The Guide to Faking Innocence to Win His Wife - Chapter 44

In Xunyang City, the end of summer was endlessly drawn out. Even in September, the weather remained suffocatingly hot. However, there were places where one could escape the heat, such as the courtyard complex for retired officials located in the city center.

At the entrance, a security guard gently swayed a hand fan. Further inside grew clusters of lush, thriving parasol trees. Rows of low, two-story red brick houses lay hidden beneath the shade, offering a coolness that surpassed even an air-conditioned room.

Xie Zhiyi reclined amidst this pleasant coolness. The rocking chair swayed gently, producing a slow, rhythmic creaking sound.

She appeared entirely at ease.

Dressed in a long linen-and-cotton dress, she revealed a section of her fair, clean calves. Her eyelids were half-closed as fragmented spots of light fell upon her pale skin. Another gentle breeze swept by, rustling the leaves of the parasol trees and stirring a wave of emerald green. The spots of light danced like fluttering butterflies.

She had not enjoyed this leisurely time for long before someone approached with stealthy steps. Capitalizing on his six-foot frame, the man stood directly beside Xie Zhiyi, blocking out the dappled sunlight.

Xie Zhiyi frowned instantly, lazily lifting her eyelids to look at him.

It was a man whose facial contours bore a thirty-percent resemblance to her own. His features were proper and upright, naturally carrying the refined elegance of an intellectual family. When he smiled, fine lines appeared at the corners of his eyes.

“Brother,” Xie Zhiyi greeted him.

The man clearly doted on his younger sister. He first gave a warm, gentle response and then said, “Mother peeled some fruit for you and wants you to go inside to eat.”

“Alright,” Xie Zhiyi agreed immediately. Her voice carried a trace of undeniable exhaustion. These past few days had not been as easy as she had imagined.

After relaying the words of their elder, Xie Zhiqian did not rush to leave. Instead, he remained standing there, blocking the sun for his younger sister.

He was seven years older than Xie Zhiyi. After graduating from university, he had followed their father’s path into politics and now held a high-ranking position. Because he was married with children and had his own small family, he rarely returned home. This time, he had specifically adjusted his schedule to come home for his sister.

He had doted on Xie Zhiyi since childhood. Years ago, when Xie Zhiyi confessed and came out to their parents, it was this elder brother who had helped persuade them, allowing Father and Mother Xie to gradually come to accept it.

He stood beside her for a good while before speaking in a calm, unhurried manner, “What is the matter?”

“What do you mean, what is the matter?” Xie Zhiyi replied instinctively. Displaying a bit less of her usual maturity in front of her brother, she remained lazily reclined in the rocking chair.

“What has been going on with you these past few days?” Xie Zhiqian was not someone who could be easily fooled. Seeing that she was pretending not to understand, he brought the topic directly into the open, “You were never like this in the past.”

“Even if that business was incredibly annoying, you went away to play for a few days to clear your head. You should have let it go by now. Why do you still look so unhappy?”

The previous incident had been brought to the attention of the university leadership by that specific person. Since the university leaders happened to be acquainted with the elders of the Xie family, they naturally informed them at the very first opportunity. Therefore, everyone was fully aware of the situation.

Xie Zhiyi’s hand tightened against the rocking chair, and a momentary daze swept through her eyes. It was fine to discuss this sort of thing with friends, but speaking about it with family elders felt rather difficult to articulate.

Consequently, she did not wish to say much and simply said, “It has nothing to do with the previous matter. The studio has just been too busy lately.”

“Is it as busy as when you first opened? The studio is on the right track now. You, the boss, only rested for a few days, and a mountain of work accumulated? If that is the case, you might as well fire those employees of yours,” Xie Zhiqian spoke bluntly, not believing her evasion in the slightest.

As his words fell and he prepared to question her further, he was interrupted by their fiercely protective mother.

“Questioning, questioning, questioning! What is there to question? It was not easy for Zhiyi to return home for once, yet you keep nagging her endlessly.”

“Look at yourself, you are about to turn into a stubborn old man just like your father.”

An elegant woman walked out from the living room. Although she was already in her sixties, she appeared to be only in her forties or fifties due to proper maintenance. Time had not diminished her charm; instead, it had added deep, profound strokes to her elegance.

