Although Qiao Ying didn't understand what Li Lilian was talking about, even a fool could see that Qiao Ying did not have a good relationship with this family.
It wasn't that they hadn't treated the child well, as Li Lilian had said.
Su Zhan couldn't help but interject, "Cheating on the university entrance exam to get a guaranteed spot at Capital University? What's going on here?"
Su Zhan vaguely remembered his daughter mentioning that Capital University had guaranteed admission to an even more incredible math genius than Xu Zhiyi this year, and after some time she said the math genius who cheated was an imposter.
He looked at Li Lilian, who was clearly not a good person, and then looked at Qiao Lingling, who was not going to school and staying home.
No one paid any attention to him.
Qiao's father sighed with shame and embarrassment, while Li Lilian and Qiao Lingling both had uncomfortable and awkward expressions of guilt.
Seeing Su Zhan interfering with the Qiao family affairs,
Qiao Ying asked him, "What business do you have here anyway?"
Su Zhan replied, "I..." He glanced at Qiao's father and asked for his approval, "Mr. Qiao, can I speak now?"
Qiao's father weakly nodded his head and squatted back down by the doorway.
Su Zhan looked at Qiao Ying's face while his emotions roiled continuously. He didn't know where to start at first, his lips opened and closed. Suddenly, he remembered something and quickly took out his phone to pull up a photo.
"Dear, please take a look at this photo," he said, holding the phone out to Qiao Ying.
Qiao Ying didn't take it and merely glanced at it.
The photo was one Su Zhan had casually taken to remember that night when he returned home after seeing the photos at the Su family. It was the only photo of his oldest brother together with the woman he never married.
The photo was yellowed with age.
The woman in the photo had delicate brows and a gentle temperament. Her features looked eighty to ninety percent similar to Qiao Ying's.
After looking it over, Qiao Ying raised her eyes to look at Su Zhan.
Su Zhan said in an agitated voice he was trying to control, "Dear, these are your biological parents. I am your little uncle."
Su Zhan had thought that a matter of such great importance would be unbelievable to Qiao Ying. That after the initial shock she would seek confirmation from her family, have difficulty accepting it, have an emotional reaction, and snatch his phone for a better look.
But none of that happened.
She didn't show any emotion at all towards the family she had lived with for over ten years or towards her new parents - it was as if she were an emotionally stunted child. If Su Zhan hadn't known how clever the girl was, he would have thought she was reacting slowly.
The girl's cold face revealed not a hint of emotional fluctuation. Unless he was mistaken, her gaze even held a trace more annoyance.
It was then that Qiao's father said, "...Little Ying, I'm not your biological dad. I adopted you."
Qiao's father painfully recounted again the story of how he had found her abandoned.
"Dear, your biological father was my eldest brother, the Su family heir, Su Yu. Your mother was a woman from Su City named An Ying," Su Zhan also explained to her.
Su Yu, the Su family heir and eldest son, was a workaholic with great ambitions. Back then, for the sake of bringing the Su family business to greater heights, he had no time for his own marriage or the marriage arrangements made by his family, rejecting proposal after proposal.
Later when the Su family patriarch passed away, Su Yu threw himself wholeheartedly into the business, still unmarried at the age of thirty-two. By that time, his two younger brothers had already started families, leaving him the only one still single.
The following year, when Su Yu was thirty-three, he went to Su City on business for some time. Because he was interested in the local culture there, he accompanied a friend to the opera house to watch Su opera, where he fell in love at first sight with An Ying, one of the singers on stage.
Qiao Ying’s birth mother, An Ying, had lived a difficult life.
As Su Yu spent time getting to know her, he became deeply attracted to An Ying’s kindness, gentleness and thoughtfulness. Afterwards, whenever Su Yu had a chance he would go to Su City to see An Ying.
The two gravitated naturally into a relationship after a year.
After another year, Su Yu told his family he wanted to marry An Ying.
As the marriage of the eldest son had always been a concern for Grandmother Su, upon hearing that her son was finally ready to start a family, Grandmother Su was overjoyed.
But when she found out her son wanted to marry not only a sickly orphan without parents but also an actress, Grandmother Su would die before she agreed.
Su Yu and his family were at loggerheads for two months. He even proposed leaving the Su family - status, identity, and the company - he didn’t want any of it as long as he could marry An Ying.
