Nan Qing suppressed his anger:
" Qin Mubai, I never thought that one day even you would learn to use lies to sow discord."
Can't you bear to see me have an easier time?
"I've tried my best not to appear in front of any member of the Bai Family. I've tried my best not to get in your way, so why are you still so persistent? What exactly do you want me to do?"
Qin Mubai--
Nan Qing took a few steps forward, grabbing his collar.
" Huo Yuzhou is my boyfriend now. He's the closest person to me in the world. I don't want to hear anything bad about him from anyone else. Otherwise, I won't be able to resist beating you up like I did Bai Ruanruan just now."
Qin Mubai relaxed his tense posture, lowered his eyes to look at Nan Qing, his pupils as dark as ink.
"It's okay, I owe you."
His voice was very soft, as soft as a fleeting dream in the middle of the night.
" Qingqing, it's your older brother's fault."
"If you throw a punch at me, Big Brother will never dodge."
Nan Qing's delicate facial features tightened, and she abruptly pushed Qin Mubai away, quickly turning her face away.
"Your whole family are insane."
" Qin Mubai, you disgust me."
Qin Mubai's lowered eyelashes trembled slightly, but he offered no explanation.
His chest heaved dramatically as he stiffly pulled a folded square piece of paper from his suit pocket, unfolded it with his long, bony fingers, and handed it to Nan Qing.
"At the last wine tasting at the Gu Family's, Bai Ruanruan approached me and said that she and Huo Yuzhou had once had a relationship."
Nan Qing scoffed coldly.
Qin Mubai's voice was calm.
"He seemed very confident, but I was skeptical. So I had someone investigate their whereabouts over the past few years and found that there was indeed a lot of overlap."
The paper was handed to him, and Nan Qing glanced at it.
He's not stupid.
Given Bai Ruanruan's ruthless pursuit of advancement, she would likely seize every opportunity to bump into Huo Yuzhou and try to win him over with her innocent, naive demeanor.
He'd have to go wherever Huo Yuzhou appeared.
Like chewing gum stuck to the sole of a shoe, it's impossible to pull it off.
nausea.
Nan Qing was somewhat irritated.
Bai Ruanruan's behavior is becoming increasingly outrageous. He could barely tolerate Bai Ruanruan before, but now just thinking about her name makes him want to vomit.
"I don't approve of you dating Huo Yuzhou, but showing you these things isn't entirely out of my own selfish motives."
Qin Mubai lowered his eyes to look at the piece of paper fluttering in the wind, his voice very calm.
"This is your first time living away from home, your first time dating someone. These are all completely new experiences for you. Without my constraints on you, you'll probably find it all very novel and liberating."
You will enjoy this time.
"But for me, every minute of this time feels like torture."
"You refused my help, refused to have anything to do with the Qin Family, you hate my control, you hate that I betrayed you, you hate that I don't keep my word, you hate that I'm not a good brother."
"But Qingqing, I can't help but worry about you."
"You've been by my side since you were so little. Even before you could speak properly, you were already clinging to me. I watched you grow from a size 59 to 175cm tall, watched you go from stumbling towards me to snuggling up to me and acting all cute..."
"Many times I've felt that if there really is an umbilical cord, then it wouldn't be your mother connecting you, but me."
" Qingqing, do you remember when we were little, I took you to the farm to fly kites?"
"The wind grew stronger, the string was let out farther and farther, and the bamboo kite soared higher and higher, finally leaving the ground and soaring into the sky..."
The person who flew the kite remained where he was, but the kite he had launched himself was nowhere to be seen.
The window wasn't closed properly, and the wind carrying the night rain blew into the corridor, soaking Qin Mubai's lead-gray suit jacket.
Nan Qing stared at a corner of her coat shoulder, or perhaps her gaze drifted over that shoulder to look at the falling rain outside.
He clenched his fingers tightly, suppressing the turmoil in his heart, and slightly raised his chin.
"But Qin Mubai, you were the one who rejected me first."
"You cut the kite string yourself, and then you blame it for being too far away."
Nan Qing wanted to laugh, but his nose was filled with a soreness, and he couldn't even manage a laugh. He could only turn his eyes to Qin Mubai and ask in a tone that sounded quite amusing:
" Qin Mubai, you used to say I was greedy. I wanted this, I liked that, and I wanted to take everything I saw with me."
"But Qin Mubai, you're the greediest one."
The boy's pleasant voice carried a hint of mockery as he snatched the paper from Qin Mubai's hand, right before Qin Mubai's eyes.
That sheet of paper, which he had painstakingly compiled, outlining the entire timeline and using the most objective language possible, without incorporating personal emotions.
She held the paper in her slender, even fingertips and raised it up.
He didn't even glance at it again, and then, right in front of him, cleanly and decisively cut it in half.
Tear it open, shred it, crumple it into a ball, and throw it forcefully out the window in the pattering night rain.
The howling autumn wind carried away all the noise. Qin Mubai could not hear the sound of the paper ball falling to the ground. He just stared blankly at his empty hands.
" Qin Mubai, I'm not as greedy as you think."
"I always act very unreasonable and willful in front of you. When I was little, I wanted to buy piles and piles of toys that I could never finish playing with. When I grew up, I wanted to buy the latest shoes, limited edition Lego sets, and the coolest sports cars. Whatever others have, I want too. If you don't agree, I'll make a scene and disrupt your work, so you have no choice but to give in to me."
"But actually, I don't like sitting in an empty room playing with toys at all. Among the shoes filling the shoe cabinet, there are many that I've never worn. And those sports cars are mostly used for going for drives with you or Bai Yanxiu."
"I just want to repeatedly verify how much you care about me. I want to get your attention. I want you to spend more time with me."
It felt like something was blocking his throat, and he felt a sharp pain in his trachea. Qin Mubai clenched his fists tightly, and a dull ache came from his chest.
He took a deep, forceful breath and slowly exhaled, barely managing to maintain a semblance of propriety.
Until the child standing in front of him smiled, his voice ethereal.
"Just like now, all I want is Huo Yuzhou."
"He's a very nice person. Being with him makes me feel like I'm becoming a better person. I'm very happy when I'm with him."
Qin Mubai smiled, a smile that seemed both self-deprecating and painful.
His dark pupils were shrouded in layers of sorrow, his voice hoarse and filled with bitterness.
"Even if it's possible he did talk to Bai Ruanruan?"
Nan Qing smiled and said, "That's right."
"In your hearts, I'm just a lowly child who usurped your place. I knew perfectly well that I wasn't related to you by blood, but I was still blinded by greed and stayed in the Bai Family for wealth and status. You couldn't get rid of me until I was kicked out."
" Huo Yuzhou so rich, and he likes my face."
"If I have this opportunity to get close to him, of course I won't let it pass me by."
The footsteps behind him stopped abruptly.
A long, dark shadow slid down Qin Mubai's wet shoulder, through Nan Qing's hair, and landed on the floor.
Quietly.