"Our house has plenty of spare rooms, and since your brother-in-law is resting at home anyway, I'll have him take care of you..."
Qin Zhaoyue figured that Xiao Qiang was the one who had beaten her sworn younger brother into this state, and since Xiao Qiang didn't really have anything to do at home anyway, having him look after Chen Zihao could serve as an apology to the younger brother.
Hearing this, Chen Zihao felt a surge of joy, a triumphant flutter of a successful plot. Yet he put on a troubled look. "Sister, the brother-in-law doesn't seem to like me very much. He wishes I'd stay as far away from you as possible. If I come to your house, how is that going to work with him? Never mind, Sister, I'd better go back to the dormitory. I don't want to put you in a difficult position, and least of all do I want to cause a rift in the relationship between you and the brother-in-law!"
Chen Zihao acted as though he was entirely considerate of Qin Zhaoyue, and upon hearing this, Qin Zhaoyue was deeply moved.
"This is settled. Once you finish your IV drip this afternoon, I'll bring you home. I'll go talk to your brother-in-law about it. Having such a narrow mind is an illness, and I'm going to cure it completely."
With that, she let out a sigh. "Hey, if your brother-in-law were only as considerate as you, how wonderful that would be!"
Seeing this, Chen Zihao was ecstatic inside; he was finally one step closer to his goal.
"All right, then I'll listen to you, Sister!"
***
Xiao Qiang walked through the streets and alleys of Haizhou. It was the height of summer, and the scenery was dazzling; bare-legged, sexy young women could be seen everywhere. Yet right now, Xiao Qiang had no spare time to appreciate what was usually his favorite pastime.
His mood at the moment was rotten to the core!
That sworn younger brother whom Qin Zhaoyue deemed faultless in every way undoubtedly harbored intensely lustful intentions toward her, and he was already putting them into action. Yet Qin Zhaoyue, usually quite shrewd, was caught in the classic blind spot of someone holding a light, her judgment as clouded as if smeared with lard.
The actions he had taken out of a desire to protect and cherish her were met with harsh accusations from Qin Zhaoyue. Moreover, that major, joyous milestone of the two of them registering their marriage had also been maliciously sabotaged by that guy.
At the mere thought of this, Xiao Qiang felt as though there was a lump of excrement stuck in his throat—too choking to spit out, yet sickening to swallow.
He wandered about aimlessly like this until the sky grew dark and a trace of hunger stirred in his belly; only then did he slowly start strolling back.
Qin Zhaoyue's villa was located in the most prime, land-is-as-good-as-gold district of Haizhou, the residential compound boasting an environment as lovely as a park in the midst of a bustling city.
Just outside the villa, seeing the lights on inside, he knew Qin Zhaoyue was already home.
Taking a deep breath, Xiao Qiang pushed the door open and stepped inside, only to be met with an unbelievable sight: Qin Zhaoyue was sitting on the sofa watching TV in her ice-silk pajamas, while sitting right beside her was that so-called sworn younger brother of hers... Chen Zihao.
Xiao Qiang instantly flew into a rage, taking a stride forward to close the distance. "You bastard, you actually dare come to my house! I'll beat you to death, you... get the hell out of here right now!"
Qin Zhaoyue immediately jumped to her feet, shielding Chen Zihao behind her. "Xiao Qiang, what right do you have to chase Zihao away? This is my house! Stop it right now... I have something to say to you, come with me..." Without waiting for a refusal, Qin Zhaoyue grabbed Xiao Qiang to drag him toward the second floor.
Hearing Qin Zhaoyue's words, Xiao Qiang felt as though his heart had been struck a devastating, agonizing blow. That's right, this villa was Qin Zhaoyue's property; it didn't have a single cent to do with him, Xiao Qiang!
As Xiao Qiang looked at Chen Zihao's deliberately feigned expression of terrified innocence, he gritted his teeth in burning hatred. Being dragged toward the second floor by Qin Zhaoyue, he glared murderously at Chen Zihao and shouted, "You just wait, you bastard..."
As soon as they entered the bedroom, Qin Zhaoyue closed the door behind them.
"Darling, look at how you were acting just now! How could you actually think about hitting Zihao? Do you have any idea? Today, I was the one who kept interceding on your behalf, which is why Zihao gave up the idea of calling the police. Otherwise, how would you even have had the chance to come back tonight?"
