Chapter 9

The Three-Sided Mirror, The Trap (2)

The clock struck eleven. In the luxurious mansion of the Xie family’s South Palace estate, Mrs. Xie was being pampered with a beauty treatment in her bedroom. Upstairs in the study, Xie Mao was on the phone, engaged in a seemingly endless conversation: “I’ll leave it to you then... Yes, my daughter is not getting any younger, she’s just spoiled, and we can’t do anything about her. I’ll give her a good scolding... Mr. Zhang, what you said, I think she’s just been spoiled by us...”

Sitting opposite him was Xie Xinqi, her face dirty and disheveled. Her makeup was smudged, her evening gown was soiled, and her hair looked like a chicken coop that had been trampled by a weasel. Her stockings were ripped, revealing a long tear, and there was a scrape on her knee. Despite her appearance, she maintained an arrogant and defiant posture, her arms crossed. Finally, Xie Mao hung up the phone and turned around. The smile he had been wearing instantly vanished: “Now, tell me, what exactly do you want?” Over the years, he had aged considerably, his temples were gray, and he was frail, but his eyebrows still retained the elegance and charm of his youth.

Xie Xinqi didn’t change her expression in the slightest. Xie Mao furrowed his brow, his voice hoarse and sickly, but even more stern: “Yes, I can help you block some of the news reports from the print media, but what about the internet? Luckily, Mrs. Su’s birthday was a private party, so it’s still salvageable. Otherwise, you’d have to make headlines again like last time.”

“It was consensual, what’s wrong with that?” Xie Xinqi said, tilting her chin.

“Consensual? The result of your consensual act was that his mother had you escorted out of the banquet and you almost got into a fight with her.”

She blushed and looked away. How could he know that after just kissing Su Jia Nian, Mrs. Su had gone crazy, screaming for security guards and having her thrown out of the banquet? And before that, she had ruined Mrs. Su’s carefully styled hair with a slap and flipped up her skirt. Thanks to her careful sabotage, the music banquet had ended up in chaos. A large group of paparazzi were camped outside the Poseidon VI, and as soon as they saw her come out, they swarmed around her, surrounding her in a blinding circle of flashlights.

She never thought she would become like this. As a child, she had loved fairy tales, but as an adult, she had transformed into this. She couldn’t help it. After all, in fairy tales, princes always rescued princesses, but reality was different. She was pursued by countless men and could easily trample on their self-esteem. But deep down, she knew that they loved her surname, her immense wealth, not the person she was desperately trying to prove herself to be.

Reality was like that. Bodyguards were more reliable than princes. Just outside the building, she completely ignored those “ants”, took out her phone, and tried to call her driver and bodyguard. But her phone was dead. With so many reporters around, she couldn’t move an inch and could only listen to them ask her all sorts of sharp questions:

“Miss Xie, I heard you broke up with the F1 racer you were dating last time. Or was it just a fling?”

“Miss Xie, this morning a helicopter picked you up from your house. Did you run away from home?”

“Miss Xie, why did you attend Mrs. Su’s birthday party? Why did you leave early? Was it because the hostess didn’t like you?”

Normally, as you mature, you become better at handling bad luck and trouble. But if all your bad luck comes one after another, even the most rational person will lose control. At other times, she might pose like a queen and let them take pictures. But at that moment, her hair was a mess, her heel was broken, and she was shorter than usual. There wasn’t a single person she could rely on around her, and she couldn’t smile. Until a group of black-clad bodyguards appeared, pushing the reporters aside like a garbage truck scooping up trash. Xie Xiuchen hurried over from the path they cleared, didn’t say a word, grabbed her arm, and stuffed her into the car. Even in the car, she was still sulking, pressing herself against the door and facing out the window. Xie Xiuchen patted the seat beside him: “Come over here.”

She crossed her arms in defiance and pouted her lips: “No, I know you only know how to order me around. Why don’t you come over here?”

He turned and looked at her silently, without anger or a smile. Feeling wronged, she was about to say something reckless, but then she saw him smile faintly: “Because you’re lighter than me, it’s more convenient for you to come over.”

The displeasure on her face disappeared, and she proudly raised her chin: “That’s right, I’m super light.” Then she smiled and sat down, wrapping her arm around his, and leaning on his shoulder.

Although she acted proud on the surface, when she leaned against her brother and rubbed against him lightly, she felt like crying. At that moment, she felt like a lost puppy that had been picked up from a dirty mud pit by its owner and was being well protected.

It turned out that there were princes in this world after all. And her prince was her brother.

At this moment, Xie Mao looked at his daughter and wanted to say something more, but when he met her eyes like that, he finally shook his head: “Xinqi, you’re testing your father’s patience.” He sighed, stood up, and patted her shoulder: “You know I spoil you like this because of your sister, you...”

