Chapter 217: Chapter 217

She already knew that the family intended to marry Xu Jingyi to Fu Jichen, fulfilling the previous arrangement between the two families. This was supposed to be her "duty," now it’s her sister’s turn to complete it for her.

Xu Jingyi pressed her lips together, unable to say the word "want," afraid her sister would look down on her. Clearly, she used to call Fu Jichen "brother-in-law" with every sentence, how could she say "I want to marry him"?

Xu Youxuan understood her concerns and said, "You don’t have to worry about me. Fu Jichen and I never had any relationship, you know that. Our engagement was arranged by our families, not my idea. What about you, do you like him?"

After a long time, Xu Jingyi nodded.

"Even if he doesn’t love you?"

What kind of person Fu Jichen is now, Xu Youxuan didn’t know. The Fu Jichen from before had his heart set on someone.

Xu Jingyi was confused and couldn’t answer.

Xu Youxuan didn’t force her to express herself immediately, gently advising, "If Fu Jichen is willing to marry you, do you plan to keep this a secret from him? If one day he finds out, someone like him, who cannot tolerate deceit, have you thought about what your situation might be...?"

"No!" Xu Jingyi interrupted her, "He won’t find out."

Xu Youxuan was caught in a dilemma, having to consider both her current and future well-being.

"Let’s pretend this never happened. I only told you, no one else will find out." Xu Jingyi pleaded, "Sister, can you keep this secret for me? If the Fu Family finds out, they won’t want me."

Choosing to tell her sister was because of trust and also because she felt lost and helpless, wanting someone to share the burden. It didn’t mean she wanted others to know, especially Fu Jichen.

She understood her sister’s worry that a deception between husband and wife was like planting a time bomb. However, she couldn’t think that far ahead, just wanted to focus on the present.

Xu Jingyi shook her sister’s arm, "Sister..."

"Since you’ve made up your mind, then so be it." Xu Youxuan ultimately couldn’t bear to disappoint her and nodded in agreement, then asked, "Did you take the medication afterwards?"

Xu Jingyi’s face went pale, and she shook her head vigorously.

The sooner after-pill is taken, the better the effect. There was no time to delay. Xu Youxuan let her stay at home and took her phone to buy the pill from the pharmacy.

While paying, a breaking news alert popped up on her phone screen from a browser: "Big Play by a Socialite from Beicheng?"

Perhaps it was intuition. Even though the headline didn’t give a name, Xu Youxuan associated it with her sister.

"Could you please scan here?" The clerk pointed to the payment code on the counter as Xu Youxuan stood still with the medicine in her hand.

Xu Youxuan snapped back to reality, scanned the code, paid, walked out of the pharmacy, and clicked on the news.

In the scorching noonday of August, she felt a chill on her back.

The news released numerous video screenshots. Due to the angle, the man’s face wasn’t visible, but the woman’s face was clearly captured, with various indulgent expressions that were unmistakably her sister Xu Jingyi. ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ novel⟡fire.net

Xu Youxuan clutched the box of medicine tightly, ran all the way home, burst open the study door, and found Xu Jingyi collapsed on the floor, utterly distraught, with her phone by her feet, its screen shattered.

Xu Jingyi tilted her head to look at Xu Youxuan, her body trembling uncontrollably, murmuring, "I deleted the video. I did delete it. How could this happen..."

Xu Youxuan squatted down to hug her trembling body, but before she could speak any comforting words, the phone on the floor rang.

The cracked screen displayed a call from their mother.

Xu Youxuan hesitated for a moment, then answered the call on her behalf.

As expected, their mother had learned about the online scandal. Furious and suffering chest pain, she called to question them.

The situation couldn’t be kept under wraps any longer. Xu Youxuan had no choice but to disclose everything, pleading with her mother not to blame her sister and instead focus on finding ways to delete the online news and minimize the impact.

Within less than an hour, all related news on social media platforms was deleted thoroughly. However, trying to suppress such matters often only piques the public’s curiosity. Many netizens subtly hinted that they had saved the full video.

A group of people were leaving comments, eagerly asking the blogger to share.

"Could you lend a brother a helping hand?"

"I have a friend who’s near death, and his last wish is to see that video of the Beicheng socialite..."

"May good fortune be with you, brother."

Such a huge incident naturally reached the Fu Family as well. Mr. Fu was furious. He had just suggested to Fu Jichen that he should marry the Xu family’s second daughter, and now such a thing happened. It was hard not to suspect it was Fu Jichen’s doing.

Mr. Fu called him without mentioning the reason, directly ordering Fu Jichen to get back to the old house.

"Now?" Fu Jichen asked, hesitating.

Mr. Fu’s voice was almost hoarse from shouting: "Right now!"

Fu Jichen hadn’t slept almost the entire night. Early in the morning, he went to the company, busy the whole morning without even a sip of water, let alone checking online news. Hearing Mr. Fu’s angry voice, he felt inexplicable.

Qu Mo drove Fu Jichen back to the old house, tactfully mentioning that intimate photos of the Xu family’s second daughter with a man were exposed online, later deleted, likely by the Xu family.

With this happening, the marriage agreement between the Fu and Xu Families would likely be called off unless the Fu Family was willing to lose face.

Qu Mo also found it strange. Just yesterday, the Fu and Xu families were celebrated as a good match, and today a scandal emerged from one side. How could there be such a coincidence?

If not for knowing Fu Jichen well, believing he wouldn’t stoop to such low means, Qu Mo might suspect it was his doing, aiming to dissolve the engagement between the two families.

Understanding the reason for Mr. Fu’s anger, Fu Jichen prepared his response.

However, as soon as he entered the door, a teacup came flying at him instinctively; he tilted his head to dodge, and it flew past his ear, hit the cabinet, and shattered into pieces on the ground.