slammed in his face.

He touched his nose, which had almost been hit flat, and said awkwardly: “This Du family brother doesn’t seem to think very well of us.”

Xi Jing Yue glanced at him: “Not us. Me.”

“Huh?” Li Zhao Yang was so shocked his eyes almost went cross-eyed. “You? Cousin, what did you do to our little Second that her brother is so guarded against you?”

Xi Jing Yue gave a cold laugh: “Your little Second? Did she admit she’s yours? Your little Second?”

Hit straight in the heart, Young Master Li lost all his fighting power at once. Thinking of how cold and distant Du Yu Xi had been toward him today, he almost wanted to cry: “Did I do really badly today? Why does she not want to talk to me at all?”

“You just noticed?” Xi Jing Yue mocked his silly cousin without mercy. “What do you think about what happened today?”

“What do you mean? The thing with the Ye family and Qian Xi?” Li Zhao Yang let out a long sigh. He had stayed calm all day, but now, in front of Xi Jing Yue, he finally showed a bit of weakness.

“In the past, I often heard my mom say how pitiful my cousin was. Her parents died right after she was born. She was sick and couldn’t run, jump, or laugh like other kids. So my sister Yue Sheng and I, as her older siblings, had to give in to her and protect her in everything.”

“But I never thought that the person we spoiled so much would end up like this. Maybe we really did spoil her too much.”

Xi Jing Yue frowned slightly. He did not agree with this: “Don’t use someone else’s mistakes to blame yourself. Madam Ye just said it too. Everyone saw how you, your Auntie, your Uncle, and Yue Sheng treated her all these years. Your family never wronged her in the least. But she…”

Thinking about everything they had heard today, Xi Jing Yue’s face grew darker. “If she had even a little bit of feeling or gratitude for you, she would never have said those things to Ye Zhi Huan, or done those things to Yue Sheng and Miss Du just for her own selfish wishes.”

As soon as he mentioned the two girls, Li Zhao Yang’s shaky heart instantly became firm again.

When he first learned that Li Qian Xi was not his real cousin, he had been in great pain and could not accept it.

What kept him going to look for the truth was the memory of his second uncle and aunt, who had loved him so much. He could not let his real cousin stay lost outside. He could not let his second uncle and aunt be unable to rest in peace.

But the deeper he dug, the more he found things that made him collapse. It turned out that as early as a year ago, Li Qian Xi had already learned the truth from her birth father and started quietly targeting the girl who had exchanged lives with her, Du Yu Xi.

No wonder his cousin had asked him not to tell their parents yet. Li Qian Xi had done everything very secretly and had not left much behind. If they startled her too soon, they would not be able to catch her or find the truth, and it would only let Du Yu Xi, whose identity was already awkward, be wrongly blamed instead.

But that still was not what hurt him the most. What made Li Zhao Yang completely lose hope in her was that, while he was investigating the things she did to Du Yu Xi, he accidentally discovered that the kidnapping of Yue Sheng five years ago, when she had almost been killed, was also related to Li Qian Xi.

“She targeted Yu Xi, tried to push her down and guard against her. I can understand that. After all, she had been the Miss of the Li family for so many years. Being told suddenly that she was a fake, of course she could not accept it. It makes sense that, in a moment of madness, she might want Yu Xi gone forever so she could take her place. But why did she have to go after Yue Sheng?”

“She was the one who guided the kidnappers to go for Yue Sheng. She was also the one who had people tell them we had called the police, just to make those criminals angry enough to kill. She was only a few years old back then. How could she have such a deep and cruel mind? Is she even human?”

Even now, when he talked about it, Li Zhao Yang still could not control his emotions. He just could not understand why Li Qian Xi hated his sister so much, to the point she wanted her dead.

From childhood, Yue Sheng had always been the closest to her. She gave her everything good, always thought of her first. Even he, her real older brother, had to step aside. But all that sincere love and favoritism had only bought them a knife in the end.

Xi Jing Yue had no feelings for Li Qian Xi. In fact, he disliked her because of how much anger Li Zhao Yang’s family held toward her. As an outsider watching, he could see things clearly.

“No matter how much the second Miss of the Li family is spoiled, she can never be as precious as the only real Miss of the Li family.”

Li Zhao Yang froze: “Just because of that?”

“Is that not enough of a reason? Why do you think she went after Du Yu Xi? You can tell from this. She has never changed. She is selfish and ruthless. Whoever blocks her path or harms her interests, she will strike at them. Today it was Yue Sheng and Yu Xi. Tomorrow it would be you, Auntie, and Uncle.”

These were not baseless words. Xi Jing Yue had already seen the future where Li Zhao Yang was targeted and his life stolen, thanks to Du An Rao’s descriptions.

Strictly speaking, using things that had not happened yet to judge someone now was not very fair. But what Li Zhao Yang had already found out perfectly proved those futures. Just like he had said, she had never changed. They had just never seen it clearly before.

Of course Li Zhao Yang understood this, but he still felt sad. He shrank into himself, listlessly sitting there in silence.

Xi Jing Yue could not stand seeing him like that. He said with a face full of disgust: “Alright, stop pretending to be dead. This is not the first day you learned all of this. Now let’s talk about you.”

“Me? What about me?”

“Have you ever dated anyone?”

As soon as he heard that, Li Zhao Yang forgot all about Li Qian Xi. He jumped up in his seat and almost hit his head on the car roof.

“B-b-brother, why are you… I, I…”

Seeing his useless look, Xi Jing Yue was even more sure that what Du An Rao had said was almost certainly true. He rolled his eyes hard: “Are you laying an egg? Why are you yelling so loud?”

Li Zhao Yang: “…”