The blind boss's nanny

Up in the tree, Lu Tingxi and Lu Tingzhou, siblings, held their breath, their heartbeats seemingly stopping.

Lu Tingxi pressed her palms firmly against the rough tree trunk, the bark fragments embedded in her palms, causing sharp pain, but she seemed not to feel it.

The storm brewing in the study continued to escalate.

Faced with Lu Tingzhou's sharp and direct questioning, Qin Xiu simply maintained his bowed head and fell silent.

The subtle tremors and bitterness that had been on her face earlier had all faded away, leaving only numbness.

This fueled Lu Tingzhou's anger even more.

"You think...?"

Lu Tingzhou laughed in extreme anger, his voice so cold it was icy.

"You think we can't do anything to you if you don't speak and pretend to be mute? Qin Xiu, aren't you being incredibly naive?!"

Before he finished speaking, he turned around, grabbed a stack of prepared documents from the desk, and slammed them hard onto the table in front of Qin Xiu!

Papers scattered and flew everywhere.

"Take a good look at yourself!"

The next second, Lu Tingzhou pulled out several cards and slapped them forcefully in front of Qin Xiu's eyes.

"You didn't expect that, did you? Our father and your mother actually have a photo together!"

Qin Xiu's gaze was finally forcibly pulled back to reality. He looked at the photos.

Rather than a group photo, it's more like a scene captured unintentionally by someone on a certain occasion.

The background is a seemingly ordinary dinner party, with plates and glasses scattered everywhere. In the center of the photo, Lu Xing is beaming with pride, accepting compliments and toasts from the others at the table, his smugness overflowing.

But Qin Xiu's gaze, as if drawn by a magnet, instantly fixed on the woman beside Lu Xing.

She is his mother.

The mother in the photo looked much younger than he remembered. She was wearing a floral shirt that was considered decent for the time, and her jet-black hair was neatly combed back.

She possessed stunning beauty; even in blurry, yellowed old photographs, her delicate and gentle features remained clearly visible.

However, there was no radiance on that beautiful face.

Her expression was stiff, her eyes were bewildered and uneasy, and her fingers, resting on her knees, were tightly intertwined. She stood out from the lively atmosphere of clinking glasses around her, like a young deer that had wandered into the territory of a wild beast.

Qin Xiu's heart was clenched tightly, twisting painfully.

There wasn't a single photograph of his mother in his house. After her death, his alcoholic and violent father burned all her clothes, belongings, and photographs, wanting to completely erase everything about her existence.

At this moment, in this way, he saw his mother's appearance when she was young, and he also saw her helplessness and fear.

The numbness on Qin Xiu's face was finally shattered. He stared intently at the photograph, his Adam's apple bobbing violently, his lips pressed into a pale line.

Then, under the watchful eyes of Lu Tingzhou and Lu Tingzhao, he reached out with a slightly trembling hand and pulled the photograph with his mother's face from a pile of scattered documents.

He looked at it again and again, and finally, carefully and solemnly put it into the inside pocket of his suit.

Seeing this, Lu Tingzhou naturally wouldn't let it go, and went to great lengths to satirize:

"What? Seeing your mother's photo makes you feel sorry for her? It seems you really have come to seek revenge on the Lu family on behalf of your mother?"

He took a step closer, his voice rising with excitement:

"Every wrong has its perpetrator, and every debt its debtor! Go settle your scores with Lu Xing in the afterlife for the sins he committed! What kind of skill is it to come after my brother?! How has my brother ever mistreated you all these years? He's given you power, status, and trust—everything he's given you has been given without question! And this is how you repay him?!"

Lu Tingzhou grew angrier with each word, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked, and veins throbbed on his forehead. If Lu Tingzhao hadn't been there, he probably would have already lost his temper and beaten this "ungrateful wretch" to a pulp.

Qin Xiu fell silent again. It was as if the emotional turmoil he had just experienced because of that photo was just an illusion, and he had reverted to being that cold, numb, and uncommunicative statue.

Lu Tingzhou's outward anger seemed to hit cotton, getting no response whatsoever, which made him even more irritable. He slammed his palm hard on the heavy mahogany desk, feeling a burning pain in his palm.

"Speak! Qin Xiu! If you're a man, don't fucking play dead! You dare to do it but not admit it?!"

Lu Tingzhao finally made a move. He gently raised his hand and placed it on his younger brother's shoulder, which was trembling slightly with excitement, signaling him to calm down.

Then, he slowly stepped forward, stood in front of Qin Xiu, and looked down at the silent man with an air of absolute superiority.

"Qin Xiu,"

Lu Tingzhao's voice was not loud, but it carried a sense of caution.

"You can choose to remain silent. But if you still don't say a word about what I'm about to say, I'll take that as a yes."

He paused, his deep gaze seeming to pierce through Qin Xiu's surface and see into the deepest part of his soul:

"Of course, you can deny it. I'm giving you one last chance to explain."

Qin Xiu's fingers, hanging by his sides, curled slightly, the tips digging deeply into his palms. But he ultimately did not raise his head, nor did he utter a sound.

Lu Tingzhao's gaze turned completely cold, a turbulent undercurrent brewing in his dark eyes, yet his tone remained calm, like the coldest pronouncement:

"My father, Lu Xing, left Sui County in June of that year. Your 'father,' Qin Jianguo, hastily married your mother in July. And you, Qin Xiu, were born at the end of March of the following year."

He leaned slightly forward, clearly conveying each word into Qin Xiu's ears:

"Qin Xiu, judging by the timeline, shouldn't you... also call me 'Big Brother'?"

Qin Xiu's body stiffened instantly, but he kept his head down, offering no response to this crucial question.

Lu Tingzhao was not surprised. He continued to use words to slowly break down the other party's defenses:

"Your nominal father constantly beat and verbally abused your mother, and treated you like dirt, resorting to physical violence at the slightest provocation... Is this because he knew perfectly well that you were not his biological child? And was your ultimate choice to leave that home alone and go far away also because you could no longer tolerate this hatred and violence stemming from your 'origin'?"

These words pierced Qin Xiu's heart, reopening an old wound that had never healed.

He could no longer maintain his outward numbness; his shoulders slumped uncontrollably, and his head drooped even lower.

Lu Tingzhao was right.

Countless fragmented and painful images uncontrollably flooded Qin Xiu's mind: