Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“When the time comes, your husband’s name will be written down in history. You don’t need to thank me too much. I am an easy person to talk to. I don’t hold grudges, and I also repay evil with good.” Only after Song Jinning finished saying that in one breath did she feel the pent-up grudge slowly dissipating from her chest. How could she, being a mother, not know when Huo Shaoheng was in danger? Just thinking about it scared Song Jinning. She was infatuated with doing scientific research, but her love for her son did not lose to scientific research by one bit. She would willingly sacrifice her life for both of them.
When Song Jinning talked about it to that degree, Cai Songyin had completely given up the thought of building a good personal relationship with her. “Director Song, it’s no fun when you say it like that. First, let’s not talk about our family inconveniencing your son. Even if something does happen in the future, it would definitely be official business. You can relax,” Cai Songying said as she looked at Huo Guanchen.
Huo Guanchen gave her a little nod that indicated she didn’t need to address the issue any further. “We also have something else to do today, so we will stop bothering you. You guys can do as you please.” Cai Songying quickly nodded her tense neck a couple of times. She pulled Tan Guiren hard and got out of there.
Tan Guiren’s eyes were swollen from crying. She kept on asking, “Mommy, why did Director Song say that it was my fault? I didn’t… I didn’t do on purpose. I didn’t know those people would kidnap me. If I had known, I would definitely have come back on time!”
“Mommy knows! Mommy knows! Our Little Darling is a good girl. Don’t listen to the nonsense that Song person said. She is jealous. All women who have sons are like that. Don’t take it to heart.” Cai Songyin racked her brain to comfort Tan Guiren.
Tan Guiren slowly stopped crying, wiped her tears with a tissue, and said, “You don’t need to comfort me, Mommy. I know it was my fault. What do I have that would make Director Song jealous? She looks younger than me…”
“You, why are you so stubborn?” Cai Songyin absolutely adored that daughter of hers. She hated to even say one harsh word to her. In order to make her happy, she unwittingly said, “The reason why Director Song showed you such a nasty attitude must be because Huo Shao likes you. She realized that she was about to lose her son. She felt like she was losing her balance. Right, it’s exactly like that.”
“Really?” Tan Guiren started to feel shy. “But… Huo Shao has a girlfriend. Why would he like me? If Director Song wanted to be angry, shouldn’t it be at Huo Shao’s girlfriend?”
Cai Songyin made a groaning sound, and her eyes turned icy cold. The anger that Song Jinning had caused her wouldn’t be for nothing. She would return it sooner or later. She could endure Song Jinning’s rudeness for the sake of her daughter’s happiness. However, it wouldn’t be so fortunate for Huo Shaoheng’s girlfriend, Gu Nianzhi. If she could obediently break up with Huo Shaoheng, she could let it go. If she doesn’t know what’s good for her and has the wishful thinking of marrying Huo Shaoheng, then she will be sorry.
Cai Songyin was fired up. She had eaten enough of the anger that Song Jinning caused her, and she was going to take it out on Gu Nianzhi. She had also investigated Gu Nianzhi and found out that she was only an adopted daughter of the Gu family. As the Gu family’s biological daughter, Gu Yanran’s attitude toward that little sister was very interesting. Cai Songyin had planned on winning Gu Yanran over first, then she would deal with Gu Nianzhi. No matter what, whoever blocked her daughter’s road to happiness was her enemy.
Even though Song Jinning had just said a lot of nasty things, there was one thing that Cai Songyin strongly believed to be right, and that was that people would do anything for their children! “That’s enough. Don’t think too much. Mommy will help you settle it. You just need to listen to me.” Cai Songyin lovingly touched Tan Guiren’s face. “Go over there to the dressing room and get someone to fix the makeup around your eyes. It won’t look good in front of the camera, being this swollen.”
“Okay, Mommy.” Tan Guiren obediently nodded and didn’t dare to act stubborn again. From the moment she was born, she had only acted stubborn once, and she almost didn’t come back alive. However, she didn’t regret it because if not for that stubbornness, she would have never met such a good man like Huo Shaoheng…
…
After Cai Songyin and Tan Guiren left, Song Jinning also left. She really didn’t want to be in the same room with Huo Guancheng. As far as she was concerned, after the divorce they were like strangers who had nothing to do with each other. There was no need to be pretentious and say they could still be friends. At least, she couldn’t be. However, Huo Guanchen stopped her. He was worried when he clenched his fist and said, “Jinning, don’t go. Let us sit down and talk.”
Song Jinning only said two words, “Move aside.”
Huo Guanchen looked at her with pain and said in a low voice, “Jinning, how long are you going to be angry?”
