Would she be able to accept that? What would she do? Would Xiang Caiping accept Su Peizhen as her daughter, or be disappointed because Su Qingsang wasn’t her daughter?
Both Su Qingsang and Huo Jinyao stayed silent. Su Qingsang was thinking about how Xiang Caiping took care of her during the past few months.
She really could not go to Li Qianxue and call her mother, as if it was not a big deal. First, there was never affection between her and Li Qianxue; second, Xiang Caiping was still in the hospital. She almost paralyzed.
Su Peizhen was the one who did that to Xiang Caiping.
If one day, Su Chenghui told Xiang Caiping all the truth and let her know that the person who almost killed her was her daughter, how sad would she be?
That was the reason why Su Qingsang didn’t want to think about that.
She didn’t care how Su Chenghui, Li Qianxue, and the other Su Family people might feel.
However, after spending a few months together with Xiang Caiping, she now cared for her. She couldn’t hurt Xiang Caiping. She didn’t have the heart to do that.
She couldn’t do it.
Huo Jinyao was still looking at her, waiting for her answer. Su Qingsang sighed silently. What could the answer be? What answer did she need?
“Let’s go to the hospital.”
Huo Jinyao heard her words with no surprise. The Su Qingsang he knew wouldn’t so easily decide to acknowledge Li Qianxue as her mother.
“Okay, let’s go to the hospital.”
“Huo Jinyao.”
Su Qingsang called his name when he started the car. He stopped to look at her and found that she was still staring at the road.
“This will end here.”
“Darling?”
“My mother is Xiang Caiping, not Li Qianxue or anyone else. There’s no revenge or any dirty tricks.”
Huo Jinyao paused briefly. He was not surprised to hear that decision of Su Qingsang.
He also knew that was a hard decision to make. She made it anyway, almost at once.
“Darling, do you really know what you are giving up?”
She gave up on everything that the Li Family and Su Family had, and the chance of becoming a legitimate daughter of a very wealthy family. Recently, the Li Family was growing richer than the Qiu Family again, because of their cooperation with Tianyu.
Their stock price went higher and higher, and so did the value of their company.
Su Qingsang gave that up without hesitation.
“I do,” Su Qingsang turned to look at him and said, “I know what I’ve given up. I won’t regret.”
Without Li Qianxue, she still had Xiang Caiping.
Without the Li Family, she still had Huo Jinyao.
She didn’t need much money. Being rich or not, that was the same for her.
Huo Jinyao wrapped his arms around her, tightly.
“Let’s go. Mom might get anxious if we make her wait for too long.”
“Okay.”
Huo Jinyao put his hands back on the steering wheel. Su Qingsang looked outside the window and thought of something that happened when she was little.
She saw Su Peizhen held in Li Qianxue’s arms. Li Qianxue called her ‘baby’, again and again.
She saw that and wanted the same so much. She really wanted to be held by Li Qianxue like that.
However, Li Qianxue gave her a cold glance. The look in her eyes was completely different from what she showed Su Peizhen.
“I’m not your mother,” she said.
Back then, she was sad, but she didn’t hate Li Qianxue.
The older she became, the more clearly she understood it. She never hated Li Qianxue but felt a slight pity for her.
No woman would want to raise the child of her husband and nobody knows who.
Over and over again, Su Qingsang tried to understand Li Qianxue’s situation, to feel her pain. Wasn’t that because of the blood connection between them?
Su Qingsang suffered a slight headache. She clearly knew that no matter how much she didn’t want to believe what Huo Jinyao said, deep down, she already did.
She had tried to feel the same thing from Xiang Caiping but failed.
She was touched by what Xiang Caiping did for her. She was very grateful for Xiang Caiping. However, no matter how much time she spent with Xiang Caiping, she couldn’t feel that natural closeness for her.
She once felt that for Li Qianxue. When she was little, she always wanted to be close to Li Qianxue.
Li Qianxue was always cold to her, but she was always trying.
Back then, Su Peizhen laughed at her. What that girl said was true.
She did wish that Li Qianxue could care about her and spare her some love. Before, she thought that she was only jealous of Su Peizhen because the latter had a mother. But why did she never long for Su Chenghui’s attention?
Su Qingsang closed her eyes and thought of something else.
Li Qianxue didn’t know the truth yet. The truth should stay unknown to her. She should keep seeing Su Peizhen as her daughter.
If she found out the truth, she would collapse.
