Secret Lover Who Stealthily Fell in Love with My Older Sister - Chapter 92

Chapter 92: Qiao Xi first returned to her apartment…

Qiao Xi first returned to her apartment. The car stopped at the community gate, and she also picked up some items that had been sitting at the courier station for several days. These were things she had bought under Zhou Ziqian’s persuasion. She wasn’t in the mood to open them now, so she just hugged them back and stuffed them into the art studio.

After stealing the wine, she only had one place to go: not her home, but the secret base that only Shen Ya knew about.

Her phone received many messages. They were either inquiries from Qin Shunyao and Jiang Yunxi about her whereabouts, or constant phone calls from Jiang Yunyi and Fang Moyao, all of which Qiao Xi ignored.

The secret base hadn’t been visited for a long time, and a layer of dust had settled, but there wasn’t much stuff, so cleaning up was simple. The activity happened to give her mind a temporary break. Since she had stolen the wine, she naturally needed some snacks to go with it, so she ordered takeout. By the time she finished tidying up, the takeout arrived.

She ordered some braised food as snacks. After opening the takeout box and eating two braised duck feet, she started figuring out how to open the red wine bottle. But this didn’t stump her; by searching for the brand, she quickly found the way to open it.

She had never drunk red wine before, but Jiang Yunxi hid many in the wine cellar on the basement floor of their house. She seemed to have seen this brand in Jiang Yunxi’s wine cellar. The secret base didn’t have wine glasses, so she had to drink straight from the bottle.

The wine was very fruity and sweet. The alcohol content was not as strong as the ones she used to drink at Blank, and the texture was quite smooth. It didn’t have a burning sensation when it went down her throat. Qiao Xi’s eyes brightened. She was very satisfied with this bottle of wine.

Just as she was about to take another few gulps, her phone on the table vibrated. If it were calls from her sisters, she could ignore them, but a call from her mother was one she couldn’t dismiss. Even if Qiao Xi was angry, she couldn’t ignore her mother.

She put down the red wine, picked up her phone, took a deep breath, and pressed the answer button. In the past, she would have spoken immediately when answering her mother’s call, but this time she said nothing.

“Where is Xiao Xi now?” Qin Yunxin turned on speakerphone. Jiang Zhiqing sat beside her, her hands clenched into fists on her lap, staring at the phone screen with worry and anxiety.

“In a place where I don’t want Mom and Sister to find me.”

“Xiao Xi, you know we didn’t mean it that way.” Jiang Zhiqing quickly and nervously explained: “How could Mom ever abandon you? You were young then, and we were afraid you wouldn’t be able to accept it, which is why it dragged on for so long. Even if the Fang family wants to recognize you now, it still has to be what you want. Your sister was wrong not to explain clearly. When are you coming home, Xiao Xi? Mom will make you something delicious.”

Qiao Xi didn’t doubt her mothers’ love. She just couldn’t accept the deceit and being excluded by her family. It made her feel abandoned again. That’s why she was angry and sad. She didn’t want to go home to face her family now, and she was afraid of the idea of meeting her biological relatives.

“But I don’t want to go back now,” Qiao Xi said. “Mom and Sister hiding this from me makes me very angry.”

“Then…” Jiang Zhiqing was cut off by Qin Yunxin as soon as she spoke. Qin Yunxin grabbed Jiang Zhiqing’s hand and shook her head. Her voice was gentle, like she was soothing Qiao Xi: “Then Xiao Xi, take good care of yourself for these few days. When you’ve thought things through and are ready to forgive Mom and Sister, we’ll be waiting for you at home.”

“Thank you, Mom.”

“Xiao Xi, Mommy and Mom still need to apologize to you. Don’t worry, your two sisters won’t bother you either.”

With Qin Yunxin’s apology and assurance, Qiao Xi’s unhappiness lessened considerably. However, she definitely needed private space to mentally prepare herself. Only when she could think clearly and face Fang Moyao, would she perhaps return home.

Shen Ya, who was teaching, had no idea what was happening. When she finished class and returned to her office, just as she pulled out her chair to rest, she noticed her phone had over a dozen missed calls and countless messages.

She initially thought something was wrong at home and Chen Xi was urgently looking for her, but after checking, she saw they were from Fang Moyao and Jiang Yunyi. Even more surprisingly, she received a message from Qiao Xi’s mother.

Based on the messages from Jiang Yunyi and Fang Moyao, Qiao Xi had probably run away from home, and everyone was currently unable to find her. They had placed their last hope on her. Qiao Xi’s mother also entrusted her to keep an eye on Qiao Xi during this time, to prevent Qiao Xi from getting into trouble.

Right after replying to Qiao Xi’s mother, Jiang Yunyi’s call came through again. Shen Ya stepped out of the office and into the stairwell before answering.

