Chapter 69

Chapter 69: Were We Close Before?

Seeing that Du Yu Xi’s expression seemed a bit better, Xie Jing Yao let out a small breath of relief and went on.

“Miss Du was right that day. It was us who asked for the divination. Master Du only told us what he knew. He shouldn’t have suffered my groundless blame. As for me, without the right to investigate, I didn’t have the right to speak. I shouldn’t have acted on feelings and jumped to a conclusion in private, wronging someone else.”

Du Yu Xi raised a brow at his words and deliberately found fault: “Then what if your investigation had shown Li Qian Xi was clean?”

Xie Jing Yao answered honestly: “Then I would have brought the full investigation report for you both to look over, and asked you to apologize for your words that day, admit you made things up out of nothing, and slandered her.”

“But the truth you found was the exact opposite.”

“So now it’s my turn to apologize to you.”

Du An Rao was hugely amused. She thought this person was actually pretty interesting. He was stiff and proper just like a strict master craftsman in a drama.

But this also proved he wasn’t someone who blindly protected his own people. At heart, he still stood on the side of reason, not family.

Du Yu Xi finally laughed: “Since you’re being honest, I’ll forgive you. Let’s treat it as over. As for my sister, that depends on what she thinks. I can’t and won’t forgive you on her behalf.”

As soon as she finished, Du An Rao waved her hand: “No need to apologize to me, I didn’t take it to heart. My sister already stood up for me that day. Let’s call it done. We don’t owe each other anything.”

[Most important, Fourth Sister was right that day. Whether people believe it or not, this green hat isn’t on our heads anyway, so we don’t lose anything. Now that I think about it, I focused so much on Li Qian Xi before that I didn’t even notice the green light on this guy’s head got a lot lighter.]

Even though it had faded, it was still there.

She didn’t know whether it would only fully disappear after Fourth Sister and Li Qian Xi confirmed their blood ties and switched identities back, or if it would vanish once the man in front of her completely broke off his engagement with Li Qian Xi.

Hearing once again about someone’s forehead glowing green, Du Yu Xi couldn’t help sneaking another glance at his forehead.

Xie Jing Yao: “…”

[Why does my forehead suddenly feel cold?]

“Ahem, the two of you are broad-minded, but I can’t shamelessly pretend nothing happened. I don’t know if the two Misses would honor me by giving me a chance to treat you to a meal to show my apology.”

Du An Rao frowned slightly, as if something had clicked.

[Why does this speech sound so familiar? Didn’t Mr. Xi say almost the same thing before?]

Du He Xuan, who had just changed out of a waiter outfit and rushed over: “…”

[This pig!!! Get away from my girls!!!]

Xi Jing Yue, who had only just escaped from Li Zhao Yang’s clinginess and hurried over: “…”

[Can we please not bring up the past? If you do, your second brother really might stab me someday!]

“Treating them to a meal won’t be necessary. The girls in our family don’t casually go out to eat with people, especially strange men!” The last four words came out between Du He Xuan’s clenched teeth. He wished he could send all the pigs coveting his cabbages straight to the slaughterhouse.

Seeing Du He Xuan suddenly appear, Du An Rao froze: “Second Brother, why are you here?”

“Ahem… I saw you two still weren’t home so late and got worried, so I came to pick you up myself.”

“Ohh.” Du An Rao blinked. “But Second Brother, you just came out from inside.”

Du He Xuan’s whole body stiffened, but he reacted quickly: “I called you several times and you didn’t pick up, so I went in to look for you.”

“Is… that so?” Du An Rao instinctively turned to look at Du Yu Xi.

Catching his hint, Du Yu Xi’s lips twitched: “Right, Second Brother called me. I was busy just now and didn’t answer.”

Du An Rao nodded and didn’t press further.

On the other side, Madam Xie was still both surprised and pleased that her son had?? gone to invite Du Yu Xi to a meal. Now she looked at this man who had suddenly popped out of nowhere, full of doubt: “And this is?”

“This is my second brother, Du He Xuan.”

“So he’s your brother.”

Du He Xuan’s attitude toward the elder Madam Xie was fine, but his hostility toward Xie Jing Yao was very strong.

“Mr. Xie wants to invite my two sisters to a meal?”

“I only wanted to show my apology.”

“They’ve accepted your apology, so the meal isn’t needed. After all, Mr. Xie still has an engagement. I don’t want my two sisters to suffer disaster out of nowhere because of someone who isn’t worth it.”

The two men were sharp against each other, neither backing down, and it looked like a fight could start any second.

Meanwhile, the two people actually involved just stood to the side quietly eating melon seeds in their hearts, when a slightly resentful voice suddenly came from behind them.

“So your second brother is actually Superstar Du He Xuan!”

Du An Rao and Du Yu Xi both jumped. When they turned around, they saw Ye Meng Zhen silently standing behind them.

“Where did you pop out from this time?”

“I just walked out from over there. Where else could I pop out from?”

It turned out that right after she had finished talking with the Du sisters earlier, Ye Meng Zhen had rushed off to give Li Qian Xi trouble.

But as a proud tsundere girl, how could she be a match for that green tea little black lotus Li Qian Xi?

After just a few words, she lost the fight. Li Qian Xi even flipped the story on her, making it sound like Ye Meng Zhen was the one kicking someone when they were down and bullying others. Furious, Ye Meng Zhen stormed out to get some fresh air.

“If I stayed in there any longer, I’d really think I’d suffocate to death. Tell me, are those men stupid or what? All Li Qian Xi has to do is let out two fake sobs, acting all soft and pitiful, and they’re like they’ve been injected with chicken blood. They’d love nothing more than to throw their heads and spill their blood charging into battle for her. They’re totally ridiculous!”

“Are you talking about yourself?” Du An Rao looked at her innocently. “If I remember right, not long ago you were about the same as them, right?”

Ye Meng Zhen choked. After a long moment, she rolled her eyes at Du An Rao and dropped the topic.

“Why didn’t you tell me your second brother is Superstar Du He Xuan?”

“Were we close before?”

Ye Meng Zhen: “…”

[Is it really impossible to have a normal conversation today?]

Du Yu Xi watched coldly from the side as Du An Rao roasted people. Seeing that Ye Meng Zhen was about to explode, she lazily asked: “You care a lot about my second brother?”

“It’s not that I care that much.” Ye Meng Zhen snorted and suddenly got a bit shy. “I just suddenly realized everyone in your family is pretty good-looking.”

“Pff…” Du An Rao glanced at her with a half-smile. “Your brother isn’t bad-looking either.”

“That’s different!” Ye Meng Zhen used to think her brother was pretty handsome. But lately, maybe because her filter had shattered, the more she looked at him, the more he seemed like a silly husky. She couldn’t find even a trace of the little bit of admiration she’d had before.

“You care so much about my second brother. Could it be you’ve changed your crush to him?”

Reminded by Du An Rao, Du Yu Xi finally remembered that this girl had a crush on their third brother.

“How is that possible!” Ye Meng Zhen pouted and muttered in a low voice: “He’s good-looking, but he’s not my type.”

“Oh, right, you like my third brother’s type.”

“Du! An! Rao!”

Having her little secret exposed, Ye Meng Zhen completely lost the mood to talk.

She was just about to pounce on her to strangle her when a familiar voice sounded again not far away.

“Miss Du, Master Du?”