It was mid-afternoon in Rong City and the weather was mild.
The two other ladies with whom Liu Tongjia was shopping with seemed to be rather well-heeled themselves.
“Aunty.” The moment Su Peizhen saw Liu Tongjia, she moved forward quickly to greet her.
“Hello. Are you here to shop as well?”
She spoke in an overly casual manner as if they were on familiar terms with each other.
Liu Tongjia looked at Su Peizhen with an expression that was wholly indifferent. She responded to Su Peizhen and then dismissed her.
Despite that, Su Peizhen was not someone who gave up so easily. “Aunty, it’s must be fate that we’ve met. Yifan is always saying that both you and uncle took great care of him and that he’s been really grateful as well…”
“Su Peizhen, the way in which you’ve humored the Old Master,” Liu Tongjia interjected tersely, “you can leave off trying that on me.”
Su Peizhen had not expected to get the brush off just like that before she had even tried anything, but she was not to be discouraged.
“Aunty, you’ve really misunderstood me. I’ve only spoken the truth.”
Su Peizhen glanced over at the two women beside Liu Tongjia as she spoke.
“If you don’t believe me, you can ask your companions to see if what I was said wasn’t true. Who doesn’t know that you are a kind and generous woman?”
The two women who were with her happened to be Mrs. Xu, the mother of Xu Ruoli, and Li Xiangyuan.
It was impossible for the two of them to disagree with the statement Su Peizhen had made.
Liu Tongjia’s interest in shopping had waned somewhat after having being interrupted by Su Peizhen.
She turned around and looked at Mrs. Xu and Li Xiangyuan. The two of them immediately claimed they had somewhere else to be, leaving as they made their excuses.
After separating from her companions, Liu Tongjia did not turn her attention to Su Peizhen. Instead, she took out her phone and called for the chauffeur to pick her up.
Su Peizhen put herself in Liu Tongjia’s path in a well-timed move. “Aunty, now that we have met, shall we have a chat?”
“I have nothing to talk about with you.”
“But I think we must have a lot to talk about.”
They were standing at the entrance of the shopping mall, a completely unsuitable place for talking.
Liu Tongjia gave Su Peizhen an intense look before walking directly into a nearby café.
Su Peizhen’s lips curled up as she followed behind her.
The two of them sat down at the table near the corner of the café, Su Peizhen smiling warmly.
“What would you like to drink?”
“I am not here to get a drink. Just speak your mind.”
“Aunty. I honestly just wanted a chat with you. After all, someone like you definitely dislikes being lied to, right?”
“What are you trying to get at?”
“I wanted to talk about Su Qingsang’s true identity. I think you may not have known that…”
“I know. She is the daughter of Li Qianxue, while you…”
Liu Tongjia swept her gaze up and down over Su Peizhen, a contemptuous look in her eyes. “You are the illegitimate daughter whose origins are unknown.”
Su Peizhen was slightly uncomfortable that she had pointed that out.
“Aunty, why do you have to say about me? Even if Su Qingsang is no longer illegitimate, it’s not as if you don’t still dislike her, right?”
“So?” Liu Tongjia leaned forward slightly. “You want me to work with you to handle Su Qingsang?”
“Aunty, I don’t know what you mean by that. Also, since you don’t even like her, why are you acting this way?”
Su Peizhen could not believe that Liu Tongjia would be indifferent to her proposition. “I heard that you had wanted a different lady as your daughter-in-law. I would be helping you out there, wouldn’t I?”
“Helping me?” Liu Tongjia sneered. “Would you be helping me or helping yourself?”
“Why don’t you think of it as us helping each other?”
“Helping each other?” Liu Tongjia laughed. “Why? Did you think that just by saying you dislike Su Qingsang, you would be able to get me to go along with this?”
Seeing Su Peizhen’s expression change, Liu Tongjia’s smile faded from her face.
“Su Peizhen. I am not afraid to tell you this. Indeed, I do not like Su Qingsang. However, I dislike you even more.”
“Huh? Aunty?”
“Now that you are no longer the pampered young lady of the Su Family, you ought to reconcile yourself to your position. I can understand if you do not want to accept it. If you want to get back what you originally had. But I don’t care to be your backer.”
“But…”
“But I don’t like Su Qingsang. Is that what you were about to say?”
Liu Tongjia looked at her, with an even greater degree of disdain apparent in her eyes.
“You’ve presumed too much. Yes, I don’t like her, but she is already married to Huo Jinyao. Why? Did you think that I would let Su Qingsang leave the Huo Family, just because of your covetousness?
“Aunty, what?”
“Enough.” Liu Tongjia no longer had the patience to listen further. She stood up saying, “You’re still far too inexperienced to even begin thinking about exploiting me.”
“I really didn’t mean it that way, Aunty.”
