Qin Zaiye was sitting there, but his usually straight back was bent forward now, giving him an indescribable air of being on the verge of collapse.
His eyes had lost focus, and he stared expressionlessly at a spot on the floor.
When Ji Yanzhi had given him that novel, he had known the man must have had an ulterior motive. Yet he had wondered why Ji Yanzhi would give him nothing more than a novel if he wanted revenge.
So when he turned to the first page, all he had wanted was to see what trick the other man was playing. He had never imagined that the first chapter would show him Ling Xi at fourteen.
As he read chapter after chapter, he saw Ling Xi's life while staying with the Ji Family. Before he started dating Ji Ting, he had been treated exactly like the family's third young master. After the two got together, Ling Xi had been given anything he wanted.
Qin Zaiye still remembered letting out a mocking laugh at the time. He had no idea what had possessed Ji Yanzhi to fabricate all this. He only remembered Little Xi telling him how he had lived under someone else's roof since childhood, constantly watching their expressions and living in fear.
And that first love with Ji Ting had not been the fluttering adolescent romance described in the book, either. It had been a last resort born of loneliness and helplessness.
With that same sense of watching Ji Yanzhi make up a story, he read through Lu Yanchu's entrance and the first cracks in Ling Xi and Ji Ting's relationship. Only when he reached the words "Ji Family banquet" did the corners of Qin Zaiye's eyes tighten almost imperceptibly.
He and Ling Xi had met at that banquet.