Chapter 28: They All Said You Didn’t Want Us Anymore
[Who said that?]
[Shi Jiajun.]
“…………”
Silence fell over the scene for a moment. Neither of them spoke. Then Mu Xiangxiang watched as Qiao Rui’s expression slowly turned serious.
For the first time, emotion came through his usually cold voice with unmistakable clarity. “…Who?”
Seeing his reaction, Mu Xiangxiang froze too.
To be fair, when she asked that question earlier, she genuinely hadn’t overthought it. She was still young and had never experienced the business world. At most, she just felt somewhat uncomfortable with the way Shi Jiajun, a grown man, behaved. How could she possibly see through his disguise? She was simply used to speaking her mind directly.
Shi Jiajun = relative very close to Qiao Nan = knows lots of inside information = what he says should carry some degree of truth.
That was basically the equation in her head.
Mu Xiangxiang had been wondering the entire time why the employees reacted so strongly to her appearance at the company. Qiao Nan’s explanation about him having “left an impression” had sounded vague and unconvincing from the start. But if, as Shi Jiajun implied, Qiao Rui really disliked Qiao Nan coming to the company, then combined with Qiao Rui’s position as the group’s general manager, everything suddenly became understandable.
Not that Mu Xiangxiang herself felt any emotional waves because of what Shi Jiajun said. After all, she was just a girl from an ordinary family. Aside from studying, she basically had no extracurricular life whatsoever. The concept of needing to replace Qiao Nan in some “rich family power struggle” simply did not exist in her brain.
She was just very! purely! Confused! Because before leaving the house that morning, Qiao Rui had clearly been upset that she didn’t want to come to the company. If what Shi Jiajun said was true, then why hadn’t big brother just said so directly?
They were family, weren’t they? If you had thoughts, why keep them bottled up inside? If Qiao Rui really disliked it, he could just say it outright. What was the big deal?
So she asked without thinking much about it.
Which was why she had absolutely not expected Qiao Rui to react as though he’d been struck by lightning. And because she could vaguely sense the emotions radiating from him, her own nerves began tightening too.
It felt as though Qiao Rui was confronting some extremely important issue… After hesitating briefly, she didn’t dare delay and quickly summarized the entire situation in concise, direct terms.
Qiao Rui’s gaze became stranger and stranger. At first he maintained eye contact with her, but later he simply lowered his head and stared at the floor. His brows were tightly furrowed, deep in thought. Even after Mu Xiangxiang finished speaking, he still hadn’t emerged from the storm of thoughts in his head.
The two of them stood facing each other by the elevator for a very long time. So long that even the receptionists behind the floor counter began shooting them odd looks. Finally, Qiao Rui turned around. “Come to the office first.”
Father Qiao was still basking smugly in the glory of his younger son pouring him tea in front of the company executives. Combined with the gift he’d received earlier, he currently felt ridiculously proud of himself. Who knew how many people outside were dying of envy? It made him unconsciously straighten his back more than usual.
When he heard the office door open, he didn’t immediately react, merely grumbling away: “You escorted him out for almost half an hour. You and your uncle always have endless things to talk about. Someone who didn’t know better would think you two were the real father and son—”
“Dad.” A cold voice interrupted him.
Father Qiao turned around, only then realizing the person entering first was actually his eldest son. Before he could even process Qiao Rui’s grim expression, the voice continued: “Push back the rest of today’s work. I need to talk to you about something.”
****
Mu Xiangxiang worked very hard to hide her nervousness.
After Qiao Rui’s opening statement, she understood less and less of what followed. Afraid she might expose herself if she rashly spoke, she simply found a chair, sat down quietly, and said nothing. As Father Qiao and Qiao Rui’s conversation gradually intensified, the father and son kept turning to glance at her mid-discussion.
Why are you looking at me?!
Mu Xiangxiang realized that the uproar currently unfolding had apparently all been triggered by that one careless sentence of hers. She became even more restless, forcing herself to maintain a stiff expression and not leak a single emotion.
