Ji Chen narrowed his eyes and motioned towards the bodyguard. The bodyguard loosened his hold so the other person could lift his head up. Immediately, Ji Chen saw a young and handsome face.

“It’s you.” Ji Chen obviously recognized him. “What brings you back?”

“I…… I’m worried about my sister……” The young man muttered in a small voice. “I never intended to stay abroad so of course I came back when I got the chance.”

Ji Chen gestured his men to let go of the young man who had been pinned to the ground. He jumped up immediately, and after patting his clothes, the young man turned to Ji Chen and said, “Brother-in-law, can you lend me some money? I want to take a taxi home.”

“Go home?” Ji Chen repeated the word. “Where will you to go back?”

The boy was stunned. “To my family’s house?”

The corners of Ji Chen’s mouth tugged down. “Don’t you know that your family has gone bankrupt?”

“What?” The young man stopped moving and was instantly frozen in place.

Ji Chen shook his head. “This is not the place to talk. Come with me.”

———

When Jiang Baiwan returned home in the evening, she felt exhausted physically and mentally. Going to work was really tiring. How about lazing around tomorrow?

Just as Jiang Baiwan was having a mental battle with herself, the phone rang suddenly. She grabbed it and saw that it was Ji Chen.

“Hello?” Jiang Baiwan answered the phone. “What’s up? Is there something wrong? Calling at this time?”

Ji Chen’s voice sounded somewhat hesitant. “Are…… you home now?”

“Yes.” Jiang Baiwan was a bit puzzled. “Why are you hemming and hawing?”

“I have someone here that you might like to meet.” Ji Chen said in a low voice. “Xiao Wan, your brother^[1]younger brother is back.”

Ji Chen’s words caused Jiang Baiwan to stop her movements. She frowned in confusion, feeling as if she had misheard. “What did you say?”

“Your brother is back, I ran into him at the airport today.” Ji Chen repeated. “I know you probably don’t want to see your relatives now, so I brought him to my house first. If you are free…… or if you want to see him, just let me know. I’ll send a driver to pick you up.”

After saying that, Ji Chen hung up the call. Jiang Baiwan clutched her phone, her mind a little empty.

——The younger brother of this body? Was this character ever mentioned before?

After hanging up, Ji Chen looked at the young man sitting across the dining table, his expression not very good. The young man, on the other hand, was wolfing down his food as if he had been hungry for a long time.

“Did your parents know that you’ve returned here?” Ji Chen asked. “You just sneaked back?”

“Yeah, didn’t I say that at the airport?” The young man took some time to answer Ji Chen’s question in between meals. He carelessly added, “I saved up money for a long time to buy a ticket. Brother-in-law, you don’t know, when I stole the passport from my parents’ room, how thrilling—”

“All right.” Ji Chen lightly stopped him. “Eat. After you’re done, we’ll talk about it when your sister comes.”

Ji Ying sat beside Ji Chen, looking at the young man with a face full of curiosity. She whispered to Ji Chen, “This is Jiang Baiwan’s younger brother? He sneaked back from abroad?”

Ji Chen nodded, not denying it. Ji Ying held her chin and smiled like a fox. “He looks rather cute.”

Ji Chen looked at Ji Ying disapprovingly. “Sis, don’t be ridiculous.”

“What nonsense are you thinking?” Ji Ying glanced at her own younger brother, then looked at Jiang Baiwan’s younger brother opposite them, and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. She also had a younger brother, but why was the one on the other side of the table looked like a golden retriever, while hers was like a sensitive slender cat?

While the three of them were sitting at the table, exchanging small talks, the car that had been sent to pick up Jiang Baiwan finally arrived. Led by the Ji family’s servant, Jiang Baiwan went straight into the dining room. Several people heard the movement and looked up at the same time. After the young man saw clearly who the person coming in was, his expression instantly changed. He dropped the chopsticks in his hand and stood up so suddenly that the chair toppled over.

He rushed to Jiang Baiwan within a few steps. Jiang Baiwan opened her mouth and was about to say something when the young man knelt down with a “Thump”, and said loudly to Jiang Baiwan instead, “Sister! Zhishu was wrong! Zhishu came back late and let Sister suffer!”

Jiang Baiwan: “???”

The Ji family siblings were also stunned by Jiang Baiwan’s brother’s brilliant display. The people in the room were silent for a long time. Finally, Jiang Baiwan spoke up first, “You…… Why don’t you get up first?”

“Sis.” The young man stood up, and when he looked at Jiang Baiwan, his face was full of shame. His expression did not seem to be fake. “I…… I just thought our company was in difficultly, but Mom and Dad didn’t tell me that it was already bankrupt…… I thought it’s you who didn’t want to go outside the country.”

