The younger sister mistakenly identified her brother when visiting relatives and was kissed by the c

Qiao Mingzhu rushed to the two of them, shoved the letter in her hand at Qiao Shouguo, and tears streamed down her face like broken beads, showing how anxious and worried she was.

"Dad, look! My sister wrote in her letter that she went to the army base to find Bai Zhengyuan!"

"What?!"

Qiao Shouguo snatched the letter and read it word by word.

The more you look at him, the more the veins on his forehead bulge.

After reading the last line, Qiao Shouguo's already dark face turned a terrifyingly ashen, and the veins on the back of his hand holding the letter bulged.

"That bastard! How dare she!" Qiao Shouguo slammed his hand on the table in anger, making the bowls and chopsticks clatter. "Her household registration has already been transferred back to the Qiao family; she's a member of the Qiao family! How dare she run off to the Bai family on her own! If word gets out, those gossipy people in the compound will think that our Qiao family can't tolerate her and has mistreated her!"

Upon hearing this, Qiao Lijun sneered, his eyes filled with undisguised disgust and contempt: "Dad, I've said it before, this brat has been raised like a wild child in the countryside, she has no manners whatsoever! The elders haven't even given a word, yet she dares to just leave! I don't know how the Bai family raised such a wild and unruly person, no wonder I look down on her!"

Seeing the father and son's angry expressions, Qiao Mingzhu quickly wiped away her tears and continued to add fuel to the fire.

"Dad, brother, this isn't the time to be angry!" Qiao Mingzhu's eyes were red, and her voice was even weaker. "Now that Sister Xinxin is gone, who knows what gossip people will have about our family. And... and she's a young girl with no money, traveling all the way to the capital alone. What if something happened to her on the train? How will we explain it to our relatives and friends? We have to find her as soon as possible!"

Her words were sincere and heartfelt, every word of which was for the sake of the Qiao family's reputation and Qiao Xinxin's safety, as if she were the most sensible and considerate member of the Qiao family.

But in reality, she was screaming in her heart: Go! Go and bring that bitch back to take the blame!

Qiao Shouguo's chest heaved violently as he listened to Qiao Mingzhu's words.

He stared intently at the letter in his hand, remaining silent for a long time, so long that the air seemed to freeze.

After a long while, his face turned ashen, and he folded the letter page tightly, bit by bit, his eyes so sinister they seemed to drip with water…

Qiao Shouguo, his face ashen, folded the letter page tightly, bit by bit.

His chest heaved violently a few times, then suddenly his tense shoulders relaxed, and he casually tossed the folded letter onto the chipped dining table.

He didn't get angry, nor did he shout to arrest anyone. Instead, he picked up the bowl of lukewarm porridge in front of him, scraped the rim of the bowl with his chopsticks, and continued to drink it expressionlessly.

"Snoring..."

The sound of slurping porridge was particularly jarring in the deathly silent living room.

"Dad?" Qiao Mingzhu was anxious, her feigned weakness almost crumbling. She stepped forward, staring intently at Qiao Shouguo. "Aren't you going to find Sister Xinxin? She went to the capital!"

"Looking for what?" Qiao Shouguo didn't even look up, his withered lips clicking as he uttered a cold sentence, "Her legs are her own; she can go wherever she wants!"

"But... what if my sister, a girl, encounters a kidnapper on the street, or..."

"With her gone, there's one less person to feed in the family." Qiao Shouguo tapped his chopsticks on the rim of his bowl, his voice laced with a cold, calculating tone. "Have you forgotten what state our family is in right now? The house was robbed, everything was ransacked. We've only managed to get a few months' worth of rice, flour, and furniture out of our fixed deposits. Every extra person in the family means another mouth to feed, another expense! It's good that she's gone; she's actually saving me some food!"

Standing to the side, Qin Fangfang opened her mouth, instinctively wanting to curse Qiao Xinxin as a little slut, but when she heard her husband's scheme, she swallowed the words back.

