If you were cold and aloof in your past life, why are you crying in this one?

Stepping out of Tingyuxuan, a gust of cold wind cleared Xi Lingxian's mind considerably.

I never expected Wang Jue to be so difficult to deal with now.

"Sister-in-law, what are you doing here...?"

Xi Lingxian never expected to run into Xi Wen here.

"Brother, what's wrong?"

Xi Wen carried the nourishing medicinal herbs, saying, "My godfather asked me to give these to Young Master Wang to help him recover."

Thinking back to how Wang Jue had been pestering and kissing her at Tingyu Pavilion, Xi Lingxian felt inexplicably uncomfortable facing Xi Wen now.

"I... I heard that Young Master Wang is unwell, and since he is a guest, I came to visit him."

Her speech was somewhat hurried, which immediately aroused the suspicion of the perceptive Xi Wen.

He lowered his gaze and carefully examined the area out of the corner of his eye.

The person in front of me still had a blush on their cheeks, with a touch of alluring color; further down, her collar was slightly loose, and a faint red mark on the side caught my eye.

There was no shortage of people visiting prostitutes in the military camp. Although Xi Wen never participated, he was not completely ignorant about matters of love between men and women.

Such a mark is clearly...

In an instant, Xi Wen felt as if countless fine needles were piercing his heart. Before the dense pain could spread, an uncontrollable anger and sense of humiliation surged to the top of his head.

His adoptive father clearly intended for him to marry into the family. Although marrying into the family was a humiliating thing, he loved his adopted sister and was willing to do so. He would spend his whole life with the girl he loved and being a live-in son-in-law was not a big deal.

But before they could even get married, such intimate marks were already left on her neck; the status of a son-in-law was already low, and if his wife had a few casual affairs, it would be an utter disgrace.

His expression darkened rapidly, and his tone sharpened: "Visit? Does my sworn sister think I'm a fool?"

Xi Wen was always gentle, humble, and polite in front of Xi Lingxian; she had never seen him lose his composure like this before. "What do you mean by that?"

Xi Wen pointed to her neck, his voice trembling slightly: "Is this how you should treat a patient? What exactly is your relationship with Young Master Wang? What did you two just do?"

Xi Lingxian was enraged by his blunt and rude question. Who was he to dare speak to her like that?

"Brother, my affairs with whomever I want are none of your business. You don't need to meddle so much."

Overwhelmed by anger and jealousy, Xi Wen's words became increasingly harsh and out of control.

"Even if it has nothing to do with me, you shouldn't be acting so recklessly. You're an unmarried girl, spending so much time in another man's courtyard, and coming out with these marks. If word gets out, won't you and the Xi family be ridiculed by the world?"

"My godfather once intended to... In my heart, I already consider you half a..."

"Shut up!" Xi Lingxian interrupted sharply, her displeasure turning into utter disgust. "Brother, you can't believe everything Father says. There has never been any real marriage agreement between us. It was just a joke from our elders. There's no need to take it seriously. My private affairs are none of your business to speculate so filthyly."

Xi Wen's face turned pale, and the burning anger in his heart suddenly cooled down. He belatedly realized that he had been too out of line, offending his sworn sister and making himself look too narrow-minded and embarrassing.

"Sister, I'm sorry. I was in a panic and said some nonsense. Please, please don't take it to heart."

Whether you marry me or not is irrelevant; I'm only concerned about your reputation.

Xi Lingxian didn't even glance at him. "No need. My sworn brother, please go about your business. Don't worry about me."

After saying that, she avoided his outstretched hand and walked straight past him without pausing for a moment.

In her past life, she was completely devoted to Wang Jue and didn't spend much time with her sworn brother, nor did she know him very well.

Because she had the idea of ​​marrying into the family, this person was brought to her by her father.

I thought he was an honest person, but I didn't expect him to reveal his true nature in just a few words.

Xi Lingxian disliked it very much.

She wouldn't even tolerate Wang Jue, let alone Xi Wen.

