Chapter 178 – Whose Father?In the past, Liang Xiaohui had never regretted her decision to use every means possible to get close to Sheng Xun for the sake of conceiving Sheng s.h.i.+yun. It was due to her daughter that she was able to eliminate Sheng Xun"s previous wife, step into the Sheng Family and finally, become Sheng Xun"s officially recognised wife.
However, in the face of the cruel indifference shown towards her by Sheng Xun, whose cruelty extended to not having even a place for her within his heart, regret started to form.
During that year, when she"d first seen Sheng Xun, it had not been long since he established his business, with only a handful of employees under his belt. He"d personally interviewed her, and it was during this interview that her heart had been completely swept up by him. After becoming his a.s.sistant, she was able to see him every day, allowing her to understand him more and more as the days went by. Finally, after sinking deeper into this understanding, she was no longer able to extricate herself from him.
“Are you really that heartless, Sheng Xun? Even if you dislike s.h.i.+yun because of me, what about our son? Our son was harmed by Sheng Jiaoyang! And yet, you didn"t blame her at all! Do you know how much you"ve hurt my heart! It was all because of her that I"m never able to bear any more children! So, what"s wrong with me trying to get a little bit of compensation from her!” Liang Xiaohui shouted hysterically.
Nevertheless, Sheng Xun continued to watch the tear-stricken mother and daughter pair with the cool eyes of a bystander, as if they were totally unrelated to him. His heart had died long ago, leaving him no more than a walking corpse. Even the pitiful sight of his wife and daughter wouldn"t muster a sliver of regret within his heart.
“Father! While you"ve not cared about our family for the past few years, it was Mother who took care of Grandfather and Grandmother! Are you really not going to care about her feelings and divorce her? You can give up on me, but Mother has always worked hard for you by taking care of the family and giving her heart to you! Can"t you see that?” Sheng s.h.i.+yun cried out, her voice wracked with sobs.
Sheng Xun looked at Liang Xiaohui. Just when she a.s.sumed that his heart had softened, he replied calmly, “No one forced you to do any of that.”
Turning limp, Liang Xiaohui collapsed to the ground in utter despair.
Sheng s.h.i.+yun"s face became devoid of any emotion.
Sheng Xun shot a look at them before turning around and leaving.
This night was bound to be a sleepless night for the Sheng Family.
Meanwhile, Grandfather Yang glanced at the diary held in Sheng Jiaoyang"s hand and asked, “What"s that?”
Lowering her head to look at the hard-cover diary, Sheng Jiaoyang replied in a low voice, “It"s my mother"s diary.”
Hearing her words, Grandfather Yang became immersed in his thoughts. Only after returning home did he come to his senses and ordered everyone except his granddaughter to leave the car.
“Before leaving, your mother asked me to hold on to a box for you. This dairy should be one of its contents, right?” asked Grandfather Yang as he looked at Sheng Jiaoyang.
“I took this out of the box,” replied Sheng Jiaoyang.
“So, you already knew about it?”
“Yes, I already know my mother"s thoughts.”
“So, did you tell Sheng Xun?”
Pursing her lips, Sheng Jiaoyang replied, “There were many times where I really wanted to tell him. However, there were very few chances for me to meet him since the death of my mother. Furthermore, he wasn"t willing to talk to me in private. During that year before I left the country, I tried to remind him, but he completely ignored my words. There"s no such thing as an eternal opportunity, so I stopped trying to tell him.”
“You"ve done what you can. Alright, let"s go home.”
“Xiao An is still with Lilith next door. I"m going to pick him up.” Finished talking with Grandfather Yang, Sheng Jiaoyang instructed An Jing to help her grandfather inside while she headed next door.
“Miss Xu, you"re back,” said Lilith with a faint smile as she opened the door.
“Hey, where"s Xiao An?”
“He"s in the study with the boss.”
“Eh? Zhining is alone with Xiao An?” A peculiar look appeared on Sheng Jiaoyang"s face.
“That"s right,” replied Lilith.
Sheng Jiaoyang instantly bolted towards the study. Shoving the door open, the situation inside the room immediately appeared before her eyes.
Shen Zhining was using the computer at the desk, while Xiao An was watching an anime via a tablet as he sat on the guest sofa. Despite hearing the continuous output of background music coming from the tablet, Shen Zhining appeared to be completely unaffected.
Noticing the door open, both of them looked up before showing similar expressions.
“Mummy!” Xiao An immediately ran towards Sheng Jiaoyang.
Kneeling down to catch him in a hug, Sheng Jiaoyang praised, “What an obedient Xiao An!”
Xiao An lowered his head in embarra.s.sment.
Rubbing his head, Sheng Jiaoyang looked up at Shen Zhining. “You"re back so early?”
“You"re the one who"s late.”
Standing up, Shen Zhining walked towards her before looking down at Xiao An. “Xiao An, go get Felix to bring you home.”
“I"m here to fetch Xiao An, we"re leaving now,” replied Sheng Jiaoyang as she held Xiao An"s hand and walked out.
Grabbing her other hand, Shen Zhining pulled her close.
“What"s the matter? It"s late already, so leave anything you have to say for tomorrow,” said Sheng Jiaoyang as she looked back at him.
With a serious expression on his face, he replied, “Can"t you give me a goodnight kiss?”
Sheng Jiaoyang blinked. “I ate garlic during dinner.”
“…You can go.”
Sheng Jiaoyang proceeded to bring Xiao An away with a huge grin of satisfaction on her face.
After finis.h.i.+ng her bath, Sheng Jiaoyang immediately headed to bed before receiving Shen Zhining"s phone call.
