Ji Nuan coldly smiled. “What’s the point of telling me these? You might as well speak these words to my mother when you meet her in the afterworld.”
Xiao Zhenjun nodded. “I certainly will save these words to her, but I don’t know whether she will give me the chance and let me speak to her.” He sighed. “Ah Ye knows my thoughts, so he has been refusing to completely take over Ling Xiao Group. If I can put aside my responsibilities for the Xiao family and the company one day, I will go to see your mother early,”
Ji Nuan remained deadpan. She picked up a glass of water on the table, drank a mouthful, and then coldly looked Xiao Zhenjun. “Mr. Xiao, I’m not interested in when you’re going to die, and when you’re going to hand over the family business to Xiao Luye. These have nothing to do with me.”
Xiao Zhenjun sighed with a smile. “Before coming here, I have drawn up the property right change contract of the company. Half of the property of the Xiao family, including Lingxiao Group, will be transferred to you. Ah Ye has no objection to this. As long as you sign the contract, half of the Xiao family’s property will be yours.”
Ji Nuan suddenly laughed and carelessly played with the glass with her fingers. “Do you think I lack money?”
“Of course not. You not only have both the Ji family and the Mo family behind you, but also have your own company, MN Group. It has become an important enterprise among global Chinese enterprises. However, what is yours is yours. I owe you and your mother so much. I didn’t even know your existence for more than twenty years. Now I just want to make up for the debt I owe you. Although I know you won’t appreciate it, the contract for the change of property right has been made. Please accept my compensation.”
Ji Nuan just smiled coldly. She couldn’t accept his ‘compensation.’
“I know you have a deep affection for the Ji family. I will not force you to break off the relationship with Ji Hongwen, but Nuan Nuan, I hope you don’t just listen to one side of the story. From what I knew of your mother, she wouldn’t have married Ji Hongwen if she weren’t sick. She had always been sensible. How is it possible for her to marry a man with another man’s child in her belly just because she was angry?” Xiao Zhenjun looked at her face and said, “She has suffered from too much hardship since she was a child. I think you found out about something last time you visited Ji City, right? I had also been to Ji City and discovered some matters that she didn’t know even when she died. I went out of my way to investigate your mother’s real family, but her family had left the country decades ago. No matter how rich and powerful I am, it’s impossible for me to find her real family from the vast sea of people. Besides, since she’s dead, there’s no way to test blood ties. Ji Hongwen and I both claimed to love her, but neither of us had done the most important thing for her. Ji Hongwen took her away when she broke down, and then he chose to marry her, but any other way would be better than that. If you were your mother, will you marry him in that situation?”
Ji Nuan’s hand was still on the glass. She didn’t move but looked up at Xiao Zhenjun.
“I was deceived by Ji Hongwen and thought that your mother did want to break up with me, but recently I found out that your mother suffered from very serious depression, which even developed into intermittent hysteria. She was normal when she was not ill, but when she was ill, she was delirious. I think she was not sane when she married to Ji Hongwen. She just mistook Ji Hongwen as me. She did hate me, but she also loved me, so if she was not ill, she would never ever marry Ji Hongwen.”
Ji Nuan had a vague impression of what Xiao Zhenjun said.
But she didn’t remember it clearly. She only remembered her mother was very gentle and never beat or scolded them. She often sat with her in her arms at the window, staring in an unknown direction. For several times, she had smashed things in the room. Ji Hongwen didn’t let her and Ji Mengran go into the room to see her but just said Mother was sick, and then took her mother overseas for recuperation and came back with Mother after two months. This kind of thing happened at least twice in Ji Nuan’s memory.
Depression developed into hysteria, which was the symptom of lunacy.
“Ji Hongwen didn’t want you to acknowledge me as your father. Although he was kind to your mother and you, he was actually sanctimonious and selfish. If he hadn’t taken your mother away and cut off all contacts with me, if he were willing to give your mother a chance to listen to my explanation, your mother wouldn’t have ended up like that.” Xiao Zhenjun looked serious. “We were all in the wrong. I can’t escape the blame for your mother’s depression. However, Ji Hongwen used his so-called tolerance and love to tie your mother to his side for so many years, which was also unfair to her. When we were studying in the United States, Ji Hongwen had been pursuing your mother but failed, so he had to give up eventually. However, in the end, he took advantage of my marriage and your mother’s illness to successfully get her.”
“Nuan Nuan, I didn’t say these to sow discord between you and Ji Hongwen or force you to go back to the Xiao family. I just want to tell you the truth, so that you can make a fair judgment. The truth is the truth. As your real father, I don’t want to become a rapist and batterer in your eyes. I’m very glad that Qing Ling could give birth to you. I want to give half of the Xiao family’s property to you out of guilt not out of responsibility.”
“I won’t take a penny of you. You’d better take your compensation back.” Ji Nuan remained expressionless and her eyes were placid.
Xiao Zhenjun looked at her. “You still can’t understand us, can you? At your age, you might not be able to understand what fate is, but I have too many experiences of it. What worked among your mother, Ji Hongwen, and I was fate. Fate is not in the wrong. What is in the wrong was people’s selfishness and cowardice. When I heard your mother married Ji Hongwen, I decided never to see her again because of my stupid arrogance and self-esteem, but… you should cherish the one who you really love. If you delay taking the right step, you might end up with endless regret.”
“So don’t go my old way. Don’t be too stubborn about your feelings. Don’t wait until you regret it.”