Hearing Xia Zhiyun’s name, Yun Zijin raised an eyebrow.

She hadn’t run into anyone from the Xia Family for a while. She’d figured they knew she had no interest in returning to the family, so they were steering clear of her. She never expected to run into one of them so suddenly.

Su Jingyun noticed the change in her expression, but he just assumed she had heard of Xia Zhiyun’s name before. His mind didn’t jump to any kind of soap opera drama. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Besides, since Yun Zijin didn’t ask, he felt it wasn’t his place to say more.

"I had someone save two seats for you in the grandstands. Head over there and get settled before the race starts."

’Even though they could watch the jumbotrons once the cars got farther away, the grandstands were at least safer than other places.’

Yun Zijin and Su Mengyao had no objections. They were here for the atmosphere; the race itself wasn’t that important.

"Yun Zijin? What are you doing here?"

At some point, Xia Zhiyun had appeared beside them with his entire racing team, a look of pure astonishment on his face when he saw Yun Zijin.

From the moment he’d laid eyes on Yun Zijin, his brow had been deeply furrowed.

"Well now! Haven’t seen this pretty lady before! Young Master Xia, since when did you have such a gorgeous sister? How about an introduction?"

The speaker had a head of dyed-blond hair and a sleazy air about him. As he spoke, someone from the back of Xia Zhiyun’s crew even wolf-whistled.

The way "Blondie" stared at Yun Zijin was purely lecherous, and it made her so uncomfortable she felt like she was going to throw up.

Out of nowhere, Zero One was beside Blondie. He twisted the man’s arm behind his back and kicked the back of his knee, forcing him down to the ground on one knee.

"Apologize to the young lady."

Zero One tightened his grip on Blondie’s wrist. If you listened closely, you could hear the sound of bone grinding against bone.

Any more pressure and the man’s bone would have fractured, but Zero One had perfect control.

"AGH! Who the hell are you?! Do you have any idea who I am?! Let go of me! AARGH!"

Blondie had been caught completely off guard. The pain from having his arm twisted back was already intense, but when Zero One tightened his grip, it was so excruciating that veins bulged on his skin.

"Apologize!"

Zero One grabbed Blondie’s head and forced him to look toward Yun Zijin.

"Yun Zijin, look at the kind of person you brought with you! Resorting to violence at the slightest disagreement! Tell him to let go, now!"

Having one of his own guys taken down by a bodyguard who’d appeared out of nowhere felt like a slap in the face to Xia Zhiyun. His tone toward Yun Zijin hardened.

Of course, Zero One paid Xia Zhiyun no mind. He twisted Blondie’s arm back a little further, and the man screamed as veins popped on his forehead from the pain.

"I’m... I’m sorry!"

Blondie was in genuine agony. As reluctant as he was, he had to give in. The pain made his words choppy and weak.

Once he apologized, Yun Zijin lost interest. She gave a slight wave, and Zero One released him.

Blondie immediately scrambled away, hiding behind Xia Zhiyun and the others.

Su Mengyao, however, couldn’t stand it anymore. ’Is Xia Zhiyun deaf and blind?’

"Hey! Didn’t you see the way that blond creep was leering at Zijin? And what about what he just said? He had zero respect for her!

"Zijin’s bodyguard couldn’t stand it. What’s wrong with him making the guy apologize?"

With her fiery temper, Su Mengyao had been about to charge forward and give the man a piece of her mind the moment he asked Xia Zhiyun for an introduction, but Zero One had acted first.

Xia Zhiyun replayed what Blondie had said. He hadn’t thought anything of it at first, but after hearing Su Mengyao’s outburst, the more he thought about it, the more something felt wrong.

Finally, he looked at Yun Zijin with an apologetic expression. "Um... I... I wasn’t thinking..."

Xia Zhiyun didn’t know how to describe what he was feeling. ’She’s my own sister, my own flesh and blood. How did our relationship end up being worse than that of strangers?’

"It’s not that you weren’t thinking. It’s that you subconsciously feel I’m worthless, that I should be grateful just to be acknowledged by you people. How could I possibly expect to be treated with basic respect?

