Chapter 18: Qin Jiang Is A Jinx!

The next day.

Without the calming essential oil, Qin Moyun really couldn’t hold on and went to the hospital for treatment. Cold sweat soaked her, leaving her haggard.

Assistant Zhao stayed by her side. It was the first time he had seen Director Qin lose her composure like this.

As CEO of Qin Financial, Qin Moyun always paid great attention to her image.

She was almost always in tailored high-end suits that outlined her superior figure, paired with delicate jewelry and elegant heels, exuding confidence and charm.

Tall and slender, her demeanor was cool and noble. She moved gracefully and rarely smiled, always seeming composed and aloof.

But now, her neat bun was in disarray, her eyes rimmed red, lips chapped, and her mental state teetered on the brink of collapse.

Still, Qin Moyun had been a woman in charge for many years.

She propped herself up and said, “Zhao, go and call Yun over!”

Her nerves were frayed to the extreme.

In the past, when Qin Yun visited the company weekly, he would take on some of Qin Financial’s toughest projects to ease her burden, and his presence often relieved her headaches.

Especially because Qin Yun had a unique scent about him.

Many times it dispelled all her fatigue.

She immediately believed that Qin Yun was the family’s lucky star, and his proximity “blessed” her.

The better she treated him, the more blessings she would receive!

But the last time she was near Qin Yun…

For some reason… that scent that soothed her fatigue seemed to be gone.

At the time she just thought she was too tired and not suffering an episode, so she couldn’t smell it.

But now she was in the middle of a nervous breakdown.

She wanted to test whether Qin Jiang’s calming essential oil or the faint scent on Qin Yun was what relieved her neurosis.

But in her heart, Qin Moyun firmly believed it was Qin Yun’s blessing that sheltered her and eased her illness.

Her innate pride would not allow her to make the low-level mistake of misattributing such a favor.

Besides, Qin Yun had been arranged by the family to study medicine under a mysterious master of traditional Chinese medicine since childhood.

After all, what would someone like Qin Jiang know?

He probably only knew some wild herbs used to treat livestock in the mountains.

Differences in awareness and education were enough to create an invisible chasm between Qin Jiang and Qin Yun!

Qin Moyun rubbed her temples and sighed inwardly. She must have felt truly ill.

That’s how she could possibly think that her illness could be eased by Qin Jiang’s lowly massage skills.

Moreover, that empty bottle of essential oil.

Wasn’t she the one who deliberately poured it away?

An unlabelled, unregulated product—she probably didn’t even know its shelf life.

Every time after massaging, Qin Jiang would leave half a bottle for her in case she needed it, but once opened, the oil sitting around might be less effective than when Qin Jiang brought a fresh one.

As the eldest sister of the Qin family, she was used to luxury and was very particular about all sorts of skincare, health, and beauty products.

But since Qin Jiang was her brother, so as not to hurt his pride, she only had the assistant throw away its contents after he left.

After all, the next time Qin Jiang came, he would still bring along that oddly-shaped, plain-looking glass bottle.

….

Meanwhile.

The mother to the Qin siblings, Jiang Yuyao, having just returned from a visit to her natal home, came back to find her youngest son badly beaten and in a sorry state.

Without allowing discussion, she had Qin Yun admitted to the city hospital’s VIP ward.

“Mom, I’m really fine. Brother Qin Jiang might have just done it in a fit of anger. I feel better knowing that he’s been able to vent the frustration he feels from marrying into the Yan family on my behalf.”

“I’m not in pain—look… the swelling on my face is almost gone.“

Qin Yun lay in the hospital bed. The slap marks from Qin Jiang were still clearly visible on his face, and somehow they looked even worse now.

Jiang Yuyao sat at the bedside with the dignified air of a noble matron, well-preserved looks, and skin soft and radiant as if untouched by time.

But at this moment her brow was furrowed, her eyes full of disappointment, disdain, and anger toward Qin Jiang.

