Chapter 259: Why can't I be happy?
Jinhai asked, “How does it feel to stand at the same place where once Nana stood, Mrs. Huo Xiao Fan?”
She said nothing.
“Do you like my terms of negotiation? Aren’t I vengeful?”
Huo Xiao Fan kept staring at the papers that would end her marriage with Huo Shen.
“What happened? Shouldn’t you be happy? Actually, I wasn’t satisfied with this solution. You never loved Huo Shen, and now I’m presenting the opportunity for you to end your unhappy marriage finally. Am I not great? I will stop attacking Huo Corps, and the negotiation is still in your favor.”
She clearly understood the meaning and mocking behind Jinhai’s words.
Whatever happened, he also understood that it was too late to mend the relationship between Huo Shen and Huo Xiao Fan. But on the flip side, after learning the truth about Yu Tengfei and realizing Huo Shen’s love and sacrifice, she may want to repent her mistakes and start over with him.
And Jinhai snatched that probability too.
Jinhai chuckled. “This is what I love the most; to trap my enemy into the same cast that once he set. I never get bored of this.”
Huo Xiao Fan clutched the papers in her hand. She lost the chance when she could have let go of Yu Tengfei and settled with Huo Shen in the last twenty-two years. And now that she realized her blunder, she was holding the papers that will never let her get back together with him.
Jinhai curled his lips in amusement. “You mother-daughter pair is so interesting. Both are repenting over spilled milk over some decisions from which you both should have backed out. And now look? Both desperately want to get back together with the ones who truly loved them, but again for both of you, the chances look bleak.”
She froze.
‘Zhilan…What must she be doing now?’
He narrowed his eyes. “Also, I don’t want to punish only you with this.”
She frowned.
“Huo Shen is just as guilty. I don’t care if he loved you to the point that he never said the truth to hurt you, but because of that, you misunderstood Nana and got another reason to hate her. You hurt Nana all these years through your daughter, for which there was no need if he would have told you the truth. So, I will make him suffer too. Huo Liwei knew it too, and he would also suffer, seeing his father suffer. In effect, the whole Huo family is paying the price.”
It was so silent that the room echoed with only the sound of the clock ticking by.
“Will you promise to leave Huo Corps if I do this?” She quietly asked.
“Yes. I don’t want to waste my time on it either. My wife needs me at her side.” Jinhai shrugged. “Weren’t you gracious to my wife for not forcing her to divorce me immediately? I will return the favor just a tiny bit. Twenty-four hours and tomorrow exactly at the same time, I want the papers back, obviously with both of your signatures. How will you get his signature is up to you. Now leave.”
Huo Xiao Fan slowly got up. She got out of Liu Corps and raised her head to look at the blue sky above.
The driver came to her and said, “Madam Huo, Master Huo is asking for you. Shall I take you back home?”
“…Yes.”
—
Chen Liling felt terrible for her son when she came to know about the truth. She had no idea how Jianyu would deal with the second betrayal in love.
No wonder he asked to join back. He would once again force himself to work to the bone just like he did when Suyin left him. To him, that was the only way to forget the pain. And now she was worried about him because it was so late at night, but Jianyu still hadn’t returned.
Then she heard the sound of footsteps and saw Chen Guiren supporting Jianyu on his shoulders.
Jianyu was dead drunk. He couldn’t even walk straight.
“Jianyu!” Chen Liling rushed towards him. She held his face and saw his eyes were drooping shut. “Wake up, Jianyu! What happened?”
Chen Guiren said, “He has downed full four bottles of alcohol in a bar.”
She widened her eyes. “Four!!?”
“Fan called me regarding his state.”
Jianyu was mumbling. “Mhmmm…Who is it? Another…another bottle…” He was whispering incoherently.
Her eyes watered, looking Jianyu in this condition. She hugged him while Chen Guiren was still supporting him.
“Take him to his room.” She said.
With the help of a butler, Chen Guiren took him in his room and laid him on the bed. Chen Liling followed behind.
