Chapter 59: The Past
As night fell, the neon lights began to rise.
Mother Su still clearly remembered that it was on such a gentle night that Su Chengjian had proposed a divorce to her.
The spoon in her hand slipped. No matter how much she deceived herself, she had guessed that he had someone outside.
Her marriage to him was a business alliance. Her surname was Bai, and she was the eldest daughter of the Bai Group. Her marriage was not up to her to decide. When she came of age, she had married him.
Although she was unwilling in her heart, he was gentle and handsome, elegant and considerate to her. And most importantly, unlike those who liked to have mistresses, he was almost entirely devoted to his work.
Just as she was being moved by him and thought that it would be nice to spend a lifetime with such a man, the next moment, he had given her a heavy blow.
At that time, she was not as steady and dignified as she was now. She had cried her eyes out and asked him why!
At that time, his young and handsome face was full of guilt and tenderness for another woman. “I’m sorry, Bai Qian. I have no feelings for you. We are just a business alliance. I told you when we got married that if you found a suitable person, I would bless you and let you go. And now I have met my destined heroine. I want to give her the best.”
At that time, her heart was like being soaked in ice water, so cold that it was steaming.
Her feelings for him were not yet love. Although she had a good impression of him, it was more of a sense of possession.
They both knew what the marriage between the Bai and Su families meant, especially for the Bai family. The two girls they had given birth to were not commercially talented, so Father Bai could only find a way out early and pave the way for his two children’s future.
Su Chengjian also knew that he was wronging her, but he promised to give her a lot of shares and assets, which would be enough to compensate for the Bai family’s losses.
At that time, she had just clenched the chopsticks in her hand tightly. Even though her palm was already red from the pressure, the pain in her hand could make her brain clearer, so that she wouldn’t flip the table in anger on the spot.
After a long time, she said in a deep voice, “Alright, I’ll sign.”
With two strokes, she had signed the divorce agreement, and their relationship had changed from husband and wife to strangers.
But she would not be reconciled. She hated it too much, hated Wen Shu for seducing someone else’s husband, hated her for destroying someone else’s family!
So, while he was busy dividing the assets, she took a plane to find Wen Shu and told her that he was already married.
After hearing this, Wen Shu stood up and, after slapping him, she left very decisively.
Bai Qian had thought that Wen Shu would cling to him, so when she saw her attitude, she was stunned for a moment.
Wen Shu just flicked her long hair and snorted coldly. “This kind of man only deserves to be thrown in the trash can. Cheating is something that happens once, it will happen again. Since we are both victims, I advise you, what you should throw away is not your prejudice and hatred for me, but that disgusting man!”
At that time, looking at Wen Shu’s graceful departure, a hint of envy had actually grown in her heart.
She envied her courage, and she also envied her free and easy way of letting go.
But her heart had long been shackled, locked in a cage. She just wanted to hold on to him tightly, even if it meant using all means, she had to make him belong to her alone!
So, while he was searching for Wen Shu all over the world, she silently took care of the family, showing the magnanimity and consideration that a wife should have.
And at that time, fate seemed to be completely on her side. Father Bai fell seriously ill. In front of the seriously ill old man, they could only hide the matter of their divorce.
Father Bai was very shrewd. At the last moment of his life, he had used his own death to tie her to Su Chengjian’s side.
Su Chengjian could not refuse Father Bai, who had once been kind to him, and could only remain silent, not announcing the divorce.
And later, her pregnancy had caught him off guard. By the time he had settled everything and found Wen Shu again, he found that her child was also about to be born.
The moment he found out that Wen Shu was pregnant, his heart had been filled with the joy of being a father. Although this was not his first child, he was still so happy that he wanted to announce it to the world!
He had a child, born to the woman he loved the most!
But afraid that Wen Shu would be angry if she saw him, he could only hide in the dark and secretly take care of her.
But the accident happened too quickly. Wen Shu still found out about his existence. She kicked him in a fit of anger and then, after a major hemorrhage, she was rushed to the hospital by him.
Before she entered the delivery room, she told him that the child had nothing to do with him, that this was her baby alone! She would take the baby and find a place where he would never find them and live a quiet life.
This sentence made him panic. He knew her personality, that she loved and hated clearly, and that she would do what she said.
He waited in a state of despair in the delivery room, his beard stubbly, his eyes full of red bloodshot.
He couldn’t watch her leave, and with his child!
So, when Bai Qian called and said that the baby she had given birth to prematurely was naturally weak, he clenched his phone and made a very crazy move.
He took away the child Wen Shu had just given birth to. He wanted to use this child to keep her by his side!
To not make her suspicious, he even gave the child Bai Qian had given birth to to her. His original intention was to delay for a while. As long as her condition stabilized, he would use his tenderness to move her and then tell her the truth.
He was too scared. He was afraid that she would disappear from this world again without a sound. With a child, at least there would be more opportunities to have a bond with her.