“Yun, Mom knows you’ve been kind, obedient and sensible since childhood, but kind people get taken advantage of! That wild brat Qin Jiang dared to bully you behind my back again.”

“It seems the last time we punished him by making him kneel in the ancestral hall for three days and nights wasn’t enough. This time I’ll use the disciplinary rod to whip him thirty times to teach him a lesson, correct his base character and lack of limits, and teach him what it means for brothers to respect one another.“

At the mention of Qin Jiang, Jiang Yuyao felt deep shame and humiliation.

Qin Yun was raised solely by her. Though frail, he fully embodied the manners and temperament of an aristocratic young master.

But Qin Jiang, when he was taken back to the Qin household at seventeen, was filthy and his clothes were patched and ragged.

Anyone who didn’t know better would have mistaken him for a beggar dragged out of a garbage heap.

She couldn’t believe that in this day and age, someone could be so poor.

She suspected that the newly returned youth deliberately dressed that way to win the family’s sympathy and take over her precious son’s position.

Jiang Yuyao’s heart sank back then. She immediately thought Qin Jiang was scheming at a young age and had probably learned such things from growing up in the bottom rungs of society.

It didn’t take long for her to believe that Qin Jiang truly couldn’t shake the disreputable habits associated with the lower class. He was dishonest, he stole, lied, and even picked up the most detested vice of gambling.

He framed and set up his own younger brother, and when angered he even beat up others.

He was rotten to the core.

What difference was there between such a vicious nature and a heartless mangy dog?

Yet blood ties could not be severed.

Since she had given birth to him, she had the duty to discipline and punish him.

Their fifth sister, Qin Qianyun, entered the ward. She paused when she saw the wounds on Qin Yun’s face.

Why did his injuries seem worse now? They weren’t this bad before.

But she didn’t think much of it and naturally blamed Qin Jiang for going too far.

“Mom, I’m afraid you won’t have the chance to do that—Qin Jiang has already moved out and announced he’s severed ties with our family,” Qin Qianyun said plainly with a nonchalant tone.

She didn’t believe Qin Jiang was truly capable of cutting ties with the Qin family permanently.

Jiang Yuyao was stunned for a moment, surprised.

But then a chilling frost covered her face. “He’s truly a wild brat. The fortune teller was right—he’s a jinx, bringing disaster wherever he goes, doomed never to enjoy a good life.”

“He harmed Qin Yun and is now deliberately shirking responsibility by feigning a break with the family, thinking he can escape my punishments? How naïve.“

These words were uttered by a mother, and they were aimed at her own biological son no less.

Yet no one present found it at all improper!

After all, Qin Jiang had always been the bad child in the Qin family. The mother was used to disciplining him!

Fifth sister Qin Qianyun recalled how carefree and arrogantly nonchalant Qin Jiang looked when he left home, as if escaping the family was worth setting off fireworks in celebration.

The Qin family was his birth family!

But Qin Jiang’s eagerness to rid himself of them was truly grating.

Qin Qianyun nodded in agreement. “You’re right, Mom. If we family members don’t strictly discipline him and encourage Qin Jiang’s bad habits instead, won’t he cause trouble outside and ruin the Qin family’s reputation?”

As for the jinx label—though Qin Qianyun was well-educated and didn’t much believe in lucky or unlucky stars.

But when there was only Qin Yun as the younger son, he was clearly healthy and at school, he was the elegant, noble campus heartthrob.

But since Qin Jiang returned, not only did Qin Yun fall ill, even their grandfather lay prolonged on the sickbed, retreating from public life.

Grandmother said it was because Qin Jiang’s return jinxed the whole family, causing the oldest and the youngest to bear the family’s misfortune.

But driving Qin Jiang away was not realistic.

It would ruin the Qin family’s reputation outside, and although Grandfather was clearly afflicted after Qin Jiang’s return and confined to a sanatorium long-term, they still wholeheartedly protected him.