Yes, my family is dirt poor now.

Although some of the money in the savings account was recovered, life still goes on, and there are always places where money is needed.

That brat has run away now, one less mouth to feed, which will save a lot on water and electricity bills, so it might not be a bad thing.

As for face...

"Dad, Mom! But Sister Xinxin went to see Bai Zhengyuan!" Qiao Mingzhu stamped her feet anxiously, her eyes instantly reddening. "If she goes there and spreads all sorts of nonsense, wouldn't that be a huge slap in the face to our Qiao family? What will outsiders say about our family..."

"Bang!"

Qiao Shouguo slammed the porcelain bowl on the table, splashing the unfinished porridge all over the table.

"Enough! Haven't outsiders talked enough already!" Qiao Shouguo suddenly raised his head, his triangular eyes fixed on Qiao Mingzhu, his gaze filled with undisguised annoyance and rage. "With our family's reputation now, do we have to worry about what people say?! If you had just behaved yourself and stopped doing those shameless things, would our family have been so humiliated in public yesterday, being pointed at and cursed behind our backs?!"

These words were like a resounding slap across Qiao Mingzhu's face.

Qiao Mingzhu trembled at the shout, and when she met Qiao Shouguo's cold and scrutinizing eyes, she was too frightened to utter another word.

She bit her lower lip hard, lowered her head, tears welled up in her eyes, and fell in large drops onto the floor. Her shoulders trembled, and she looked pitiful as if she had suffered a great injustice.

But her lowered eyelids concealed a deep sense of panic and resentment.

Now that Qiao Xinxin is gone, who in this family will be there to highlight her obedience and docility?

Without that uncouth and ignorant country girl to compare them to, wouldn't Mom and Dad vent all their anger on this "fake heiress" whenever they felt angry or were looked down upon outside?

……

As night fell, every household in the courtyard drew their curtains.

Qiao Lijun's vacation has only a few days left.

The thought of returning to his unit soon, and the fact that he and Mingzhu had just confessed their feelings for each other, filled him with a deep sense of reluctance, like a cat scratching at his heart.

The room was cramped and the lights were off.

Qiao Lijun sat on the edge of the bed, holding Qiao Mingzhu tightly in his arms. His strong chin rested on the top of her head, which smelled of soap, and his voice was full of tenderness and reluctance.

"Mingzhu, I'm going back to my unit soon. But I'm so worried and reluctant to leave you. I don't want to go back at all."

"I can't bear to part with you either, brother..." Qiao Mingzhu leaned obediently against his broad chest, her voice as soft and sweet as water, making Qiao Lijun's bones melt and his guilt multiply.

"But don't worry!" Qiao Lijun took a deep breath of the fragrance in her hair, patted her back with his large hand, and solemnly assured her, "As soon as I get back to the army, I'll immediately go and submit the marriage application. Once the political review and the application are approved, we'll go get our marriage certificate. Then, we'll be a legitimate couple, and no one will be able to say a word against us!"

At this point, Qiao Lijun's tone became even more somber: "It's just... I'm sorry to trouble you. I'm only a company commander right now, not high enough rank to be allocated a family housing unit according to military regulations. You can't come with me to the military base for the time being. After I leave, you'll have to live with your parents for a while."

Upon hearing this, Qiao Mingzhu's heart sank.

Living with those biased parents who were already angry? She could already imagine the days ahead where she would have to work like a slave and watch their every whim!

But she would never show the slightest dissatisfaction.

She lifted her head from Qiao Lijun's embrace, her red, rabbit-like eyes looking at him, forcing out an extremely sensible and obedient smile.

"What's a little hardship for me? My parents used to love me so much, and even now that they know I'm not their biological child, they won't deliberately make things difficult for me, so don't worry. But you, the training in the army is tough and the tasks are heavy, so you must take good care of yourself."