Of course, he knew how Su Yuxin came to the world and deeply regretted it. “But he’s my son. I can’t possibly abandon him,” he said.
“Su Chenghui.” Li Qianxue had enough of his nonsense. “Listen. I can give you money, properties, even the stocks of this company. But know that the children are mine. Don’t you even think about laying a finger on them.”
“They’re my children too.”
Li Qianxue glared at him and said, “Since when did you see them as your children? Have you ever treated them as such? You almost sent Qingsang to an orphanage! Do I even need to mention what you would do about Yuxin? Have you seen any other family in this city send their children away to a boarding school?”
Before this, she didn’t understand why Su Chenghui had done that. However, she found her answer after learning the truth about Su Peizhen’s real mother.
“Do I need to remind you about how Yuxin came to this world?” Every word Li Qianxue said pierced Su Chenghui’s heart like a sharp knife.
What she said about Su Yuxin touched Su Chenghui’s soft spot. For a moment, his face was ghastly pale.
Li Qianxue’s lips curled into a sarcastic smile at the thought of Su Yuxin. This was for both Su Chenghui and her younger self. She used to be so silly.
Su Chenghui dropped his head and closed his eyes. As Li Qianxue had said, he had no right to mention Su Yuxin’s custody.
Back then, he held onto some questionable ideals. Not only did he dislike Su Qingsang, but he also saw Su Yuxin’s existence as an embarrassment.
His hands trembled even more. He felt his sore and swollen eyes moisten.
He looked at the space on the paper for signatures. Li Qianxue had signed her name on it long ago.
She had practiced calligraphy, so her handwriting was as beautiful as she was. The pretty handwriting reminded Su Chenghui that once he signed his name on the paper, there would be no turning back.
He suddenly raised his head and looked at Li Qianxue with reddened eyes. He said to her, “Qianxue. If I sign this paper, will you forgive me?”
He wanted to be forgiven for all of his past wrongdoings. He wished that she could forgive him for being too stupid to realize who he truly loved, making her so bitter in the process.
“Forgive?” Li Qianxue looked Su Chenghui in the eyes. Her face remained expressionless, her heart as hard as stone.
She would never forgive him. What he had done to her was bad enough to make the pain last for the rest of her life.
He had done things like that to her multiple times.
She turned her face away from him, refusing to answer the question.
Su Chenghui suddenly understood what she was trying to say.
That was the kind of person Li Qianxue was. She could hate as deeply as she loved. She didn’t even bother lying about her feelings.
Trembling, he signed his name onto all three copies of the divorce paper.
As Su Chenghui signed the paper, he felt as if someone was cutting into his heart with a knife.
He signed his name, wrote down the date, then raised his head to look at Li Qianxue.
“Qianxue, I’m sorry.”
He owed her so much that an apology was far from enough to make it up to her. Even so, it was all he could do at the moment.
Li Qianxue didn’t respond to his apology. She reached out and picked up two copies of the paper. She said, “I’ll ask Lawyer Chen to finish the rest of the procedure tomorrow, then send the divorce certificate to you.”
Her voice sounded so tranquil that even a slight trace of emotion went undetected. Hearing her speak so calmly saddened Su Chenghui.
“Qianxue.”
“If there’s nothing left for us to discuss, then I’m leaving.”
The office belonged to Su Chenghui. Li Qianxue often came here before. Most of the time, it was to talk to him about work.
Things would be different now. Li Qianxue said, “You don’t need to stay in Li Group. With how talented you are, won’t you do fine even without us?”
“I… I’ll leave tomorrow.” Su Chenghui’s heart twitched. He still had so much left to tell her. “The project we’re doing together with Tianyu is about to be finished. There’s still a part of it…”
“Su Chenghui,” Li Qianxue interrupted him. She tightly gripped the divorce paper and said, “Don’t forget that I’ve been the vice-president of Li Group for over ten years.”
Her words embarrassed Su Chenghui. He nodded and said awkwardly, “Yes, you’ve been the vice-president for over a decade.”
Li Qianxue turned to leave without another word, but Su Chenghui blocked her way again.
“Can I… can I go see Yuxin?”
Li Qianxue took a deep breath and looked at him with a sharp pair of eyes. She said, “Since Yuxin is your son, I won’t forbid you from seeing him. I won’t try to keep you from seeing Qingsang, either. But keep in mind that they’ve both grown up. They aren’t kids anymore, so how they feel about you will be their own choices to make. I won’t tell them what to do in that regard.”
Su Chenghui seemed to want to say something else to her, but Li Qianxue took a huge step backward. She raised the divorce paper and placed it between Su Chenghui and herself.