Song Jinning didn’t even turn around and continued walking as she said, “I am not angry. As long as you don’t cause any trouble for my son, I won’t be angry about anything.” If you trouble my son, then I will be angry at you for everything.
“He is also my son!” Huo Guanchen groaned angrily. “Would I hurt him? Jinning, you’re a scientist. You are in the lab all day. You don’t know how to treat people…”
“I don’t know how to treat people?” Song Jinning turned around and looked at Huo Guanchen with indifference.
“Don’t you? Just now, how did you treat Mrs. Tan? Did you think that just by having a sharp tongue…”
Song Jinning interrupted before Huo Guanchen could finish. She held her head high and with a soft laugh said, “Why don’t you think of it this way? I know how to treat people. I just don’t want to waste good manners on them, because they don’t deserve it—and neither do you.” She shook her index finger at Huo Guanchen.
Song Jinning turned around gracefully. Her fishtail skirt trailed on the ground and drew a perfect arc like ebbing waves in the ocean revealing rare treasures from the bottom of the sea. Huo Guanchen watched Song Jinning’s back, and he felt that even her back was so beautiful that it could cause other people’s hearts to ache. …Such a fine woman. How did I lose her? Huo Guanchen held his head in his hands. His strength left him as he sat on the couch.
…
Song Jinning came out from the private room and looked around. Then she went in the direction where General Ji and Speaker Long were. Half an hour was almost up. The servers were setting up the wine glasses and straightening out the tables and chairs. The official ceremony was about to start.
“General Ji. Speaker Long. You guys seem to be having a lively conversation. Mind if I sit here?” She pointed to a seat next to Speaker Long.
Speaker Long nodded and smiled. “Sit. There is no one here.”
General Ji asked Song Jinning with deep concern, “Director Song, where was your original seat?”
Song Jinning shook her head and smiled. “In the private room with the Huo family. You know as well as I do that Huo Guanchen and I have been divorced for a long time. How could I be in the same private room with him? So I came out.”
“What? How could they set up such a seating arrangement? That’s really inconsiderate. Later, when I have the chance, I will say something about it for you. The people in the Prime Minister’s office shouldn’t be so careless.” General Ji complained for a while. He wanted to give Prime Minister Tan Dongbang a phone call right then and there.
Song Jinning reckoned that the mother and daughter were properly complaining to Tan Dongbang. He who strikes first gains the advantage. She said to Speaker Long, “Speaker Long, I just had a dispute with Mrs. Tan. I’m a bit worried. Would she have a pillow talk with Prime Minister Tan and look for opportunities to hurt me by using underhanded methods like purposely cutting funding for our Institute of High Energy Physics?”
“What? You had a dispute with someone?!” Both Speaker Long and General Ji laughed. “You have to tell us about this. How did you have a dispute with someone?” From their perspective, over these many years, Song Jinning would only argue with someone when it came to scientific data. She had never argued with people about any other things. What’s more, Cai Songyin was not a part of the academic circles. General Ji and Speaker Long couldn’t figure out what Song Jinning and Cai Songying could be arguing about.
Song Jinning shrugged and sighed and said, “What else would we argue about? Of course, it was about my son, Shaoheng. They disrespected him. As a mother, I couldn’t stand it, so I said something to her. She then angrily pulled her daughter away.”
General Ji and Speaker Long looked at each other. They secretly knew what Cai Songyin was planning. General Ji’s eyes narrowed. In the past, he had distanced himself from Huo Shaoheng because of Gu Nianzhi’s past. He wasn’t looking down on Gu Nianzhi for being an adopted daughter, but he was angry at Huo Shao for keeping the truth from him.
He felt relieved later on, but only because Huo Shaoheng had explained it to him. He knew he hadn’t kept the secret from him on purpose. Rather, someone was intentionally trying to drive a wedge between them. After that, General Ji trusted Huo Shaoheng even more. He also knew that Huo Shaoheng had sent in his marriage report. He had passed the political investigation. He might want to marry Gu Nianzhi at any second. Isn’t it stupid to meddle in other people’s affairs at this time?
Plus, if Huo Shaoheng really did abandon Gu Nianzhi for the Prime Minister’s daughter, General Ji would feel bitterly disappointed, and he wouldn’t dare promote someone like that. That was why General Ji had looked on with a cold eye at the time. He definitely would not get involved.
After the last time Speaker Long failed at being a matchmaker, he also didn’t want to get involved, especially this time around, since Huo Shao’s biological mother had appeared. Who had more rights than the biological mother?
Consequently, both of them said, “If they stop funding your Institute of High Energy Physics’ due to personal issues, you can come straight to us.”
Speaker Long even added, “If Tan Dongbang dares to act that way, our impeachment procedure is not to be reckoned with.”
