Chapter 110: Siblings Reunited

After Shao Siming finished speaking, Shao Bin’s eyes immediately lit up as he sat on the sofa. He leaned forward eagerly and asked curiously, “Dad, you said that Xie Qingtang is very beautiful, but I’ve never seen her before. How stunningly pretty is she?”

Recalling the matter stirred a trace of nostalgia in Shao Siming’s eyes. Back then, Xie Wan had been the eldest daughter of the Xie family and naturally possessed striking looks. As for Shao Siming, he had been a phoenix man who rose from the countryside, extremely aloof and disdainful of worldly affairs. It was precisely that aloofness that drew Xie Wan to him, drawing the two into a deep love.

In truth, Shao Siming had once harbored some affection for Xie Wan, but later, under the harsh blows of reality, he had changed.

Observing the man beside him lost in memories, Xiao Rou’s expression grew somewhat displeased. She cleared her throat to bring him back to the present and said, “I recall that Xie Wan was quite beautiful in her youth. I suppose her daughter would be no different.”

“Mom, anyone you say is beautiful—I want to see her for myself and discover just how lovely she truly is.”

Shao Bin replied with boundless curiosity.

Shao Siming’s face darkened. He gave a cold hum and said, “What good is beauty? In the end, girls are only girls, destined to become nothing more than marriage alliances for powerful families and aristocratic clans.”

Hearing her husband speak thus, Xiao Rou’s expression eased slightly. She smiled and nestled closer into his arms, saying, “You’re right, husband. The greatest value of a Xie family woman lies in the benefits she brings to the clan.”

Such a gentle and yielding woman who obeyed him completely—how could Shao Siming remain unmoved? He stroked Xiao Rou’s hair and nodded in solemn agreement.

Back then, when Shao Siming married into the Xie family, his heart had always been dark and filled with resentment. Even though Xie grandfather and Xie Wan treated him kindly, he had never felt anything but inferior.

Those dark thoughts fermented in his mind day after day until they turned into actions. Yet Shao Siming would never speak of them aloud.

The next morning, Xie Qingtang rose with a distracted air. While attending patients, her thoughts often drifted, and by the time of the midday break, Song Qing approached her with concern.

“Hail Master, are you all right? All morning you seemed distracted. Has something happened that we can assist with?”

Xie Qingtang glanced at him and shook her head. The truth was the incident the previous night—Shao Siming delivering supplements to Xie grandfather—had left her feeling profoundly uneasy. After more than a decade of observing him, she knew Shao Siming was a man who never rose without profit. Moreover, his mind was deeply sinister, and she could not guess the schemes he plotted in secret. Thus she always felt as though a venomous snake stared at her from the shadows.

That sensation of being watched made one restless. Xie Qingtang’s thoughts that day had grown scattered.

At that moment, Cunshan Hall welcomed an unusually strange patient: a young man who appeared no older than twenty, dressed in the latest fashionable style, wearing sunglasses as he entered.

“Hello. Are you here for medical treatment? Please wait in line for your appointment.”

Zhou Jinfan greeted him with immediate enthusiasm, handing him a number so he could queue.

Unexpectedly, the man glanced disdainfully at the number in his hand, tossed it to the floor, replaced his sunglasses, and declared arrogantly, “I’m looking for my sister. Why wait in line?”

Zhou Jinfan was momentarily stunned. He asked doubtfully, “Excuse me, sir, have you come to the wrong place? We don’t have a sister here.”

“Do you think I’m a fool? I’m here to see Xie Qingtang. Where is she?”

Shao Bin spoke with an impatient smile, pushing Zhou Jinfan aside and striding toward the consultation room.

Opening the door, Xie Qingtang frowned slightly and looked up at the intruder. The moment their eyes met, she was stunned.

She needed no guess to know who he was. Shao Bin bore roughly seventy to eighty percent resemblance to Shao Siming. Shao Siming’s features were sharp and calculating, his gaze as inscrutable as a fox’s, leaving people unable to read him. Yet the young man before her wore a smug, frivolous smile, all arrogance and disdain plainly written on his face. No need to guess—he clearly held Xie Qingtang in no regard at all.

“You’re Xie Qingtang. Just as my father described—quite pretty.”

Shao Bin sauntered in and perched himself on the table beside the consultation desk, tightening Xie Qingtang’s brows further.

Xie Qingtang took his pulse, wrote a prescription, and told the patient, “Take this to the pharmacy. Today’s medicines are twenty percent off. Forgive the inconvenience.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

The patient accepted the slip and left. Xie Qingtang then turned to Zhou Jinfan. “We’ll halt consultations for now. Have Song Qing handle any patients who arrive. If you’re unsure, ask me again.”

With that, she closed the consultation room door and faced Shao Bin directly. The two stared at each other in silence.

In truth, this was their first meeting. Before the little mistress and Shao Bin entered the Xie family, Xie Qingtang had been sent by her vicious father—Shao Siming—to the remote countryside where even birds rarely flew.

Thus they were meeting for the first time after growing up. Shao Bin coughed lightly and said, “I heard you returned from the village. I’ve been curious about this half-sister I’ve never met, so I came today. I didn’t expect to find such a beautiful sister!”

After speaking, he sized her up from head to toe with a lewd, covetous gaze, as though the woman before him were no sister at all but a woman he found utterly irresistible.

That look filled Xie Qingtang with disgust. She said coldly, “I have no relation to you. Do not use the word ‘sister’ to disgust me. If there is nothing, please leave at once. Otherwise, you will bear the consequences yourself.”

“My God, is it really necessary? We haven’t seen each other in more than ten years. Today is our first meeting, and you already look at me with such cold contempt. It truly hurts.”