Chapter 55: "Divorce him and marry the Second Brother!"

Jing Rong: "@Zhang Youqi, I'm going to Switzerland to spend the spring!"
Zhang Youqi: "...... We just came back from Europe at the beginning of the month."
Jing Rong: "We didn't go to Switzerland, and I didn't see the cherry blossoms and the Alps. That's what I want to see."
Zhang Youqi: "I'll have someone arrange it next week."
Jing Rong: "The cherry blossoms will be almost all fallen by next week. [Angry Dog Emoji.ipd]"
As the married couple bickered back and forth, a message suddenly popped up.
Jing Zhuo: "I'll have someone arrange it, so you can enjoy the beautiful spring scenery before the cherry blossoms fall."
Jing Rong was finally satisfied and frantically spammed emoticons: "[Puppy Kiss Emoji.ipd] My son is simply the best! I will never regret giving birth to my son!"
Zhang Hesning: "......"
Zhang Hexing: "......"

The next day, Sunday, Song Xi did not have to go to work. She got up early and meticulously tended to her red roses, one by one.
Having been in the vase for a few days, some of the petals were starting to droop. Song Xi had looked up tutorial videos online on how to revive them and extend their vase life.
After finishing the ones in the living room and dining room, Song Xi went to the study to revive the vase of flowers on Jing Zhuo's desk.
"Ding-dong."
The phone lying on the desk lit up. Song Xi didn't pay attention and continued fiddling with the flowers.
"Ding-dong."
"Ding-dong."
Two more times. Out of the corner of her eye, Song Xi glanced over inadvertently and caught a glimpse of a few messages popping up on the screen.
Chen Feng: "The plane tickets have been booked. The two elders are already heading to the airport for their flight to Switzerland."
Chen Feng: "As per your instructions, they will not be back for a month."
Chen Feng: "The jobs for your younger brother and sister have also been scheduled to maximum capacity."

Song Xi's reaction froze instantly.
The message sent by Chen Feng showed the time as 7:30 right now, which meant... it was only after she told Jing Zhuo last night that she wanted to meet his parents that he went and booked the tickets.
He had smoothly manipulated the time difference right under her nose.
He did not want her to meet his parents, or even his family.
He was even intentionally keeping it hidden.

Song Xi's mind went completely blank, like the static snow on an old television set; no matter how hard she tried to think, she could not make sense of it.
Before Jing Zhuo walked in, she hurriedly turned around and left the study.

After Jing Zhuo finished washing up in the bathroom, he came out and saw Song Xi sitting on the sofa in a daze, as if lost in thought.
Jing Zhuo walked over and gently ruffled her spaced-out head, his palms radiating a warm heat.
"Taking the day off today?"

"Mhm," Song Xi nodded.
Jing Zhuo's hand slid down from her head and pinched her delicate, pretty face: "Then... shall we go on a date today?"
He had been wanting to go on a date for a long time.
Yet his wife never seemed to have the time.
Today, she had unusually skipped her best friend, skipped working overtime, and left all her time entirely to him.
Jing Zhuo didn't want to waste a single precious second of it.
The next second, Song Xi suddenly pulled his hand down: "No, I suddenly remembered I have something to do. I'm going out, do as you please."
"What could be so urgent? I'll drive you."
"No need, I'll go by myself."
Song Xi stood up, went to the master bedroom to pack some things, and soon came out to change her shoes in the foyer.
By the time Jing Zhuo grabbed his car keys and came out, she was already gone!
The outer corners of his brows twitched slightly as a vague sense of unease settled in.
He pressed the elevator button and chased her down to the garage, only to find both cars parked there—one neat and orderly, the other slightly crooked.
She hadn't taken a car.

As soon as Song Xi stepped outside, she hailed a taxi, gave the address of the He Residence, and went straight to the gates of the He family courtyard.
Upon seeing Song Xi arrive, the quirky pets in the courtyard rushed over, one proud and one excited, rubbing against her ankles.
She sniffed, suddenly feeling a surge of sourness in her nose.
"Damn it, what an outrageous man!"