They even proactively announced to the outside world that Qin Jiang was a son lost by the Qin family years ago!

But Qin Jiang was a jinx.

So the family came up with a plan to move his room to the attic, far from them.

Grandmother even hired a master to perform exorcisms in Qin Jiang’s attic room and plaster talismans on the door!

Since the whole family believed it, Qin Qianyun naturally accepted this accepted accusation.

From then on, whenever Qin Yun fell ill and needed blood from Qin Jiang, she considered it only natural and never felt sorry for Qin Jiang.

Grandmother was right: Qin Jiang wasn’t giving blood—he was repaying a debt owed to Qin Yun!!

“Cough… cough, cough…”

Qin Yun’s weak cough from the bed made the two people in the room tense.

Qin Yun was not like the notorious scoundrel Qin Jiang. He had grown up under their care, and the intimacy of their relationship was incomparable to the later-returned Qin Jiang.

“Mom… Mom, I suddenly feel so awful…”

“Fifth Sister, save me…”

Qin Yun spoke weakly, like a wisp of breath. His complexion was pale and sickly.

Paired with the red swollen slap marks on his face, Jiang Yuyao felt both heartbroken and furious.

“Quick, call the doctor!”

“Fifth Sister, get Qin Jiang and bring him to the hospital—tell him it’s my order that he must come.”

“I’m his biological mother, I gave birth to him, so he must repay his debt!“

Jiang Yuyao hurriedly pressed the call bell for a doctor before instructing Qin Qianyun.

Qin Yun had been frail since childhood and after Qin Jiang returned, he suddenly developed sepsis, requiring regular transfusions. Qin Yun’s blood type was P type.

The P blood group system is separate from the ABO system, including phenotypes P1, P2, P1k, P2k and p.

The p phenotype is a rare form in the P system. In Europe, there are 5.8 cases per million, while in the Chinese population, its frequency is below one per million.

Such a low-probability blood type happened to be present twice in the Qin family—Qin Jiang and Qin Yun.

From then on, Qin Jiang naturally became Qin Yun’s blood donor.

Whenever Qin Yun fell ill, Qin Jiang had to be present or personally deliver the freshly drawn blood preserved in a special box.

He was that conscientious.

He received no gratitude from the Qin family for doing that. On the contrary, they considered his donations as something he ought to do.

Because he was healthy, and he was Qin Yun’s older brother.

Being the elder brother, he had to give unconditionally for his younger brother.

His healthy body had to support his sickly brother.

“Mom, don’t worry—I’ll head to Huajing University to look for Qin Jiang now. For Yun… even if I have to kidnap him, I’ll bring him here!”

With her brother’s life at stake, Qin Qianyun wasted no time and rushed out of the ward.

Assistant Zhao had just reached the entrance to Qin Yun’s special care ward when he encountered doctors coming and going anxiously.

He hurriedly called Director Qin to report the situation.

As he whispered into his earpiece, an elegant female voice called to him, “Assistant Zhao, what are you doing here?”

Assistant Zhao quickly explained and mentioned Qin Moyun’s illness to Jiang Yuyao.

“Mm, I see. Moyun is always strong, it’s just a slight mental ailment—I won’t go see her yet.”

“Yun just went into the operating room. As his mother I must stay here to watch over him.”

“Tell Moyun to come and keep watch over Yun when she’s feeling a bit better. As the eldest of the Qin family, she should set an example in caring for her brother!”

Jiang Yuyao said it matter-of-factly: as a mother she needed to be needed by her children, and over the years, her daughters had become more independent and required less of her care.

But Qin Yun was different—he needed her most.

Only the frail and sick him would always depend on her.

Having cared for Qin Yun for years, she had grown used to putting him first and thus naturally refused to visit Qin Moyun.

The eldest daughter was sensible and independent and would not selfishly blame the mother for doing what was more urgent.