“Shen Ya.” Jiang Yunyi finally got through to Shen Ya. She let out a sigh of relief. Knowing Shen Ya must still be working, she decided to keep it brief: “One of Xiao Xi’s birth mothers is named Fang Lanxi. She is Fang Moyao’s aunt. This has always been our family secret, but now our two families have discussed it and planned to let Xiao Xi recognize the Fang family. However, when we brought it up today, she was very resistant. Not only did she not come home, but we don’t know where she is now. I think she might come to you.”

The few sentences contained a huge amount of information, too much for Shen Ya to fully process: “I’m sorry, I haven’t received any messages from Xiao Xi.”

“This…” Jiang Yunyi suddenly doubted her own guess. “Then if she does come to you, please let me know.”

“I think I know where she is. Don’t worry, I will take good care of her.”

“Thank you. I won’t disturb your work any further.”

After hanging up, Shen Ya rubbed her head. She had another class soon and couldn’t find a colleague to cover for her today. She opened the apartment door access app and saw that Qiao Xi had left shortly after arriving home and hadn’t returned since.

It seemed her guess was correct; Qiao Xi must be at her secret base.

There wasn’t enough time now for her to go find Qiao Xi, so she could only call to confirm. As Shen Ya pressed the dial button, Qiao Xi answered immediately.

“Teacher Shen?!” Qiao Xi was surprised to receive Shen Ya’s call at this hour.

Shen Ya leaned her shoulder against the wall. Her tone was flat as she asked: “Xiao Xi, don’t you have anything you want to tell me?”

This made the braised duck foot in Qiao Xi’s hand drop back into the plastic box. Shen Ya wasn’t teaching at this time. Calling her suddenly to ask this inexplicable question, what did she want to hear?

Could it be that Teacher Shen knew what happened today?

It seemed news traveled fast in the family. They probably didn’t know where she was, so Sister Yunyi contacted Teacher Shen.

Regardless of what Shen Ya was thinking, Qiao Xi wouldn’t miss the chance to act pitiful: “Teacher Shen, I’m unhappy.”

“Jiang Yunyi told me. Xiao Xi, wait for me. I’ll come find you after work.”

“Does Teacher Shen know where I am?”

“Yes.” Shen Ya curved her lips slightly. Hearing Qiao Xi’s tone, she seemed to not be in a bad mood. Shen Ya was relieved for now: “Wait for me at the secret base.”

Before the next class started, Shen Ya sent a message to Jiang Yunyi, saying she knew Qiao Xi’s location. Jiang Yunyi didn’t ask for the detailed address and only asked her to keep an eye on Qiao Xi for the time being.

Qiao Xi’s mother had the same request, and now even Jiang Yunyi. The word “keep an eye on” made her imagine Qiao Xi as a little Samoyed who refused to go home, and the family, unable to manage Qiao Xi, could only beg her to catch the puppy and watch her.

Shen Ya was amused by her own thought. She put away her phone and left the stairwell. The break was short, only enough time for her to return to the office and make a cup of tea.

Upon learning that Shen Ya hadn’t forgotten the secret base, Qiao Xi’s worries vanished. She had been concerned that she wouldn’t be able to see Shen Ya for a while. Now, she could take this opportunity to actually live with Shen Ya.

Such an occasion definitely deserved a celebration. Qiao Xi decided to save the wine for later that evening to savor slowly with Shen Ya. She still had some time now, so she planned to take a nap while waiting for Shen Ya to finish work.

Fang Moyao had a headache ever since Mumu woke her up that morning. At the time, she thought she was dreaming, but Mumu’s panic made her realize something serious had happened.

She threw off the blanket, got out of bed, stepped onto the carpet barefoot, and then went to the clothes rack to grab a bathrobe to put on before calling Zhou Ziqian. Hiding her heartache, she told her: “Don’t work today, come back and take me to find Qiao Xi.”

Zhou Ziqian rushed home immediately. When she returned, Fang Moyao had just finished showering.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know.” Fang Moyao tossed the bath towel she was wearing onto Zhou Ziqian, went to the walk-in closet, and grabbed a random outfit to change into. “Mumu just told me that Qiao Xi stole the wine I kept at Blank and ran off.”

“Ooh, as expected of your biological younger sister. Your tastes are identical. Fang Moyao, I never expected the person who could control you would be your long-lost biological younger sister.”

“Stop being a smart aleck.” Fang Moyao’s brows furrowed: “I suspect Jiang Yunxi and the others told Xiao Xi about our family.”

“And now?” After Fang Moyao turned around, Zhou Ziqian naturally buttoned her up and straightened her collar and sleeves.

“To our old house.”

When she found the apartment empty, she hated the feeling of being unable to control everything, so she vented all her anger on Jiang Yunyi.