Seeing her son so obstinate and single-minded, in order to get him to change his mind, Grandmother Su threatened him with her life.
And so Su Yu found himself trapped by the Su family.
Every time he steeled himself to go look for An Ying, his mother would stop him with threats of death.
He asked his younger brother Su Zhan to go to Su City and check on the frail An Ying.
Earlier Su Zhan had gone with his brother to Su City before and met An Ying once, but this time when he went with his brother’s request, he couldn’t find An Ying anywhere.
The opera house An Ying performed at had closed down. Her teacher and the other disciples had scattered, and no one knew where An Ying had gone.
Su Yu guessed his mother had arranged for the opera house to be closed.
Unable to accept it, he abandoned everything to search for An Ying, but after looking for a whole year he still couldn’t find her. Out of extreme anxiety over An Ying’s wellbeing, he fell critically ill several times.
Su Zhan brought his elder brother, now dispirited and wasted away, back home.
The once high-spirited Su Yu sank into depression after that, contracting the illness in the midst of searching for An Ying. His condition only worsened over time.
Qiao Ying asked coldly how he had died.
Su Yu spent the next two years at home in a medicated haze, vegetating. During those two years Grandmother Su still failed to recognize her mistakes.
Finally, after yet another emotional clash, Grandmother Su completely lost this son.
"He...your father committed suicide," Su Zhan said in anguish.
Qiao Ying's expression was remote, remaining an indifferent listener from beginning to end.
After hearing everything, she only had one thought: What a headache!
"If my brother had known he still had a child, he would definitely not have committed suicide..." Su Zhan felt endless heartache and regret. There was also remorse.
If only he could have helped his brother more back then, perhaps his brother wouldn’t have met such an end.
Qiao Ying asked coldly, “And the woman died how?”
Since Su Zhan had seen An Ying before and also knew his brother would not have judged wrongly, he assumed that if An Ying hadn’t been unable to go on herself, she would never have abandoned her child.
“Your mother was always sickly ever since she was little. She left you at the entrance of the community health center. She probably...”
After listening, Qiao’s father felt even more distressed for Qiao Ying.
He asked Su Zhan, “That authoritarian mother of yours, if the child goes back with you, won’t she mistreat her?”
Su Zhan swore on his life to Qiao’s father that would absolutely not happen.
Yet Qiao Ying responded coldly, “Who said I’m going back with you?”
Su Zhan turned to look at her. “Dear, I know my Su family owes your mother... And your father as well... We made you suffer outside all these years, and you’ve grown up now too. I understand you don’t yet have any feelings for the Su family. That’s all right. Go as slowly as you need. No matter if you choose to stay with this family or return to the Su family and acknowledge your ancestry, I will respect your decision.”
Then Su Zhan said to Qiao Ying’s adoptive parents, “Just now I also said, regardless of whether the child is willing to return to the Su family or not, my family will repay your kindness.”
Li Lilian quickly added some flattering words, hoping Qiao Ying would think about all the years she ate at the Qiao’s expense and not be so ungrateful.
Qiao Ying glanced at the card Su Zhan held pinched in his fingers, “Repay kindness?”
She looked at the guilty Li Lilian and the rather haggard Qiao Lingling, then mocked, “Repay them for abusing me all these years?”
Su Zhan exclaimed in shock, “Abuse?”
He immediately looked towards Li Lilian and her daughter.
"No such thing! This child has been mischievous since she was little. Our family is poor, we can't compare to you rich folk. To earn enough for a couple of meals a day, every day we get up before dawn and work backbreakingly till night, and have to look after three children besides. If the child is disobedient and needs a scolding and a hit or two from her parents, isn't that normal? When I was little my father and mother whacked me no shortage of times - us poor families can't afford to hire three or four nannies like you rich people to attend the children. This child is as good as my own flesh and blood! What parents don't cherish their children? To call this disciplining abuse, this child really only remembers wrongs not favors." Li Lilian prevaricated slanderously.
Su Zhan looked to Qiao Ying.
The latter gave him an icy stare, "Didn't investigate thoroughly before coming in?"
Su Zhan felt somewhat ashamed. "The timeline was tight. I only brought an assistant..."
Qiao Ying lifted her chin slightly towards the door, "Go out and ask the neighbors on the street. Then you'll know if it was discipline or abuse."
Hearing this, Su Zhan recalled Li Lilian blurting "damn girl" several times before and her caustic temper. His face darkened.
