Chapter 648 - 225: You Arranged a Childhood Betrothal for Me (Part 3)

"Your Qiao Family was just lucky. If you’d moved to Xiangjiang just a few years later, you would’ve all been branded as capitalists," Qin Mei said mockingly.

The Second Great-uncle was left speechless by Qin Mei’s retort. It was clearly the Qiao Family’s foresight, so how did it turn into plain luck coming from this young woman’s mouth?

’Alright, so the Qiao Family really was lucky,’ he thought. ’Thinking about those other families, their fates after being branded capitalists were too horrible to contemplate.’

"What a sharp-tongued little girl," the Second Great-aunt spoke up, her gaze fixed on Qin Mei, full of displeasure. Her tone was dripping with undisguised sarcasm.

"And who might you be?" Qin Mei’s expression turned cold. She had come to Xiangjiang with them to visit the sick and, if need be, treat them. But her grandfather was only pretending to be ill, so he didn’t need her treatment. Jie Jingchen’s second great-uncle’s family clearly wanted to give her a hard time, to put her in her place. ’Sorry, but I don’t know you well enough to put up with your nonsense,’ she thought.

The Second Great-aunt gritted her teeth. ’This girl is definitely doing this on purpose. Jing Chen just introduced us. Besides my husband and me, Jing Chen didn’t introduce her to anyone else of our generation here. I refuse to believe Qin Mei would forget me so quickly.’

"Second Great-aunt," Jie Jingchen reminded her.

"Oh," Qin Mei said, feigning a look of sudden realization. "My apologies. I have a bad memory, I forgot."

The Second Great-aunt snorted. ’This is Big Brother’s house. If I start a fight with Qin Mei, he’ll definitely side with her, and our branch of the family will be in for a world of hurt.’

’But age and experience will always prevail,’ she thought. ’I have plenty of ways to deal with a little girl.’

The Second Great-aunt looked at Jie Jingchen, her face a mask of kindness. "Jing Chen! When are you going to visit Shuyu from the Li Family? I heard she’s sick. If she knew you were back, she’d be so happy she’d recover without any medicine."

Jie Jingchen’s brow twitched slightly. A shadow fell over his dangerously handsome face as a cold voice escaped his throat. "Who? I don’t know her."

The Second Great-aunt faltered for a moment, but the smile on her face only grew more benevolent. "How could you not know her? That girl from the Li Family. You two were childhood sweethearts."

Before the age of ten, Jie Jingchen had lived in Xiangjiang. After he turned ten, he returned to Shijiu City. During his school years, he would come back to Xiangjiang for vacations, but after joining the military, he rarely returned even to Shijiu City, let alone Xiangjiang.

Qin Mei remained silent, standing calmly by Jie Jingchen’s side. She wasn’t going to fly into a rage at him like some shrew just because his great-aunt was trying to stir up trouble with a few words.

’When it comes to women who admire Jie Jingchen, Lin Yaru is the prime example,’ she mused. ’She’s already married to Jie Jingwei, yet she’s still thinking of having an affair, always looking for a chance to get close to Jie Jingchen.’

Jie Jingchen maintained the polite demeanor of a junior addressing an elder, but his words were sharp enough to infuriate. "Second Great-aunt, since when did you take up spreading lewd rumors?"

"Pfft!" Qin Mei couldn’t help but laugh out loud. When it came to shutting down elders, Jie Jingchen was the master. Thanks to his Granny’s training, he was practically a seasoned veteran.

"Who’s spreading lewd rumors?" The Second Great-aunt’s face turned green with anger. ’Spreading lewd rumors is far beneath someone of my status!’

"You," Jie Jingchen said, his face cold as he pointed her out without a shred of courtesy.

"Jing Chen, is that any way to speak to an elder?" the Second Great-aunt’s eldest son, Qiao Shijie, couldn’t help but interject.

"That’s right! How can you speak to an elder like that?" her second son, Qiao Shiren, chimed in.

"Jing Chen, where are your manners?" said the third son, Qiao Shifeng.

"My grandfather taught me. If you have a problem, take it up with him." Jie Jingchen brought out his grandfather, shutting the three of them up.

It was a joke. Even their own father didn’t dare act presumptuously in front of their Great-uncle, so how could the three of them possibly dare to confront him?

The status difference between the direct line and the collateral lines was immense.

Their Great-uncle would rather hand the Qiao Family’s business over to someone with a different surname than consider any of the three of them.

Even though their father was from a collateral branch, they could never accept watching their Great-uncle hand the Qiao Family’s fortune to his own grandson.

Qin Mei looked up, gazing at Jie Jingchen’s striking profile. She thought he would confront them head-on, never expecting him to just bring up his grandfather. ’But on second thought,’ she mused, ’this is exactly his style.’

