Seeing the bruises on Cen Xi’s face, Nan Zhi’s pretty almond-like eyes filled with guilt.
It had been nearly three months since Uncle had recovered from his critical condition and returned to the Capital.
Although she knew that he would be able to earn for himself and Cen Xi without depending on others, it was almost as if he had forgotten that he was the heir of the Qiao family.
Perhaps it was because Grandma’s blood letter made him feel like he was the main culprit that caused Grandma’s death, he followed the instructions on the blood letter and gave up on the Qiao family that he had rebuilt with so much difficulty.
He wasn’t being filial.
This was what you called being brainlessly ‘filial’.
The Old Qiao Madam and Qiao Yanxuan had come prepared and their goal was to take everything from him and throw him into the gutters.
It was not that he didn’t know that. It was only that he was blinded by that blood letter.
She thought of so many ways and talked to him so many times. He also knew that Qiao Yanxuan wanted to kill him by sending his men to smash the antidote, but he was still unable to release himself from the binding of that blood letter.
It was clear how strong his guilt for the Qiao family and to Grandma was!
After he regained his appearance and health, he holed himself up in Cen Xi’s apartment, treating the girl as his harbor. She wanted to meet him several times, but he rejected her every time with excuses.
He loved Cen Xi and treated her as his only savior.
As he closed himself up, he was unwilling to listen to any noise from the outside.
She tried to ask Cen Xi to convince him, but it had no effect. Every time she mentioned returning to the Qiao family, he would be extremely against it.
Nan Zhi had talked to a psychiatrist before. If he continued on like this for a long period of time, his mental health would suffer and it was really unhealthy for him.
Now, his life only revolved around Cen Xi. It was not a life a normal person should have.
The idea both Cen Xi and she had decided on may be too extreme and if he wasn’t strong enough to handle it, he might break down instead!
However, he could still rebound after hitting the lowest.
They had to cut his lifelines and make him lose his harbor to let him see the truth.
He was able to get through an immense change once, so she thought that this time, he would wake up after getting a clear glance at his circumstances. However, she never thought that he would do such an extreme thing and hurt Cen Xi from head to toe.
Nan Zhi sighed. “Xiao Xi, I am so sorry about this. I will support you no matter what your decision is.”
Cen Xi was slightly surprised. She thought that the Queen would convince her to stay by Qiao Yanze’s side and help him get through this hurdle.
Before that night, Cen Xi never had the thought of leaving him. No matter what happened to him, she would get through it with him. But that night…
Like an unfeeling wild beast, he crazily took, ravaged and humiliated her body to the point of no return…
There was no piece of skin on her that was unscathed.
For hours he had tortured her.
Even after she had rested for three days, her inner thighs were still bruised when she came to meet Nan Zhi today.
She never thought that he would have such a crazy and cruel side to him. He had stepped on her dignity, her pride, her entire being and soul so ruthlessly.
He was heartless.
During those few hours, she was merely a prostitute for him to vent upon!
In the past few days, she had rested for, not only was her body aching, her heart hurt even more. She didn’t know how to continue facing a man that had abused her.
“Your Majesty, I’m very sorry as well. I thought that after the life and death situation we went through together, I would be able to get through the issue with his second brother together with him.”
Nan Zhi grabbed Cen Xi’s cold hands, comforting the girl. “You already did very well. As a woman, I can understand the pain from Uncle treating you like that. No one is a masochist, not to mention being hurt by the person you loved the most.”
Cen Xi nodded. “Thank you, Your Majesty, for understanding.”
After leaving the cafe, Cen Xi headed towards the office. It was there that she met CEO Jiang.
When CEO Jiang saw Cen Xi, he welcomed her warmly.
“Xiao Cen, you’re really our company’s lucky star. We’ve received another big business proposal again. Can you be the project team leader this time?”
Cen Xi took out the bracelet Qiao Yanze had thrown into the rubbish bin from her bag and took out a letter as well.
“CEO Jiang, this is the grand prize I got from the company’s dance and dinner lucky draw. I’m returning this to you and this letter, which is my resignation letter.”
CEO Jiang froze. “Xiao Cen, what are you doing?”
Cen Xi didn’t say anything as she took her bag, turned around and left hurriedly without looking back.
Cen Xi drove back to her apartment.
She had been looking for a new place recently. Whenever she lay on her bed, she would have nightmares of that horrific night and would wake up from her dreams crying.
She needed to change the environment and change her bed.
Cen Xi drove into the residential area. Just as she got out of the car, a man wearing a uniform walked towards her.
“Miss Cen, our Second Master would like to treat you to a meal.”
Cen Xi glanced at the limousine sedan parked not too far away.
“I’m sorry, I don’t have the time.”
“Second Master said that if Miss Cen doesn’t have time today, he will come again tomorrow. If you don’t have time tomorrow, he will come again the day after. He will wait until Miss Cen has the time.”
Cen Xi furrowed her eyebrows tightly as she glanced at the dark-colored sedan once more. She could vaguely feel the man’s gaze on her from inside.
After hesitating for a few seconds, Cen Xi nodded. “Alright, but I will choose the venue.” Cen Xi gave the name of a restaurant before she got back into her own car.
The butler got into the sedan and repeated what Cen Xi had said to Qiao Yanxuan. A smile appeared on Qiao Yanxuan’s mature and handsome face. “She’s rather unique.” With that said, he raised a hand. “Follow after her car.”
Cen Xi chose to meet at a Hong Kong-styled restaurant and chose a table that was beside the window.
When Qiao Yanxuan arrived, Cen Xi had already taken a seat.
Qiao Yanxuan sat opposite of her. When the tall and slender man dressed in a suit sat down and unbuttoned the buttons to his suit jacket, he looked elegant and mature. His appearance was also flawless as he looked handsome, elegant and refined. His facial features were filled with a mature masculinity that came with time and experience.
Indeed, a book can never be judged by its cover. With Qiao Yanxuan’s appearance, it was impossible to imagine that he had such a dark mind and even calculated so many despicable things against his own younger brother.
After the night Qiao Yanze lost control like a wild beast, she had analyzed the reason for it. The first was because he might have been the bracelet she was wearing with Qiao Yanxuan and the second was that the words she said to him before had hurt his dignity and he had been agitated by Qiao Yanxuan. On top of the fact that he had drank…
She had to admit that Qiao Yanxuan was very good at calculating a person’s mind. The rumors in the office of Qiao Yanze being her sugar baby was probably his doing as well!
“Why is Miss Cen guarding against me like you’re guarding against a wolf? I won’t hurt you.”
Cen Xi’s lips moved. “You won’t hurt me, but you arranged with CEO Jiang to gift me a limited edition bracelet in the name of the company and sent me flowers in the middle of the night?”
A smile appeared on Qiao Yanxuan’s handsome face. “Can’t Miss Cen tell that I’m wooing you?”
Cen Xi laughed coldly. “Ah. So it seems like Mr Qiao likes to find attached women.”
Even after being provoked by Cen Xi, Qiao Yanxuan remained calm and indifferent. “Yanze doesn’t suit you and he has a woman he likes. See, without you, he’s already having a date with another woman, isn’t he?”
Following the man’s gaze, Cen Xi looked out of the floor-to-ceiling window, only to see a taxi stopping outside of the restaurant. A man and a woman got out of the car.
It was Qiao Yanze and Qing Yan.