Chapter 166

After returning from outside, both of them were injured.

Pei Jing had a bruise on his lip, but An ZhiAng was in worse condition, with both his eyes turning purple from the beating.

The two little ones had fallen asleep after finishing their milk. Zhi Xia, feeling distressed, held onto An ZhiAng and directed a resentful gaze at Pei Jing, saying, "How could you lay a hand on my fourth brother? Just look at what you've done to him, both his eyes are bruised."

"I got hurt too," Pei Jing replied. At first, he didn't fully realize how cunning this kid could be. Since he was the one who got hit first, he tried to strategically position himself to take the blows on his body, so as not to reveal his injuries to ZhiAng.

But he slipped up with that punch to his lip.

When they started fighting in earnest, An ZhiAng focused all his defensive strength on his body, leaving his face exposed.

Fearing he might seriously injure his head, Pei Jing had to restrain his force, which allowed An ZhiAng to launch several surprise attacks.

So, despite An ZhiAng's apparent severity of injuries, they were all superficial wounds on his face.

In contrast, Pei Jing took several punches to his shoulders and got kicked a couple of times, and he was still feeling a dull ache.

"Your injuries are just minor," Zhi Xia said, looking at the bruise on Pei Jing's lip, then turning to her fourth brother, who had two panda-like circles around his eyes and two purple patches on his cheeks, even his earlobes looked as if they were bleeding. She couldn't help but feel heartbroken, on the verge of tears, as she exclaimed, "Look at what you've done to my fourth brother, it's so severe."

"You don't have to worry, little sister. It's just a few punches, I'm fine," An ZhiAng provocatively looked at Pei Jing, cursing inwardly.

This old man was well advanced in years, yet he still pursued a relationship with someone much younger, pitying his tender little sister.

At such a young age, she had become a mother to two children.

An ZhiAng also blamed himself. He knew that his little sister had just returned to that household, so why didn't he firmly stand by her side?

If he had been there, he wouldn't have allowed anyone to easily take her away.

He was already 28 at the beginning of the year, and this was the first time Pei Jing had suffered such a big loss at someone else's hands. What a humiliating experience!

Seeing An ZhiAng acting pitiful in front of Zhi Xia but secretly gloating behind his back, Pei Jing smiled and said, "It was my fault. I went a bit too far, but I wanted to test the training results of my little brother over this period. This was just a minor scuffle between us. In case we have a chance to go to the battlefield in the future, our enemies won't show you any mercy." "Did you evaluate my training results then? How did I do during this period?" An ZhiAng asked, with a sly grin.

"Not bad, but there's still room for improvement," Pei Jing replied calmly.

"Getting such an evaluation from my brother-in-law shows that my efforts during this period haven't been in vain," An ZhiAng said.

Zhi Xia sighed helplessly and shook her head. She finally understood that these two men were secretly competing with each other. It was understandable for her fourth brother, as he was young and hot-blooded, and he didn't like seeing someone mistreating her. But why was Pei Jing acting this way?

"Fourth Brother, now that we're both married, shouldn't we change how we address each other?" If someone were to hear him calling himself "sister" and referring to Pei Jing as "Brother-in-law," while they themselves were husband and wife, wouldn't it be a laughingstock?

"Yes, we should definitely change it," An ZhiAng said, looking up at Pei Jing. Although he wasn't urging him, his meaning was clear.

Pei Jing really couldn't stand the look of success on his face.

Having too many elder brothers wasn't a good thing either. The other two were reasonable enough, and there hadn't been any conflicts in their addresses after discussing it openly. Everyone intuitively avoided using specific terms of address.

After all, they had been calling each other "Brother-in-law" for so many years, and suddenly Pei Jing was being called "Brother." They themselves were not accustomed to it.

And Pei Jing had always assumed the role of an elder, so suddenly being called "Brother" was a bit awkward for him as well.

Although he hadn't confronted Second Brother directly, Pei Jing was confident that he wasn't the type to stir up trouble.

It was only Fourth Brother who climbed to the top with a ladder and yet couldn't be countered.

Zhi Xia also held his hand, signaling him to endure.

Calling Fourth Brother his own was only natural since he had married him, even though the current situation felt a bit awkward.

Pei Jing let out a sigh, suddenly feeling that he had been too lenient just now. If he had known, he should have expressed his grievances earlier, so as not to be suppressed like this now.

He lowered his head and looked at his wife, who was smiling at him, trying to please him. Pei Jing also felt that he could endure a bit longer.

Little did he know that as he watched his younger sister holding hands with Pei Jing and smiling so ingratiatingly, An ZhiAng had to exercise great restraint to keep himself from rushing over and separating them.

"Fourth Brother," after thinking it through, Pei Jing also felt relieved, his voice clear and gentle.

They were all family, and they would have to get along in the future. It wouldn't look good if they fell out, and it wouldn't be good for Zhi Xia to be caught in the middle.

When you truly care about someone, in times of trouble, you automatically put yourself in the other person's shoes to consider the problem.

That's how Pei Jing was, and An ZhiAng naturally was as well. So, he grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth. "Ah, Brother-in-law, from now on, I'll leave my sister in your care. You're already at such a ripe age, so you must be a bit self-aware and not bully my younger sister because of her age."

"Don't worry," Pei Jing said with a stiff face. While others may not say it to his face, praising him as young and promising, with limitless prospects, when it came to these two siblings, he was repeatedly criticized for being older.

Indeed, compared to a young person in their early twenties, he was already twenty-seven, turning twenty-eight next year. He couldn't be considered young anymore.

For the first time, he suddenly felt that he was really getting old.

Turning his head to look at Zhi Xia, Pei Jing couldn't help but reflect in his heart. If it hadn't been for that accident, what would have been the chance of him ending up with Zhi Xia?

After pondering over it, the final result was zero.

Looking at his young and beautiful wife, occasionally cute and occasionally charming, who had also given birth to a pair of twins, he had struck it big.

Although their relationship wasn't exactly harmonious, they weren't at odds with each other either. Zhi Xia could finally rest assured.

An ZhiAng took Zhi Xia out for a walk in this land, and despite the somewhat bleak winter scenery, Zhi Xia still felt at ease.

However, An ZhiAng's questions kept coming.

"Younger sister, did you willingly agree to get married?"

"Is Pei Jing treating you well?"

"At home, does he wash clothes, cook, and take care of the children? Are these tasks not shared between the two of you?"

"Does he hand over all the money to you to manage?"

At this moment, An ZhiAng found himself caught in a major misunderstanding. In his 19 years of life, ever since he was born, his father had been responsible for working and supporting the family, while his mother took care of the household chores and raising the children. He had never thought there was anything wrong with this arrangement, and he even believed that the division of labor was perfectly harmonious.

Occasionally, he would think that when he got married in the future, he would be responsible for earning money to support the family, while his wife would handle the laundry and cooking. It would be a harmonious and beautiful life.

But when this harmonious and beautiful arrangement was applied to his own younger sister, he felt that something was amiss.

Earning money to support the family was the most basic responsibility of a man. Otherwise, why would someone marry him?

Taking care of the children could also be accepted, after all, they were one's own flesh and blood.

But how could he let his lovely and beautiful younger sister do the trivial tasks of washing clothes, cooking, and household chores?

Was she so good-looking just to serve others after getting married?

The more he thought about it, the more upset he became. An ZhiAng held Zhi Xia's hand and checked it. Luckily, her hand was smooth and fair, without any calluses. It meant that her life was still decent, and she wasn't being treated like a nanny.