At first Father Qiao still had a smile on his face, seemingly not taking Qiao Rui’s topic seriously at all. He said things like: “How could that be?” “Aren’t you overthinking things?” “How would he even be capable of that?”
But later, who knew what Qiao Rui said next. Father Qiao’s expression gradually began aligning with his son’s. Eventually, his brows locked tightly together. He simply sat there leaning forward, elbows braced against his knees, lost in thought as his gaze became increasingly sharp.
“Unbelievable…”
Could nearly twenty years still be insufficient to truly see through a person?
He recalled the image of his brother-in-law as foolishly honest and simple all these years. He found it difficult to believe. Yet once suspicion had taken root, he couldn’t stop thinking about how securely Shi Jiajun had held his position all these years.
Honest. Simple. Low-key. Seemingly forever incapable of fighting for power or influence. His work ability also appeared only average. Shi Jiajun’s position as head of the business division had been entirely pushed up by Qiao Yuanshan himself. And Qiao Yuanshan had never once doubted that fact. Yet now that he thought about it carefully… Something really did seem wrong.
What kind of place was the business division? The department was packed with talented people. Performance there was determined by project results. And yet under the leadership of such a dull and seemingly incompetent boss, there had never once been internal chaos for years.
Previously, Qiao Yuanshan had been very satisfied with this. He’d thought Shi Jiajun might be stupid, but at least he was worry-free.
But now… Perhaps he had been a little too worry-free.
Father Qiao and Qiao Rui spent the entire rest of the afternoon inside the office without leaving again. They made people fetch all sorts of documents and records for review. They didn’t even have time to arrange lunch, instead telling an assistant to pack a few dishes from the company cafeteria.
Mu Xiangxiang found it impossible to eat. Finally, when it was almost time to get off work, Qiao Rui directly grabbed a thick stack of documents and swept out like a gust of wind. Only then did Father Qiao stand up tiredly and look toward his younger son, who had been unusually quiet all day.
His younger son remained expressionless. Even his gaze stayed calm and still, as though the conversation between father and elder brother had stirred no emotions in him whatsoever. But how could that possibly be true?
He’d clearly been so upset that he barely touched lunch.
No one understood better than Father Qiao how close this child was to Shi Jiajun. Their trust and intimacy were enough to make even his biological father jealous. When the children stayed with their maternal grandparents as kids, Shi Jiajun had taken especially good care of Qiao Nan and Qiao Rui. He took them out to eat and play. He accompanied them through nearly their entire childhood. Those had absolutely been beautiful memories.
Honestly speaking, Qiao Yuanshan had always been deeply grateful. A large part of why he later promoted and valued Shi Jiajun so much was because he wanted to repay that kindness.
And now… Even he, someone only half-involved, found it hard to accept. How could the younger son caught directly in the middle possibly feel nothing?
Yet this child, whose personality had always been explosive and hot-tempered, had not erupted in fury. On the contrary, he’d swallowed all his anger and pretended nothing was wrong.
The more abnormal his calmness became, the more it proved how deeply hurt he was.
Intense bitterness gathered in Qiao Yuanshan’s eyes. He truly couldn’t imagine how violently his younger son’s heart must be churning right now.
But he knew one thing: Betrayal from the person you trusted most… That kind of pain had to be unimaginably, unbearably devastating.
Mu Xiangxiang was currently sitting there stiff-faced, praying Father Qiao would stop looking at her with such a disturbing expression, when she suddenly heard him speak in an extraordinarily gentle tone: “You must be exhausted today. Wait for Dad to clean up a little. Then we can go home and rest.”
Exhausted? Mu Xiangxiang blanked out for a moment. Aside from drinking tea and zoning out, she’d basically done nothing all day. She hadn’t even walked much. How exactly was she tired? Qiao Nan’s dad really doted on his children way too much, didn’t he?
