Chapter 61: My Girlfriend Is Delicate and Cannot Shoulder the Blame

Jiang Xiaoxiao's heart was filled with overwhelming bitterness. It was as if a snake was coiling and writhing inside her, twisting and churning, desperate to break free from her chest. Her fingers clenched so tightly that her nails dug into her flesh. Humiliation and fury made her body tremble uncontrollably, her shoulders shaking violently.

At the end of her rope, she screamed at the screen, "It's fake! All of this is fake! Jiang Ciyou set me up—she planned all of this to frame me!" Her voice was shrill, hysterical, as she shouted at the crowd.

But the way people looked at her only grew stranger, their gazes regarding her as if she were mad. Some even stepped back, repulsed. At last, Jiang Jinhui could endure no more. He strode forward and slapped Jiang Xiaoxiao hard across the face.

"Jiang Xiaoxiao, haven't you made enough of a scene? You've utterly disgraced the Jiang family!"

Instantly, Jiang Xiaoxiao fell silent. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She could not understand how things had come to this.

Face flushed with anger, Jiang Jinhui apologized to the guests, "I'm sorry, both my daughters have let their tempers get the better of them today and made fools of themselves in front of everyone."

He continued, "We misunderstood my eldest daughter, Jiang Ciyou. My younger daughter was misled by outsiders. As for the matter of accepting a goddaughter into the Jiang family, let’s all pretend it never happened. The Jiang family would never take in someone with ulterior motives and ill intentions as our goddaughter."

By now, Jiang Jinhui had walked up to Xia Ling. "Miss Xia, please leave. The Jiang family does not welcome you."

Xia Ling was already utterly disoriented. She had never imagined her deeds would be so ruthlessly exposed, as if she had been stripped bare and flayed in public. She had planned to use her staged fall to pin the label of malice on Jiang Ciyou, shattering Yan Feng's hopes once and for all. But now, that label had been pinned on herself.

The opinions of others had ceased to matter to her long ago. Her mother had humiliated her since childhood, even during her adolescence, stripping her naked, tying her to a tree and savagely beating her. The entire alley came to watch as if it were a sideshow.

From that moment on, she had lost all sense of dignity and shame. What truly terrified her was that, after seeing the truth, Yan Feng would rekindle his feelings for Jiang Ciyou. She was afraid they would reconcile. She had spent years working to keep them apart.

Xia Ling lifted her head to look at Yan Feng. But his gaze remained on Jiang Ciyou. Outwardly calm, but Xia Ling could see the turbulent storm raging in his eyes.

Jiang Jinhui, seeing Yan Feng and Xia Ling together, felt his anger surge again. If not for this man abandoning Ciyou for that vixen Xia Ling, today’s disgrace would never have happened. He decided to expel them both.

"Young Master Yan, as for you, I won’t be asking you to stay either!"

Yan Feng finally tore his gaze away from Jiang Ciyou and Bo Jinxi. He glanced coldly at Xia Ling. Without a word, he turned and strode toward the banquet hall doors. Xia Ling hurried after him.

With those two gone, Jiang Jinhui’s expression finally eased. He walked up to Jiang Ciyou, his voice gentle. "Ciyou, it was your father who misunderstood you."

Then, turning coldly to Jiang Xiaoxiao, he said, "Xiaoxiao, come and apologize to your sister."

Clutching her face, Jiang Xiaoxiao gritted her teeth and walked over. She knew there was no way to turn things around now; she had no choice.

"I'm sorry, sister. Actually, I was just joking with you," she muttered, her apology forced and unwilling.

Jiang Jinhui tried to smooth things over. "Ciyou, your sister didn’t grow up with us, so she lacks the upbringing and grace of a proper lady. She acted foolishly in a moment of anger. As her elder sister, forgive her this once. After all, we are family—there’s no true hatred between us."

Jiang Ciyou had remained nearly silent ever since Bo Jinxi appeared, her expression calm and detached, as if she were an observer. Now, her voice was cold and distant. "She may have been joking, but I was not. Mr. Jiang, I have severed all ties with your family. I do not accept your so-called apologies. Everything Jiang Xiaoxiao did to me today, I will return in full someday. She need not apologize to me."

Today, Jiang Ciyou saw everything clearly. When she was misunderstood, not one of them doubted for a moment that she was innocent. They only wanted her to apologize and sweep the matter under the rug, fearful of tarnishing the family’s reputation.

Even now, though they knew she had been set up, with a few words about youthful folly and misunderstanding, they hoped to dismiss the matter and maintain their hypocritical facade of harmony. Worse, Jiang Jinhui's words implied that Jiang Xiaoxiao's lack of upbringing was because she hadn't grown up with them, because Jiang Ciyou had taken her place as the Jiang family’s young lady. In the end, it was all somehow Jiang Ciyou’s fault.

Now that she was completely disillusioned with familial love, Jiang Ciyou would no longer allow herself to be bound by their so-called morals.

Jiang Jinhui, holding back his emotions, said, "Ciyou, even if you were not born of your mother and me, we raised you with great care, cherishing you all these years. Does none of that matter to you at all?"

"Xiaoxiao only turned out this way because her biological parents abused her. Growing up in such an environment, she is pitiful. Can't you, for the sake of the suffering she endured in your place and the happiness you've known all these years, be more forgiving?"

Jiang Ciyou laughed. "Mr. Jiang, that's an amusing argument. I was only a baby at birth—what could I control? When the two children were switched, as their guardians, did you bear no responsibility?"

"Even if we step back and say it was Yin Ruyun’s doing, not mine—I didn’t crawl into your family myself. If you want revenge, seek it from her, not me. Don’t put the blame for everything Jiang Xiaoxiao lost on my shoulders."

"Besides, I believe in karma. You sowed the seeds, and now you reap the bitter fruit, yet you lay all the consequences at my feet. In the end, I am a victim too. After everything happened, you treated me with false affection and empty gestures. If that’s what you call happiness, then I wish all such happiness on Jiang Xiaoxiao."

"Mr. Jiang, there is nothing left between me and your family. As I said, from this day on, we owe each other nothing and shall have nothing more to do with each other."

Every word sparkled with clarity, leaving Jiang Jinhui trembling with rage.

"You ungrateful girl, you—"

But before he could finish, Bo Jinxi suddenly pulled Jiang Ciyou into his arms.

"Mr. Jiang, my girlfriend's health is frail. She cannot bear the weight of the burdens you wish to cast upon her."