Xu Jiang and her Auntie Bao looked at her with worried eyes."Ya"er are you alright?" She heard her auntie"s soft voice. It was soothing.
"I"m alright" Xu Xinya smiled slightly but her smile never reached her eyes.
Xu Jiang was looking at her with his heart full of pain. His little sister had become so thin and frail. He was worried that she wouldn"t forgive her for promising her against her consent or knowledge.
After a lot of reluctance, he finally said the words he had been trying to say since last year.
"Ya"er I..."
But he was cut by her.
"Brother Jiang I don"t blame you for what happened. It was not your fault. You were the head of the family and had to think of the collective welfare of all. If I were in your place, I would have done the same thing." She said impa.s.sively, her eyes were blank like she had already thought through those words. Her voice lacked her typical spark and charismatic charm.
Xu Jiang fell silent, unsure of what to say next. Somehow Xu Xinya"s lack of blaming him brought more guilt to him.
Xu Xinya glanced at Xu Jiang. She knew he must be angry at himself and guilt would be eating him alive. During the time she had kept herself locked, she had plenty of time to think it over.
Xu Xinya couldn"t understand why in the beginning but now it made sense to her.
He had been feeling guilty the whole time and that"s why he was avoiding her.
Finally, Xu Jiang opened his mouth to say:
"Ya"er you don"t need to worry about it. He won"t hurt you. I only agreed once he a.s.sured it to me that you won"t be mistreated in any way." Xu Jiang made a feeble attempt to console his sister. Because both of them knew that he held no power to protect her once she entered his mansion.
Xu Xinya smiled wryly.
Not mistreat her?
Her brother still had no idea that it all started because she had slapped him and the very reason for this arrangement was to mistreat her in the worst possible way.
Xu Xinya had no idea that what was that man planning. Because if he wanted to just have revenge, he could just have her kidnapped, given his power and status, and torture and murder her with his own hands and no one would get an idea where she disappeared to overnights.
And instead, he wanted to force her his woman?
But one thing that she was sure of was that his reasons would not be good for her sake and what rested ahead was a long miserable road for her.
"Brother Jiang doesn"t worry." Her voice was sweet this time. With her lingering smile, she faced her auntie and brightly chirped to lighten the atmosphere. "Auntie I"ve been starving for days. Would you not prepare something nice for your dear niece?"
"Of course sweetheart!" Her auntie"s eyes lit up. She hurriedly rushed to the kitchen.
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That was her girl.
Always responsible and understanding of the situation.
"Ya"er...", Xu Jiang said quietly, "I just wanted to ask did you have any acquaintance with Mr. Lu beforehand. I mean he specifically asked for you and was aware of your name, age, and ident.i.ty. Those men in the upper circle don"t usually involve themselves with someone like us. How did he come to know you?"
Xu Xinya looked down.
She had never lied to her brother before.
"Yes, I had a chance of chatting with him once in the club."
"Just chat", Xu Jiang asked, "Nothing else?"
Xu Xinya just shook her head.
Xu Xinya didn"t want her family to know what exactly happened that night. Because if they were to know then they would also know that Lu Mingyu held no good intentions toward her.
If that was known, her family might try to get her free from him and ruin themselves in the process. Because if she didn"t enter his mansion by the end of the month, the debt would fall on them and their family business would be confiscated.
And that would mark the end of the Xu family.
After all, it was due to her mistake, to begin with. So she alone should face the punishment. If her family was to suffer the consequences of her mistake, how could she have a clear conscience?
Once observing the sad and enigmatic look on his sister"s face, Xu Jiang knew that there was more to the story that she was letting on. But he decided not to interrogate her further for now. After all, she was already having a hard time accepting the current arrangement. And he didn"t want to press her further.
Xu Jiang was still unaware that the sudden fall of their business one year ago was caused by the involvement of Lu Mingyu who had his influence deep into everything. And everything was preplanned. To make the Xu family fall on his knees and become his debtors.
And to make them willingly surrender their Xu Xinya.