Qin Moyun, of course, heard her mother’s words through Assistant Zhao’s earpiece.

So the feeling of not being valued by one’s family was so painful…

She only felt that the scene was unusually familiar.

Once, when Qin Jiang was cleaning the second-floor windows he fell and was injured. Glass shards tore his skin and he suffered multiple fractures.

At that time, Qin Yun happened to be having an episode.

But because Qin Jiang had pre-donated and stored up blood packs, they didn’t require him to personally stay at the hospital.

Qin Jiang’s injuries were discovered by Nanny Xu, who rushed him to the hospital. He was being treated at the other end of the corridor from Qin Yun’s operating room.

Although Qin Moyun disapproved of her rebellious and wayward younger brother’s conduct, as the Qin family’s eldest daughter, she fulfilled her duty and went to watch over the Qin Jiang being treated in the other emergency room out of duty.

She was about to go when Jiang Yuyao stopped her.

“Qin Jiang has always been strong. Even if he fell he’d only suffer superficial injuries. He’s scheming to compete with Yun for the family’s attention, getting himself injured on purpose to vie for favor!”

“No one in the Qin family is allowed to visit him. If we indulge him this time, he’ll think it will always work and might fake illness again to swindle our money for gambling.”

“I will never let him sink further. From now on, the Qin family will not give him a penny of living expenses. None of you are allowed to secretly give him pocket money, or my efforts to teach him will be wasted.”

But a month later, when Qin Jiang returned on crutches with crusted wounds across his face and a body so shocking to see, Qin Moyun couldn’t help but flinch.

Had he really…injured himself on purpose?

But those scars were clearly real.

Later, when she talked to Nanny Xu who had taken Qin Jiang to the hospital, she learned Qin Jiang had fallen because their mother said she wanted to see the stars at night.

It was the rainy season with no stars in sight, so Qin Jiang had gone up to the window to stick glow-in-the-dark stars for his mother and fell from the upper floor.

Moreover, after he fell, it was found that there were several banana peels on the ground, clearly thrown there deliberately.

But Qin Jiang’s injuries were so severe that by the time he returned home, any evidence was gone.

Hearing this, Qin Moyun’s brow tightened. That day, she had gone home to fetch documents and when she passed by the living room, she happened to see Fourth Sister Qin Shuyun—who always stayed with Qin Yun during episodes—at home, sitting on the sofa eating fruit salad.

And it happened to be—banana salad!

Qin Shuyun didn’t even like bananas.

But she didn’t think much of it then. She took the documents and left, and on the drive back to the company she was informed that Qin Jiang had fallen.

She knew the family’s attitude toward Qin Jiang. As the eldest sister, though reluctant, she still went to the hospital, first to the emergency room where Qin Yun was, before planning to check on Qin Jiang…

After learning the truth, Qin Moyun simply believed it was all an accident—how could her own family harm one of their own?

To maintain family harmony, she didn’t pursue Qin Shuyun about it and assumed it was an accident.

But the fact that Qin Jiang fell while sticking glow-in-the-dark stars for their mother was something she had intended to tell Jiang Yuyao, yet she was too busy with company affairs, plus she really didn’t take this whole incident to heart in the first place.

After that, she couldn’t find an appropriate opportunity and never said anything.

Perhaps she had taken Qin Jiang’s efforts for granted and thought a month of recovery from his fall was no big deal.

He was a grown man now, and this was just a minor injury!

But now, sitting on the hospital bed with her head aching as if it were about to explode and no one by her side, she felt a sudden empathy for Qin Jiang’s past situation.

But the harm had long been done.

She had always been proud and couldn’t bring herself to make amends to Qin Jiang. In two days he would come to the company to give her a massage.

When that happened, she could kindly give Qin Jiang a chance to apologize to the family and take him back into the Qin household.

In this way, she would have covertly compensated Qin Jiang.

Qin Moyun made all these grand plans in her mind.

But for some reason… this time she felt a faint unease.