Chapter 44
Xia Liansheng said, “Jiulin, are you really so heartless?”
This time, Qin Jiulin didn’t speak. It was Liu Zhongyuan who spoke up, gently brushing off Qin Jiuzhen’s hand that was grabbing onto Qin Jiulin’s arm. Of course, he didn’t use much force, but Qin Jiuzhen still let out a painful cry and quickly pulled back his hand.
He even took a step back, and with a slightly exaggerated motion, he looked at the spot where his hand had been slapped, and indeed, it had turned a bit red.
Xia Liansheng walked over and shielded Qin Jiuzhen behind him. “Why did you lay hands on him?”
Liu Zhongyuan was also a bit surprised. The slap he had just given didn’t have nearly as much force as he currently had when flipping through a book. Qin Jiuzhen was really raised delicately, and Xia Liansheng really spared no effort!
“Wasn’t it just a gentle pat? Did your hand break? If it didn’t break, then hurry up and leave. If someone finds out that you’ve brought unauthorized personnel in, the trouble will be on you, not us!”
Liu Zhongyuan even extended his hand and grabbed Qin Jiulin’s wrist right in front of him. “By the way, we’re going to eat. You can stay here by yourselves.”
Qin Jiulin just glanced at his wrist being held, but made no movement. He followed the force Liu Zhongyuan exerted and walked forward, gesturing for Qi Yu to follow.
The three of them walked away like this, leaving Xia Liansheng and Qin Jiuzhen behind. The two of them stared blankly as they walked further away, never even considering that Qin Jiulin would actually treat Xia Liansheng with such disregard.
Qin Jiuzhen asked after a moment of silence, “Liansheng ge… do you think my brother is… with that person?”
Xia Liansheng instinctively denied, “That’s impossible.”
Qin Jiuzhen said, “But my brother usually doesn’t let others touch him so casually.”
Xia Liansheng replied, “But you also know that your brother wouldn’t take a liking to someone so quickly. Even I took such a long time to reach this point!”
Qin Jiuzhen fell silent for a moment before asking, “Liansheng ge, do you really like my brother so much?”
Xia Liansheng was taken aback, looking a bit confused as he stared at Qin Jiuzhen. “Of course, I like you the most.”
Qin Jiuzhen said, “Then why…”
Xia Liansheng knew what he wanted to ask, but he couldn’t reveal his true intentions at the moment. If he were to say it out loud, what if someone were to find out…
“Xiao Zhen, don’t overthink it. Everything I’m doing is for you, to give you a better life. So, don’t worry, okay?”
Qin Jiuzhen didn’t really understand, but he was willing to believe in Xia Liansheng’s feelings for him.
“I understand. I won’t ask anymore. Liansheng ge, you’re definitely doing all this for me. I know that you’re the best to me.”
Now he doesn’t have the qualification to be willful, after all, he can live in the military camp safely thanks to Xia Liansheng.
Qin Jiuzhen said, “Alright, Liansheng ge, please take me back now. If someone finds out that you brought me in, you will get into trouble, and I don’t want to cause trouble for you.”
Xia Liansheng nodded and looked around. No one noticed their presence, so he breathed a sigh of relief. “Let’s go, I’ll take you out. And… about Jiulin…”
Qin Jiuzhen said, “I will talk to my parents about it, and I will speak well of my brother. After all, our future days will be better.”
Seeing how sensible he was, Xia Liansheng felt extremely sorry for him. But Qin Jiulin’s situation wasn’t very good, so he could only suppress his own feelings and slowly escort Qin Jiuzhen back to his place.
Qin Jiuzhen’s disappointment and somewhat sad expression subsided after Xia Liansheng reluctantly left. He returned to the tent and said, “I’m back.”
Qin Shanzhou asked, “You’re back?”
Yao Meimei hurriedly approached. “Xiaozhen, how did your conversation with Liansheng go?”
Qin Jiuzhen didn’t mention Xia Liansheng’s matter. “Mom and Dad, I saw my brother!”
Qin Shanzhou frowned slightly. “Why is he so persistent? We can see him wherever we go. Our days have just started to get better, don’t bring us trouble.”
Yao Meimei said, “He’s a disaster, always causing trouble for us. Can’t he stand seeing us have a little bit of happiness? Where is he? Xiaozhen, take us to him now, watch me drive him away!”
“I don’t know who brought him here. How can someone like him live here? Aren’t they afraid of getting killed?”
Qin Jiuzhen said, “No… My brother, just like Xia Liansheng, is also a beastman. He has been specially recruited by the military to form a team with another beastman.”
Upon hearing this, both Qin Shanzhou and Yao Meimei were taken aback. Clearly, they didn’t expect things to turn out this way. It took them a while to recover.
Qin Shanzhou said, “Then… where is this kid? If he saw you, why didn’t he come to find us? Does he not care about us anymore?”
