Fu Ling denied it immediately, but that only increased Su Shaoqing’s suspicions. “I haven’t even said anything yet. Why are you already so nervous?”
Fu Ling pursed her lips and replied, “I didn’t want you to jump to your own conclusions. It’s true that you aren’t his biological father—otherwise, I would’ve come knocking on your door to ask you to be his bone marrow donor, wouldn’t I?” Fu Ling retorted. She gazed unblinkingly at Su Shaoqing and continued, “Don’t wrack your brains about it anymore. The child for three years ago has already passed away.”
Su Shaoqing’s hand tightened around the steering wheel, the green veins throbbing beneath his skin.
Fu Ling continued to rattle on, completely ignorant of the effect her words had on Su Shaoqing. The man tried his best to hold in his emotions, but upon hearing Fu Ling’s words, the sound of a baby’s cry rang in his ears again. His face turned white as sheet, and he took a deep breath to calm himself down.
Fu Ling finally realized the odd expression on Su Shaoqing’s face. She turned her head and looked at him, frowning. “What’s the matter with you?”
Su Shaoqing pressed his lips together. He looked up and saw Fu Ling’s anxious face staring back at his own. Smiling a little, he reached out a hand to caress Fu Ling’s face, but she ducked away immediately. Su Shaoqing’s hand remained in the air, making him look rather foolish. He gazed at Fu Ling and smiled awkwardly before saying, “Nothing!”
“Nothing’s good.” Fu Ling turned away and started typing furiously away on her phone. Suddenly, she heard the man next to her say, “Ling, I’m sorry!”
A shiver ran down Fu Ling’s spine. Her fingers tightened around her phone momentarily before she raised her head and smiled gently at Su Shaoqing. “Why are you sorry?”
“Back then… I…”
“Actually, Mr. Su, you don’t have to take it to heart. It’s been so many years, after all. Besides, what happened then was never your fault, to begin with. If I hadn’t imagined that you liked me back and put all my heart into loving you, nothing like that would’ve happened. Thus, everything that befell me was my own fault; none of it has anything to do with you!”
Fu Ling turned around and gazed at him. As they stopped and waited at a traffic light, she looked at his eyes and saw that they no longer held any hint of emotion in them. This was what she had hoped for a long time ago, but now that her wish had come true, Fu Ling felt a little depressed.
Fu Ling wasn’t the same woman as before, and this knowledge frightened Su Shaoqing a little. He swallowed, causing his Adam’s apple to bob up and down. Though Fu Ling was right next to him, she seemed worlds away.
“You…”
“Mr. Su, the light has turned green!”
Fu Ling’s words jolted Su Shaoqing out of his reverie. He snapped out his daze and smiled weakly at her. “Where do you live?”
“Mr. Su, didn’t you find out about that when you were busy investigating me? You should know my address by heart!”
Su Shaoqing didn’t reply, simply stepping on the accelerator. The car drove off.
However, next to him, Fu Ling was still mulling over his words. Her heart raced just thinking about what he had said.
She sighed a little on the inside and willed her heart to calm down. Turning her head, she stared out of the window and watched as the scenery passed them by.
Some people, such as Fu Ling and Su Shaoqing, were destined to be apart from the very beginning. Fu Ling had put so much effort into chasing him in the past, but all she had gotten in return was a painful lesson and horrible memories. She would never do something like that ever again. Fu Ling looked down and placed a hand over her stomach, feeling it throb with phantom pain.
Some wounds could never be healed, even after some time.
Fu Ling had only brought along a small suitcase with her because she hadn’t expected to remain in Jiang City for long. She had come back with the express reason of finding someone, but she hadn’t managed to do so despite spending days searching for them. Fu Ling finally understood that her abilities would never be enough, which was why she had agreed to Su Shaoqing’s terms.
“Can you send some of your men to look for Qin Yanzhi?”
“Is he Bai’s biological father?” Su Shaoqing took her luggage and placed in it the boot of the car. Seeing Fu Ling stand silently by the door, refusing to answer him, he asked again, “Is Qin Yanzhi Bai’s biological father?”
Fu Ling continued to look at him with her lips sealed shut.
“Ling, you should know that I’ll be able to find out for myself even if you refuse to tell me now. Aside from me, Fu Chengyan will be able to do that as well.”
“Yes, he is Bai’s biological father!” Fu Ling burst out. However, her words merely made Su Shaoqing knit his brows into a frown. “Are you and Qin Yanzhi really Bai’s parents? But this kid… Wait a minute, when did you even get to know Qin Yanzhi?”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business!”
“Of course, it’s my business—he dumped you!” Su Shaoqing retorted. However, he realized almost immediately that he had misspoken.
Fu Ling bit her lip and let out a bitter laugh. “Isn’t it normal to be dumped by someone? Didn’t you abandon me back then, too?”
“I…”
“Oh wait, my bad. We were never together in the first place, so you couldn’t have abandoned me. I’m not going to bother explaining my relationship with Qin Yanzhi to you. All I want to ask is this—who’s more capable between you and Qin Yanzhi? If you can’t do this for me, I’ll go and ask my brother for help.”
“I’ve already said that I’m going to help you! Don’t trouble your brother. Besides, he can barely take care of himself as it is!” Su Shaoqing said, violently slamming the car boot shut. He opened the door to the passenger seat and bundled Fu Ling into the vehicle. “Where are we going?” Fu Ling suddenly thought of something when she saw Su Shaoqing throw open the door for her. “I’m not going to the Su Residence!”