Still, the thought of going home, shutting the door, and no longer needing to keep up the act sounded wonderful to her. So she immediately agreed. Seeing how quickly his son agreed—almost as though he couldn’t wait to escape this heartbreaking place—Father Qiao squeezed his eyes shut tightly. The bitterness in his heart had already become overwhelming.
When he and Assistant Xiao Lou reached the parking garage, they happened to run into Shi Jiajun, who also seemed to be getting off work and heading home. The moment Father Qiao saw that honest-looking face, his steps halted.
Shi Jiajun looked a little surprised, but quickly came over with a smile. “Chairman Qiao, Nannan, what a coincidence—you’re heading home too?”
His gaze flickered as he noticed that Father Qiao had brought only Qiao Nan and not Qiao Rui. He made a quick calculation in his head, though the smile on his face remained flawless.
Father Qiao looked at him with complicated emotions, though none showed on his face. He simply wasn’t in the mood to deal with the man right now, so he merely gave a profound-sounding hum in acknowledgment.
Shi Jiajun hesitated at the rare coldness. Just as he was about to analyze the deeper meaning behind it, he saw his little nephew, seated inside the car behind his brother-in-law, proactively wave at him after getting in.
Ever since his nephew had grown older, he hadn’t done such slightly childish intimate gestures in a long time. Shi Jiajun immediately smiled and waved back in the same friendly manner.
His nephew didn’t seem to have any problem with him, so if his brother-in-law’s attitude was off, it was probably because someone at the company had irritated him again.
Thinking that, he relaxed and stood there grinning foolishly as he watched the business car drive away.
Inside the car, Mu Xiangxiang turned to look at the figure still standing there long after they’d driven far away. She scratched her cheek, feeling incredibly conflicted. If she had to define it, she probably felt… guilty.
So guilty that she instinctively wanted to do something extra to make up for it, like taking the initiative to say goodbye.
The smile on that face… clearly showed he still knew nothing.
Mu Xiangxiang lowered her head guiltily. Sorry… I think I may have caused you a huge problem.
Father Qiao watched every movement his son made through the rearview mirror. He saw his son first proactively say goodbye to Shi Jiajun, then turn back reluctantly, only finally withdrawing and lowering his head in silence once Shi Jiajun disappeared from view through the rear window.
His eyes stung, and he almost cried for the child.
Qiao Rui did not return home until deep into the night, carrying with him the chill wind from outside. His expression was as cold as ice. The first thing he said upon entering was: “I found it.”
Father Qiao, who had still been hoping it was all just a misunderstanding, trembled violently.
Qiao Rui walked straight toward him, sat down in a single sofa chair, and tossed over a bag. “Shi Jiajun hid things very well. I had people investigate him, then his wife, then his friends. We found nothing. In the end, we expanded the search to his in-laws’ social circle, and finally found a breakthrough through one of his wife’s cousins who emigrated overseas.”
Father Qiao stared at the bag like it was some monstrous beast. After a long while, he slowly opened it. It was filled with documents. He pulled out a stack and flipped through them. “What’s this?”
“Permanent Energy,” Qiao Rui replied. “A company owned by that cousin of Shi Jiajun’s wife. Registered in the United States. It’s had ongoing partnerships over the years with the company currently competing against us for the Guanhai development project. During that time, they also took over several projects leaked from our company.”
The documents showed that Permanent Energy had been established a very long time ago, but around five years ago its scale had suddenly exploded. It was now publicly listed and extremely powerful.
Five years ago…The very year Shi Jiajun had been promoted by Qiao Yuanshan to head the Business Division.
Father Qiao let out a long sigh. He had thought perhaps there were debts, blackmail, manipulation from outsiders… He had never imagined reality would be even uglier than that.
After carefully reading through all the files, he sat there blankly holding his teacup. Only after spacing out for a long while did he finally regain his thoughts and voice.
