Xie Jin'an dropped the leftover food and hurriedly covered his face with his sleeve.
"Elder Brother, how did you end up like this? You're even fighting over dog food now? Tsk, tsk, tsk."
Xie Jinqian crouched down, picked up a grain of rice from the ground, and flicked it onto Xie Jin'an's head.
"You've mistaken me for someone else. I'm not your elder brother." Xie Jin'an curled back, his gaze evasive.
Back when he had fallen out with his second brother, he had been utterly convinced that neither of his younger brothers could survive without the Xie family.
Now he was the one who had fallen on hard times. How could he dare show his face?
Xie Jinqian would surely laugh at him.
He did not want to be mocked by a younger brother born of a concubine, someone who had once stood beneath him.
"Elder Brother, if you're struggling, come to me. We're brothers, after all. Those decades of affection are still there. How could I laugh at you? Elder Brother, I'm here to help you!"
Xie Jinqian raised his brows. His tone was so gentle that it was hard to refuse him.
He continued, "If I hadn't pleaded for you and traded my merits for your life, would you still be alive now?"
Half believing and half doubting, Xie Jin'an lowered the hand covering his face and stared at Xie Jinqian in disbelief.
"You... you're... the Second Imperial Prince of Southern Yue? It was you?"
He remembered how Xie Jinqian had managed all the family's businesses, and how he and Third Brother had gone to such lengths to provoke him before breaking away from the Xie family!
Then this catastrophe had struck the Xie family, drowning them all!
Had his second brother orchestrated everything connecting these events?
Suddenly,