Chapter 569 - Who’s Feeling Worse?
Chapter 569: Who’s Feeling Worse?
Su Peizhen wasn’t expecting things to get so interesting. The man named Zhang Yichen had turned out to be Huo Yifan’s uncle.
This would be fun.
She looked at the photos she’d taken again. She had yet to come up with a plan before then, but at that moment, she started to get some ideas.
Those photos in which Su Qingsang and Zhang Yichen had seemed so close because of the angle of the camera, they wouldn’t be near enough for Huo Jinyao to doubt Su Qingsang.
Huo Jinyao was no fool. Su Peizhen could tell that Su Qingsang and Zhang Yichen weren’t all that close to each other in those photos, and she believed that Huo Jinyao would be able to see it too.
She could photoshop those pictures and make the two look closer, but she didn’t feel like resorting to such basic ploys.
Now how should she set about making something happen for real between those two?
…
Xiang Caiping looked at Su Peizhen. The girl had stayed home to have her meals for a couple of days in a row. That was rare.
She had been intending to call Su Qingsang to get her to send her physiotherapy instrument to Ms. Zhao for her, but Su Peizhen barely left the house these days.
“Mom, why are you looking at me like that? What’s wrong?”
Su Peizhen drank her soup gracefully. Ms. Zhao was a good cook indeed.
“Why are you free again today?”
“I’ve had some free time recently. Haven’t I been staying home with you these days?”
Su Peizhen raised her brows and asked, “Mom, don’t you like it when I stay at home with you?”
“I do. I do.”
Xiang Caiping couldn’t help but find it abnormal however, and she gave Su Peizhen another searching glance, finding the girl seemed to be in a good mood.
“I’m glad that you’re pleased, Mom.”
Su Peizhen placed some food onto Xiang Caiping’s plate as she said that.
“Mom, try this.”
Xiang Caiping looked at the piece of fish on her plate and then to Su Peizhen. She didn’t know why the girl seemed to be so delighted.
She was about to say something but paused and thought better of it.
“Oh, and Mom, I have a boyfriend.”
A boyfriend? Xiang Caiping raised her head to look at her.
“Where is he from? What does he do? How old is he?”
Xiang Caiping felt a little nervous upon hearing it. Su Qingsang had already been married when she knew her, so she had never felt the need to worry about Su Qingsang’s personal life.
Su Peizhen was different. Xiang Caiping was concerned for her.
“Mom, look at you. I said that I have a boyfriend, not that I’m about to marry him. I’ll bring him to meet you when our relationship becomes more stable.”
Xiang Caiping knew that Su Peizhen always made her decisions independently.
She didn’t need to say what she wanted to, but she was worried.
“You’ve just moved to Rong City. You won’t know much about the people you meet here. Just be careful. About everything.”
“Mom, don’t worry. I assure you that you’ll like him. Everything about him is perfect.”
The more she complimented her boyfriend, the more Xiang Caiping worried about her. Xiang Caiping felt like she could not act too strict towards Su Peizhen, but nor could she be relaxed around her. As she sat across from the girl, she felt like she had no clue how to deal with her.
…
Huo Jinyao read the report before lifting his head, staring at Yang Wenchang with doubt in his eyes.
“He’s out of his mind, isn’t he?”
Yang Wenchang didn’t know how to respond to that. He wouldn’t have discovered it if Huo Jinyao hadn’t asked him to keep an eye on Su Peizhen.
At that very moment, Huo Jinyao didn’t know what expression he should make to show his feelings.
Liu Tongjia was doing everything she could to make sure the Tianyu Group went to Huo Yifan, but Huo Yifan had gone off and founded a company of his own.
Huo Jinyao and his cousins all held their own companies. Some of those companies had been founded for frivolous reasons, and others were founded in response to the requests from their elders because the older generations wanted them to learn how to operate businesses from experience.
Huo Jinyao had a few companies under his charge as well. Those companies weren’t as large as the Tianyu Group, and the market share they held was at a completely different level than that of the Tianyu Group.
The companies owned by his cousins were all around the same level. None of them had ever attempted to compete with the Tianyu Group.
Huo Jinyao had never attempted it either, and it was certain that neither Huo Mingguang nor Old Master Huo would ever allow anything like that.