Five minutes later, an angry roar echoed through the living room of the He Residence.
"Getting your marriage license and still not taking your wife to meet your family—there are only two possibilities: First, this man is an orphan. Second, this man has skeletons in his closet!"
"Given that we've already ruled out the first possibility—since he sent his parents out of the country overnight—that means he's the second one, he has skeletons in his closet!"
"If he won't let you see his parents, either he doesn't like you at all and is just using and deceiving you, or his parents are too shameful to be seen, and he's terrified you'll run away the moment you see the truth!"

Zhang Hesning delivered a passionate analysis fueled by anger, not forgetting to drag others in with her.
"Second Brother, tell me if I'm right or wrong?"
"Aunt Wang, tell me if I'm right or wrong?"
"Mom and Dad, tell you what I... Oh, right, my mom and dad went traveling at the crack of dawn."

Song Xi was still immersed in a deep, suffocating gloom and didn't hear the chatterbox's latter half at all.
Zhang Hexing rarely meddled in other people's family affairs; he lounged to the side without expressing any opinion.
However, Aunt Wang was both gossipy and enthusiastic, and her excitement was second only to Zhang Hesning's.
"Miss Hesning, you're right!"
"Look at our master and mistress. Last time they arranged a blind date for your eldest brother, they received the person at home with the utmost respect and would never hide away outside."
"Comparing the two, there is definitely something wrong with his family!"

The two of them chimed back and forth, wrapping around Song Xi's heart like silkworms, tighter and tighter, until she could barely breathe.
She clearly should have just asked him.
Yet since he chose to conceal it from the start, he never intended to tell her the truth. Even if Song Xi asked, all she would get was another lie.
Covering one lie with another felt utterly meaningless to her.

"Why don't you just divorce him?" Zhang Hesning fumed. "You can't keep a man with too many schemes. When choosing a husband, you still need to pick someone whose background you know inside and out. There are plenty of handsome guys out there, and we have a readymade one right here. Divorce him and marry my Second Brother immediately! I'll have my parents fly back from abroad to welcome you!"
"We'll all be one big happy family!"
Zhang Hexing called out to her: "Zhang Hesning, stop stirring up trouble."
"How am I stirring up trouble? My best friend is this upset, and you expect me to tell her to endure it, swallow the loss, and then let her go right back to her secret marriage?"
Zhang Hexing: "Stop making decisions on other people's behalf..."
"You've just spent too much time in the entertainment industry, you cold-hearted man! If I had a growth on my brain, would it even be your turn to comment on Xi Bao's business!"

Seeing that the siblings were about to get into a fight, Song Xi pinched her temples, wanting to calm them down.
*Ring-ring-ring—*
The landline phone in the house interrupted their quarrel.
Aunt Wang waved her hand to signal them to quiet down and went to answer the call first.
"Hello, Sir?"
"How many people are at home right now? Your mom and dad went to the airport early this morning, so the only ones left at home are Hesning, Hexing, and Miss Xi, Hesning's best friend."
"Yes, the two of them are getting along great, nothing has happened at home."
"You want Cantonese food for lunch? Light and bland flavors mainly, right? Okay, got it, I've made a note of it."

After a string of acknowledgments, Aunt Wang hung up the phone.
Zhang Hesning asked gossiping, "Aunt Wang, what did my eldest brother call to say?"
Aunt Wang scratched her head: "He just asked about the situation at home, and said you guys have been prone to internal heat lately, so he told me to cook some lighter dishes for you. He also told you to pay attention and not drag your friend out to eat hotpot and wild mushrooms."
Zhang Hesning: "......"
Can't we ever move past this embarrassing incident?
"Got it, got it. She's my best friend, not his. Why is he bossier than I am?"
Zhang Hesning threw her arm around Song Xi's shoulder.
"Listen to me, stay at the He Residence tonight and don't go back to see that dog of a man."
"Tomorrow I'll go to the company and borrow a team of lawyers from my eldest brother to fight your divorce lawsuit for you!"