“It’s none of your business!” Pei Huan exclaimed as she wrenched her arm off Li Heng’s grip. “Let go of me!”
Firm in his stead, Li Heng frowned as he questioned, “Where are you going? Let me drive you there!”
“No thanks, Mr. Li. It’s getting late now. You should be going home.” Pei Huan coldly turned away. Just as she began walking back into the house, Fu Chengyan emerged at the doorstep. He slightly raised an eyebrow at the sight of Li Heng. “You’re still here?”
Li Heng kept his lips pursed without a sound. He answered Fu Chengyan’s question with a cold gaze, which was returned from the latter.
Fu Chengyan broke the silent stare-down with a passive shrug, and handed a set of car keys to Pei Huan. “It’s difficult to get a cab here at this hour. Just take May’s car with you for the time being.”
“Thanks, Chengyan!” Pei Huan swiftly took the keys from her brother and walked toward the garage. A brief moment later, a faint rumble of the car engine could be heard, and the two men watched as Pei Huan drove away into the dark distance.
Hands in his pocket, Fu Chengyan turned back and faced Li Heng with a teasing look. “I can’t believe this day would come for you!”
Li Heng’s face turned black at these words. He remained facing the direction where Pei Huan drove off, not uttering a word in response. He knew clearly that this man who stood behind him wasn’t someone he could afford to offend for the time being. Fu Chengyan smirked lightly. It was such a rare opportunity to witness Li Heng looking so miserable and defeated. “Don’t blame me for not giving you a heads up… He Beiting has flown back today. That’s exactly where Huan is going. She’s going to see him,” he said plainly.
Li Heng’s frown deepened as he heard Fu Chengyan’s explanation. Filled with desperation, he couldn’t bother responding in any way. He went back into his car immediately and pulled away onto the street.
At the same moment, Shi Nuan came out from the house and watched by Chengyan’s side as Li Heng’s car disappeared into the distance. “You told him everything just like that? Aren’t you worried that he might just rush over to where He Beiting is and start a fight?” she asked in a concerned tone.
Fu Chengyan gave a light smile. “Don’t worry, Li Heng isn’t a reckless person. I’m sure he won’t do anything rash without considering who he’s dealing with. Let’s go back in. It really is getting late,” he replied casually.
Li Heng kept his speed up as he persistently drove after Pei Huan. It didn’t take long before she eventually noticed his car tailing behind. Pei Huan stepped hard on the gas pedal and accelerated away. She wasn’t in the mood to face him at this moment and waste time on pointless conversations.
Arriving at the hotel where He Beiting supposedly checked in, she quickly parked in the nearest spot she could find, got off the car and hurried into the building. It was almost effortless for her to find where He Beiting’s room was; he had informed her earlier. She hastily rang the doorbell a few times. A middle-aged man of dashing appearance showed up as the door clicked open. He had an alluring smile, yet his face looked somewhat pale. “You came!” He Beiting greeted his wife.
“Beiting, didn’t I tell you that you don’t have to come all the way back here since you’re busy with work? I’ve already said that I’ll return once those matters here in Jiang City are settled. Why did you…”
Before Pei Huan could finish her sentence, the man before her reached out his hand and gently ruffled her hair. “It’s fine. I came because I’m worried about you,” he replied with a warm smile.
“It’s been awhile, Uncle Bei!”
A cold, hostile voice interrupted from behind Pei Huan. Pei Huan could feel a slight shudder from the hand resting upon her head, and she thought she saw a vicious look in He Beiting’s eyes that disappeared in a flash.
She recognized that voice. It was none other than Li Heng. She felt her patience spiraling out of control as she became increasingly agitated. In the heat of the moment as she was about to lash out at him, she realized something odd. Wait a minute…did he just say, ‘Uncle Bei’? She looked blankly at He Beiting for a second, unable to process the situation. Then, she turned to Li Heng. “What did you just call him? What do you mean?” she asked in disbelief.
Li Heng narrowed his gaze at the man standing at the door. His lips curved into a shallow smile, but the look on his face was sinister. He kept a relaxed composure with his right hand in his pocket. What Pei Huan couldn’t see was that the hand inside the pocket had long clenched into a tight fist. “Hello there… He Beiting, right? Or should I rather say, Li Cenbei, my dear third uncle?” Li Heng spoke in a cold voice.
Hearing his name addressed that way, the man in front of Pei Huan narrowed his eyes a little before responding with a half-hearted smile. “It’s been a while indeed, Heng!”
Li Heng’s eyebrows pressed together into a furious pinch. Wrath was overflowing from his glare. “What’s the meaning of all this, Cenbei? Three years ago, you took my wife away. What are you up to now?”
