Chapter 109 - Yan Qing Yu's Sorrow (1)

"What? Why aren't you saying anything? Too guilty to even utter a word?" Yan Qing Yu continued. Aki and Mamoru sighed helplessly while Zi Jue's gaze hardened. Yan Qing Shan couldn't bear the embarrassment any longer so she decided to come down and show herself.

"He doesn't need to say anything. I'm not a fragile glass nor am I the kind of person to want those tedious, fancy dates that you speak of, brother." Yan Qing Yu's head snapped in her direction. His gaze contained a flurry of mixed emotions. There was surprise, maybe at her sudden entrance, then joy, pride, and... pain.

Yan Qing Shan was surprised at the spectrum of emotions that she could read from him. Well, it was not just Yan Qing Yu. The same goes with all the people she encountered in this second life. Old ones that she knew from the forgotten past, and ones that she had met in this new present.

Yan Qing Shan thought that opening herself up to these feelings made her view things differently the way she did from the past. This much was evident by how different she understood the same set of people from back then. Zi Jue, her brother, her father, Lan Jing Er; Yan Qing Shan saw them all in a different light.

A different perspective opens up a whole array of possibilities that weren't there before.

Though it did nothing for those who remained to be hell-bent on destroying her. In fact, it made them even worse.

"Shan shan, I just…" Yan Qing Yu stopped mid-way in his speech when he saw the dismissive look on her face.

"We'll talk after you finish this." Yan Qing Shan stated before turning her back on them again and leaping up to her branch.

Zi Jue glanced at the retreating back of Yan Qing Shan, aware that she had several things weighing in her mind. He knew the frustration she felt when it came to her family. He knew the situation well enough to know just how much danger she was in now that Yan Tian Yu has called back his son. He grit his teeth at this. One of the reasons Zi Jue made sure that he held significant power over Hua Xia's underworld firmly and unopposed was so that he could trace the root of Yan family's predicament. It was so that he could end whoever deprived Yan Qing Shan the good and peaceful life that she was supposed to have lived.

Zi Jue didn't know or care where exactly in America Yan Tian Yu sent Yan Qing Yu nor what the latter did with his life there. He did know that if Yan Qing Yu returned home it meant that things had gone south on Yan Tian Yu's end. He needed to find whoever had tampered with Zhao Ming Yue's car and find out who he was connected to and why he had agreed to Zhao Ming Hua's request to lead Yan Qing Shan's mother to her death. Zi Jue had been busying himself with this matter the moment he saw Yan Qing Yu at the party. This picnic was something he prepared because he had been so busy and didn't want his relationship with his beloved to sour. But things just had to make themselves even more apparent.

He clenched his hand with irritation along with a certain conviction in his head. The air around Zi Jue changed. It was so drastic and palpable that it gave a feeling of disorientation. Previously, it was merely tense due to the ongoing fight. But now the feeling of danger around him surged. He still had that same smile in his lips, yet the light in his eyes had dimmed. The others who were down felt their hair rising along with alarm bells in their heads screaming at them to flee. It was even more so for the men left standing. Aki and Mamoru glanced at each other and to Zi Jue with wariness.

Yan Qing Yu hardened his glare. He didn't know exactly what made Zi Jue flip but he was sure it was something where his sister was involved in. If there was something Yan Qing Yu found out about Zi Jue other than how rich and powerful he was, it was that he involved himself deeply with his sister's affairs. He ȧssumed that it was because of his arrangement with their father. However, the more he read into it the more something felt awfully off. If he hadn't gone home, he wouldn't have known that it was because the bastard had the hots for his sister. He was immediately against it.

Without warning, Zi Jue's knuckles went straight for Yan Qing Yu's face followed up with a knee strike to his gut. Yan Qing Yu recovered his thoughts quickly but was still a beat too late. He was able to dodge Zi Jue's fist but not his knees. The force slammed him to the ground which gave a wide opening for Zi Jue to pummel him.

After rendering Yan Qing Yu unable to fight back, Zi Jue turned his attention to the two who were caught off guard by how fast he was able to take down Yan Qing Yu. Nevertheless, they were still taken down a few moments later. It wasn't much of a surprise since Zi Jue took the last three of them a little more seriously.

----

The group went back to the spot where the picnic was set-up. Yui had a stash of first-aid kit at the car which she had retrieved and started to bandage up everyone who had a slight injury, including Zi Jue's four generals. Not much was said between the people present, except for the unanimous agreement that all of them were under this sadistic couple and that they were in for a life of getting beat up. This thought gave the group a certain sense of unity with each other as they gazed at the couple who were up ahead.

"Can we talk now?" Yan Qing Yu approached Yan Qing Shan after getting some of his bruises numbed with topical pain relief. Yan Qing Shan lifted her head and looked at him for a few seconds before nodding. She stood and led them to a corner far from the prying ears of their companions.

They stood facing each other for a long time. Both of them did not know how to start the conversation. Yan Qing Yu stared at the sister which had been estranged from him for a long time. This was going to be the first proper talk he'll be having with her after their family situation had gone downhill. In his eyes stood a beautiful woman having features of his mother blended wonderfully with those of his father. Her spirit was even more striking. Far from the little girl who followed him around, sweetly calling him Yu. His heart aches at the lost time between them. His sister didn't deserve losing the love she was entitled to as the princess of their family.

Yan Qing Shan stared blankly at her brother. The image of him in a funeral casket with pretentious people around him giving their sympathies but inwardly mocking him for being stupid flashed in her head like a video on repeat.

Ah, she remembered now.

The reason why her brother became that way, why he stubbornly stayed on that woman's side despite her giving him multiple green hats and blatantly manipulating him. She had always thought that Yan Qing Yu was besotted by her face. How awfully shallow of her.

He wasn't.

She realized it when she saw that pained gaze he gave her. It was because that woman was the only person she considered a friend back then. It was because that woman was one of the people who treated Yan Qing Shan lovingly. At least on the outside or whenever Yan Qing Yu could see.

Yan Qing Shan felt choked up at this. What sorrowful life this brother of hers lived.

He didn't deserve such an outcome. He was someone who cared for her deeply. She would make sure he wouldn't suffer the same way again.

"I'm not a child anymore." Yan Qing Shan said, breaking the silence between them. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#&apos;s-wife_13017316205364005/yan-qing-yu&apos;s-sorrow-(1)_48838025442026994">#&apos;s-wife_13017316205364005/yan-qing-yu&apos;s-sorrow-(1)_48838025442026994</a> for visiting.

"Huh? What?" Yan Qing Yu asked in a distracted tone. He certainly didn't expect Yan Qing Shan to speak first. But what in the hell was she going on about?

"I said I'm not a child anymore. You look at me as if I'm a helpless kid. I am not. I may even be stronger than you." She added stubbornly.

Yan Qing Yu blinked at the outrage and whining present in Yan Qing Shan's voice. He tried to process what she meant. And when he did, a grin broke out from his lips while his hand ruffled her hair as if on reflex. Yan Qing Shan froze in surprise which Yan Qing Yu noticed in time and retracted his hand. A lonely look flashed in his face.

"You'll always be a child to me. You're my baby sister, after all." Yan Qing Yu stated as he looked at her with a small smile.