Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Partway through, Zhuzi took Xia Wanzhi to see a doctor. When they returned, Xia Wanzhi was hooked up to an IV drip. Jiang Baichuan was still in the ward, and seeing them, he stepped forward to take the IV bag from Zhuzi’s hand.

Yun Li climbed down from the bed, insisting on giving up the hospital bed for Xia Wanzhi to lie in. Remembering how she had been a bit harsh with Jiang Baichuan earlier, she gave a guilty little cough. “What a coincidence with the way you arranged these rooms.”

The wound on her head wasn’t actually serious, but Jiang Baichuan kept insisting he was worried about a concussion, so he had forced her to stay in the hospital for half a day of rest and observation.

Jiang Baichuan’s lips curved into a noticeable smile. “As long as the Boss’s Wife is satisfied.”

Yun Li gave him a complicated look, not knowing what to say. She looked away and sat down with Zhuzi, the two of them flanking Xia Wanzhi.

“What did the doctor say?” Yun Li asked, touching Xia Wanzhi’s still-pale cheek.

Zhuzi had a gloomy expression. “A slight fever. They prescribed three days’ worth of medicine, but she probably won’t be fully recovered for at least a month.”

Hearing this, Xia Wanzhi fluttered her eyelids open and said with a dry laugh, “Are you putting a hex on me?”

Having been by her side for a long time, Zhuzi knew her body better than anyone. She retorted, “I’m just telling the truth. You just focus on recovering these next few days. I’ll go move the rest of your things for you.”

Yun Li chimed in, “I’ll go too.”

“I’ll also-”

Before Jiang Baichuan could finish his sentence, Yun Li glared him into silence.

“I was going to say Xie Qiyan will go too,” Jiang Baichuan said, quickly changing his tune.

“What’s he going for?” Xia Wanzhi’s voice was very soft. In the past, mentioning someone like Xie Qiyan would bring a thick sense of resentment, but perhaps because of today’s episode, her attitude toward him had involuntarily shifted.

“I ran into Yun Li while she was on her way to help you move. I called Xie Qiyan over to help. Now that your things aren’t finished being moved, he hasn’t completed the task I entrusted to him. Don’t you think he should go?” Jiang Baichuan explained methodically.

For a moment, Xia Wanzhi couldn’t think of a reason to argue.

Yun Li, clutching her still-aching head, let out a resentful sound. “If you hadn’t hit me, I would have picked up Wanzi on time, and Wanzi wouldn’t have been…”

She stopped herself abruptly, her anger flaring up instantly as she directed it at Jiang Baichuan. “And why are you calling me Yun Li? Are we that close?”

Jiang Baichuan: “…”

To make up for his mistake, Jiang Baichuan knew that the more he said, the more he’d mess up. As he left, he promised Xia Wanzhi, “We’ll handle the situation with Zhou Yu.”

Xia Wanzhi looked at him, her face filled with confusion.

“Your big brothers will stand up for you,” Jiang Baichuan said as he backed out of the room.

The three people in the room were all dazed.

Zhuzi was puzzled. “Big brothers?”

Yun Li raised an eyebrow. “‘Big brothers,’ huh?”

Xia Wanzhi: “…”

Outside the hospital, Jiang Baichuan spotted a familiar license plate. He walked over, pulled open the car door, and got in. He had already explained the details of what happened to Xie Qiyan over WeChat, and his expression now was just as serious as Xie Qiyan’s.

“Your Little Sister Xia was bullied. Are you going to step in or not?”

Xie Qiyan’s hand rested on the steering wheel, his knuckles tapping a rhythmic beat. His face was grim, making his emotions impossible to read.

“How is she?” Xie Qiyan asked as he started the car.

Jiang Baichuan crossed his arms. “Who? Your Little Sister Xia?”

Xie Qiyan shot him a brief sidelong glance.

Jiang Baichuan gave a light huff. “How do you think?”

After huffing, he sighed. “My family and the Lu Family both live over in the Weishui Compound, so our connection naturally isn’t as deep as your two families, but it’s not like we haven’t met. You’ve been abroad for so long, so you probably don’t know her well. That girl has been in poor health since she was a child. I just heard from her assistant that a cold or fever usually takes her a month to shake off. Now that she’s been put through this by that bastard cousin of yours, she’s definitely shaken up.”

At this, he began to sound indignant. “I’m telling you, I really want to give that bastard Zhou Yu a beating right now. You didn’t see how wronged your Little Sister Xia looked…”

“Then beat him.” Xie Qiyan turned the wheel and merged onto the elevated highway, his slow speed suddenly accelerating.

Jiang Baichuan fell silent, turning his head to try and see through Xie Qiyan.

Heh.

Now that was something you didn’t see every day.

He was angry.

“I knew your feelings for Little Sister Xia were unusual. Back then, your grandfather was dead set on having that girl marry into the Xie Family. Who knew Zhou Yu would snatch her away?” Jiang Baichuan spoke wistfully, unable to resist teasing as the topic came up. “If the Xie Family hadn’t set their sights on her, maybe Little Sister Xia and I would have had a chance at an arranged marriage.”
After all, his family was worried sick over his marriage prospects.

“Shut up.” Xie Qiyan’s expression shifted slightly.

It was true that the Old Master wanted Xia Wanzhi as a granddaughter-in-law, but there were three men in this generation of the Xie Family.

Which one she would marry was still unknown.

However, there was an order of seniority. In Jiang Baichuan’s eyes, if such a possibility existed, then Xia Wanzhi would definitely marry Xie Qiyan.

Jiang Baichuan huffed. “I’m not even allowed to speak anymore?”

“Noisy.” Xie Qiyan stepped on the brakes. During the gap while waiting for a red light, one hand rested on the window frame, fingers tapping restlessly. He was clearly growing impatient.

Jiang Baichuan smiled and said nothing. Seeing Xie Qiyan driving toward the Zhou Family villa district, he understood the situation.

The car entered the villa complex and pulled up in front of the Zhou Family’s gates. Jiang Baichuan tucked away his playful expression and stepped out of the car with a stern face.

He was here today to seek justice for someone.

Perhaps someone had tipped them off, as it wasn’t long before Zhou’s Mother came out in a hurry to greet them.

Jiang Baichuan rolled up his shirt sleeves and struck up a conversation with Xie Qiyan beside him. “I recall the Zhou Family only managed to barely gain a foothold after clinging to the Xia Family, right?”

Zhou Yu’s mother was a daughter of the Xie Family who had married out. Her brothers naturally wouldn’t allow her to take any of Xie Corporation’s assets with her. Consequently, over the years, the Zhou Family had relied on networking and currying favor everywhere to maintain their current status.

After Xie Qiyan took over Xie Corporation, he had overhauled the company from top to bottom. The Zhou Family no longer had the nerve to act up in front of Xie Qiyan. Combined with the Xia Family’s bankruptcy, these changes were a series of devastating blows to the Zhou Family.

At the last banquet, Jiang Baichuan had witnessed Zhou Yu’s sycophantic behavior.

None of the people in this family were decent.

“Qiyan, why are you here? You didn’t even tell your aunt in advance.” Zhou’s Mother approached with a graceful smile, then acted pleasantly surprised upon seeing Jiang Baichuan. “What wind blew President Jiang here as well?”

The Jiang Family had no mistress, so Zhou’s Mother had no way to cling to them; she cursed the fact that she hadn’t given birth to a daughter.

Among the Four Great Families of Beicheng, the sons of the other three families were all exceptionally talented.

Yet the legitimate sons of this generation of the Xie Family were all disappointments. A grand entity like Xie Corporation had ended up being managed by an illegitimate son in the end.

A flicker of coldness flashed in Xie Qiyan’s eyes as he looked down at Zhou’s Mother, not treating her like an elder at all.

Hearing the familiar way she addressed him, his eyes darkened, and he spoke coldly, “Where is Zhou Yu?”

The smile on Zhou’s Mother’s face froze instantly. “He’s… upstairs.”

Earlier that afternoon, after Xia Wanzhi left, Zhou Yu had locked himself in his room as if he’d been provoked, refusing to let anyone near him.

A bad premonition suddenly rose in her heart. Seeing Xie Qiyan walk straight inside, Zhou’s Mother hurriedly followed. “What are you planning to do?”

Jiang Baichuan followed with one hand in his pocket, saying nonchalantly, “Don’t worry, Auntie. We’re just here to help my sister pack her luggage.”

Zhou’s Mother was stunned, murmuring, “Sister…”

“Didn’t you know, Auntie? That little princess of the Xia Family is half a sister to me.” Jiang Baichuan smiled gently. “Please stay here. We’ll go upstairs and pack things ourselves.”

Quickly catching up to Xie Qiyan, Jiang Baichuan was in a good mood.

Xie Qiyan glanced at him. “Half a sister to you?”

Jiang Baichuan raised an eyebrow. “Mm-hmm?”

“If one half is a sister, what’s the other half?” Xie Qiyan gave a light scoff. “I didn’t see you being this proactive before. What, now that your ‘half-sister’ has broken off her engagement, you want to take over?”

“Eating foreign food for over a decade really changed you; your words are like pure venom,” Jiang Baichuan shot back. “Yun Li treats her like a sister, so isn’t she my sister too?”

Xie Qiyan kindly reminded him, “Yun Li isn’t single.”

Jiang Baichuan didn’t care. “Then I’ll just steal her away.”

He could tell that Yun Li didn’t love that man named Liang Jing.

As long as there was no man in Yun Li’s heart, that was an opportunity for a breakthrough.