Su Chenghui looked over the divorce papers without really reading them.
He slightly raised his head and looked at Mr. Chen. “Did she send you?” he asked.
Mr. Chen was the legal counselor of the Li Group and had a good relationship with both Li Qianxue and Su Chenghui. He felt uncomfortable when his eyes met Su Chenghui’s and he had to say, “Yes.”
“She just got you to deliver these?” Su Chenghui didn’t look at the divorce papers but stared at Mr. Chen. He insisted on an answer.
“Ms. Li said she wished the signed papers as soon as possible. She wanted to finalize the divorce.”
What he said was undoubtedly a blow to Su Chenghui. He closed his eyes, unwilling to face the fact, even though he had expected it long ago.
“I will not sign it.”
“Mr. Su, you…”
“I won’t sign it. If she wants me to sign it, let her come and talk to me.”
Mr. Chen felt awkward and said, “Mr. Su, please don’t put me in a bind.”
“I am not making it difficult for you on purpose. I am only telling you that if she wants me to sign the papers, I won’t do it unless she comes to me herself.”
Su Chenghui didn’t know why he was insisting on this, but he was adamant. He simply couldn’t let it go like this.
Mr. Chen looked at Su Chenghui, confused about how things got to this place.
As a matter of fact, he had more inside information than other people.
It was true that Su Chenghui and Li Qianxue did not get along as harmoniously as they had tried to show to the public. However, no matter how rotten their relationship was, they had been together for over twenty years.
The marriage helped their businesses, as well as their families. They cooperated really well. After all, how many couples from the houses of the rich and powerful were genuinely affectionate?
He didn’t expect that all of a sudden, after the Lunar New Year’s, things would collapse between them.
Mr. Chen sighed. He understood there wouldn’t be any compromise since Li Qianxue sounded so determined yesterday.
“Mr. Su, I’ll leave the documents here. I suggest you take a look first and decide if you want to sign or not.”
Su Chenghui didn’t say anything. Mr. Chen turned and left after he delivered the documents.
Again, Su Chenghui was alone in his office. He sat there for hours, not moving at all.
…
Su Qingsang looked torn when she parked the car outside her apartment.
When she left, Li Qianxue was certainly reluctant. She even wanted to come along, but Su Qingsang refused to let her.
If Li Qianxue came, things would only be more complicated. Su Qingsang assured her that she would tell Xiang Caiping everything and, after the talk, she would go back home. Hearing her promise, Li Qianxue finally agreed to let her go.
Now, sitting in the car, Su Qingsang felt that she was a little bit afraid to face Xiang Caiping.
Su Qingsang had known the truth a long time ago but didn’t tell Xiang Caiping. Would Xiang Caiping blame her for that?
Su Qingsang had no idea. Still, after sitting in a daze for a few minutes, she finally opened the car door.
She got off the car, and at the same time, another vehicle parked behind her. She froze for an instant when she saw the familiar license plate.
When Su Chenghui got out, Su Qingsang opened her eyes wide.
“Dad?”
Why did he come?
Su Qingsang was so surprised that she even forgot to close her car door. She stared at Su Chenghui approaching her step by step.
When Su Chenghui came closer, she found he looked gaunt. Stubble covered his chin and his eyes were bloodshot.
“Dad.”
Su Chenghui stood there, looking at Su Qingsang. The person in front of him was her daughter.
He closed his eyes, and his voice was weak. “Why are you here?”
“I…” Su Qingsang thought it over and decided to be honest: “I am here to tell the truth about my identity.”
Hearing Su Qingsang’s words, Su Chenghui took a look at her. “You have come to tell the truth?”
Su Qingsang was annoyed. Wasn’t it obvious what she had to do?
“Dad, why are you here?”
“I am here to explain it to her,” Su Chenghui sounded exhausted.
He had sat in his office for hours and realized he had done many things wrong.
He used to justify himself and assure himself that he did it for a reason, but now he couldn’t make any more excuses for himself.
Wrong was wrong. Since he did wrong, he should try to fix the mistakes.
The first thing he wanted to do was get everything back to the right track.
Su Qingsang looked at Su Chenghui with disbelief. Was he serious?
“You can go back now. I’ll go upstairs and talk to her.”
Su Qingsang stood there, thought it over, and shook her head “No. I’ll go with you.”
After all, she spent a few months with Xiang Caiping. She owed her a face-to-face explanation.
It didn’t occur to Xiang Caiping that she would see Su Qingsang and Su Chenghui at the same time.
Actually, when Su Qingsang didn’t return last night, and this morning Huo Jinyao took her back to the apartment, she started to feel something was wrong.
She thought about calling Su Qingsang, but Huo Jinyao said she was occupied with work. She decided to wait for her.
She didn’t expect that Su Qingsang would appear together with Su Chenghui. This surprised her.
