Their Love Stories

Chapter 248 – A Storm in Emperor City

It took a while for Xia Zi to digest what Mo Suqing just told her.

Guan Zixuan made a trip to A City not to look for her but to look for me?

Xia Zi stood where she was for a while, dazed at the news...

She saw Luo Qiqi spacing out on the sofa when she returned to their villa. Luo Qiqi seemed to be spacing out like this every single day after what happened to Su Jincheng. She was unable to get over the fact that he was already gone.

Seeing her like this, Xia Zi shook her head in resignation. When will she be able to walk out of it?

She sat beside Luo Qiqi gently and said, “Qiqi, I know you’re upset. Just cry if you want to. Don’t torture yourself like that. It hurts me to see you like this…”

With Luo Qiqi ignoring her and still staring into the empty space, Xia Zi decided to use a more commanding tone. “Qiqi, do you plan to live the rest of your life like this? Su Jincheng did that because he knew you were nearby, and between him and Ye Zhongjue, he had to make sure one of them stayed alive. He knew that Yang Tianlong would hurt you, which is why he did that. It’s not for you to end up sulking all day like this!”

Hearing Su Jincheng’s name triggered Luo Qiqi.

She turned to Xia Zi with tears escaping her eyes. “A’zi, I feel so empty, as if there’s no place for me in this world anymore. Why did he have to jump off? He might have been able to survive if he didn’t, so why did he choose to do that!”

Luo Qiqi then buried herself into Xia Zi’s chest as she wept.

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Xia Zi wiped the tears off her face and kept her company.

The both of them talked for a long time, with Xia Zi listening to Luo Qiqi as she spilled her heart out. She knew Luo Qiqi had feelings for Su Jincheng, but she never knew that Luo Qiqi had already fallen so deeply in love with him.

Just what is love? It seemed to be something that could change a person entirely.

When Xia Zi woke up the next morning, she decided to go to Emperor City to look for Guan Zixuan. She wanted to tell Luo Qiqi about her plans after preparing breakfast and tell her to take good care of herself when she was away.

The television was switched on and everything seemed peaceful and normal when she was preparing breakfast.

However, she happened to hear a major news report coming from the television after she had just toasted the bread.

“After going on a hiatus for five years, top star Guan Zixuan has been exposed for taking drugs. He is still under investigation, but some of our media friends have found out that Guan Zixuan has a rather prominent family background. It seems that he is no ordinary individual, which was why this news had been suppressed. Now that it has been exposed, I wonder how this previous top star would react to these allegations...”

Xia Zi could no longer hear the rest of the report as her thoughts were currently in a mess.

Something happened to Guan Zixuan.?She found it weird that he did not attend Mo Suqing’s wedding, and the worst had happened.

Luo Qiqi saw Xia Zi standing in a daze when she made her way downstairs. She had also heard the news.

She walked up to Xia Zi and hugged her gently. “A’zi, don’t be upset. We don’t know what exactly happened yet. It’s better if you go over to take a look in person. I know the both of you spent five years together, so… A’zi, go ahead. There’s no need to worry about me. I’ll take care of myself. I’m still that head-strong Luo Qiqi if you ever need me. A’zi, you don’t have to worry about me. Do what you want to do!”

Xia Zi nodded slowly, her mind abuzz with what was just reported on the news. Guan Zixuan is in trouble, he’s in trouble...

After her breakfast, Xia Zi packed up quickly and Luo Qiqi sent her off at the airport on the next available flight to Emperor City.

The flight took two hours, and Xia Zi immediately hailed a cab to the place where she had lived with Guan Zixuan for the past five years.

She was heading for a high-end residential area near Jinan Avenue, but what she saw shocked her when she alighted.

There were reporters everywhere and it looked like their entire villa was swarming with reporters.

Her brows creased at this. She never expected to witness something like this upon her return.

Her surroundings seemed strange yet familiar, but Guan Zixuan was nowhere to be found.

She stood a distance away from the villa as she contemplated her next steps, finally deciding to visit the Guan family home instead.

The Guan family home was a siheyuan? located in the old city area and it had extremely heavy security.

Xia Zi had to go through countless rounds of checks and approvals before she successfully entered the compound.

Guan Zijue was surprised to see her.

Xia Zi was the only one in Guan Zixuan’s heart right now, and if it wasn’t for her, he would never have agreed to return to the Fengteng Group either.

