Su Huaibei’s grip tightened around the paper. His eyes were round in shock, and he had on the same expression as Shu Qing when she first found out the truth. “Shen Feng, what are you trying to prove with this?”
“I’m not trying to prove or do anything. I just want to clear all of our age-old misunderstandings from before.” Shen Feng shook his head. “I thought Qing would’ve broken off all contact with you after she left, but I didn’t expect the two of you to be still together after so many years. It was then I know your love towards Qing has never wavered even after so long.”
“That’s my business with her and it’s not up to you to make comments about it!” Su Huaibei retorted icily. “What? Are you trying to gloat or something? Are you showing off the fact that she chose you over me back then?”
“Mr. Su! I know your misunderstanding towards me is much ingrained in you, so I have to tell you this; there’s nothing going on between me and Qing!”
“What?” Su Huaibei looked at Shen Feng in shock. Judging from his expression, Shen Feng now knew that Shu Qing had never spilled a word about their past. In fact, Shu Qing had even made use of Shen Feng himself to cover the truth from Su Huaibei. “Yes, I have been nice to Qing, but that’s not because I love her.”
“Do you think I’ll believe such nonsense from you?”
“I don’t care if you’ll believe me or not, but I have to make myself clear here. I love my wife deeply. Even though I’ve divorced her, I’ve never courted any other ladies other than my wife. Qing and I are not in a relationship at all. As for why Qing makes you think that I’m in love with her, that I have no idea.”
“No man can stand the temptation of a beautiful woman. Shen Feng, you dare say that you have no coveted thoughts towards Qing for treating her so nicely?”
“I really don’t,” Shen Feng sighed. “I got acquainted with Qing at a cocktail party when she was not famous then. As a business person, you must’ve seen young girls socializing at such events in search of opportunities. I am already used to mingling around with pretty ladies and no longer harbor any feelings towards them. Qing was there to search for opportunities too, so I offered to give her a chance to shine, but I never asked for anything in exchange from her. As for why I helped her, it was because she had once saved my wife’s life.”
Su Huaibei looked at him in disbelief. “Then what about this report. She told me back then that the child isn’t mine, it’s-”
“She said it’s mine?” Shen Feng shook his head. “No, it cannot be mine. We are not even in a relationship, so how can the child be mine? But…” Shen Feng closed his eyes. “Do you remember how her temperament changed drastically after that tragic incident? During that period of time, she shut herself inside her house. Do you remember this?”
Su Huaibei’s expression changed at his words. The veins on his hands popped out so prominently that they threatened to burst right then.
Of course I remember. I…
“Qing said that she couldn’t find you and because she was pregnant then, she begged me to take her in so that she could wait for your return. You did come back later on, so she went ahead to look for you, only to come back with cuts and bruises all over her. She looked so lost right then when she muttered about you not believing the baby to be yours and even asked her to abort the baby. She had no choice other than taking refuge at my place until she gave birth to the child.”
Su Huaibei’s hands trembled at his words. What have I been doing back then?
After finding out that Shu Qing was raped, Su Huaibei had gone to beat up those rapists. He beat them up so bad that most of them were either dead or rendered paralyzed, but he himself was also severely injured in the fight. Someone had stabbed a dagger into his chest but had narrowly missed his heart. He had almost died right then.
After narrowly escaping his death, Su Huaibei tried looking for Shu Qing the moment he recovered, only to find her happily residing in Shen Feng’s villa. She was already heavily pregnant when he saw her chatting away with Shen Feng. Fury overtook his sense of logic when he saw them together, which made Su Huaibei humiliate Shu Qing and even asked her to scram when she came looking for him.
“Qing was afraid that you wouldn’t accept the child and would harm her, that’s why she asked me and my wife to raise the child. That child is none other than Qianan.”
Su Huaibei’s hands trembled violently, and the report floated to the floor from his hands.
“Qing had wanted to leave the country, but she ended up getting imprisoned by you before she could leave. I have no idea what happened between the two of you during that year. By the time I’ve received news about her, half a year has flown by. It was then Qing wrote to me that she had flown overseas and asked me to take good care of Qianan.”
Su Huaibei lifted his head. His bloodshot eyes were menacing, yet it held tears as he spoke, “Why are you telling me this now?”
“To atone for my sins!” Shen Feng sighed, “I know you have punished all the perpetrators who had directly harmed Qing back then, but there is one person you have yet to punish.”
Shen Feng stood up from his place and bowed towards Su Huaibei. “I am the one who caused Qing to get raped by those bastards. If I didn’t introduce her to the audition, she wouldn’t have joined those producers for dinner, and she wouldn’t have gotten herself raped as a result. Qing had always thought you’re the one behind it. She thought it was your idea for making her sell her body in exchange for the acting role she wanted. That’s why she hates you to the core.”
“All this while, I thought you have explained to Qing and cleared all misunderstandings between you two. But after seeing her yesterday, I now realized how deep her misunderstanding toward you was. I thought she hates you because you didn’t want the baby, but turns out it’s because of the raping incident.”
