After breakfast, Zixiao went back to her room to do her homework, while Yuche went to Yuzhe’s room to play games with him.

Come to think of it, these two siblings were both pretty old-school when it came to games. They liked playing really old single-player titles.

Well, they were all two-player games, and Yuzhe’s characters died a lot more often than Yuche’s.

It wasn’t because he was bad at the games. It was because Yuche insisted on sitting on his lap while they played, which made it way too hard to control anything!

Little sis, stop distracting me while I’m gaming!

Still, they were both having a great time.

Before long, it was noon. Yuzhe checked the time in the bottom-right corner of his computer screen, then led Yuche back to the living room. Qi Xinye had said she’d come by at noon today.

“Oh, you two finished your game, big brother? Hang on a little longer. Lunch will be ready soon.”

Zixiao was busy cooking in the kitchen. Yuzhe glanced at her, then at Yuche, who was sitting in a chair and swinging her white-stockinged legs as she waited for food.

Feeling mischievous again, he teased, “Yuche, you’re always calling Zixiao a terrible cook. But even if she is, she’s still the one who makes me food every day—and it’s good food, too!”

Yuche’s little legs stopped swinging.

Zixiao’s movements in the kitchen grew noticeably more cheerful.

Yuzhe was obviously joking, but there was a real sting of truth to his teasing.

Yuche didn’t get angry. Instead, she started squirming in her seat.

“Big brother, do you want to eat food I make?”

“Then do you want to learn how to cook?”

“If you want to eat it, big brother, then I want to learn.”

“If you can learn, then I want to eat it.”

That was all it took. Yuche sprang out of her chair like a tightly wound spring and headed for the kitchen, calling out as she went, “Zixiao, quick! Teach me how to cook!”

Yuzhe smiled and shook his head. How great was this? His little sister was so quick to take action now. He really had done a great job raising her as her big brother!

But anyway, Sister Ye should be here soon, right?

But lunch was over, and the time on their phones read exactly 1 p.m. Still, Qi Xinye hadn’t arrived.

Yuche knew Qi Xinye was coming at noon, so she obediently sat in her own chair instead of sitting on Yuzhe’s lap again. After all, she had to maintain her dignity in front of outsiders!

“Is that woman too guilty to show up? I’m so tired. How about we stop waiting for her and go take a nap, big brother?”

Yuche yawned, looking a little impatient. She hadn’t wanted to see Qi Xinye in the first place.

“Let’s wait a little longer. If she said she’d come, then she’ll definitely come.”

Zixiao had finished clearing away the lunch dishes and returned to sit with her brother and Yuche. “Don’t you have her contact information, big brother? You could call and ask.”

“I really don’t. I don’t know why, but ever since what happened five years ago, all the information about Qi Xinye disappeared from my phone. I have a feeling some mischievous little sister did it while I was asleep, don’t you?”

As he spoke, Yuzhe slowly glanced at Yuche. She gave an awkward little laugh, then stiffly looked away.

Looks like we’ve found the culprit!

But Yuche’s mind was still quick. “Still, I think Qi Xinye must be under a lot of pressure, and she’s probably afraid of me. In that case, she wouldn’t dare ask to meet us and then stand us up. So I’m guessing… could she already be here?”

“But no one’s knocked on the door?” Zixiao really didn’t understand what Yuche was talking about sometimes.

“She doesn’t have to knock just because she’s here. She might be hesitating and too scared to do anything.” Yuzhe immediately understood what Yuche meant. He stood up and walked straight to the door.

He yanked open the door, though no one had knocked.

A young woman stood outside, looking completely startled. She had long, dark hair falling over her shoulders, dark eyes, and a simple yet pretty white dress.

Of course, her most distinctive feature was the ample swell of her chest.

Sure enough, Qi Xinye was standing at the door. Who knew how long she’d been there?

Now that she’d been discovered, she looked helplessly at Yuzhe, stammering without knowing what to say—or whether she was even allowed to come inside.

Yuzhe didn’t say anything as he looked at the young woman before him. He felt that Yuche should be the one to speak first if they were going to sit down and talk things through.

But when he turned around, Yuzhe understood why Qi Xinye was so afraid.

Yuche, who’d just been nuzzling against Yuzhe in his arms like a docile little animal, was now sitting upright in her chair, perfectly composed and expressionless.

Her gaze was as sharp as a beast’s, like a blade glinting coldly, and fixed on Qi Xinye with open hostility.

