This time, Li Xinzhi fainted for good. “Call the ambulance! Call the ambulance!”
Li Cennan and Li Min stood up as well. The whole household was in chaos after the patriarch fainted.
When Li Min passed by Pei Huan, she couldn’t resist the urge to slash her into pieces. Hence, she raised her hands to give Pei Huan a hard slap. “You trouble-making slut!”
Pei Huan narrowed her eyes and caught Li Min’s hand before the woman could land a slap. “Slut? Are you scolding yourself? Wait, my status is higher than you now. You have no right to scold me. You should be addressing me as Aunt Huan instead.”
“You! You!” Li Min’s voice shivered as she turned to Li Cenbei hatefully. “Uncle Bei, she-”
“Enough!”
Li Heng grabbed Pei Huan’s hand and pushed Li Min away forcefully. “Have you forgotten that I’ve warned all of you to not touch even a hair of Pei Huan? You shall regret and pay the consequences if you do so.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Li Min shrieked. “Heng, I am your sister! This slut is-”
“Pei Huan is my wife! For the whole of my life, I only have two family members – Pei Huan and Bao. Since when were you my sister?”
“You…”
“Heng, how dare you say such words?’ Li Cennan frowned in disappointment. “Are you going to go against the rest of the Li clan for the sake of this woman? What good do you see in her?”
“She is good in every aspect.” Li Heng smirked. “Even if she’s full of flaws with no good in her, I am willing to suck up to her.” Li Heng scanned his family clan again. “I have abode with the old man’s request to come back, and now my wife and son are tired. I shall take my leave now.”
“Stand where you are, Li Heng! If you dare walk out of this house now, you shall not be a Li anymore. You will lose your position in the Li Group! You’d better think this through; is it worth forgoing your bright future for the sake of a woman?”
Li Heng froze in his step upon hearing Li Cennan’s remark. Pei Huan could feel the tension in his muscles. She tilted her head slightly to check on him when she heard him scoff at his father. “Since the day the Li clan removed my name from the family register, I was no longer a part of the clan since the age of 15. In that case, you are not my father anymore. As for Li Group, I never wanted it from the start. If the family didn’t ask me to come back seven years ago, do you think I would return to run the company?”
Li Heng straightened his back and walked out hand-in-hand with Pei Huan and Bao in his arms.
“Pei Huan!”
Li Cenbei got up from his place and stopped at a distance away from them. “Don’t forget that you’re now my wife!”
Pei Huan froze and tilted her head in Li Cenbei’s direction. She suddenly found that she hardly knew him anymore. He was like a stranger she couldn’t read.
Li Cenbei was looking at Pei Huan as well. He was taking a gamble on whether Pei Huan would choose him or Li Heng. But in the end, Pei Huan had to disappoint him. “Oh, I would have almost forgotten if you didn’t mention it. Did you marry me because of Li Heng three years ago? You grew close to me because of Li Heng, didn’t you? You knew I divorced him then, yet you wanted to get close to me. You did that… All for what was going to happen today, right?”
Li Cenbei frowned and tightened his fists. “Who told you that? You don’t believe me?”
“I want to believe you, but I dare not do so now. You even used a fake name to get near me. He Beiting, huh? You’re Li Cenbei, not He Beiting. You’re not the He Beiting I used to know!”
“Pei Huan! No matter who I am, all you need to know is that I do love you!”
“Love me? Mr. Li, you must be kidding me. I agreed to marry you because Bao needed a father and a complete family. But I will never love you. Never!” Pei Huan declared mercilessly. “Like what you’ve seen just now, your father hates my guts. So much so that he would land himself in the hospital whenever he sees me. Mr. Li, for the sake of your father’s health, I guess we should end our relationship now.”
Pei Huan flung Li Heng’s hand off her and swiftly left the Li Residence.
Li Heng eyed Li Cenbei mockingly and smiled. “Welcome back, Uncle Bei. Worry not; the Li Group will be yours, and no one else can snatch it from you.”
With that, Li Heng followed after Pei Huan and left. Li Cenbei clenched his fists at the sight. His eyes were grim and murderous as he stared at the departing couple.
“Uncle Bei, what Li Heng and Pei Huan just said is not true, right? You never married Pei Huan, right?” Li Min came over and took his hand, only for it to be flung away by Li Cenbei in disgust. “You don’t believe their words, and that’s understandable. But now, you refuse to believe my words. Is it so hard to believe what I said? Pei Huan is my wife, and that’s an unchangeable fact.”
“Uncle Bei, you…” Li Min staggered backward with a pale face. “I don’t believe this. I…”
“Enough, Min!” Li Cennan stopped her immediately when he noticed how murderous Li Xufan’s expression had turned. “He is your elder. Is this the way you should speak to an elder?”
“I…”
On the other hand, Pei Huan let out a heavy sigh of relief once she stepped out of the Li Residence. She looked up to check the sky; it was gloomy with rain clouds.
Li Heng also came out with Bao, who was now awake in his arms. The boy clapped his hands excitedly when he saw Li Heng and Pei Huan. “Mommy! Daddy has been carrying me all this while!”
Pei Huan’s lips twitched at his words, suddenly realizing that all her sacrifices in being a good mother to Bao had gone down the drain.