The moment Jiang Yunyi answered the phone, Fang Moyao’s sarcastic voice of accusation invaded her ear.

“Jiang Yunyi, your family really raised a ‘good’ child! Qiao Xi stole my wine from Blank. As her sister, aren’t you going to take responsibility?”

Jiang Yunyi had just learned about what happened between Qiao Xi and Qin Shunyao at the cemetery a second before, and the next second she received Fang Moyao’s call. She was extremely annoyed. Her words were laced with mockery and amusement: “Who was the one who insisted on forcing Xiao Xi to recognize your family? Do you think Xiao Xi is an ordinary child? This is good. It’s time you experienced the temper of this little rascal.”

It was the first time Fang Moyao had nowhere to direct her anger. After Jiang Yunyi hung up on her, she lost her composure, a rare sight. Driven by irrationality, she called Shen Ya over a dozen times. Finally, Zhou Ziqian couldn’t bear it anymore and quietly reminded her: “How about you call tonight? Boss Shen must be teaching now.”

Seeing Fang Moyao almost exploding with anger, Zhou Ziqian held back her laughter for a long time. Fang Moyao in this state was too rare. Before the other person recovered, Zhou Ziqian decisively opened her phone’s camera and secretly pressed the shutter countless times, taking pictures of Fang Moyao’s face.

She took plenty of photos, but then an icy hand pinched her ear. While being dragged away, Zhou Ziqian was internally overjoyed. On a day off from work, she was willing to do anything with Fang Moyao, even die on the bed!

When night fell, Shen Ya finally opened the door to the secret base.

She fumbled in the dark for the light switch. When the light came on, she immediately spotted Qiao Xi lying on the sofa. A thin blanket was draped over her stomach, with one corner already on the floor. Shen Ya softened her steps as she approached and bent down to pick up the blanket from the ground.

Perhaps the sudden brightness disturbed Qiao Xi’s sweet dream, so before Shen Ya could fully cover her with the thin blanket, the person on the sofa slowly opened her eyes.

The dazzling light prevented Qiao Xi from fully opening her eyes at once. She raised her hand to rub her eyes and shed a few physiological tears before she could clearly see Shen Ya in front of her.

“Teacher Shen.” Qiao Xi’s voice was still a little deep, likely from just waking up.

Shen Ya bent down and touched her face: “Do you want to sleep a little longer or go eat now?”

Seeing Shen Ya, the slight sense of grievance in Qiao Xi’s heart resurfaced. She pressed Shen Ya’s hand and rubbed her cheek against Shen Ya’s palm. Her eyes were moist with a thin layer of water vapor: “Teacher Shen, I have nowhere to go. Can you take me home?”

A year ago, she was tricked by these clear eyes and genuinely believed the little liar, taking her home.

Now, Qiao Xi displayed that helpless, pitiful look again. Even though Shen Ya knew this was a joke this time, a slightly malicious thought arose in her heart. Since neither the Jiang family nor the Fang family could keep Qiao Xi, then she would take in this little liar.

“Of course I can, but…” Shen Ya tapped Qiao Xi’s nose with her other hand: “You have to be obedient.”

Qiao Xi’s eyes were clean, like they were untouched by dust. She was always focused and serious when looking at Shen Ya, and only Shen Ya’s figure was reflected in her pupils: “I’ll definitely be obedient.”

“Then get up. I’ll take you to eat. What do you want to eat?”

Qiao Xi sat up in bed. She stretched, then fumbled for her phone on the sofa. After turning on the screen, she realized it was already quite late. She said: “Let’s go back and eat.”

“We can, but cooking will take a long time.”

Qiao Xi shook her head. She stood up from the sofa and ran to the small refrigerator: “I’ll order food now. By the time we get home, the delivery might have arrived.”

She opened the small refrigerator door, took out the unfinished braised food, and also retrieved the red wine from the cabinet: “Teacher Shen, I’m treating you to wine tonight.”

This wine looked somewhat familiar.

When Qiao Xi returned to Shen Ya with the red wine and shook it slightly, Shen Ya’s pupils contracted when she saw the wine. She quickly cupped the bottle with both hands: “Where did this come from?”

Qiao Xi nonchalantly replied: “I took it from Blank.”

Shen Ya now understood why Fang Moyao was so desperate to find her. It turned out Qiao Xi had taken this expensive bottle of wine.

Unfortunately, the wine had already been opened.

“Let’s go, Teacher Shen. I’m starving.”

Watching Qiao Xi retrieve the wine and hold it in her arms with one hand, Shen Ya rubbed her forehead again. Finally, she took out her phone, opened the camera, took a picture of Qiao Xi hugging the wine, and sent it to Fang Moyao.

[Boss Fang, I can’t help you.]