Why Did You Provoke Her? She Can Tell Fortunes!-Chapter 399 - 382: Controlled Body, Like a Puppet

Li Mengyan, having been in the grand family for many years, had become accustomed to bossing around the people around her and was always self-centered.

If it were any other matter, she would never easily change her mind.

But... this matter, however, had a whiff of gossip to it.

She instantly forgot her purpose for coming to find Mu Yunchu.

Her scrutinizing gaze flitted back and forth between the two of them, and the enthusiastic curiosity threatened to burst from her eyes.

Watching the backs of the two as they left, her heart was a jumble of complicated emotions. Although not heartbroken, there was indeed a tinge of sadness at seemingly having been a step too late.

Unconsciously, she sat on the chair beside Pei Jingxiao.

"Are those two together now?"

Though previously the relationship between Li Mengyan and Pei Jingxiao was not particularly good, to both, the other was merely another person in the family. Even if they met, it was just in passing greetings,

yet clearly when discussing gossip, there were no barriers, no grudges, not even unfamiliarity.

"It seems so."

Pei Jingxiao turned his head.

"I can’t understand what’s so good about that illegitimate child."

"Illegitimate child?" Li Mengyan blinked with some confusion, "But isn’t he older than you?"

When these events took place over twenty years ago, Li Mengyan was not yet with Pei Jun, so it was normal for her not to know.

And though Pei Jingxiao originally did not plan on saying much more, encountering an opportunity to make a big deal out of Wen Xu’s status as an illegitimate child,

he didn’t leave.

"He is older than me, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s an illegitimate child!"

Being an illegitimate child alone wasn’t enough to make Pei Jingxiao’s teeth itch with hatred.

The issue was that he was even older than him.

His father had kept a mistress outside, who managed to have a son earlier than his legally wedded mother, a point he was never able to come to terms with.

But Pei Jingxiao had occasionally wondered before what might have happened if at the time his father had brought Wen Xu back as a younger brother.

He couldn’t think of an outcome.

Because after his mother’s incident, their destinies as enemies were already sealed.

Li Mengyan smelled the scent of the biggest gossip and entirely threw aside her intent to continue questioning Mu Yunchu.

"Tell me in detail, what exactly happened back then?"

Pei Jingxiao looked at her with an expression full of curiosity and, though speechless, thought the matter might influence Wen Xu’s image in Pei Jun and even the whole Pei family, so he began to tell the story in detail.

He squinted his eyes, "He and his mistress mother came here twenty years ago..."

Upstairs, Mu Yunchu listened to Wen Xu speak calmly, her lightly furrowed brow and slightly worried gaze revealing her compassion.

"Strictly speaking, I’m an illegitimate child of the Pei family."

Although his voice was soft, as those three words left his throat, Mu Yunchu still caught a tinge of hoarseness.

With the words said, Wen Xu lowered his gaze, hiding the surging darkness in his eyes, leaving only that natural pale red at the corner of his eyes, reflecting cold light under the crystal chandelier.

"But I’m several years older than Pei Jingxiao."

Actually, the reason is quite simple. His father and Pei Jingxiao’s mother had not had children after getting married.

"Even though I don’t want to explain it this way, before he got married, my mother was already pregnant."

Others called him a mistress’s child, or a ’bastard,’ but it didn’t matter.

However, Wen Xu didn’t want Mu Yunchu to think so too.

"She didn’t willingly intrude on someone else’s marriage."

He looked up at Mu Yunchu and found no disdain in her eyes, only then did the bitter tension in his heart ease a bit.

"My mother’s name was Wen Wan."

When he mentioned this name, a warm light touched the edge of his eyes.

"It’s a very beautiful name," Mu Yunchu said sincerely.

She and that old man were in love, but in the grand family, marriage couldn’t be decided by themselves.

Wen Xu didn’t want to glorify the so-called true love often depicted in novels or TV dramas between domineering CEOs and ’Cinderella.’

Because he believed that the man inherently loved only himself.

"I was brought back to the Pei family twenty years ago. Before that, in my memory, my father was always doing business outside, and no one told me he had another family."

Whether his mother knew or not was unknown.

"After I was brought back to the Pei family, Pei Jingxiao’s mother was shocked and gradually became mentally unstable. Eventually, she couldn’t even leave the house."

After that, she was confined to a small room.

This was from Wen Xu’s childhood memories.

After a pause, he added, "Shortly after that, she committed suicide."

So actually, Pei Jingxiao hating him was quite understandable.

"After she died, considering the matter was strictly speaking a scandal of the Pei family, her funeral wasn’t grand; it was very low-key, and my mother was officially brought into the family around this time."

Mr. Pei’s legally wedded son was suddenly forced to accept a stepmother and a half-brother. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Believing that the blame for his mother’s death lay with Wen Xu’s mother, he became very rebellious from that point on.

Meanwhile, young Wen Xu, being clever, often received praise.

"But this didn’t last long."

He swallowed with some difficulty, dragging out a memory buried in the deepest parts of his heart.

"One day, while at home, my mom suddenly put down whatever she was doing and walked straight outside. No matter how I shouted after her, she ignored me."

"Then, I saw with my own eyes, she crossed the street... and was hit by a car, dying before my eyes."

"Since then, my eyes have become strange."

Mu Yunchu still remembered shortly after meeting Wen Xu; he was always tormented by the ability to see ghosts and having nightmares when he slept.

But what concerned her more now was something else.

"You mean, your father..." Noticing Wen Xu’s tense reaction upon hearing the mention of those two words, she changed her wording.

"Mr. Pei, in just two years, lost two wives in succession."

Wen Xu’s motion of leaning forward froze in the air, the folds of his clothing seemingly caught by an invisible hand. His knuckles, resting on the edge of the table, suddenly tightened, "Do you know something?"

His voice suddenly lowered, the tail end quivering almost imperceptibly.

The room was so quiet one could almost hear a pin drop.

Mu Yunchu saw his appearance and knew that his return to the Pei family was not just to compete with Pei Jingxiao for his position as the heir.

Watching him intently for a moment, she said, "I think some of your suspicions might be true."

Then she recounted, word for word, the conversation of Third Madam Pei from the night before.

"From your description, your mother’s cause of death seems like it involved some kind of evil technique. Controlled to act as a puppet."