“I understand that death is a big deal.” She said this with a nonchalant attitude, further infuriating Xie Mao. He glared at her and left the room.

Returning to the bedroom, he found Mrs. Xie applying a face mask, intently flipping through the newspaper on his desk. Hearing his movement, she paused, calmly closed the newspaper, and fanned the mask with her hand before going to the bathroom. Xie Mao knew his wife well; she never read anything related to current events. So he went over to open the stack of newspapers. There was a news article about the Palace City’s number one gang, the Azure Dragon Group. Was she reading this? Xie Mao frowned and closed the newspaper again.

Xie Xinqi snorted, lazily lounging on the sofa with her legs crossed, turning on the TV with the remote. Sure enough, after switching channels a few times, she saw her pink helicopter on the screen. She turned off the TV, sighed deeply, and lay down on the sofa, only to look up into a pair of eyes looking down at her. She exclaimed, “Wow, after Dad scolded me, now it’s your turn, brother? Let me guess what you’re going to say. ‘Xinqi, you’re so out of line.’ ‘Even if it’s not for yourself, you should consider our family’s reputation.’ ‘You’re a girl, how can you be so frivolous?’... Anything else?”

He didn’t scold her again, but instead knelt down in front of her, like he used to when he was tying his younger sister’s shoes when she was unsteady on her feet. Holding her hand, he looked up at her with pleading eyes and said, “Xinqi, don’t be so willful anymore. Your brother is worried about you.”

Xie Xinqi was never afraid of confrontation. On the contrary, she enjoyed it when people challenged her. That way, she could fight tooth and nail with them, and she often won. However, she was afraid of being treated gently. She had received too much pampering, flattery, and harshness throughout her life, but she lacked the ordinary love of a family member. Her eyelashes fluttered rapidly, and she avoided Xie Xiuchen’s gaze, unsure of herself. “What if I want to be willful?”

“Actually, I know that part of the reason you do this is because you’re rebellious, and the other part is because you want to protect me. There’s no need for that. I’d rather my sister be happy.”

She was stunned. He didn’t explain further, but they both understood the implication of his words. It was because he was a bastard child. His mother was his father’s mistress, and she had caused the death of his twin sister, so she was completely abandoned by Xie Mao. Since he could remember, he had never eaten a meal with his parents, and he had spent his childhood surrounded by whispers. Fifteen years ago, his birth mother had passed away. Since then, his life had become even more difficult. Without his birth mother’s protection, even in front of Xie Mao, his stepmother dared to mock him. The gifts that the family brought back from their trips, none of them belonged to him. With a personality completely opposite to his sister’s, he had learned to read people’s expressions and be likable since he was young, in order to survive. As a man in his position, with a sweet tongue like honey, it was also difficult for him to say no to people, naturally attracting a lot of attention from women. Because of this, countless jealous people slandered him behind his back.

“I don’t care about his background,” she said. “All I know is that he’s my brother, and he loves me very much. And every time I make a mistake, Dad and he always team up to scold me. It’s only when I’m not perfect that others pay more attention to my brother. So whenever I make a mistake, I tend to make things worse... I didn’t expect him to figure it out. But this is the first time I’ve been so sure that I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Alright, go to bed early. I still have some documents to look at.” He stood up and ruffled her hair even more. “Goodnight.”

Seeing his slender figure about to disappear at the door, Xie Xinqi jumped off the sofa. “Brother.”

He turned around and looked at her questioningly. She walked over awkwardly and put her arms around his, burying her head in his chest, without saying another word.

“You’re so grown up, but you’re still acting like a child,” he said, not sounding annoyed at all, with a slight smile on his lips. “But it won’t be long now, you’ll have to get married.”

“You want to arrange another blind date for me? King has such a bad temper, I don’t like him at all.”

“If you’re picky about even him, then I really can’t find a second candidate.”

“I think my brother is the most perfect man in the world, just find someone like you for me.”

Based on their usual conversation habits, he would definitely laugh narcissistically and say, “As if.” But after waiting for a long time, she didn’t get that answer.

He just gently pushed her away: “You can’t marry me.”

Xie Xinqi smiled slightly and puffed out her chest: “It’s okay, we can take our time. After all, Mark Twain said, ‘Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.’ “

Xie Xiuchen also smiled slightly: “I’m your time.”

“Well said! We siblings, together, can definitely...” But after a pause, she gave him another slight smile, “Go away.”

[Rose Theater]

Xiao Jiao: “A reader wrote to say that every time Xie Xinqi appears, they feel super excited.”

Luo Wei: “Actually, Shanshan said she gets super excited watching Xie Xinqi and Xie Xiuchen’s pink bubbles.”

Xiao Jiao (blushing): “Damn, the stepmom is so perverted!”

Luo Wei: “??????”

Xiao Jiao: “I heard that an important character will appear in the next update!”

Xie Xinqi: “That must be my brother!”

King: “Hehe.”