To My Dear Mr. Huo

Chapter 377: What Malicious Thoughts

The trail of thought that she had was broken and she was unable to continue to ponder over it.

Realizing that Su Peizhen’s demanded her attention, Li Qianxue reached out her hand and held Su Peizhen’s to stop her from waving. It was a rare moment when her tone was more severe than usual.

“How old are you now that you still behave so restlessly?”

“I just feel that you’re ignoring me.” Su Peizhen pouted slightly, obviously feeling a little wronged.

“I was thinking about some things. Now you’ve broken my trail of thought.”

“Mother, what were you thinking about?” Su Peizhen found it difficult to rein in her natural curiosity. “Why don’t you tell me about it?”

“What should I do about you?” Li Qianxue looked again at Su Peizhen at that moment and suddenly had the notion of comparing Su Peizhen with Su Qingsang.

Come to think of it, Su Peizhen and Su Qingsang were of similar age, but Su Peizhen was naturally the more attractive-looking one.

However, when it came to level-headedness and maturity, Su Qingsang was substantially steadier than Su Peizhen. Li Qianxue was unsure if Su Peizhen turned out this way due to her and Su Chenghui overly indulging and doting on her.

All of a sudden, Li Qianxue felt some discomfort within her heart.

The daughter whom she had spent so much thought on and had painstakingly nurtured during the years turned out, eventually, to be inferior to an illegitimate daughter like Su Qingsang who had grown up more free-spiritedly and without much guidance.

Was this not a slap in her face?

Li Qianxue suddenly straightened her posture and started examining Su Peizhen’s face. She spaced out for a moment.

So this was Su Chenghui’s revenge?

If it was, the reason behind all his previous actions and behavior aimed at favoring Su Peizhen over others, and his blatant disregard towards Su Qingsang, was coming to light now.

He had raised his favorite daughter in a way that would put her at a disadvantage in the future!

The rich and powerful families had a commonly used course of action: indulging their own children, allowing them to become condescending, to view others with disregard, and to be arrogant and willful. Finally, their children, having such inherent characteristics, would create a series of troubles and wreak havoc.

Was Su Chenghui harboring this intention all along?

This was completely plausible. Su Chenghui definitely planned to spoil Su Peizhen and push her in the direction of self-destruction.

However, Old Master Li and she were still formidably present in the family, and they would never quite let him have his way.

Despite that being the case, Su Peizhen was more willful and arrogant than most other women of privileged family background in Lin City.

Li Qianxue had forgotten the fact that she had always spoiled this daughter of hers since the beginning.

She could never satisfy her desire to dote on the flesh and blood that she had carried in her body for nine months of pregnancy.

However, now that she had sensed and grasped Su Chenghui’s method of raising their daughter, it seemed to strike her how viciously meticulous he was.

So you harbored such an idea, Su Chenghui? Was this your plan?

“Mother, what happened to you?”

Before Su Peizhen could ponder about the reason behind Li Qianxue’s strange behavior, she became increasingly worried about her mother’s demeanor.

“Mother, are you alright?”

“I am fine.” Li Qianxue’s expression had turned sour as she thought of Su Chenghui. Thinking about him naturally caused her to seethe silently.

At that moment, Li Qianxue felt that there was a ball of fire burning in her chest. She could not wait to confront her husband.

However, Li Qianxue was not that sort of impulsive person. Moreover, she had convinced herself of Su Chenghui being a sinister and meticulous person, so why would she look for him at this time to reason with him and put herself at a disadvantage?

“Peizhen, it’s obvious that you are not a child anymore. There are some matters which I feel you should handle with the appropriate methods.”

“Mother?” Su Peizhen was thrown into confusion by her mother’s words.

“Regarding your version of the incident where you had a confrontation with that woman in Japan, I do not believe that you said or did nothing that led to it.”

Su Peizhen’s demeanor became a little defensive. “Mother, you...why do you talk about me in this way?”

“It’s not important how I talk about you. The crucial thing is that you’re mature now and all grown up. You cannot handle the people in your social circles the way you handle matters at work.”

“Let us take Su Qingsang as an example. Right now, she is indeed the person who we want to avoid provoking. So the next time you encounter her, do not mind her. Of course, if she takes the initiative to make things difficult for you, then naturally you can let her have a taste of her own medicine. However, if you take the initiative to provoke her, you’ll easily fall victim to gossip and derision. Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you?”

Li Qianxue spoke earnestly. In her heart, she also hoped that her daughter could have a good character and a bright future to look forward to.

In the absence of a marriage agreement with the Qiu Family, if Su Peizhen still wished to marry into a family of equal standing, she had to rein in the negative aspects of her character.

“Mother, do you mean to say I have to put up with Su Qingsang? To allow her to have her way? What right has she to do that?”

“Look at you. You are angry again. What I mean to tell you is that you should not bother confronting her. If you restrain yourself, she can’t rise up against you, don’t you understand?”

Su Peizhen stopped reacting and remained silent. As she looked at Li Qianxue, she realized that her mother’s reasoning sounded very similar to Su Chenghui’s.

She gave an inward sigh. “Fine, I get your point. I will keep my distance from her next time. Will that do?”

“You do that.” Being well aware that her daughter was still secretly unconvinced and not willing to accept her advice, Li Qianxue decided against speaking about the matter further. In any case, Su Peizhen would understand matters better in the future.

At that moment, the waiter started to serve the dishes. Li Qianxue watched as her daughter once again brought up work-related matters. The thought she had just now, which she had yet to speak about, had also vanished.

All that had happened today morphed into a temporarily hidden seed of fury. It remained unknown when this seed would start to burn and illuminate all the suspicions she had before.

...

When Su Qingsang came out of the shower, she instantly spotted a box on her vanity table. The box was wrapped in blue paper. This time, there was no gaudy ribbon on it. It looked simple and elegant.

This was the gift that she had prepared for Su Yuxin. However, it was not the weekend yet and Su Yuxin was still in school.

Out of the blue, she thought of the extra gift she had which she had casually given to Li Qianxue. She assumed that when Li Qianxue opened the gift to see its contents, she would be infuriated to a point of throwing it away.

Thinking about that made her feel a sense of pity. However, when she recalled Li Qianxue’s demeanor earlier in the day, she was no longer sorry for the woman. Instead, she felt amused.

“What are you thinking about? You’re smiling like a fox.”

Huo Jinyao was standing behind her. He just happened to see her bemused smile in the reflection in the mirror. He reached out and easily drew her petite frame into his embrace.

“It’s nothing.” Su Qingsang gave a shake of her head. She decided it was better not to let Huo Jinyao know about how Li Qianxue had come looking to confront her in the hospital earlier today.

“Is it really nothing?” Huo Jinyao placed his hands on her waist, his playful air extremely obvious. “Are you going to tell me about it?”

Su Qingsang raised her hands in surrender.

“I’m just thinking about when I should send this gift over to Su Yuxin.”

This was not the truth, but Huo Jinyao had no intention to expose her lie just yet.

“Anytime will do.” If not for the fact that Su Yuxin still had some brotherly love for Su Qingsang, he was not sure if he would allow this gift to be sent over.

Huo Jinyao suddenly sat up straight. He turned Su Qingsang around so that she faced him.

“Dear, you’ve been on a trip to Japan and had enjoyed yourself with your mother for a couple of days. Within that short period of time, you had gotten gifts for the people in your work department and for Su Yuxin. But what about me? Where is my gift?”