When He Yingzi returned, she saw Qiao Shu bustling about in the kitchen while the other Feng Family members looked anxious yet helpless against her.
“What happened?”
He Yingzi furrowed her brows, her eyes full of confusion.
She didn’t understand. She had only stepped out briefly to deal with that scheming old fox Shen Muqian, so how had the atmosphere at home turned into this?
Besides, hadn’t Qiao Shu always been very obedient before? If they told her not to cook, she would be a little reluctant but still listen obediently.
But today…
As soon as they saw He Yingzi return, the Feng Family members swarmed around her like they had found their backbone.
“Yingzi, you’re finally back. You, you have to give us some advice.”
“What you said before was true. Shushu really suffered terribly at the hands of that old man from the Qiao Family! Such a pitiful girl!”
“Yingzi, you must find a way to help Shushu.”
…
Seeing her parents and grandfather surround her and chatter away without pause, He Yingzi felt a pounding headache.
Fortunately, her two little ones had been taken by her husband to stay with their grandparents for this period.
Otherwise, she felt the situation would be even more chaotic.
“Grandpa, Mom, Dad, don’t panic. Tell me one at a time, slowly.”
He Yingzi took a deep breath to stay calm and asked what had happened at home.
Soon enough, through Elder Feng’s words, He Yingzi learned everything that had occurred while she was away.
“…Grandpa, are you sure? A Xiao really got injured… there???”
Hearing that her brother had been injured there and could no longer have sexual relations, He Yingzi couldn’t shake the feeling that it all seemed so unreal.
“How could it be fake? I saw it myself. That bullet hit right at the root of his thigh. Sigh…”
At this point, Elder Feng let out a light sigh, his eyes full of heartache for his grandson.
Hearing Elder Feng say this, He Yingzi said nothing more. She merely furrowed her brows tightly.
“Shushu said that even so, she still wants to marry A Xiao?”
“That’s right! Yingzi, you have no idea how deeply and sincerely that child spoke. If not for A Xiao’s injury there, I would have been truly moved and wished to let them get married and register right away.”
He Hong wiped the tears from the corner of her eye, feeling immense regret in her heart. A girl as wonderful as Qiao Shu was destined to have no fate with their Feng Family.
After all, their son was no longer worthy of such a fine young lady. They couldn’t just watch her jump into a fiery pit.
“You don’t know, when I heard that child Shushu say she wouldn’t marry anyone but your brother in this lifetime, my feelings… Sigh, I was both moved and heartbroken. Such a good child, ruined by her grandfather…”
“Yes, Shushu is a good child. But A Xiao has no fate with her. Now with this situation, we can’t really let that child still marry A Xiao.”
Seeing her parents’ red-rimmed eyes, He Yingzi felt quite unsettled too.
Though she had always wanted to break up this absurd marriage between her brother and Qiao Shu, she never wanted it to happen under these circumstances.
“Yingzi, you always have the best ideas. Help us think of a way to dispel Shushu’s notion of marrying A Xiao and bring her back to normal. Now that your brother is like this, we can’t let him ruin such a fine young girl.”
Thinking of his son and Qiao Shu, Feng Shengli couldn’t help sighing again, his tone full of regret.
He regretted his son’s injury and deeply regretted losing Qiao Shu as a daughter-in-law.
He Hong saw the regret and sorrow in Feng Shengli’s eyes. She wiped her own tears and choked out a curse.
“This brat! We told him to find someone and get married ages ago, but he refused. Now look! Injured there, he won’t ever need to marry again! Serves him right to be a bachelor for life!”
Though she said this, He Hong still ached for her son, who hadn’t even married or had children, and now never would.
Seeing her family grieve for Feng Xiao and worry for Qiao Shu, He Yingzi’s mood grew heavy too.
After all, both were family she valued greatly.
“I have no immediate solution for Shushu. You all know she’s very resistant even to blind dates. Now that A Xiao is back, her focus is entirely on him, so she won’t notice anyone else.”
He Yingzi was troubled too. Originally, she had planned to separate them while Feng Xiao was away and gradually introduce Qiao Shu to various outstanding men. She believed that with persistent introductions day after day, one would eventually catch Qiao Shu’s eye.
That way, Qiao Shu’s “brainwashing” from Old Master Qiao could be cured.
But who knew, she had only just started, not even succeeded with one, when Feng Xiao returned.
And returned with such an injury.
