Chapter Twenty-Four: The First Encounter After Amnesia

"But this doesn't seem right. After all, her grandfather saved my grandfather's life. Isn't this unethical?" Song Shixuan hesitated, immediately rejecting the idea. "Besides, I would never hold a wedding banquet and play the part of a 'husband' for show with another woman. If my future 'girlfriend' found out, she would never want a divorcee like me!"

In his conservative view, even a wedding banquet meant they were husband and wife. He did not want his goddess to develop any resentment toward him over such a matter.

Seeing his pure-hearted demeanor, Song Shiyu couldn't help but roar with laughter, so much so that his suspended leg began to sway back and forth. "Second Brother, you are too naive! Very well, then, I shall carry out this plan!"

"I will use my charms to make that 'Meng the Charcoal' fall head over heels for me. When she is willing to marry me, I will heartlessly abandon her, thereby preserving the purest bloodline for our Song family descendants!"

Song Shiyu grew more excited as he thought about it. Wasn't this exactly what they had planned before?

However, Song Shixuan fell silent. He looked at his brother's excited expression and then glanced at Song Shijing, who was lying in the next bed, listening to the entire conversation without a word. He noticed that something was off.

In the past, whenever the family mentioned the marriage between Song Shijing and Meng Shuyue, his eldest brother would always look displeased. Yet, last night, he had seen his brother in the living room, looking radiant and impatient to marry that woman. It gave him the illusion that his brother had actually fallen for her. Otherwise, how could he have been so angry that he vomited blood upon learning she was pregnant with someone else's child?

Song Shixuan tentatively asked, "Eldest Brother, what do you think of Yanyan's plan?"

At his words, the other two turned their gazes toward Song Shijing.

Song Shijing moved his lips for a long time but couldn't utter a single word. Tears seemed to be welling up in his eyes.

Seeing him in such an unusually sorrowful state for the first time, Su Yanyan bit her lip and forced a smile, answering for him. "Your brother agrees. I finally understand it now—your brother and I were both schemed against by that bitch surnamed Meng. She betrayed your brother first, and fearing he would find out, she deliberately called people to catch us in the act, making a scene that even ended up in the newspaper. It was purely a guilty conscience! Afterwards, she ran off pregnant with a bastard child. She is truly shameless!"

Song Shixuan and Song Shijing were completely taken in by Su Yanyan’s words and believed her implicitly. "So that’s the kind of person she is. I was wondering how Eldest Brother could have done such a thing before the engagement was even called off. That woman is just too shameless..."

The sounds of insults drifted out through the crack in the door.

Meng Shuyue stood motionless outside, having heard the entire plan for the humiliation they intended to inflict upon her, along with the barrage of insults. Despite the sweltering summer heat, she felt as cold as if she were trapped in an ice cellar. Her hands, clenched at her sides, dug into her palms so hard that blood began to seep from her fingertips, yet she seemed not to notice.

In her previous life, Su Yanyan had schemed to cause her death. She had thought that, as women, exposing Su Yanyan and Song Shijing’s affair to the press would be enough revenge, and she could let the lovers be together while she severed all ties with them. She never expected that even now, Su Yanyan would still be doing everything in her power to target her!

Inside the room, Su Yanyan continued to discuss with the two brothers how to make her suffer the most public humiliation. Finally, in a sweet, coquettish voice, she shook the arm of the still-silent Song Shijing and said aggrievedly, "Brother, you wouldn't be reluctant to let her go, would you? She already cheated on you! Even so, she still wants to cling to the Song family to leech off us. If we don't find a way, Shixuan and Shiyu will suffer. So, do you agree or not?"

The two brothers looked toward their eldest brother, waiting for his word.

Song Shijing closed his eyes, feeling tears spill from the corners. His lips trembled, and finally, he squeezed a single word through his teeth.

"Fine!"

His answer wasn't loud, but everyone in the room heard it, including Meng Shuyue outside.

Meng Shuyue felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over her. It was as if her decade of youth had not only been wasted on a dog, but was now being mocked as well. She had known Song Shijing for over ten years, and he didn't even have the most basic trust in her. Since when was she, Meng Shuyue, the kind of woman who would dally with others? Based on mere words from Su Yanyan, he believed she was a woman of loose morals.

At this moment, Meng Shuyue’s heart turned cold to the core. She had never intended to cling to the Song family; her previous interactions with Song Shiyu were only because she wanted them to help her eldest brother obtain a permit to return to the city. Looking back, she realized she had not only saved the wrong person when she saved Song Shijing as a child, but she had also saved the wrong person when she saved Song Shiyu!

Since the three Song brothers wanted to play this game to get revenge on her, she would play along! If they wanted to humiliate her at the wedding, she would go along with their charade and give them a surprise they would never forget!

As she thought this, Meng Shuyue couldn't stop the pain in her chest, which felt as if it were being sliced by sharp blades with every breath. She clutched her chest, her vision blurring. She wiped the tears from her eyes, but they refused to stop falling.

"Little Meng, are you alright?"

A crisp, cold male voice sounded from behind, startling her so much that she shuddered, nearly letting out a cry. She kept her head down, afraid to look at the man with her tear-filled eyes, mostly because she felt ashamed to be caught in such a pathetic state. She stole a glance at the man's solid, taut chest beneath his white shirt, feeling a strange sense of familiarity. But she didn't think much of it, simply muttering "I'm fine" in a panic before hurrying away.

Shen Jinxiao stood at the door of the brothers' ward, his brow furrowing as he watched the woman hurry away. Was he some kind of monster? Why did his nephew's fiancée flee the moment she saw him? And she was pregnant—would running like that be safe for the baby?

Withdrawing his gaze and suppressing his worry, he pushed open the door.

He saw the two brothers, inseparable as Siamese twins, one with his leg in a cast and the other with his arm in a sling, huddled together with Su Yanyan, plotting something.

The three saw the movement and looked toward the door in unison. Shen Jinxiao observed their strange expressions, then glanced back at the figure sprinting down the hallway, and looked at them with a stern gaze. "What are you talking about?"

The three scrambled apart like birds, standing in a line just as they had in childhood, grinning widely and waving their hands—or legs—in denial. "Nothing at all! We were just doing what we did when we were kids—comparing whose teeth were whiter!"

Shen Jinxiao’s suspicious gaze finally landed on his eldest nephew, who looked like he was on death's door. That was when he noticed something amiss.

Under the man's icy gaze, Song Shijing trembled and suddenly burst into loud, wailing sobs. He curled up on the bed, clutching his chest, looking like an abandoned puppy, so helpless and pitiful that it scared the others in the room.

Shen Jinxiao forgot the scolding he had prepared and rushed out to find a doctor. He felt his eldest nephew must have had a mental breakdown. Otherwise, why would he vomit blood from anger upon hearing that his fiancée was pregnant? If it were him, he would be overjoyed!

Down the hall, Meng Shuyue reached the corner before letting out a breath of relief. Thank goodness no one had seen her weeping. She pulled out a handkerchief to wipe her face, then suddenly froze, realizing something was wrong. Why had that man called her "Little Meng"? Could he know her?

She poked her head around the corner toward the ward and saw a tall figure emerging from the room. It seemed to be the same man who had caught her crying. Before she could get a clear look at his face, a hand landed on her shoulder, causing her to jump and drop her handkerchief to the ground.