“What’s going on? This… This is impossible!” Pei Huan stammered as her face slowly turned white. She stared back and forth at these two men in front of her, trembling as she attempted to digest the exchange between them. After which she looked toward Li Heng and questioned hesitantly, “Li Heng… You are lying, aren’t you? His name is He Beiting, not Li Cenbei. He’s not your uncle!”
Li Heng couldn’t help but let out a scoff. Noticing how terrified and pale Pei Huan was, he took a deep breath and steadied himself. He couldn’t let his own heart soften at the sight of her right now. He returned his piercing gaze onto the man whom he addressed as Li Cenbei and sneered, “Gave yourself a new name, ‘He Beiting’? Taking after your mother’s surname, eh?”
Li Cenbei met his gaze. His expression appeared slightly troubled for a moment but he retained his smile as he answered calmly, “So you haven’t forgotten my late mother, after all. I’m sure she’s happy to know that wherever she is now.”
Li Heng tightened his fist and retorted, “You left on your own accord back then. It was your decision. Why did you come back here? And why did you take my wife away from me?”
“Your wife? If I remember correctly, you both were already divorced from each other. Isn’t that so?” Li Cenbei’s face became increasingly pale as time went on, but he continued smiling.
Pei Huan couldn’t believe what was happening right before her eyes, and what she was listening to with her own ears. All of a sudden, this man who was her husband and whom she had spent her life together with for three years had turned into a complete stranger. That smile on his face that had always felt familiar was now unrecognizable. She couldn’t believe that her current husband turned out to be Li Heng’s uncle, who apparently disappeared from the household for over 20 years. This person… Just who exactly is he?
Struggling to hold back a mix of raging emotions and doubts, Pei Huan stared at Li Cenbei and asked, “Why? Why didn’t you tell me earlier that you’re Li Cenbei and that you’re Li Heng’s uncle?”
“Does it really matter?” Li Cenbei met her eyes with a cold, unapologetic expression as he continued, “He abandoned you and left you to go through all those miseries on your own. I don’t think it would’ve made any difference to you whoever I really am.”
“Of course it does matter!” Pei Huan exclaimed. She had trusted this man for three whole years. Although they never consummated their relationship, it was still an undeniable fact that they were a married couple and that they were husband and wife!
Her memories resurfaced as she spoke. She remembered that year when she left for C Country while pregnant with Bao and brought her adoptive father along. Life in a foreign place was a huge struggle until Li Cenbei appeared. He had helped her a great deal back in Jiang City and eventually, he pursued her. Moreover, he also willingly assumed the role of Bao’s father despite the child not being his. Who knew everything would turn upside down just like that at this very moment?
“Did you stay by my side for the past three years simply for this moment? You approached me knowing that I used to be Li Heng’s wife by assuming the identity of He Beiting. Heh… So all this while you’ve never really felt anything toward me at all even though we’re a married couple, right? You were using me all along to get Li Heng under your control. Your ultimate target is the Li clan; you want to reclaim the Li Group after all!”
Li Cenbei froze as she uttered these words. Then, he asked with a subtle hint of sadness in his tone, “Pei Huan, do you really think I’ve been using you?”
“How am I supposed to believe in you after all that? Now it makes sense that you appeared at the perfect timing to rescue me three years ago, and then asked me to marry you. That’s why you’re willing to live together with me for three whole years!” she replied with disappointment. Pei Huan thought she had known this man for three years, but right now he was beyond her comprehension. He felt like a total stranger.
“Chengyan told me that he’s been searching for me all these years since I left but failed to gather even a single piece of information about me. It was you pulling the strings behind it all, am I right? I wouldn’t have believed this if you’re He Beiting, but now that you’re really Li Cenbei… Ha!” Pei Huan scoffed.
Staring coldly at Li Cenbei, she took another glance at Li Heng, then proceeded to walk away.
“Pei Huan!”
“Huan!”
Li Heng and Li Cenbei called after Pei Huan simultaneously. Li Heng caught up and grabbed her arm, then blurted, “Now you’ve seen his true colors! This man and his real intentions…”
“Enough!” Pei Huan cut him off and yanked her arm away. “He isn’t a good person, but do you think you are? Aren’t you a pot calling the kettle black? I’ve come to realize this: nothing good ever comes out of the Li Residence!”
“And you, Li Cenbei?” She added without looking in her husband’s direction, “Since your identity is fake, I’m assuming our marriage must be a fake one as well, yes? Since it’s just a pretense, from now on, I am no longer related to you in any way!”