She was letting her full aura loose. Su Yuche, in front of outsiders, was cold and merciless. Just having her in the room put people under immense pressure.

That was exactly how she seemed now. Qi Xinye felt as if the pressure was squeezing the breath from her lungs. She didn’t dare meet Yuzhe’s or Yuche’s eyes. She could only lower her head, say nothing, and make no move.

Just then, Zixiao gently patted Yuche’s arm and quietly reminded her, “Yuche, don’t forget what big brother told you.”

Yuche didn’t soften her expression at that, but she did speak. “Qi Xinye, you don’t have to stand there. If you have something to say, come sit down. If you don’t, you can leave right now.”

Hearing her voice felt like taking a heavy blow to the head, even though Yuche’s voice was naturally soft and pleasant.

Seeing that Qi Xinye was still afraid, Yuzhe slowly took her hand, closed the door, and led her into the living room. Leaning close to her ear, he whispered, “Sister Ye, Yuche’s just like that. Don’t be afraid. Speak honestly. I believe you, and you need to believe in yourself, too.”

“Xiao Zhe…” At last, Qi Xinye, who’d felt she had no one to rely on, received some comfort from Yuzhe. She felt a little braver about facing them.

But the moment Yuzhe took Qi Xinye’s hand, Yuche and Zixiao’s gazes turned even more hostile.

Zixiao figured that with Yuche here, she probably couldn’t help much anyway. She got up to make tea for the three people in the living room, then brought her own little pink teacup over and sat beside Yuche and Yuzhe.

Might as well watch the show. It wasn’t like she could help much.

Yuzhe wasn’t planning to say much, either. This was up to Yuche and her “provocation tactic.”

Only Qi Xinye was still standing there, unsure what to do or say.

Yuche could only stare at her in exasperation. “Just sit in the chair across from us. Why are you standing there? You’re acting like I’m some kind of villain. What’s the point?”

“Ah… O-okay.”

At last, Qi Xinye had received her “instructions.” She hurried around the square table and sat in a chair opposite the three of them.

“Go on. What did you want to say to big brother—or to all of us?”

“Yuche… Um, I know this is sudden, and you told me not to show up again, but I’ve always felt that things can’t go on like this. I know I was wrong, too, so could I…”

“Hmph.” Qi Xinye had barely started speaking when Yuche cut her off with a cold laugh. “Wrong? You know you were wrong? Fine, then tell me: what were you wrong about?”

“I…”

“You don’t know? Then why are you apologizing? Isn’t it strange to put on such a sincere apology when you don’t even know what you did wrong?”

“I…”

“Why don’t you think about what you did wrong first, then come back?”

Yuche took an elegant sip of tea, every bit the young lady of a prestigious family.

By comparison, Qi Xinye—who’d always been just as attentive to etiquette—looked rather miserable.

Finally, under all that pressure, she said the words she’d been holding back for years. “Yuche, if you’re going to put it that way, then I’ll be honest, too. I don’t think I did anything terribly wrong. Maybe I really did fail to protect Xiao Zhe back then, but it was an emergency. I can guarantee I had absolutely nothing to do with that accident.”

“And you’re cutting off all ties between me and your family over this. If someone’s in the wrong… couldn’t it be you, too?”

“Hmph. Naive.”

Yuche set down her teacup and let out another cold laugh.

“You had absolutely nothing to do with it? Whether I believe you or big brother does is beside the point. Can you guarantee the Qi Family had nothing to do with it?”

Qi Xinye heard the implication in her words and frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean exactly what I said.”

“This concerns what happened back then. Qi Xinye, you still have a choice. You can leave big brother’s sight and go back to being the Qi Family’s young lady, or you can hear what I have to say and agonize over it. There’ll be no going back after that. Are you sure you want to hear it?”

Qi Xinye nodded without hesitation. Rather than keep suffering over this day after day, she’d rather learn more about what had happened—even if the truth turned against her.

Yuche explained to Qi Xinye the business dispute between the Su Family and the Qi Family, the same one she’d just told Yuzhe and Zixiao about.

As expected, Qi Xinye reacted exactly as the three of them had anticipated. “That’s impossible!”

She shot to her feet, her face full of disbelief. “Dad would never do something like that! How could he secretly try to hurt Xiao Zhe?”

“Impossible?” Yuche looked utterly unimpressed. “Already trying to distance yourself from him? You’re saying your father couldn’t do something like this, which means you couldn’t either, right?”

