Chapter 29—Xu Qingyan and Kong Shuyin (4)
An'an felt as if he had a surge of pent-up anger with nowhere to vent it. What was he even angry about?
Other than these two women who had no sense of propriety, what else was there to be angry about?
Just then, An'an suddenly spotted the Third Prince walking toward them from not far away.
In his panic, he shouted at the Third Prince, “Zhu Hanyu, aren’t you going to control your woman?”
The moment An'an said this, everyone present froze.
It was bad enough that he had called the Third Prince by his given name in front of him. He had even called Niannian the Third Prince’s woman.
“Xu Yanqing!”
This time, it was Niannian who became angry.
Did he even know what he was saying?
She and the Third Prince were completely innocent. He was her elder brother, yet he made it sound as though there were truly something going on between her and the Third Prince.
Although Kong Shuyin did not know who Zhu Hanyu was, she did know that Sister Niannian was still unmarried. How could anyone say she was another man’s woman before she was even married?
“Brother An'an, how could you ruin Sister Niannian’s reputation like that?”
Li Mingyue, who had been speaking with Wen Yiheng, hurried over as soon as she heard this.
“Cousin An'an, what nonsense are you talking about?”
Seeing more and more people looking over, Li Mingyue frowned. She could not help wondering what benefit her cousin thought he would gain by ruining Cousin Niannian’s reputation like this.
“I...” An'an knew he had said the wrong thing, but the words had already left his mouth, and he could not take them back.
When he saw that Niannian and Kong Shuyin were acting as though they had done nothing wrong and he was the only one at fault, An'an’s stubborn temper flared up again.
“What did I say that was wrong? Hmph!”
Though An'an was angry, he did not dare say again that Niannian was the Third Prince’s woman.
He had thought the matter would simply blow over, but he had not expected Xu Heming, who happened to be passing by, to hear him.
Xu Heming’s face darkened. He strode forward, grabbed An'an by the collar, and tossed him into the carriage.
“Which bastard dares call himself your grandpa?” An'an shouted angrily.
“You little bastard. Take a good look and see whose grandpa you are!” Xu Heming said with a dark expression.
He thought to himself, Has this brat forgotten that I haven’t laid a hand on him in too long? Is he itching for a beating?
“Dad... Dad, what are you doing here?” When An'an realized that the person holding him was Xu Heming, his entire expression fell.
He could only silently pray that his father had not heard what he had just said.
“Dad, look at Little Sister. All she does every day is steal my wife. Don’t you think we should find her a husband?”
An'an tried to come up with an excuse to change the subject.
What he did not realize was that his words only added fuel to the anger burning in Xu Heming’s heart.
Watching An'an being dragged away, Kong Shuyin swallowed nervously. She cautiously looked at Niannian and asked, “Sister Niannian, will he be all right?”
“Hmph! He deserves it!” Niannian said angrily.
“Cousin Niannian.”
The Third Prince walked over to Niannian’s side, undisguised affection in his eyes. He had naturally heard what An'an had said just now.
His heart filled with delight. Could it be that Prince An’s residence had finally accepted him?
Prince An had always opposed his relationship with Niannian, but it turned out that he had merely been testing him.
Now, it seemed that his efforts had finally earned Prince An’s approval.
At this thought, the smile on the Third Prince’s face grew even wider.
As for An'an’s offense of calling him by his given name, the Third Prince decided to let it go. After all, An'an was his future brother-in-law.
“Stay away from me.” Seeing the Third Prince’s irritatingly broad smile, Niannian said in annoyance.
She felt that he had teamed up with that rascal An'an just to make her angry.
Kong Shuyin stared blankly at the Third Prince’s handsome, extraordinary features. She thought to herself, The capital really does produce beautiful men. He’s truly handsome.
He was not the slightest bit inferior to Brother An'an.
What Kong Shuyin did not know was that the man standing before her was the Third Prince.
“Greetings, Cousin.”
Wen Yiheng bowed to the Third Prince, somewhat puzzled by what An'an’s words had meant just now.
He had not recognized An'an at first either, but he could not shake the feeling that there had been something wrong with what An'an said.
“What are you doing here?”
The moment the Third Prince saw Wen Yiheng, who had appeared there, he suddenly grew tense.
He had not forgotten Cheng Qingli’s declaration that she would have Niannian marry Wen Yiheng.
“I... I just happened to be passing by.” Wen Yiheng was somewhat confused. Why did his cousin seem not to like him?
When Xu Heming dragged An'an back to Prince An’s residence, Li Zhiwei happened to see them.
“Mother, save me!”
An'an stretched out a hand toward Li Zhiwei and shouted.
“What happened?” Li Zhiwei asked with a frown, unable to understand what had happened between father and son this time.
Looking at Xu Heming’s childish behavior, Li Zhiwei sighed. Did he really think the child was still little?
What if someone saw him carrying the boy around like that?
“My lord, whatever happened, you can talk it out. The child is grown now,” Li Zhiwei advised gently.
“Hmph! If I don’t teach this brat a lesson today, he won’t even know which way his own front door faces!” Xu Heming said darkly. He had no intention of letting An'an off today.
“An'an, what did you do to anger your father? Apologize to him properly.” Li Zhiwei sighed and quietly reminded An'an.
Xu Heming grew even angrier when he heard this. He said indignantly, “This brat actually called Niannian the Third Prince’s woman in front of everyone!”
The more Xu Heming thought about it, the angrier he became. He had been doing everything he could to prevent this from happening. It would have been bad enough if his son had refused to help, but the brat had actually worried that the Third Prince would not have enough chances to get close to Niannian and had tried to ruin his own sister’s reputation in front of so many people.
Li Zhiwei, who had been about to plead for An'an, immediately fell silent. An'an had indeed gone too far this time.
After all, whom Niannian wanted to marry was her own choice. How could her foolish brother go out of his way to push her toward the Third Prince?
Besides, Xu Heming had always guarded Niannian as if she were the apple of his eye. There was no way he would agree to let her marry the Third Prince.
Xu Heming thought resentfully, I’ve been doing everything I can to stop other brats from running off with my daughter, and this brat insists on personally delivering his own sister into another man’s hands.
Looking at the furious Xu Heming, Li Zhiwei sighed. There was nothing she could do to save An'an from this mistake. Who told Xu Heming to be such a doting father? And this boy had even undermined his own father.
“Go easy on him. Don’t hit his face,” Li Zhiwei said after thinking it over.
“Mother, are you really my biological mother?” An'an asked Li Zhiwei in disbelief.
“Hmph! No, you’re just a piece of barbecued pork we found by the roadside!” Xu Heming said as he dragged An'an toward the practice yard.
“Dad, you’re lying! My second brother and I look exactly alike. If I’m barbecued pork, then what is he? And Little Sister too—we’re triplets!”
An'an protested loudly.
“They were born to your mother and me. You were the one we found by the roadside!” Xu Heming said, showing not the slightest mercy.
Li Zhiwei watched the father and son leave, then remembered that her daughter still hadn’t returned home. She hurried out to look for her, wondering whether An’an’s words had hurt the girl. And Xu Heming, too—he’d been so focused on bringing the culprit back that he had completely forgotten about his own daughter.
