Chapter 456: Are You Satisfied Right Now
Li Qianxue met Su Chenghui’s look and stepped forward in front of him.
“Peizhen is headstrong. You’d better go and console her.”
It was done—the only thing left was for everyone to accept it. There was no way around the situation, even if people didn’t accept it.
Su Chenghui remained silent and turned around. He heard Li Qianxue’s voice come from behind him.
“Su Chenghui, is this what you wanted? Is this what you wanted to see? Are you satisfied now?”
Su Chenghui had gotten his revenge. Now, was he happy? Was he satisfied?
Su Chenghui’s body trembled as if he was suddenly drained of all his energy.
He didn’t turn around and his back remained stiff. Li Qianxue wasn’t going to let him off easy. “Su Chenghui, how I wish I could kill you.”
Despite her words, she made sure to smile as she spoke. Bystanders seeing that scene wouldn’t know the truth and would think they were talking about their kids.
Only the two of them knew that what they were talking about had nothing to do with the kids.
Her voice was icy, and the loathing in her tone dug deep into Su Chenghui’s heart.
He ignored his urge to turn and face her, instead, rus.h.i.+ng off to find Su Peizhen without another word. The back of his head bobbing away made him look like a fleeing coward.
Li Qianxue collected herself. She turned and smiled again.
Not only was today the festival, but it was also a special day that should belong to Su Qingsang. Li Qianxue didn’t want others to affect her mood, especially not Su Chenghui.
Su Qingsang kept silent. Watching Su Peizhen run away like that, she was feeling a full range of emotions.
In just that moment, she felt sympathetic towards Su Peizhen.
Li Zhirong and Li Yishan, who were standing by her, looked like they were about to say something. Quickly, Su Qingsang smiled politely at them and found an excuse to go up to Li Qianxue.
“Mom.” Li Qianxue had been tough earlier, and Su Qingsang thought that she might still feel bad about it now. “Are you alright?”
“Of course. I am fine. I am good.”
Li Qianxue looked composed. In actuality, she didn’t dislike Su Peizhen, but it made her extremely uncomfortable that Peizhen was the daughter of Su Chenghui and Xiang Caiping.
Su Chenghui had switched her ident.i.ty at birth so that she could live in a wealthy family.
The very thought of it made Li Qianxue feel like her heart was on fire, and that flame burned her rationality to ashes.
If Su Peizhen was hurt by the way she’d been dealt with today, Li Qianxue was not the one to blame. She should blame Su Chenghui.
Taking a deep breath, Li Qianxue touched Su Qingsang’s arm. “I am good. But you—you should always remember who you are. If someone wrongs you, you don’t need to tolerate it. Just take them down a peg. Whatever happens, I’m always on your side.”
“Mom.”
Now Su Qingsang knew where Su Peizhen’s imperious personality came from.
“Who would come and provoke me? You’re overthinking this.”
“I just want you to know that.” Yes, ordinary people would not be provoking Su Qingsang, but there were plenty of senseless people out there.
Li Qianxue had mixed feelings thinking of the look in Su Peizhen’s eyes when she stormed out the door.
She patted Su Qingsang’s hand. “Actually, I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I know you saw what happened today. I am afraid Peizhen may not understand. If she makes things difficult for you, you don’t have to worry. Handle it however seems suitable to you.”
“Mom, I know.” Su Qingsang smiled and tried to comfort her. “You don’t need to worry too much. I believe Peizhen just couldn’t make peace with it at that moment. She will understand, one day.”
“I hope so.” Li Qianxue had raised Su Peizhen for over twenty years, so she didn’t want to think ill of her. She hoped Su Peizhen’s resistance to the change would only be temporary.
However, Li Qianxue was still afraid that Su Peizhen would act rashly and become reckless if she couldn’t get over it.
Li Qianxue thought to warn her daughter to watch out for Su Peizhen, but she bit back the words, remembering that Su Qingsang was soon leaving for Rong City.
It was unlikely the two of them would come across each other in the future. Forget it—Qingsang probably wouldn’t need the warning anyways.
Li Qianxue believed that she would be able to face Su Peizhen after Su Qingsang was gone. She would have time to fully recover from finding out that her husband had switched her child with another one.
It had been a long day, but Su Qingsang’s ident.i.ty was eventually revealed to all the friends and relatives by the end of the night.
Li Qianxue chose to explain things as she was seeing off the guests, in an effort to spare Su Peizhen’s feelings.
Su Peizhen would remain a daughter of the Su family, so the fight that evening would just be considered a rough patch in the broad scheme of things.
Most people in their business circle were quite smart. They understood Li Qianxue’s intentions to consider Su Peizhen a daughter of the Su family; thus, they would continue to treat her with dignity and respect.
After Li Qianxue saw off the last guest, she went back to the living room and found Old Master Li seated on the couch, waiting for her.
“Where is Qingsang?”
“I let her go upstairs and have some rest.” Old Master Li gestured for her to sit next to him, and he said slowly, “What are you going to do about Peizhen?”
Earlier, Li Qianxue was not the only one to see Su Peizhen’s angry eyes—Old Master Li had seen them, too.