They had never stopped the younger generation from developing in their own way. On the contrary, they had always encouraged them to form their own thoughts and to experience the world for themselves.
All that aside, they would not allow anyone to harm the interests of the family or the Tianyu Group.
“President Huo, what are we going to do about this?”
Huo Jinyao narrowed his eyes as he looked at the files in his hands.
Abruptly, he raised his head to look at Yang Wenchang with an obvious look of cunning in his eyes.
“Nothing, for now.” Huo Jinyao thought for a moment and then amended, “No. Actually, there is something that we can do now.”
Yang Wenchang looked at him. At that moment, Huo Jinyao looked as crafty as a fox.
After Huo Jinyao’s had given him his instruction, Yang Wenchang’s eyes shone in appreciation.
“President Huo, that’s a wonderful idea. Although, I’m afraid that Huo Yifan might go crazy when he finds out.”
“Let him go crazy.” Huo Jinyao would not feel sorry for Huo Yifan.
He understood that the man wanted to make more money, but there was a line that should not be crossed.
He was now merely waiting to witness Huo Yifan’s downfall.
…
As Huo Jinyao waited to see Huo Yifan’s undoing, Su Peizhen too was waiting for something.
She was waiting for an opportunity.
After she had gotten together with Huo Yifan, she had managed to figure out the relationships between all the members of the Huo family little by little.
She was from the Su family and had been brought up well by Li Qianxue. When it came to interpersonal relationships, she was far more sensitive to their nuances than Su Qingsang was.
As quickly as she could, she had worked out the ties between Huo Yangxiu, Huo Yangyuan, and all their families.
She also learned something interesting. Huo Jinyao and his uncle Zhang Yichen were rather close.
She wondered what Huo Jinyao’s face would look like when he found out that his dear uncle was actually in love with his wife, and that something had already happened between them.
The opportunity that Su Peizhen had been awaiting arrived surprisingly quickly.
“What did you say?”
Su Peizhen looked at Huo Yifan. They’d just had a crazy time together and her entire body was sticky. She had been about to take a shower, but before she got up, she’d heard what Huo Yifan said.
“I said my grandpa is inviting you to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival with our family.” Huo Yifan poured himself a glass of wine and looked at Su Peizhen meaningfully. “What?” he teased, “Don’t you want to go?”
He knew exactly how much Su Peizhen wanted a chance like that.
“I’ll go, of course.”
Su Peizhen propped herself up and then draped her body across his chest.
“There’ll be many relatives there, I gather?”
“Yeah, my grandaunt, my granduncle, and their families. They’ll all be there.”
Su Qingsang hadn’t celebrated the previous New Year with the family. After she had come to Rong City, the family had barely gotten together.
This time, Huo Yangxiu and her husband happened to have a few days off. They promised Old Master Huo they would come back to meet the wife of their nephew.
“Your grandaunt and her family? So, that uncle of yours will be there as well, right?”
“Yeah,” Huo Yifan put his glass aside and looked at her before he spoke. “I find that you’ve been getting more and more interested in that uncle of mine.”
“Why, are you jealous?” Su Peizhen looked at Huo Yifan with a big smile.
“A little.”
“I’m interested in him because I’ve never met a serviceman before. And, I think that your grandpa seems to like him very much.”
Ever since she had learned about Su Qingsang and Zhang Yichen a month ago, she began to dig deep into Zhang Yichen’s background.
Old Master Huo seemed to like Zhang Yichen a lot, and Zhang Yichen was certainly paid him plenty of respect. He visited Old Master Huo almost every time he returned to Rong City.
“Yes. My uncle is young and capable. My grandpa does really likes him.”
Huo Yifan suddenly turned, pressing Su Peizhen down into the bed as he growled, “Woman, I don’t like you talking about another man in front of me.”
“I’m not talking about another man.”
Su Peizhen looked at Huo Yifan with a pointed smile.
“I am trying to earn your grandpa’s favor for you though.”
“You are? Thank you, then.”
Huo Jinyao liked how smart she was. He lowered his head to hers and took her body once more.
…
Su Qingsang and Huo Jinyao arrived early to the family celebration of the Dragon Boat Festival.
