âItâs... Itâs... Li Qianxue.â
Su Peizhen blinked and looked at Xiang Caiping. She had almost said the word âmom.â
âShe kicked me out when she found out that Iâm not her child. Yesterday, she invited many friends and relatives to tell them that Su Qingsang is her real daughter. I asked her if Iâm still her daughter, and she kicked me out. Mom, I have nothing now. Iâm an illegitimate daughter. I...â
Li Qianxue and Su Chenghui were being ridiculous. Xiang Caiping was enraged. She held Su Peizhenâs hand. The anger in her heart was now gone, and all she had left was pity for Su Peizhen.
âHow could she do something like that? Youâve been her daughter for over twenty years, after all. How could she...â
âWe both thought we were a real mother and daughter. Now, her real daughter has come back. Of course there wonât be a place for me in that family again.â
Xiang Caiping understood that. She had done the same for Su Qingsang a couple of days ago because Su Qingsang had become Li Qianxueâs daughter.
However, when she heard that it had happened to Su Peizhen, she started to feel that what Li Qianxue had done was so incredibly wrong.
She hated Li Qianxue for stealing her man. Now, hearing about what she had done to Su Peizhen, she hated her even more.
âSweet girl, donât cry. She doesnât want you, but I do. She kicked you out of that house. So what? You donât need anything from her.â
âMom?â Su Peizhen looked at Xiang Caiping, seeming not to understand her meaning.
âIâve saved some money over the years. Iâm not as rich as the Li family or the Huo family, but I can take care of both of us. Donât worry. Mama will look after you.â
âMom...â On hearing that, Su Peizhen sounded like she would cry again.
Hearing her daughterâs hoarse voice, Xiang Caipingâs heart softened completely.
She gave a long sigh and said, âDonât cry. You can live with me. I will take good care of you.â
âAll right.â Su Peizhen nodded heavily, held Xiang Caipingâs hands, and said, âMom, I have now realized that only blood ties are real. Anything else can be fake. From this day on, you are my only mother. Youâre the only one I have.â
Xiang Caiping nodded. Then she thought of Su Chenghui. âDid your father say anything when Li Qianxue kicked you out?â
âMom...â Su Peizhen clenched her teeth and said with a sorrowful look, âDad doesnât want to leave the Li family. My grandfather is the one who makes decisions in the family, not him. He surely didnât have the guts to keep me.â
âGreat, great.â Xiang Caiping had always hated Su Chenghui. Now, hearing that, her hatred grew even stronger. âI thought he had a backbone. I thought he was forced to marry Li Qianxue. Now, I finally understand that what he wants is nothing but a wealthy life.â
Su Peizhen dropped her head and said, âDad didnât speak for me yesterday. He just kept telling me to come here to see you. I asked him to beg Li Qianxue not to kick me out, but he wouldnât do that. I was mean to you before. I did something wrong. I was too ashamed to come here to see you, but you are my mother, after all. I want you to know what kind of a man my father is, so I came here today. Mom, youâre not gonna be angry with me, are you?â
âNo.â Xiang Caiping only hated Su Chenghui and Li Qianxue at the moment. She even started to dislike the apartment she was living in.
She wasnât angry at Su Peizhen for not wanting to leave the family and trying to beg Li Qianxue.
She had been Li Qianxueâs daughter for over 20 years. She wasnât a weak person. Of course she would try to fight for herself.
What she was doing now was great. She had figured out who she was and broken from the Su family.
Xiang Caiping thought for a moment and quickly made a decision.
âLetâs go, Peizhen. Letâs go now.â
âGo? Where to?â
âAway from this place, of course.â Xiang Caiping was a person with pride. How could she stay in Su Qingsangâs apartment after Li Qianxue had treated her daughter like that?
âThis apartment belongs to Su Qingsang. We wonât be staying here. Weâre leaving now.â
Su Peizhen didnât say no. âDad bought me an apartment before. Maybe we can stay there for now.â
Her luggage was still there.
âWhy would we stay in your fatherâs apartment? Iâd rather stay in a hotel.â
Xiang Caiping was grateful that she had not given all her money to Su Qingsang yet. Otherwise, she and Su Peizhen would have wound up on the street.
