Chapter 42: Chapter 40: Have you fallen for me?
Su Manhan took a deep breath, ready to scream out, but was restrained by Zhan Yao.
“Speak to her nicely.”
Su Manhan swallowed half of her fury.
“Qiao Jing, you really are a troublemaker! You actually sent Miss Deng of the Deng Family to the police station, huh?”
Zhan Qipei slightly furrowed his long eyebrows that resembled mountainous mists, his gaze following Qiao Jing’s footsteps.
After taking a bottle of green tea from the fridge and taking a sip, Qiao Jing calmly said, “She wanted to snatch my things and even threatened my family and friends. Should I have just let her bully me?”
“Ha! She’s robbing your things? She’s the pampered daughter of the Deng Family, what do you possess that could catch her eye? You think we’d believe what you’re saying?” Zhan Nanqing sneered.
“So you think the police station arrests people based on intuition rather than evidence?”
Her words directly shut Zhan Nanqing up, who sat down looking deflated.
“Even so, you shouldn’t have taken her to the police station! The Deng Family and our Zhan Family have always had business relations, and our relationship has always been good. What you did was make enemies for our Zhan Family! Go and apologize now!” Su Manhan said to Qiao Jing with a livid complexion, in the tone of an elder educating a junior.
“So even if your Zhan Family members are bullied by the Deng Family, you have to swallow your pride? I remember the Zhan Family is not one bit inferior to the Deng Family,” Qiao Jing stated flatly.
“What are you to the Zhan Family? Do you think you’re worthy?” Zhan Nanqing interjected.
“Ha!” Qiao Jing sneered, the smile on her face not reaching her eyes, “You’ve hit the nail on the head. Tell me, since I’m not one of the Zhan Family, why do you care about me? Whom I send to the police station is my business. What does it have to do with you?”
“You, you—” Zhan Nanqing stammered for a long time, unable to utter a complete sentence, her face turning purple with rage.
After a brief silence, Su Manhan looked toward Zhan Qipei.
“Qipei, look at this! What an attitude she has. She’s supposed to be your wife after all. Manage her properly!”
Zhan Qipei stood up, glanced at Qiao Jing, then addressed the three people opposite him, “She’s not wrong.”
These words caused everyone to pause in surprise.
Especially Qiao Jing, who had thought that Zhan Qipei would heed Su Manhan’s words and instruct her to apologize to Deng Yunran.
“Qipei, what are you saying?” Su Manhan couldn’t believe her ears.
“It’s Miss Deng who’s wrong, and you all know well enough about Deng Yunran’s willful arrogance. Moreover, men at the police station talk about evidence. If Deng Yunran was taken away, it means she must have violated the law. Beside that, our Zhan Family, as one of the top families in the capital and being on the right side, why should we apologize to the Deng Family? Shouldn’t they be the ones apologizing to her?” Zhan Qipei’s assertive words left Su Manhan and the rest speechless once again.
Qiao Jing scrutinized Zhan Qipei with a doubtful gaze, a glimmer in her eyes that was hard to define.
“But, but—” Although Su Manhan felt that what Zhan Qipei had said was reasonable, she did not want to antagonize the Deng Family because of an outsider like Qiao Jing.
“Forget it.” Zhan Yao sighed, standing up. “Qipei is right about this. Qiao Jing is in the right; there’s no reason to apologize. It would be a joke if word spread that we did.”
Zhan Yao changed his tone, “The Deng Family and our Zhan Family have been friendly for generations; there’s no need for such a falling-out. The police said except for obtaining the forgiveness of the complainant, it would be hard to release her immediately. Qipei, persuade Qiao Jing to be more magnanimous.”
Magnanimous? Qiao Jing narrowed her eyes slightly. So if she didn’t forgive, it would mean she was petty?
Just as Qiao Jing was about to turn around and leave, Zhan Qipei’s low and suppressed voice suddenly resonated.
“Magnanimous? Deng Yunran threatened to harm her family and friends, and you expect her to be magnanimous? Let’s not even ask if she can do that. If someone threatened me in this way, using your lives to pressure me, I would ensure they never recover!”
Zhan Qipei, with his imposing manner and cold, dignified features, said this, further silencing the room.
“Ah—” Zhan Yao sighed, “Qipei is right; let’s not get too involved in this.”
Zhan Yao thought back to what his father, Zhan Yuanshan, once said: He was too indecisive, his younger brother too impulsive, and only his son Zhan Qipei was truly suitable to lead the family.
Setting aside everything else, just the handling of this situation alone, his considerations were indeed not as thorough as Zhan Qipei’s, nor did he have Zhan Qipei’s resolve.
With Zhan Yao saying so, Su Manhan had little to add, and aside from the point about Qiao Jing, she did think Zhan Qipei was right.
If they really conceded, it indeed would make the Zhan Family look weaker than the Deng Family.
After the gathering dispersed, only Qiao Jing and Zhan Qipei were left in the living room.
“Thanks for speaking up for me just now, although it wasn’t necessary,” Qiao Jing said, offering a bottle of green tea to Zhan Qipei.
Zhan Qipei’s mouth twitched. When would this woman ever say something nice.
“I don’t drink this stuff,” Zhan Qipei refused.
Qiao Jing put the green tea back in the fridge.
“You don’t need to thank me, I wasn’t speaking for you, I was just discussing the facts,” Zhan Qipei said as he stood up and moved his leg, frowning.
Qiao Jing’s gaze fell on Zhan Qipei’s leg, surmising it was due to the leg injury.
Although it had been some time, the nearby muscles were still likely sore and swollen with pain.
“Do you need me to massage it a bit? It might help alleviate the muscle soreness.”
Qiao Jing’s offer wasn’t out of pure kindness; it was simply to repay the favor of him speaking on her behalf.
Zhan Qipei stared at Qiao Jing with his profound, ocean-deep eyes.
His sore spot was on his leg, close to the thigh root. How could she have the audacity to suggest such a thing?
“Have you, fallen for me?”