Chapter 216 - Father and Son Made Peace (Part One)

The news that Family Yang was ruined swept across the entire A City, and the cause of its destruction, namely Jing Yichen and Shangguan Ning, had no idea about it at all because of their treatment at the hospital in secret.

Jing Zhongxiu came to visit Jing Yichen only once and it seemed that he came to visit Shangguan Ning as an excuse of visiting Jing Yichen.

He said softly, “You both concentrate on recovering and don’t think of anything else. There is no danger now. Those who were supposed to die are not alive any more and those still alive, are suffering badly.”

After Jing Zhongxiu left, Shangguan Ning asked Jing Yichen in bewilderment, “Did father say that those who hurt us, have all been captured?”

Jing Yichen held his wife’s hand and said, “Yes, that is what he means. But you don’t need to worry too much. There is nothing he can’t solve in A City.”

It depended on whether or not he wanted to do that.

Now that he had said the words, it basically meant that all problems had been solved.

“Father didn’t look so good. He couldn’t have rested well these past days. But why did you have such a cold expression on your face when you looked at him? You should have smiled and spoken with him. He was so worried about you!”

“I think that he came to the hospital because he wanted to see you. He would have certainly not come here if I was here alone.” He had been hurt fatally too many times before and knew that Jing Zhongxiu never cared. He never said anything. Jing Zhongxiu might not be sad even if he died.

Shangguan Ning glared at him after hearing what he said. “Are you that dumb? He cares a lot about you. He wasn’t here just for me. It is just that I am at the hospital and he had a better excuse to visit us. He visited you the day when you were injured. He didn’t even talk with me but hurried into the emergency room to see how you were doing!”

“Also, I heard from the Butler that he didn’t sleep for an entire day and didn’t eat anything. He wouldn’t have refused to eat if he had not been concerned and upset. Father looks cold but he is warm inside. He is just bad at expressing himself. He is your elder, if you soften your stance, or show your real emotions...”

Seeing Jing Yichen’s face getting stormier, Shangguan Ning felt that something like this will never happen.

“Well... forget about expressing yourself... but you can soften your stance a little, right? You can smile, too. When you see father next time, you shouldn’t look so distant. In fact when you recover, let’s go and see him. We can talk with him, play chess with him. I remember that father likes fishing, right? You can go fishing with him.”

Shangguan Ning kept babbling, but Jing Yichen was thinking about something else.

He didn’t know if Jing Zhongxiu was cold and strict with him because he wasn’t an expressive man. What he had received since he was a little boy was nothing except scolding. But Jing Yiran never got scolded no matter what he did wrong.

He didn’t lie to Shangguan Ning. If he had been alone at the hospital today, Jing Zhongxiu would not have come. He would have said that a man didn’t need a visit or care.

He always thought that father disliked him.

Had he been wrong? He wouldn’t have been experiencing sleepless nights, otherwise. He wouldn’t have refused to eat – he was a man with a schedule, and he stuck to the timetable very strictly.

Or maybe, Jing Zhongxiu was a powerful man and he thought that his son ought to be powerful as well.

His mother, Zhao Qing’s death was a thorn in Jing Yichen’s heart. He hated Zhang Rong with a vengeance, who had caused his mother’s death. Mo Lan and Jing Zhongxiu were the people who had indirectly caused her death so Jing Yichen couldn’t accept them in his heart.

Everyone else was alive except for his mother. Zhang Rong married into Family Jing just after she died. That had been the biggest insult to his mother.

“Yichen, did you hear what I said?” Shangguan Ning had said so much but the man beside her didn’t react at all. She got a bit angry.

Jing Yichen came back to himself and said softly, “I did. But I am afraid I can’t do that.”

He heard what Shangguan Ning said about getting along with the family, because his family was treating him nicely, unlike her own family who abused and betrayed her openly.

Shangguan Ning looked at him and her heart ached at the sight of Jing Yichen’s cold look.

“It is fine. Take it slow. If you really don’t like them, don’t force yourself. But you mustn’t argue with father any more in the future. Talk when you meet, alright? He is not having an easy time either. Also, look at me, I am doing well with father, so he is not a completely distant man. Maybe you have just used the wrong method.”

Jing Yichen laughed hearing her last sentence. “No, my baby, it is not I who has used a wrong method. You are the special one, and he only talks with you in such a free way. Everyone else is scared of him. You mustn’t take him as a good man, or you might get disappointed.”

“I don’t care if father is not nice to others. As long as he treats me nicely, he is a good dad!”

Jing Yichen knew that Shangguan Ning cherished Jing Zhongxiu’s fatherly care very much, because she had never been cared for by a real father. She regarded Jing Zhongxiu as the closest senior and would defend him at all times.

His father also had seemed to get unexpectedly close to Shangguan Ning as if he had known her for a long time and have been her senior all along.

Jing Yichen had a different thought. He asked. “Do you think that father loves having a daughter?”

Shangguan Ning burst into laughter. “Ah, I had thought that you were an extremely smart guy with both high IQ and EQ. But it seems that you are worse than me. Have you just noticed that? I knew that ages ago. He might think that a son should support the entire Family Jing and he needs to be cultivated strictly. As for the daughter... she doesn’t need to do anything except to live a nice life without pressure. She could just be a pampered princess.”

That was how it was.

Jing Yichen was baffled!

He had never thought about what Shangguan Ning just said. He had always wanted to be the best since he was young so as to make Jing Zhongxiu satisfied and to let him know that he was excellent. He had never thought that gender would have made a difference in how he treated others.