Some people had arrived even earlier than them. Huo Yangyuan had come with his eldest son and daughter-in-law. His younger son was there too, although his youngest daughter-in-law couldn’t make it.
His grandchildren were there as well. They were just a few years younger than Huo Jinyao. Currently, the lot of them were all seated together.
Huo Yangxiu had come with her son and daughter. Her eldest son was named Zhang Liangze, and her daughter, Zhang Hanlei. Zhang Yichen wasn’t there yet. Someone had said that he had been out on a mission yesterday, so he would probably be late.
Both Zhang Hanlei and Zhang Liangze brought their children. The two families sat together, creating a warm atmosphere in the living room.
Huo Mingmei, Huo Mingliang, and their families were also there.
Su Qingsang came in, greeted the Huo family’s elders one by one. She noted Huo Yiyang was there, but not Huo Yifan.
Huo Yifan had not arrived yet. He didn’t keep the others waiting long though. Soon enough he arrived together with Su Peizhen.
Su Peizhen greeted the elders in her customary graceful manner. Huo Yangyuan and his sister had heard in advance that Su Peizhen would be there, so they had both prepared gifts for her.
Su Peizhen never once looked at Su Qingsang from the moment she came in.
Zhang Hanlei realized something and remarked upon it to the others.
“What a coincidence. Jinyao’s wife and Yifan’s girlfriend both have the same family name.”
“They don’t just have the same family name. They’re sisters.”
Huo Mingmei explained what she knew. Zhang Hanlei was surprised to hear about it. Quite a number of elders were around, so Huo Mingmei didn’t go too much into the details. She simply told people that Su Qingsang and Su Peizhen were sisters, but avoided mentioning anything related to the issue of one of them being an illegitimate child.
However, everyone in the house was smart enough to figure out that something was not quite right. After all, when Su Qingsang’s family had last come to visit the Huo family, Su Peizhen had not been present at that time.
People fixed their eyes on Su Peizhen, trying to get a good look at her.
Sensing their attention, Su Peizhen walked straight to Su Qingsang’s side and sat down beside her.
Huo Jinyao was talking to Old Master Huo. Seeing Su Peizhen’s movement, he almost stood up immediately to go to Su Qingsang. However, at that very moment, Huo Yifan sat down beside him. “Jinyao, let Peizhen have a chat with her sister. As for us, we can talk about business.”
Huo Yifan looked first at Huo Yifan, and then to Su Qingsang. Su Qingsang gave him a glance that signaled for him to relax. After checking that she was ok, he stopped worrying about her.
Su Qingsang wasn’t someone who would let herself fall into apart like that.
“Yeah, we’re sisters. You can’t tell, can you? It’s because I look more like my grandma, while my sister looks more like my father.”
Su Qingsang watched as Su Peizhen wound an arm around hers. Instead of pushing her away, she gave Su Peizhen a glance.
“We don’t look alike, so many think that we’re cousins not sisters.”
Su Peizhen held Su Qingsang’s arm and grinned warmly.
“They just can’t tell that we’re actual sisters. Right, sister?”
“Um,” Su Qingsang said in response, as she tried to pull her arm out of Su Peizhen’s grasp. She wouldn’t begin a conflict with Su Peizhen in front of so many Huo family members.
To her surprise, Su Peizhen was holding her so tightly that she was unable to free herself from her grip.
“We’ve been close since we were little. My heart was broken when my sister got married. I hated having to part with her. That’s why I followed her here, to Rong City.”
While speaking, Su Peizhen looked at Huo Yifan affectionately. “I’m so lucky,” she continued. “I met Yifan and I was so surprised to find out that he and my brother-in-law are cousins.”
“It’s just perfect that my sister and I can marry into the same family. It’s such a beautiful story, isn’t it, Sister?”
Su Qingsang watched Su Peizhen say that seemingly with all the sincerity, then glanced the latter’s hand which was holding her arm. At last, she gave a nod.
“Yeah, it’s such a beautiful story.”
She changed her intonation slightly as she spoke the word ‘beautiful,’ pronouncing it very much like the people in Lin City did.
In the dialect of Lin City, ‘beautiful’ and ‘fake’ had the same pronunciation.
