Su Qingsang had also thought of that.
“I can call Aunt Xiang, and go over when Su Peizhen is not around.”
Huo Jinyao did not think that this could be kept under wraps for long, not to mention that Su Peizhen was out to get Su Qingsang.
“If you genuinely want to see her, give her a call and arrange to meet her outside.”
Su Qingsang stopped talking, having understood his worries. “I just thought that Aunt Xiang looked like she was having a hard time.”
Huo Jinyao kept quiet. No matter how bad her life was, what they could do would be very limited.
Firstly, there was nothing they could do to improve the mother-daughter relationship between Xiang Caiping and Su Peizhen. Moreover, even if they did anything to help Xiang Caiping, she might not accept their help.
After all, through this interaction, they could probably guess that Xiang Caiping was a very prideful person.
Her not saying a single word just now was enough to explain the problem. She wouldn’t want anyone to know that she was not getting along with Su Peizhen.
“Honestly, Aunt Xiang is a very nice person. So why do you think Su Peizhen was unable to accept her?”
Huo Jinyao was unable to answer that question. No matter how good of a person Xiang Caiping was, it would not be easy for Su Peizhen to accept another person as her mother, after more than twenty years under Li Qianxue’s influence.
“She’s different from you.”
Su Qingsang used to think that she did not have a birth mother, so she naturally had a yearning and attachment for a mother. But Su Peizhen had one, who cared for her in every possible way, and they had spent more than twenty years together.
Now, she had to acknowledge someone who suddenly appeared as her mother, and it would be a miracle if she could accept it.
Su Qingsang had also thought of what Huo Jinyao was thinking about. She lowered her head, feeling a little down.
These emotions made her mull over Xiang Caiping until she got out of the car.
Huo Jinyao reached out, pulled her into an embrace, and patted her back gently.
“Alright, don’t think about it anymore. There are some things you can’t change.”
“I know, but I’m just feeling a little sad.”
“If you’re very worried, go visit and keep her company when Su Peizhen is not at home.”
“Alright.”
Su Qingsang had the same thoughts. It would probably be impossible for Xiang Caiping to look for her voluntarily. Thus, it would still be more appropriate for her to visit Xiang Caiping.
“Let’s go. We are out to have fun today, be happier!”
Su Qingsang nodded. Since they were out for fun, she should relax and have fun.
Huo Jinyao had brought Su Qingsang to a new wetland park in Rong City. This place was the habitat of many migratory birds every year.
Because of that, the city had made the area into a protected area. The migratory birds would fly to the south for the winter.
Now that the weather was warmer, many birds had migrated back. There would be no problems if the visitors wanted to take a look, but they could only watch the birds from outside of the protection fences.
The surrounding area around the protection fences was the wetland park they would be visiting that day. The scenery was quite magnificent.
Occasionally, one would see the birds flying over from the protected area. They were not afraid of humans, and would even stop by. However, if someone approached them, they would fly away immediately.
It was Su Qingsang’s first time looking at the birds at such proximity, making it a fresh, new experience for her.
“That… is that a red-crowned crane?”
“Yes.” Huo Jinyao looked towards where she was looking. “Look, there are more of them over there too!”
“It’s so beautiful!”
Su Qingsang was amazed. She would go forward to take a closer look, if not for the worry of scaring the red-crowned cranes away.
After strolling around a trail of the wetland park, they spotted a gazebo up ahead, where one could take a break. The gazebo was also a viewing pavilion, in which one could see the protected area in the distance, as well as most of the wetland park’s lake scenery.
It was not a weekend, so there were not many people. When Su Qingsang and Huo Jinyao walked forward, they noticed that there were people in the pavilion.
A mother and daughter were there.
The mother looked quite young. She was holding on to her daughter’s hand, pointing out the birds patiently for her daughter to see.
She did not forget to introduce the birds while pointing them out for her daughter.
What kind of bird was this, and what habits did it have? What kind of bird was that, and how did it look?
When Su Qingsang and Huo Jinyao entered the pavilion, the mother was answering her daughter’s questions.
It seemed like she had done a lot of research before coming, as she was able to answer all of her daughter’s questions.
Su Qingsang stood there without disturbing them. She turned around to look at Huo Jinyao instead to tell him to continue walking and let the mother and daughter have the place.
However, she did not expect to see Huo Jinyao staring at the mother. He was not exactly looking at the person herself, but it was as if he saw someone else through the mother.
