Chapter 221: Master Xie, Xie Zheng

Bai Ruoxi visited again today.

It had been the third time she came to the Xie Residence since the burial, with a week having already passed since Xie An’an’s death. Each time Bai Ruoxi came, Master Xie would hover nearby, never straying too far from her side.

Yet he rarely spoke.

He would simply remain there in silence, occasionally glancing toward Bai Ruoxi as though he wanted to say something but could never quite find the courage to do so.

Wang Gege noticed it every time.

Today was no different.

Bai Ruoxi sat quietly in the courtyard, sipping tea while Wang Gege accompanied her. A short distance away, Master Xie stood beneath the eaves with his hands behind his back, pretending to be interested in the scenery.

Wang Gege glanced at him before looking back at Bai Ruoxi.

Then she lowered her voice. "Madam Bai..."

Bai Ruoxi looked up. "Hmm?"

Wang Gege hesitated for a moment before asking, "Why does my father-in-law keep following you around?"

Bai Ruoxi smiled, gentle and soft.

Wang Gege, who had been gazing at her, suddenly found herself stunned. The more she looked at that familiar face, the more certain she became that she finally understood where her own appearance had come from.

That gentle smile, those delicate features, even the quiet warmth in her eyes... They were almost exactly the same as the face Wang Gege had stared at in the mirror every day these days.

She could finally understand where her appearance came from.

"I and Xie Zheng have been childhood friends, alongside my younger sister," Bai Ruoxi began explaining, her voice soft as she recalled the distant past. "He was always very clear about his feelings, but I rejected him every time because my heart was never meant for him."

Wang Gege listened quietly, her gaze remaining on Bai Ruoxi.

Bai Ruoxi lowered her eyes, her fingers gently curling around the teacup.

"I knew what he felt for me, and perhaps that was why I could never accept his affection. It would have been unfair to him if I accepted him while my heart belonged to someone else."

Wang Gege bobbed her head lightly, as if she understood.

"And my younger sister’s feelings were rather overwhelming at that time, and I didn’t want to..." Bai Ruoxi paused, her fingers tightening slightly around the teacup. "I didn’t want to hurt her either. So, I thought the best thing I could do was to leave."

Wang Gege’s expression softened as she listened.

"Unfortunately, leaving didn’t make things as simple as I had hoped." Bai Ruoxi gave a faint, bitter smile. "Some feelings only become more twisted when they are left unresolved."

"Aaaa..." Wang Gege nodded, but Bai Ruoxi’s words suddenly reminded her of Xie An’an. She hesitated for a moment before asking, "So... where is your younger sister at this moment?"

Bai Ruoxi raised her gaze and met hers. "She is not with us anymore..."

Wang Gege furrowed her brows. "Not with us anymore?"

"I mean..." Bai Ruoxi pressed her lips together, her expression turning sorrowful. "She took her own life after giving birth." ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Wang Gege’s eyes widened slightly.

"Perhaps, in this era, there was no proper name for what she was suffering from. All we knew was that after giving birth, her mind seemed to become increasingly troubled. She became withdrawn and unstable, sometimes refusing to eat or speak to anyone. Unfortunately, none of us understood what was happening to her until it was too late."

Bai Ruoxi lowered her gaze, her fingers tightening around the teacup.

"To make matters worse, our parents were furious when they discovered what had happened. They believed she had brought shame upon the family and even wanted to disown her." Her voice trembled faintly. "And Xie Zheng... he never believed the child was his."

Wang Gege’s expression changed, "He thought the child belonged to someone else?"

Bai Ruoxi nodded slowly.

She fell silent for a moment before quietly adding, "When everyone turned against her, she probably felt as though there was nowhere left for her to go."

Bai Ruoxi’s fingers tightened around the teacup, her expression filled with sorrow.

"Her family wanted to disown her, and the man she had always seen as her last hope, Xie Zheng, refused to believe her." She lowered her gaze. "Perhaps she had placed too much of her heart on him, and his final rejection became the greatest heartbreak she had ever endured."

She paused, her eyes dimming with sadness. "She had already lost the support of her family, and when the person she had been clinging to refused to believe her, it was as though her last hope had disappeared as well."

Silence fell between them.

Wang Gege lowered her gaze to the tea in front of her, suddenly unsure of what to say. She did not want to continue asking about Bai Ruoxi’s sister, especially when every answer seemed to uncover another painful part of the past.

After a moment, she decided to change the subject.

"Madam Bai..." Wang Gege lifted her eyes again, forcing a small smile. "You said you and my father-in-law grew up together, right?"

Bai Ruoxi blinked, seemingly surprised by the sudden change of topic, before giving a gentle smile. "Yes."

"Then..." Wang Gege glanced toward the figure standing quietly beneath the eaves. "Was he always this quiet?"

Bai Ruoxi followed her gaze. For the first time since the conversation began, a faint amusement appeared in her eyes.

"No," she answered.

Wang Gege immediately became curious. "Really?"

"He used to be much more troublesome when we were young."

Wang Gege’s eyes widened. She looked at Master Xie again, then back at Bai Ruoxi. "My father-in-law?"

Bai Ruoxi nodded, her smile growing softer. "He was the sort of person who could talk endlessly whenever he was trying to win my attention." She glanced at him again. "I suppose age has finally taught him to keep quiet."

Wang Gege couldn’t help but snicker. "Then it seems he has changed quite a lot."

"Perhaps." Bai Ruoxi’s smile faded into something gentler. "He changed slowly after he married his late wife... At first, I believe he married her because he wanted to bury whatever feelings he still had for me."

Her gaze drifted toward Xie Zheng, who was standing not far away, pretending to be deeply interested in the sky.

"But people are strange sometimes. What begins as an attempt to forget someone can eventually become something completely different." Bai Ruoxi smiled faintly. "He spent so much time with her, and before he realized it, he truly fell in love with her."

Wang Gege blinked. "So... he really loved his late wife?"

"Yes." Bai Ruoxi nodded. "That was why I never regretted rejecting him. He eventually found someone he could truly love, and she became someone he could not bear to lose."

"Wait..." Wang Gege blinked hard, as if trying to understand. "But... he never showed it, though. That’s what everyone told me..."

Bai Ruoxi was silent for a moment before letting out a soft laugh. "Xie Zheng has never been good at showing his feelings."

Wang Gege glanced toward the man standing beneath the eaves.

"Even when he was young, he would rather pretend he didn’t care than admit that something had hurt him."

Bai Ruoxi lowered her gaze, a faint smile lingering on her lips. "Perhaps that was why everyone misunderstood him. After his wife passed away, he became even quieter. He never spoke about her, never told anyone how much he missed her, and rarely showed his grief in front of others."

She paused, her expression turning somewhat wistful.

"But silence does not always mean indifference, Taotao. Sometimes, it simply means the person has too much to say and doesn’t know how to say it."