They are still close to me today despite their negative feelings

"The online troll groups in Lucheng are indeed the main ones. We're also investigating other areas based on their testimonies, and the people behind them are also..."

"These behind-the-scenes matters are your job, aren't they? I'm just a high school student."

The man with the gold teeth was speechless.

"You're not wrong. But what about the rumors about the young lady?"

"Before that."

I sighed.

"Don't you really think it's a bit cramped for two people to sit on a single sofa?"

I said to Qiu Luxi, who was clinging to me and secretly glancing at me as she tried to snuggle into my arms.

"?"

"It's no use pretending you don't understand. You turn into a cat the moment you step out of your room, don't you?"

Qiu Luxi smiled sweetly at me, and then snuggled up to me like a koala.

"Meow~"

She said to me in a soft, coquettish tone.

“…Young Miss, I am here in a way, too.”

Upon hearing this, Qiu Luxi hid behind me, then peeked out slightly, glaring at the gold-toothed uncle with a somewhat fierce look.

“He bullied me back then.”

No, even if you told me, there's nothing I could do, Qiu Luxi. It's probably easier to tell the old man about this.

“Young Miss, you can’t complain like that. The decision to take you away and protect you was agreed upon by both me and the old man, and also by Young Master Ning.”

Uncle Gold Tooth was out of options, so he betrayed me.

Damn it, I've written it down.

"You agree too?"

Qiu Luxi looked at me.

"After all, if any escapees manage to retaliate, you'll be in danger."

I'm not denying it; I'm just telling the truth.

"Yes, I knew it. Thank you for protecting me."

The man with the gold teeth was dumbfounded.

"Young Miss, you can't be so hypocritical... Young Master Ning, you too, don't let the young lady continue to misunderstand!"

"Bah!"

Seeing Uncle Gold Tooth complaining to me, Qiu Luxi shrugged her nose unhappily, revealing a hostile attitude, and uttered an unknown language that sounded like a warning to Uncle Gold Tooth.

Like a cat whose fur has been annoyed.

"...Never mind, I'd better shut up."

The gold-toothed man gave up struggling and gave an expression that said, "This world is doomed."

"Meow." The "young lady" next to him glanced at him and wagged her tail with some disdain.

"What is Grandpa Qiu planning to do..."

The door to the reception room opened, and an elderly man in a suit walked into the room with a serious expression, first looking at Qiu Luxi, who was squeezed onto the same sofa as me.

"……grandfather."

Qiu Luxi trembled at first, then instinctively grabbed my arm and whispered.

"........."

The old man stared at Qiu Luxi for a long time, so long that Qiu Luxi slowly began to hide her face behind me.

"Grandpa, if you keep scaring the child like this, won't it only lead to more complicated misunderstandings next time?"

I sighed.

"?"

Qiu Luxi turned to look at me with some confusion.

"Jin Shuheng, please leave for a moment."

The old man spoke calmly, and the gold-toothed uncle also stood up sensibly, exchanged a glance with me, and left the room.

When only Qiu Luxi, Grandpa Qiu, and I were left in the room, the atmosphere changed.

The old man suddenly ran over here, quickly and nimbly looking around frantically while maintaining a certain distance from Qiu Luxi.

"Thin!"

He came to a conclusion.

"???"

Qiu Luxi looked completely bewildered.

"I sensed it back at the negotiation place last time. Xiao Ning, my granddaughter is with you, has she lost weight from hunger?!"

"Please, can you at least open your eyes and speak properly? She always gets a second bowl of rice at every meal in our house, it's clearly..."

Qiu Luxi gently covered my mouth.

"Gurgle, gurgle, slurp..."

"How could that be! You just look thinner!"

"Old Master Qiu retorted loudly," he said. Footsteps could be heard outside the door.

"Dad, that's enough!!"

A middle-aged man in a suit and glasses, who looked like a high-level white-collar elite, walked into the room with a frown. At the same time, a woman in a smart office lady outfit followed closely behind him.

"What are you doing here, you good-for-nothing! Shouldn't you be abroad right now?"

"Huh? Seeing this trending topic, I'm still abroad?"

The man showed no regard for my presence as an outsider and continued to mock and ridicule the old man.

"Before, you said you wanted to give Xiaoxi the best life path according to your ideas, and I couldn't argue with that. But now, in this situation, are you just going to let Xiaoxi be misunderstood by those idiots outside!"

"I've already told you not to worry about family matters! All you need to do now is manage the company..."

"Company, company, company my foot! I quit!"

Wait a minute, does anyone care about my position—I also want to go out like Uncle Gold Tooth…

"Let whoever wants to manage your lousy company do what they want! I'm Xiaoxi's father! Xiaoxi is being bullied like this by that old bastard who has a grudge against you. Do you really think I'm a pushover?!"

The man roared.

