After Jiang Xun left, his parents and Jiang Huaijin stared in the direction he had gone, then exchanged looks.
Anxious, Deng Shu stood stunned for a moment before chasing after him, but Jiang Xun was already long gone.
She called Jiang Xun again. When he didn't answer, she sent him a message.
"Didn't I tell you not to bring it up?" She returned to the dining room and glared reproachfully at her husband and eldest son. "Now look what you've done. Xiao Xun only just came home, and you've already driven him away again."
Jiang Shiyuan had always been afraid of his wife. Looking utterly wronged, he said, "I didn't say a single word just now."
His eyes turned toward his eldest son, blatantly shifting the blame.
Jiang Huaijin looked somewhat awkward. The scene of Jiang Xun leaving kept replaying in his mind, leaving him irritated and faintly, inexplicably uneasy.
I only said a couple of things. Why did he react so strongly? He never used to be like this. Maybe he's feeling guilty.
Jiang Huaijin wondered whether they had wrongly accused Jiang Xun of bullying Zixing all those times before, too.
I haven't seen him in a few days, and his acting has improved. So has his temper.
"Huaijin, how many times have I told you to get along with Xiao Xun?"
Deng Shu sighed. "You saw how Xiao Xun looked just now. He must have been hurt."
Jiang Huaijin was silent for a moment. "I'll call Uncle Wang."
Uncle Wang was the driver who had just brought Jiang Xun home. He had worked for the Jiang family for several years.
Uncle Wang was an honest man. When Jiang Huaijin asked whether anything had happened on the way home, he hesitated briefly before recounting the entire conversation he had overheard in the car.
Jiang Huaijin frowned slightly. "You're saying Zixing accidentally fell down the stairs himself back then?"
"Based on the conversation between the second young master and the youngest young master, yes."
"Are you sure you heard correctly?"
"Young master, I heard them very clearly. The youngest young master said he explained it to you many times back then, but none of you believed him."
Jiang Huaijin hung up and, with mixed feelings, relayed what the driver had said to Jiang Shiyuan and Deng Shu.
After hearing him out, the couple reacted just as Jiang Huaijin had.
What they had seen that day had been far too easy to misinterpret. They had insisted that Jiang Xun had pushed Zixing down the stairs.
A wave of guilt washed over Deng Shu, and she blamed herself bitterly. "To think we've been falsely accusing Xiao Xun for so long. He must have felt so wronged."
She might have been a good mother to Zixing and Huaijin, but when it came to Jiang Xun... she had fallen far short.
Everyone had feelings, and as parents, it really was difficult to treat every child equally.
Sometimes, she did dote on Zixing a little more. One was her own flesh and blood; the other was unrelated by blood but had been raised by her since childhood. Both were dear to her.
Jiang Shiyuan sat on the sofa in silence for a long time. At last, his face tight, he said quietly, "We wrongly accused Jiang Xun, but what does that have to do with Zixing? Why did Jiang Xun have to confront him out of nowhere? He explained it to us right from the start. We were the ones who didn't believe him."
Deng Shu glared at him. "Enough. At a time like this, just stop talking."
She knew her husband's temper all too well. He cared too much about saving face. Even when he knew he was wrong, he couldn't swallow his pride and kept arguing.
Jiang Huaijin lowered his eyes and rubbed his temple. After a moment of thought, he stood. "Mom, Dad, I'll go bring Jiang Xun back."
"All right, go." Still worried, Deng Shu reminded him, "Remember to speak nicely to Xiao Xun. Don't start another argument."
"Okay."
The temperature had dropped after nightfall. Jiang Xun had just left the villa community and was walking along the roadside in a short-sleeved shirt and long pants. As the cool breeze swept over him, he really did feel a little cold.
He had launched straight into his performance the moment he returned to the Jiang house and barely eaten any dinner.
Rubbing his empty stomach, he caught a distinctive smell. A vendor up ahead was selling stinky tofu.
Jiang Xun's eyes lit up. Just as he was about to buy something to eat, a Porsche pulled up beside him. The window slowly rolled down, revealing Jiang Huaijin in the driver's seat.
"Get in."
He had arrived sooner than Jiang Xun expected. Jiang Xun merely glanced at him before walking toward the stinky tofu stall.
Jiang Huaijin drove slowly behind him and repeated with a tense expression, "Jiang Xun, I told you to get in."
Jiang Xun ignored him and walked straight up to the stall. "One serving of stinky tofu, please. Extra spicy."
"Sure thing. Just a moment, young man."
Jiang Huaijin parked nearby. Although he still looked impatient, he didn't leave.
Eventually, Jiang Xun walked over with his steaming stinky tofu, opened the door, and got into the passenger seat.
The smell nearly turned Jiang Huaijin's face green. "Finish eating before you get in."
Jiang Xun said, "Oh. Then I'm not going back."
With that, he reached for the door to get out.
Jiang Huaijin's expression twisted for an instant. "Stay put!"
And so, on the drive home, Jiang Xun sat in the passenger seat without a care in the world, enjoying his stinky tofu with such relish that his lips gleamed with oil.
Jiang Huaijin gripped the steering wheel expressionlessly, barely daring to breathe for fear the stench would knock him out.
"Eat less of that stuff. It's unhealthy."
Jiang Xun was panting from the heat of the chili, but he still managed to reply, "None of your business. I'm an orphan."
A vein twitched at Jiang Huaijin's temple. "Jiang Xun, don't push it."
Jiang Xun pursed his lips. "I'd argue even if I were in the wrong. Why should I let you off when I'm right?"
Jiang Huaijin said, "..."
Every single day, he has to act like this.
Still, it's easier on the eyes than that gloomy look he used to wear.
When that thought suddenly surfaced, Jiang Huaijin silently swore at himself.
It was only a few minutes' drive. Jiang Xun hadn't gone far at all, and they soon arrived back at the Jiang house.
The moment he stepped through the door, Deng Shu came forward and hugged him, apologizing guiltily and saying things like, "Mom misunderstood you."
Jiang Shiyuan stood beside her, his expression conflicted, looking as though he wanted to say something but couldn't.
Sure enough, they all know.
Jiang Xun knew what the driver called Uncle Wang was like. Unlike Liu Ma, he was a straightforward, honest man.
After the scene he had just put on, the Jiang family was bound to investigate whether he had actually bullied Jiang Zixing. The easiest way was to call the driver and ask.
Jiang Xun couldn't be certain that things would unfold as he expected. He was taking it one step at a time, but fortunately, everything had gone smoothly.
He had proven his innocence.
Of course, in the Jiang family's eyes, Jiang Zixing remained innocent in all of this.
Jiang Zixing was in a bad mood and had stayed shut in his room all evening, so naturally, he knew nothing of what had happened outside.
Even in his dreams that night, he saw Fu Yanli personally making breakfast for Jiang Xun, while he could only watch from a distance, as invisible as air.
After a poor night's sleep, he was still feeling low the next morning.
At breakfast, he even saw his father, who had always scowled at Jiang Xun, take the initiative to place a shrimp dumpling on Jiang Xun's plate.