To My Dear Mr. Huo

Su Qingsang sat and stared blankly in her seat, with Huo Jinyao’s face seemingly magnified in front of her, and could hardly keep her cell phone in her hand.

When Li Qianxue did not hear her voice on the other end of the phone, she grew anxious. “Qingsang, don’t go. I’ll wait for you here. Come back quickly, come back right now.”

Huo Jinyao could not hear the voice on the other side of the line, but knew for sure that it was Su Yuxin who had called her.

He looked at her and mouthed silently: what is the matter?

“Come back.” Li Qianxue’s voice was still ringing in her ear, full of eagerness and expectation.

“Qingsang, what’s the matter?” Xiang Caiping called from the other side of the plane, as she also noticed that something was off about Su Qingsang.

Su Yuxin, she knew, was Su Chenghui’s youngest son. Why was he looking for Su Qingsang? Could it be that something had happened with the Su family?

“I…” Su Qingsang’s lips started to move, and a message from the tower was broadcasted. It was telling their captain to get ready to take off.

The flight attendant reminded them with a sweet voice to fasten their seat belts, and for each passenger to return to their seats, as they got ready to take off.

Su Qingsang blinked several times, looked at Huo Jinyao in front of her, and then looked back at Xiang Caiping.

It was difficult for her to make a choice right then. She had never faced such a challenging moment. Her lips tightened into a straight line.

She tightened her grip on her cell phone, her body trembling slightly, and felt as if she should leave everything behind and rush out of the plane to find Li Qianxue.

“Qingsang. You don’t have to come back. You can stay at the airport, but don’t move. Mom is coming to get you now.”

Li Qianxue’s voice sounded out again, and Su Qingsang blinked several times. She was close to tears.

Xiang Caiping could not sit still any longer and tried to approach her.

She looked at Xiang Caiping and thought of Li Qianxue. So much internal turmoil. How could she choose?

By staying behind and acknowledging Li Qianxue, she would definitely hurt Xiang Caiping, who already had her heart broken by Su Chenghui. Must she get hurt again by Li Qianxue’s daughter?

If she were to leave, she would hurt Li Qianxue. She had raised someone else’s daughter for over twenty years. Now she wanted to acknowledge and claim her as her own. However, she had her own misgivings.

“Qingsang, do you hear me?”

Li Qianxue was still calling out to her, and Su Qingsang could tell that she sounded choked up with emotion.

At the same time, Xiang Caiping was now seated in front of her, watching her, her eyes full of warmth and worry.

Su Qingsang looked into Xiang Caiping’s concerned face, closed her eyes and said, “I am sorry.”

She heard herself speaking these three words in a very soft voice. Then she hung up.

“Qingsang?” Xiang Caiping’s face was anxious. “Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong,” Su Qingsang smiled, albeit a little stiffly. “I’m okay.”

“Qingsang?” Xiang Caiping didn’t believe that at all. Su Qingsang forced herself to smile a little more widely. “I’m really fine. Yuxin blames me for leaving without telling him first. He’s just kicking up a fuss.”

Xiang Caiping stopped talking then, as she could probably feel that Su Qingsang shared a tight bond with her younger brother.

In all honesty, she did not like the Su family, none of them. No wonder Su Qingsang was upset. She patted Xiang Caiping’s shoulder.

“Mom, you should go rest. We’ll be there shortly.”

Su Qingsang’s voice seemed to conceal some strange emotion. Xiang Caiping didn’t probe too much into it, wanting to give her space, so she didn’t mention Su Yuxin again.

She returned to her own seat. Xiao Ning and Xiao Yu were on either side of her and would tend to her needs.

Huo Jinyao, who was seated next to Su Qingsang, took her hand and found it was cold as ice. “Are you really okay?”

His voice was so soft. Su Qingsang glanced at him, and he could see how her lips moved to form four words.

She didn’t make a sound, but Huo Jinyao understood. What she said was ‘she is back again’.

‘She’ was Li Qianxue.

Su Qingsang hugged him and buried her face deep in his chest. Her voice was low. “She knows. She knows. She wants me to stay.”

She seemed so torn. Huo Jinyao tightened his grip around her waist. “And you rejected her?”

“What else could I have done?” Su Qingsang looked up at him. Her voice was very gentle, the corners of her eyes moist. “What would mom do?”

‘Mom’ referred to Xiang Caiping. Huo Jinyao looked into her eyes, unable to answer her question.

Xiang Caiping had spent a few months with Su Qingsang and they had already developed a mother-daughter bond.

Su Qingsang didn’t want to hurt Xiang Caiping and had hung up on the call in a hurry. However, doing this had certainly hurt Li Qianxue.

“Huo Jinyao.” Su Qingsang’s voice was so soft, so very faint, that Huo Jinyao had to move close to her lips in order to hear clearly.

“I hurt her, but what should I do? I hurt her.”

She refused to stay, and she did not get off the plane. She didn’t dare to think about how Li Qianxue was feeling now.

She wanted to cry, but she couldn’t even do so now, because if she did it would cause suspicion in Xiang Caiping.

Huo Jinyao hugged her tightly, and the flight attendant had to remind them to take note of the procedures while the plane was taking off.

Huo Jinyao’s arms circled Su Qingsang’s body, and he could feel her trembling in his embrace.

Her eyes showed that she was struggling, that she was in a knot of emotions. If only she did not first mistakenly accepted Xiang Caiping for her mother, if only she had not gotten close with Xiang Caiping these few months!

