Chapter 184

Chapter 184

Xie Tianqi’s face was flushed a dark, angry red, yet he still wore that self-mocking, unwavering expression. “Is there any need? Setting aside appearances, let’s just talk genetics. In the Xie Family, not a single person in the entire clan has been born nearsighted and needed glasses for the past hundred years. And you-you were wearing the same glasses as him before you were even ten!”

The index finger he had pointed at Liu Shubai trembled so hard it shook his entire wrist. Xie Tianqi could barely keep his emotions under control.

It wasn’t that he had no feelings for Xie Qiyan. After all, that was the child he had once awaited with such anticipation.

But he couldn’t help himself. Especially when he saw Xie Qiyan after he started wearing glasses, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking of Liu Shubai, from thinking of the humiliation of being betrayed.

Xie Qiyan’s brows drew together faintly. He offered no explanation as to whether he was nearsighted or not. He merely looked at Xie Tianqi with a little more relief in his eyes. “I suppose I should be glad. In terms of IQ, I take after my mom too.”

Xia Wanzhi, who had been leaning against the doorframe and peeking in, couldn’t hold back a short laugh.

Strangely enough, that laugh dissolved the heavy atmosphere in the room.

She laughed because she saw that Xie Qiyan was still in the mood to joke.

Knowing that he hadn’t been affected by Xie Tianqi’s words, her own heart lightened considerably.

Feeling somewhat awkward, Xia Wanzhi walked in. Just as she was about to reach out and take Xie Qiyan’s arm, he had already offered her his hand first and held hers.

“I’ll have to trouble Uncle Liu to give me a strand of hair too.” Xie Qiyan glanced sideways at Liu Shubai and deliberately emphasized, “A black one, so it’s easier to tell apart. I want to see if, in a couple of days, I can get my wish and change my surname.”

Liu Shubai was more than happy to oblige. He openly yanked out several strands at once. “Good son! Take as many as you want.”

Then he tentatively added, “If you’re changing your surname… should I prepare the relevant documents in advance?”

Of course, he had said it on purpose for Xie Tianqi to hear. Just seeing that dark, pale, ugly expression on Xie Tianqi’s face filled Liu Shubai with pure satisfaction.

He was almost fifty, yet he still spoke so recklessly. Yao Qin glanced at him, wanting to say something but stopping herself. In the end, she could only sigh helplessly.

Her thoughts were in utter chaos. All she felt was her mind buzzing, screaming at her to leave. So she reached out to her son and asked to borrow someone. “Wanzi, come take a walk with me.”

The early spring day was bright and clear-perfect for clearing one’s head.

Xia Wanzhi was more than willing. “Okay.”

The Xie Family Old Mansion wasn’t entirely a traditional quadrangle residence, and if one truly wanted to stroll through it, it couldn’t be done in a short while. But Xia Wanzhi only took Yao Qin to the South Courtyard.

That was Xie Qiyan’s courtyard.

After walking around once, Yao Qin became unusually quiet. Seeing her staring in a daze at the neatly tended potted plants in the courtyard, Xia Wanzhi mentioned, “Ayan said you like asparagus ferns.”

Xia Wanzhi had visited the Xie Family often since she was young, so she was especially familiar with the place. Every courtyard in the Xie Family had flowers and trees, but asparagus ferns appeared only in Xie Qiyan’s South Courtyard.

The few plants by the door had been raised by Xie Qiyan since he was little.

Even though he had gone abroad at the age of twelve, everything in the South Courtyard had been kept in excellent order.

It was true that Xie Qiyan was not well-liked in the Xie Family, but it was also true that the Old Master treated him well in private.

Otherwise, he would not have given the South Courtyard to him alone.

Yao Qin’s eyes looked a little vacant. Hearing this, she smiled. “His great-grandmother was the one who liked them.”

Yao Qin loved them because of someone she loved, and so did Xie Qiyan.

It was a habit, a memory, and a fondness born of attachment.

“The doctor said you should go out more while it’s spring. When you’re feeling a little better one day, go somewhere with Ayan.” Xia Wanzhi brushed her fingers over the asparagus fern leaves. Remembering how the always aloof Xie Qiyan had secretly shed tears as a child because the leaves had turned yellow, she couldn’t help but sigh. “Asparagus ferns aren’t easy to keep alive. But look-this one has climbed all over the wall, lush and thriving.”

It was true that the asparagus fern had withered once, and it was also true that it had later been saved.

Yao Qin knew that Xie Qiyan had been sent abroad in his teens.

