Chapter 183

Chapter 183

A long silence stretched between them, locked in confrontation.

Xie Tianqi’s expression was filled with pain and deep irony. Each sentence came harder than the last, each word angrier than the one before.

“Do you really have to make me say it?”

“Do you have to humiliate me like this?”

“Yao Qin, are you truly unwilling to leave me even the slightest shred of dignity…?”

Three questions in a row, and Yao Qin’s eyes filled with tears.

More than his lack of love, what she found unbearable was his suspicion of her. His distrust.

And it was… this kind of distrust.

Tears spilled from her reddened eyes. Yao Qin let out a breath and raised a hand to gently wipe them away. “I…”

“Say it! Let him say it! I’d like to hear what kind of human words can come out of the mouth of a bastard who can’t even recognize his own son!” Liu Shubai stormed in, fury practically blazing over his head. His broad shoulders shielded Yao Qin behind him, his shadow falling over her as he glared down at Xie Tianqi with a menacing air.

He had promised Yao Qin he wouldn’t act impulsively.

But there was no way he could stand by and do nothing when Yao Qin was crying.

Xie Tianqi sneered. “Look at that. See how protective he is of you.”

“Evidence.” Yao Qin was still standing. She pulled Liu Shubai aside from where he blocked her, using a little more force than necessary. Her expression had darkened, as though the fragility from moments ago had been nothing but an illusion.

She was not someone without a temper.

“The reason you suspect Ayan isn’t your biological son, and the evidence you used to decide he isn’t.” Yao Qin looked straight into his eyes and demanded an answer.

People said misunderstandings wounded and destroyed, that they drove wedges between hearts. They left knots that could never be untied, and in the end, the one who misunderstood and the one who was misunderstood would simply part ways.

What she feared was a misunderstanding that would never see the day of reconciliation.

But Xie Tianqi’s misunderstanding of her was a reason she would hate him for the rest of her life.

Looking at the two people standing before him, so perfectly matched even side by side, Xie Tianqi felt a nameless rage surge up inside him. “Do I still need a reason?! If Xie Qiyan is my son, why doesn’t he look like me at all? Back when we were in Nancheng, the neighbors often said the child didn’t resemble me! He looked like you, so I told myself your genes were just stronger. But ever since he appeared in our family’s life…”

He jabbed a finger hard at Liu Shubai three times and snapped, “Day and night, he fussed over you, asking if you were warm enough, if you were well. Even on ordinary days, he sent you and your son flowers and gifts, right under my nose!”

“But I explained to you…”

She had explained that Liu Shubai was only her neighbor, classmate, and friend. And back then, Xie Tianqi had generously said he didn’t mind.

“Bullshit!” As if something had struck a raw nerve, Xie Tianqi cursed and pointed at him. “Does he dare say he never coveted you back then, a married woman?”

The more he shouted, the more he coughed, until red veins showed in his eyes.

If Liu Shubai had been questioned like this by Xie Tianqi that year, perhaps he would have felt guilty and panicked at having his thoughts exposed, terrified that this deeply buried love would be discovered by Yao Qin.

But now, he only said lightly, “I did covet her. In fact, I wished every day that she would kick you to the curb sooner, so I could have the chance to pursue her.”

This was a confrontation between two men.

Liu Shubai had been waiting for this day for a very long time.

“You cut ties with the father who raised you alone through hardship. That was your failure as a son. You never got your family to accept the woman you loved. That was your incompetence. You eloped with Ah Yao back to Nancheng, yet never gave her a proper wedding. That was your uselessness!” Liu Shubai nearly said it all in one breath, condemning him with hatred. “Who do you think you are? Xie Tianqi, stop indulging in your own self-pity. A man like you is not worthy of my Ah Yao, who is good in a thousand ways and ten thousand more.”
Once the words were out, Liu Shubai felt as if something in his chest had suddenly cleared. Not only did he feel better, he felt downright exhilarated.

Yao Qin listened with her lips slightly parted, never closing them. It seemed like she had something to say, but the words were stuck in her throat.

Only after a long while did she look at Xie Tianqi, whose face had gone pale from Liu Shubai’s scolding. “Just because of him?”

Xie Tianqi’s expression eased, and he clenched his fists. “Of course not.”

All three of them were here now.

Since things had already come this far, Xie Tianqi no longer kept silent.

Ever since he learned that Yao Qin had fallen into depression over what had happened back then and developed a serious mental illness, he had already been thinking of laying everything bare.

He knew what Yao Qin wanted to know.

He did owe her an answer.

“The day Hou Mengqiu got pregnant, I knew the child in her belly wasn’t mine.”

The topic veered off so suddenly that even Yao Qin froze for a moment.

Outside the door, Xia Wanzhi pricked up her ears, widening her eyes as she exchanged a look with Xie Qiyan.

Sure enough, Xie Tianqi’s next words were, “I was diagnosed with asthenospermia. The chances of me having a child are extremely low. Practically negligible.”

Liu Shubai’s return had stirred up his doubts about Yao Qin.

They had grown up together, childhood sweethearts with a deep bond. Privately, the neighbors often said the two of them were the true match made in heaven, and Xie Tianqi had long felt uncomfortable about it.

Some people had even mistaken Liu Shubai for Xie Qiyan’s father. Then, when Xie Tianqi thought of the neighbors saying his son did not resemble him, and on top of that, he suddenly received such a diagnosis…

Xie Tianqi had no reason not to be suspicious.

In fact, he had believed without hesitation that the child was not his.

That night he slept with Hou Mengqiu, he had drunk too much.

He had regretted it. He had blamed himself. But when he returned to the little courtyard with a heart full of remorse and saw Liu Shubai holding an exhausted little Xie Qiyan in his arms after the boy had played himself out, while Yao Qin stood beside him, smiling softly, the three of them looking like a family…

He became even more certain that Yao Qin had betrayed him first.

So when Yao Qin sent Xie Qiyan to the Xie Family, and the Old Master insisted on keeping the Xie Family bloodline, all Xie Tianqi felt when he looked at the boy was profound humiliation.

He kept him at a distance, treated him coldly, and even refused to see him or speak to him.

Perhaps because he had been through it once before, when Hou Mengqiu later became pregnant, even though he knew the child was not his, his emotions no longer surged as violently.

It seemed that compared to whether the child was his, he cared more about his own pride and reputation.

His intense pride simply could not accept that he was incapable.

The air seemed to thin. Yao Qin said nothing, and neither did Liu Shubai, though he unconsciously pushed up his glasses.

Outside the door, Xia Wanzhi looked blankly at Xie Qiyan, as if asking: Then where did you come from?

Xie Qiyan, who understood the meaning in Xia Wanzhi’s eyes: “…”

With just one sentence, Xie Tianqi had pushed all the blame onto Yao Qin. Yao Qin only gave a bitter smile, as if she no longer wanted to argue about anything, and said lightly, “Then let’s just say he’s my child alone.”

Outside the door, Xie Qiyan released Xia Wanzhi’s hand. His long legs stepped over the threshold, and he stood tall and straight in front of Xie Tianqi before abruptly plucking a strand of hair from his head. “Compared to your guesses and one-sided claims, I trust a test report more.”

A man who suspected his own wife based purely on his imagination, without even getting a test report, was a coward.