With Qiao Shu’s pure and kind nature, she was even less likely to leave Feng Xiao at a time like this…
Thinking of this, He Yingzi felt a headache coming on. The problem had become even more troublesome and harder to resolve…
“I’ll go upstairs to see A Xiao first.”
He Yingzi stood and deliberately passed by the kitchen. Seeing the petite, fragile figure busy inside, she furrowed her brows deeply.
She wanted to call out to Qiao Shu, who was stewing soup for Feng Xiao, but considering her current “out-of-control” state, she knew anything she said would be futile.
So she let out a light sigh and headed to Feng Xiao’s room upstairs.
As soon as she entered, she saw Feng Xiao sitting on the bed, slapping his own head.
Seeing her usually steady and calm brother acting so foolishly by smacking his head, He Yingzi, who had still harbored some doubt about his severe injury, now believed it completely. Her brother really was hurt!
“A Xiao, what are you doing? Are you feeling unwell?”
He Yingzi walked over with concern and asked softly.
Hearing He Yingzi’s voice, Feng Xiao belatedly noticed his sister had arrived.
In an instant, his lips pressed tightly together.
He hadn’t expected… that little girl to have such a great influence on him.
Now, whenever he closed his eyes, his mind filled with Qiao Shu looking at him with sincere, pure eyes, smiling as she said she liked him…
“Pa—!”
Feng Xiao instinctively smacked his forehead again to stay calm.
Faced with her brother’s bizarre behavior, He Yingzi could only think he must be too gravely ill!
It made sense… After all, for a normal man to be injured there and become impotent forever was a huge blow.
“A Xiao, actually… it’s not so bad. You never planned to marry anyway, so whether it’s injured or not doesn’t make much difference. You don’t have to…”
He Yingzi organized her words to comfort Feng Xiao.
But hearing his sister’s “comfort,” Feng Xiao was utterly speechless.
Wasn’t this comfort just rubbing salt in his wounds, like she held a grudge against him???
“Sis, the injury is real, but the part about there is fake.”
Feng Xiao had spread this “white lie” to get his family to cancel his engagement to Qiao Shu, so that the girl, only nineteen, could find happiness without him holding her back.
Now that things had developed this way, lying or not made no difference, so he saw no point in continuing.
He came straight out and confessed the truth to He Yingzi.
“…I just felt that a thirty-year-old man like me, with two kids, really doesn’t deserve such a young and beautiful girl. She shouldn’t waste her time on me. I… don’t deserve her.”
For some reason, after voicing these long-held thoughts, Feng Xiao felt an unfamiliar… sourness in his heart?
Even a bit of reluctance.
Feng Xiao took a deep breath and suppressed the sourness and reluctance.
“I didn’t want to hold her back, so I lied. But I didn’t expect her reaction to be like that.”
Hearing Feng Xiao’s explanation, He Yingzi had been furious at first that her brother would lie about his own health, but seeing how much he considered Qiao Shu, she couldn’t bring herself to blame him.
“Sigh, you really… scared Grandpa and Mom and Dad to death.”
He Yingzi sighed lightly, saying with a headache.
“Now Grandpa and the others aren’t insisting on the marriage anymore, but Shushu… she’s been brainwashed too deeply by her grandfather. She won’t change her mind so quickly.”
“Mm, then… how about I just go back to the barracks and not stay home.”
Thinking of Qiao Shu’s earnest, innocent declaration of liking him, Feng Xiao’s lips twitched slightly as he suggested.
But He Yingzi rejected the idea immediately.
“No! Don’t you dare leave! I’m afraid Shushu might follow you back to the barracks to take care of you!”
Hearing He Yingzi’s words, Feng Xiao fell silent and said no more.
“You’re injured now, so stay home and recover properly. Don’t make trouble. As for Shushu… I’ll have your brother-in-law look into reliable psychologists in the Capital…”
“Alright, sorry to trouble brother-in-law.”
…
While He Yingzi and her brother discussed “curing” Qiao Shu, on the other side, Qiao Shu focused intently on making a nutritious love meal for Feng Xiao~!
“Shushu, oh my little ancestor! Be careful not to cut your hand!”
Aunt Sun, the new cook recently hired by the Feng Family, watched Qiao Shu chop vegetables with great worry, looking as if she wanted to snatch the knife away!
Though Aunt Sun hadn’t been with the Feng Family long, she adored the pure, beautiful, and kind Qiao Shu.
She even had a daughter about Qiao Shu’s age, so she treated Qiao Shu like her own.
