Chapter 56 Cola Plus Fanta, Sweet and Lovely

Taking advantage of Chen Shuojie not being back yet, and also because Ah Bin was on leave due to injury with no one watching her, Bai Yuanzhi paged A Yao to meet up.

This time, she arranged to meet him at the same mountaintop as last time.

When Ming Jiayao arrived, he saw Bai Yuanzhi already there.

Beside her was a large bag.

“Sister!” Ming Jiayao nervously looked her over.

To be honest, ever since learning about her conflict with Xu Wenrui, Ming Jiayao had been unable to sleep through the night.

Even though his informant told him Bai Yuanzhi wasn’t injured, not even the slightest bit wronged…

He was still very worried.

Because he knew Xu Wenrui too well.

The harm Xu Wenrui inflicted on people might not be the most painful from a physical perspective.

The psychological damage was far greater.

Seeing Bai Yuanzhi looking normal now, smiling cheerfully, and in decent spirits, Ming Jiayao finally felt a bit relieved.

“Sister, why didn’t you call me earlier?” Ming Jiayao complained. “I could have given you a ride up!”

This was a wild hill near the city, with buses only going as far as the foot of the mountain.

After taking the bus to the base, Bai Yuanzhi found a small shop to call and leave him a page, then carried that large bag, walking up step by step.

Bai Yuanzhi glanced at Ming Jiayao’s “steed”—a bicycle,

then smiled, holding back a laugh. “You rode your bike up?”

Ming Jiayao nodded.

Ah Jiu had driven him here, parked the car at the foot of the mountain, and he rode his bicycle up.

Bai Yuanzhi chuckled. “Who rides a bike up a mountain! Aren’t you tired?”

Ming Jiayao shook his head. “It won’t be tiring when I give you a ride down later.”

Bai Yuanzhi laughed. “You’re so silly!”

She was here today to clear her mind.

This small hill wasn’t very high, with a gentle slope, taking over half an hour to hike to the top on foot.

She could use the hike to burn off her not-so-great mood.

Seeing her bright smile, Ming Jiayao’s heart, which had been hanging in mid-air all night, finally settled gently back into place.

“Sister, how come you have time to meet me today?” Ming Jiayao asked.

Of course he knew,

He even wished she would immediately pour out her troubles to him…

But he had to pretend he knew nothing.

Bai Yuanzhi smiled again.

But this time, her smile held a touch of bitterness.

“Sorry, A Yao, every time I look for you… it seems to be when I’m unhappy,” Bai Yuanzhi said. “But it seems I don’t really have anyone else to talk to.”

“Although I could talk to my sister, she cares about me too much. She’s always afraid something might happen to me, so she often hopes I’ll step back and play it safe…”

Ming Jiayao quickly said, “I understand!”

“But I don’t agree with what you said, sister. You look for me when you’re happy too… It’s just a shame I couldn’t get away last time when they held the housewarming for you. I really wanted to visit your new place…”

Bai Yuanzhi smiled, her eyes crinkling. “There will be chances!”

But not right now.

Sister Cai had rented a place near her home. If she saw A Yao coming and going—

That damn pervert Chen Shuojie might target A Yao.

Ming Jiayao wisely didn’t press further, just nodded.

Then he asked, “Sister, this time… is there something troubling you?”

Bai Yuanzhi sighed and recounted yesterday’s events in detail.

As she spoke, she opened the large bag she had brought, taking out one item after another.

There were some snacks and treats that Sister Cai had somehow obtained,

as well as cola and orange soda she had bought herself.

After hearing Bai Yuanzhi’s account,

Ming Jiayao no longer needed to conceal the anger and anxiety deep within him.

His brows furrowed tightly, and his fists clenched.

For Bai Yuanzhi, sharing this with him was actually a way to ease her emotions.

The resentment she had accumulated earlier

had been halved during the hike,

and now, after venting, even the remaining half had dissipated!

Then, with great relish, she began gossiping with him, “You know, actually, the few times I’ve seen Xu Wenrui before, I felt her relationship with the Chen Family father and son… was quite unusual.”

“Her behavior yesterday made her seem even more suspicious!”

Ming Jiayao was stunned.

“Isn’t she… Chen Shuojie’s aunt?” Ming Jiayao asked, pretending ignorance.

Bai Yuanzhi hummed in agreement and began counting on her fingers:

“The second time I saw Xu Wenrui…”

“I mention the second time first because the first time wasn’t really a formal meeting.”

“On the night of the second time I saw Xu Wenrui, my cousin and I stayed over at Chen Shuojie’s house, and then my cousin… ran into a bit of trouble.”

Bai Yuanzhi hadn’t told A Yao about Zhou Zhaoer’s attempt to climb into Chen Shuojie’s bed.