Su Qingsang suddenly recalled how Huo Jinyao was calling out for his mother on that particular night.
She lowered her head, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Jinyao, look! This is a giraffe; do you know that? Giraffes live in——”
“Mommy, the giraffe’s neck is so long! Wouldn’t they get tired? And what do they do when they sleep?”
“Jinyao, you’re so adorable! You can even think of questions like these! Good, you’re really smart. I will tell you this, it is tiring for the giraffe, but they rarely lay down to sleep, as it is too dangerous. They——”
Liu Tongjia’s voice overlapped with the voice of the mother in front of them. Huo Jinyao had a slight somber expression on his face.
He felt Su Qingsang looking at him, and he smiled at her. He then pursed his lips, held onto Su Qingsang’s hand, and walked away.
Su Qingsang’s lips moved, as she wanted to say something, but she ended up not saying anything.
Huo Jinyao had disclosed to Huo Mingguang about what Liu Tongjia had done, so his relationship with his mother had hit rock bottom once again recently.
Gazing at his chiseled handsome side profile, Su Qingsang pondered the look in his eyes, and she felt a pang in her heart.
She extended her hand and clutched Huo Jinyao’s hand.
She didn’t want Huo Jinyao to think about Liu Tongjia again, so she pretended to be relaxed and said, “That young girl is adorable, isn’t she?”
“Yes.” He didn’t see the girl, and he didn’t even know what the mother looked like.
He was just thinking about Liu Tongjia, and he even unconsciously recalled a scene of his childhood.
He and his brother even had those experiences numerous times before the incident had happened.
Liu Tongjia used to be a good mother.
“Huo Jinyao…” Su Qingsang suddenly stopped to look at him, with a somewhat eager look in her eyes. “How about we try for a baby too?”
Huo Jinyao froze for a moment, and he turned his head to stare at Su Qingsang. He did not reply to what she said.
“I believe I can learn to be a good mother too.”
Su Qingsang blinked, her eyes gleaming with encouragement. “I believe that you would be a good father as well.”
Huo Jinyao said nothing. He pursed his lips tightly and was not interested in her suggestion.
Su Qingsang was a little upset, and she still wanted to say something, but Huo Jinyao had already continued walking while holding on to her hand.
“Huo Jinyao…”
“We’ll see.”
We’ll see? Did that mean there was still room for discussion?
To Su Qingsang, it was not a must for her to try for a baby now. However, she would be willing to give what Li Qianxue had said a try. Perhaps the relationship between Huo Jinyao and Liu Tongjia would improve if there was a child around.
But Huo Jinyao did not give her any chance to ask any other questions.
“I think I saw a white swan just now. Let’s go over to take a look.”
Since he had changed the topic, Su Qingsang naturally had no way to continue talking about it. In the remaining time of their tour, Huo Jinyao did not even let her talk at all.
It was alright for her, as she probably could try another way to get Huo Jinyao to agree to it, or so that he had no choice but to agree to it.
Su Qingsang thought that Huo Jinyao had softened his stance, at least based on his response in the morning. So that night, she began executing her plans.
She put on the nightwear that Huo Jinyao had bought for her, and she even took an unprecedented step of putting on some perfume.
Su Qingsang looked at her completely different self in the mirror, and she felt her face burning.
She took a deep breath, gave herself an encouraging look from the mirror, and walked out of the bathroom.
Huo Jinyao had showered before her that day, so he was reading a book on the bed.
A sudden faint aromatic scent made him look up, and at first glance, he saw an extremely sexy Su Qingsang, who was in nightwear that could barely cover her figure.
He narrowed his eyes as he watched her get closer.
“You… aren’t you tired?” They were out for the whole day. Wasn’t she tired?
Su Qingsang shook her head, raised one of her legs, and knelt on the bed. She caressed Huo Jinyao’s face.
Huo Jinyao caught a whiff of the scent of the perfume on her. He put down the book and wanted to take over the dominant role, but Su Qingsang did not give him the chance to.
Su Qingsang believed that Huo Jinyao would not be able to resist her tactics. Although it was a cliché tactic, it would work on Huo Jinyao.
As expected, Huo Jinyao could hardly wait.
Nonetheless, she slowly sank into it herself. Lost in the moment, she thought that Huo Jinyao would do as she wished.
But she realized that even at a time like that, he did not forget about the precautionary measures. Something flashed across Su Qingsang’s mind, and it was so fast that she couldn’t catch it.
And after all, Huo Jinyao did not give her any time to think clearly.