But the child Bai Qian had given birth to was barely breathing when it was delivered to Wen Shu.
She almost collapsed on the spot. She held the child and stumbled to find a doctor to save him, begging them one by one, hoping they could save this child who had just come into the world.
The doctor couldn’t do anything either. It was only when he said that he would have someone send the child abroad for treatment, that there were advanced medical equipment abroad, and a glimmer of hope, that she tearfully handed the child to him. But at that time, how could he have the mind to fly abroad himself? His heart was all on her. He directly handed the child to his secretary to handle.
The secretary knew that he had no affection for this almost hopeless child, so he didn’t pay much attention to him. Before they even boarded the plane, the child was lost.
This child had already been diagnosed by the doctor as not having long to live, so even though he knew the child was lost, he only sighed a couple of times in guilt for this child.
But before he could do anything, Wen Shu heard his conversation with his secretary and, thinking that the child was dead, she disappeared from the hospital in despair.
He was also completely panicked and searched for her day and night.
And when he came back to his senses and calmed down, he saw the fair and tender child who could already call him “Dad,” and his heart instantly softened.
At that time, he had truly transferred all his love for Wen Shu to Su Chimian.
After listening to this long story, Su Chimian and Su Jinfeng were both completely dumbfounded, sitting there in a daze, motionless.
And Mother Su also seemed to have aged in an instant, her face withered and resigned as she leaned back in her chair, quietly looking at the white porcelain bowl in front of her.
“…That’s about it. For the past twenty years, for the sake of your and Bai Qian’s reputation, I have not made the divorce public. But I can’t continue to hide it. I have repaid Father Bai’s kindness for twenty years, and it’s enough.”
Su Chengjian let out a long sigh, as if he wanted to disperse the forbearance of the past twenty years, and his face even had a bit more glory.
“Mianmian, your biological mother is Wen Shu. Back then, I made a mistake in judgment and wanted to use you to keep her, but I never expected it to cause a twenty-year separation. I hope you can sit down with her and have a good talk, okay?”
After he finished speaking, he looked at Su Chimian with a gentle and doting gaze, as if he were looking at another person through him.
Hearing his words, Su Chimian’s mouth opened and closed, but in the end, he didn’t say no.
He was silent on the surface, but his heart was already in a huge turmoil.
That woman who had slapped him was actually his biological mother?!
But… he secretly glanced at the lowered-eyed Mother Su, feeling very uncomfortable in his heart.
If he were really Wen Shu’s child, what would happen to her?
“I’ve already made an appointment with her. You two can meet tomorrow at noon. You should prepare yourself.”
He just nodded silently. His thoughts were in a mess, and his mood was extremely heavy. He couldn’t think of anything and could only let him arrange it for him.
After he went upstairs, Su Jinfeng stood up with a hint of anger.
“Dad, I call you Dad, but I look down on you! Do you know how many people you’ve hurt? How will Mom go out in the future, how will she face the rumors and slanders from the outside world?!”
He had great respect and love for his mother. With something like this happening, he naturally stood on her side and questioned him coldly.
Perhaps because he knew that the truth would be revealed tomorrow, and that he could also take this opportunity to get along with Wen Shu, he was in a good mood. But hearing his son’s questioning, his eyes still darkened for a moment.
“I have indeed done many wrong things, but for your mother, I have given her more than twenty years of respect and reputation. I have worked hard to manage the Bai family and have not taken a single share, leaving almost all of it to you and her. But I have given nothing to Wen Shu. The one I feel most guilty towards is not you, but her.”
After he finished speaking, he took a breath and continued, “And I feel even more guilty towards Chi Xiasheng, for letting him wander outside for so many years. But among the children in the family, I have never wronged you in any way!”
Only then did Su Jinfeng’s face turn pale. His lips trembled as he asked, “Chi Xiasheng… is he the lost child?”
Thinking of this, he nodded. “He was too young back then. The secretary said he was almost gone when he boarded the plane. In a moment of carelessness, he was lost at the airport. I thought he was already… so I didn’t look for him with my heart.”
Su Jinfeng thought of the cold and distant person who would light up when he called him “big brother,” and his eyes suddenly became sore.
So he and Chi Xiasheng were the brothers who were so close…
But he had bullied him for the sake of Su Chimian.
Covering his face, he stayed in the living room for a long time without moving.
Because of this matter, almost everyone in their family had not slept all night.
It wasn’t until the sun rose again and the cold autumn wind blew in through the window that everyone seemed to react. They changed their clothes and silently took a car to the restaurant.
Wen Shu had arrived at the private room of the restaurant early with Chi Xiasheng.
She didn’t want to see Su Chengjian, but when he mentioned the child she had once lost, she quieted down and agreed to his request.
The matter between them had to have a conclusion.
And Chi Xiasheng was here because he was worried about her condition and had specially accompanied her.
But he never expected that after hearing the whole story, his heart would completely sink to the bottom.