“We"re so near, and yet you actually have the cheek to call me?” Sheng Jiaoyang felt that his actions were somewhat inconceivable.
“Near? But, I can"t see you.”
“Hey! You sound extremely cheesy!” Sheng Jiaoyang couldn"t help but grin before replying in a soft voice, “We just saw each other.”
“Was it true that you ate garlic at dinner?”
“Eh…I"m not too sure about that.”
“You little liar.” His deep and charming voice rumbled from her phone speaker.
In an instant, Sheng Jiaoyang felt parched. The words he"d just said sounded like the words from a man to his lover, most likely due to how sweet his tone was.
Sheng Jiaoyang turned off her bedside lamp. Seeing that Xiao An was still awake, she proceeded to use him as an excuse towards the man on the phone. “Okay, Xiao An needs to sleep. I"ll hang up the phone now, goodnight~”
Glancing at her phone, an image of Shen Zhining looking stunned appeared within her mind, causing her to burst out in involuntary laughter.
The next day, just as Shen Zhining arrived at Sheng Jiaoyang"s to have breakfast, he noticed that there was someone at their door.
This person was none other than Sheng Xun.
“You"re quite early.” Grandfather Yang swept an indifferent gaze over Sheng Xun.
Seeing them eating their breakfast, Sheng Xun came to a stop and replied, “I"m sorry. I"ll wait for you to finish.”
“Have you had breakfast yet?” Sheng Jiaoyang suddenly asked.
Sheng Xun gawked for a moment before shaking his head slightly.
Grandfather Yang glanced at Sheng Jiaoyang, then turned back to Sheng Xun and said, “Then, come over here and have some.”
How could Sheng Xun dare to reject the words of his father-in-law? Never once did his respect for his father-in-law ever wane. Generally speaking, he"d never reject any words or orders given by Grandfather Yang.
With Xu Qing and Li Weiqi on their honeymoon, the dining table was emptier than usual. Grandfather Yang was seated at the head of the table, with Sheng Jiaoyang and An Jing by his sides. Seated beside Sheng Jiaoyang was Xiao An, with the just arriving Shen Zhining sitting next to him. With Sheng Xun joining in, he naturally took the seat beside An Jing, which was right across from Sheng Jiaoyang.
As she ate her breakfast, Sheng Jiaoyang could feel Sheng Xun watching her.
After they were finished, everyone proceeded to the guest living room.
“Is everything settled?” Grandfather Yang immediately asked after taking his seat.
A self-rebuking expression instantly appeared on Sheng Xun"s face as he replied, “I"m sorry, Father.”
“I don"t wish to hear those words from you. I only want to know, did you manage to get back the things that were stolen?” asked Grandfather Yang.
Sheng Xun lowered his head, avoiding giving an immediate response.
“I"ll a.s.sume that you"ve already managed to obtain everything,” said Grandfather Yang in a ridiculing tone.
“I"m sorry, Father. I"m willing to compensate for the loss,” replied Sheng Xun in a resolute tone.
“Compensate? What will you use? Money? Do you think I"m a person that needs money?” Grandfather Yang shot back.
Sheng Xun became silent for a moment before replying, “I know that money isn"t a subst.i.tute for what has been lost, but I want to do everything I can to compensate for the loss before I manage to find Jiaoyang"s items.”
“Then, you should compensate in accordance with the value!” All of a sudden, Sheng Jiaoyang spoke up.
Seeing that Sheng Jiaoyang was joining in, Grandfather Yang didn"t continue to speak and left it to her to deal with this issue.
“There"s still 5.3 million dollars worth of items missing. I don"t want money, but you have to give me shares of equivalent value,” replied Sheng Jiaoyang.
“You?” Sheng Xun stared at her, slivers of doubt surfacing within his eyes.
“Jiaojiao"s words are in line with my thoughts, she can do as she wishes!” Grandfather Yang showed his support for Sheng Jiaoyang.
Not taking too long to ponder the situation, Sheng Xun finally nodded in agreement.
“Okay. You should go back and prepare everything,” said Grandfather Yang as he started to chase everyone away.
“I wish to have a few words with you in private,” said Sheng Xun as he stared at Sheng Jiaoyang.
Sheng Jiaoyang knew what he was about to say to her. Without a doubt, he wanted to pay back his debt. However, she didn"t feel like listening and quickly rejected him. Using her final exams as a reason, she immediately excused herself and walked away.
However, she really did have an exam today. With the semester coming to an end, a few faculties had started organising exams for their students.
Upon finis.h.i.+ng the exam, Sheng Jiaoyang spotted Pan Mingyue. Due to this, it wasn"t surprising that after a few seconds she purposefully blocked Sheng Jiaoyang"s path.
“I have a few things I want to say to you.”
“Speak.”
Pan Mingyue cleared her throat. Then, she looked around before covering her mouth and whispering, “There are so many people nearby. Do you really want me to speak here?”
“If you"re not talking, I"m leaving.” Sheng Jiaoyang shot a sudden glare at the hesitating Pan Mingyue and went to leave.
“Hey! Wait! I haven"t said anything yet!” yelled Pan Mingyue as she caught up to Sheng Jiaoyang.
Seeing this, a frown appeared on Sheng Jiaoyang"s face, alongside an "I"ll leave if you"re not talking" expression.
“I-I wronged you for saying that you were trying to seduce my father. Therefore, I"m here to apologise for the horrible words I said to you!”
“Oh, so what happens after that?”
Taking a deep breath, Pan Mingyue replied, “I know that your mother and you have suffered a lot. However, both of you are now happy, so can you not steal my father away from me?”