Cutie Delivered, Please Sign for it
Chapter 465: A Duel Without Seeing the Gleam of Swords

Chapter 465: Chapter 465: A Duel Without Seeing the Gleam of Swords

Ji Huan entered the court under the protection of his bodyguards, swiftly following the two people ahead of him.

"Ying Zi! Yan Bro!"

The trio didn’t bother exchanging pleasantries. After all, they had just met at the restaurant’s grand opening the day before yesterday.

"Are you here to observe the trial? Does Xiao Yu know about this?" Zhu Qianying was hesitant to involve her sister in these infuriating affairs.

Her younger sister, after all, was in a delicate state of health, and it was best if she was exposed to as little stress as possible.

"She doesn’t know; it’s better for her if she doesn’t learn about such things."

Ji Huan’s thoughts aligned precisely with Zhu Qianying’s.

Yan Bro, who was standing to the side, suddenly reached out and gently embraced Zhu Qianying.

In his eyes, compared to Zhu Qianying, Zhu Qianyu lived like a princess. Both Ji Huan and Zhu Qianying were so careful in shielding her from any harm.

Zhu Qianying and Ji Huan felt it was their natural duty to protect her, but Yan Bro felt a tremendous wave of compassion for Zhu Qianying.

She was only two years older than Zhu Qianyu, yet she bore the heavy burden of being an elder sister.

His sudden embrace, though soft, prompted Zhu Qianying to look at him strangely.

His loving concern made her heart flutter for a moment.

"What is it?" Zhu Qianying realized Yan Bro had been looking at her strangely lately.

Yan Bro shook his head but remained silent, patting her back softly with his large hand.

He was relieved that her gaze held only curiosity and no signs of revulsion or discomfort.

"Xiao Yu has had trouble sleeping since she caught a cold; she keeps having nightmares where she is shouting things like ’Don’t hit me’. I think it might have something to do with the bullying she experienced at the hands of those scoundrels in the Zhu family. As a result, she has developed a certain dread."

Ji Huan ground his teeth as he spoke, a vicious glint in his eyes.

It was then Zhu Qianying understood why Ji Huan had insisted on attending the trial.

Ji Huan’s words reminded Yan Bro of the night Zhu Qianying was injured in a car accident.

In her sleep, she consistently cried out in pain and he realised now that it might not have been physical pain from the injuries, but rather echoes of the trauma Ji Huan was referring to.

Yan Bro furrowed his brows and looked deeply at Zhu Qianying, "Did they used to beat you and Xiao Yu when you were kids?"

Zhu Qianying gave a small smile, "Yes, that’s how I mastered climbing trees and swimming."

Often bullied, she had found her way to the kitchen blocked and would dash outside, climbing a tree, leaving the young masters of the Zhu family to sigh beneath. Or she would run into the swimming pool and swim to the middle, leaving the misses of the Zhu family standing by the pool in their beautiful princess dresses, helpless...

These instances filled her childhood and teenage years.

Xiao Yu, in comparison, had experienced far less because Zhu Qianying had diverted the attention and animosity of the Zhu children away from her.

Seeing Zhu Qianying’s smile of nonchalance, Yan Bro felt an inexplicable discomfort.

With his age gap with his cousins, Yan Bro, by temperament and behavior, was bound to be a bully, not the one bullied.

However, he also knew that among children, some bullying was innocent and harmless, others, like what Zhu Qianying and her sister experienced, were born out of intense hate and with a specific purpose.

As Yan Bro was about to ask more, the faint sound of footfalls from the entrance caught their attention. Looking up, it was the Zhu family, a trio.

Since their successful counter-plot at the Pavilion of Ease, this was the first time Yan Bro had encountered Zhu Junwei.

Before this, Yan Bro and Zhu Junwei had once sworn a bond of brotherhood. Now, Yan Bro didn’t feel anything strange in meeting Zhu Junwei. With a sardonic smile, he watched the Zhu family trio, while Zhu Junwei clearly tensed at the sight of him.

With the evident discrepancy in their reactions, the gap in their fortunes was hard to ignore.

Yan Bro merely glanced indifferently at the trio, not even bothering to greet them, unlike Zhu Junwei, who after a pause came over to them.

"Brother Yan, Second Brother Ji..."

Just like Yan Bro, Ji Huan merely smiled indifferently without giving Zhu Junwei as much as a derisive scoff.

After being snubbed, Zhu Junwei shifted his gaze to Zhu Qianying. "Congratulations on the reports I read online about Aunt Chen’s restaurant doing thriving business!"

Zhu Qianying thanked him without the air of superiority that Ji Huan and Yan Bro projected.

Zhu Junwei thought that Zhu Qianying was oblivious to his connivances, having never directly confronted her.

Apart from their cohabitation during childhood, Zhu Junwei hadn’t seen Zhu Qianying much as adults. Seeing her up close now, he was momentarily taken aback.

He had never realized his half-sister could be so stunning when she smiled. Maybe Yi Wei had lost more than just her child.

At that moment, Zhu Junwei’s mind was quickly formulating some new ideas. But he quickly masked them and said.

"I’ll visit the restaurant with father some other day - to learn a thing or two."

Whether he was genuine or sarcastic, Zhu Qianying simply took his words as a provocation.

"What’s there to learn? My mother is just a homemaker; she can only make a few simple dishes. How can we compete with the high-end atmosphere of Mingxuan?"

To those uninformed, Zhu Qianying would seem to be expressing self-doubt.

However, those in the know could tell that she was unabashedly ridiculing the path the Mingxuan Group had taken over the years.

Year after year, the Zhu family had openly disapproved of Chen Jing.

The irony lay in that while Chen Jing was openly disparaged by the Zhu family, it was her name carved on the trophy which represented the highest domestic chef’s honour, a trophy that still adorned the Mingxuan Group headquarters!

There was a time when the Mingxuan Group used the fact that certain chefs were disciples of the super-chief Chen Jing to attract customers.

This was the first time Zhu Junwei had come face to face with Zhu Qianying’s sharp wit. The things he vaguely remembered from childhood suddenly became clear through her words.

In those days, he had greatly despised his older brother and sisters bullying Zhu Qianying and had seen Zhu Qianying as remarkably astute. She was always calm and seemed to rely on wit rather than brute force to get the upper hand.

Moreover, their actions only caused Zhu Qianying to become more resilient and stronger.

But those were fleeting thoughts. He never harboured any profound feelings towards her. To him, Zhu Qianying was a minor figure, not even a stumbling block.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.