Chapter 63: Chapter 63: Offer To Tutor Qiao Meixia
"Well, if that becomes an issue, we can simply hire a highly qualified private tutor to instruct her at home." Jiang Lukang suggested smoothly.
"There is absolutely no need for an outside tutor." Jiang Suhan immediately volunteered, cutting off the suggestion. "I can easily tutor her myself."
"Eldest Brother, you are already extremely busy with the core corporate work every single day." Jiang Yanna frowned, her mask slipping slightly as her voice grew tense. "How could you possibly find enough spare time to tutor Sister Meixia?"
"It is really not a problem." Jiang Suhan smiled lightly, his demeanour completely calm. "I can easily clear out two hours every single evening to tutor my little sister. That should be more than enough to help her catch up with the curriculum."
Jiang Yanna quietly gritted her teeth beneath the table yet again, the jealousy burning like acid in her throat.
Jiang Suhan was treating Qiao Meixia far, far too well. In the past, when Jiang Yanna had once explicitly begged him to tutor her personally before a major exam, Jiang Suhan had refused her without a single moment of hesitation, coldly stating that he was far too busy with corporate acquisitions and simply did not have the luxury of time. In the end, she had been forced to settle for an expensive, outside tutor.
So why was everything so vastly different now? Why was the cold, unyielding heir of the Jiang family suddenly willing to sacrifice two hours of his highly precious, calculated time every single night just for Qiao Meixia? Was it really... simply because Qiao Meixia was his biological sister? The realisation tasted like ash.
"Qiaoqiao, don’t worry about school at all." Jiang Suhan turned back to his sister, his smile reassuring and gentle. "With me personally teaching you, I am completely certain you will do just fine in your classes."
"Okay." That was all Qiao Meixia said in response, completely unfazed by the brewing storm around her.
After finishing her meal, Qiao Meixia felt comfortably full. She wanted to take a quiet walk around the expansive estate garden to help digest the heavy food, so she quietly pushed back her chair, stood up, and prepared to leave the stifling dining room.
Coincidentally, Jiang Suhan had also just finished eating his dinner. The exact moment he noticed Qiao Meixia heading toward the archway exit, he quickly stood up from his seat and followed directly after her.
"Qiaoqiao, where exactly are you heading?" Jiang Suhan asked warmly as his long strides easily caught up to her in the grand hallway.
"I’m going to take a walk in the garden." Qiao Meixia answered honestly, not minding his company.
"Oh, then let’s go out together." Jiang Suhan smiled broadly, his eyes crinkling. "I was just thinking about taking a breath of fresh air myself to digest my dinner."
And so, under the bitter, watchful eyes of the remaining Jiang family members seated in the formal dining room, the two siblings walked side by side out toward the moonlit garden together.
The cool evening breeze drifted gently through the landscaped garden, carrying the faint, sweet fragrance of blooming night jasmine. For a while, neither of them spoke a word, quietly enjoying the rare, peaceful atmosphere away from the suffocating tension of the main house.
"Qiaoqiao, can I ask you something?" Jiang Suhan finally broke the comfortable silence, his hands casually tucked into his trouser pockets.
"Hmm..." Qiao Meixia responded softly, her gaze fixed on the moonlit path ahead.
"Were you... Suffering a lot before you came back to us?" Jiang Suhan asked carefully, his deep voice noticeably gentler and more hesitant than usual, as if afraid of tearing open old wounds.
Qiao Meixia was quiet for a brief moment, her expression remaining entirely unreadable under the silver moonlight, before answering simply. "No... not really."
Jiang Suhan fell completely silent, his chest tightening. He knew with absolute certainty that she was not telling him the whole truth.
A young child who had grown up entirely alone in the harsh world without the vast resources and protection of her biological family. How could such a life possibly have been easy? Even if her pride refused to let her admit it, he could easily imagine the countless hardships, systemic neglect, and crushing loneliness she must have quietly endured over the years.
He felt a sudden, inexplicable ache deep in his heart, a wave of intense brotherly protectiveness washing over him.
"Qiaoqiao, just remember that you have finally come home now. You don’t have to keep everything bottled up inside yourself anymore. I am your elder brother. If there is anything you ever need, or if anyone in this city dares to bully you, you can always tell me." Jiang Suhan said, turning to look at her with a warm, incredibly earnest smile.
Qiao Meixia was slightly stunned by the raw sincerity dripping from his words. In both of her lives, she had never been particularly good at responding to this kind of pure, uncalculated concern.
After a brief, awkward pause, Qiao Meixia simply gave him a small, compliant nod. "Hmm..."
That single, simple response was more than enough to make Jiang Suhan’s smile block out the evening gloom, his heart lighter than it had been since his return.
....
The next morning, the grand gates of the new school term officially swung open.
Early in the morning, Jiang Yanna and Jiang Chinan had already changed into their neatly pressed, premium First Hannan School uniforms and were fully prepared to leave. After finishing a light breakfast under Feng Lan’s doting eyes, the two pampered siblings walked straight toward the grand front entrance of the mansion, where the family chauffeur was already standing respectfully beside the polished luxury sedan, ready to drive them to campus.
***This novel is a contracted work with w e b n o v e l. c o m. If you do not read this novel on w e b n o v e l. c o m, that means it has been stolen. Thank you, from your shameless author, ZerahNeko***
