Chapter 73

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Translator: Cheese

Mutually pitting

Ji Shaoheng’s sudden declaration stunned everyone in the room.

The man sat on the sofa, his modest and courteous posture unable to block out his imposing aura or the composure and ease of a superior.

As he said this, his gaze fell on He Qingwan, with a gentleness and love that was the complete opposite of his sharp and stern aura. No one who saw his expression would doubt his love for the woman in his eyes.

The tender affections of an iron-wrought man–this was probably an apt description.

The two elderlies of the He family stared at Ji Shaoheng, then back at their daughter, their brains stuttering to a halt. W-w-w-what was this situation?

How could Ji Shaoheng and He Qingwan be… in love???!!!

Old Mrs. He clutched her chest, gasping for breath.

It wasn’t that Ji Shaoheng was bad, but that Ji Shaoheng was too excellent. The only son of the Ji family, he was a civil servant at the bureau level1 with a bright future ahead of him. Most importantly, he was five years younger than Qingwan, and he was unwed and bringing up a child that was not his own. Many people in the capital were aware of that last point.

No matter from which perspective they looked, Ji Shaoheng and their daughter were completely unsuitable.

He Qingwan was even more confused than they were. She looked at Ji Shaoheng in bewilderment, wanting to ask exactly when she had fallen in love with him. Just now, they had clearly been discussing her and Su Yuhe’s remarriage. Why did Ji Shaoheng propose marriage without warning?

She leaned forward, and just as she was about to open her mouth, she saw Ji Shaoheng shoot her a sly wink.

He Qingwan watched him begin to introduce himself to the elderly couple:

“Uncle, Auntie, I will be 34 after the new year. I am currently the director of Imperial City’s police department but expect to be promoted within three years. I am the only child in my family, and my monthly salary is about XXXXX. If Qingwan can marry me, all my salary will be handed over to her. My relationship history is clean, and I have no bad hobbies except raising fish. Ji Hang is my adopted child–with Tiantian, it will be just right with one daughter and one son. In the future, it will be Qingwan’s decision whether to have another child. I have no requests…”

The old couple’s shock was gradually replaced by ecstasy. The more they listened, the more satisfied they became. Although Ji Shaoheng’s income was not comparable to Su Yuhe’s, the police department was a department with real power, not to mention his future prospects were immeasurable.

The change in expression on the old couple’s faces was too obvious. When it fell in Su Yuhe’s sights, it was simply excruciating, like a nail stabbing his eyes.

Managing his slightly distorted expression, he retorted, his eyes fixed on Ji Shaoheng, “Director Ji, you also said that you are the only son in the family. Will the elders in your family agree to you marrying Qingwan?”

Su Yuhe nearly exhausted all the self-control in his body to not lose his temper on the spot.

But as soon as these words were spoken, the two elders of the He family also woke from their jubilant mood.

That’s right, the Ji family was not an ordinary family. With Ji Shaoheng’s status, would the Ji family allow him to marry a divorcee, a woman five years older than him and with her own child?

If they didn’t agree, then when Qingwan married over, she would be harassed by the other party’s parents. At that time, even Tiantian would suffer.

Ji Shaoheng’s response was a bit quieter, and Su Tian and Ji Hang couldn’t hear clearly from the bedroom. The two children opened the bedroom door to reveal a gap, then sat next to the door and began to listen from the corner.

The two were face to face and very close. The youth could almost smell the faint, feminine fragrance coming from Su Tian’s body. His face under the mask gradually warmed.

Su Tian listened in, kneeling on the ground and peeking through the crack. Unfortunately, both He Qingwan and Ji Shaoheng had their backs to her. From this angle, she could only see Su Yuhe’s hideous, wretched face.

She pouted, turning to the youth next to her. “Ji Hang gege, are your grandparents nice?”

Ji Shaoheng was raising a child while single, which would definitely affect his marriage prospects. Based on the attitude of the Ji family elders towards Ji Hang, Su Tian would be able to roughly infer their attitude towards He Qingwan if she really did marry Ji Shaoheng in the future.

The youth stared at the girl’s thin, fair earlobes.

So soft, so pink, so cute, could he touch them?

He licked his dry lips from beneath his mask. The dazed youth was suddenly asked a question and couldn’t answer right away. He stared back innocently, as though asking what she was talking about.

Su Tian couldn’t help giggling. Why was this little gege so foolish sometimes?

She asked again, “How do your grandparents treat you?”

The youth nodded, then shook his head.

Huh?

Su Tian was confused. So was that good or not?

The youth: “I rarely see them, so I don’t know.”

Su Tian asked quietly, “Does Uncle Ji have a bad relationship with his family?”

The youth shook his head again. “I’m not sure. He rarely gets in touch with his family.”