As for Su Chenghui, Su Qingsang believed that she was able to make him keep the secret forever.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing,” Su Qingsang shook her head. Sensing the concern in Huo Jinyao’s eyes, Su Qingsang sighed and said, “Huo Jinyao, I’m thinking that since Li Qianxue doesn’t know about the truth yet, we should never let her know.”
She had decided to let everything stay the way it was, and she would need to keep the secret from Li Qianxue.
“It’s best to let her never know the truth.”
That was how Su Qingsang planned to thank Li Qianxue for bringing her into the world.
Huo Jinyao understood her meaning. While driving, he held Su Qingsang’s hand.
“Okay.”
“Thank you, Huo Jinyao.”
“‘Thank you’ is far from enough. How about you and I have some good time tonight?”
“Okay,” Su Qingsang didn’t say no. She needed him too. She needed something to help her forget all that happened today.
As usual, they chatted and made Xiang Caiping laugh. When Xiang Caiping was tired and wanted to sleep, they went home.
Xiang Caiping was healing well. She would probably be discharged by the lantern festival. After that, she would need to come back to the hospital regularly for a check-up, and also focus on the rehabilitation.
Su Qingsang got into the car. The smile on her face was gone. She stayed silent all the way until they got home.
While walking into the apartment, she finally reached out and embraced Huo Jinyao.
“Huo Jinyao, I’m not feeling well.”
She was able to keep everything the way it was, to keep treating Xiang Caiping as her real mother, and keep the truth from Li Qianxue.
But that would not take away the discomfort and pain that she was feeling.
Huo Jinyao didn’t say anything but held her in his arms.
“If you want to cry, just cry.”
“No.” In fact, it was hard for her to cry when she was really sad.
She closed her eyes. She felt tears in her eyes, but she didn’t want to cry.
“How could he do that? How could he?”
“He could have told her to get an abortion if he didn’t want me. If he really wanted so much to get back at her, he could simply refuse to marry her.”
She didn’t make it clear, but Huo Jinyao knew that she was talking about Li Qianxue.
“However, he married her, and then treated her like that. We could keep everything secret, but I really feel sorry for her.”
She didn’t have the heart to think too deeply about some things.
Su Qingsang was able to smile when she was with Xiang Caiping, but once she left the hospital, all she felt was discomfort.
“He was so cruel.”
Su Qingsang grasped Huo Jinyao’s clothes, very tightly.
“How could he be so cruel?”
Huo Jinyao didn’t know what to say. He despised Su Chenghui and could not forgive him for what he had done.
“Has he ever thought that if she found out the truth one day, she might collapse, or even lose her mind?”
Maybe he had thought about that but still did what he did.
“Huo Jinyao, I never hated him before, but now I really, really hate him.”
Su Chenghui didn’t like her. He ignored her, treated her coldly. She didn’t mind. She told herself that she was just unlucky.
However, she was Li Qianxue’s daughter, meaning that Su Chenghui was a really cruel person. What he did was the evilest revenge for a proud person like Li Qianxue.
“I really hate him.”
“Huo Jinyao, do you understand me? I hate him.”
Huo Jinyao put his chin on top of her head, kissed her hair and said to her, “Stop thinking about it. Really, stop thinking about it.”
“What would happen if she knew?”
She couldn’t bear to think about that, not only because Li Qianxue was her real mother, but also because she herself was a woman too.
“Darling, stop thinking about it,” Huo Jinyao leaned in to kiss her. “You have already made the decision, haven’t you? So stop thinking about it.”
“Huo Jinyao,” Su Qingsang raised her head, put her arms around his neck, and said, “Kiss me.”
She didn’t want to think about it anymore. She wanted to forget it all. She wanted to forget everything.
“Alright,” Huo Jinyao held her and kissed her deeply. As he did so, he lifted her and carried her into the bedroom.
That was the passionate night. In the passion, Su Qingsang forgot about everything.
…
No matter how dark the night was, the dawn always came.
Su Qingsang opened her eyes. Her body felt limp. At the same time, everything gushed into her mind like a tide.
She looked at the time. It was almost ten. She worked on the first and the second day of the New Year, so today she didn’t need to work.
Normally, she should get up to visit Xiang Caiping in the hospital by now. However, she suddenly had an urge to see Li Qianxue.
She quickly got up, brushed her teeth, and came out of the bedroom. Huo Jinyao had already left.
He left a note on the table. He had breakfast prepared early in the morning. It was right in the kitchen. Su Qingsang only needed to reheat it.
She had some breakfast, then picked up her bag and left home. She didn’t know what she could say or do when she saw Li Qianxue.
She couldn’t call her ‘mother’ or tell her the truth. Still, she felt compelled to see her.
