Chapter 49
Xie Shiqing followed the sound and stretched out her hands, bumping into Zhong Ning's arms.
She needed to quickly draw a clear line with this person.
She hadn't expected that just when things had settled down on Zhong Ning's side, something would happen to her instead.
This Zhong Ning was not the same Zhong Ning. She hadn't yet decided what to do about it, but instinctively, she wanted the engagement to proceed smoothly.
"Zhong Zinuan, just how long do you plan to keep pestering me!" She traced along the waistline and grabbed the person’s arm tightly, her anger clearly written on her face—not an act at all. "Have you even listened to yourself?"
"We are both omegas. Even if you've forgotten that you still have a girlfriend, I haven't."
"Wake up already!"
Zhong Ning was still confused, but that didn’t stop her from steadily supporting Xie Shiqing and shielding her behind. "Sis?"
Zhong Zinuan didn’t even glance at her, her eyes fixed solely on Xie Shiqing. Large tears spilled from her eyes as if a bottle of water had been overturned. "What exactly is wrong with me? Where am I inferior to her?"
"It’s just one night, just one small request. You can’t even agree to that? I promise I won’t ask for anything else in the future—just one night!"
Hearing her words, Xie Shiqing looked as though she had heard something utterly repulsive. Her aversion and disgust were so obvious that she deliberately displayed them for everyone present to see.
"You truly make me sick."
"Ning Ning, let’s go."
At that moment, Zhong Ning had countless questions she wanted to ask. But hearing Xie Shiqing’s words, she chose to obey her first. She led her back to the empty dressing room, opened a bottle of water, and handed it over to help her calm down.
The spacious room held only the two of them.
Xie Shiqing sat on the soft beige sofa, the bright red hem of her dress trailing on the floor like a fallen red camellia.
Her complexion looked terrible—so bad that even someone as oblivious as Zhong Ning could see it.
Her long eyelashes trembled. Her blushed cheeks, which should have looked like blooming peach blossoms, now revealed a trace of fragility.
Her rose-colored lips were tightly pressed together, as though a thousand words were trapped behind them, yearning to be spoken.
She sighed.
"Ning Ning, could you sit a little closer?" Xie Shiqing said. "I want to lean on you."
Zhong Ning’s legs moved faster than her brain. She immediately sat closer.
Xie Shiqing leaned toward her, resting her head against Zhong Ning’s chest. Her tone was filled with sorrow and complexity.
"What just happened… you saw it too. Zhong Zinuan, she..." She sighed again, as if there was something difficult to speak of. Finally, she made up her mind. "She’s actually my biological younger sister by blood."
"This matter is a huge scandal, but to clear up the misunderstanding, I need to tell you. After you hear it, you must keep it a secret and tell no one, alright?"
Zhong Ning had originally been shocked that her own sister was in love with her fiancée—even demanding a night of intimacy on the day of their engagement, something worthy of topping the gossip headlines.
But the moment Xie Shiqing spoke, her focus of shock immediately shifted.
"What?!"
Wasn’t Zhong Zinuan a member of the Zhong family? How could she be related to the Xie family? Did Zhong Zinuan herself even know about this?
So messy, so messy!
She felt like her CPU was under intense strain.
Xie Shiqing rubbed against her shoulder, like a pitiful soul with no one to rely on, who had finally found a temporary safe harbor, and could now take out the pain and secrets hidden deep within to let them breathe.
She sighed and said, "I’ve known about this for some time now. It was an accident."
"It happened before the car accident. I noticed that my mother was returning home much later than usual at night, but the people at the company said she was leaving work on time. So where was she during that time?"
"You know how it is in business—socializing and coming home late is normal. But the strange part was, she claimed she didn’t go anywhere. She said she came home right after work because she missed me and wanted to see both me and grandma as soon as possible."
Xie Shiqing tugged the corners of her lips into a faint smile, her tone melancholic and light.
"I felt something was off, so I asked the driver to tell me her schedule."
"Turns out, she went to see Zhong Zinuan. Strange, isn’t it? The Zhong and Xie families have always been on good terms, so why meet in private and keep it a secret?"
"Later, I had someone conduct a paternity test, and that’s when I found out—Zhong Zinuan is actually my mother’s daughter."
"When I heard the news, I probably had the same expression as you." She spoke wearily, like a tired bird unable to find its home, circling helplessly in the air. "I always thought my parents were deeply in love, different from those in other wealthy families. Turns out, that was just my own wishful thinking."
"It really hit me hard."
But it wasn’t true.
Except for the fact that Zhong Zinuan was the Xie family daughter, every other word she said was a fabricated lie, full of holes.
She had no feelings toward her mother. Upon learning about this, she wasn’t devastated in the least—she didn’t even care.
The head of the Xie family had always been unfaithful, though discreet. The average person wouldn’t know, but anyone paying closer attention would realize it wasn’t exactly a secret.
Madam Xie knew about this too. The two of them were marriage partners in name only. She didn’t care whether her wife was unfaithful—she simply wanted to raise her daughter properly.
But the surprise was genuine.
Xie Shiqing knew her mother was unfaithful, but she hadn’t known that Zhong Zinuan was one of her children. It was absurd. Zhong Lin probably had no idea.
Madam Zhong had been a mistress who rose to power—she had been the Xie family head’s lover for a long time. Who would have thought she was so cunning, managing to ensnare both the heads of the Zhong and Xie families simultaneously.
When the two heads of the Zhong and Xie families drank together, the former probably felt quite smug and pleased inside.
But Zhong Zinuan also knew about this matter and often used it as an excuse to get close to Xie Shiqing.
Xie Shiqing herself didn’t care about that. If Zinuan true identity were exposed, the Xie family wouldn’t tolerate her, and the Zhong family even less. She would definitely keep her mouth shut.