At this moment, he was only afraid that she would throw caution to the wind and rush out of the plane.

Huo Jinyao didn’t have to look into Su Qingsang’s eyes to make a guess about her emotional state at this time. He glanced in the direction of Xiang Caiping, while she was chatting with two nurses.

Looking in their direction, and seeing Huo Jinyao and Su Qingsang hugging each other like that, several people seemed to be laughing secretly at their expense.

In Xiang Caiping’s opinion, Su Qingsang had a good relationship with her husband. It made her happier than anything else did.

However, with his body blocking her from sight, only Huo Jinyao knew that Su Qingsang was shaking from head to toe at this time. She didn’t cry, but she was in turmoil.

Seeing Su Qingsang in this state made him even more distressed. He couldn’t accuse her of making the wrong decision. No matter which side she chose, the other party would inadvertently be hurt.

If he were in her shoes, he would not know how to choose either.

Shifting his glance, he gave Yang Wenchang, who was behind him, a knowing look.

Yang Wenchang got up. Huo Jinyao wrapped Su Qingsang’s hand around his and pressed her tightly to him. He then took out his phone with the other hand and typed in a sentence.

He moved ever so slightly and put his hands behind Su Qingsang so she could not see, but Yang Wenchang read everything clearly.

Yang Wenchang looked at him in shock, and after getting an affirmative answer, he got up without a word and went to the front.

Huo Jinyao circled his arms around Su Qingsang’s waist and patted her back gently. “If you want to go back, we will stop.”

“No,” Su Qingsang said softly, as Huo Jinyao felt her breath on his face. “No, I can’t.”

“There’s no such thing as ‘can’t’. You can do it if you want to.”

Su Qingsang bit her lip, tightening her grip on Huo Jinyao’s arm even more. “What will she do? What would become of Grandpa? You already told them we are going back.”

She had never been stubborn even as a child. She had always felt that she did not have a right to be willful.

She was used to suppressing her needs and restraining herself. Even at this moment, she kept that habit.

Most importantly, she really, really didn’t want to hurt Xiang Caiping.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m very sorry to inform you that the plane is experiencing a minor malfunction. We will need to inspect the aircraft. The flight time will be changed according to the orders of the mechanic.”

As she heard this, Su Qingsang’s eyes suddenly widened.

Lifting her head to look up at Huo Jinyao, she saw that he was also watching her. Su Qingsang bit her lip: “This…”

Huo Jinyao wrapped an arm around her waist, turned her face to the side, and gently kissed her forehead. “Look, the heavens have made the choice for you. Go and see her.”

On the other side of the plane, Xiang Caiping was also stunned, as she did not expect the aircraft to malfunction.

“Jinyao, what is wrong with this plane? How long will it take?”

“I don’t know. How about we all go back to rest first?” Huo Jinyao glanced at the time. “We are very close to the villa I bought for Qingsang. Why don’t we go there and take a break?”

“Very well.” Xiang Caiping found that Su Qingsang was still cuddled in Huo Jinyao’s arms. “You children get off the plane first. Go home and then you can spend some time together.”

“It’s okay. We can cuddle anytime.” Huo Jinyao held Su Qingsang’s waist tightly and looked at Xiang Caiping: “Look, I will let Wenchang send you back first. I will check in with the airport staff together with Qingsang, and we will see what time we can fly off.”

“Good, good.” Xiang Caiping didn’t think too much into this, and Yang Wenchang brought her, Xiao Ning, and Xiao Yu off the plane.

Su Qingsang even managed to look at her as she left and waved at her casually as if nothing was wrong.

When Xiang Caiping’s figure could no longer be seen, she grabbed Huo Jinyao’s arm. “Huo Jinyao. I…”

“Let’s go. I’ll take you there.”

Su Qingsang’s heart was beating painfully. She did want to see Li Qianxue, but…

“I’m a little scared.”

Huo Jinyao looked at her, and could not help but lean over to plant a kiss on her cheek.

“Don’t be afraid. I’ll stay with you.”

Su Qingsang’s heart was still beating fast, but Huo Jinyao’s look calmed her down. “Let’s go.”

She wanted to see Li Qianxue, oh how she wanted to.

…

At the entrance to Su Qingsang’s apartment, Li Qianxue had sunk to the ground.

“Mom.” Su Yuxin was anxious and quickly lifted her back up. “Mom, get up. What did sister say? Is she coming back?”

Li Qianxue didn’t move, but only squeezed her phone tightly, her face full of tears.

“She’s not coming back, she’s gone.”

“Mom?” Su Yuxin froze. He thought that Su Qingsang would be more than happy to acknowledge Li Qianxue.

“I knew it, she won’t come back. She won’t acknowledge me.”

Li Qianxue felt hopeless, and Su Yuxin tried to help her, but couldn’t get her back up.

“She hates me. I know it, I know it.”

She had never been good to her. Su Qingsang hated her, and she deserved what was happening now.

“No. Elder sister would never do that.” Su Yuxin truly believed that Su Qingsang was not that kind of person. He reached out and pulled Li Qianxue up.

“Mom. Don’t be like that. Let’s find her. Isn’t she going to Rong City? We can go there too. We can go to her now.”

Li Qianxue stood up, but her legs had grown wobbly. She shook her head. “It’s useless. Useless. She won’t acknowledge me.”

She grabbed onto Su Yuxin’s clothes. “She hates me. She hates me. All these years, I haven’t taken care of her for one day, I haven’t been good to her at all. I even…”