chapter 13.1

“Nanjue, come here. This is the stew I’ve been working on for the past day. Drink some before you go to the company for your meeting.”

Smiling gently, Zhan Jiayin set a bowl of soup in front of Li Nanjue.

Li Nanjue’s initially gloomy and cold expression loosened up. “You could have just told the chef to make it. Why did you cook it yourself?”

Upon seeing Zhan Jiayin hide her hand behind her back, Li Nanjue could guess what had happened. Promptly, he pulled her hand out and carefully looked at it.

On her hand was a scalding blister. Li Nanjue’s eyes immediately softened as he doted on her. “You- Are you in pain?”

Zhan Jiayin shook her head, saying. “I’m not in any sort of pain. Making soup for the one I love is extremely gratifying, so how could I be in pain?”

Her words, without a doubt, touched Li Nanjue’s heart. When Li Nanjue was married to Xu Manqin, Xu Manqin had never done anything so caring. For Xu Manqin, just being able to remember his favorite dishes was considered nice.

Slowly, Li Nanjue ate Zhan Jiayin’s specially made soup while occasionally chatting about their two children.

“I was initially afraid Fei would be afraid of walking on an international runway all alone. I never thought she’d exceed my expectations. I’m so proud of her.”

The corners of Li Nanjue’s mouth lifted into a smile as he said, “Fei is a sensible girl, unlike Xiao Xiao.”

Thinking of his eldest daughter, who was just sobbing on the phone while talking to him, Li Nanjue slightly furrowed his eyebrows. For the past half month, Li Xiao had been spending all her time filming without rest. But, it seemed Li Xiao still wouldn’t want Li Nanjue to be peaceful. And she seemed to have another issue. However, Li Xiao was blubbering incoherently and did not manage to explain all the details of her current situation.

While thinking about his troublesome daughter, Li Nanjue finished the soup.

Zhan Jiayin peered at his expression and said, “Is it possible that Xiao Xiao wants to buy another thing?”

Thinking about the possibility, Li Nanjue’s expression fell into a displeased one. He had just helped Li Xiao buy a villa and paid off her credit card. It wasn’t possible that she had already maxed out her credit card, was it?

The sound of rapid footsteps quickly became louder. Lifting his head, Li Nanjue saw Li Xiao rushing over. But just as he was about to reprimand her, he was faced with his daughter’s red, rabbit-like eyes. Tears stained her cheeks, and it looked as though the heavens had wronged her.

Li Nanjue swallowed his harsh words, and resolutely changed his tone. “What happened?”

Silently, Li Xiao held a tape recorder in her hands and let the recording speak for itself.

When she heard the familiar voice, Zhan Jiayin’s heart couldn’t help but jump, and she got a bad feeling.

Li Nanjue and Ren Shaotang had been rivals in love for years, so Li Nanjue was familiar with this voice and immediately recognized it. The more Li Nanjue listened to the recording, the more his expression darkened. Although Li Nanjue’s feelings weren’t as strong towards Li Xiao as they were towards his other two children, Li Xiao was still his daughter. He wouldn’t allow anyone to bully her.

Although Ren Shaotang didn’t personally harm Li Xiao, he still hired people to harm her, which was extremely underhanded. If Li Xiao hadn’t had feelings for Li Zhu, Li Nanjue was afraid she would’ve been tricked. If that happened, Li Nanjue felt it was likely that Li Xiao would drag the Li family down with her.

Zhan Jiayin said, “By chance, is it a mistake? Shaotang isn’t that kind of person.”

Li Xiao narrated in detail how Lu Zhi had pursued her and how she had found out about his underlying intentions.

Li Xiao coldly glanced towards Zhan Jiayin. “Does Auntie really trust Shaotang that much? Then why don’t you swear on Dad’s name that Shaotang wasn’t involved in this?”

Zhan Jiayin’s mouth gaped, and her heart pounded. She wasn’t able to give any sort of explanation.

Li Xiao smiled coldly and said, “As expected, you wouldn’t dare to.”

Turning her head, Li Xiao choked out, “Although I don’t know Uncle Ren too well, I don’t treat him rudely. In what way have I offended him to make him want to set me up like this?”

Zhan Jiayin suddenly thought of Ren Shaotang’s words from two days ago.

“Is Mu Manqin’s daughter still bullying you?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”

Zhan Jiayin was able to connect the dots in her mind, and the situation at hand became clear to her. Ren Shaotang was dealing with Li Xiao for her, in an attempt to relieve Zhan Jiayin’s frustrations. Zhan Jiayin was unable to understand the emotions in her heart. She was already married to another man, and there was no room for Ren Shaotang. So why did he make such a rash move?

After letting out a deep breath, Zhan Jiayin said, “Xiao Xiao, don’t jump to conclusions! You can’t say for sure that someone was setting you two up-“

Li Xiao interrupted her. “Really now? Do you swear on Qianxing’s life that it wasn’t Ren Shaotang?”‘

Zhan Jiayin was silent. “…”

Li Xiao persistently continued her barrage of attacks. “Do you swear on Qianfei’s life?”

Zhan Jiayin’s face paled, and she looked as though she could collapse at any moment now. How could she guarantee it using her precious children’s lives?

Under normal circumstances, if Li Xiao had spoken to Zhan Jiayin so aggressively, Li Nanjue wouldn’t hesitate to scold Li Xiao and force her to apologize to Jiayin. However, right now…

When Li Nanjue thought about it, he thought Ren Shaotang might have spent money to trick Li Xiao because of Jiayin.

Li Xiao lightly sneered, “You can’t say for sure, can you? You always say that you view me as your daughter, but that’s just a lie, right?

If this had happened to Qianfei, you would’ve sought justice for her as soon as possible instead of racking your brains to find a way to defend the perpetrator.”

Raising her head, Li Xiao stubbornly refused to let her tears fall. In doing so, she looked like she was trying her best to mask her heartbreak.

“I was too foolish. I won’t fall for a trick like that again. I’m not your daughter, so I can’t compare to Ren Shaotang, your best friend.” The word ‘best friend’ was laced with thick sarcasm.

“No, no! That’s not it!” Zhan Jiayin didn’t know things would escalate to this extent, and couldn’t help but raise her voice. “I just can’t tell if someone was purposely trying to frame Shaotang and fabricated the recording.”

Li Nanjue’s voice was gloomy. “We can give it to a professional and see whether it was fabricated or not.”

The technology was already advanced enough to be able to tell whether the audio file had been tampered or not.

One was Li Nanjue’s own daughter, and the other was his long-time rival in love. Li Nanjue couldn’t help but feel biased towards Li Xiao. So, for the first time in forever, Li Nanjue took a stance that opposed Zhan Jiayin.

Using the back of her hand, Li Xiao wiped away her tears and said to Li Nanjue, “Dad, I tried to treat Zhan Jiayin as my own family for your sake. My apologies. It seems like I can’t do that yet.”

With that, Li Xiao spun around and returned to her room. She feared that if she kept talking, she would crack and show her real emotions. Acting was really tiring! But the good thing was that Li Xiao wouldn’t have to treat Zhan Jiayin kindly in front of Li Nanjue anymore.