Mu Xiangxiang happened to be downstairs and overheard everything whether she wanted to or not. This time, Father Qiao and Qiao Rui were discussing confirmed facts, so she finally understood. Qiao Nan’s uncle—the one he’d been close to since childhood—really had betrayed them.
Life is so damn melodramatic…
Holding a cup of warmed milk, she clicked her tongue inwardly. The first thought that crossed her mind was—If Qiao Nan finds out, he’s definitely going to explode.
Just like Qiao Rui, who was already calmly planning how to secretly reverse the situation using Shi Jiajun himself. The eldest Qiao brother was obviously furious beyond measure. Every strand of hair on him radiated cold rationality and cruelty. In just one afternoon, he had already drafted a relatively complete counterplan. The company behind Shi Jiajun wasn’t entirely lacking in power either. Retaliation was one thing, but the Qiao family could not afford a mutually destructive battle.
Wasn’t he sad too? From Father Qiao’s earlier words, it sounded like he and Qiao Nan had both grown up at their maternal grandparents’ house. His relationship with Shi Jiajun should have been just as close.
Once again, Mu Xiangxiang felt admiration for this eldest brother. It had been the same when Father Qiao made soup dumplings. Qiao family’s eldest son always remained so calm—so calm that people could hardly believe he possessed human emotions at all.
People truly couldn’t be compared to one another. If she wanted to cultivate herself to that level, who knew how many years it would take?
Mu Xiangxiang didn’t dare stay downstairs any longer. After saying she was going back to rest, she hurried upstairs. Qiao Rui paused mid-sentence in the living room and turned to watch his younger brother leave, his gaze following until the figure disappeared completely.
Across from him, Qiao Yuanshan let out a weary sigh. “…If only Nannan… could be as calm as you.”
Sometimes he even wondered whether his hot-tempered younger son might live more easily if he could learn from Qiao Rui and stop pouring so much emotion into life.
Qiao Rui looked at him for a long moment without expression and without speaking.
Upstairs, after washing up, Mu Xiangxiang worked on some review exercises for a while before hesitating again and again.
She had never been good at taking care of other people’s emotions. She always said whatever came to mind, and that flaw had caused her plenty of suffering, though she’d never intended to change it. But for once, at this very moment, she actually hesitated over whether she should tell Qiao Nan about this.
She pulled out her phone and opened his contact, typing into the chat box and deleting again and again. Eventually she became so frustrated she climbed up to open the window, but the suffocating feeling in her chest still wouldn’t go away.
It was already late at night. The starry lights of City A glittered across the sky. She opened her bedroom door, planning to go downstairs for some water to calm herself.
The Qiao family should all be asleep by now. The lights outside were off. She switched on her phone flashlight, but as she passed the study, she paused.
A faint light shone through the gap beneath the door.
This study was usually the room where she did homework. Had someone forgotten to turn off the light?
Without much hesitation, Mu Xiangxiang grasped the doorknob. The study’s chandelier was one of those little crystal lamps—leaving it on all night would waste who knew how much electricity.
But the moment she opened the door, she regretted it. Because another figure immediately entered her field of vision.
Qiao Rui sat sideways to her direction, one hand braced against his forehead while flipping through what looked like a book. He still appeared distant and cold, difficult to approach.
Mu Xiangxiang hadn’t interacted much with him. This eldest brother was normally taciturn like a robot, and he’d even pulled her hair in the middle of the night before. Her heart instantly tightened in fear. She hurriedly moved to retreat, but out of politeness still called out before closing the door: “…Big Brother.”
Qiao Rui seemed startled. He turned his head immediately, but by the time he realized what state he was in, lowering his head was already too late—
Mu Xiangxiang clearly saw the two trails of tears on his face under the lamplight.
“……………………”
After delinquent Yan Zhiyang, yet another man had appeared crying in front of her.
Ever since switching bodies, she had already realized that men cried too. But even so, seeing it firsthand still felt hard to adapt to. Especially because the one crying now was Qiao family’s eldest brother, whom she had always believed lacked all human emotion.
