Chapter 98

Chapter 98

Returning to Wushan, the villagers had already prepared everything for their wedding and arranged for experienced people to teach them the proceedings.

Perhaps too nervous, a simple matter took him five times to understand; Ming Fei Yu sat by his side, observing his trembling fist on his knee, and the beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

Xie Zhi Gui felt someone gently pry open his clenched fingers and then grasp his hand; turning his head, he was met with Ming Fei Yu’s smiling eyes.

"Try not to be so nervous."

Ming Fei Yu gently patted the back of his hand and wiped the sweat from his face, then turned to Ah Liu Ye and said, "That's enough for today."

Ah Liu Ye objected sternly, "But he hasn't learned it yet!"

Ming Fei Yu waved his hand dismissively, "If he can't learn it, let it be. Don't push him."

Xie Zhi Gui looked at him, puzzled.

"What do you mean 'let it be'? This is your wedding we're talking about. What if it gets messed up?" Ah Liu Ye shot up in protest.

Being with a human had nearly driven him, an old bone, to faintness, and now he was pulled over to teach this human the wedding procedures. Despite multiple explanations, the human still didn’t understand, hopelessly foolish. But Ming Fei Yu was protective of him, he couldn’t be hit nor scolded, and Ah Liu Ye was fuming with frustration.

Meanwhile, Ming Fei Yu seemed utterly oblivious to his words, leading Xie Zhi Gui out as he coolly dropped the line, "If it gets messed up, it'll be on me."

After all, with the person in his hands, even if the wedding was botched, it's not like he could run away.

Xie Zhi Gui, being tugged along for a few steps, turned back to see Ah Liu Ye with his beard askew in anger, and he tugged at Ming Fei Yu with worry.

"I'm fine, just need to rest a bit."

"How can you say you're fine when you have such dark circles under your eyes?" Ming Fan Yu said with concern, gently massaging the bruise away.

The two began to canoodle, oblivious to their surroundings.

A-Liu Ye felt like a glaring third wheel.

Xie Zhi Gui sensed a resentful gaze upon them; catching A-Liu Ye's envious glare out of the corner of his eye, he sighed. With Ming Fan Yu's attention solely on his haggard face, unconcerned about anything else, Xie knew his studying was done for the day.

"Let's just go," he decided.

Stop stringing A-Liu Ye along and making him jealous.

Ming Fan Yu wasn't the least bit embarrassed, he felt.

As the two walked away, A-Liu Ye’s frustration didn't subside; he cursed vehemently at the entrance: "Lust blinds reason!"

So many good girls around, and yet you treasure a hypocritical and fickle human - you'll regret it sooner or later!

Someone else, just like A-Liu Ye, was certain they would come to regret their choices.

Xie Zhi Gui's phone was on the verge of exploding with calls.

Xie Qing Yuan bombarded him through every means of contact.

If he didn't answer her calls soon, Xie Zhi Gui feared she might actually take a knife and come through the internet to find him.

Upon answering the call, he hadn't even spoken when a familiar roar of fury blasted from the other side; Xie quickly pulled the phone away, sparing his ears from assault.

"Xie, Zhi, Gui!!!"

"You've grown quite bold, haven’t you? Skipping school, not at home - where on earth did you go?!"

"Your classmate told me you're getting married?!"

"You don’t even have a girlfriend, whom are you marrying?!"

"Have you been deceived?!!"

"Hello! Hello! Are you still there? Talk to me!"

She was furious, and Xie Zhi Gui didn't dare to bring up the matter of marriage. He hesitated, considering hanging up and calling back once she had calmed down, but suddenly a hand reached from behind and took the phone away.

"Hey!" Xie Zhi Gui tip-toed, trying to retrieve it.

Ming Fan Yu pressed a finger to his lips, signaling 'shush', drew Xie into a tight embrace, patted his back to soothe him, and then calmly spoke into the phone, still blasting with Xie Qing Yuan's tirade: "He's marrying me."

There was instant silence on the other end, and this eerie quiet lingered for a long while, the line dead.

