Chapter 315: The Second Brother with a Sharp Tongue
By the time Bai Yu and her husband came running over, panting for breath, the four people had already returned to normal expressions. They all exchanged knowing blinks, silently agreeing to drop the earlier conversation — not another word was said.
Ning Xiyue’s face was calm, her lips carrying the faintest trace of a polite smile. She looked at Bai Yu, who had grabbed her arm, and didn’t pull away. Her tone was friendly, yet held a certain detached courtesy.
“Is there something else you need, Sister Bai? It’s getting late — we’re heading back to get some sleep. After all that running around tonight, I bet we’ll all wake up with dark circles.”
She deliberately emphasized the words Sister Bai.
Bai Yu caught the tone immediately. A flicker of guilt and panic flashed across her face.
“Xiyue, today was my fault. I acted without thinking. You can hit me or scold me if you want — I don’t expect you to forgive me. I just hope this won’t affect your relationship with Little Ji. He really cares about you.”
“Mm.”
That was all Ning Xiyue said — just a faint, indifferent “mm,” her face unreadable, distant as if nothing could touch her.
After a pause, she muttered softly, “No need to take it out on your own people over outsiders.”
Right now, she only wanted to let the couple stew in their anxiety for a while longer — to test them.
It wasn’t that her second brother was wrong about them. Even she was starting to wonder what Bai Yu’s true intentions had been when she’d first approached her. Were they really so pure?
Maybe inviting her to be an “unofficial doctor” for the mining team hadn’t been out of kindness — maybe there’d been another motive, something involving her “good friend.”
She wasn’t angry about the rescue tonight — the situation had been urgent, and there hadn’t been time for explanations. They’d already told her on the way, and honestly, if she’d been in their place, she might’ve made the same choice.
What she was worried about was Bai Yu’s selfishness — if, in the future, Bai Yu ever tried to use her for something shady, it could hurt people emotionally. Ning Xiyue didn’t want people like that affecting her relationship with Comrade Ji.
So, she planned to stay cold and distant for a while. If the couple had no ulterior motives, great. If they did — this would scare them off.
Bai Yu could feel Ning Xiyue’s cold shoulder and felt miserable. Her voice trembled as she whispered, “Xiyue…”
“Xiyue…”
Just as her husband, Zhou Cheng, was about to speak up for her, Ning Qingyuan couldn’t take it anymore and cut him off.
“You two better stop calling my sister’s name! You call yourselves Brother Ji’s cousin and friend? My sister’s been nothing but sincere to you. When she came home, she was so happy telling me about everything you did together!”
They were out in the wilderness, no one around to overhear — so Ning Qingyuan didn’t hold back. He’d been wanting to let loose for a while, and now was the perfect time. Don’t think Brother Ji being far away means no one’s watching — he’s still here.
His sharp tongue didn’t stop. His voice rose as he went on:
“And then you pull a stunt like this! You think we don’t know who those people were that my sister helped tonight? You know exactly what kind of dangerous background they have! And yet you dragged my sister, a young girl, into it? Don’t your consciences ache, huh?!
I swear, I’m writing Brother Ji a letter about this! You two — are you relatives or enemies? Even strangers wouldn’t trick her like that! You call yourselves family? Friends? What a joke. Knowing you is bad luck — pah!”
Ning Qingyuan clapped his hands together, as if brushing off filth. Then, like a villager finishing a heated argument, he spat on the ground near their feet, glaring at the couple with utter disdain. Hands on his hips, he added furiously:
“Don’t you dare drag my sister into your mess again! If I see you doing it, I’ll curse you out every single time. What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Ning Xiyue glanced at her brother from the side — he’d perfectly mastered the art of the auntie-style scolding. His words hit the mark. He was basically her mouthpiece. If not for the couple’s “respectable” status, she might’ve even clapped for him.
Yu Zhiyu looked at Ning Qingyuan with open admiration — what a tongue! He’d have to learn from him someday.
Chen Yechu trembled a little. If things had gone differently, she might’ve been the one getting scolded like that. She silently resolved to apologize properly to Xiyue later, be even better to her, and think things through before acting rashly again.
As for the scolded couple — both were well-educated city people, leaders in their fields. No one had ever dared to point a finger at their faces and curse them like this before. But every word Ning Qingyuan said was true.
They had no way to argue back. Knowing they were in the wrong, they could only lower their heads, wilted like frostbitten eggplants.
Bai Yu wiped her eyes in secret. She’d always been the golden girl, the pride of her family — never once humiliated like this. Every word of Ning Qingyuan’s hit home, making her guilt swell until she couldn’t even lift her head to face Ning Xiyue. She didn’t even know how she’d explain this to her cousin later.
“I’m sorry.”
Zhou Cheng lifted his head and bowed deeply to Ning Xiyue, then turned and bowed again to Ning Qingyuan. With sincere eyes, he said,
“Even though we acted to save someone, tonight’s events were indeed our fault. I’d like to discuss how we can handle this properly. I have a suggestion — please hear me out.”
Ning Xiyue’s expression softened a little. She nodded. “Go ahead.”
Everyone quieted down, watching Zhou Cheng expectantly.
The rain still pattered steadily, the sound blending with the night. Ning Xiyue leaned a little closer so she could hear him over the rainfall.
“Tonight, I had a high fever that wouldn’t go down. Bai Yu panicked and ran to the educated youth compound to ask you to check on me. Since it was dark, raining, and thundering, your friends worried about your safety and came along. That’s all that happened.”
Zhou Cheng looked around at everyone.
“This is the story we’ll stick to. If anyone asks, that’s what you’ll say. As for what happened up on the mountain — none of us know anything. It has nothing to do with us. Leave the rest to us to handle.”
Ning Xiyue noticed Bai Yu standing just behind her husband, head bowed to his shoulder, sneaking timid glances at her with frightened eyes.
And in that moment, Ning Xiyue’s image of Bai Yu — the strong, capable woman she’d once admired — completely shattered.
Looking at her now, Bai Yu seemed more like a woman who’d been pampered her whole life, never truly tested by hardship. She might look like someone in her thirties, but mentally, she was still a sheltered seventeen- or eighteen-year-old who’d never faced real struggle.
All that “white plum blossom blooming in the cold winter” nonsense? Overrated. At best, she was a fragile greenhouse flower.
Ning Xiyue gave her a faint, knowing smile — an acknowledgment that she’d noticed her staring — and then nodded in agreement with Zhou Cheng’s plan.
“Alright. We’ll go with what you said.”
She took a few fever-reducing pills from her medicine box and handed them over, then pulled out a notebook and pen, quickly writing out a prescription. Passing it past Zhou Cheng, she gave it directly to the anxious Bai Yu behind him.
“Sister Bai, take this prescription to the clinic tomorrow to get the herbs and boil them at home. Since we’ve decided on this story, we should at least make it look convincing. Details matter.”
