Wen Qing snorted. “Why don’t you learn how to take care of yourself first?”
Soon, they arrived at the barbecue stall next to Yellow Lake. The best part about the stall was that their patrons could barbecue their own food with the provided ingredients. There was also a little forest next to the lake that was great for hanging out and chatting.
They grilled some meat and vegetables and even got a few cans of beer as they sat on the grass, eating and chatting away.
Wen Qing sighed, “This is probably the last of our relaxing days.”
Wen Xian leaned against her brother and shot him a side glance. “How can you be so unambitious. You are supposed to achieve something big.”
“What kind of big achievement do you want me to attain?” Wen Qing looked at his sister.
Without any hesitation, she replied, “Well, I want you to attain the title of a General that will protect the country.”
“Whoa, ambitious, aren’t we? A General?”
Chen Qing was rather quiet that day, and the siblings did most of the talking. All Chen Qing did was looked at Wen Xian when she was talking.
She looked so energetic, innocent and enthusiastic.
“I’ll go and get another two cans of beer.” Wen Qing got up.
With Wen Qing gone, Chen Qing finally got the chance to talk to Wen Xian. “You and Wen Qing seem to have a great relationship.”
With her hand supporting her chin, Wen Xian said, “Well, he is my brother, after all!” Then, as if she were suddenly reminded of something, a blissful look appeared on her face and she said helplessly, “When I was in primary school, nobody dared to be my friend.”
Chen Qing asked curiously, “Why?”
Wen Xian pouted. “Because I have a fierce older brother. I remember when I was in second grade, one of my classmates accidentally pushed me. I fell down and scraped my knee. There was a little bit of blood. When my brother found out about it, he went to beat him up.”
“Your brother went to beat up a kid?” Chen Qing’s jaw dropped.
Wow! overprotective much?
“Yeah, and from then onwards, everyone knew that I had a violent brother in the upper levels, and nobody dared to touch me for fear of my brother.”
Chen Qing laughed.
Wen Xian inched closer to Chen Qing and whispered, “Let me tell you a secret. The reason I picked a school that was further away from home was that I was afraid that he would beat my schoolmates up again and I wouldn’t be able to make any friends.”
Chen Qing burst out in laughter.
“Don’t tell my brother that!”
Chen Qing teased her, “I’m not keeping this secret.”
Looking unwell, Wen Xian put her hand on her stomach. Chen Qing looked at her and said, “I’m just joking with you, of course I won’t tell your brother. Come on, don’t fake a stomachache.”
However, Wen Xian kept holding onto her stomach silently and her face scrunched up in pain.
“Are you really having a stomachache?” Chen Qing asked her.
Wen Xian nodded.
“Let’s go and look for your brother then. Come on.” Chen Qing reached out to pull her up before realizing that there was blood on her pants.
He stopped himself right before he was about to speak. Then, he took off his long-sleeved t-shirt. Wen Xian was shocked upon seeing that. Due to the hot weather, all he had was that shirt. Without it, he was bare-chested.
“You… What are you doing?”
He passed her the shirt and avoided looking at her body before reminding her, “Your body…”
“My body?” Wen Xian turned hesitantly and looked down before realizing that there were bloodstains on her pants.
“You are having ‘that’, aren’t you?”
Wen Xian blushed and looked down. It was her first time.
“There are a lot of people here and it won’t be good for others to see it. Tie this around your waist. It’s not cold anyway.”
Wen Xian hesitated before taking the shirt. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” Chen Qing smiled.
Just then, Wen Qing returned with a dozen can of beers in hand when he saw that Chen Qing was topless. Thinking that he did something to Wen Xian, he flung the beer to the ground and rushed to beat Chen Qing up.
“Wen Qing, can you stop being so violent?” Wen Xian shouted at him.
Wen Qing held onto Chen Qing’s collar and roared, “What’s going on?”
Chen Qing whispered, “Your sister is having ‘that’ and it stained her clothes…”
Wen Qing turned to see his blushing sister and released Chen Qing before telling her, “Get into the car and go home now.”
When they got home, Madam Wen made her daughter a warm drink and had her take a bath before changing into some fresh clothes.
After Wen Xian freshened up, she went downstairs. In her white dress and her hair down, her skin was fair and her figure was slim. When she smiled, her eyes curved like the crescent moon.
Chen Qing was stunned by the sight and his heart thumped so wildly it threatened to break out of his chest.
Wen Qing nudged him. “I know that my sister is pretty, but you can’t keep staring at her like that.”
Chen Qing quickly looked down. I must be going nuts, how could I be attracted to an underage girl?
However, his gaze kept wandering towards her uncontrollably.
She looked especially pretty when she smiled.
Since Wen Qing was about to leave, Madam Wen suggested that they take a picture in the courtyard for remembrance.
When they got into the car, Wen Xian saw them off from the roadside. At only fifteen, she was a sight to behold as she stood by the side of the road, people could barely take their eyes off her.
Chen Qing’s heart felt like it had been stung and he could not stop thinking about her. He would even think about how when he left the army, she would be of age and he could pursue her then. He had even deliberately tested Wen Qing and half-jokingly said, “Wen Qing, introduce your sister to me in the future and we can be closer to each other!”
Wen Qing treated it as a joke and replied, “Sure, only when you succeed in your career and become worthy of her.”
Even though he was close to Chen Qing, he was not entirely satisfied with his appearance as he felt that it was not good enough for his sister.
In fact, in his mind, no one was worthy of his sister.
While Chen Qing was reminiscing, Wen Qing also recalled that day.
The latter frowned, “She was only fifteen then…”
Wen Qing was displeased, he felt like his sister had been violated.
Chen Qing simply stood there without turning back.
“Dad, you have really disappointed me!” Chen Shihan could not accept this at all. In the name of their family’s future, her father had come up with this plan just to fulfill his longing for his secret crush.
His heroic image in her heart collapsed instantly.
She sobbed as she ran out.
Mrs. Chen looked at her husband and said, “Even if you have a million regrets in your heart, you should let it go after all these years.”
On her way out of the room, she said as she walked past Wen Qing, “One should never attempt to destroy a marriage. I think you have all gone mad.”
Wen Qing turned around. Even though he had decided to let Lin Xinyan off, her relationship with Cheng Yuxiu still irked him. In his eyes, Cheng Yuxiu was the one who had destroyed his sister’s marriage.
There was complete silence in the study. Wen Qing did not expect that his old mate had been pining for his sister all these years.
Apart from discomfort, he could not quite describe his feelings.
“You all claim that you loved her, but what have you given her? In the end, you made her marry someone she didn’t love, all because of your own benefits.” Chen Qing jeered.
“It was for her own good.” Wen Qing still felt that they had done the right thing. “Not only is that Zhuang kid a bastard child, but his mother was also a hostess. How could he be worthy of Wen Xian? Zong Qifeng is ten thousand times better than he is!” Even though Zong Qifeng cheated on Wen Xian, he still maintained his stand that it was not his fault and that he was seduced by Cheng Yuxiu.
As a man, Zong Qifeng was the perfect husband for his sister. He was tall, handsome, and was extremely capable. Wen Qing could tell that Zong Qifeng liked Wen Xian then.
Together, they were a match made in heaven.
Chen Qing snorted. “That sure sounds good for something that was done purely out of self-interest.”
“If I had known about your intentions twenty years ago, I would have definitely beaten you up!” Wen Qing said aggressively.