"Why aren’t you saying anything? Am I wrong? My biological brother."

Yun Zijin’s phrase, "my biological brother," was like a bomb going off. Everyone’s minds were blown.

’What kind of drama is this now?’

"I remember now! Weren’t there rumors a while back that the Xia Family’s daughter they’d raised for twenty years wasn’t their real one? And that their biological daughter grew up in an orphanage!"

Someone in the crowd shouted, and everyone’s gazes started darting back and forth between Yun Zijin and Xia Zhiyun, hungry for gossip.

To think they’d run into a cliché soap opera plot like this in real life.

"That can’t be right. At Old Sir Xia’s last birthday banquet, Mrs. Xia personally went around with Xia Jiajiao and told everyone that Jiao Jiao was their biological daughter.

"She even said the rumored biological daughter from the orphanage was just some girl Xia Jiajiao felt sorry for, saying she had such a hard life that Jiao Jiao begged them to adopt her."

Quite a few people in the crowd had attended Old Sir Xia’s birthday banquet.

Although there was no formal announcement on a stage with a microphone, Zhang Yiqin had taken Xia Jiajiao around and told that story to nearly everyone there.

Xia Zhiyun looked toward Yun Zijin, trying to gauge her reaction.

Unfortunately for him, the corners of Yun Zijin’s mouth were still curved in a faint smile. There wasn’t a trace of the sadness one would expect from a daughter rejected by her own mother.

Su Mengyao never would have guessed that Yun Zijin was at the center of such a melodramatic rich-family saga.

Thinking about Xia Jiajiao, and then thinking about Yun Zijin growing up in an orphanage, filled Su Mengyao with indignation.

’What kind of taste does the Xia Family even have? How could they prefer a brainless, flat-chested moron like Xia Jiajiao? No matter how you look at it, Yun Zijin is way more outstanding and beautiful than her.’

"Bro, you have to win today’s race!"

Su Mengyao usually didn’t care this much about winning or losing. These were just fun team events, not some formal competition.

But today, she desperately wanted Su Jingyun to beat Xia Zhiyun!

’He might look like he cares about Yun Zijin,’ Su Mengyao thought, ’but it just feels fake.’

’If he really cared, he wouldn’t have let this go on for so long without setting the record straight for her.’

’And that imposter, Xia Jiajiao, is still running around parading herself as the Xia Family’s precious daughter. If anyone says the Xia Family isn’t to blame for that, I’ll eat my hat!’

Su Jingyun was also stunned by the rich-family drama unfolding before him.

He didn’t know Yun Zijin well, but his little sister had made her request. It felt like it would be wrong not to win today.

"Got it. If I lose today, I’ll buy you that bag you wanted."

Su Mengyao: !!!

’Well, this is a dilemma,’ she thought. ’I want him to win, but I also want the bag...’

"What bag?"

Yun Zijin had appeared behind Su Mengyao at some point, and her sudden question made Meng Yao jump.

"Oh, it’s a two-tone crocodile skin Hermes. I don’t have a high enough spending history to be offered one, but my brother buys so many bags for my mom that he’s reached that level.

"I’ve been begging my brother for that bag for ages, but he won’t get it for me!"

It wasn’t a matter of money. Su Jingyun was just afraid that if he got a bag for his sister and not for his mother, he’d be the one to suffer the consequences.

Su Jingyun always tried to avoid situations where he couldn’t treat them both equally.

"Is it that hard to get?"

Yun Zijin had never really thought about it. She wasn’t picky about brands or styles; as long as she had a bag to carry, it was fine.

"Very! Hard!"

She wished she could just throw money at the problem, but she lived on an allowance. Even though she could ask for more, she couldn’t go too crazy.

"Don’t worry. We can go take a look sometime. Maybe we can figure something out.

"For now, let’s head back to the grandstands and get ready to watch the race."

Yun Zijin gently pushed Su Mengyao toward the stands.

Su Jingyun had already arranged for someone to save them seats with a perfect view.

Down at the starting line, the engines of Su Jingyun’s and Xia Zhiyun’s race cars roared to life as they warmed up, poised for the start.