Su Qingsang stopped short with surprise. She had known that Li Qianxue wanted to get divorced from Su Chenghui for a while now, but she hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.
She thought Su Chenghui wouldn’t sign the divorce paper. He didn’t look like someone who would be willing to sign a divorce paper at all.
She remembered how Su Chenghui looked at Li Qianxue before. She had mixed feelings about it. But to her surprise…
“Did Father agree to get a divorce?”
“Yes. He signed the paper this morning. The rest of the proceedings were finished this afternoon.”
Li Qianxue sounded very peaceful as if she was telling someone else’s story.
Su Qingsang looked at Li Qianxue’s face on the phone screen. She didn’t look sad. On the contrary, she seemed relieved.
Su Qingsang’s heart sighed for both Su Chenghui and Li Qianxue. It seemed that she was wrong.
Perhaps Su Chenghui didn’t love Li Qianxue. Maybe he simply wanted to stay as a member of the Li Family. Otherwise, why else would he agree to get a divorce?
“That was between me and your father. You don’t need to think about it. I just wanted to let you know. After all, even if I have gotten a divorce with him, he’s still your father. How you feel about him is up to you.”
Li Qianxue considered what she said to be fair. After all these years, Su Chenghui had barely done anything for the two children.
He cared only about Su Peizhen and didn’t love the other two children at all. In that case, it was understandable for Su Qingsang and Su Yuxin to refuse to consider him their father.
However, Li Qianxue wouldn’t make that decision for the kids. They had both grown up, developing different perspectives. She would not make them do what she wanted.
Despite finding what Li Qianxue said slightly amusing, Su Qingsang also felt helpless in this situation.
She was no longer a child. She was never close to Su Chenghui. She cared about his well being, but she wouldn’t spend too much time worrying about that.
Su Yuxin wasn’t the same way. Through the past few months, she had learned something about that boy.
Su Yuxin probably wouldn’t be able to get over the divorce of his parents so easily.
“Mom, don’t worry. Whether you and my father are still married or not, you two will always be my mother and father.”
Li Qianxue felt both glad and sad upon hearing that, but her hatred for Su Chenghui was even stronger than either of those feelings.
He had done so much wrong, but his children still cared about him.
What about Su Chenghui himself? Had he ever cared about anybody but Su Peizhen?
Su Qingsang said something else to comfort Li Qianxue. As the latter seemed fine, she ended the call.
She dropped her phone and then heard some noises from outside. She stood up and walked out to find that Huo Jinyao was home already.
“You’re back.”
Huo Jinyao had a work dinner that night, so he didn’t come home to have dinner with Su Qingsang.
“Yeah.” Huo Jinyao sat down on the sofa and pulled Su Qingsang onto his lap when she approached.
“Have you had dinner yet?” The housekeeper that Yang Wenchang hired for him had already started working. “How’s Ms. Yu’s cooking?”
Ms. Yu was a housekeeper selected by Yang Wenchang from over ten candidates.
Su Qingsang could cook occasionally, but Huo Jinyao didn’t want her to cook every day.
“Good.” Su Qingsang nodded, then rubbed her cheek against Huo Jinyao’s chest.
Huo Jinyao dropped his head to look at her and noticed she wasn’t her usual self. “What’s wrong? Don’t you like her?”
“It has nothing to do with Ms. Yu.” Su Qingsang knew that she wouldn’t be able to keep it secret from Huo Jinyao. He would find out sooner or later.
She told him about the divorce of Li Qianxue and Su Chenghui before adding, “I never thought that I could be wrong.”
She thought Su Chenghui loved Li Qianxue. However, it seemed that she had been mistaken.
Huo Jinyao didn’t jump to conclusions. He said to her, “Don’t say that just yet. Perhaps things aren’t as you think they are.”
Su Qingsang shook her head and said, “I guess you don’t know my mother so well yet. I’ve lived with her for so many years. We weren’t close before, but I could just easily talk to her about some things.”
Li Qianxue could go to extremes very easily. She would either love him or hate him. Since the moment Su Chenghui signed the divorce paper, there would never be a chance for him and Li Qianxue to get back together.
Huo Jinyao pinched Si Qingsang’s cheek. He pinched her a little too hard, so much so that her cheeks even turned red.
“What are you doing?” Su Qingsang felt a little annoyed, so she slapped the back of his hand.
Huo Jinyao rubbed her red cheek and said with slight helplessness, “Aren’t you tired? You are an adult. Your little brother has grown up as well. The divorce of your parents won’t affect you or him. Don’t you think you’ve been worrying too much?”
Su Qingsang pressed her lips together. She didn’t feel tired. She wasn’t even sure how she felt.
“Huo Jinyao, do you think that maybe people should never make mistakes? Maybe once a person makes a mistake, they’ll never get a chance to redeem themselves.”
Huo Jinyao was thinking about Su Chenghui. He had nothing to say about his father-in-law. “It depends on what kind of mistakes he made. After all, not everyone who makes mistakes deserves to be forgiven.”
Of course, Su Qingsang knew that he was right. Even so, she wasn’t satisfied with that answer. “I don’t know why but recently, I’ve started to feel that my father is quite pitiful. I never felt that before.”
