Chapter 36: No Talking in the Passenger Seat

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Song Jia was speechless. “Mrs. Xu, the surveillance footage shows that Mr. Xu Shiran was the one who struck first.”

Xu Shiran’s injuries could not even be classified as minor. At most, it would be considered mutual combat and settled with compensation.

Mrs. Xu shouted hysterically, “This is none of your business.”

Xu Shiran’s assistant arrived with a lawyer. “Madam, Mr. Xu says he will not pursue Second Young Master’s responsibility.”

“He won’t pursue it? I’m his mother. If I say it will be pursued, then it will be pursued.”

Xu Si’an licked his lips, wanting a cigarette.

“Fine. Go ahead and sue me.”

“Lawyer Zhong, file a suit against Mrs. Xu as well. In the will my father left before he died, I was granted thirty percent of Xu Corporation’s shares. They are currently in Xu Shiran’s hands. I demand that they be returned to me.”

Mrs. Xu’s expression stiffened. “You already gave them up. They belong to Shiran now and have nothing to do with you.”

“I gave them up?”

“As I recall, I never signed the authorization for the transfer of shares.”

“I only agreed to relinquish my right to inherit the company. I never gave up my shares.”

Lawyer Zhong handed the documents he had prepared in advance to the police to open a case.

Mrs. Xu snatched the papers and tore them apart. “Don’t even think about it. Xu Corporation belongs to Shiran. Since you refuse to acknowledge me as your mother, you have no claim to the company either.”

Xu Si’an gave a soft laugh. “But your surname isn’t Xu.”

Qiao Xu had not replied to any of his messages, and Xu Si’an was worried.

“Officer, may I leave now?”

The lawyers on both sides signed settlement agreements. Xu Si’an took his phone and headed outside.

He suddenly stopped. “Oh, right. Lawyer Zhong, deal with the rumors someone spread about me too.”

Mrs. Xu was so furious she nearly fainted. If Xu Shiran’s assistant had not caught her, she would have collapsed onto the floor.

“You ungrateful little beast! You’re an ungrateful wretch who can never be satisfied. Even if I’m not your birth mother, I raised you for more than twenty years.”

“That was something your husband owed me.”

Xu Si’an’s body went rigid. “What did you say?”

“Say that again.”

Mrs. Xu straightened her clothes. “I said you were never my biological son. You were the bastard your father had with another woman.”

“If your father hadn’t insisted back then that you remain in the Xu family so that Shiran could inherit everything, do you think I would have raised another woman’s son?”

When Xu Si’an walked out of the police station, he saw a familiar figure.

He nudged Song Jia. “Didn’t I tell you to take her home?”

“Mr. Xu, I did.”

Qiao Xu was still wearing his outdoor jacket. “Is everything settled?”

Xu Si’an lowered his head and zipped up his coat. “Mm. Didn’t I tell you to shower and wait for me in bed? What, couldn’t you wait?”

He bent down and kissed her neck. It smelled of his shower gel.

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“You’ve showered, hmm?”

Xu Si’an’s voice was slightly hoarse. He could not tell whether it was because of his emotions or because he was aroused.

His kisses tickled Qiao Xu. She pushed against his shoulder. “Don’t fool around. This is a police station.”

“Then shall we fool around when we get home?”

Qiao Xu took his hand and led him toward where the car was parked.

Xu Si’an reached for her keys.

Qiao Xu dodged him. “I’m driving.”

The man settled into the passenger seat and glanced at the dashboard. “Honey, this is a sports car. There’s no one around—drive faster.”

He was eager to get home and take care of business.

Qiao Xu’s period had started on the second day after they arrived in Los Angeles, and it had just ended today.

She was used to driving her little electric car. When they had first set out, she had pressed the accelerator too hard and nearly shot forward.

“Don’t talk when you’re sitting in the passenger seat.”

With a roar, the engine surged, and Xu Si’an laughed without the slightest restraint.

“Don’t be scared. It only sounds frightening. Just drive it like that little wreck of yours.”

Qiao Xu slowly increased her speed. “This car of yours could buy the entire dealership that sold me my little wreck.”

Seeing that she was driving steadily, Xu Si’an lazily rested an arm against the window.

“Pull over for a moment, honey.”

Qiao Xu had no idea what he wanted, but she pulled over.

Xu Si’an opened the door and jogged into a cake shop.

Watching his back as he stood at the cashier, Qiao Xu suddenly felt terribly foolish.

She had let him go for four whole years just like that.

Xu Si’an carried a small cake into the convenience store next door.

After getting back into the car, he handed Qiao Xu a strawberry-flavored lollipop. “There was no strawberry cake left, so I got you strawberry candy instead.”

He placed the matcha cake on the footwell, and Qiao Xu started the car again.

Xu Si’an opened his pack of cigarettes. Just as he was about to light one, he turned his head to look at the girl driving.

“Darling, I’m going to smoke.”

Qiao Xu kept her eyes fixed on the road.

“Do you want me to light it for you?”

He chuckled. “That won’t be necessary.”

Xu Si’an lit a cigarette and rested his hand against the window. “Qiao Qiao, I think I might be an illegitimate son of the Xu family.”

Qiao Xu slammed on the brakes. Xu Si’an’s body tipped slightly forward.

“Easy, honey. Don’t get so worked up.”

“What do you mean?”

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Xu Si’an told her to start driving again and not stop in the middle of the road.

“Just now, Xu Shiran’s mother said that I was my father’s illegitimate son.”

Qiao Xu made a small sound of acknowledgment. “Aren’t you surnamed Xu?”

“Didn’t you say your brother was your mother’s… Didn’t you say he wasn’t your biological brother?”

Xu Si’an did not explain further. He only said, “When I was little, I thought she simply didn’t love me. I never imagined it was because I was unworthy.”

It had been a long time since Qiao Xu had seen him this despondent.

The car entered the underground parking garage, and Qiao Xu unfastened her seat belt.

“Xu Si’an.”

“Hmm?”

“Does it really matter who gave birth to you?”

The man smiled. He unfastened his own seat belt, hooked an arm around her neck, pulled her toward him, and kissed her hard on the lips.

“You matter most.”

“Come on, honey. Let’s go upstairs and take care of business.”

Qiao Xu slapped his hand away. “Stop fooling around. Go upstairs and take a shower.”

His white shirt was speckled with blood.

Qiao Xu put the cake in the refrigerator.

Song Jia had just messaged her and told her everything that had happened at the police station. She no longer had any appetite for cake.

Leaning against the refrigerator, Qiao Xu called him. “Xiao Song, about what happened at the police station…”

The call lasted more than ten minutes. It was only after Qiao Xu heard movement upstairs that she poured a glass of warm water and went up.

The moment she entered the room, someone pulled her into his arms.

“What took you so long? Did you secretly finish the cake?”

“I didn’t eat it.”

Xu Si’an gently kissed the tip of her nose. “Then we’ll eat it tomorrow. For now, we’ll have something else.”

Qiao Xu pushed him away. “Let’s talk seriously. What happened at the police station?”

“Why did you give up your right to inherit the Xu company four years ago?”

Xu Si’an rested his chin on her shoulder. “Everything I had was only meant to give you a better life. If you didn’t want me anymore, then none of it had any meaning.”

“But your life belongs to you.”

Song Jia had said that at the police station, Xu Si’an had lost control and cried out, “All the care and love you couldn’t give her—she gave me.”

“No. Ever since I was old enough to understand, she kept telling me not to fight my brother for anything. She said everything in the Xu family would belong to me in the future, and that my brother was merely holding it in trust for me.”

Qiao Xu knew that the woman he was referring to was Mrs. Xu.

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