Chapter 138: Chen Hao Ran (Part Two)
Chapter 138: Chen Hao Ran (Part Two)
Chen Hao Ran was still wondering what was going on with his sister as he asked the question, but what happened next left him completely baffled. He stared wide-eyed at Chen Xiang Ling who suddenly stood up from her seat and moved to kneel on the floor next to the table while bowing her head to the point that it was almost touching the floor.
The very next second, Fu Xiao came running forward and also kneeled next to her lady and bowed her head until it touched the floor.
"..."
Throughout the past eighteen years, there had been several incidents when his sister left him completely baffled by her actions, but so far, nothing had come as close as to what was happening at the moment.
Shaking away the shock that almost froze him in his place, Hao Ran quickly spoke, "Xiang’er, what are you doing? Quickly stand up." Much to his horror, the girl shook her head in denial and kept kneeling.
"First brother, I need to be punished for everything that I have done to you, first sister-in-law, the rest of our family, and the entire Dongzhi City. My stupidity caused you all a lot of hurt and despair. No matter how much you all tried to mend my wrongdoings in the past, I never learned anything, and always caused trouble. I have finally realized my mistakes. Please forgive me, First Brother."
Xiang Ling blurted out as she continued to kneel there on the cold, hard floor. After thinking for a while, this was the only but the best solution she was able to come up with to deal with this first brother of the previous owner of her body. While her husbands were in no position to punish her, the same couldn’t be said about her brother. The thought of him getting angry after seeing her and punishing her, made her act quickly.
She didn’t have the time to even consider how brazen the situation was. The Supreme Immortal Xing, who wasn’t even afraid of getting punished by the Heavenly Empress, was feeling afraid of getting punished by a mortal. Time really did change things and people.
Hao Ran stared at his sister in shock. He would have never expected to one day hear such words coming from her mouth. She was someone who liked to make others kneel just for enjoyment, and yet, here she was, kneeling on the hard floor to ask for forgiveness. What really happened to his sister?
"Xiang’er, the floor is cold. Don’t keep kneeling like that. Come on, stand up and sit." Hao Ran told his sister only to see her shaking her head in denial once again.
"No, first brother. I will only stand up when you will forgive me. After everything that I have done in the past, kneeling doesn’t even come close to the punishment that I deserve. Please, forgive me, first brother." Xiang Ling once again asked for forgiveness, knowing fully well that the correct word here should have been ’punish’ instead of ’forgive’. However, she was no idiot to ask for punishment from someone to whom the previous owner had done a lot of wrongs.
Chen Hao Ran was stunned. Not wasting any more time, he quickly stood up from his seat and moved toward the two kneeling women. He bent and pulled on Xiang Ling’s shoulder, forcing the young woman to finally look up at him as she straightened up. "Stand up." That was all he said, but miraculously, it worked this time as his sister quickly stood up. She was even too fast that she almost ended up on the floor if not for him catching her in time.
"Are you alright, Xing’er?" he asked in concern, his eyes closely reading her face and he was shocked to see clear remorse in her eyes.
Xiang Ling slowly nodded her head as she looked at the man in front of her and clutched his sleeve tightly in her hands. "First Brother, are you not going to forgive me?" She felt her voice shaking, and much to her surprise, a tear came rolling down her cheek as she waited for the man to say something. It didn’t take her long to realize that her emotions were influenced by her body at the moment. It was the previous owner’s body that was begging for forgiveness and crying.
Chen Hao Ran wasn’t prepared to witness his sister’s tears. It had been years since he last saw her crying. Ever since she started with her wayward living style, no one saw her crying. Even when she was being criticized by the citizens of Dongzhi City, or when their parents were reprimanding her for her wrongdoings - she never cried. Yet, here she was, crying while asking for his forgiveness.
Since she was his only biological sibling and younger sister, Chen Hao Ran had always cherished and pampered her. She was like the apple of his eyes. Even when her personality changed for the worst over the years and she committed worst of crimes, he wasn’t able to make himself hate or dislike his sister. Just like his parents, he kept believing that maybe one day in the future, his sister would have enough of her antics and she would return to be normal.
And now as he looked at her crying, he felt like he had committed the biggest crime possible. He immediately used his sleeve to wipe away the tears while speaking, "Xiang’er, brother was never angry at you. Stop crying, hah? Brother has forgiven you."
Instead of stopping, Xiang Ling started crying even more and threw her arms around her brother, surprising the man. It wasn’t normal for adult siblings of opposite gender to hug, but the way his sister clung to him tightly as she cried her heart out, he just let her be and patted her head softly.
She might have cried for what seemed like forever before he was finally able to calm her down. "Here, have this tea." he said while offering her a cup of warm tea.