âMom, staying in a hotel will cost us extra money. My apartment is not small. I stayed there yesterday.â
Xiang Caiping was already angry at Li Qianxue for casting her daughter out of her home. Now, hearing her daughter talking about saving money, her heart ached.
That made her hate Su Chenghui even more. After all, he had spent so many years raising Su Peizhen, and he had used to love her so much.
How could he throw her out of the house just like that?
âHe treated you like that? Why did you still stay in his apartment?â
âMom...â Su Peizhen didnât want to stay in a hotel. âHe gave that apartment to me. Itâs mine. Why wouldnât I take it?â
Xiang Caiping pondered this briefly and found that her words made sense. Finally, she was less angry.
âLet me pack my bag. Weâll leave now.â
While she spoke, Xiang Caiping stood up. Her injury had almost healed. All she needed to do now was take good care of her body.
Su Peizhen hurriedly took a step forward and said, âLet me help you.â
âNo need.â Xiang Caiping still had trouble bending over. She didnât plan to pack too many things. âItâs just a few clothes. You just sit down and take a rest.â
âMom, just let me help you,â said Su Peizhen worriedly. She tried to be close with Xiang Caiping, almost in a fawning way. âWe only have each other now.â
Su Peizhenâs words made Xiang Caipingâs chest ache again. She didnât say no this time.
She hated the apartment now, so she quickly packed a few clothes and prepared to go.
Thankfully, she hadnât unpacked the luggage she had prepared for the trip to Rong City. There werenât too many things left to be packed.
She picked up a few things that she would need and stepped out of the room with Su Peizhen.
Xiao Yu was stunned when she heard Su Peizhen call Xiang Caiping âmom.â She had no idea what was happening.
She told Xiao Ning about it. Neither of them knew what had happened.
As Xiang Caiping and Su Peizhen came out of the room, Xiao Yu walked toward them and saw the three large suitcases beside Su Peizhen.
âAunt Xiang, you...â
âWeâre not staying there. Weâre leaving now.â
The two caregivers had been taking good care of her, so she was nice to them.
âYou two can come with us.â
âThis...â
Xiao Yu and Xiao Ning glanced at each other with confusion. They had been hired by Huo Jinyao to take care of Xiang Caiping. If they decided to leave, they surely needed to inform Huo Jinyao or Su Qingsang about that.
âWhat? You are here to look after my mom. You should go wherever she goes.â Su Peizhen was rather polite to them.
The two considered her words and found them making sense.
They had been hired to take care of Xiang Caiping. Without question, they should stay with her.
Xiao Ning and Xiao Yu thought for a moment about it and made eye contact again. They went back to their rooms, packed their things, and followed Su Peizhen out of the apartment.
Su Peizhen had her car. On her way downstairs, she said to Xiang Caiping, âI was angry yesterday, so I took my car without thinking. Mom, you wonât be angry about it, will you?â
âWhy would I?â Xiang Caiping understood her meaning. âYour dad bought you the car, right?â
âYes.â It had been her birthday gift this year. She didnât say that to Xiang Caiping, though.
After putting the wheelchair and luggage into the car, she told Xiang Caiping to get into the front seat. Xiao Yu and Xiao Ning sat in the back.
After that, Su Peizhen drove toward her apartment.
On the way, Xiao Ning texted Su Qingsang about what was happening.
In the message, she didnât say much, just that a young girl had showed up, calling Xiang Caiping âmom,â and taken Xiang Caiping away. She also told Su Qingsang that she and Xiao Yu were still with Xiang Caiping.
Su Qingsang soon replied to her. She asked her and Xiao Yu to keep taking good care of Xiang Caiping and said that she would continue paying them.
Xiao Ning sighed with relief. Thankfully, her employer didnât blame her and Xiao Yu. Otherwise, they would be in a difficult situation.
They didnât worry about their salaries, though. After all, Huo Jinyao had paid them for six months already.
Su Qingsang dropped her phone and sighed. She hadnât thought that Su Peizhen would accept Xiang Caiping so soon.
She had thought Su Peizhen would at least make another scene.
But to her surprise, Su Peizhen had easily accepted Xiang Caiping as her mother. That was probably because of the natural bond between a daughter and her mother.
Xiang Caiping was a good person. Su Qingsang wished that Su Peizhen would treat her well. She wasnât very worried now, though.