She suddenly became extremely awkward, caught between advancing and retreating. Quietly shutting the door and leaving now seemed like it would hurt his feelings.
So after hesitating a moment, she chose to walk inside instead. Only upon getting closer did she realize that Qiao Rui was flipping through a photo album.
Qiao Rui seemed mortified by how he looked right now. He turned his body halfway, changing from facing sideways toward her to turning his back entirely. “…What are you coming in for?! Hurry back and sleep!”
His tone was cold as ever, but because of the lingering hoarseness and choking in his voice, it lacked its usual intimidation.
Mu Xiangxiang asked quietly: “…Big Brother, are you okay?”
Qiao Rui ignored her. Mu Xiangxiang glanced again at the photo album and realized it was already quite old. The largest photograph captured a young man running with two little boys while holding a kite.
Everyone in the picture was laughing. Joy practically burst through the photograph itself. The children were frozen mid-jump in lively motion, while the young man faced the camera directly, revealing features that looked very familiar.
It was Shi Jiajun, much younger.
The identities of the two little boys instantly became obvious. Combining that with the fact that Qiao Rui was secretly flipping through photo albums and crying in the middle of the night, Mu Xiangxiang found it unbelievable, but still managed to guess the truth. “Big Brother… are you thinking about Shi… Uncle?”
The moment he heard that title, Qiao Rui suddenly froze in a daze.
His younger brother had appeared at such a special moment, quietly standing behind him, even taking the initiative to comfort him for once. Everything about it felt almost like heaven’s guidance.
Perhaps the lighting was too gentle. Perhaps his heart was simply too exhausted. Qiao Rui had worn armor for so many years, but at this moment, he suddenly felt tired.
So tired that he could no longer pretend he didn’t care.
Mu Xiangxiang was still hesitating awkwardly because of his silence when, the next second, the straight spine in front of her—rigid as a steel plate—suddenly relaxed.
Qiao Rui slowly turned to look at her. The tear tracks on his face had not yet dried. The calmness in his eyes had long disappeared, replaced by undisguised hatred toward the subject of their conversation. “Don’t call him Uncle.”
It was the first time Mu Xiangxiang had ever seen such a vivid expression on this face. While she stood there helplessly silent, Qiao Rui had already covered his forehead with both hands again, elbows braced against the desk. His fingertips trembled slightly.
Mu Xiangxiang: “……”
The expression hidden behind his hands could no longer be seen, but tears continued dripping directly onto the tabletop. After hesitating for a moment, unsure what to say, she could only step forward and gently pat his back.
This was the first comfort Qiao Rui had received from true family ever since his mother’s death. The nerves he had strained taut all day finally loosened beneath those soft pats, and so he could no longer maintain the façade of indifference. He turned and hugged his younger brother back.
“He lied to us.”
Mu Xiangxiang couldn’t truly empathize with the matter, but she could roughly understand the feeling of betrayal Qiao Rui was experiencing. At times like this, nothing really needed to be said. Quiet listening was enough.
And through this, she finally learned some things about Qiao Nan’s childhood.
Qiao Nan and Qiao Rui had both been very young when they were sent to live with their maternal grandparents. Their mother had just died, and the two half-grown boys had only each other left. Emotionally, they had been incredibly fragile. Back then, Shi Jiajun had genuinely given them a great deal of comfort. He stayed beside their beds when they had nightmares until they fell asleep again. He reminisced about their late mother with them. He held their hands and took them out to play. He stood up for them whenever they were bullied. And so much more.
Compared to Qiao Yuanshan, a father they might not even see several times a year back then, Shi Jiajun had fulfilled his role countless times better.
Qiao Rui had almost treated Shi Jiajun like another father. And the more trust there had once been, the more hatred existed now.
All afternoon, beneath his calm exterior, his soul had felt as though it were rolling through magma. The torment had been unbearable. Otherwise, with Qiao Rui’s personality, he would never have done something as embarrassing as crying while hugging his younger brother.
