Chapter 577 Confrontation
The next day, Ouyang Duo showed up at Commoner Residence with some gifts and requested to see Nan Zhengde. Due to the close relationship between the two families, Nan Zhengde had no reason not to see him.
The gifts he brought included famous calligraphy art, wild ginseng, and some high-quality bird’s nest. Besides, with the Lunar New Year just around the corner, it made perfect sense for Ouyang Duo to pay Nan Zhengde a visit before returning to Pearl City for the celebration.
Seeing as Ouyang Duo had come with such expensive gifts, it was only natural for Nan Zhengde to give them an equally generous welcome.
Because Ouyang Duo brought his wife and daughter over, Nan Zhengde summoned Nan Chen and Nan Xing back home to accompany them.
Just like that, Nan Chen and Nan Xing were both called back home on short notice to prepare a feast for their guests.
Ouyang Duo was planning on observing the Nan family members’ reactions before deciding on his approach.
Hostile behavior from Nan Zhengde would indicate that the relationship between the two families has been ruined. If that were the case, Ouyang Duo would immediately go on the offensive and demand an explanation for letting Ouyang Qing get hurt.
However, Nan Zhengde’s friendly attitude suggested that everything was all right, so Ouyang Duo adjusted his strategy and reminisced about old times with Nan Zhengde instead.
As the two families have been close for generations, they had plenty of topics to talk about.
They were in the middle of having a pleasant conversation when Nan Xing came home, and the atmosphere in the house changed instantly.
Despite Nan Chen’s reminders to play it cool, Nan Xing’s anger still got the better of him. He ruined the mood by ignoring Ouyang Duo and Ouyang Qing when he saw them.
“Xing!” Nan Zhengde called out to him and motioned for him to greet their guests politely.
“What is it, Nan Xing?” he asked deliberately.
“What’s the matter, Nan Xing? Are you going to pretend that you don’t know me? Or are you just going to ignore my presence completely?”
Being the cunning person that he was, Ouyang Duo initiated the conversation to make things less awkward.
“Oh, hello, Mr. Ouyang,” Nan Xing greeted him with a nod, his tone as cold as ice.
“You won’t even call me ‘Uncle’ anymore? I haven’t done anything to offend you, have I?” Ouyang Duo asked with a smile.
Nan Xing simply kept quiet and refused to respond.
“My dad is talking to you, Nan Xing.” Ouyang Qing couldn’t stand it any longer.
If this is the kind of attitude you show my dad, then it’s obvious you don’t have much respect for me either!
“Oh,” Nan Xing mumbled as he poured himself a cup of tea and took a sip of it.
“Xing, pour Mr. Ouyang some tea as well,” Nan Zhengde said.
“I’ll go to the kitchen and check if the food is ready, Grandpa.”
Not wanting to serve Ouyang Duo tea, Nan Xing got up and prepared to leave the living room.
“I have a question for you, Nan Xing.”
Ouyang Duo was getting a little angry at how rude Nan Xing was being.
“We can talk about it later. I’m a little busy right now,” Nan Xing replied.
“Stop right there, Xing! What on earth has gotten into you today? Why are you being so rude?” Nan Zhengde shouted angrily.
Although he could afford to disrespect Ouyang Duo, he couldn’t afford to do the same with Nan Zhengde.
As such, Nan Xing had no choice but to pause in his tracks.
“I’m sorry, my grandson has been rather irritable lately. Please don’t take offense at his attitude!” Nan Zhengde apologized with a smile.
This is strange… I know that Nan Xing is usually carefree and irresponsible, but he isn’t the kind to be so rude to people! Did something happen to him?
Ouyang Duo let out a chuckle. “It’s fine! Young people like him tend to be a little hot-headed at times, after all!”
“Please, feel free to ask him anything. If he knows the answer to it, I will make sure he answers you honestly!” Nan Zhengde said.
“Qing went out on a dinner date with you last night, Nan Xing. Would you mind explaining to me why she came home with so many wounds on her face?” Ouyang Duo asked.
What? Did Nan Xing hit Ouyang Qing?
Nan Zhengde was shocked to hear that. Although he didn’t like Ouyang Qing after that stunt Erbao and Dabao pulled, hurting her was still something he could not accept.
“Why don’t you ask her what happened? Besides, I’m pretty sure you know very well what happened,” Nan Xing replied coldly.
“I asked Qing about it, but she just kept crying without saying a word. While it isn’t my place to interfere with the affairs of your generation, I believe I deserve an explanation for how she got injured. Wouldn’t you agree?” Ouyang Duo responded in an equally cold tone.
Nan Xing was about to go off at him, but held himself back when he recalled Nan Chen’s reminder to control his temper.
“You sure know how to put up a good act!” he muttered.
“You haven’t answered my question. What on earth happened to my daughter?” Ouyang Duo pressed on.
“Answer the question properly, Nan Xing! What happened last night?” Nan Zhengde chimed in as well.
“I’ll explain this to you at a later time, Grandpa. I’m not in the mood for this right now,” Nan Xing said impatiently.
The mere sight of the Ouyang family members disgusted him to the core, and he wanted nothing more than to kick them all out of the house.
“Hey, Nan Xing! You wouldn’t happen to be the one who gave my sister these wounds, would you?”
Ouyang Qi, who had been silently scrolling through his phone the whole time, interrupted the conversation all of a sudden.
D*mn it, why would you butt in now? I want to hear from Nan Xing what he thinks about last night’s incident! Ouyang Duo thought to himself when he heard that.
He wasn’t planning on bringing Ouyang Qi over at first, but it would be strange for him to visit them with just his daughter. As such, Ouyang Duo had no choice but to bring Ouyang Qi along for the sake of maintaining a normal appearance.
Ouyang Qi had been silently playing a video game on his phone the whole time, but decided to join in the conversation after ending a match in the game.
Ouyang Qi walked up to Nan Xing and glared fiercely at him as he continued, “Well? Say something, Nan Xing! Did you really hit my sister? You could’ve just said so if you don’t like her! How dare you lay your stinking hands on her like this, huh?”
“F*ck off! I didn’t hit her!” Nan Xing shouted angrily.
“Then explain those wounds on her face!” Ouyang Qi pressed on persistently, much to Ouyang Duo’s dismay.
D*mn it, why did you have to speak up and ruin my perfect plan? Have you not done enough?
“I told you, I didn’t hit her! I don’t want to discuss this topic any further! If you want answers, go ask her yourself!” Nan Xing snapped back at him angrily.
Realizing that something was definitely fishy about this whole incident, Nan Zhengde asked Ouyang Qing, “What happened, Qing? Let me know if Nan Xing has done something to wrong you. I won’t let him off the hook easily!”
“Nan Xing and I were having dinner at a restaurant, and then a bunch of men came in and attacked us. One of them stabbed him in the arm with a knife, so I panicked and tried to help him out. They beat me up and threw Nan Xing into the river. I kept looking for him along the river, but I couldn’t find him anywhere. I tried calling him today, but he wouldn’t answer my calls either!” Ouyang Qing replied while sobbing.
Nan Zhengde gasped in shock. What? Someone tried to stab a member of our family?
“Why didn’t you tell me about something this serious?” he asked anxiously.
“Don’t worry, Grandpa. I didn’t tell you because it wasn’t a big deal.”
It was Nan Chen’s idea to keep it a secret from Nan Zhengde so as to not worry him, but Ouyang Duo foiled his plans by showing up and exposing everything.
