A Beijing socialite stole my boyfriend; she went crazy after I got married.

Xie Jing was both amused and exasperated.

Xie Jing: "Back then, I hadn't actually been exposed to these things yet—"

Jiang Chu immediately became excited, "So you really did it, right!"

Xie Jing slapped her on the head. "If you mean collecting protection money on the street, I've never done that. I've only used guns and knives abroad."

Jiang Chu narrowed her eyes.

Xie Jing lowered his hand, his rough fingertips pinching her earlobe. "I'll tell you slowly later."

"Okay," Jiang Chu glanced at him, then flipped to another page of the photo album, "You look a bit fierce, but you're really handsome!"

Xie Jing chuckled dismissively, "I also wish we could have met each other sooner, but... thankfully I didn't know you back then."

Jiang Chu tilted her head. "Because you didn't want to be in a relationship back then?"

Xie Jing shook his head. "I really don't want to, but if I meet you, I will definitely like you. Then, the only way I can rebel against the old man is to fight him. Just imagine it."

"Oh," Jiang Chu understood, "You mean, your father definitely won't approve of me, and then we might become a pair of fugitive lovers, perhaps even making a name for ourselves in the underworld together..."

Xie Jing sighed, "How much do you like this gangster persona?"

Jiang Chu couldn't help but chuckle and continued flipping through the pages.

There aren't many photos of Xie Jing, so I quickly flipped to when she was sixteen or seventeen.

The boy in the picture has completed his transformation.

His body began to swell, his originally bony frame was filled with bursting muscles, and his shoulders became thicker.

The young man in the photo is wearing a tight black work vest, carrying a heavy sandbag in one hand. The veins on his arm are bulging, and his muscles are smooth and full.

It looks like it could smash the door with a single punch.

His expression was just as fierce as when he was a boy, but with a deeper, colder look in his eyes, making him seem even more unapproachable.

Jiang Chu was amazed and was about to say something in praise when her finger turned the page, but her gaze suddenly stopped on the next photo.

It was a photo of two people.

Sixteen or seventeen-year-old Xie Jing stood under a huge oak tree, his figure imposing like a towering tower.

Beside him stood a man wearing a plain white shirt, who looked to be around thirty years old.

The man was also very tall, only an inch shorter than Xie Jing, but he was very thin and his skin was so pale it was almost transparent.

His facial features were very soft, with a pair of gentle almond-shaped eyes. His expression was somewhat aloof, and he looked sickly.

"This is... Mr. Xie Rong?"

Jiang Chu asked softly.

"Um."

Xie Jing responded with a faint "yes".

Jiang Chu: "He's very tall. Is Xie Qingyang really his biological son?"

Xie Jing: "Her mother is very short."

Jiang Chu stared at the group photo, "Okay..."

The two brothers inside didn't look very alike at first glance, but when she covered the upper half of her face, she found that the two men's face shapes and mouths were very similar.

"...I think I know what Miss Qiu is thinking."

Jiang Chu spread his hands and began to analyze logically, "Miss Qiu likes your older brother. She thinks that kind of person is more attractive. And you see, you two are completely different types."

She stretched out her fair fingertip and poked at the fierce muscles of someone in the photo.

"This is a matter of aesthetics!"

Jiang Chu, as if discovering a new continent, became even more excited as she said this: "Moreover, this could very well have been inherited by Xie Qingyang!"

Xie Jing looked at her helplessly, "Theoretically speaking, aesthetic visual preferences, such complex products of consciousness, cannot be packaged and passed on to the next generation as a specific piece of DNA code."

Jiang Chu puffed out her cheeks. "Really? I wasn't very good at biology. I used to fail a lot back then."

Xie Jing gently rubbed her cheek. "However, from a behavioral psychology perspective, even infants can interpret emotions, especially a mother's dislike for someone."

He calmly said, "Qiu Yuan hopes that it is me who has a terminal illness, not my older brother. She feels it is very unfair and hates me from the bottom of her heart. But my older brother passed away not long after Xie Qingyang was born. If it weren't for me, Qiu's relatives and her ex-husband's family would have eaten her and her daughter long ago. So Qiu Yuan pretends to be nice to me on the surface, but she is extremely resistant in her heart."