After all, Xiao Ning and Xiao Yu were still with Xiang Caiping. If anything bad happened, the two of them would take care of her.
With that thought, Su Qingsang felt a little relieved. She thought about it and talked to Li Qianxue during dinner.
She could tell that Li Qianxue still loved Su Peizhen. She worried that Li Qianxue might be upset knowing that Su Peizhen had accepted Xiang Caiping as her mother.
âMom, Peizhen is Auntie Xiangâs daughter, after all. She has accepted that fact now. Thatâs a good thing.â
Li Qianxue stayed silent. That did affect her a little. The daughter she had spent many years raising was now calling another woman âmom.â
She felt a little uncomfortable about it. However, looking at Su Qingsang, she realized that it was understandable. She had gotten her own daughter back already. How could she possibly stop that girl from going to her real mother?
She rubbed her temples and said in a soft voice, âItâs good. Theyâre together now. Theyâll be living a good life together.â
She planned to give Su Peizhen some money when she got married. She still saw her as her daughter, after all.
Old Master Li stayed silent. No one knew what he was thinking. Abruptly, he turned to Su Qingsang.
âWeâre heading to Rong City tomorrow. Have you finished packing yet?â
âYes.â Su Qingsang nodded and said, âIf I find myself needing anything in Rong City, Iâll just buy it.â
âThatâs what I said.â Li Qianxue looked at Old Master Li, worrying that he might be upset about what Su Peizhen had done. âDad, werenât you friends with Old Master Huo? You guys can do some catching up this time.â
Old Master Li furrowed his brows slightly and said, âI wouldnât use the word âfriends.â We met a few times. Heâs a good man, though. I never thought that weâd become family someday.â
âFate did that,â Li Qianxue said with a smile.
The conversation didnât continue. After dinner, the three of them spent a short while talking about the trip before they returned to their rooms to rest.
The next day, Su Qingsang got up early in the morning. Li Qianxue got up even earlier.
The plane would take off at ten. She didnât need to get up so early, but thinking about flying to Rong City and seeing Huo Jinyao, Su Qingsang was excited.
The two of them had only been apart for a few days.
But during those days, so many things had happened. Su Qingsang felt as if she hadnât seen Huo Jinyao for a long time.
Li Qianxue woke up to find her daughter in a very good mood. She was a little jealous of Huo Jinyao, but she was also very delighted.
Her marriage had ended as a tragedy, but her daughterâs marriage had turned out to be a happy story. It was great.
That reminded her of Su Chenghui again. Last night, he had called her and told her that he didnât want to sign the divorce papers until he found Su Peizhen.
Li Qianxue might have believed him if Su Qingsang hadnât told her that Su Peizhen was already with Xiang Caiping.
That man was so disgusting.
He knew that Su Peizhen had already accepted Xiang Caiping as her mother, but he had still lied to Li Qianxue about Su Peizhen going missing to try to arouse her sympathy.
If she werenât worried about her daughtersâ reputations, she would have told the world about all the nasty things that Su Chenghui had done and let him drown in shame.
She intended to maintain a good mood for her trip to Rong City, so she asked the lawyer Chen to handle it.
She had all the patience in the world, anyway. Su Chenghui couldnât possibly avoid signing the papers forever.
He would have to sign them when she returned from Rong City.
âMom, letâs go.â
Seeing the concern in Su Qingsangâs eyes, Li Qianxue felt warm. Together, they held Old Master Liâs arms and walked out of the house.
...
The plane landed in Rong City right after dinnertime.
The short flight exhausted Old Master Li. After two hours of flying, he wanted to take some rest.
Before the trip, Li Qianxue had sent someone to Rong City to look for a suitable house for her. However, even if they did find a house, they would have to clean it before she moved in.
So the three of them stayed in a hotel.
Li Qianxue had booked the largest suite in the fanciest hotel in Rong City. Once arriving at the hotel, she told Old Master Li to get some rest.
She needed to rest as well. They planned to visit Old Master Huo tomorrow morning.
Su Qingsang was hungry. She ordered room service. Before long, someone knocked on her door. She opened the door without thinking, as she thought it was the room service arriving.
To her surprise, she opened the door to see Huo Jinyao standing there.
âHuo Jinyao?â