“Yuche, are you saying you suspect I deliberately tried to hurt Xiao Zhe back then?”

Her voice rose several notches. To say Qi Xinye was upset would’ve been an understatement.

“Yes, that’s right. I suspect you. If there’s anything I can’t be sure is harmless to big brother, I’ll suspect it.”

“You!”

Qi Xinye felt awful, but she had nothing to say.

Yuche stayed perfectly calm. She handed her empty teacup to Zixiao, signaling for her to pour some more. Since she couldn’t help in any other way, Zixiao could only pour the tea.

After a while, when Qi Xinye seemed a little calmer, Yuche continued, “If I were you, I wouldn’t sit here saying I had nothing to do with it. No one would believe you. I’d go prove I had nothing to do with it.”

There was more to her words than met the ear.

Qi Xinye wasn’t stupid. She caught the hint.

Yuche was telling her to prove it, but what she really meant was that Qi Xinye should use her status as the Qi Family’s young lady to find the people inside the family who were actually involved. Then the truth would come to light.

Put simply, she wanted Qi Xinye to go back and be a spy.

“I understand… I’ll find out for myself who’s been secretly using such despicable methods. That’ll be enough, right?”

“We’ll see once you find them.”

“And once I do… can I come see Xiao Zhe again, like before?”

As she spoke, Qi Xinye turned to look at Su Yuzhe, her eyes full of longing and hope.

But Yuche’s next words were ice-cold, dousing her hopes all over again. “That’s all? Of course not. How do I know the person you find isn’t just a scapegoat? I can’t be sure you’ve found the person who really tried to hurt big brother.”

“Then what do you want from me?!”

Qi Xinye was truly frantic now, on the verge of tears. She’d held it in for years, and this was her best chance to prove herself, but again and again, no one would believe her.

Yuche smiled again, her beautiful sky-blue eyes seeming to see right through everything. “That’s simple. If you want to prove yourself, then cut all ties with the Qi Family. If you’re prepared to do that, I suppose I’ll have no choice but to believe you.”

“Yuche?”

Yuzhe looked at Yuche in surprise. He thought she’d gone a little too far.

Zixiao looked just as surprised. Yuche was really ruthless. She’d better learn from her—time to take notes in her head!

Qi Xinye was simply stunned.

Cut ties with the Qi Family? Was… was that really necessary? Had things gotten so serious that this was the only way to resolve them?

So she asked stiffly, “Is it… really necessary to go that far?”

At that moment, Yuzhe noticed Yuche glance at him, and immediately understood why his little sister had suddenly said that.

She’d lowered the other person’s expectations as far as they could go, like haggling over a price. After that, no matter what they asked for, she’d accept it—because things couldn’t possibly turn out worse than she was already expecting.

Yuzhe got it. He understood that Yuche had never expected Qi Xinye to agree to this condition in the first place. She’d only been lowering Xinye’s expectations.

She’d seized the initiative in an instant. This girl really is terrifying!

But while Yuzhe understood it immediately, Qi Xinye couldn’t.

She was still hoping Yuche would change her mind. “Could you give me another chance...? I... It doesn’t have to go this far.”

Yuche chose to add fuel to the fire. “Qi Xinye, you think it doesn’t have to go this far, right? Sure. From your perspective, it really doesn’t. But from mine, if something could hurt my brother, I have to take every possible precaution.”

Yuche’s gaze grew even sharper. “The fairness you believe in is only fair from your point of view. What does that have to do with me?”

Qi Xinye was stunned.

She felt a little lost, but didn’t know how to argue back. Yuche wasn’t wrong... From her perspective, this matter really wasn’t that complicated. They just needed to talk it out. They didn’t even need to prove anything.

Because this really had nothing to do with her at all!

But as far as Yuche was concerned, nothing would change unless the outcome was one she could accept.

Qi Xinye was scared, her heart in turmoil. She didn’t want to become a stranger to Yuzhe, but she also didn’t want to burn bridges with the Qi Family without even knowing why.

But the next moment, she seemed to make up her mind. A glint flashed in her night-dark eyes.

She had to find whoever was trying to hurt Xiao Zhe. No matter what, she’d take things one step at a time. She absolutely couldn’t give up.

So she stood up and first gave Yuzhe a gentle look. Then, with newfound resolve, she said to Yuche, “Give me a little more time. Let me think it over carefully. I’ll head home for today.”

“I won’t see you out.”