Every day when cooking, she always picked dishes Qiao Shu loved and took excellent care of her.
So today, seeing Qiao Shu suddenly insist on cooking in the kitchen—and no one could stop her—Aunt Sun stuck close by her side, fearing she’d hurt herself.
“Aunt Sun, it’s fine. I know how to cook! Don’t worry.”
Qiao Shu had planned to secretly add spiritual spring water while cooking, but with Aunt Sun hovering right there, she couldn’t find the right moment.
She thought, this won’t do. So Qiao Shu pretended not to want to wash or chop the vegetables and dumped them all on Aunt Sun.
“Aunt Sun, why don’t you wash and chop these for me? I’ll start cooking. Please, please~”
Qiao Shu blinked her eyes, looking at Aunt Sun pitifully and innocently, shamelessly deploying her ultimate weapon—acting spoiled.
“Alright, alright, I’ll wash and chop the ingredients for you. But Shushu, when you cook, watch the fire closely. Don’t let the oil splash your face…”
Seeing Aunt Sun finally go wash the vegetables while chattering away—though she still glanced over occasionally, not staring constantly—Qiao Shu turned her body slightly to block Aunt Sun’s view. She took out spiritual spring water from her Spirit Spring Space and added it to the pre-selected seasonings.
Then, while Aunt Sun wasn’t looking, she added some to the stewed soup for Feng Xiao.
Once the spiritual spring water went in, soon the kitchen filled with a refreshing fragrance, the aroma wafting temptingly and making one’s mouth water.
“Oh my! Shushu, what did you put in this soup? It smells so amazing!”
Aunt Sun inhaled the rich, enticing scent, salivating while utterly shocked that this delicate young lady, who seemed never to lift a finger at housework, actually knew how to cook!
And she did it extremely well! At least better than her own culinary skills, since she couldn’t make such delicious stewed soup.
Then, Aunt Sun thoroughly understood what it meant that you couldn’t judge someone by their appearance!
Not only did Qiao Shu excel at stewing soup, she was also unparalleled at stir-frying vegetables!
When Aunt Sun brought the eight dishes and two soups that Qiao Shu had made to the table, the Feng family members were all stunned!
“Aunt Sun, are you sure these were all made by Shushu???”
He Hong widened her eyes and looked at Aunt Sun in shock.
“Yes, I never expected that not only could Shushu cook, but she did it so deliciously! She’s really too amazing!”
Aunt Sun said with deep emotion. Earlier, while helping Qiao Shu in the kitchen, she had watched the young lady use the most ordinary ingredients to produce such a large table of dishes that were perfect in color, aroma, and taste!
If she hadn’t had strong self-control, she almost would have eaten all the dishes right there in the kitchen!
Because they were just too delicious!
Hearing Aunt Sun’s praise, the Feng family members finally digested the fact that Qiao Shu really knew how to cook, and that she did it extremely, extremely well.
“Then where is Shushu?”
He Yingzi saw that Qiao Shu hadn’t entered the dining room after a long time, and a guess suddenly formed in her heart.
“Oh, Shushu said she went to deliver food to Regiment Leader Feng.”
…
“Knock knock knock—!”
Feng Xiao, who had been lying on the bed feeling somewhat restless, suddenly heard a knock at the door. He was puzzled, wondering who it could be, when Qiao Shu’s clear and sweet voice came from outside.
“Regiment Leader Feng, I’ve come to deliver your meal.”
As soon as he heard that it was Qiao Shu, Feng Xiao instinctively panicked a little and even straightened his clothes and hair.
But soon, after realizing what he was doing, he stopped his actions.
“Ahem, come in.”
Feng Xiao cleared his throat lightly and said in a deep voice.
Originally, he had wanted Qiao Shu to just leave the food and go, but after thinking about it, there were some things he needed to make clear to her.
So he didn’t stop her from placing both portions of the meal on the table in his room, behaving as if she intended to eat with him.
“Regiment Leader Feng, this is the chicken soup I specially stewed for you. It’s good for helping your wounds recover. Try some…”
Looking at the bowl of chicken soup handed over by the young lady’s fair and clean little hands, Feng Xiao blanked out for a moment.
When he came back to his senses, he realized he had already taken the bowl of chicken soup from Qiao Shu’s hands.
After pondering for a while, Feng Xiao decided to make things clear to the young lady, so—
“Qiao Shu, there was something I lied about earlier. Actually… my injury isn’t serious, and it didn’t hurt…”