Now, after explaining everything in detail…

Ignoring A Yao’s grim expression, Bai Yuanzhi continued, “At the time, Xu Wenrui was very critical of my cousin and very protective of Chen Shuojie. That in itself wasn’t strange, but I always felt that, as an aunt, she was overly forceful in handling the situation.”

“But if you think of her as Chen Shuojie’s biological mother, it seems much more reasonable,” Bai Yuanzhi said.

Ming Jiayao was stunned and fell into deep thought.

Bai Yuanzhi went on, “Now, I can talk about the first time I saw Xu Wenrui. Back then, Chen Shuojie wanted to apologize to me and invited me to dinner at Jiahong Restaurant…”

Mentioning Jiahong Restaurant,

she suddenly remembered something else and couldn’t help but digress, “Oh, right! That butter peach pastry you brought me before—I actually had it at Jiahong Restaurant too!”

“Chen Shuojie said that butter peach pastry is a specialty of Jiahong and claimed it’s only available in the United States!”

Ming Jiayao’s heart skipped a beat, and he quickly covered it up, “Really? I asked my friend Ah Wu to buy it for me last time, but I don’t know where he got it…”

Bai Yuanzhi waved her hand dismissively, “That’s not important!”

She continued talking about Xu Wenrui, “That time, after Chen Shuojie and I finished eating and were about to leave, I saw Chen Shen and Xu Wenrui also coming to Jiahong for dinner, but they didn’t notice us…”

“Then, I overheard them talking… and right then, I felt there was something ambiguous between them.”

As she spoke, Bai Yuanzhi repeated the sentence she had heard:

[“…Hasn’t XX always been so aloof, calling herself a pure and innocent jade maiden? How could she agree to go to the nineteenth floor? Was it because you were there too? Hmph, I knew all along she was trying to seduce you!”]

She mimicked it as vividly as possible, even capturing Xu Wenrui’s tone and inflection perfectly.

Finally, she added regretfully, “It’s just a shame I didn’t hear who that ‘someone’ was, but judging from the context, that someone… is probably a female celebrity.”

Bai Yuanzhi then asked him, “A Yao, tell me, do you think… these are words that should be said between a sister-in-law and her brother-in-law?”

Ming Jiayao froze.

He couldn’t speak for a long time.

Ming Jiayao thought back to his childhood.

From as far back as he could remember,

he had no family by his side.

He lived alone in the old mansion, though there were butlers and servants to take care of him,

but at that time, he didn’t understand that the way his grandfather, Ming Jingxing, raised him was called “wolf-like competition.”

So, when the little child was hungry or thirsty, no one fed him;

when his clothes were dirty or torn, no one changed or washed them for him.

It wasn’t until he was four or five years old that he learned he had to use his fists, his anger, and the power of being the “young master of the Ming Family” to bully the servants before he could get clean water, enough food to eat, and clean, beautiful clothes…

A little older,

Ming Jiayao finally learned that he actually had parents,

and even a grandfather!

He began to wonder—what was the point of having parents and a grandfather?

It wasn’t until he grew a little older and learned he also had an aunt, an uncle, and a cousin that he finally understood the meaning of relatives.

When Ming Jiayao was seven or eight years old, he saw Chen Shuojie, who was twelve or thirteen, surrounded by all kinds of relatives.

If Chen Shuojie was willing to eat one more bite of food, Chen Shen would be so happy he could cry;

if Chen Shuojie passed an exam, his aunt (Mrs. Xu) would immediately wave her hand and give him tens of thousands in pocket money;

if Chen Shuojie fell ill, Xu Wenrui would angrily beat the servants…

It was from that time that Ming Jiayao began to envy Chen Shuojie.

For many years, Ming Jiayao had accepted it as fact—no one loved him, everyone loved Chen Shuojie.

But he never understood why.

He had also read some family ethics novels and vaguely thought:

Everyone favored Chen Shuojie because Chen Shuojie had no mother.

Everyone ignored him because his family was wealthy and he had both parents…

But then a new question arose: As the sole heir of the Ming Family in Hong Kong City, shouldn’t he be treated as the apple of his family’s eye, the treasure of their hearts?

Why didn’t his parents and grandfather care about him?

Ming Jiayao thought and thought but couldn’t figure out why.

So, he finally realized…

It was very likely that they didn’t love him because they thought he wasn’t as outstanding as Chen Shuojie.

From Ming Jiayao’s current perspective, this was a terrible way of thinking.

But back then, Ming Jiayao was young and his horizons were narrow.

This belief stayed with him for many years,

and he suffered for a long, long time…

Until now, when he heard Bai Yuanzhi say with his own ears that Xu Wenrui and Chen Shen had an unusual relationship.

Ming Jiayao fell into a daze.

—He had never even considered that such a possibility existed!

If Xu Wenrui and Chen Shen really had some unspeakable affair,

then it made perfect sense for Xu Wenrui to favor Chen Shuojie out of love for his father!