“It does not matter whether you meant it that way or not. Anyway, I don’t enjoy being used by others. I am not interested in working with you either. After all, a woman like you who displays her ambitions so clearly on her sleeve, you are even more annoying to me than Su Qingsang.”
Liu Tongjia headed straight for the exit after finishing her sentence.
Su Peizhen sat there, her face gone bloodless. She had not expected such a reaction from Liu Tongjia.
Her chest was heaving heavily. She breathed out slowly as Liu Tongjia left her field of vision.
Good, just great. So compared to Su Qingsang, she was even more annoying? She was going to see who would have the last laugh, Su Qingsang or her.
…
It was still quite early after they had eaten. Su Qingsang came out of the kitchen with some cut fruits and placed them on the coffee table.
Zhang Yichen glanced over at her and whispered his thanks.
“You’re welcome.”
Su Qingsang looked at Huo Jinyao then at Zhang Yichen. Using her eyes to communicate with Huo Jinyao, she asked him to entertain Zhang Yichen before she headed out of the room.
She still had her incomplete thesis on hand, so she thought about using the time to finish it.
Su Qingsang took her laptop and her printed materials with her as she lay on the bed to start on her thesis, but she ended up falling asleep without meaning to.
In the end, she was woken up by a kiss from Huo Jinyao. She blinked as she looked at Huo Jinyao’s face still right in front of her own. “What time is it now?”
“About four in the afternoon.”
“Has Uncle left?”
“He’s still outside.” Huo Jinyao planted a kiss on her cheek. “Why were you sleeping? Tired?”
Su Qingsang shook her head. “Doesn’t he have anything else to do? Why hasn’t he left yet?”
“You don’t like having him around?”
“No, it’s not like that.” Su Qingsang thought about the varied embarrassing situations she had found herself in whenever she had met Zhang Yichen, and she felt a little uncomfortable. “I just thought he seems very free.”
“He’s never free. He is always tied up whenever he comes to Rong City.”
That’s right, he’d always had something on whenever he was in Rong City. He was busy all the time, yet he could spare the time to go to the Huo Mansion, and somehow always managed to catch her right when she was in an awkward moment.
“Is he still going to eat here tonight?”
“No. We are going out for dinner.”
Huo Jinyao packed up all her notes and the laptop that she had placed on the bed. “Li Junsheng is back. They wanted to hold a gathering tonight, so I am taking you with me.”
“Alright.”
Su Qingsang had a good impression of Li Junsheng and she knew that he was on good terms with Huo Jinyao.
Knowing they would be heading out, she got up immediately to change. Midway through dressing up, she turned around suddenly to look at Huo Jinyao. “Will Uncle be coming along?”
“Yes. He’s friends with Li Junsheng and the others, so he’ll be coming with us as well.”
Su Qingsang nodded and said nothing further. Huo Jinyao stood up, moving closer before wrapping his arms around her waist.
“Darling, you went to visit Grandpa yesterday?”
Su Qingsang’s movements paused momentarily. She turned around to look at Huo Jinyao. “Yes.”
“Grandpa is usually alone in the Huo Mansion. Although your parents are living there, it looks like they aren’t always with Grandpa. I visit him whenever I am free.”
Huo Jinyao gazed intently at Su Qingsang but did not challenge her excuse.
Su Qingsang was uneasy under his intense scrutiny. She couldn’t take it anymore and she blurted out, “Other than keeping Grandpa company, I also wanted to…”
“It’s alright.” Huo Jinyao interrupted her confession. “If you are free, it’s good that you can go to spend more time with Grandpa.”
“Jinyao?”
“Next time, I’ll go with you.”
Su Qingsang looked at him. She had a feeling that Huo Jinyao could tell that she had visited Grandpa in order to ask about a certain specific matter.
She lowered her head and was about to say something, but Huo Jinyao hugged her.
“Darling. Give me some time.”
Give him time and he would tell her whatever she wanted to know.
She knew that’s what he had meant by that.
Su Qingsang leaned her face next to his ear and she nodded gently. “Alright.”
The two of them did not refer directly to it and did not discuss when the conversation would take place. They had a deep connection with each other and they both knew, unspoken, what the other meant.
Su Qingsang just let him hold her. Since he had said that she was not going to pry any further.
He would let her know when he felt up to talking about it.
Still, because of what he had said, she firmly believed that Liu Tongjia must have misunderstood what had happened back then. There must have been more to this than met the eye, but no one knew what it was.
Now, she could only wait until the day that Huo Jinyao would be willing to talk to her about it.
…
Li Junsheng rarely returned here, as he was now the mayor of Lin City.
He was an ambitious man and was constantly traveling. He went to places where he had to conduct inspections and schmooze whenever he could manage it.
He would be here for only two days. The dinner was held to be at Xiangshan.
Su Qingsang was familiar with the place, having been there a number of times.
