Chapter 557 - : I Thought There was No Place for Me at Home Anymore
“She’s my sister.”
Su Peizhen avoided looking at Su Qingsang when she said this. She bit her lips in hesitation before saying those words aloud. To all appearances she seemed to be struggling.
Sister?
The others immediately turned their gazes to her.
Huo Manzi and Wei Simeng glanced at each other before simultaneously turning to Su Peizhen in anticipation, expecting to see a great show.
“She’s your sister?”
The smile on Old Master Huo’s face had faded a little. He knew about Su Qingsang’s family and who her sister was.
“She used to be my little sister but recently, she’s become my elder sister, and…”
Su Peizhen bit her lip and spoke in a slightly trembling voice. She bore no resemblance to the arrogant girl from the Su family that she used to be.
She glanced at Huo Yifan with an unreadable look in her eyes saying, “I guess she doesn’t want to be my sister anymore.”
That sounded like it hurt. Upon hearing her, Su Qingsang sat there motionlessly in perfect silence.
Huo Yifan shot Su Qingsang a glance. Her composure surprised him.
He thought for a moment and then questioned Su Peizhen. “What did you do to make her not want to be your sister anymore?”
Su Peizhen only shook her head, as if she didn’t want to go into the details. “I don’t know what I did wrong,” she said, “all I know is that after my sister got married to Mr. Huo, my parents considered her their only daughter and kicked me out of the house.”
What Su Peizhen had said was the truth, but it was not the whole truth.
On hearing what she had said, the others turned their eyes towards Su Qingsang.
They immediately understood what Su Peizhen had meant.
Put simply, the Su family were snobs.
That proved one thing – Su Qingsang was so capable, that she had managed to induce her parents to kick their real daughter out of the house.
Huo Mingmei looked at Su Qingsang thinking, ‘I knew she wasn’t as innocent as she appeared!’
Huo Manzi and the other younger members of the family all exchanged glances with each other. When they returned their gaze to Su Qingsang, the look in their eyes had changed. They hadn’t known that Su Qingsang was capable of something like that.
“I seem to remember that you were an illegitimate daughter. Isn’t that right?” Huo Yifan stared at Su Qingsang meaningfully as he spoke to her. An illegitimate daughter of the family had cut off relations with her sister – their parents’ legitimate child?
‘Illegitimate daughter? Who was the illegitimate daughter?’ Su Qingsang thought.
Su Qingsang didn’t intend to defend herself at first. After all her father had switched his two daughters in anger. That was not something that she could disclose to people with her head held high.
She had never intended to reveal the truth about that matter.
Su Chenghui was her father regardless. Her birth father.
“I’m so impressed. My cousin-in-law is such a capable person.”
The others might not have had the guts to say it, but unlike them Huo Yifan went on to ask, “How come she’s no longer an illegitimate daughter? Is it because she got married to my cousin?”
None of the others responded to his words, with the exception of Huo Mingmei. She didn’t mind embarrassing Su Qingsang. After all, she was Su Qingsang’s elder.
“I was wondering about that for some time,” she said. “I was surprised when the Su family came to visit us. An illegitimate daughter from their family marrying into ours shouldn’t have been such a big deal. Yet they still came to visit us in person. That was rather…”
She didn’t need to finish her sentence for the rest to take her meaning.
Huo Jinyao was about to say something when Su Qingsang pressed a hand on top of his to stop him. This was her problem. She didn’t need Huo Jinyao to defend her.
“Peizhen, Grandpa really misses you. He talked about you all the time at his birthday party. It’s a pity that you didn’t show up.”
She didn’t mention why exactly Su Peizhen had left the family, nor did she say anything to disprove the latter’s account. She didn’t have to.
As expected, the look on Su Peizhen’s face changed immediately.
If there was anyone from the Li family that she would find it difficult to sever ties with, it would be Old Master Li. Old Master Li loved her deeply.
She hadn’t forgotten Old Master Li’s birthday. She had considered going back to Lin City to visit Old Master Li, or to give him a call at the very least.
However, in the end, she didn’t allow herself to do it. She didn’t want to return to the Li family as she currently was and in such an ignominious manner.
In other words, she didn’t want any sympathy. Especially not the sympathy of the other Li family members.
“Grandpa misses you all the time,” Su Qingsang said mildly. “We threw a small party for his last birthday and invited just a few people. All he wanted was to have a meal together with his family.”
Sighing, she continued on, “But sadly, not all of his family members were there. That birthday couldn’t be perfect for him.”
Su Qingsang had been in close contact with Li Qianxue and Su Yuxin lately.
Li Qianxue had never spoken of Su Peizhen to her, but Su Yuxin had done so a few times.
They had been family for over twenty years. The affection that existed between them couldn’t just disappear so easily. However, Su Peizhen really turned out to be that heartless. Not only had she not visited their family, she had never even called them.
How could Li Qianxue accept it? How could she not be disappointed?
She missed Su Peizhen, but she did not allow herself to contact her. She was the elder, and Su Peizhen was a child in her eyes. She felt that should Su Peizhen still consider herself a member of the family, she should take the initiative to get in touch herself.