So, it was never that Ming Jiayao wasn’t good enough;

it was because the elders harbored dirty, hidden thoughts in their hearts, which led them to mistreat him, the legitimate child born of a “proper” marriage, while favoring another person’s child who was “wronged” by “unrequited love.”

But—

Is this really true?

His mother never loved his father at all, but was deeply in love with her brother-in-law?

Ming Jiayao murmured, “What exactly is their relationship?”

“Even if that so-and-so is a female celebrity, even if some female celebrity seduced Chen Shen… what does that have to do with Xu Wenrui?”

“Xu Wenrui isn’t Chen Shen’s wife… she’s just Chen Shen’s sister-in-law!” The more he thought about it, the more unbelievable it seemed.

Bai Yuanzhi nodded, “Exactly!”

“And then there was my third encounter with Xu Wenrui, which was yesterday.”

“Logically speaking, even if Xu Wenrui and Chen Shen maintain… an improper relationship, does she really need to treat Chen Shuojie as her own possession?”

“Chen Shuojie isn’t her son! He’s just her sister’s son…”

“Anyway, their family relationships are just too strange!” Bai Yuanzhi said.

Ming Jiayao deeply agreed, “Exactly! How messy is their family!”

Bai Yuanzhi’s eyes sparkled as she lowered her voice and asked gossipily, “A Yao, tell me… is it possible that Xu Wenrui is actually Chen Shuojie’s biological mother?”

Ming Jiayao’s mouth fell open in shock.

He stared blankly at Bai Yuanzhi, thinking, is your imagination too wild?

But Bai Yuanzhi grew more convinced of her speculation the more she thought about it, “Think about it, only if Xu Wenrui and Chen Shen got together, and Xu Wenrui gave birth to a son for Chen Shen… that would be Chen Shuojie. So in Xu Wenrui’s eyes, Chen Shen is her husband, and Chen Shuojie is her son!”

“As for Xu Wenrui and her legitimate husband Ming Zhixuan, I heard their relationship is very bad… Think about it, wealthy family marriages rarely have true feelings! If she already had Chen Shen in her heart but was forced by her family to marry Ming Zhixuan, she must have resentment!”

Ming Jiayao: …

That does seem somewhat plausible.

Bai Yuanzhi continued, “As for the Young master of the Ming Family…”

Hearing this, Ming Jiayao’s heart skipped a beat.

He looked nervously at Bai Yuanzhi, even forgetting to control his expression, his face instantly turning deathly pale.

“…is just too invisible!”

“I’ve never even heard of this person from Chen Shuojie.”

“So you see, that shipping magnate’s Young master… is probably a little pitiful.” Bai Yuanzhi sighed, “Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but his mother prefers other children. Probably his father and grandfather don’t value him either, otherwise, with all the love and hate dramas in high society making the entertainment pages daily, why is there no news at all about the Ming Family’s Young master?”

When Ming Jiayao heard the words “little pitiful,” his eyes couldn’t help but redden.

He quickly turned his head away, staring at a blade of grass on the lawn for a long, long time…

Finally suppressing the surging tide of grievances, he said in a light tone, “Yeah, yeah!”

Bai Yuanzhi’s gossipy heart was affirmed, making her even more pleased, “Right, right?”

“So currently, there’s only one remaining mystery regarding the Chen Family and Xu Family.”

“And that is—”

“Among the Xu, Chen, and Ming families—these three major wealthy clans—the Ming Family is definitely the richest! It’s understandable for the Xu Family’s daughter to marry into the shipping magnate’s family. But the Chen Family isn’t that far behind, is it? If Xu Wenrui really liked Chen Shen so much, why did the Xu Family insist on having Xu Wenli marry Chen Shen back then, while arranging for Xu Wenrui to marry into the Ming Family?”

“If only the Xu Family had swapped the Xu sisters—letting Xu Wenrui marry Chen Shen and Xu Wenli marry into the Ming Family… then at least Xu Wenrui and Chen Shen could have been happy, right?” Bai Yuanzhi mused to herself.

Ming Jiayao joined in, discussing with her:

“I’m not so sure about that—”

“Think about it. Chen Shuojie’s mother reportedly died during childbirth, and Chen Shuojie… didn’t we see him together that day at Xu’s Enterprise’s annual gala? Given Chen Shuojie’s condition, Chen Shen hasn’t mentioned remarrying or having another child…”

“It shows that Chen Shen has feelings for his late wife.”

“And as for why Xu Wenrui married into the Ming Family back then while Xu Wenli married into the Chen Family… I actually know a little about that.”

Ming Jiayao told Bai Yuanzhi, “The Xu sisters are about seven or eight years apart. Xu Wenli was only in her early twenties when she married Chen Shen, while Xu Wenrui was just thirteen or fourteen at the time!”

