Lu Chenming"s statement did not merely mean that he would forgive her.
Rather, he was actually saying that, after she cleared things up with Lu Chenzhou, he would forgive her... and be willing to be with her.
To abandon the elder brother and go for the younger one instead…… Just what in the world had Cheng Yang used her account to do in the last four years?
When Cheng Xi thought back to the dinner with both of their families, she remembered how Cheng Yang had suddenly "needed to go on a business trip." Before that, he had even asked her, unprovoked, about whether or not she had met Lu Chenming yet. And even before that, when he had first heard that she was dating Lu Chenzhou, Cheng Yang"s behavior had been very strange.
Clearly, Cheng Xi wasn"t imaginative enough, because she had always thought that Cheng Yang just wanted to pull a bit of business over his way after establis.h.i.+ng a connection to a family as influential as the Lus. However, she never could have ever imagined that he would use her game account to fool around with other people on the Internet!
She was really about to go crazy! If Cheng Yang were in front of her right now, then Cheng Xi thought that she"d undoubtedly beat him up ruthlessly.
Her hands were even itching to find a knife!
Cheng Xi forcefully suppressed the anger in her heart, and after transferring the chat records to her inbox, immediately left.
No one stopped her; in fact, when she stepped out of the room, a small hole appeared in Lu Chenming"s blankets. He looked at her balefully through that little hole, and Cheng Xi looked back at him with complicated feelings in her heart.
But she didn"t dare tell him a joke or even speak to him at all this time. Instead, she twisted her head around and left as soon as their eyes met.
It was only when she walked out of the Lu household that she realized that she…… Didn"t! Have! A! Car! On top of that, there was no public transportation near the Lu family"s house, and if she tried to walk…… She"d have to walk pretty far, and Cheng Xi didn"t intend on doing so.
Instead, she opted to call Cheng Yang. "Where are you? Come pick me up."
Cheng Yang unknowingly replied, "Ah, where at? I"m out on a trip."
Cheng Xi laughed coldly. "I don"t care. I"m going to give you my location. You can either come yourself or call someone over. It"s up to you."
And without waiting for a reply, she hung up, sent Cheng Yang her coordinates, and sat down by the roadside to rest—she had to rest, because she was so angry that her chest was hurting. She really couldn"t walk!
Not long after she sat down, Lu Chenzhou actually drove by in his car. When Cheng Xi saw him, she felt somewhat at a loss for words. Lu Chenzhou didn"t look angry, and he stopped the car by her as he leaned against the car window and lazily asked, "Why aren"t you moving?"
Cheng Xi stared at him somewhat sulkily. "I just seduced your brother. If you"ve learned to be jealous, then why aren"t you jealous of him now?"
Lu Chenzhou looked at her as if he were looking at an idiot. "Who am I supposed to be jealous at, given how angry you are?"
"……"
Cheng Xi waved her hands powerlessly. "Aren"t you going to leave?"
Lu Chenzhou frowned. "You"re really going to walk back?"
Cheng Xi took a deep breath and managed to hold herself together as she said, "Can you please stop looking at me like that? If you don"t stop, I"ll really start doubting my own intellect."
Lu Chenzhou actually listened to her and changed his gaze. However, it merely went from looking at her like she was a fool to looking at her like she was a foolish mortal.
She didn"t want to waste her energy bickering with him, so she said with resigned fatigue, "You can leave first. Someone else is going to pick me up in a bit." She really couldn"t spend too much time with Lu Chenzhou. Otherwise, her anger would dissipate and she might be too nice to Cheng Yang when she saw him next.
Lu Chenzhou suspiciously asked, "Really?"
"Yes."
Lu Chenzhou looked at her again, and then really did drive away. Cheng Xi didn"t expect that he would just leave like that, so she ended up with a mouthful of exhaust.
Oh, very good. I"m actually even angrier now!
At the beginning, Cheng Xi had only wanted to see how Cheng Yang would respond to her accusations; she wasn"t certain that her hypothesis was right—or at least, perhaps she just wanted to keep hoping that moral standing wasn"t that poor. However, she didn"t expect that, after Lu Chenzhou left, Cheng Yang would drive up and personally fetch her himself.
When he arrived, Cheng Xi had already walked out of the Lu family"s household"s district and was sitting outside the big iron gate, waiting for him. Cheng Yang got out of his car and glanced inside the gate. "What"s up with you?" His expression turned serious, as if he were about to get into a big fight with someone. "Did the Lu family chase you out?"