Su Tian: “…”

She couldn’t get any answer from Ji Hang, so Su Tian could only listen to how Ji Shaoheng answered this question.

The youth’s eyes fell back on the girl’s earlobes, his gaze focused and inquisitive.

Ji Shaoheng looked at Su Yuhe and smiled. “President Su, thank you for worrying for me.”

Su Yuhe gave a false smile. “After all, Qingwan is my ex-wife, and Tiantian is my daughter. It’s only natural to be considerate of them.”

Ji Shaoheng: “As you should, as you should. But no need to worry, President Su. My parents are very open-minded and have never interfered in my private affairs. When I adopted Ji Hang, I told them I would not marry or have children in the future. Now that I have changed my mind, they will be eager to set off firecrackers. Not to mention…”

Ji Shaoheng turned his gaze to He Qingwan, who still looked bewildered. His eyes were full of smiles. “…Qingwan is so good, and who I like is my choice. My parents will never object. And even if they did not agree, at this age, can’t I protect my woman?”

He Qingwan had been stunned, but when Ji Shaoheng looked at her, her face flushed red.

She felt shy and awkward. What part of her was as good as he claimed? But his eyes were clearly telling her that he was speaking the truth.

Especially that sentence… “my woman”…

Her heart was in turmoil. He had winked at her just now, so all this should be fake? He was saying it for her parents and Su Yuhe to hear, to help give her a way out…

Having figured it out, her heartbeat finally returned to normal, and the heat on her face cooled down.

Director Ji was such a nice person. She was extremely grateful.

Old Mrs. He: “What about Xiao Hang? After all, he’s grown so big…”

He was at the age of rebelliousness. If he opposed it, it would be a troublesome matter.

“Yes, yes,” Su Yuhe hurriedly agreed, “The child’s opinion can’t be ignored. Is Tiantian willing to call you Dad?”

Ji Shaoheng smiled, thinking in his heart, this is exactly what that little brat wanted2.

He offered, “Then… why don’t I call Xiao Hang out and ask?”

Su Yuhe: “I also need to ask what Tiantian wants. If Tiantian disagrees, I will absolutely disagree!”

The more firmly3 he spoke, the more uneasy he felt.

Back at the police station, Tiantian had clearly had a good impression of Ji Shaoheng. Look at how sweetly she called him Uncle Ji.

How long has it been since she called him Dad? It seems that ever since the car accident, Tiantian had never called him that again…

Su Yuhe felt a rush of acid in his heart. Who here was her biological father?

Old Mr. He nodded: “Okay. Qingwan, go call Tiantian and ask what she thinks.”

Ji Shaoheng frowned, feeling a bit uncomfortable. However, he still hadn’t obtained a son-in-law title, so he silently endured.

He Qingwan silently stood up. Just as she was going to knock, the bedroom door was pushed open.

Su Tian and Ji Hang emerged from the room.

“Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Uncle Ji, we heard you from the bedroom.”

Su Tian had addressed all the elders in the living room except Su Yuhe, and Su Yuhe’s complexion changed again.

Old Mr. He: “Since you’ve heard, do you agree to your mother and Uncle Ji marrying?”

He Qingwan had sat back down when Tiantian came out. She kept her head down without speaking.

Su Tian looked at He Qingwan, answering in a soft voice, “Grandpa, as long as Mom is happy, I will support whatever decision she makes. In fact, you don’t need to ask me. I’m only her daughter. It’s Mom’s life; she can make the choice.”

He Qingwan slowly lifted her head and turned to Su Tian, the rims of her eyes glowing red.

As a child, she obeyed her parents; when she married, she obeyed her husband. Over the years, there had always been people who asked her to be obedient, to think about this, think about that. They made decisions for her, and she just had to follow according to other’s ideas. No one cared about what she wanted. Over time, she grew accustomed to listening to others.

But it was Tiantian, only Tiantian, who told her that this was her life, her choice.

Su Tian came over to He Qingwan and sat down. “Mom, I can live well without relying on the Su family. You don’t need to worry about me. Just ask yourself: do you want to remarry?”

She didn’t ask He Qingwan whether she wanted to remarry Ji Shaoheng. Even if He Qingwan didn’t remarry Su Yuhe, that didn’t mean she had to marry Ji Shaoheng.

Whether to remarry was one matter; whether to marry Ji Shaoheng was another.

He Qingwan grabbed Su Tian’s wrist, shaking her head.

“Tiantian, I’m sorry…”

She continued to shake her head, nearly in tears.

“Mom was being too selfish. Your grandmother was right. With the Su family’s protection, no one will dare to bully you…”

Su Tian smiled. “No one dares to bully me now. If someone dares to bully us, I will beat him until he has to crawl around the floor for his teeth4.”

Pfft–He Qingwan couldn’t help laughing.