“Besides, the Xu Family couldn’t possibly have swapped the sisters’ marriages.”

“Just as you said earlier, the Ming Family is the largest in scale, the Xu Family comes second, and the Chen Family is the weakest.”

“Xu Wenli is a daughter from the second wife, and with the age gap, she wasn’t eligible to marry into the Ming Family.”

“Xu Wenrui, though younger, was born to the Xu Family’s first wife, which made her eligible to marry into the Ming Family…”

Bai Yuanzhi suddenly understood.

But she refuted Ming Jiayao’s first point. “I don’t think Chen Shen had feelings for his late wife. If he did, why would he be involved with her younger sister in an ambiguous way?”

“He hasn’t remarried not because he doesn’t want to, but because Xu Wenrui won’t allow it, right?”

“As for why he hasn’t had another healthy heir—”

Bai Yuanzhi pondered for a moment before whispering, “Maybe… he already has one?”

Ming Jiayao was startled.

Soon, he understood the implication of her words. “You mean, an illegitimate child?”

Bai Yuanzhi nodded and sighed. “If that’s really the case… then Chen Shuojie is also a bit pitiful.”

Ming Jiayao disagreed. “You just said the Ming Family’s Young Master is pitiful!”

“Why is Chen Shuojie pitiful now?”

“He’s clearly a pervert—he bullied you, and you still say he’s pitiful!” Unbeknownst to him, jealousy twisted his expression at that moment.

Just then, Bai Yuanzhi opened a can of cola and handed it to him.

She didn’t notice his expression,

but once he took the cola, he quickly adjusted his demeanor…

Bai Yuanzhi opened a can of Fanta for herself before answering A Yao’s question.

“Comparatively, of course, the Ming Family’s young master is more pitiful! But I don’t know him, and I know nothing about his situation, so I can’t empathize with him!”

Ming Jiayao drank his cola sulkily.

After a long while, he turned his head to look at her.

Bai Yuanzhi widened her eyes. “What?”

He smiled slightly, glancing at the Fanta in her hand and tilting his head.

Bai Yuanzhi understood but firmly refused, “I only brought this one can of Fanta up here. If you want some, go buy it yourself when you get down the mountain!”

Ming Jiayao asked her, “Sister, what does cola mixed with Fanta taste like?”

Bai Yuanzhi was stunned.

She was also a bit curious and eager to try.

He stared at the soda can in her hand and tilted his chin upward.

Bai Yuanzhi steeled herself and handed over the soda can she had already taken several sips from.

Ming Jiayao held his cola can in one hand, took a sip while looking up, then handed it back to Bai Yuanzhi;

With his other hand, he took the Fanta can from Bai Yuanzhi, raising his long arm high while also lifting his head.

The honey-like orange liquid poured down from mid-air, sparkling under the sunlight,

Then, it flowed into the handsome young man’s mouth.

The young man’s throat moved, his sharply defined jaw slightly raised,

He turned his head, half-closed his peach blossom eyes, and looked at her with a smile. His handsome features were so beautiful that Bai Yuanzhi’s heart suddenly raced!

“What does it taste like?” Bai Yuanzhi asked, lowering her head.

Ming Jiayao laughed, “You’ll know if you try it!”

Bai Yuanzhi felt a bit shy, “No! You’ve already drunk from it…”

Seeing that he didn’t answer for a long time,

She couldn’t help but turn to look at him.

Only to see his cheeks slightly puffed and his Adam’s apple moving, as if he was savoring the taste of cola mixed with Fanta.

“Is it really good?” Bai Yuanzhi couldn’t help but ask.

Ming Jiayao, smiling broadly, handed the orange soda can in his hand to her.

After much hesitation and inner struggle, Bai Yuanzhi imitated his way and mixed the two sodas…

She looked at Ming Jiayao in surprise.

Ming Jiayao grinned from ear to ear.

Bai Yuanzhi couldn’t help but laugh, her face flushed red.

After eating and drinking, Bai Yuanzhi saw that it was about time and said she had to leave.

Ming Jiayao rode his bicycle to take Bai Yuanzhi down the mountain.

Her bag hung from the bicycle handlebars,

She sat on the back seat, holding two cans of soda in her hands, taking sips herself from time to time, and occasionally handing them to A Yao for him to take a sip as well.

Sunshine, the fresh breeze mixed with the scent of grass, the sweet and tangy soda…

This was destined to be an unforgettable afternoon.

After riding his bicycle down the mountain, Ming Jiayao first accompanied Bai Yuanzhi onto the bus, then got into the car driven by Ah Jiu and returned to the semi-bay mansion.

He deeply despised the Ming Family,

After buying property outside with his own earned money, he moved out to live on his own.

But now,

Ming Jiayao decided to move back.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated!

Yes, he already regarded his grandfather and parents as enemies.

Only by getting close to them could he find their weaknesses!