In the next few days, Su Qingsang tried various methods and changed several nightwears. Based on Huo Jinyao’s preferences, she even bought more nightwear online, those that even she would be embarrassed to wear herself.
Even so, she found out that the outcome was not up to her expectations.
No matter how aroused or indulged he was, he would not forget about the precautionary measures at the final moment, thus not giving her any chances of getting pregnant at all.
Even if she had hinted explicitly, Huo Jinyao remained unmoved.
At night, Su Qingsang rubbed her lower back. She took a shower, wore her normal cotton pajamas, and quickly lay down on the bed.
As usual, Huo Jinyao turned and got on top of her, but he stopped when he saw her pajamas.
“Are we not having fun tonight?”
Who’s having fun? Su Qingsang pulled up the blanket to cover herself, leaving only her face exposed.
She stared straight at Huo Jinyao, with obvious resentment in her eyes.
He knew, didn’t he? He knew about her plans, but he just watched her act like, like a——
Su Qingsang turned her face away and decided to ignore Huo Jinyao.
Huo Jinyao looked at her fuming face, and he couldn’t help but kiss her.
“Are you angry?”
“No.”
She planned this all by herself anyway, so what was there to be angry about?
She’s not angry? Huo Jinyao rolled over and lay down beside her. He reached out to grab her waist and embrace her.
He lowered his head and kissed her gently on the top of her head.
“We’re not doing it tonight?”
“No. Not just today, but tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and so on. We’re not doing it anymore.”
What she said in a fit of pique made Huo Jinyao burst out laughing. He couldn’t resist and kissed her cheeks.
“Don’t touch me. My back is sore and it hurts. I’m tired, and I want to sleep.”
She was not as fit as Huo Jinyao, but she had spent a lot of energy to do it over and over again with him, just because she wanted to try for a baby.
And yet, the ending was not desirable. She wanted to cry, alright?
Huo Jinyao’s hand remained clasped to her waist, and she was really scared of it.
“Don’t do it, please. I’m tired.” She tried to move away, as she spoke. But the bed was just that big, so where could she go?
Huo Jinyao did not let go of his hands, but he began to gently massage her lower back instead.
His strength was just right, and he was massaging the right spot. That action alleviated the discomfort of Su Qingsang’s lower back, and her facial expression relaxed quite a bit as well.
“Darling.”
Huo Jinyao’s strength remained unchanged, and she got more relaxed as the massage went on.
“Let’s just enjoy each other’s company for a few years, alright?”
Su Qingsang froze. She wanted to raise her head, but Huo Jinyao did not let her move. It had been so long, and this was her first time hearing him talk about this.
“I don’t want to lie to you, but the truth is that I’m not ready to be a father yet.”
His chest trembled as he spoke. Su Qingsang bit her lips. This is the first time she had heard him mention the word “father.”
She suddenly thought of something. In the years that Liu Tongjia had ignored Huo Jinyao, what had Huo Mingguang done?
As Huo Jinyao’s father, he had not taken on the responsibilities a father should have.
He had not tried to ease and mediate the relationship between Liu Tongjia and Huo Jinyao. Thinking about it carefully, Huo Mingguang was not a very competent father either, was he?
Huo Jinyao continued massaging her lower back, after switching to another hand.
“Isn’t it good that we’re like this now? Why should we let a child come along, and share our time and energy?”
He was right, but Su Qingsang knew that this was just his excuse.
She did not try to raise her head again. She hugged Huo Jinyao and rubbed her face on his chest.
“Alright, we’ll talk about it next time.”
Both of them said nothing more.
It was alright if he didn’t want to have children. Since she agreed to give him time, then she would wait. She would wait till the day when he figured it out and was willing to have children.
……
After Su Qingsang and Huo Jinyao talked openly about it, the number of times they did the special workout at night was greatly reduced too.
Anyway, Su Qingsang couldn’t do it so many times, and she was not confident to do it every day either.
To be honest, other than considering Liu Tongjia’s standpoint, she had also considered Huo Jinyao’s position.
She was worried that he would have his responsibilities, given that he was the eldest grandson of the family. But if he wasn’t even thinking about that matter, then why should she be worried?
As Su Qingsang relaxed, she was able to enjoy each other’s company even more, and their relationship naturally got even better.
As for what had caused the disagreement between Liu Tongjia and Huo Jinyao, she chose not to talk about it.
Sometimes, the rare occurrences of being ignorant could also be a way of life.