She wrung her arm free and ran off. Li Heng held his frown at the sight of Pei Huan’s back against them. Observing Li Cenbei’s similarly tense frown seated between his brows, he said with a mocking smile, “To think that you were able to rob your own nephew of his wife! Aren’t you an amazing uncle?”
Li Cenbei chuckled, though he seemed somewhat ill. As Pei Huan disappeared from their sight, he finally stopped hiding his exhaustion and leaned weakly on the door frame. With a scornful look, he replied, “How could I compare to you? Didn’t you also snatch Pei Huan from Li Xufan? Xufan addresses you as ‘uncle’, too.”
“How dare you…” Li Heng paused for a brief second as his fists tightened. “There’s nothing between Pei Huan and Li Xufan, to begin with.”
“Oh, really?” Li Cenbei answered nonchalantly, “Perhaps this is what they mean by ‘the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’. Some traits are inherited in the bloodline. Your grandfather has a similar tendency for such things too, you know.”
A shadow of disdain clouded Li Heng’s face. He sneered, “Since you’re back here now, do pay a visit to the Li Residence when you’re free. Otherwise, Grandpa will still think that you’re dead somewhere out there.”
Li Cenbei dropped his smile. Without waiting for his reply, Li Heng went on, “Your niece Li Min has remained in the Li Residence all these years until today, you know? All for the sake of possibly seeing you again one day,” he ended the conversation there and strode off without further hesitation, leaving the hotel.
Pei Huan aimlessly drove on, pressing her foot down on the gas pedal as hard as she could. The car window was wound down, and she allowed the cold air to blast across the driver’s seat, sending her hair flying in all directions.
Images of the scene earlier with Li Heng and Li Cenbei flashed across her mind. The conversations that took place stubbornly occupied her head. She channeled all strength onto her hands, gripping onto the steering wheel as hard as she could.
After all this time of being engulfed in ignorance, Pei Huan found it difficult to accept the pieces of truth that were just shoved right in her face. It was unbelievable that the man who had taken care of her for the past three years and treated her like family turned out to be someone from the Li clan under the cover of a different identity. Her husband, ‘He Beiting’, was actually the uncle of Li Heng and the youngest son of Li Xinzhi. She felt like a fool.
Pei Huan hadn’t heard much about Li Cenbei nor how this mysterious figure disappeared from the household. But from what she gathered, this person had always seemed devious and ruthless. He was already a dominating presence in the corporate world even in his early twenties. Li Cenbei was said to be the potential successor of Li Xinzhi. Nobody knew what happened that had caused him to suddenly disappear from Jiang City. Ever since then, nobody knew where he had gone to.
She always had the impression that Li Cenbei would be an older man in his fifties. Little did she know he would turn out to be He Beiting, someone who was only in his forties. He was the illegitimate son of Li Xinzhi, born to him by a beloved mistress.
Pei Huan had no idea how far she drove and where she was heading to. She eventually stopped the car by the roadside as she began to realize that she was already a long distance away from the hotel.
To be honest, she thought she would no longer be intimidated by any surprises that life might throw at her; she had been through so much turbulence in the past three years. But this time, after that encounter with both Li Heng and Li Cenbei, she struggled to calm herself down.
One was the man she once loved so much. The other was the man she once trusted, for he had saved her from her troubles and had always been by her side up to this day. It was too much to take in at once.
A blinding flash of light appeared suddenly and shone right in her direction. It was so bright that she couldn’t open her eyes to see the source where it came from. When the light finally dimmed, there came a few quick knocks on her car window.
She turned to look at the figure standing outside of the car. Under the dim street lights, she could vaguely make out who it was. It was none other than Li Heng with a very worried expression on his face.
Li Heng anxiously knocked on the car window as he repeatedly shouted, “Pei Huan, open the door!”
Pei Huan remained quietly in her seat, unmoved. She frowned as she gave him a cold and emotionless stare with the car door in between that kept them separated.
“Pei Huan, if you’re not going to open the door and come out, I’ll smash this car!” Li Heng yelled desperately. His voice was so desperate that his words didn’t sound like an exaggeration at all. Just as he finished his sentence, Pei Huan was shocked at a sudden rattle that vibrated throughout the car. This guy really wasn’t joking when he said he would try to smash the car!
Horrified and aggravated, she flung the door open and screamed at the top of her lungs as she got off the driver’s seat, “Li Heng! Are you crazy?”
While her hand still held on to the door, a sudden force pulled her in without warning and she fell into a strong, sturdy embrace. It was an embrace that once felt so warm and so familiar. Li Heng squeezed her so tight that it felt as if she was going to converge into his body. “Huan, please, come back to me!” Those words rang in her ears as she felt his arms wrapped tightly around her.
