As she undid the buttons of her shirt and saw her skin reddened in the mirror, she unconsciously raised her hand to gently touch it, right on the chest.
The warmth of her touch met the scalded spot and swiftly retreated.
She hadn’t even realized she was burned; she was simply burning with anger.
She hadn’t expected Jing Qing to come looking for her as soon as she returned, let alone do something so impulsive.
What she expected even less was that Jing Qing would turn around and head to the Mu Family, crying her heart out in Feng Fanghua’s arms. When Feng Fanghua asked her what was wrong, she wouldn’t say, and it was only later that she dried her tears and said in a fragile voice, "Auntie, I’m sorry for crying on your shoulder as soon as I arrived. You truly feel closer to me than my own mother in my heart."
"How could I not know you, my child? Tell Auntie what happened. Who had the audacity to hit your beautiful face ? Who in Rongcheng would ever dare to strike you?"
"Auntie, please don’t ask. I just brought back some skincare products for you from abroad. When I saw you, I couldn’t help but want to share my worries, but I shouldn’t have," Jing Qing said, looking down, wiping away tears while speaking understandingly, her voice both soft and sincere.
"You just said I felt closer to you than your own mother, so why won’t you share what’s on your mind now?"
Feng Fanghua felt a pang of concern seeing her , but couldn’t just lash out as she would with Qin Mu. She had to patiently ask again.
"It’s really nothing serious, it’s just... Never mind, Auntie, let me know long-term if you like the skincare products—I can bring more next time. I should be going now," Jing Qing said, then stood up to leave. Her hurried arrival and departure left Feng Fanghua thoroughly perplexed.
After Jing Qing left, Auntie exhaled impatiently, "I swear, Miss Jing is intentionally trying to upset me."
"Exactly, she should either spill it or not say anything at all. Now she’s just made me irresistibly curious," Feng Fanghua muttered, feeling restless both in her eyes and heart.
During dinner that evening with the family, Feng Fanghua couldn’t help but to talk about it, "Jing Qing came over today, cried in my arms for a good half hour. She said she wanted to confide her troubles, but then left without saying a word about them."
Mu Zihao glanced at her, curious but not feeling it appropriate to inquire further, and quietly continued eating.
Qin Mu paused momentarily while picking up vegetables, but then simply continued to serve herself without mentioning her encounter with Jing Qing during the day.
"It looked like she got into a fight, half of her face was swollen," Feng Fanghua kept muttering.
"Oh? Who in Rongcheng would dare to fight with her? Wouldn’t that be a death wish?" Mu Zihao said casually.
Realizing that if she didn’t speak up now, future trouble might take the elders by surprise, Qin Mu looked at them and casually said, "It was me."
The man who had been quietly eating finally put down his chopsticks and turned his eyes to his partner.
Qin Mu looked calm, meeting his gaze before she turned to explain to the elder couple, "She came to see me today, and we ended up fighting."
"And you actually hit her? You... Do you not realize their family’s status?" Feng Fanghua was stunned.
"Did she hurt you?" Instead of addressing the elder’s concern, the man beside her reached for her hand, pushing up her shirt sleeve to inspect her skin.
"I’m fine, it’s just that when she tried to hit me, I managed to slap her back," Qin Mu said, her confidence waning as she remembered that she now had the Mu Family behind her and didn’t want to cause them any more trouble.
"Haven’t I told you? Even if we can’t live in harmony, if you could avoid arguing with her, do so. It’s not bad to take a loss when you’re young. Why did you end up hitting her?" Feng Fanghua went on with many moral points, and Qin Mu wanted to argue, but feeling that talking back to an elder too harshly might anger them, she lowered her head and remained silent.
"If she didn’t hit Jing Qing, she would have been hit. We learned in school that there’s no need to endure beyond an unreasonable point, and isn’t this especially true in society? Being weak only lets others walk all over you, and I don’t think Mumu did anything wrong," Mu Yichen finally burst out, directly challenging his own mother.
Qin Mu couldn’t help but look at him. His voice was steady yet offered her immense comfort.
"But isn’t it better to avoid trouble when you can, and are you in such a rush to make an enemy of the Jing Family?"