Xie Zhi Gui listened anxiously, finding the silence more terrifying than any sound.

After a long pause, Xie Qing Yuan's voice came through again, eerily calm, "Is this, Ming Fan Yu?"

Ming Fan Yu looked down at Xie Zhi Gui, whose face was etched with worry, and gently patted his head.

Don't be afraid.

To the other end, he responded coolly, "It's me."

A sharp intake of breath was heard.

Then Xie Qing Yuan's suppressed anger crescendoed from quiet to a full-blown outburst.

"Get lost!!!"

"What have you done to my brother! If you dare harm a single hair on his head, I swear I'll burn your whole Wu Mountain to ashes right now, you damned cur!!!..."

Tsk.

Xie Zhi Gui, covering his ears, snatched the phone back quickly, and hurriedly interjected, "Sis, it's me, stop yelling, please."

Xie Qing Yuan's tone immediately softened, concern for his safety flooding her voice as she bombarded him with questions: "Did Ming Fan Yu threaten you? Are you hurt? Where are you? I'm coming to rescue you right away!"

Xie Zhi Gui: "No rescue needed."

"What do you mean?!" Xie Qing Yuan's voice pitched higher.

"I'm doing this voluntarily; he didn't force me."

Xie Qing Yuan was rendered speechless.

What exactly had Xie Zhi Gui just said? Why didn’t she quite catch that?

During her momentary daze, she heard Xie Zhi Gui's chiding voice from the phone—"Hiss, I'm on a call, stop hugging me."

"Back off, your hair is tickling my neck."

Meanwhile, another person’s breath mingled familiarly with Xie Zhi Gui’s on the other end of the line.

Xie Qing Yuan: "......"

For the first time, she was shockingly quick on the uptake, her face turning dark with anger.

She felt an overwhelming urge to crush her phone and then go wash out her ears.

Her tenderly nurtured ‘little cabbage’ had run off with a ‘pig’ behind her back!

Xie Qing Yuan felt the world spinning, her entire reality crumbling before her eyes.

On the other end, Ming Fan Yu was shamelessly cozying up to her ‘cabbage’, driving Xie Qing Yuan to her limits; she felt like her head would explode!

"Xie, Zhi, Gui!!!"

"Speak up! You owe me an explanation today!"

"Sis, I’m here."

Xie Zhi Gui barely managed to push Ming Fan Yu away, shooting him a warning look to behave, only to be met with ringing in his ears from her shouting.

He felt that encountering these two individuals was a true affliction in his life.

Although Xie Qing Yuan was angry, she hadn’t completely lost her senses, "When did you two get back together?!"

Xie Zhi Gui saw Ming Fan Yu's posture, as if he wanted to cling to him again, skillfully wriggled out from under his arm, and dashed into the inner room to hide, finally finding a moment's peace.

"Hello? Why have you gone silent again?!"

Xie Zhi Gui: "He came to find me during my final exams."

"Final exams? How did I not notice?!"

The next second, Xie Qing Yuan suddenly realized something, muttering in disbelief, “Holy shit, I was in the hospital at that time, wasn’t I?”

By that reckoning, the longer she stayed in the hospital, the longer Xie Zhi Gui had hidden Ming Fan Yu at home. How could Xie Zhi Gui, who sat expressionlessly by her side in the hospital, vowing to stay far away from Ming Fan Yu while she cursed him, be in his arms the moment he got back?

She found it hard to believe her brother could pull off such a stunt—concealing a mistress in a golden house.

But then she recalled the extra pillow that had appeared on Xie Zhi Gui’s bed, his often disheveled clothes, the red marks on his neck…

No way, had they already...so soon?

On closer inspection, every unusual behavior of Xie Zhi Gui had its clues; she just hadn’t taken them to heart, because she believed he was sensible and rational enough to distinguish right from wrong, not to indulge in clandestine affairs behind his family's back.

Reality had dealt her a heavy blow.

Yet, she still couldn’t bring herself to believe it, clinging to the idea that it was Ming Fan Yu who had seduced her innocent, naive ‘little cabbage’—Xie Zhi Gui must have been tricked!