Further, she didn’t want to break Su Qingsang’s heart. Another reason she’s never contacted Su Peizhen was that she didn’t want Su Chenghui to use the girl as leverage. She didn’t want him to feel that he still had something with which to control her.
All of those reasons had made it impossible for Li Qianxue to contact Su Peizhen of her own accord. However, she would never prevent the girl from returning to their family.
Although Su Peizhen was now Xiang Caiping’s daughter, there was still be a place for her in the Li family, as long as she was willing to return.
Su Qingsang had only figured all of this out belatedly.
Su Peizhen was smart enough to get Su Qingsang’s veiled meaning. Sensing people’s eyes landing on her, she lowered her head and hooded her eyes to hide all her emotions.
“I thought there was no place for me at home anymore. I thought grandpa didn’t want to see me again. After all…”
Su Peizhen’s eyes had reddened as she spoke. “Mom said that I’m not her daughter. She said that you were her daughter…”
She raised his head to look at Su Qingsang. Showing her apparent grievance in her eyes she said, “Sister, I know that you’re better than me. You are married to Mr. Huo. You’re now the wife of the president of the Tianyu Group. I can understand why Mom now likes you more.”
Her words gave Su Qingsang no happiness.
‘What on earth is she talking about?’ Su Qingsang thought. ‘Mom said that to her because she was so angry at Dad. Why hasn’t she mentioned that?’
Su Peizhen was certain that Su Qingsang wouldn’t refute her. She knew that Su Qingsang wouldn’t want to ruin Su Chenghui’s reputation.
As Su Qingsang remain unspeaking, a hint of pride flashed across Su Peizhen’s eyes.
She turned, looked to Huo Yifan, and said, “I’m sorry. I’m guessing my sister doesn’t want to see me right now. I think I should leave.”
Su Qingsang hadn’t yet to say anything, but Su Peizhen had already succeeded in making her out to be an unkind and appalling person.
Huo Jinyao looked at Su Peizhen and watched her play the part of a pitiful victim before the Huo family. Then he looked at Huo Yifan.
He was honestly surprised at the start, but now his eyes reflected his composed and scorn.
He knew the truth and understood what Su Qingsang was worried about.
He wasn’t concerned about it himself.
“Don’t you know why you were cast out of the Li family?”
Su Qingsang turned to Huo Jinyao, trying to cut him off. However Huo Jinyao wasn’t a man who would stand idly by watching someone give his wife a hard time, without doing something about it.
“Su Peizhen, don’t you have the stomach to tell us why the Li family kicked you out?”
Su Peizhen was aware that her family background was no secret. Anyone could find out about it with very little effort.
She thought Huo Jinyao and Su Qingsang wouldn’t disclose her true identity because they had their own concerns. She hadn’t been expecting to hear Huo Jinyao allude to it so baldly.
“I don’t know.” She forced herself to remain calm. She looked at Huo Jinyao unblinkingly with reddened eyes.
“All I know is that ever since my sister got married to you, the Li family has no longer been a family to me. I know it’s you who’s been the source of my sister’s boldness and influence.”
“You gave her the power to get my parents to kick me out of the family.”
She didn’t need to say more. She had spelled it out quite clearly.
She turned to Su Qingsang and continued. “I’m sorry, sister. I know you didn’t want to see me again. But Yifan and I, we can’t help it. We really are fond of each other.”
She then spun around to Huo Yifan and said painfully, “I’m sorry, Yifan. I know that you really want to marry me. That’s why you’ve brought me home to meet your grandpa. But I lied to you. I’m not the daughter of the Su family anymore. Not since I was cast out. Now I’m just the daughter that they didn’t want.”
Her teary eyes were swimming with grief and pain.
Huo Yifan had never seen Su Peizhen like this. She now looked so different from that sexy girl who had once sat on his lap.
She was bringing up things that he was struggling to understand. Su Peizhen never told him that she was the daughter of the Su family.
She was a mysterious girl when he had met her. Huo Yifan had thought to look into her background, but he intended to conquer her before doing that.
He enjoyed the feeling of winning over a girl. He had believed that everything was going according to his plans.
However, he figured out what was going on the moment that he heard Su Peizhen’s words.
“Peizhen, please don’t say that. I know you didn’t lie to me deliberately.”
Su Peizhen pursed her lips slightly, she seemed to want to say something but then hesitated.
Huo Yifan held her hand and said, “It wasn’t your fault that you were cast out of the Su family. It’s not your fault that they don’t want you anymore. We all know that someone else is to blame.”
Everyone could figure out who that “someone” he was referring to was.
“I like you for who you are, not for the family you’ve come from. I’m sure my grandpa doesn’t care about what’s going on in your family. Isn’t that right, Grandpa?”
As he spoke he turned to look at Old Master Huo with sincerity in his eyes. He stood in front of Su Peizhen, giving the impression he was firmly supporting her.
He looked to be so in earnest that not even Su Peizhen could tell if he’d meant what he said, or was just pretending. No one else knew which one it was either.
The whole family looked at Huo Yifan and Su Peizhen before they turned to regard Huo Jinyao and Su Qingsang.
At that moment, the matter was no longer unclear to Old Master Huo.