His Beloved Treasure

Qin Mingzhu lowered her head and started choking back tears.

Qin Mu watched her, noticing her downcast gaze and the sorrow it carried, and she, too, lowered her head.

”Do you think I was happy all those years? Constantly worried about a girl showing up and taking everything that was mine. Do you really think I was so naive not to see it coming? Apart from the fact that Mom had another daughter, I’ve imagined every other possibility—and every single one of them came true.”

Qin Mingzhu was still that stubborn girl. After saying those words, she could no longer hold back her tears. She threw herself onto the bed, as if surrendering herself to it, as though even eternal doom wouldn’t faze her.

”Of course, I know Mom’s death has nothing to do with you! But still, just as I thought, when Mom was gone, I, too, was kicked out of the house.”

Qin Mu just stood there quietly, listening. She could hear Qin Mingzhu’s voice gradually break into sobs.

”Do you know? I sometimes wonder, if Mom and I hadn’t come looking for Dad, if we’d never disrupted your lives, could the two of us have still made it? Mom finally became the mayor’s wife and started living with poise and decorum, but she wasn’t like that before. She used to be carefree—she smoked, drank, and made friends freely.”

Qin Mingzhu could still remember, from when she was little, how much she preferred that version of her mom.

Qin Mu continued to listen with her head lowered, thinking that it must have been because of desire.

Yes, desire. It had swallowed the essence of the woman she once was. She had transformed herself into the kind of woman who matched this man’s stature, abandoning her former self.

And so, Qin Mu suddenly understood the meaning behind that faint smile Zhang Rujia had given her before leaving.

It was a smile of quiet sorrow, of mocking herself, of regret over the past, of pain for never being able to return to what once was. With that faint smile, everything became a thing of the past.

Zhang Rujia! She, too, became part of the past.

”Maybe I was waiting for you to come back all along, only I didn’t realize it at first! That’s probably why I was so ’sharp-tongued and mean’ when I saw you!”

Qin Mu lifted her head again to look at the girl lying on the bed, quietly wiping tears from the corners of her eyes.

She couldn’t help but chuckle a little.

So this girl did know how awful she had been.

”But now! I have nothing left! Dad barely cares about me, and Mom is gone too!”

She suddenly flipped over, and burying her face into the bed, began to wail. Her sobs wracked her entire body—gut-wrenching, soul-crushing cries.

And so, a trace of sorrow flickered in Qin Mu’s sharp eyes. Silent as they were, they began to glisten with tiny, star-like tears.

Over the years, all that had transpired between Qin Mu, Zhang Rujia, and Qin Mingzhu...

Qin Mingzhu would rather she had never stepped foot into the Qin Family’s home. That way, she could still cling to a beautiful fantasy—that one day, father and daughter would reunite. Her father, she imagined, must be a man of exceptional stature. Even if she were illegitimate, she could still hold onto the admiration she had within her heart.

Qin Mu later thought to herself, if that year, she hadn’t returned...

No!

She had to come back!

Perhaps the entire cycle of cause and effect had already been orchestrated by fate.

From another perspective, everything was nothing more than predestined, and they were all mere pawns in the hands of destiny.

Thinking of it that way, suddenly, it didn’t seem so unbearable.

Qin Mu still couldn’t bring herself to walk over and sit beside her to comfort her. Instead, she stood quietly in the background, silently listening to the sobbing.

She wondered, whenever she cried like this, did she look just as pitiful?

But usually, when she cried like this, no one was there to see it.

”Qin Mingzhu! If you keep crying like this, I’m leaving!”

It was over ten minutes later that Qin Mu finally spoke. She couldn’t listen to it any longer, and besides, the girl must be exhausted by now.

Qin Mingzhu gradually quieted down, but she stayed slumped over the bed, unable to get up for a long time.

Qin Mu guessed that she’d likely cried her eyes swollen again, and for a while, there was little chance she’d allow herself to be seen.

At dinner, Qin Haiming took out his beloved baijiu once again. Both sons-in-law had brought him bottles of baijiu, but he insisted on serving his own, though it wasn’t something he had bought himself.

”From now on, our family won’t drink red wine anymore. It’s baijiu all the way. We Chinese should know how to drink baijiu,” he declared.

Qin Haiming didn’t let his sons-in-law pour the drinks; instead, he personally poured for them.

”This cup is a toast to both of you. From now on, I’ll have to rely on you two to take good care of my daughters—especially you, Yichen!”

As he spoke, he cast a meaningful look at Mu Yichen. Mu Yichen raised a brow but didn’t dare meet his father-in-law’s gaze. He simply lifted his cup and said, ”Understood. I’ll take care of it.”

Seeing Mu Yichen act so restrained and deferential, Qin Mu found it slightly surreal; he truly seemed just like a junior.

Usually, Mu Yichen only displayed such humility in front of his grandfather.

Wang Huanyu couldn’t resist joking, ”Looks like Brother-in-law has caused Father-in-law plenty of headaches, hasn’t he?”

Mu Yichen, unaccustomed to being called Brother-in-law, raised an eyebrow to glance at Wang Huanyu, then gave a slight smirk.

Since they lived in the same city and crossed paths frequently, Qin Haiming had a good grasp of Mu Yichen’s domineering temperament. Wang Huanyu, however, clearly didn’t know him well enough.

”Brother-in-law is the kind of person who flips the table at the first sign of trouble! Of course, he’s given Dad his fair share of headaches,” Qin Mingzhu chimed in.

Saying it as if in jest, with a deliberate emphasis.

Mu Yichen had long since come to terms with being called Brother-in-law by Qin Mingzhu. Years ago, she’d started calling him that because she was close with Jing Qing and had assumed he would marry her. That’s why she called him Brother-in-law.

But in Mu Yichen’s heart, he had always thought it was because of Qin Mu.

And now, it had indeed become reality!

Qin Mu sat quietly, listening to how well the family played along, feeling as though she were an outsider. So, she simply started eating.

Outside, the light rain was still falling. To be honest, this autumn rain, though fine and gentle, felt like razor blades slicing across one’s face, leaving the skin raw and stinging.

Yet at this moment, this home was hosting one of the warmest dinners they’d had in years.

”Mumu! Aren’t you going to say something?”

Qin Haiming lifted his gaze toward her, no longer the struggling figure from the living room earlier.

Qin Mu lifted her eyes briefly, then smiled faintly. ”I’m not good with words! Let’s have our Mu Zong speak on my behalf!”

Mu Zong still wanted her to write a self-reflection; having him speak for her seemed like the perfect compromise!

Mu Yichen turned his head, his deep, black eyes looking at her.

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