The repulsion on his face was obvious. Su Chenghui felt awful. He spent so much time thinking about what to say. Despite having so much left to say, he ultimately failed to speak any further.
He finally said to her, “Goodbye, Qianxue.”
If he could start over with Qianxue, he would pursue her and treat her well. Would he ever get a chance to do so?
Li Qianxue found Su Chenghui’s behavior to be ridiculous. As he got older, he had become more unreasonable.
“Goodbye, Su Chenghui.”
She said goodbye to him with a cold voice. Each of their farewells had different meanings.
She turned around and walked out of Su Chenghui’s office. The sound of her exquisite heels against the floor rang out loud and clear.
The moment the door was closed, Li Qianxue’s eyes turned red.
She would never see Su Chenghui again.
The tears that she had shed, the bitterness she had suffered for him, and the silly things she had done for that man were now all in the past.
She was still young, only in her forties. She wanted to forget about him and start a new life of her own.
…
After observing a surgery, Su Qingsang received a call from Li Qianxue.
Since she had just started working in that hospital, she was still unfamiliar with some of the surgical arrangements. She needed time to get to know her new colleagues and adapt to the new working environment.
Sun Huiya happened to have an operation to perform earlier today, so Su Qingsang went into the surgical room to observe.
On her way out of the surgical room, Su Qingsang looked at Sun Huiya and said, “Director Sun, I’m impressed by your surgical skill. No wonder Director Zhang told me to learn from you.”
Sun Huiya and Zhang Qiubai were classmates, but the hospital that Sun Huiya worked in was bigger. With more patients admitted there, they had more operations to perform.
Sun Huiya had performed many more operations than Zhang Qiubai had, so she was surely better at it than Zhang Qiubai.
“Alright, enough with the flattery. Zhang isn’t too shabby either. Wasn’t she the reason you became a good student?”
Since Sun Huiya liked Su Qingsang, she was willing to teach her anything. “If you think I’m that good, then you should learn by paying attention. Young doctors like you are the hope of the future medical world.”
“Um…” Su Qingsang nodded, “I’m going to take some notes now.”
Sun Huiya smiled as she watched Su Qingsang leave. “Zhang used to study hard like this too. This kid is gonna become a good doctor,” she thought.
Su Qingsang received Li Qianxue’s call while she was taking notes on the surgery.
“Mom?”
She was surprised to take Li Qianxue’s call, considering that they had talked on the phone last night.
Li Qianxue video had chatted with Su Qingsang every single night since returning to Lin City.
“Um, Qingsang… Are you at work?”
“Yeah. Mom, is there something important that you want to say to me now?”
“No, I just miss you.”
Su Qingsang glanced at her phone, sensing that Li Qianxue sounded a little upset.
“We’ll video chat tonight then.”
“Okay. Get back to work. I’ll call you tonight.”
Before ending the call, Su Qingsang thought of something to say. “Mom,” she said to Li Qianxue, “if anything happened, don’t overthink it. You just need to think about me and Yuxin. Remember that you have both Yuxin and me.”
No matter what happened, both she and Su Yuxin would support Li Qianxue.
Li Qianxue didn’t expect Su Qingsang to comfort her like that. Her eyes grew misty again. “Silly girl, what are you talking about? I’m not overthinking anything.”
Li Qianxue ended the call. She wasn’t as calm as her voice suggested.
Lawyer Chen did his job efficiently. Li Qianxue provided him with the divorce papers in the morning, and he delivered the divorce certificate and some other relevant materials to Li Qianxue in the afternoon.
Looking at the dark-red divorce certificate, Li Qianxue picked up the glass of wine nearby and started drinking.
After taking a few sips, her vision was blurred by her tears.
Despite remaining calm and composed, giving up a relationship that had lasted for over two decades still hurt like hell.
It was like surgically removing the rotten part of her heart without being given any anesthesia.
If she did nothing and let her heart continue to rot, however, the pain she would feel later on would’ve been even worse than what she was experiencing now.
She was satisfied with how the story ended. At the very least, this would be the last time she’d ever feel this kind of pain.
From that day forward, she would no longer have anything to do with Su Chenghui.
He would never influence her again.
…
By the time Su Qingsang finished work and gave Li Qianxue a video call, Li Qianxue had regained her composure.
That was how she was. No matter how much pain she was in, she always made herself look stunning.
She was proud of the fact. In a way, Su Qingsang was similar.
Su Qingsang talked to Li Qianxue about her work. Since Li Qianxue sounded a bit upset this afternoon, Su Qingsang tried her best to lift her spirits.
Li Qianxue was cheered up by her daughter. After spending quite some time chatting with her daughter, she told Su Qingsang about her divorce.
“Qingsang, your father has signed the divorce paper. We have gotten divorced.”