So it was already obvious who had given the order for this asparagus fern to be so carefully tended.

Yao Qin remained silent, lowering her eyes to hide her emotions.

Back then, the person who had declared that he would never allow her through the Xie Family’s gates even if he died had still been a man who kept his promises.
The Old Master had promised he would treat Xie Qiyan well.

He had not gone back on his word.

And yet the man who had once wanted to swear eternal vows and be good to her for the rest of his life had long since forgotten his original intentions and wounded her to the core.

How laughable.

Utterly laughable.

–

The paternity test results would take two days at the fastest. Xie Qiyan was not in any hurry. The one anxious was Xie Tianqi.

In the dead of night, Xie Tianqi woke from a nightmare, suddenly afraid.

He did not know what he was afraid of.

Clearly, whether in the past or now, he had been utterly certain that Xie Qiyan was not his biological son.

Yet for some reason, his heart kept pounding with unease.

On the day the judicial appraisal center notified them to collect the report, an unexpected guest appeared at the Xie Family residence.

The small boy stood all alone before the gates of the Xie Family, his hands clenched tight. When he lifted his head, stubborn tears shone in his eyes, but he still did not dare cross the threshold.

Until someone spotted him.

“Brother Xiao An!” Xie Tan, who was just about to leave for her dance enrichment class, cried out in her thin, piercing voice. Shocked, she practically flew to Xie An. The bond from growing up together was still there, and she was just about to say something when she saw the tears he was desperately holding back.

In an instant, Xie Tan suppressed all her excitement.

The driver responsible for taking Xie Tan to her class had already sent word to the Old Master.

After Xie Qiyan took power, this young master had vanished without a trace. Even when the matter of the illegitimate child caused an uproar, Xie An never showed his face.

It was easy to imagine how tightly Hou Mengqiu had kept the matter under wraps.

In the end, he was a child the Old Master had watched grow up. Guessing the reason behind it, the Old Master personally went to the gate to receive Xie An.

“You’ve gotten thinner.” The moment their eyes met, the Old Master said only those two words.

He did not call his name, nor did he wear a kind smile. There was only deep helplessness.

The expressions on the faces of everyone in the Xie Family stabbed at Xie An’s heart. The tears he had been forcing back finally fell as he choked out, “Grandpa…”

If he had not overheard his mother arguing with An Bihua, he would still be kept in the dark even now.

The grandfather he had called that since childhood was not his grandfather. His father was not his father…

His family was not his family.

When he learned that everything in the Xie Family had nothing to do with him, Xie An felt as if the sky had collapsed.

“Did you sneak back on your own?” The Old Master sighed softly. He could not bear to see a thirteen-year-old child cry like this. Stepping forward, he wiped away Xie An’s tears, gently patted his shoulder, and asked, “You know everything?”

More than ten years of affection had not been fake. Though the Old Master had hardened his heart and refused to acknowledge him anymore, now that he saw Xie An, his heart softened after all.

Xie An only nodded in panic, while his tears poured down even harder.

Before they could exchange more than a sentence or two, Xie Tianqi’s voice seeped in mercilessly from outside the door. “What did you come back for?”

Standing to the side, Xie Tan shrank back in fright at that cold, heartless voice. Lowering her head, she swiped twice on her watch and sent Xia Wanzhi a message.

Xie An was likewise stunned. The word “Dad” that had been stuck in his throat was swallowed back down in the end.

“You knew long ago he wasn’t your biological son, yet you tolerated him staying in the Xie Family for over ten years. What, now you’re angry at him instead?” The Old Master’s face was taut. Compared with Xie An, a child, it was his own son Xie Tianqi who filled him with contempt.

Xie Tianqi did not answer. The look he gave Xie An was both cold and merciless. “I remember you liked that driver uncle of yours the most. He’s your father. You should be happy.”

Xie An was so frightened that he burst into loud sobs.

“He’s just an innocent child. Why say such things to him!” the Old Master thundered, shielding Xie An behind him.

In his wheelchair, Xie Tianqi was still shaken by last night’s nightmare. Now, in broad daylight, seeing Xie An so suddenly made that unease in his heart grow wildly. He stared at Xie An’s face, closed his eyes, and tried to calm his breathing.

He understood very clearly that the reason he did not care about Hou Mengqiu’s affair, or about Xie An not being his biological son, was because he had never loved them.

He had no feelings for Hou Mengqiu, and no feelings for Xie An.

But Yao Qin and Xie Qiyan…

They were the woman and child he had once loved so deeply…