She was the one who had pulled through the ten months of pregnancy and long hours of labor pain to give birth to him. Li Heng was probably enjoying himself while she was shrieking and crying in pain back then. Other than that, she was the one who had raised Bao for the past three years. Yet, all of that was insignificant to Bao compared to Li Heng, whom he had just met a few times. Blood is thicker than water, huh? Is this what they call the blood bond of a father and son?
Pei Huan refused to acknowledge it, but Bao was almost the exact copy of Li Heng himself. Despite her denials, Li Heng could definitely figure out that the boy was his son unless he was a fool of the highest order.
Li Heng approached Pei Huan from the back. “Get in the car. It’s getting late, and Bao should be hungry by now.”
“Yes, yes! I am so hungry!” Bao pouted his lips and touched his tummy cutely. His puppy eyes looked so pitiful when he looked at Pei Huan pleadingly. “Mommy, I am so hungry!”
“Alright, you little glutton. I’ll bring you to have some nice food now.”
“Yay!”
Bao clapped his hands and then extended his arms. “Carry me, Mommy!”
Pei Huan was relieved to hear him asking for her hugs. At least he still remembers that I’m his mother. But then, his next words immediately drenched her fire of happiness with cold water. “Daddy’s arms must be tired, so you should carry me.”
Pei Huan was rendered speechless by his words.
“Then I’ll have to trouble you, my dear!” Li Heng added with a naughty smile.
Gritting her teeth, Pei Huan retorted, “Li Heng, Bao doesn’t know a thing about us, so it’s fine. But are you trying to play dumb as well? I have nothing to do with you now.”
“We may have nothing to do with each other now, but we will have something going on in the future. After all, you are my son’s mother, and I am your son’s father. Am I right?”
Once again, Pei Huan was rendered speechless at his shameless words.
“Come on, get into the car. Do you want to stay at the Li Residence?”
Pei Huan didn’t want to stay at the Li Residence, not even for a second.
But knowing that the family must be in chaos now, Pei Huan couldn’t help but ask, “I made your grandfather get admitted into the hospital. Aren’t you mad at me for that?”
Li Heng eyed Pei Huan briefly. “I guess you didn’t hear me just now. There are only two people who are my family now. One is you, and the other is Bao.”
Li Heng then turned to Pei Huan with a serious expression that startled her. Her heartbeat accelerated at his affectionate gaze. She had experienced the same feeling when he said it the first time before the Li clan.
Due to the tense situation just now, Pei Huan had purposely ignored Li Heng’s presence and his powerful confession. With only the three of them in the car, she could no longer ignore his confession.
Li Heng had been staring at Pei Huan throughout the conversation. Upon seeing how lost she looked, Li Heng smiled affectionately. “Give me another chance, Huan. You know that no one else could occupy my heart other than you.”
Pei Huan averted her gaze to the window. “But my relationship with Li Cenbei…”
“He never married you. I’m sure of that,” Li Heng interjected firmly. “A person of his character would never do such a thing.”
“Even if he didn’t, do you think we can go back to how we used to be? It has been three years.” She was no longer the Pei Huan she used to be, and he was no longer the old Li Heng from before. They were no longer young and reckless when it came to love.
“Why not? As long as you wish for it, anything is possible.” Li Heng turned around and grabbed her hand. “Please give you and I another chance. Give us another chance. Bao needs a complete family.”
“I…”
The sudden ringtone interrupted their conversation. Pei Huan snapped out of her trance and pushed Li Heng away from her.
Li Heng narrowed his eyes in displeasure before checking the caller ID. “Oh, Aunt Zhang. Anything?”
“Heng, how’s Huan? Didn’t you say she returned a few days ago? You promised to bring her back.” Aunt Zhang nagged on and on about wanting to see Pei Huan.
Li Heng eyed Pei Huan briefly. Aunt Zhang had a boisterous voice, so Pei Huan had heard all her nags through the phone. She felt very embarrassed when she heard Aunt Zhang rambling about her.
“Aunt Zhang, Huan is with me now,” Li Heng replied with a sigh.
“Really? Pass the phone to her! I miss her so much. This child has been gone for three whole years, and I don’t know where she went. She didn’t even contact me whilst she was away. Doesn’t she know how worried I am about her?”
Pei Huan pursed her lips reluctantly. She actually didn’t want to talk to Aunt Zhang at all.
She knew Aunt Zhang’s character well, and she would never forget the love she had showered her with back then.
But after all, she would always side Li Heng. Pei Huan could imagine how Aunt Zhang would bombard her with nags to get back together with Li Heng, just like she had done three years ago.
Pei Huan stared at his phone hesitatingly. Sensing her hesitation, he placed the phone by her ear. “Just say a word or two. Otherwise, she’s going to nag about you again. I can’t talk on the phone while driving.”
Pei Huan was still reluctant to take the phone, but Aunt Zhang’s voice came from the earpiece right then. “Is it Huan? It’s me, your Aunt Zhang! How have you been for the past three years? Did you eat well? You haven’t enjoyed my dishes for a very long time. I guess you must’ve missed my cooking after so long. Do you miss me?”
Pei Huan’s eyes welled up with tears the moment she heard the woman’s voice. “Aunt Zhang, it’s me. Pei Huan. I miss you too.” Her lips quivered as she spoke.