The excellent looks of the siblings, Xie Zhiyi and Xie Zhiqian, were both inherited from her.

“Mother!” Xie Zhiqian called out helplessly, protesting the scolding he had received for no apparent reason. He was merely showing concern for his sister.

“Go on, get out of here. Do not bring that workplace attitude of yours into the house,” Mother Xie completely ignored him. She had waited a long time without anyone arriving, forcing her to come out and call them herself.

In the next second, she took Xie Zhiyi’s wrist, her demeanor instantly shifting into a loving, gentle expression. Smiling, she said, “Is it not hot basking out here? If you keep sitting here, your skin will end up tanned unevenly, dark in one spot and white in another.”

“Come, Mother peeled some fruit for you. Let us go inside to lie down and rest. Ignore your brother and your father’s tempers. Each one puts on airs more than the other,” she spoke in a tone used to coax a child, even subtly disparaging the two men of the family.

Xie Zhiyi seemed accustomed to being treated this way. She offered no resistance whatsoever, rising to her feet as her mother led her inside.

Only Xie Zhiqian was left behind, scratching his head in place.

The living room was decorated in a traditional Chinese style. A housekeeper was busy moving about the area. Mother Xie had previously disliked hiring housekeepers, claiming that her position as a professor afforded her plenty of free time to handle household chores entirely by herself.

Later, as she aged, she suffered a fall while cleaning alongside Father Xie. Following that incident, Xie Zhiyi and her brother forced her to hire a housekeeper. The housekeeper only came every afternoon to perform a single cleaning sweep and remained absent the rest of the time, a compromise to which Mother Xie finally agreed.

“The apples bought today are incredibly sweet, and there are those Sunshine Muscat grapes that you love to eat the most. There is not a single bit of sourness.”

“You young people still need to eat more fruit. Do not neglect it just because you find it troublesome. Eating more fruit is good for your health.”

She spoke as she walked, leading Xie Zhiyi to sit down on a rosewood chair. She handed over the fruit platter, entirely bypassing her son.

“Humph, giving it to her to eat is a waste anyway. She went out to play for so long and only called home twice. She has been back in Xunyang for such a long time, yet she did not even think to visit home once,” the man beside them spoke in a sarcastic, mocking tone.

He had graying hair, and the space between his brows bore vertical creases left behind by years of frowning. Although his facial features were ordinary, he carried an air of authority from long residing in a position of power. However, his words sounded more like an old child throwing a jealous tantrum.

“Go on, get out of here. You are already up there in years, yet you are still bickering with your daughter.”

Mother Xie ignored him completely. She took a small pillow from the side, placed it on her lap, and said, “Did you not want to lie down just now? Come, lie down and eat.”

“You are the only one who spoils her,” Father Xie snorted, then shifted the conversation, “The oranges bought two days ago were quite good. Peel a few slices for her.”

“As if I need you to tell me. Zhiqian, go peel a couple and bring them over,” Mother Xie turned and ordered immediately.

Xie Zhiqian, who had just walked inside, stood in silence.

Xie Zhiyi merely smiled, lazily resting her head upon her mother’s lap. As soon as she opened her mouth, someone fed her the fruit, which was indeed as sweet as Mother Xie had described.

“When you went out to play, why did you not take a few photos for the family? That father of yours picked up his phone to check four or five times a day. He was incredibly annoying,” Mother Xie began to nag as well.

“I did not really take my phone out with me much, so I took very few photos,” Xie Zhiyi explained.

“What did you photograph? How was that town? Your father even said that if you did not return soon, he would go out with me to find you and play.”

Xie Zhiyi’s expression stiffened slightly. With a gentle bite, she crushed the apple in her mouth, allowing the excessively sweet juice to spread.

She said, “It was quite nice. The mountains and water scenery were pleasant. It is a very suitable place for a rest.”

“Do you have photos?” Father Xie suddenly interjected, “If it is feasible, your mother and I can go out for a trip. Staying at home all day is boring.”

Having reached this point in the conversation, Xie Zhiyi had no way to hide it further, so she could only say, “I have a few, I suppose.”

She picked up the phone resting beside her, unlocked it with ease, and opened the photo album.