“How long has this been going on?!” she demanded.

Xie Zhi Gui answered honestly, “Since the day he came to find me, we’ve hardly been apart.”

Xie Qing Yuan was shocked once again, “What do you mean?”

He was hiding more from me?!

Xie Zhi Gui stared at the floor, hesitating before admitting, “He was there with me at Changbai Mountain.”

Xie Qing Yuan fell silent for a moment, putting pieces together, incredulously asking, “Don’t tell me that the Yun Song who shared a bed with you was Ming Fan Yu in disguise?”

At this point, it seemed there was no need for secrets anymore.

Xie Zhi Gui sighed, “It was him.”

“Are you trying to ascend to heaven?!” Xie Qing Yuan’s roar nearly vibrated the phone out of his hand.

“Sister?”

She was so angry she couldn’t speak clearly, “You really are! You truly are!...”

Daring to be so brazen, to seek pleasure right under her nose!

No wonder she always felt that something was off between the two of them. Several times when she went to see him, the air was suffused with a cloying fragrance, and all she saw was Xie Zhigui's face flushed with a tender glow, and "Yun Song" with his head down picking up clothes.

No, it should be Ming Fei Yu.

Damn it!!!

Some things can't be clearly communicated over the phone. Suppressing her anger and disappointment, she tried to speak rationally to Xie Zhigui: "You need to come back and clarify things with me! Otherwise, don't ever think of having me as your sister again!"

Although Xie Zhigui had a headache, he could only nod: "…Okay, I understand."

Indeed, such matters should be discussed face-to-face.

After hanging up the phone, he was fraught with worry and turned to look at Ming Fei Yu, who was leaning against the door frame at some unknown time.

"Ah Yu, would you accompany me to see my family?"

——

The meeting place was set at a teahouse near their home. Xie Qingyuan had reserved a private room on the second floor and was led by the waiter to the door of the private room.

Xie Zhigui was anxious on the way there, standing at the door, hand on the doorknob, still hesitating whether to bring Ming Fei Yu inside.

It would have been okay if only Xie Qingyuan was there, but Xie Sanxiao had also been called over, and the feud between Ming Fei Yu and him couldn't be resolved in a few words.

If a conflict unfortunately arose, Xie Qingyuan would definitely side with Xie Sanxiao. But whom should he support then?

"What's wrong?" Ming Fei Yu saw him in a daze and asked.

Xie Zhigui: "Maybe you should wait outside, and I'll go in alone."

Ming Fei Yu pinched his face, "Let's go together."

"Since we've decided to spend the rest of our lives together, whatever happens, we should face it together."

Xie Zhigui smiled, "That's also true."

They were in this together; if there was scolding to be had, they should face it together.

Pushing the door open, two gazes inside the private room turned sharply towards them, as piercing as needles and swords.

They chose the seats farthest away to sit down.

Xie Zhigui looked up to see Xie Qingyuan glaring at him irritably; it was clear that his and Ming Fei Yu's act-now-explain-later approach had ruffled her feathers.

But there was no helping it now; the steps had been taken, the ring was on the finger, and promises had been made. He would not, could not, back down.

Meanwhile, Xie Sanxiao sipped his tea with his head down, daring only to sneak glances their way. Caught by Xie Zhigui, he flashed an awkward smile and set down his cup.

With a forced pleasantry, he said, "Little Gui, long time no see. How have you been lately?"

Xie Zhigui shifted his gaze and tightened his grip on Ming Fei Yu's hand, replying coldly, "I’ve been doing very well in your absence."

Xie Sanxiao, now more awkward, could only force a laugh, knowing that Xie Zhigui referred to the time he was tricked into going to the Misty Mountain. He looked pleadingly towards Xie Qingyuan. Despite her annoyance at having had a hand in bringing these two together, a daughter's plight is often more persuasive than a son's, and she was easier to talk to.

"Qingyuan, why don’t you talk to Little Gui?"

Xie Qingyuan had been nursing a headache since they walked in, displaying their affection openly, “Xie Zhigui! Explain to me how the two of you met, from start to finish!”