The others didn’t notice, but Su Peizhen would certainly catch her meaning.
Su Peizhen knew what she was saying, of course. However, she was sure that Su Qingsang wouldn’t reveal the truth.
Her smile grew bigger and bigger as she carried on. “Sister, I’m so thrilled to marry into Huo family, and become family with you again.”
“I’m happy about that too.”
Su Qingsang responded to her with a bland tone and a polite smile. In the meantime, she slowly tried to pull Su Peizhen’s hand away from herself as naturally as she could.
Su Peizhen didn’t let her do that. Instead, she leaned in towards Su Qingsang and whispered to her, “Su Qingsang, does it hurt you to watch as I sit right in front of you like this, to know that you can’t get rid of me?”
Only Su Qingsang and herself could hear what she had said. She was still wearing a smile. The others who were unaware of the truth would mistakenly see only that the two of them were happily having a chat.
Noticing the perky look on Su Peizhen’s face, Su Qingsang put on a smile that was even more brightly cheerful than hers.
“No. I’m happy, actually.”
Just as Su Peizhen had, Su Qingsang spoke softly through her smile.
“Do you know why I’m happy? The rich and proud princess of the Su family is now trying so hard just to make me unhappy. That in itself is really more than enough to please me.”
Things had changed. Su Peizhen used to despise Su Qingsang. She had never wanted to talk to her.
Yet now, she had shown up in her life like this. Why had she done so?
Su Peizhen could barely maintain the smile on her face. The two of them were seated very close to each other. No one but Su Qingsang recognized the anger that flashed across Su Peizhen’s eyes.
With the same smiling face, she pulled her hand out of Su Peizhen’s hand and put it on her shoulder.
It really looked like that they were having a sisterly secret chat.
“Su Qingsang, don’t get carried away. Things change, people change. You can’t always come out on top,” Su Peizhen almost lost the smile plastered on her face.
“Yeah, I know. But no matter how things might change in the future, there’s one thing that’ll never change.”
“What is that?”
“The fact that you can never again become the princess of the Su family. I am Li Qianxue’s daughter, not you.”
Su Qingsang knew exactly how to poke into people’s wounds and add salt to their injuries. She just didn’t enjoy doing it. She wouldn’t have said those barbed words if Su Peizhen hadn’t started the war.
Su Peizhen’s face grew sour. She froze for a second and almost stood up. Su Qingsang pressed a hand on her shoulder in time and smiled an even warmer smile.
“Sister, mind your manners. We’re with Huo family now, and you aren’t even married to Huo Yifan yet.”
In other words, Huo Yifan could well be playing around with her. She might not be able to marry into the Huo family after all was said and done.
As for herself, Su Qingsang, she was different. She was already the daughter-in-law of the Huo family.
Su Peizhen never knew that Su Qingsang could be so cutting. At that moment, the smile on her face grew rather awkward.
Her last reserves of caution told her that she could not lose her temper during that occasion. She could not even seem to be angry.
That was exactly what Su Qingsang wished to see.
“Thank you for the heads up. Don’t worry, we’ll be families again.”
Su Qingsang nodded, patted on Su Peizhen’s shoulder.
“I’m looking forward to that.”
They looked at each other straight in the eyes. So Su Peizhen could not possibly misinterpret the meaning in Su Qingsang’s eyes.
She was looking forward to witnessing Su Peizhen’s failure.
Su Peizhen couldn’t continue the conversation. She was worried that she might lose control and give Su Qingsang a slap on the face.
She forced herself to calm down, then looked back at Su Qingsang. After giving Su Qingsang a final expressive glance, she stood up and went back to Huo Yifan’s side.
Detecting an usual look in Su Peizhen’s eyes, Huo Yifan raised his brows but didn’t say anything.
Old Master Huo hadn’t missed the small interaction between Su Peizhen and Su Qingsang, and neither had Huo Jinyao. He was sure that Su Qingsang had not come out any worse for the exchange in the least.
His wife was a tough girl.
Su Peizhen forced a smile. She soon adjusted her expression and said, “Oh, it’s nothing. My sister was just asking me when we’ll get married.”
“Whenever you want.”