"Infants and toddlers are very good at decoding facial micro-expressions. Their brains can also bind a certain visual feature, the mother's aversion, and danger signals without them even realizing it."

He paused briefly.

"A child is in his mother's arms, and the mother stops breathing, tenses her muscles, races her heart, and looks at me with fear and disgust—guess what happens?"

"Oh," Jiang Chu suddenly understood, "Years later, the child no longer remembers her mother, but she remembers... you are a danger signal?"

Xie Jing nodded.

Jiang Chu was about to speak when she suddenly realized something was wrong.

and many more.

She had initially thought Xie Jing might have consulted experts about why his niece had rejected him as a child, but—

He seems to really know a lot about this.

Jiang Chu: "You went to university, right?"

Xie Jing glanced at her. "No, I was collecting protection money all the time back then, or I'd overturn their stalls."

Jiang Chu: "...Although I know you're being sarcastic, your expression is so serious that I'll take it seriously."

Xie Jing slightly curled the corners of his lips. "I do indeed have several degrees. What would you like to ask?"

Jiang Chu: "Your major?"

Xie Jing remained calm and collected, saying, "Guess."

"psychology?"

"Slightly related."

"sociology?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Forensic pathologist?"

"What?" Xie Jing looked at her incredulously, "...Are you kidding me?"

"Hmph," Jiang Chu glanced at him sideways, "Fine, don't tell me then!"

This guy is deliberately keeping us in suspense!

She's not going to take the bait!

...We'll find out sooner or later anyway!

"In short," Jiang Chu suppressed her curiosity, "since you know this yourself and can figure out the reason, it's not your fault that you two don't get along. She can't control it, and neither can you."

Xie Jing looked down at her. "I thought you didn't like her."

Jiang Chu was speechless. "If you like her, I will try my best to treat her well—"

She will definitely try her best, but if she fails, it's not her fault.

Fortunately, the uncle and nephew did not like each other.

Jiang Chu: "...I don't intend to put on an act in front of you. I really don't get along with her. Long before I met you, we were the kind of people who couldn't see eye to eye."

Xie Jing seemed to appreciate her honesty as well. "Yes, I know."

Jiang Chu's eyelashes trembled. "Besides, from a pragmatic point of view, even if she doesn't like you, she should at least pretend to. Since she's always been a good student, it means she's smart and should have realized early on that it would be better to do that. Since she can't even pretend anymore, it means she's genuinely rejecting you subconsciously, and there's nothing we can do about it."

She didn't want to take any opportunity to speak ill of Xie Qingyang.

—The two Xie brothers seem to have a fairly good relationship; Xie Jing must have received care from his elder brother.

Jiang Chu wouldn't go into too much detail about her brother's daughter.

Anyway...

Given Xie Qingyang's current situation, there's no need for me to rush into kicking him while he's down.

Since Xie Jing cares about the members of his adopted daughter's circle of friends, things become much simpler.

Because several of Xie Qingyang's friends are not clean.

Otherwise, how could they have committed murder to cover it up in the original story?

Take it slow.

Jiang Chu raised her hand and hugged the man's neck. "...I just want to say, it's not your fault, and it's not her fault either, so please don't dwell on this."

Watching the little girl in his arms launch into a long, serious speech, and then comfort him like a child, Xie Jing sighed helplessly once again.

He stretched out his arms and held her tightly against his broad chest.

"What am I worried about?"

Xie Jing pinched her waist, "Don't even mention now, even back then, I wouldn't have had time to be sentimental about something like this."

He tilted his head slightly, looking at the fine snow falling outside the window. "When I was developing mining areas and new energy markets overseas, my father didn't help me. He even deliberately made things difficult for me. So, it was common for my rivals in the profit chain, and even people in my family, to hire people to attack me, poison my water, or even set traps for me in riotous mining areas. I'm lucky to be alive."

The man lowered his head, looking at the girl in front of him, at her bright, watery eyes.

Jiang Chu frowned as she stared at him, her eyes growing softer and more moist.

Just a moment ago she was like a cunning little fox, calculating relationships and figuring out how to phrase her words, but now all that's left is heartache.

Xie Jing thought to himself.

very nice.

Everything else doesn't matter; he just loves seeing her care for him.