The Gu family had someone once again, to inquire when Grandpa Sheng would finally end things between Sheng Xiao and Mu Qiqi so that their young mistress could come in.
After all, Miss Gu was the lady of a family with an aristocratic background—there was just no way she would plant herself between Sheng Xiao and Mu Qiqi when they are still engaged. What would others think?
In truth, Grandpa Sheng had been racking his brains recently too, because Sheng Xiao was just too smart and nothing could be kept hidden from his eyes.
But in the meantime, Sixth Brother actually managed to find his younger sister after a long search!
Even so, Seventh Sister had long since lost her gait as the youngest daughter of the Sheng family. Sixth Brother was clutching his head in despair when he found her, and directly stormed home and told the old man, “Grandfather, I found Seventh Sister—but did you know where I found her?”
Remembering his granddaughter, the old man’s hands tightened and looked up at Sixth Brother. “Go on, tell me.”
“Grandfather…”
Sixth Brother’s eyes welled with tears, and he abruptly kneeled before the old man. “Seventh Sister had really made a mistake, but you shouldn’t have chased her out. I… I found her at a love hotel, and she… is very sick. She’s at the hospital now, but it really crushes my heart how she was humiliated and defiled.”
The old man’s eyes widened at that.
“What’s her illness?”
“It’s better if you didn’t know.” Sixth Brother couldn’t help bursting into tears. “Either way, she is not marrying anyone with her purity.”
The old man did a double take, before rising. “Take me to her…”
“There’s no need, Grandfather. She won’t recognize you!” Sixth Brother caught the old man, whilst still kneeling. “I just can’t do nothing when I see her like that. Mu Qiqi already hurt her so much, are you still letting her into our family?”
“Please get rid of Mu Qiqi, Grandfather!”
“Did you think my word counts? It’s your Eighth Brother!” Grandpa Sheng snorted. “Who could touch her if he protects her?”
“Grandfather, has Mu Qiqi brought any less disaster to our family after all this? Are you still going to sit and watch as she becomes the new mistress? Us siblings have it even worse. Grandfather, I’m really suggesting that you annul the engagement with the Shen family.”
“If you don’t believe me, let the others in the family visit Seventh Sister. We’ll see if they could bear with Mu Qiqi after that.”
At Sixth Brother’s words, the old man suddenly had a new plan.
He would use Seventh Sister’s matter as an excuse, and he just might be able to sever the engagement between Sheng Xiao and Mu Qiqi even in name.
Moreover, the Shen family would have no grounds of protest.
Things would be much easier with the engagement out of the way.
“Go visit Seventh Sister with your parents tomorrow.” The old man sighed—after racking his brains over recent days, he finally got his breakthrough. “Blow it out of proportion!”
“I got it.” Sixth Brother rose from the floor, wiping away his tears. “Whether Eighth Brother really likes Mu Qiqi or not, our family would never accept her. If he can’t deal with this, he could get lost.”
“No… I only want Mu Qiqi to get lost.”
After all, even the old man knew enough not to cause collateral damage, given how important his Eighth Brother was to Huang Yao. He merely wanted an excuse so that Miss Gu could come into the Sheng family, and use the chance to nurture a bond between Sheng Xiao and Miss Gu.
And so the old man was prepared to pin the blame on Mu Qiqi!
Late into the night at the Xu Manor.
With the reunion event at hand, the Xu couple was crosschecking their guest list at the living room, with Xu Yihong staying beside them to see if anyone’s name was missing.
Moments later, Jing Yun entered from the front door hand-in-hand with Sheng Minglan. Finding everyone in the family present, he sat down with Sheng Minglan opposite his father and brother.
“You’re home, Feng’er. How’s work?”
“Everything is fine, Mom.” Jing Yun replied.
After all, after he had punished that troublesome colleague, the other staff who proved to be all-bark became more discreet. At the very least, they were not provoking Jing Yun directly.
“You wouldn’t know, Mom, but the supervisor at purchasing told me that Brother here does very good work.” Xu Yihong smiled at Mama Xu while taking a sip of his coffee.
“That’s good.” Mama Xu was very pleased, before returning to her lists.
Jing Yun’s eyes, however, lingered over Xu Yihong’s coffee cup.
“I think I would transfer Brother to another department soon… anyway, everyone, I’m going to rest.”
With that, Xu Yihong took his coffee cup with him to the kitchen.
But he did not wash it.
He went straight upstairs after leaving the kitchen.
Jing Yun then gave Sheng Minglan a look and told her, “Minglan, could you bring me some water?”
“Hold on.” Catching on to Jing Yun’s hint, Sheng Minglan went into the kitchen and hid away Xu Yihong’s used coffee cup and swapped it for another identical cup.
Then, she brought a cup of warm water and brought it to Jing Yun. “Sit for awhile with Mom and Dad. I’m going up.”
“Okay.”
Avoiding from touching the cup by putting on a plastic wrap around it, Sheng Minglan brought it back to her room before carefully taking it out for a look.
Soon, Jing Yun had come upstairs as well, his eyes darkening as he stared at the cup.
“Well, I haven’t got your father’s DNA, or we could have sent it out soon.”
“Why would we need my father’s DNA? Mine would work.” Jing Yun told her. “But first we would need an excuse.”
“That’s easy. Just say that Eighth Brother called us.”
Nodding, Jing Yun washed up and went downstairs with Sheng Minglan again.
“Where are you going?” Mama Xu asked.
“My Eighth Brother is asking for us at Jing Ting, aunt. We’ll be right back.” Sheng Minglan quickly explained.
Mama Xu nodded. “Don’t be too late.”
Upstairs, Xu Yihong watched as the pair left, but did not suspect that his coffee cup was switched.
He was aware that Jing Yun was smart, but doesn’t know that Sheng Xiao had groomed him so that he wasn’t just intelligent in appearance.
Meanwhile, Jing Yun and Sheng Minglan had delivered the sample to the test center. Once it was proven that he and Xu Yihong were not real brothers, the outcome would become obvious.
“The reunion is in a few days and the results would be out by then. What do you think you would do?” Sheng Minglan asked Jing Yun, being worried over him inwardly.
“I would wait to settle the matter in private and refrain from embarrassing our parents, but that is as long as he doesn’t bother me during the reunion.” Jing Yun answered, watching her. “Moreover, I still have to entrap him into spilling evidence that he abandoned me.”
“Whatever your choice is, I would always be with you, supporting you.”