Xiang Caiping wanted to drive Su Chenghui out but stopped at the sight of Su Qingsang.
Su Qingsang looked at Xiang Caiping, struggled, and called her “mom” in a very small voice.
“Qingsang, are you back? Did you finish the work at the hospital?”
“Em? Yeah,” Su Qingsang nodded randomly. She looked at Yu and Ning and said, “Have you prepared the dinner for tonight? Yu and Ning, why don’t you two go out and do some shopping?”
Yu and Ning looked at each other and stood up simultaneously. “Okay. We are leaving now.”
They left, and the living room turned quiet.
Su Chenghui, who was standing outside the door, took a step inside.
“Qingsang, didn’t you say that we were going to celebrate the festival in Rong City? You are home late tonight. Do we still go to Rong City or not? I am fine, but I am afraid that if you don’t go, Huo Jinyao’s family may have a bad opinion of you.”
“There’s an emergency. We can’t go anymore.”
Facing the worried expression of Xiang Caiping, Su Qingsang couldn’t say a word about her birth.
“Let me do it.”
Su Chenghui walked up to Xiang Caiping. Facing her expression of disgust and animosity, Su Chenghui was surprised to find out that he was not disturbed by that.
“What do you want to say?” Xiang Caiping glared at Su Chenghui with precaution. “Make it quick.”
Su Qingsang felt a little bit uneasy at Xiang Caiping’s open disgust and reluctance towards Su Chenghui. She looked at Su Chenghui and said, “Dad, why don’t you sit down and talk. I’ll go to the kitchen and fetch some water for you.”
She turned to the kitchen, and when she came back with two glasses of water, Su Chenghui sat on the sofa opposite Xiang Caiping.
“Caiping, about the thing I’m going to say… you may get mad at me or even hate me. But I hope you can be calm and listen to me.”
“Since you know I will be angry at what you are about to say, why don’t you keep your mouth shut?”
Xiang Caiping spoke in a cold tone, with an ironic look on her face.
Su Chenghui didn’t mind. Watching Su Qingsang walking toward him, he took the glass from her hand.
The water was lukewarm, which helped him remain calm. He stared at the glass in his hand, not looking at Xiang Caiping.
“Twenty-five years ago, you gave birth to our child at the hospital. At that time, you were mad at me. So you left the child to me and let me take care of her.”
Su Chenghui told the story impassionately as if he were talking about other people.
Xiang Caiping knew intuitively that something terrible was going to happen. Clutching the arms of her wheelchair, she gazed at Su Chenghui with suspicion.
“What’s your point?”
“I…” Su Chenghui closed his eyes. He felt like he had gone back in time, back to the period when he was under an evil spell.
“To get back at Li Qianxue, I took away her child …and ours. Later, I felt bad about it, so I took that child back. But…”
With eyes wide open, Xiang Caiping looked at Su Chenghui in disbelief. He kept his head down, looking at the glass of water in his hand.
“So that was it. I switched your child with Li Qianxue’s. Su Qingsang is the daughter of Li Qianxue, and Su Peizhen is our daughter.”
Su Qingsang knew it already. However, she still felt terrible as she heard Su Chenghui tell the truth.
She watched Xiang Caiping with a concerned look. She was afraid Xiang Caiping might not cope with it.
Xiang Caiping sat there, stunned. She didn’t talk or move.
If she made a scene, Su Qingsang would find a way to comfort her. However, looking at her response, Su Qingsang had no idea what to say to her.
The word “mom” was on her lips, and she almost said it.
She gave the water to Xiang Caiping, wishing to placate her in a subtle way.
Xiang Caiping glanced up at Su Qingsang’s face.
“You knew it already, didn’t you?”
Su Qingsang met Xiang Caiping’s eyes, not knowing what to say. Xiang Caiping suddenly grabbed her wrist.
Su Qingsang was not prepared, and some water from the glass in her hand had spilled. No one paid attention to that.
Xiang Caiping stared at her face, and asked again slowly, “You knew it already, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Su Qingsang nodded. “I knew it before the Lunar’s New Year.”
“Before the Lunar’s New Year?” Xiang Caiping increased the pressure, looking at Su Qingsang, and repeated in a tone much colder than before, “You knew it before the Lunar’s New Year?”
Looking at Xiang Caiping, Su Qingsang felt awful, but she had to be honest.
“I knew at the time you were hospitalized. Your blood type is O, but mine is AB.”
Su Qingsang didn’t continue, but Xiang Caiping understood what she meant. At that time, Su Qingsang knew she was not her daughter.
“How could you not tell me that? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Xiang Caiping’s voice shook. She stared at Su Qingsang and couldn’t believe she was not her daughter.
How? How could that be?
Su Qingsang said, “I am sorry. I only knew I was not your child at that time. I had no idea whose child I was. I thought I was an illegitimate child dad had with some other woman. I…”
“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
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