However, the current situation was too complex, and if their family wanted to interfere, it might only lead to more questions and more trouble for the entire Guan family.

Fengteng Group’s shares had been plummeting because of this major drug scandal, and the possibility of collapse was very real. This was also why Guan Zijue rushed back to take care of matters even though he was supposed to be in the military right now.

He knew that his parents wanted to help Guan Zixuan, but it was not an easy feat. Throughout history, all acts of crime are seen equally whether it is committed by a royal or by a commoner. Coupled with the fact that the Guan family already held a prominent status in society, trying to help Guan Zixuan out might backfire and turn public sentiment against them.

Guan Zixuan was a child of the Guan family, and there was no way his parents would just sit and watch if he’s in trouble. But the current situation was nothing but a stalemate.

Though Guan Zixuan was important, preserving the honor of the Guan family was above that.

For the past three generations, the Guan family had always held a prominent place in politics, and his parents would never allow them to lose the political power they had. Even if his parents did not mind it, their extended relatives would not be happy about it. There were too many complexities within, and a single wrong move might end up destroying their entire clan.

Guan Zijue looked at Xia Zi in puzzlement. Guan Zixuan had been adamant at marrying Xia Zi, and his parents had eventually agreed, but he never expected for Xia Zi to leave so suddenly.

Though his parents felt that this brought shame upon their family, they were relieved that Guan Zixuan no longer insisted on marrying Xia Zi.

This was why Guan Zijue was surprised that Xia Zi would actually return when she had left so resolutely.

Guan Zijue thought that his brother meant nothing to Xia Zi, but it seems like he was wrong about her now...

Xia Zi cut to the chase and asked, “Big Brother, just what’s going on with Guan Zixuan?”

Guan Zijue was surprised at how stern Xia Zi was. She was aloof in the past, but she seemed to be a lot tougher now.

Both Guan Zixuan and her addressed him as ‘Big Brother’, and Guan Zijue wondered if he should tell her everything, since she might just be able to help.

“Let’s talk inside.” Guan Zijue led her into the living room.

Xia Zi followed him quietly. She predicted that Guan Zijue would be home, and she was right.

If it were his parents, Guan Mingchang and Xia Xinsheng, she wouldn’t have known how to face them.

She always felt that his parents did not seem to like her much, and it did not help that she was so aloof either.

She also found it pretty bizarre for Guan Zixuan’s mother to have a name like Xia Xinsheng, but it made sense when Guan Zixuan explained the reasons to her.

Xia Xinsheng was not his biological mother.

His birth parents had been in a political marriage and there was no love between them, leading to an eventual divorce after five years of being together.

According to Guan Zixuan, his stepmother used to be from A City and she actually changed her name. After being saved by his father from some accident nine years ago, she changed her name before they got married.

Guan Mingchang and Xia Xinsheng said they already knew each other when Guan Mingchang was studying in a university in A City, and they had been together once. They had to break up eventually because his family disagreed.

Xia Xinsheng married someone else while Guan Mingchang agreed to go into that political marriage according to his parents’ wishes.

It was not easy for them to get together again, so Guan Zixuan and Guan Zijue had always been respectful to Xia Xinsheng. Furthermore, she treated them just like her own sons.

Xia Zi turned to Guan Zijue, waiting for him to continue.

He took a deep breath before he began his explanation.

“What happened to Zixuan is kind of complex. So there’s this girl called Su Xiaoran from the Su family who had always carried a torch for Guan Zixuan. She was obviously unhappy when he brought you back here five years ago. Even so, there was no way she could make Guan Zixuan do anything, so she had to suffer in silence. She never expected for Guan Zixuan to decide to marry you in the end, especially when the marriage between her and Guan Zixuan was actually something that the elders of the family had decided and agreed upon much earlier on. You were just like someone who appeared out of nowhere.”

“Zixuan had almost fallen out with the family because of you, and nobody would have guessed that you would leave just right before the wedding when everything seemed to already be set in stone. Su Xiaoran saw an opportunity then, but when she found out that Guan Zixuan abandoned the company and left for A City to look for you, she was absolutely furious. She’s been treated like a princess in the Su family, so she’s very spoiled, and she’s bent on destroying everything that she can’t get her hands on!”

^[1] A siheyuan?is a style of historical architecture found in China. Here’s the Wikipedia link if anyone may be interested to learn more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siheyuan