Chapter 8: Marriage Is Not Out of the Question

Xing Ani glanced at her hand, which had not been taken, crossed her arms, and said coolly, “Who were you talking to on the phone, Sister Yao?”

Si Yao withdrew her hand. “A little sister.”

“Your aunt’s daughter?”

“Yes,” Si Yao replied with a gentle smile.

Xing Ani gave a mocking laugh. “Already twenty-four and still calling her ‘little sister.’”

Si Yao did not respond to that and instead asked kindly, “Did you come here just to see me?”

Xing Ani had come about the same matter as Wen Sui, but her manner was more forceful.

“Who’s that woman at the Fragrant Court?”

“I can’t tell you that,” Si Yao shrugged. “You know very well, I have no say in A-Jue’s affairs. I can only watch from the sidelines.”

“No wonder any random trashy woman can get close to A-Jue with you being so useless,” Ani sneered, then her gaze dropped to the basket Si Yao was carrying. “Are those for A-Jue?”

“Not just for him, also for that girl,” Si Yao replied. Passing by the contraception aisle, she unflinchingly grabbed a stack, paused, then picked up a box and waved it in front of Ani. “A-Jue asked me to buy these to keep at home. Is this size right? I… don’t know him that well.”

Her intention was simply to distance herself from the twisted relationship between her and Xing Jue, but she hadn’t expected Ani’s expression to darken instantly. Ani stared at her for a few seconds. “Do you really believe he let that brat move in just to spite me?”

Si Yao watched her flamboyant, graceful figure leave and murmured, “I don’t believe it.”

…

After leaving the store, Xing Ani dialed Xing Jue again. The call, which had gone unanswered since last night, was finally picked up.

“A-Jue, how long are you going to keep sulking with me?”

A soft chuckle came from the other end. “Sulking?”

“I’ve already changed my surname for you, left the Xing family name behind, so why is that brat allowed to live at the Fragrant Court?”

The faint sound of a lighter flicking could be heard through the phone. Imagining him lighting a cigarette, Ani’s throat tightened, and her voice softened. “Those people abroad meant nothing, it was just to provoke you. I never let any of them touch me. If you’re angry about that, I’ll cut them all off. Just don’t touch her anymore. Make her leave our home, all right?”

After a long pause, the response came with a light laugh. “All right.”

…

The furniture Wen Sui selected from the catalog was custom-made and would take two days to arrive. Si Yao dropped off some personal items for her and left, not wishing to run into Xing Jue later.

But to her surprise, when she arrived home, Xing Jue was sitting on the sofa in the living room, glasses perched on his nose as he tapped away at his laptop.

Si Yao hesitated for a moment, then approached politely. “Should I pack a few sets of clothes for you?”

Xing Jue’s slender fingers paused on the keyboard. He looked up, eyes cold and sidelong. “What do you think?”

Si Yao wavered, then replied, “I’ll pack them.”

When Ani lived at the Fragrant Court, Xing Jue would come and go, but at first, he stayed there for long stretches. Now that Wen Sui had moved in, it shouldn’t be so different.

Xing Jue said indifferently, “Go ahead and pack.”

Si Yao nodded and went upstairs.

“And yours as well,” Xing Jue’s languid voice drifted from behind her.

Si Yao stopped in her tracks and turned after a moment. “What did you say?”

Xing Jue took off his glasses, his tone cold and lazy. “I said, yours as well.”

Si Yao understood, came back downstairs, and asked, “Why mine?”

“What do you think?” he replied.

Si Yao gave a small smile. “Grandmother stays here one day a week. I can’t leave.”

“You can,” Xing Jue replied, closing his laptop and tossing it aside. His hands interlaced over his knees, his manner both careless and deliberate. “The matter of a child is paramount. Grandfather wants a child. Si Yao, if you won’t bear one for me, then you’ll have to stay and look after someone else’s.”

The smile faded slowly from Si Yao’s face. She gazed at him silently for a long time before nodding. “Fine. But the Fragrant Court isn’t under just one person’s control anymore. Whose child do you want?”

Xing Jue chuckled. “The question is, whose child do you want? After all, you’ll be the one raising it.”

Everyone said she would raise it, but no one ever questioned why it had to be her.

From raising Xing Jue himself to raising his child, it had always been this way.

Si Yao sat down on the coffee table opposite him, unable to hold back. “With what identity am I meant to raise it?”

Xing Jue was silent for a long while before replying blandly, “You already know the answer.”

“Marriage?”

“Marriage?” Xing Jue repeated, his tone indifferent, his eyes dark and unreadable.

Si Yao felt a chill at his gaze.

Xing Jue said, “If marrying you is what it takes for you to raise the child, it’s not impossible.”