As expected, venting emotions really was the best relief. Feeling the silent comfort of his brother’s hand patting his back again and again, he finally slowly calmed down.
Qiao Rui released him. After the pats on his back disappeared, the first thing he saw was still his younger brother’s expressionless face.
He had originally thought that once his rationality returned, he would feel unbearably ashamed. Yet unexpectedly, the sense of relaxation and comfort far outweighed any embarrassment he should have felt.
He was touched. After learning Shi Jiajun’s true face, his younger brother must have been hurting too, and yet he was still patiently and gently staying by his side.
Somewhat apologetically, he said, “Sorry for dragging you into listening to all my complaints this late at night.”
At home, Mu Xiangxiang often listened to her parents talk about the troubles in their lives, so she didn’t think it was anything special. Instead, she found the strange emotional distance within the Qiao family very difficult to adapt to. “Why are you apologizing?”
Qiao Rui was stunned by the question and couldn’t think of an answer at all when his shoulder was lightly patted again. “We’re family. Speaking honestly and confiding in each other is normal, isn’t it?”
After saying that, Mu Xiangxiang glanced at the time and realized it was already very late. Feeling that Qiao Rui probably wouldn’t have any more problems tonight, she told him to rest early and left.
What she didn’t know was how long Qiao Rui remained alone in the study after she left.
Family. Speak honestly. Confide in each other. Is that how it should be?
Was the reason for his younger brother’s recent changes because he had realized that? Thinking about it now, he really had done exactly that. Today, he had directly exposed Shi Jiajun’s scheme without hesitation.
Wasn’t it laughable? Shi Jiajun had painstakingly managed his image for more than ten years, never once forgetting to maintain appearances before everyone. He had played the entire company—including Qiao Yuanshan himself—for fools. And in the end, everything had capsized because of one casual attempt at sowing discord. It sounded unbelievably stupid.
But what if his younger brother hadn’t said anything?
If their positions were reversed, and he himself had heard those words from Shi Jiajun, would he have brought them out into the open for honest discussion? Or would he have buried them in his heart forever?
Qiao Rui asked himself that question and arrived at the obvious answer. Then suddenly he laughed. He laughed at the so-called maturity and reliability he had prided himself on for over twenty years.
By the end of it, he simply got up, went downstairs to the liquor cabinet, opened his favorite bottle of red wine, and drank by himself as a form of celebration.
At four in the morning, Qiao Yuanshan was jolted awake by frantic knocking on the door. He had already been full of worries and had only barely managed to fall asleep very late. Now, disturbed like this, he felt even more exhausted. By the time he got up to open the door, he looked utterly worn out. “…Who—”
Before he could even finish the word, the disheveled middle-aged man was shocked fully awake by the sight before him.
His eldest son, Qiao Rui, stood outside the bedroom door holding a bottle of red wine. His expression was cold and unreadable. One hand braced against the wall, his tall figure stood as straight as a pine tree.
Qiao Yuanshan: ??????
The next second, his tall son suddenly moved closer. His collar was grabbed in one yank, and the smell of alcohol rushed over him.
Qiao Yuanshan jumped in fright, completely bewildered. At his age, this was the first time he had ever suffered such a shock. Instinctively, he tremblingly tried to pry away his son’s powerful arm. “R-Ruirui… what’s wrong with you… calm down…”
Qiao Rui only narrowed his eyes and stared at him with an unreadable expression.
“Dad!”
After staring at him for a long moment, Qiao Rui finally spoke. The handsome young man’s sharp gaze seemed to pierce through him and look toward some distant place beyond.
Every word landed heavily and clearly:
“They all said you abandoned us!”
*****
Author’s Note:
Qiao Rui [grabbing collar][bringing up old grudges]: “Nannan was right! Family should speak honestly! That’s how it’s supposed to be!”
Qiao Yuanshan [struggling]: “That’s NOT what your brother meant!!!”
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