The moment they were inside the room, Qin Zhaoyue started calling Xiao Qiang to account, her tone carrying a sense of exasperation at his failure to live up to expectations.
Xiao Qiang was certainly not going to appreciate this favor. That bastard had provoked him with those words earlier today; he had brought it entirely upon himself.
"Let me tell you, if you hadn't stopped me today, I would have beaten him to death! Do you know that the little punk admitted right to my face that he has designs on you, and that he wants to... sleep with you?!"
Qin Zhaoyue froze at these words, staring blankly at Xiao Qiang. Xiao Qiang thought she was shocked by Chen Zihao's intentions, but instead, she suddenly let out a scornful laugh. "Xiao Qiang, you're really going too far. To get me away from Zihao, you'd actually resort to slandering him like this. You've really disappointed me. I never expected you to be this kind of person."
Xiao Qiang was momentarily struck speechless, and then he let out a bitter, self-deprecating laugh. Qin Zhaoyue trusted this sworn younger brother to such an extent, yet her level of trust in him—her fiancé who was about to register their marriage—was practically nonexistent.
It was truly the height of irony!
In an instant, grief and fury surged within Xiao Qiang. Suddenly clenching his fists tightly, he let out a furious roar, "Damn it..."
"Darling, fortunately Zihao is magnanimous; he's already agreed not to call the police now, so you can rest easy. But you must have a better attitude toward Zihao from now on. Darling, you have to believe me—so many of the firsts in my life were given to you, you must trust me. He and I just have a brother-sister relationship, it's impossible for there to be anything else between us."
Xiao Qiang was so enraged he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Could a man and a woman with no blood relation maintain a purely platonic brother-sister relationship? Little did she know, her sworn younger brother didn't just want her body—he wanted the Qin family's property as well!
"Qin Zhaoyue, you... you... you are truly an idiot..."
"Naive?"
Xiao Qiang didn't bother to explain.
Seeing that Xiao Qiang no longer paid attention to her, Qin Zhaoyue assumed he had realized his mistake, and her tone softened.
"Darling, it's good that you can recognize your own mistake. Zihao's right arm was fractured by your beating, and the hospital originally wanted him to stay for inpatient treatment, but Brother Zihao didn't like the smell of the hospital and insisted on going back to the dormitory. I knew there was no one to take care of him at the dorm, so I brought him over to our place to stay for a few days."
As she said this, she completely failed to notice the look of utter shock in Xiao Qiang's eyes.
"Since you don't have much to do anyway, Darling, help me take care of Zihao for a few days. We haven't eaten yet either, so hurry up and go whip up a delicious meal for Zihao, consider it an apology..."
Xiao Qiang's expression turned exceptionally colorful. A moment later, he directly interrupted Qin Zhaoyue.
"Qin Zhaoyue, you're letting that bastard live in our home? And you want me to take care of him? Is your head filled with mush? Let me tell you, make him get the hell out of here right now! And you expect me to wait on him? Do you believe I'll make him drink Paraquat?"
Qin Zhaoyue was equally dumbfounded. So she had misinterpreted things again; she had thought just now that Xiao Qiang was acknowledging his mistake, but it turned out to be just her own wishful thinking.
"You... you... you're unreasonable..."
After the complaint, Qin Zhaoyue remembered that they hadn't eaten dinner yet tonight; she couldn't possibly let Brother Zihao go hungry on his very first day being brought over. Thinking of her husband's soft-hearted-when-cajoled-but-hard-to-coerce personality, she immediately coaxed in a sweet voice, "Darling, I'm hungry. Hurry up and go make dinner, won't you...?"
Xiao Qiang was already feeling a bit hungry himself, so he stood right up. Whatever else needed to be discussed, he would talk to Qin Zhaoyue about it later. Without paying any more attention to her, he walked straight to the kitchen and started cooking.
Twenty minutes later!
At the dining table, Xiao Qiang served two bowls of tomato and egg noodle soup, which was Qin Zhaoyue's favorite wheat-flour dish.
"Darling, where's Zihao's?" Seeing only two bowls of noodles, Qin Zhaoyue couldn't help asking.
Without even raising his head, Xiao Qiang replied in a freezing voice, "Oh, I only know how to cook for humans, not for beasts..."