“I think we should ask Grandpa about that.”
Su Peizhen looked from Huo Yifan to Old Master Huo.
“If Grandpa is okay with me marrying into Huo family, I’ll be happy to marry you anytime.”
“I’d love that,” Old Master smiled. After spending some time with Su Peizhen, he had grown fond of the girl.
She was knowledgeable, polite, and most importantly, she and Huo Yifan loved each other.
Huo Jinyao was his grandson, and so was Huo Yifan. He wanted them both to be happy.
Huo Yangxiu heard them talking about marriage. She came over to ask them when the wedding would happen, but at that moment, someone else showed up.
It was Zhang Yichen.
He had been on a mission yesterday. By the following morning, he had accomplished his task and returned to Rong City as soon as he was able.
He first greeted Old Master Huo, then walked to Huo Yangxiu.
“Mom.”
Both of Huo Yangxiu’s sons were serving in the army. She loved them both, but her youngest son had always received more affection from her than his older brother.
“You’ve lost weight again. Don’t skip meals, no matter how important your missions are. You always skip your meals. That could destroy your stomach.”
Zhang Yichen kept his peace. He was used to hearing things like that every time he saw his mother.
He greeted the elders, then his younger family members.
As he gave his greetings to Su Qingsang, he let his eyes linger on her face for a second. Only one second.
No one noticed it except for Su Peizhen.
She had been watching him ever since he came into the house. She could read every expression of his and recognized the look in his eyes.
She had wanted to applaud the man for his skill in restraining his true feelings.
He was in love with his nephew’s wife. That was surprising already. And unexpectedly, he was also good at controlling himself.
Apart from that one second, he did not look at Su Qingsang again.
If Su Peizhen hadn’t been paying attention to him the whole time, if she hadn’t found out about his feelings toward Su Qingsang, she might not have noticed the unusual look in his eyes.
“What are you looking at?”
Huo Yifan noticed Su Peizhen’s attention on Zhang Yichen. As he followed her eyes to look at Zhang Yichen, the man had already sat down next to his father.
Both he and Zhang Xinghua were serving in the army, but they didn’t get to see each other very often. They only saw each other when they came home.
They were both so busy that they could barely see each other once a month.
“Nothing,” Su Peizhen shook her head. When she saw Zhang Yichen, the anger that had been aroused by Su Qingsang was finally eased somewhat.
She looked at Zhang Yichen, then at Su Qingsang. Su Qingsang had no idea about Zhang Yichen’s feelings for her at all.
Su Peizhen congratulated herself for her intelligence. Thankfully, she hadn’t rushed to send those pictures to Huo Jinyao.
With so many people in the living room, the place couldn’t possibly be quiet. As people talked to each other the sounds of multiple conversations perfectly drowned out Zhang Yichen’s feelings.
On such occasions, he would not allow himself to betray even the slightest trace of his feelings.
Even so, Su Peizhen who had been paying attention to him all that time had caught the look that he had in his eyes when he was looking at Su Qingsang.
Su Qingsang stood up, seemingly going to the bathroom. Zhang Yichen gave her a glance and quickly turned his eyes away. Su Peizhen noticed that too. She found it more and more interesting.
If someone had been constantly making great efforts to restrain their true feelings. What result could that lead to?
Su Peizhen was indeed looking forward to seeing the end of that story.
The other person who noticed the look in Zhang Yichen’s eyes was Liu Tongjia.
She couldn’t help but turn to Su Qingsang. Finding that Su Qingsang was not responding to Zhang Yicheng’s looks, she sighed with relief. ‘Thankfully, she still has some sense of decency’, she thought.
She would not tolerate it if the two of them made shameless eye contact right before the entire family.
There were so many guests in the house that Liu Tongjia didn’t have the opportunity to speak to Su Qingsang about that matter. She planned to warn her later and get her to pay attention to her image.
Almost all the guests had arrived. Liu Tongjia chose to have lunch at the restaurant where she had treated Old Master Li and her family to a meal the last time.
All of the family there had brought their own cars. It was convenient, as the restaurant was only about a ten-minute drive away from the family house. Su Qingsang got into Huo Jinyao’s car. Before the car was started, she noticed Zhang Yichen was there.