She had indeed taken very few photos. After all, it was her second time going there, and her mind had been troubled. She had just broken free from those prior incidents only to fall into a deeper quagmire, leaving her with little desire to take photographs.

Consequently, upon opening the album, there were only seven or eight photos.

However, this was enough to satisfy Xie Zhiyi’s parents. The two elderly individuals took the phone to look, uttering a few expressions of admiration as they began to sentimentalize.

“This is quite nice. The water looks very good.”

“It feels very pristine and ecological. Was this fish soup made by the innkeeper herself? My word, you even ate beneath a tree.”

Xie Zhiyi nodded in agreement. The first few photos had been taken at random. For instance, there was a shot of the horizon where the mountains met the water when opening the window, a shot of the white champaca tree under the twilight, and a shot of children splashing about in the water. They were all captured simply because she found them beautiful at the moment.

Until Father Xie flipped to the final photo and said in surprise, “Is this a seesaw? It is so high. It must be at least ten meters tall.”

Mother Xie also joined in, “Oh my, falling down from there would be terrible. The one on top is actually a young girl!”

The fruit in her mouth was thoroughly crushed. Xie Zhiyi instinctively sat up, intending to take the phone back, but halfway through the motion, she felt it would look improper. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear as a cover. As Mother Xie looked over, she explained awkwardly, “Lying down while eating fruit caused me to choke on my throat.”

Her gaze swept across the photo as if by accident, and her eyes grew momentarily dazed. If her parents had not suddenly brought up this matter, it might have taken her a long time to remember it.

During her days in Jiang Town, she rarely brought her phone out. However, that specific day was the Flower Mountain Festival, which she had never seen before. Finding it novel, she brought her phone along, thinking to take a few interesting photographs. As it turned out, she spent the rest of the time eating food with a certain someone. It was only when the other person stepped away that she found the opportunity to snap that single photo.

It was a picture of Jiang Zhongmu, who had changed into traditional ethnic clothing, leaning over a long wooden beam as she leaped high into the air.

Perhaps because her mind had been weighed down by hidden burdens back then, she had not found it particularly special. Looking at the photo now and recollecting the memory, she felt an inexplicable wave of tingling emotion ripple through her.

Beneath the clear blue sky, the young girl with wheat-toned skin wore a loose, deep blue short tunic, its edges embroidered with orchid patterns in colorful threads. Her lean, powerful arms gripped the wooden pole. The rising wind blew back her stray hairs, revealing her wild, unbridled facial features. She did not mock her opponents for their weakness; instead, she leaped higher and higher, exuding an unstoppable, soaring spirit.

At that time, Jiang Zhongmu had been entirely focused on soaring through the air round after round, completely unaware of how lively it was down below. Every time she leaped upward, the onlookers could not help but cheer loudly, far more ecstatic than they had been for anyone else’s performance.

No one could take their eyes off her, yet she only looked toward Xie Zhiyi. She used a gaze that she assumed was well-concealed, yet it resembled a bright sun pulling over a single patch of cloud, mistakenly believing it was no longer dazzling.

By some strange prompting of the mind, Xie Zhiyi had inexplicably opened her phone to capture the moment, yet she had never dared to open it again afterward.

“Zhiyi? What are you dazing off for?”

Her parents’ words pulled her back to reality. Xie Zhiyi curled her lips, forcing a gentle smile, “I was just daydreaming for a moment.”

“You child, your father asked if it is a good time to go there for a trip now. He happens to want to find a place to rest for a couple of days.” Mother Xie paid it no mind, repeating the previous question.

Xie Zhiyi gathered her thoughts and simply said, “It is probably not suitable right now. The Flower Mountain Festival over there has already passed. Perhaps we should wait until next year to go over?”

“Is that so? Then let us wait until next year.”

“It is still more interesting to go when there is a festival,” Xie Zhiyi emphasized.

The topic was swept past just like that. Soon after, Xie Zhiqian sat beside her and asked in a low voice, “Xunyang University starts its term tomorrow. Shall I accompany you to handle the resignation procedures? I have adjusted my time off and am free these next two days.”

Xie Zhiyi was uncharacteristically slow to respond. She paused for a moment before nodding in agreement.

The phone was retrieved, and that photo was buried once more beneath numerous other photographs, appearing as though it had never existed at all.

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