“Don’t worry. It’s been a while since I moved out of the Su Residence.” Su Shaoqing said as he helped Fu Ling put on her seatbelt. Noting that Fu Ling seemed very put off by the idea of meeting the Su family, he continued, “If my memory serves me right, you used to like coming over to the Su Residence in the past. You…”
“That was in the past! We’re living in the present!” She had been young back then—young and wild. She might not have understood the awkward situation she put the Su family in back then, but what the Su family thought about her was now very clear.
Although Fu Ling was a daughter of the Fu clan, she had been born out of wedlock, and the Fu clan had never acknowledged her as a family member. When she was born, they had refused outright to put her name on the family register. That was the sad story of her life. To everyone else, a girl with such a horrific life story had no right to have any dealings with the prominent Su family. Fu Ling didn’t understand this at first -nor had she wished to understand it- but she understood it now.
“If you don’t like them, so be it. After all, I’m not living at the Su Residence now. Li Heng recently built a villa in this city, and all of us own mansions in that area. None of them usually visit the villa, though. That lets me enjoy the entire place by myself. I’ve planted a few of your favorite maidenhair trees. When we get there later, you can see the entire row of trees for yourself. They’re really beautiful. Sometime before this, I even…”
Fu Ling interrupted him before he could continue, “Su Shaoqing, I don’t like maidenhair trees!”
Su Shaoqing pressed his lips together. “Oh, you don’t?” His eyes glittered with excitement as he said with a smile, “Then I’ll get someone to replace them with something else immediately. Tell me—what else do you like? Do you not like the ash varieties, like maidenhair trees? Would you prefer it if I had people put up some flowering bushes instead?”
Su Shaoqing looked expectantly at Fu Ling, awaiting her response. He continued, “The garden is quite huge. Li Heng’s house is right next to it. Aren’t you close friends with Pei Huan? When Li Heng and Pei Huan return, they can live in that house, and we’ll become each other’s neighbors. Maybe you can have a discussion with Pei Huan about what sort of plants you want to see in the garden then…”
Fu Ling couldn’t stand it anymore. Cutting him off again, she snapped, “Su Shaoqing, that house belongs to you. You can plant whatever the hell you want in the garden. There’s no need to ask for my opinion!”
Su Shaoqing gaped at her. “Fine. If you don’t want to discuss it, we’ll forget about this matter for now.”
He then shot Fu Ling a side glance, only to see that the woman had shut her eyes in exasperation. A look of hurt flashed across his eyes, only to disappear after a few seconds.
He took a deep breath, silently reminding himself that he had to take things slow and not be overly eager.
Fu Ling was simply too tired. After a while of having her eyes closed, she started to doze off.
Su Shaoqing drove very slowly. The sky grew dark as night fell upon the city. As he drove, he turned up the temperature in the car. Seeing that Fu Ling’s head was positioned in a rather awkward way, he reached out his hand and gently adjusted her head to a more comfortable position. As he leaned into her, he caught a whiff of her perfume, which filled his head with memories instantly. Su Shaoqing’s eyes darkened a little. He reached out his hand and caressed her hair softly, the look in his eyes turning a little softer.
They soon arrived in the villa, but Su Shaoqing couldn’t bear to wake Fu Ling up, considering how deeply asleep she was. Instead, he gave Liang Lin a call and ordered her to come over immediately.
When Liang Lin arrived at the scene, Fu Ling’s head was lolling about rather foolishly, so Su Shaoqing took hold of her head and steadied it, resting his hand on her cheek. His face was overcome with a look of gentleness that Liang Lin had never seen on him before.
As though he had sensed Su Shaoqing’s gaze, Liang Lin waved at him and ran over quickly, giggling a little. Su Shaoqing rolled down the window and looked at him coldly. “Move a little more quietly! The luggage is in the boot. Take them up to my room at once.”
Liang Lin’s mouth curled up at the corners. “Did you call me over here just to make me do this?” Isn’t… Isn’t this too much?
Su Shaoqing raised an eyebrow and smiled innocently at him. “What about it? Is Li Heng the only one who can order you around?”
“Mr. Su, you misunderstand me.” Liang Lin scuttled to the back of the car and opened the boot. He must have moved too loudly and roused Fu Ling from her sleep because Su Shaoqing turned around almost immediately. He glared at Liang Lin, his face full of anger. The latter pouted and shot a disgruntled look back at Su Shaoqing, silently thinking that Li Heng was a much better person to work for.
Ever since Pei Huan returned, Li Heng had been smiling more frequently. His temper had improved tremendously as well. He was even willing to close one eye to the trivial mistakes his subordinates made at the workplace.
“Mr. Su, why didn’t you call Zhou Zheng to come over and help you? He’s pretty free now, isn’t he?”
“Haha! That’s because I like you better!” Su Shaoqing winked at him. He pinched Liang Lin’s nose bridge and continued, “Now hurry up!”
Although his voice was much softer than usual, it still carried its usual amount of threat.
In a flash, Liang Lin had picked up the luggage and made off with it. Su Shaoqing was still cradling Fu Ling’s head in his arms, and he continued to do so even after Liang Lin had disappeared into the house.
Meanwhile, Fu Ling was having a bad dream. In her dream, she felt uneasy as she felt someone staring at her. All sorts of strange scenarios appeared in her dreams, sending shivers down her spine. She turned to run, but she got nowhere no matter how hard she ran. When she turned around, however, she could only see white nothingness all around.
