Zhao Wenjin became so angry, his face turned a dark shade of red. His hand became fists that were so tight, it began to shake. He harshly turned towards his bodyguards, signaling them to come forward.
She rolled her eyes upon seeing him whisper something to them. She already knew what his plan was: to drag her home and give her a thorough beating.
There was a reason why she didn"t dine with any of her family members. It always ended in an argument or fight. Right now, the food hadn"t even arrived and there was already an argument brewing.
Zhao Lifei knew she shouldn"t have provoked her father and pretended to be a good and obedient daughter to give him face in front of her eldest uncle. But she was long past trying to please her parents in the hopes of getting the same familial love that Linhua is showered with.
After her humiliation, he had thrown her out of the family home, luggage waiting for her at the front door, and all of her credit cards had been canceled.
To distance themselves from her and that scandal, he was willing to let her starve and live on the streets. If she hadn"t been taught by her grandfather to make sure she always had a backup plan, she really would have been left with nothing.
What kind of cruel father does that to their own flesh and blood?
Zhao Moyao also knew what his son had in mind. "You will do no such thing. My granddaughter will never step foot back in your house and if she does, you can expect to see zeros across all of your bank accounts."
His eyes scanned over the equally annoyed father and daughter. "If you"re going to continue this disrespect, get out."
"Glady, grandfather." Zhao Lifei attempted to stand up but a firm hand grabbed hers from across the table, forcing her to sit back down.
Shocked and angered at who would dare go against her wishes yet again, she roughly turned around. She was surprised to see it was none other than Wu Yuntai holding her back.
"Xiao Fei, don"t be stubborn. I was talking to your father." Zhao Moyao turned towards his son, a disapproving frown on his face. He was finally able to coerce his favorite granddaughter to have dinner with him and the first thing his son does is to reprimand and insult his daughter.
He already knew of his son and his wife visiting Lifei the previous day. He had an idea of why his ambitious son would make a visit with all the recent news of CEO Yang doting on his granddaughter. He also understood why Lifei would suddenly relapse after a year of sobriety.
Zhao Moyao had hoped his son would"ve been smart enough to not offend his granddaughter, knowing she had the favor of Yang Feng. But he knew it was an impossible wish, for his son always acted on his emotions instead of rationally thinking straight.
Zhao Moyao knew his detached method of allowing nannies to raise his sons was a bad choice, as both of them turned out to be horrible fathers just like him. But Zhao Moyao knew the damage was done and there was no way of reversing it.
Baffled at his father"s words, Zhao Wenjin turned towards him. "Father, you can"t be serious-"
"Think of where we are and the eyes on us. Restrain yourself." Zhao Moyao snarled, his eyes dancing with flames. The threat in his eyes was evident. To him, disowning a son — especially one that had been quietly ama.s.sing power — was as easy as snapping his finger.
Zhao Wenjin looked around and saw that a lot of people were staring at him. He gritted his teeth and decided to remain peaceful the entire dinner.
Even though his face was calm, his eyes clearly weren"t. There was a storm within it and he clearly hadn"t forgotten the humiliation he suffered yesterday. Now that another one was added, the storm was becoming a calamity ready to rain h.e.l.l upon Zhao Lifei.
The tension was thick in the air, almost suffocating that Zhao Lifei couldn"t help but poke and play with her food when it arrived. Using her fork and knife, she rolled the peas around and completely lost her appet.i.te. The usual mouth-watering steak looked bland to her and she couldn"t bring herself to stomach it.
Zhao Moyao noticed how sullen and upset his prized granddaughter had become. Her shoulders were slightly hunched over and with the dim lighting, she looked pale and lonely. Despite the fact that she was surrounded by people, the more he looked at her, the more he realized how depressing this dinner was.
He knew he should"ve warned her in advance that her family would be at the table, but he knew she would immediately refuse to come.
He hadn"t seen her in a couple of days and after everything that had happened, wanted to personally see how she was doing.
He couldn"t help but sigh at how ironic this situation was.
Whenever any of his children or grandchildren yearned for his attention and acknowledgment, he didn"t spare them a second glance. But when it came to this specific granddaughter, he was the one who was always initiating for her to come to him.
She rarely visited him and he knew it was because she was fearful of appearing too clingy.
As a child, whenever she asked to see her parents or have them join her for dinner, she was always rejected. And when she continued to ask them, they had harshly lashed out at her that she was too annoying and a thorn in their side. Hearing such painful words at a young age, it had traumatized her, thus, forced her to never tell people what she wanted.