Old Master Li thought much more deeply than Li Qianxue. Su Peizhen had taken the position that belonged to Su Qingsang.
She’d been given the privilege of receiving everything that she ever wished for. Because of this, Su Peizhen had way more property to her name than Su Qingsang.
Su Peizhen had her own house by the age of sixteen, and her eighteenth birthday present from Li Qianxue was a shop. When she turned twenty, Li Qianxue bought her a villa.
Although the villa couldn’t compare to this mansion, it was large and expensive.
Su Peizhen had also received birthday presents from Old Master Li every year, as well as lavish gifts such as cars or other investments from Su Chenghui.
Since these were all gifted to her, Li Qianxue didn’t intend to take anything back; so, Su Peizhen was left with a lot of expensive belongings.
Old Master Li had planned to provide Su Peizhen with a dowry. However, he was concerned after seeing Su Peizhen’s behavior that day.
“Though Chenghui’s actions cannot be put on Peizhen, you saw how she acted earlier.”
As the saying goes: a man whose heart is not content is like a snake that tries to swallow an elephant. What if they believed that they had given enough to her, but Su Peizhen didn’t find it sufficient?
“Dad, I know what I am doing.” If Su Peizhen would just accept her new ident.i.ty and stay in her place, a lot would be resolved.
However, if Su Peizhen insisted on opposing Su Qingsang and couldn’t keep out of trouble, it would be bad for everyone.
“As long as you’ve got a plan.” Old Master Li was still affectionate of Su Peizhen. But these benign feelings were not enough to outweigh his anger at Su Chenghui’s deception, and they were not enough to quell his outrage at seeing his daughter hurt by that man.
When all of that had gone down, Li Qianxue was pregnant, and Old Master Li pressured Su Chenghui to marry his daughter.
If Su Chenghui was truly unwilling, he could have refused. The Li family could easily afford a child. If he hadn’t agreed, it’s not like they would have kidnapped him and brought him to church.
Look at what Su Chenghui did instead. He was so duplicitous that he agreed to marry Li Qianxue, then turned around and betrayed her in the worst way possible.
Remembering all this, just like Li Qianxue, Old Master Li could not let go of his anger no matter how much he loved Su Peizhen.
As Old Master Li realized his tone had turned unfriendly, he sighed and said, “If Peizhen wants to come back and live here after Qingsang goes to Rong City, we shouldn’t stop her. We accepted Qingsang before she was your daughter. Of course we won’t reject Peizhen now.”
Since she was still a daughter of the Su family, Su Peizhen’s life would not be affected much, even if she got married.
But Su Peizhen’s unpredictability was a problem. If she remained impetuous and hotheaded, the plans her elders had made for her would all be in vain.
Li Qianxue didn’t say anything, but this was what she was thinking, too.
…
Upstairs, Su Qingsang, exhausted, changed her clothes and called Huo Jinyao.
“Honey?” Huo Jinyao quickly picked up the phone. Su Qingsang heard distant chatting on the other side, and she figured Huo Jinyao was at the Huo mansion.
“Are you at home?”
“Yes.” Huo Jinyao nodded, walking to the corridor with his phone in his hand. “I am at home. Great-uncle and great-aunt both came over today.”
Ah yes, today was the Lantern Festival. “Please send my greetings to grandpa.”
She wanted to tell him that she would be returning to Rong City in a few days, but she stopped herself. She wanted to surprise Huo Jinyao.
“Don’t worry. Grandpa understood why you could not be here.”
“You always comfort me. I was afraid that grandpa would be angry with me.”
Even Huo Manzi had stood out and criticized her in the past, so Su Qingsang feared that all the senior members of the Huo family would have complaints about her.
“Come on, please stop thinking that nonsense. I said that nothing was wrong, and I meant it. Feel free to stay there and keep your mom company.”
Su Qingsang nodded. “Huo Jinyao,” she said abruptly.
“What?”
“I miss you.”
On the other side of the phone, Huo Jinyao smiled playfully. “If you miss me, why don’t you come to see me as soon as possible when you’re finished with your mom? When you’re here, you can prove how much you miss me…”
Rascal. Su Qingsang bit her lip and mumbled, “Okay.”
Su Qingsang hung up the phone and felt her cheeks heating up. She patted her face, trying to cool them down.
Dropping the phone, Su Qingsang laid down on the bed. She was contemplating buying a plane ticket for the day after tomorrow. That would give her time to pack and buy gifts for Old Master Huo.
Su Qingsang remembered that she’d left the gifts that she bought last time at Huo Jinyao’s villa. Should she pick them up tomorrow?
She should probably inform Li Qianxue before that since she’d asked her mother to accompany her to Rong City.
While Su Qingsang was fantasizing about going to Rong City, miles away, Su Peizhen had succeeded in not letting her father catch up to her.
After leaving the Su family party, she got in her car and quickly drove away. She kept driving until she realized that she had nowhere to go.
The Su family—they were her home. But she couldn’t go back, her home was now taken over by Su Qingsang.
She could return to her apartment, but there would be no one there. It would be cold and quiet. She didn’t want to stay there alone.
She didn’t have the slightest idea of where else she could go.