"Jing Chen, your second great-aunt was just being kind, wanting you to visit that girl from the Li Family. After all, you two had a childhood engagement." The Second Great-uncle deliberately emphasized the words "childhood engagement."

’Childhood engagement?’ Qin Mei blinked. ’So there’s that, too. Well, well... Jie Jingchen has never mentioned this to me before.’

The Second Great-aunt’s confidence instantly returned. "Exactly! You had a childhood engagement with Shuyu, yet you married someone else and never gave the Li Family an explanation. How is that any different from being treacherous and breaking your promise?"

"Meimei, I’ve been wronged," Jie Jingchen immediately cried out, afraid Qin Mei would misunderstand.

"Wronged? Jing Chen, that childhood engagement was arranged by your mother and Shuyu’s mother. By crying foul, are you trying to make your own mother out to be a promise-breaker?" the Second Great-aunt asked aggressively.

Jie Jingchen ignored her, his gaze burning as he looked at Qin Mei. "Meimei, it wasn’t me."

Qin Mei was a bit stunned. The childhood engagement was arranged by her mother-in-law. She wasn’t angry, just surprised. She hadn’t forgotten that when she and Jie Jingchen went back to the Jie Family home, her mother-in-law had been in the middle of arranging a blind date for him.

’Arranging a blind date for Jie Jingchen when he already has a childhood engagement... that’s not right of her. Unless the engagement is fake. Or maybe it’s real, just an offhand comment between the two mothers that others took seriously, but she herself forgot about.’

Jie Jingchen knew about the childhood engagement, but Mrs. Xie had truly forgotten. It was just a joke; she had never taken it seriously.

"If it wasn’t you, then who was it?" the Second Great-aunt demanded, her heavily made-up face twisting into a scowl as she stared at Jie Jingchen.

"If it wasn’t you, then who was it?" Qin Mei scratched her head, grumbling to herself. ’It’s all because of his stupidly handsome face. If he were ugly as a smashed melon, would he still be attracting all these admirers?’

Jie Jingchen shot a glacial look at his second great-aunt before turning to Qin Mei and stating bluntly, "It was Jing Wu."

The corner of Qin Mei’s eye twitched. ’He’s throwing Jing Wu under the bus again.’ She felt a pang of pity for Jing Wu, having a brother like this.

"What Jing Jue? It was clearly you," the Second Great-aunt said, refusing to let him off the hook.

"It was you," the three Qiao Shijie brothers echoed in unison.

"Is there a marriage contract?" Jie Jingchen demanded in a frosty voice.

The Second Great-aunt froze, then stubbornly stuck her neck out. "Your mom and Shuyu’s mom were best friends. They studied abroad together. It was a verbal..."

"Did my mom specifically say it was for *me* by name?" Jie Jingchen cut her off with a scornful sneer, his voice frigid.

"She should have, right?" The Second Great-aunt was suddenly unsure. She hadn’t been there, after all. Logically, it should have been Jie Jingchen. But now that he’d asked, she wasn’t so certain. At the time, Jie Jingchen had already been born. The childhood engagement was made between Yan Qiu, who was pregnant with Jing Jue, and Xuehua, who was pregnant with Shuyu.

Whether it was for Jie Jingchen or for the unborn Jie Jingjue in her womb, only the parties involved knew for sure.

’Don’t ask how I know about this—of course, Xuehua told me. In any case, the person the Li Family has settled on is Jie Jingchen.’

"Mom," Jie Jingchen called out loudly towards the upstairs, no longer bothering to argue with his great-aunt.

Mrs. Xie happened to be at the top of the stairs. Hearing her son call for her, she paused for a moment, then quickened her pace down the staircase. Without even glancing at the people sitting in the living room, she walked right up to Jie Jingchen and asked, "What is it?"

"Did you arrange a childhood engagement for me?" Jie Jingchen asked his mother point-blank, his tone accusing.

"Huh?" Mrs. Xie looked completely baffled, staring at Jie Jingchen with a million questions in her eyes. "What’s gotten into you now, you rascal? What childhood engagement did I arrange for you? Why don’t I know anything about it?"

Jie Jingchen’s brow furrowed deeply. In a low, heavy voice, he reminded her, "Li Shuyu."

"Who is Li Shuyu?" Mrs. Xie asked back, looking even more lost. The expression on her beautiful face didn’t look like an act at all.

"Your best friend’s daughter, Li Shuyu," the Second Great-aunt couldn’t help but remind her.

Mrs. Xie seemed to finally notice the other two. Her gaze shifted to them, and after a moment’s hesitation, she still greeted them, "Second Uncle, Second Aunt."