Chapter 6: Bonds Severed

With a single sentence, her father hung up the phone.

Such fury could only be for Li Xinchun.

It had always been this way, ever since she was a child.

Li Jiuwei turned her direction toward the Li family home; she had questions for them anyway.

In the Li family’s living room, the atmosphere was heavy.

The moment Li Jiuwei appeared, everyone present cast her resentful glances.

“Why did you hurt Xinchun? Do you realize she’s pregnant?” her mother accused, her voice trembling with pain.

“Why can’t you be as sensible as Xinchun?” Li Jingbai said with obvious disgust.

“Because you upset her, Xinchun is in the hospital right now. You’ll go there yourself to apologize, and that will be the end of it,” her father declared, putting an end to all arguments.

Her mother frowned and added, “We can’t let this go so easily. Jiuwei, your sister is pregnant. As her elder sister, you should look after Xinchun at the company.”

A sharp laugh escaped her lips.

“What are you laughing at?” Li Jingbai’s face darkened with displeasure.

Li Jiuwei’s gaze swept over them, one by one. “How do you have the nerve to say such things?” she sneered. “She had an affair with my fiancé, got pregnant with his bastard child, and you want me to apologize and care for her? Who gave you the confidence to utter such shameless words?”

“Li Jiuwei, mind your attitude. We’re your parents and your brother,” her mother said, her anger barely contained.

“Oh, you remember you’re my family? After what you’ve done to hurt me, do you even deserve that title?”

Li Jiuwei suppressed her fury, her voice trembling with accusation.

Her mother stepped forward and, without warning, slapped her hard across the face.

She couldn’t dodge in time.

Her face stung, but Li Jiuwei managed a mocking smile, her eyes locking onto her mother’s.

Her mother awkwardly lowered her hand, her voice turning gentle. “Jiuwei, we’re your family. We’d never harm you. Xinchun and Huaijing love each other. If it weren’t for your interference, those lovers wouldn’t be apart. Jiuwei, you owe Xinchun an apology.”

“Interference? In your eyes, I’m the third wheel destroying their love?” At that moment, Li Jiuwei’s heart ached with an unbearable tightness.

She stared at her mother in disbelief.

Both were her daughters, yet she showed such blatant favoritism.

“It doesn’t matter what you think. You must apologize to Xinchun,” her mother insisted, her guilty eyes avoiding Li Jiuwei’s gaze.

Li Jiuwei’s face was cold, her eyes icy. “If you want me to apologize, forget it.” With that, she turned and left. Even as she reached the yard, their voices of complaint still followed her.

She never expected anything from them, yet their words still managed to stir her heart.

Li Jingbai caught up with her as she was leaving.

She said, “Get lost.”

“You ill-mannered thing.”

“I was born with a mother but never taught by one. Maybe you should blame your own mother,” she retorted.

Her sarcasm ignited Li Jingbai’s anger, but then he suddenly smiled, his handsome face cold. “Trying to get a rise out of us again? Too bad, that trick doesn’t work anymore. You’re too calculating, not as pure as Xinchun. No wonder Jiang Huaijing doesn’t want you.”

“If you can’t speak properly, you might as well be mute.”

“You don’t know what’s good for you. I’ll give you one piece of advice: if you want to live well in the Jiang family, you’d better know your place. The opportunity is right in front of you.”

He was threatening her. This was her own brother.

Li Jiuwei said nothing more. She opened her car door and drove off without a backward glance.

As for Li Jingbai’s reaction, she couldn’t care less.

Her face still burned with pain.

Back home, she found Jiang Huaijing feeding porridge to Li Xinchun, the two so wrapped up in each other that the air between them seemed to spark.

They had noticed Li Jiuwei’s presence.

Li Xinchun called out awkwardly, “Sister.”

“Are you deaf? Xinchun is talking to you,” Jiang Huaijing scolded lightly, and when his gaze fell on the slap mark on her face, he immediately understood.

Only someone from the Li family could have struck her.

Serves her right! She needed a lesson.

“Sister, your face…”

“Why pretend you don’t know? Of course it was someone from your family standing up for you.”

“Sister… I’m sorry, it’s all my fault.” She bowed her head, tears streaming down in self-reproach. Li Jiuwei was truly impressed—such acting talent was wasted outside the entertainment industry.

Jiang Huaijing comforted Li Xinchun, his tone full of pity. “Xinchun, it’s not your fault. It’s all Li Jiuwei’s fault. Even if she were beaten to death, she’d have brought it on herself.”

“Huaijing… saying that, you’ll only make Sister even sadder.”

They performed their duet to perfection.

Li Jiuwei couldn’t be bothered to watch them any longer. As she was about to go upstairs to rest, Jiang Huaijing frowned.

This time, she hadn’t gotten angry?

He was momentarily distracted.

Li Xinchun noticed and, a trace of hatred flickered in her eyes as she gently nestled into Jiang Huaijing’s arms.

Upstairs, Li Jiuwei took out a diary.

Inside was a photograph.

In it, a younger version of herself and Jiang Huaijing smiled brightly, radiating joy. She was twelve then, Jiang Huaijing fourteen.

As children, they had always been close. Jiang Huaijing had been gentle and protective toward her.

At school, he shielded her from everything, and she loved to follow him around.

A marriage contract had bound her to Jiang Huaijing.

Back then, when she learned of it as a child, she nervously climbed the wall of the Jiang family estate.

“Brother Huaijing, will you marry me someday?”

Jiang Huaijing, reading in the garden, smiled warmly at her. “That depends—will little Jiuwei always like me?”

“I’ll always like you, Brother Huaijing.”

“Then I’d better start preparing the betrothal gifts.”

They laughed together.

Li Jiuwei gazed at the photo and chuckled softly.

In the end, it all became a taste of bitterness.

Ten years in the countryside—ten long years.

At first, Jiang Huaijing would visit her, then, for various reasons, could only write. Her family, as punishment, didn’t allow her a phone, nor did they let anyone from the village help her. If she tried to run, someone from the Li family would drag her back.

Her only way to contact him was by letter.

Eventually, even the letters stopped coming.

When she returned three years ago, everything had changed.

The Jiang Huaijing who had once been gentle and doting now looked at her with deep loathing; all his kindness was reserved for Li Xinchun.

She thought it was just a brother’s fondness for his younger sister.

But she was blind—not once had she seen the truth: they were in love.

She had been so foolish, so blind to their duplicity.

Jiang Huaijing’s hostility and aversion toward her had grown profound. She knew their engagement was as good as over, and just as she was about to propose breaking it off—

At Li Xinchun’s birthday party, somehow, she ended up in bed with Jiang Huaijing.

From that day on, the hatred in his eyes intensified.

Bang!

The door was kicked open. Li Jiuwei slipped the photo back between the diary’s pages.

She faced the intruder calmly, her brows knitted.

“Li Jiuwei, Xinchun will be staying here for a while. Her pregnancy is unstable, and I need to take care of her. I’m warning you—don’t play any tricks on Xinchun!”