Who does he think he is, meddling in her affairs when nothing has even started yet?

Although she didn't intend to follow Wang Jue's advice, she wholeheartedly agreed with it.

If she were to marry into the family, she would be the wife, free to do whatever she pleased, and no son-in-law would have a say in it.

She never wronged herself when she was with the Wang family, so why should she have to accommodate him when she marries into his family?

Don't even think about it.

Taozhi was also quite angry. When she came back, she poured tea for her and complained to Caiping.

"People who seem gentle and kind usually can change their attitude after just a few words. It's really scary. Ladies, you have to be careful. People who have two faces are most likely to be treacherous."

Cai Ping covered her mouth in fright, "What nonsense are you talking about? He is the head of the family's adopted son. How dare we maids speak out of turn?"

Taozhi: "But when he opened his mouth, he clearly identified himself as our future son-in-law, which is something that concerns us."

The color screen looked at Xi Lingxian, "Young lady, what do you think?"

"Taozhi is right. We're not really family after all. You can't judge a book by its cover. It's always good to be on guard."

Xi Lingxian leaned back on the soft couch. Xi Wen's words were not enough to make her waste her energy being angry. She was thinking about Wang Jue's suggestion to go to Jiangzhou together.

Apart from Guangling, Jingkou, and Jiankang, she had never been to any other places. Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles, and she really wanted to see more other places.

She had just said she wanted to reconcile with him and cut ties with Wang Jue, but now she turned around and left with him. Wasn't that a slap in her own face?

That guy might think she's being hypocritical and playing hard to get.

"Sister!"

Upon hearing the voice, Taozhi smiled and said, "Second Young Master is here. This servant will go pour some tea."

Xi Song came running over, panting, "Sister, are you...are you alright?"

"What could possibly be wrong with me?"

"Just now, my sworn brother went to Father's study to apologize, saying that he had offended you by saying something inappropriate and insisted that Father punish him with thirty strokes of the military rod."

Xi Lingxian felt even more uncomfortable in her chest.

What's the big deal? She didn't say anything, yet she unwittingly became the villain.

When people found out, they didn't think that the eldest daughter of the Xi family had really done something against etiquette by getting married. Not only that, but when her sworn brother kindly tried to dissuade her, she became arrogant and turned around and blamed him.

"Is he out of his mind? I didn't say anything, and he's already doing this to Father?"

Seeing her sister angry, Xi Song was even more confused. "Sister, what's wrong? Did your sworn brother really do something wrong?"

"Oh--"

If it were someone who was shy and embarrassed to speak up, they would inevitably suffer in silence.

But Xi Lingxian was not.

She spoke without batting an eye, but it made the naive young man, Xi Song, blush.

"You, you can't be serious, can you? I remember Xi Hui used to take you to the Qinhuai River all the time, didn't he?"

"I, I, I just went to watch the fun and have a drink. I didn't hug any girls."

Although Xi Song was very young when his mother passed away, his few memories show that his parents were a very loving couple.

Therefore, he subconsciously did not want to make matters between men and women superficial.

Looking at her innocent and naive younger brother, Xi Lingxian was at a loss for words, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"That's the gist of it. I don't think I did anything wrong. It's all the fault of those two men. One was reckless and arrogant, and the other was rude. They should both be held accountable."

Xi Song scratched the back of his head. "Well, in that case, it seems that my sworn brother didn't say anything wrong, he's just a bit too straightforward."

Xi Lingxian raised her hand and slapped him. "You're right? Who gave him the audacity to treat me like his property? What is our relationship? Who gives him the right to interfere?"

Xi Song covered his head, his handsome face scrunched up in pain.

"But in this matter... isn't the one at Tingyuxuan who's in even worse shape?"

Xi Lingxian gave a forced smile: "That's right, so you should avenge me, and you'd better give that person thirty lashes, oh no, fifty lashes."

Xi Song shuddered.

"Forget it, I... I don't want to die at sixteen."