Jianyu tried hard to open his eyes and roughly figured the reflection of his parents. He giggled. “Mom…Dad…”
Chen Liling immediately sat on his side. She began patting his head. “Jianyu, are you fine? Why did you drink so much!”
He chuckled. “Fine…? I am excellent! I’m so happy…That’s-” He hiccupped. “That’s why I drank so much. Celebration! I failed for the second time in love, …I-isn’t it such a great achievement?”
Chen Liling burst into tears.
“Hehehe…if s-somebody wants to learn ho-how to get your heart broken over and over again, they should *hiccup* come to me! I-I will give some tips to get over it…”
“Stop it, Jianyu…”
Chen Guiren patted his shoulder. “Don’t think anything now. Just close your eyes and sleep.”
He laughed. “How d-do I sleep? I see her with my eyes open…I still see her when I close my eyes. She is everywhere, Dad!”
Then Jianyu looked at him and then at Chen Liling. A tear trickled from the corner of his eye. “You…you both are so lucky…so lucky to find each other…You love each other soooooooo much! *Hiccup* Then…why can’t I find such a girl?”
Chen Liling sobbed as she embraced him. Chen Guiren, too, was hurt seeing the pain of his son.
“Wh-why do I always…always have to face be-betrayal? Am I so bad?”
“No, Jianyu! You are my sweetest boy.”
“I loved them with all my heart…but b-both of them used me…Both of them broke me apart. Why…I-I also want to l-live happily like both of you with the one I love…Why is it so difficult? Why can’t I be happy like you?”
Chen Liling tried to pacify him. “No, you will be happy too, the happiest! It’s a mother’s heart speaking, and it is never wrong.”
Jianyu laughed, but it sounded like self-deprecating.
“Why…why me…” He mumbled, and then he soon fell asleep.
Chen Liling put the blanket over him and switched off the lights. She sadly looked at him as she saw his tears. She wiped it and kissed his forehead.
Chen Guiren softly said, “Let’s go.”
She nodded and stepped out of his room. Then she asked. “What has happened between them now?”
Chen Guiren said after a short period of silence. “You know Serena is pregnant, right?”
Chen Liling nodded. She was so elated with the news of her grandchild, but now everything took a complete one-eighty degree turn.
“Jianyu has taken away all the parental rights from her. After she gives birth, she would hold no right over the child. She will hand over the baby to Jianyu.”
“What?”
He nodded.
His decision took her by surprise, but she could understand it. Jianyu was in too much pain. And now he only wanted to hurt Serena in return as much as he was hurt. Even though it’s the toughest decision to separate a mother from her child, Chen Liling held no sympathy for her, not after what she did.
“I support Jianyu.” She said with finality. “I don’t want my grandchild to be with a woman who is a betrayer. After giving my son so much suffering, she neither deserves Jianyu nor his child. The child will live with us, and that is it.”
—
Yukira knocked on the door to Nana’s room. She saw him and smiled. “Yukira, come in.”
He sat beside her and asked, “How is she?”
Nana understood that he meant by Yu Ichika. Today, she met her in the new hospital where Jinhai admitted her. Yu Ichika’s complexion seemed a bit better than before, but the doctor said it would take time for her to recover completely.
“Much better.” Nana said.
Yukira nodded. After a pause, he said, “Nee-chan, once she recovers…do you think that we should tell her about his affair and his” Yukira gritted his teeth. “…daughter?”
Nana pursed her lips. That was the question that bugged her too. Yu Tengfei’s death was enough to make her unstable and now if she came to know that he had a woman behind her back and a child from an illegitimate relationship then what effect would it have on her mind, she had no idea.
It may turn for the worse. She may relapse. So, at this point, it was uncertain and dangerous too.
“Honestly, I don’t know. But don’t worry about it. We still have some time until she recovers. We will think about what to do next.”
He nodded.
Nana asked, “Right, I wanted to ask you something.”
“Hm?”
“Where did you learn how to fight?”