Cheng Xi expressionlessly replied, "Yes. Are you going to help me relieve my anger?"
Cheng Yang rolled up his sleeves, but when he saw that Cheng Xi was looking at him with a cold and silent stare, he quickly stopped, rolled his sleeves back down, and eased his expression into something less serious. Then, he got close to her and chucked. "You"re teasing me again, aren"t you? For a talented person like my sister, you"re the only one who would be chasing other people out. Who could chase you out?"
Cheng Xi looked at him with a weary heart, and then got into the car without saying a word.
Cheng Yang attentively followed her in. Even after they started driving off, he still continued to put on a show for her, trying to make her laugh. Cheng Xi only looked on coldly, and she even felt a little sad for him.
Honestly, he was really nice toward her.
But when he discarded his moral principles, he really didn"t have a baseline left at all. Cheng Xi took another deep breath, reminding herself to not argue with him and to remain rational. When they arrived at her apartment, Cheng Xi invited him up, but Cheng Yang refused. It was then that she lost all patience with him; she lifted him up by his collar and furiously stated, "Let"s go!"
Cheng Yang yelped out a string of, "Ah~ Ah~ Ah." Then, he pleaded, "You"re going to strangle me to death, to death! I"ll go up with you, alright?!" He quickly got out of the car, locked it, and went up. Even as he did so, he kept muttering, "Sister, ever since you started your relations.h.i.+p with Lu Chenzhou, you"ve gotten a lot fiercer." He even poked her in the arm a few times. "I keep feeling that the sister I brought back is a fake."
His "fake sister" didn"t even bother giving him a supercilious look.
Only then did Cheng Yang really start to feel a little afraid. When he recalled that she had come from the Lu family"s house, he…… really wanted to run……
Cheng Xi exited the elevator and saw that her brother wasn"t following behind her anymore. However, without turning around, she placidly said, "Run away if you dare."
And Cheng Yang…… didn"t dare. Even though he was the older brother and Cheng Xi"s temper was generally gentle, when she truly became angry, he couldn"t do anything but comply.
Cheng Yang bitterly entered Cheng Xi"s apartment with her. Because he was still preoccupied with his own thoughts, he didn"t even notice that Cheng Xi had brought them into the apartment next door.
The two of them sat down on the sofa, with Cheng Xi in the middle and Cheng Yang on the side. He was so nervous that his b.u.t.t was slightly smushed against the side of the sofa, giving him a pitiful appearance.
Cheng Xi glanced at him. "It looks like you also know what you"ve done."
Cheng Yang stubbornly replied, "I don"t know what you"re talking about. But given your expression, you"re angry at me…… right? Are you angry that I picked you up late? Or are you angry that I didn"t show up for the dinner between the Lu family and our family? Or are you angry……" The rest of his words trailed off as he automatically swallowed them as Cheng Xi"s quiet gaze only deepened. His head drooped. "Alright, what did I do? Tell me, my sister."
He still refused to admit to it.
But Cheng Xi could understand him a little. After all, it was the nature of man to indulge in wishful thinking, for them to not admit to guilt even when the evidence was right before their face.
She unlocked her phone, opened up the screenshots that she"d grabbed from Lu Chenming"s phone, and then put her phone in front of him. "Explain yourself."
Just like Cheng Xi a few hours ago, Cheng Yang"s face instantly contorted uncontrollably as soon as he saw the ID in the chat logs. He silently cursed in his mind. c.r.a.p, there"s so much evidence here that I can"t even lie.
Cheng Xi knew that he was very good at lying and deception, and she didn"t want to hear any of it. So, she preemptively shot down his final excuse. "Don"t try to tell me that you gave my account to someone else. Cheng Yang, you shouldn"t be so cowardly."
Cheng Yang was speechless. "……"
"Who said that I was cowardly?" Cheng Yang slapped his palm on the table a bit too forcefully, hurting his own hand. As he grimaced and rubbed his hand, he said in annoyance, "Yes, I was the one using your account. I used it to pretend to be you to play a joke on Lu Chenming. Are you satisfied?"
"Just a joke?" Cheng Xi stared at him, enunciating every word clearly. "Or has my brother always liked men?"
Kblum! Cheng Yang"s lower jaw dropped so far that it almost hit the ground.