Hearing that, Su Huaibei suddenly flipped his blanket away and tried to get down. His feet had just touched the ground when he felt a sharp pain in his chest, causing him to sit back on his bed. Holding his hand to his chest, he tried to get back up without success.
“Where is she?”
“Hey, don’t move around yet!” Shen Feng rushed over to help him back into his bed. “I know everything’s my fault, that’s why I have been atoning for my sins. It wasn’t until later that I came to know that Qing has given birth to another daughter for you, but then she dumped the child and left. My wife was worried about the baby, so she went to check on her. In order to protect the baby girl, I asked Shixiu to take Nuan in and care for her. All of these are for the sake of atoning for my sins toward Qing.”
At that, Su Huaibei took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “I think you should leave now.”
“Mr. Su, Qing has suffered a lot over the years. It’s not that she doesn’t want to acknowledge her children, it’s just that she…”
“She hates me. Hates me to the core.” Hence, she diverted all her hatred towards our child, Shi Nuan.
I bet the darkest days in her life were not the time when she got raped. It’s the time when she was imprisoned by me!
Su Huaibei balled his hands into fists but relaxed them afterward. “Please leave.”
Shen Feng frowned at his reply. “I know it’s useless for me to say anything else, but the children are innocent. Qing… She’s innocent as well. I don’t want to see the two of you torturing each other anymore. Please, just take it as my wish to atone for my sins!”
After Shen Feng left, Su Huaibei remained quiet for a long time before calling Fu Yi in. “Arrange for some caregivers to care for her.”
“Understood!”
Su Huaibei remained hospitalized for almost a week before his wound finally healed. He might be fine now, but that didn’t mean he had fully recovered.
According to the doctor, Su Huaibei must have his heart surgery now before his illness accelerates further. However, the surgery itself also comes with risks.
But risky or not, Su Huaibei no longer cared, since he was not afraid of death. He only asked Fu Yi to get Shi Nuan to see him as he had something important to tell her.
A while later, Shi Nuan followed Fu Yi into his ward. The ward was quiet as Su Huaibei was reading. The moment he saw Shi Nuan, Su Huaibei closed his book and greeted, “You’re here.”
Shi Nuan nodded. “You feel better now?”
“Yes, much better.”
After the previous incident, Shi Nuan had come to visit Su Huaibei a few times. But they hardly spoke and only exchanged polite greetings. For the past few visits, both Shi Nuan and Su Huaibei never mentioned the Su family issue, nor did they mention about Shi Nuan’s return to the Su family.
Hence, Shi Nuan could guess Su Huaibei’s intention of asking her here. She was just about to sit down when Su Huaibei uttered, “I agree to your condition.”
Shi Nuan was stunned in place. “What?” She asked in confusion.
Su Huaibei put down his book and looked at Shi Nuan with a serious expression. “You said that you will accept me as your father under the condition that I stop all contact with Shu Qing. I agree to that condition.”
Shi Nuan was taken aback as she stared at him in disbelief.
She didn’t think Su Huaibei would suddenly change his mind after getting hospitalized once. She reckoned something must have happened for him to change his mind. But Shi Nuan was not interested to find out about it and merely nodded. “Okay. We’ve reached a consensus then.”
Pursing his lips, Su Huaibei nodded. “Then, would you like to come home with me?”
Su Huaibei asked cautiously.
Shi Nuan gave it a thought and nodded. “Sure, but we shall do that after you’ve recovered and discharged from the hospital. About that, I’ve been raised by the Shi family for all of my life. My adopted parents may have mistreated me, but not my granddad. He has been the one who gave me all the care I needed while growing up, so I have to inform him before going back with you.”
“Of course, I am fine with that.” After all, Su Huaibei himself had never fulfilled his role as a father to Shi Nuan. It was Old Master Shi who had raised her throughout the years. He was so kind to Shi Nuan that he even gave all the shares and properties under his name to this adoptive granddaughter of hers.
“And another thing; Shi Yunsheng will forever be my paternal grandfather. That is a fact which you must accept.”
“Of course.” As long as he could reunite with Shi Nuan, Su Huaibei was fine with any condition proposed by her.
Seeing how Su Huaibei agreed to her conditions so readily, Shi Nuan simply nodded in resolution. “Alright, it’s decided then. Once you’ve recovered, Yan and I will come and pick you up. We will drop by the Shi residence and inform them of my decision to return to the Su family. No matter how bad they were to me, they are still my family that has raised me for many years.”
“Sure.”
Su Huaibei nodded tiredly. His lips moved, but no words came out of it. Shi Nuan paused at his reaction. “Anything else you want to say?”
Su Huaibei finally moved his lips. “There’s something I think you have the right to know.”
“Please, do tell.”
“It’s about Shen Qianan.” Su Huaibei took a deep breath and uttered while observing Shi Nuan’s expression. As expected, Shi Nuan’s expression changed into a frown upon hearing Shen Qianan’s name.
Still, Shi Nuan managed to suppress her displeasure and asked, “What about Shen Qianan?”
“Nuan, Shen Qianan is your sister. She’s your elder sister by blood.”
Shi Nuan frowned further at his words. Su Huaibei added, “She’s also my daughter with Shu Qing.”