Qin Jiuzhen really thought that it seemed like he didn’t care about them anymore.
Yao Meimei said, “How can he not care about us? Xia Liansheng is better than him, he cares so much about our family. This Qin family member is acting like a stranger!”
Qin Shanzhou said, “Alright, it’s understandable for a child to have a temper. By the way, Xiaozhen, your brother…”
Qin Jiuzhen looked downcast. “I… when I saw my brother earlier, his attitude seemed off. He was cold and distant towards Liansheng ge, and he didn’t want to chat with me either. I asked him to come back with me to see you, but my brother… he refused. He didn’t want to, and he even told me not to look for him in the future.”
Yao Meimei’s voice turned sharp. “I knew this disaster wouldn’t be anything good! Look, we raised him all this time, and now that he has the ability, he treats us like strangers!”
Qin Shanzhou asked, “Xiaozhen, did he really say that? That we should fend for ourselves? That he wouldn’t help us at all?”
Qin Jiuzhen had no idea. They hadn’t talked much before his brother left, and Xia Liansheng might know, but he wasn’t here now!
“Well… I’m not really sure either. My brother didn’t say much to me before he left. I actually wanted… I wanted to talk to him a bit more.”
Yao Meimei interjected, “What else is there to ask? I think he’s just a heartless person. It’s a tragedy! If we had known, we should have abandoned him when he was born. Look at all the losses he brought us when he was with the Qin family. If it hadn’t been for Xiaozhen’s lucky birth that brought us some fortune, where would we have earned so much money?”
Although they no longer had those things now, Xia Liansheng’s protection during this time made them believe that once the chaos in the city was restored, they would regain everything they had lost. At the very least, they would have a house.
Qin Shanzhou heard some noise from behind and turned around to look, then shouted, “Both of you, don’t cause any trouble. Otherwise, we’ll have to serve you again. So lazy and annoying!”
When he said this, Yao Meimei and Qin Jiuzhen listened without showing any inappropriate expressions. They had long grown accustomed to such scenes.
Of course, they only behaved this way when Xia Liansheng wasn’t around, at least not here. How much time had passed since then?
Their attitude towards the two elderly people had completely changed.
But the two elderly people didn’t say anything either. They obediently stayed quiet and didn’t make any noise. After all, they knew that though Qin Shanzhou and Yao Meimei had a bad attitude, they were the only ones willing to take care of them now.
If they caused trouble now and annoyed them, there would be no one to take care of them later. They would be left in a hopeless situation!
After a moment of silence, Qin Shanzhou spoke, “No, we can’t just leave it like this. Jiulin is an variant beastman now, with such incredible abilities. How can we give up on him? We must find him and have a chat!”
Yao Meimei sneered, “And what good will it do if we find him? Do you still expect him to take care of us? This heartless person, raising him was a waste. He should just die, what’s the point of him being alive…”
Qin Shanzhou insisted, “Regardless of the outcome, we still have to try. In the end, Liansheng is still not a member of our Qin family. What if something happens in the future and he refuses to help us?”
“It won’t matter then. We have no reason to look for him. But Jiulin is different. He is our true son, and we can rely on him to take care of us!”
Yao Meimei felt that what he said indeed had some truth to it, so she suppressed her discomfort and asked, “That’s all well and good, but what should we do? Xiaozhen just said that he doesn’t want to come. He even joined some other squad and abandoned us so quickly, despite how good we were to him before he was born!”
Qin Shanzhou replied, “I don’t know the specific situation either. Let’s wait until we see him in person and confirm his attitude towards us.”
Yao Meimei muttered, “Instead of looking for him, it would be safer to have Xiaozhen quickly make a decision about his relationship with Liansheng. There’s really no need to find that brat.”
“Liansheng has been so good to us, he definitely loves Xiaozhen. But that little beast might not!” Qin Jiuzhen said.
“Mama, don’t talk about brother like that. Maybe he’s just temporarily unwilling to see us because of past misunderstandings. Give him some time…” Qin Jiuzhen said.
Yao Meimei sneered, “Past misunderstandings? What misunderstandings? Did we hit him or scold him? Even if the family was always in trouble, we didn’t abandon him. Instead, we fed, clothed, and raised him well. Now that he’s grown wings, he’s rejecting us. Misunderstandings? When he was eating our food and wearing our clothes, why didn’t he run away then?”
Qin Jiuzhen sighed. He also had the same thoughts in his heart, but…
“Mama, calm down. Let’s wait a little longer. We’re safe in the military camp for now. After the army cleans up the city, we can go find brother. He won’t refuse us then,” Qin Jiuzhen said.
Yao Meimei still looked down on Qin Jiuzhen and said, “We’ll see when the time comes. I’m happy not seeing him now.”