How Did He Die?

Inside the bedroom.

Nan Xingyu hid in the corner behind the curtains, watching security footage of the entrance hall on her phone.

"Yes, I'm a bad seed..."

Xi Jin's voice came through the phone.

She hurriedly turned the volume down a little and kept listening to what they were saying.

It's over.

Even Xi Jin's dad can't control him.

I thought he'd bow to Xi Kun's authority and break things off with me completely.

He really is something.

He's actually going up against his dad.

She had heard before that the father and son didn't get along, but she hadn't expected things to be this bad.

As far as she could see, they were no different from enemies.

Before long, a key turned in the bedroom door.

Nan Xingyu knew it was Xi Jin, but, cautious as she was, she still didn't dare come out.

Not until he pulled the curtains open.

He stood before her, looking down into her watery eyes.

Xi Jin dropped to one knee and gathered her into his arms, saying in a low voice:

"It's all right now."

"..."

Nan Xingyu didn't move.

This actually wasn't the first time Xi Kun had come.

The previous few times, he had turned a blind eye, chatted with Xi Jin about work for a bit, and left.

She was afraid Xi Kun would suddenly barge in.

Every time, she hid in the same place.

She didn't know how much longer she would have to live like this.

Xi Jin seemed to sense what she was thinking and whispered in her ear:

"Xiaoyu, don't even think about escaping. I won't let you go."

"..."

Nan Xingyu thought he was sick.

Seriously sick.

On the weekend, Nan Xingyu arranged to meet her mother, Liu Meili.

Ever since Xi Jin's maternal uncle had spoken coldly to her last time, she had never again set foot through the gates of Xi Family Manor.

In a window booth at the restaurant.

Liu Meili pushed a paper box printed with tiny flowers toward Nan Xingyu and said:

"You young people are always staying up late. I made this flower tea especially for you. It'll soothe your mind."

"Thanks, Mom."

Nan Xingyu smiled and took the box.

She had just put it in her bag when her father, Nan Zhiping, called on video from their hometown.

This was their family of three's weekend ritual, as steady as clockwork.

On the screen, Nan Zhiping was squatting outside the auto repair shop, eating his work meal.

Seeing him, Liu Meili teased him for looking like a beggar asking for food at the door.

Nan Xingyu laughed too and said to the screen:

"Dad, you're so handsome. How come you don't care about your image at all?"

Nan Zhiping smiled warmly and joked:

"If I dress up too handsomely, what if some young girl falls for your dad?"

Liu Meili immediately cut in. "You old rascal, stop talking nonsense to our daughter."

Nan Xingyu said, "Mom, I'm all grown up. You still treat me like a little kid."

Liu Meili shot her a glare. "If you're not a little kid, what are you?"

On the other end of the video call, Nan Zhiping chimed in and asked Liu Meili:

"You say our daughter's young, so why are you in such a hurry to set her up with someone?"

Liu Meili said, "It's just getting to know someone, not getting married right away. They can meet first. Even dating takes two or three years, doesn't it?"

Hearing the subject come up,

Nan Xingyu awkwardly moved out of the camera's view.

The two chatted away enthusiastically.

When Nan Xingyu was nearly full, Nan Zhiping finally called her over. He had her say a quick hello, then ended the video call.

Liu Meili brought up setting her up again:

"Xiaoyu, a friend of my friend has a son. He's five years older than you and an executive at a publicly listed company now."

She pulled up a photo on her phone, placed it in front of her daughter, and continued:

"I've seen his photo. He's good-looking, and he has the face of a good kid."

Nan Xingyu bit down on her chopsticks and gave the photo a casual glance.

To be honest,

he wasn't a tenth as handsome as Xi Jin.

At best, he was decent-looking.

Perfectly presentable.

He had a nose and two eyes.

She tactfully declined. "Oh, Mom, I'm still young. I don't want to date."

But Liu Meili disagreed. "It's just getting to know him. What's the harm? You've spent all your time hanging around girls since you were little, without a single boy around you. I'm anxious for you."

"..."

Nan Xingyu had no argument.

She did want to make friends with the opposite sex.

But with the "killing god" Xi Jin standing in her way, she had no chance at all.

She could only let it go in one ear and out the other.

Her fingertips idly flipped through the photos on her mother's phone.

At last, the screen stopped on a photo of the glass greenhouse at Xi Family Manor.

She hadn't been there since graduating from high school.

It had once been her and Xi Jin's "secret garden."

The greenhouse covered one or two hundred square meters. From the decorations that remained, one could tell it had once been an exquisite greenhouse.

But for some reason,

it was now a ruin.

Nan Xingyu asked curiously, "Mom, the glass greenhouse at Xi Family Manor was so beautiful. How did it fall into ruin?"

Liu Meili paused as she reached for some food with her chopsticks, then answered:

"Mrs. Xi tended it herself. It used to be full of flowers. After she went abroad to recuperate, no one was allowed inside anymore."

At the mention of "Mrs. Xi,"

Nan Xingyu remembered the woman she had met a few years ago.

She had worn a white qipao and had a cool, unworldly air.

Her features looked a lot like Xi Jin's.

Nan Xingyu couldn't help asking, "Mom, did Xi Jin have an older brother?"

Liu Meili said, "Yes. Such a shame, he died when he was nine."

"How did he die?"

Nan Xingyu leaned closer. "Did it have anything to do with Xi Jin?"

She had heard Xi Jin's conversation with his father last time.

She couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to it.

Liu Meili's expression changed instantly. She said sternly, "That's a taboo in the Xi Family. Let's not talk about it carelessly."

"Mom, just tell me. I promise I won't tell anyone."

Nan Xingyu wheedled, shaking her mother's arm. "Otherwise I'll just make guesses, and it'll be even more trouble if I say the wrong thing."

Liu Meili sighed and poked her forehead. "You absolutely must not tell anyone what I'm about to say."

Only after Nan Xingyu nodded repeatedly did she begin to speak, slowly recounting the Xi Family's past:

"Xi Jin's older brother was called Xi Song. He was four years older than Xi Jin. That child was cheerful and lively, and everyone liked him from the time he was little."

"When Xi Song was three, he fainted at kindergarten and was diagnosed with a rare blood disease. Only a bone marrow transplant could treat it."

She frowned as she recalled:

"He seemed to have some kind of... panda blood. Apparently, it was very hard to find a match, so the doctor suggested having another child and using the umbilical cord blood to save Xi Song."

"Huh?"

Hearing this, Nan Xingyu ventured, "Was Xi Jin born to save Xi Song?"

Liu Meili nodded. "That's right."

Nan Xingyu took a moment to digest that, a mixture of emotions in her heart, then asked, "How come Xi Song still died later?"

"They found a match back then, and Xi Song recovered for two years."

Liu Meili paused, then continued:

"But unexpectedly, something went wrong with his lungs. I think they said it was a lesion caused by the earlier chemotherapy."

"After more than a year of treatment, he still passed away in the end."

Her voice was full of regret.

"They say that when Xi Song took his last breath, Xi Jin was standing right in front of his brother's hospital bed. Some people also say..."

She lowered her voice.

"Xi Song's oxygen tube... was pulled out by Xi Jin."