Wan Xianyang arrived, not long after they had been seated. He sat in the empty chair beside Su Qingsang the moment he got there.
Huo Jinyao was on the other side of Su Qingsang and Zhang Yichen was sat next to Huo Jinyao. Zhang Yichen had turned to look back at Huo Jinyao to see if he had noticed Wan Xianyang’s move. Huo Jinyao had not noticed Wan Xianyang, as he was conversing with Li Junsheng about Lin City.
Zhang Yichen narrowed his eyes and he looked back to Wan Xianyang.
“Qingsang. What has Mengwan been busy with recently? Why hasn’t she come to meet up with you in Rong City?”
“She has her own life to lead. How can she be coming to look for me all of the time?”
Su Qingsang knew what was on Wan Xianyang’s mind and couldn’t help reminding him, “Don’t you have her Wechat contact? You can contact her yourself.”
“I do, but she is ignoring me.” Wan Xianyang said with an aggrieved air. “Qingsang, take a look at me. I am not unattractive, am I? Why does your bestie have such high expectations?”
“Don’t accuse her arbitrarily of that. It’s not that she has high expectations, she just doesn’t like you.”
“So, if she is not interested in me, how is that not having high expectations?” Wan Xianyang remained somewhat skeptical.
Seeing his puzzlement, Su Qingsang felt like laughing. “Don’t be like that, it’s not your fault. It’s just that you are really not her cup of tea.”
She had been in contact with Shi Mengwan recently and had heard her mentioning that Wan Xianyang was contacting her from time to time.
There would be messages sent in the morning, in the afternoon, and again at night. Truth be told, although Wan Xianyang didn’t realize it, Shi Mengwan felt bothered by them. However, because he was Huo Jinyao’s childhood friend, she did not want to offend him. So she could only refrain from replying to him, instead of blocking his number completely.
Su Qingsang had learned about the whole thing, but couldn’t let Wan Xianyang know about it.
Regardless of whether it be in personality or looks, Wan Xianyang was not in the same league as Zhan Haoze. Not to mention above all, Shi Mengwan had always been stubborn when it came to Zhan Haoze.
She had been obsessing over him for more than ten years now. She had seen no lack of suitors over the years, but she wasn’t interested in anyone else at all.
As it was nothing they wished to make common knowledge, Wan Xianyang spoke softly and Su Qingsang spoke even softer.
No one could hear what they were saying, but it was apparent that they were having a great conversation. Zhang Yichen stood up suddenly. When he noticed Huo Jinyao’s questioning look, his lips twitched a little.
“I am going to make a call.”
He walked out, Huo Jinyao dropping the matter after that.
Su Qingsang continued attempting to console Wan Xianyang, before realizing that she shouldn’t have troubled herself, as Wan Xianyang only grew even more persistent after that.
He even told Li Junsheng that he wanted to go to Lin City with him for a few days. Su Qingsang felt troubled as Wan Xianyang looked like he had been in earnest. She was wondering if she ought to call Shi Mengwan to warn her.
Speak of the devil. Su Qingsang’s phone rang and the caller was none other than Shi Mengwan. Su Qingsang glanced at her phone, then looked over to Wan Xianyang once, before leaving to accept the call.
“Qingsang, I have good news for you.”
Su Qingsang heard Shi Mengwan’s excited voice when she answered her call and smiled.
“What good news?”
“I submitted my designs to the Imagination Fashion Design Competition in France, and I’ve passed the preliminary round.”
“Really? That’s awesome.” Su Qingsang had heard her talk about the competition before. At the time, Shi Mengwan had not thought that she could cut it. It had been Su Qingsang who had encouraged her and got her to give it a try.
“Then, won’t you have to go to France?”
“Yes. I’ll have to go to France for the rest of the competition. Ah, I am so happy.”
Su Qingsang was happy for her friend as well. She asked when Shi Mengwan would be leaving for France and was glad to hear that it was going to be the next week.
Wan Xianyang was considering going to Lin City to look for Shi Mengwan, but now she would be leaving for France. Since the competition would take a while, the two of them would not be seeing each other.
Su Qingsang thought it was quite unkind of her to be thinking such thoughts. She wondered whether to tell Wan Xianyang about it.
Forget it. It would really be a headache if he decided to fly to France as well.
Su Qingsang hung up after they chatted for a bit. She saw Zhang Yichen as soon as she looked up, though she did not know when he had gotten there.
The smile on her face swiftly faded.
“Uncle.”
“Had a call?”
The unexpected question surprised Su Qingsang for a beat, then she nodded. He wanted to leave, but his focus was on the phone in her hand.
Who had she been talking with? And so happily at that?
Although it was nothing he should be caring about, she had smiled so comfortably in front of Wan Xianyang. So, why didn’t she ever look as relaxed whenever she was around him?
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