Jiang Baiwan didn’t know what to say. She looked at the strange young man in front of her and said after some thought, “Er…… It’s okay, I’m doing fine. Let’s sit down first and talk.”

———

After a period of commotion, the two pairs of siblings sat down again. Looking at Jiang Zhishu^[2]Tree planting beside her, Jiang Baiwan still found it difficult to accept his name for a while.

“Sis, what are you looking at me for?” Jiang Zhishu smiled and wanted to lean closer to Jiang Baiwan, but Jiang Baiwan seemingly avoided him. She asked, “What is this all about? Explain it clearly.”

Jiang Zhishu pouted and sighed. “Didn’t I go abroad with our parents? They told me that they were taking me there to study. And as for your Sis…… they said you have brother-in-law, so even if you stay here alone, they’re not worried.”

As he said that, Jiang Zhishu glanced cautiously at Ji Chen who was across the table. “I know that Dad’s company wasn’t doing well at that time, but Dad didn’t tell me that it went bankrupt. I studied overseas for a while and thought that it was really no fun. I want to come back and help you with the company, Sis.”

“So I secretly saved up money to buy a plane ticket home.” When Jiang Zhishu talked about this matter, his face was full of pride. “How is it, Sis? I saved up money by hiding them in my unwashed socks so Mom and Dad won’t find out. That’s how I got the plane ticket.”

Jiang Baiwan couldn’t help but ridicule. “What a really smelly story. Didn’t people ask you why the money smells when you bought your ticket?”

Jiang Zhishu sniggered. “Sis, you don’t know, it’s really hard for me to save up. Mom and Dad don’t give me pocket money. I saved it bit by bit from my breakfast money…… Speaking of it, I should have noticed that although Mom and Dad are still getting by, they don’t spend money like they used to when they were here.”

Speaking of this, Jiang Zhishu couldn’t help but sighed again. “Sis didn’t contact me either. If I knew, I would have returned earlier.”

Jiang Baiwan didn’t know what kind of expression to use when facing Jiang Zhishu. Ever since crossing over to this strange world, she had always regarded herself as an orphan like in her previous life, but did not expect that she would meet the younger brother of the other Jiang Baiwan.

After receiving Ji Chen’s call, Jiang Baiwan was quite at a loss, and after seeing Jiang Zhishu, Jiang Baiwan felt that there was an indescribable resentment in her heart, which she couldn’t spit out or swallow. It was as if the other Jiang Baiwan hadn’t completely disappeared. After seeing one of the family members who abandoned her, the resentment surged out again.

Jiang Zhishu didn’t notice that something was wrong with Jiang Baiwan, he was still talking to her, “Sis, where are you living now? Let’s hurry back home. When I called you at the airport just now, you actually took me for a scammer, Sis. Luckily, I met Brother-in-law, otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to come back.”

“Home?” Jiang Baiwan repeated the word. “Back to where?”

Jiang Zhishu was taken aback. He looked at Jiang Baiwan and murmured, “Back…… to our own home.”

Jiang Baiwan was expressionless. “There has been no home for a long time.”

Jiang Zhishu choked, suddenly unable to speak.

Jiang Baiwan only felt that the breath in her chest was expanding, making her whole brain a little dizzy. With barely a thought, she directly said, “The family has gone bankrupt, the previous house was taken by the bank, and the company is gone…… At the time you and your parents left the country, all I had were eight million and a villa on my name.”

“Of course the money is enough and the house is also my own, so there’s no need to be frugal, but Jiang Zhishu,” Jiang Baiwan sneered, “do you know the feeling of being completely abandoned?”

“Your parents took you abroad without telling me anything. I was left here. Do you know what that means?” Jiang Baiwan seemed to want to vent out all the grievances and resentment in her heart. Her speech was getting faster and she was becoming more emotional. “Do you understand the feeling of being abandoned by your family?!”

Jiang Baiwan’s eyes were red. She pressed her hand on the table firmly and gritted her teeth. “Do you know how desperate I was? Now you sneak back to the country like this, and when you see me, you say you don’t know anything?”

“Sis—” Jiang Zhishu seemed to be frightened. He called out in a small voice, but was instantly stopped by Jiang Baiwan. “Don’t call me sister!”

Jiang Baiwan took a deep breath and barely suppressed her emotions. “When you and your parents went out the country and left me here, I felt that I no longer had any family.”

“Jiang Zhishu, since you can go back to the country alone, I believe that you should be able to live well here alone too.” Jiang Baiwan stood up, looked down at Jiang Zhishu, and said calmly, “I don’t want to see you until my anger have subsided.”