She was always mystified. Why was Tiantian so strong? After the car accident, no matter how much pain she was in or how uncomfortable she was, she never cried.

Whenever He Qingwan recalled this, her heart ached.

When Su Yuhe saw Su Tian come out and make the situation worse, he expression sank, and he put on the air of a father. “Tiantian, I am your father. How can you…”

Before he could finish speaking, He Qingwan suddenly rose to her feet and jabbed a finger in his direction. “Get out!”

Su Yuhe was aghast.

He Qingwan’s indifference towards him was already incredible enough, but now she even yelled at him?!

The two He family elders were no less shocked than Su Yuhe. They had never seen their soft and frail daughter speak in such a loud voice.

He Qingwan had no mind to consider her volume. She was already annoyed, yet Su Yuhe even dared to yell at Tiantian.

He still had the face to yell at Tiantian, to put on airs in front of her!

Ji Shaoheng quietly cast a sidelong glance at Ji Hang, wanting to laugh.

Just this much could scare them?

If they had seen He Qingwan yanking Lin Xiuping by the hair like a shrew, would their jaws have fallen to the ground?

Su Tian was clearly He Qingwan’s reverse scale. Anyone who touched her would die.

He had to be careful in the future.

Hss, hold on–he suddenly remembered his family’s little brat. In the future, when his identity was revealed and Su Tian was annoyed, wouldn’t he be held jointly responsible?

As he thought so, the way he looked at the little brat became a little strange.

Director Ji tapped his chin, planning how to sell the little brat in the future and save himself from being implicated.

Seeing that Su Yuhe didn’t budge, He Qingwan simply marched over to pull him up and shoved him out.

He Qingwan’s face was cold. “Tiantian has school tomorrow. You should leave.”

She addressed not only Su Yuhe, but also everyone else in the house.

Su Yuhe: “Qingwan! What are you doing? I haven’t finished speaking…”

Ji Shaoheng came over to assist with a meaningful look. “President Su, this is Qingwan’s house. If you do not leave, it will be considered unauthorized trespassing.”

Su Yuhe turned to look at the old couple. “Mom, Dad, you…”

The two elderlies stood up, supporting each other, and strode out the door with a cold harrumph.

With Ji Shaoheng as comparison, who would still look at you, Su Yuhe?

Su Yuhe: “…”

Ji Shaoheng: “Come, come, little… Xiao Hang5, come help me send President Su out.”

Ji Hang’s brows lightly furrowed. He stretched out his hand, revealing the youth’s fair wrist and exquisite, slender wrist bones.

He said, “President Su, this way, please.”

Otherwise, when Ji Shaoheng played rough, this person who sat in an office chair all day probably wouldn’t be able to stand it.

Even if Su Yuhe was unwilling, the circumstance forced the person, and he could only stiffly straighten out his clothes and march out.

He Qingwan was in a foul mood, lacking the patience to even look at Ji Shaoheng. She lightly thanked him and slammed the door shut.

She turned back to see Su Tian staring thoughtfully at the door.

“Tiantian, what’s wrong?”

Su Tian withdrew her gaze. Smiling, she ran over and hugged He Qingwan’s waist, acting like a spoiled child: “Mom, can I sleep with you tonight?”

She was afraid He Qingwan would secretly cry in the middle of the night.

The image of Ji Hang’s hand overlapped with the hand of that youth named Yu Cai.

Was she thinking too much?

Yu Cai. Ji Hang. Was there any connection?

Outside, Su Yuhe gave a cold snort and stomped downstairs.

The youth wore a mask, only revealing a pair of black eyes. He looked at Ji Shaoheng and said, “What are you plotting now.”

The look in his eyes was exactly the same as the look he showed every time he pitted him in the past.

Ji Shaoheng guffawed. “What plot? I love you so much I think about you all day long.”

Heh. With a sneer, the youth turned and headed downstairs.

When he found an opportunity, he would sell Ji Shaoheng and tell Tiantian the truth in the meantime.

That way, she wouldn’t get mad… right?

[1] 厅级干部: This is probably around the 5th level (out of 11) in China’s administrative system, corresponding to the 11th and 12th ranks (out of 27). This would make him a mid-high level civil servant in the system, which is even more impressive considering Ji Shaoheng’s young age. Source: Wikipedia

[2] 求之不得: lit. seek but fail to get; exactly what one has been looking for

[3] 斩钉截铁: lit. to chop the nail and slice the iron; resolute and decisive

[4] 满地找牙: lit. to be looking for one’s teeth all over the floor

[5] Both “little brat” and “Xiao Hang” start with 小

Cheese: Su Tian when Yu Cai’s flimsy vest falls off: Heh 🙂 sharpening_knife.jpg

Su Yuhe in this chapter reminds me of that Chronicles of Narnia meme

Source: KnowYourMeme

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