“They say that a pitiful person must have done something deserving of such disdain.” Su Chenghui made himself suffer. He had no one to blame.
Su Qingsang glared at Huo Jinyao and said, “You seem to be taking pleasure in his misfortune.”
“Darling, I’m not taking pleasure in his misfortune. I’m just being sensible.”
He held Su Qingsang’s hand and said very seriously, “Think about it. A man didn’t figure out what’s the most important thing in his life until he turned fifty. Isn’t that sad?”
“If he was smart enough to figure that out earlier, none of this would’ve happened.”
He had gone from the son-in-law of the Li Family to an ordinary man with nothing to his name. The difference between the two statuses was vast.
Su Chenghui’s greatest mistake was never thinking about what was most important to him, or what he would’ve hated to lose the most.
Su Qingsang understood that. Even so, how many people in the world were born knowing exactly what they wanted?
Many people spent their whole lives searching aimlessly but still didn’t find an answer.
“Alright, stop thinking about your father. He’s a grown man. Let him worry about himself.”
If he truly loved Li Qianxue, he would’ve done something about it. After all, he wasn’t young anymore. If he didn’t take the opportunity to make an effort to change that, he might end up regretting it forever.
If he didn’t love Li Qianxue and only wanted to benefit from the Li Family, a divorce would be a good thing for him.
Either way, Su Qingsang, as his daughter, couldn’t do much to help him in that regard.
“I know.” Su Qingsang just couldn’t stop thinking about that. If Su Chenghui had come back to his senses earlier, he wouldn’t…
An arm suddenly wrapped around her waist tightly. Su Qingsang wasn’t prepared for that. As a result, she fell into Huo Jinyao’s arms.
“What?”
“What… do you think?” Huo Jinyao’s intention was pretty obvious.
Su Qingsang patted him on the shoulder and said, “Stop it. I’m on my period.”
Huo Jinyao’s hands froze underneath Su Qingsang’s clothes. He looked at her with a rather disheartened expression.
“Didn’t you get it too early this time?”
“Yeah. I don’t know why.”
Her period had come earlier than she expected this month. It was probably because she had recently switched to a new living environment.
Huo Jinyao took a deep breath, then buried his head in Su Qingsang’s neck and rubbed her neck with his cheek.
“Alright, go take a shower.”
Instead of doing as she said, Huo Jinyao put his arms around her waist. Su Qingsang paused briefly. She hadn’t sensed Huo Jinyao’s sadness until now.
While she ranted, Huo Jinyao had been trying to cheer her up ever since returning home. Now, she found that he didn’t seem happy either.
“What happened?”
“Nothing,” Huo Jinyao said with a deep voice. “I just want to hold you.”
Since he didn’t want to share, she didn’t ask any further questions. All she did was to put her arms around his body and hold him tight.
Their position allowed her to hear his heartbeat. She pressed her ear on his chest and whispered, “Huo Jinyao, if something is bothering you, you can talk to me about it. I don’t know much about the things in your company, but I’ll listen.”
“Alright.” Huo Jinyao rubbed his temples. Seeing the serious look on Su Qingsang’s face, he leaned in and kissed her lips with a smile.
…
Su Qingsang’s work in the hospital smoothened out. It wasn’t like she was unfamiliar with anything anyway.
After she assisted Sui Huiya with one surgical procedure, Sui Huiya started letting her perform some small operations. A while later, she was allowed to attempt some major surgeries too.
Su Qingsang slowly grew busier. She did not only need to work during the daytime. Sometimes, she had to work nightshifts too.
The nightshifts were divided into short and long ones. Short nightshifts allowed her to go home in the middle of the night, but long ones required her to stay in the hospital for a whole night.
Su Qingsang eventually adjusted to her busy schedule. However, her working a bit too hard made Huo Jinyao worry about her.
He would never try to stop her from doing anything she was happy to do. Instead, he often told Ms. Yu to make some delicious or nourishing food for her.
On the weekends, Huo Jinyao always brought Su Qingsang back to the family house.
Old Master Huo loved to be surrounded by his families.
Normally, all family members would gather in the family house on Friday night. Apart from Huo Mingguang and his family, Huo Mingliang, Huo Mingmei, and their families would all be there.
The atmosphere at the dining table was warm.
Earlier, Huo Mingmei was embarrassed by Li Qianxue, which made her unhappy. Seeing Su Qingsang upset her again.
Su Qingsang had lived in Rong City for about half a month. It was the first time she had dinner together with Huo Jinyao’s family since she started working.
Last Friday, Su Qingsang missed the family dinner because she kindly did a nightshift for one of her colleagues.
This Friday, she made it to the family dinner.
Su Qingsang’s presence reminded Huo Mingmei of how Li Qianxue embarrassed her last time. The smile on her face grew slightly cold as her eyes landed on Su Qingsang.
She intended to make Su Qingsang pay for what her mother had done. Li Qianxue was such a good mother after all. Huo Mingmei believed that Su Qingsang should make it up to her for what Li Qianxue did.