"You'd better step aside too, I'm going to go and raze that old Bi and his whole family to the ground right now!!"

Who am I? Where am I? Why am I here watching a family drama...?

"You bastard! How dare you talk to your father like that! Xiao Xi is still here!" The old man trembled with anger and turned to look at the office lady next to him.

"Xiao Chen, say something fair."

"I?"

The woman glanced at the two arguing father and son, her face expressionless.

"Dad, I'm here to fight for custody too."

"?" "???"

You know what, the surprised and speechless looks on the father and son really do show the power of genes.

……

"Xiao Xi." The woman who squatted down looked at Qiu Luxi, who was somewhat wary, and sighed softly.

“I know you probably won’t believe what Mom says now. But we’ve never treated you as a burden, as the trending topics say.”

"This kind of thing is trending on social media?!"

The middle-aged man was horrified.

"Shut up!"

The woman's cold drink made the man subconsciously touch his nose.

"The trending topics even say that Xiaoxi is your illegitimate daughter. Hilarious. If you really had such a cute illegitimate daughter, I could die in peace."

"Dad, could you please not say anything?"

Although the woman spoke to the old man in a relatively gentle manner, her commanding presence remained undiminished.

"........."

Qiu Luxi instinctively hid behind me, pressing herself against me while timidly looking at the woman, unsure of how to react.

"Don't use me as a human shield..." I thought I'd try to change the atmosphere.

But when I felt Qiu Luxi's slightly trembling hand gripping my shoulder, I kept quiet.

"Although it's not appropriate for me to say this, it's a family matter after all, and I believe I have the right to speak. Now that things have come to this, it's time to tell Xiaoxi, right?"

The woman looked up at the old man and the middle-aged man.

"But this kid is still here..."

"Do you think this classmate is more important to Xiaoxi, or you, her irresponsible guardian?"

The woman said in a cold voice.

"Do you really want to hear Xiaoxi say it out loud?"

The middle-aged man glared at me, sighed, and lowered his head.

No, why are you glaring at me? Do you think I don't want to run away?!

"Now that things have come to this, there are no outsiders here." On this issue, it was finally the old gentleman who spoke up.

"Xiao Xi, you are the child of our family's benefactor."

……

What happened next went in one ear and out the other. Basically, Qiu Luxi's original family and the Qiu family both experienced the turbulent era of the rise of the gray industry. One of the daughters even married the eldest son of the Qiu family, the middle-aged man standing before me now.

But that was a chaotic period, marked by rebirth, rise, and destruction. Qiu Luxi's parents died during this upheaval, leaving her an orphan at a young age.

“We weren’t planning to tell you this.” The old man sighed and shook his head. “It was a chaotic industry. Even if I, an old man, and those who went through that period can’t wash away the filth, we can’t get rid of it. But Xiaoxi, you’re different. You’re the granddaughter of my old friend. He was the one who advised me to leave this industry.”

"So if possible, I hope that at least you, as his descendant, will be clean and have a carefree life."

"My sister," the woman said softly, looking at Qiu Luxi who seemed to understand but not quite, "was the best person I've ever met. Fate can be so ironic sometimes. Someone like me is still alive and well, but my kindest sister has passed away."

"Xiao Xi." The woman reached out to stroke the girl's head, but stopped mid-air. "Ever since you were adopted, I've been avoiding you. Because every time I see you, I'm reminded of my older sister, who was straightforward yet sensitive and delicate. She loved cats back then, but I didn't dare let you keep cats at home. Because they remind me of her."

"But I didn't realize you've grown so much."

The woman said with a smile.

"She's grown into a young lady now."

“When we adopted you, this guy and I decided that we wouldn’t have any more children because you are our child. But with all these things going on in our family, can you really live the happy life we ​​hope you can have? We don’t know. The only thing we can do is try our best to keep you from knowing about our situation.”

“I even keep my distance from you. Even though we're no longer involved with that side, that past is like a lingering shadow, clinging to us when we're least expecting anything. Gray is too dirty; it doesn't suit a clean little girl like you.” The woman smiled gently. “Our darling deserves a bright future.”

"...The entertainment industry too."

The man interjected.

"We don't want you to be an idol because that place is too corrupt. We want you to live your whole life in the clean sunshine, but that place is a breeding ground for filth. To be honest, even now, I can't accept you going there, Xiaoxi..."

The woman glanced at the man indifferently, and the man finally sighed.

Based on my past life experience, the financial and academic circles are no less chaotic than the entertainment industry, and arguably even more so... However, judging from the Qiu family's demeanor, they probably have more control over these areas, so I can't say anything.

"However, this trending topic has made us realize something. We are all afraid that what happened to our older brother and sister-in-law in the past will happen to you. So we tried our best to keep you away from the gray areas. But this behavior only pushed you further away."

"I'm sorry, Xiaoxi. We were indeed too presumptuous."