Chapter 16: Chapter 16

[She never knew family could also be a source of pain, engraved in one’s hearts and carved in one’s bones. — Qin XunMi]

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‘That’s right, that’s right. No need to find excuses for her. She’s just jealous of you.”

“Didn’t think that Eldest Miss Qin was so vile, would even be so cruel to her own little sister.”

“Those events that year weren’t Second Miss Qin’s fault. She doesn’t need to take the blame. This is all because Qin XunMi is narrowminded and malicious.”

......

After wave after wave of commentary, XunMi saw the original Qin XunMi that had been cornered into a dead end of despair. At the time, she had also suffered ridicule and humiliation from people that believed they were acting justly. What was different now was that the victim was her, and that the scenario was taking place earlier in the timeline.

Tan ZiXi saw XunMi’s bewildered and stupefied, his heart hurting with her. Immediately, the cold air around him increased, the expression on his face stiffening.

“Go away! Kevin, throw these people out.” At once, a group of men in black rushed in, fiercely detained the group of gossipers and dragged them away.

The air surrounding the crowd seemed to have been sucked away, as they stiffly turned to face the direction of the chaos.

An outstanding woman and man appeared in their eyesight, both emitting natural elegance. One faint glance from the two could make their entire body tremble. They seemed to exist high in the clouds, aloof and looking down at the rest of them, as if they were only insignificant ants.

“Ah, my male idol!”

“Ah, it’s President Tan!”

......

Lively murmurs of surprise sprouted through the crowd.

In a second, Qin HuaiSe had went from immensely proud of herself to turning completely white in the face. She glared at the two people below that were now surrounded by the crowd, her killing intent compiling into her entire aura.

XunMi and Tan ZiXi simultaneously raised their heads in her direction, completely taking in Qin HuaiSe’s shameful state.

XunMi disdainfully let out a cold laugh: “Qin HuaiSe, continue fabricating. Why aren’t you speaking? And my dear father, go ahead and continue vilifying me in order to your so-called true love’s daughter to raise her status. I, Qin XunMi, have lived so many years but this is the first time encountering such nauseating people. Do you think I have no power by myself? Because I’m a feeble woman without any supporters, you two think you can manipulate me as much as you want? You can scheme against me, humiliate me, completely free of guilt. Qin Sheng, you’ve let down my deceased grandfather and mother! Can you put a hand across your heart and swear that you are being impartial, that you are a worthy husband, father, or son?” XunMi came forward one step after another, only stopping when they were a meter apart in distance.

Even if she was standing below, no one felt that looking up at the two people standing on the platform. On the contrary, it seemed as if she held contempt for those two, as if she was the monarch looking down at them.

“I, Qin XunMi, certainly have not behaved in a filial manner. But didn’t you two force me to come to this? For your illegitimate daughter, you allow her to dirty my reputation. I’ll bear it. You give her all your fatherly love, yet treat me as a chess piece. I’ll also bear it, since you are my father. But who said that when you have already discarded the chess piece you’ve now deemed useless, that chess piece cannot attack back? The actions that one does cannot escape the sky’s eye. Even if you are my father, I won’t permit you to disturb grandfather and mother’s peace in the sky.”

XunMi didn’t give the two a chance to retort, not wanting to be further entangled together with them. These two have truly become intolerable with their bullying. It’s one thing for my prediction of the current situation to come true but another to see it happen in person. If Qin Sheng had said one word in her defense, even if it was an act, it would have been a type of rescuing to the original Qin XunMi. Unfortunately, there was nothing. Not with the original Qin XunMi, and not with her in the same situation.

Tan ZiXi silently stood by XunMi’s side, like a stubborn guardian angel. If the person in front of him couldn’t hold out, or felt tired, she can easily lean on him. Meanwhile, the crowd had not come out of XunMi’s soft, yet covered with grief words.

They were ignorant! How come the person they were criticizing seemed the victim here? The person on the stage that they had felt sympathy for, was a bad person?

XunMi coldly watched those two people’s faces pale, and let out a lazy laugh. “Today I came for business. I don’t want to waste time discussing the meaningless public opinions. Those that believe me will believe me no matter whether or not I did anything. As for those that don’t believe me, I don’t need them to believe.” She then turned to directly face the reporters, her voice powerful and rousing.

“So, please do not approach me. Because I don’t have anything to tell you. I also don’t want to talk to you. Others might be happy publicizing their family’s scandals. I, Qin XunMi, am not that shameless, my upbringing won’t allow me to stoop so low.” Done speaking, Qin XunMi stepped onto the stage without even taking a look at their expressions. As she passed Qin Sheng and Qin HuaiSe, XunMi didn’t even glance in their direction, completely disregarding them.

Tan ZiXi waited for XunMi to enter before looking around, remembering all the members of the press that had voiced their outrageous comments, planning on blacklisting all of them.

Tan ZiXi’s steps stopped for a second while passing Qin HuaiSe, “Mi’er is right: even if some people put on luxurious clothing, they can’t cover the dirty stench coming from their hearts.” His eyes were filled with obvious scorn and loathing. This type of person wants to compare with his XunMi? How could a toad stupidly believe itself to be superior to a white swan?

Don’t ask him why he thinks Second Miss Qin was a toad, because only a toad’s bumpy, disgusting appearance could resemble this person’s natural state.

Kevin stayed behind to clean up the mess his willful Boss had left behind. As for the two people still frozen in a stupor on stage, he could only pitifully shake his head at them. How could someone who was able to give birth to a smart woman like Eldest Miss Qin be so stupid?

How could he act like that monkey from the fairy tale, throwing away a watermelon to pick a sesame seed? If he doesn’t have glaucoma, then he definitely had a cataract affecting his vision. Based on President Qin’s age, it was probably cataracts, Kevin thought willing rubbing his chin.

Qin Sheng had been frightened by XunMi. No, more accurately, shocked. There seemed like something had completely left his control, his heart ineffably starting to panic. Thinking back to XunMi’s implicating interrogation, he wondered if he really was wrong.

But turning to the warm, kindhearted, considerate younger daughter looking at him with concern, he thought he couldn’t be wrong.

Everything was XunMi’s fault. If not for her, there wouldn’t be today’s situation. Patting his youngest daughter’s hand, Qin Sheng firmly said: Don’t worry HuaiSe. Father will definitely give Qin company to you.”