Chapter 50: I refused to go; the rest of the Shen family has nothing to do with me...

Having been given a second chance at life, Qiu Xiaoman is not here to cultivate a deep father-daughter bond with Shen Qinghuai. Moreover, his kindness towards her now is merely because she has become useful to him.

Otherwise, why didn't he visit her or give her money after she was left in Yunnan for so many years?

He wasn't a homeless vagrant; on the contrary, he was a wealthy boss.

How could someone so heartless and ungrateful expect her to become his daughter after he's spent some money?

She refused outright: "Mr. Shen, you seem to have a bit of a memory. Your wife even wanted to kill me. Do you think I'd just run off to your Shen family like this? Do you want to die?"

Shen Qinghuai quickly promised, "I will handle it; she won't succeed."

"Then take your time to handle it. By the way, you didn't pay Song Xiaojun's hospital fees, did you?" Qiu Xiaoman forgot to ask about this last night.

Shen Qinghuai nodded: "I've covered the medical expenses, but finding a suitable cornea isn't easy."

"Don't worry about this. Let them figure it out themselves. If something like this happens again, just let me know. Some people are just inherently crooked; you can't help them, it'll only make things worse. I'll ask the siblings for the medical expenses later and transfer it directly to your account. Okay, that's all, I'm going to get back to work." Qiu Xiaoman hung up the phone before the other person could say anything.

Shen Qinghuai was both annoyed and amused by his decisive and efficient manner.

What's infuriating is that this daughter refuses to give him face; what's amusing is that her style of doing things is quite similar to his.

He placed his mobile phone on the bedside table, looked at his three daughters who had just gotten up and were washing up, and sighed silently.

His three daughters with Liang Yuting are not very good.

The eldest, though sensible, is timid and unlike him at all; the second is mischievous, always eyeing other people's things and fighting with his sisters for everything, just like Liang Yuting; the third likes to imitate boys, cutting her hair short, wearing underwear, and even trying to sit with her legs spread apart like boys, and even fussing about standing to pee. She may not think anything of it now because she is young, but if she continues like this when she grows up, she will be ridiculed by her peers.

Especially now that the children have a younger brother, the second and third children love to compare themselves to their younger brother in every way.

He's rich, and his daughters are all raised by him, so he won't mistreat them. However, there are some things that boys can do but girls can't.

While they are still young, we need to correct their bad habits as soon as possible. So I gave the nanny a few instructions and told her to make sure that the second and third children get rid of those bad habits.

With the comparison, he felt even more that Xiaoman was better. She was lively, cheerful, and poised from a young age, and was clearly Shen Qinghuai's child.

Unfortunately, their father-daughter relationship cannot be repaired overnight. Let's take it slow; there's still a long time. Feelings are built up over time.

He glanced at his watch, got up, and went to work.

As soon as he arrived at the company, his mobile phone rang. It was a call from Hong Kong. Liang Yuting's uncle, naturally siding with his niece, questioned Shen Qinghuai in a booming voice whether he was planning to acknowledge his daughter as a member of the family.

When Shen Qinghuai remarried, he did promise that he would never have any further involvement with Chen Baihui and his eldest daughter, so he was indeed in the wrong.

However, no matter how wrong he was, it was a matter between him and Liang Yuting, and even his parents wouldn't interfere. No one else had the right to point fingers.

So he retorted without hesitation, "This is my family matter. Uncle is getting old, so please take it easy and enjoy your retirement."

The uncle on the other end was clearly annoyed and questioned, "If I hadn't given you pointers back then, would you have been doing so well? You can't forget your roots. Don't think you can do whatever you want just because you have some money."

These words successfully enraged Shen Qinghuai. Over the years, he had helped Liang Yuting's relatives a lot, whether they were her father's or her mother's relatives. He had done his best for them and had a clear conscience.

Without even mentioning distant examples, just take Lao Liang from Fule Shopping Mall. If it weren't for his help, no matter how much money we had, we wouldn't have been able to take over that shopping mall.

He couldn't help but sneer: "Uncle, you're really joking. I can honestly say that apart from my eldest daughter with Chan Pak-wai, I've been fair to everyone."

Upon hearing this, the person on the other end knew that Shen Qinghuai had indeed considered acknowledging his daughter, so they could only warn him: "If you really want to acknowledge this daughter, then just wait for Tingting to divorce you and divide the family property!"

"Fine, let's get a divorce. Let her tell me herself how much she wants in the settlement." Shen Qinghuai wasn't going to be controlled by an old man over sixty. He made a harsh statement and then slammed the phone down.

Liang Yuting, who was leaning close to the microphone, was stunned. He wasn't afraid of divorce? He even asked her how much she wanted in the settlement. It seemed he was determined this time!

Enraged, she turned around and booked a plane ticket, ready to come back and have a huge fight with Shen Qinghuai.

Shen Qinghuai knew that once he said this, Liang Yuting would definitely come back. He decided to hire two bodyguards to follow Liang Yuting closely, lest this crazy woman try to jump off the roof again and force him to back down.

He would never allow the same thing to happen a second time!

*

When Qiu Xiaoman got up, Li Tuantuan was already washing rice and making breakfast. The rest of them didn't dare touch the cake, and it's still intact.

Qiu Xiaoman thought it would be a waste not to eat it, so she went to tell Tuantuan, "Tuantuan, you can cook some white rice porridge, and we can cut the cake together later."

"Okay." Li Tuantuan has already started working at the barbershop and is adapting well so far. The barbershop even prepaid him a month's salary. As soon as he got the money, he bought new clothes and a new schoolbag for his sister and sent them over. He still has a little over a hundred yuan left in his own hands.

Qiu Xiaoman offered him cake, and he felt a little embarrassed, but he still mustered up the courage to ask, "Can I cut a piece and take it to Yuanyuan?"

"Sure, find a bigger plate. The trays from the bakery are too small; you can't cut much from them." Seeing that Xiao Qiao and the others had gotten up, Qiu Xiaoman unpacked the cake and cut it up first. She planned to eat it with hot white rice porridge so the cake wouldn't get cold.

While they were eating, there was a knock on the door. Chai Dafeng had been coming over for several days but had not seen Qiu Xiaoman. He could only keep track of Qiu Xiaoman's whereabouts through Lao Wang from the police station.

Liang Yuting was very dissatisfied, so he had to rush over early in the morning.

Li Tuantuan had no idea what he was up to and thought he was a really good person. When she saw him come, she quickly took the steamed bun from his hand and invited him to sit down.

She turned around and asked, "Sister Xiaoman, may I cut a piece for Brother Fei?"

"Tch." Qiu Xiaoman didn't show anything. This wasn't Li Tuantuan's fault. He was focused on finding a high-paying job so that if his sister was mistreated by their stepmother, he could take her in.

This kind of eagerness can impair one's ability to think critically.

It's understandable that they were deceived by Chai Dafei.

She also wanted to see what Liang Yuting was up to, so she pretended not to know and tacitly approved of Chai Dafei's appearance.

Chai Dafei sat down, greeted everyone, and glanced at Qiu Xiaoman's bandaged hand, asking, "Did you get injured while on a call?"

"How did you know I was on a call?" Qiu Xiaoman went directly from the base yesterday and came back late. The kids in the yard probably thought she was working overtime and wouldn't have directly contacted her superiors.

Chai Dafeng was clearly prepared, and calmly explained, "I heard it from someone else."

"Others? Your relative works at the Public Security Bureau?" Qiu Xiaoman asked casually.

Chai Dafeng didn't intend to hide it, since it was easy to investigate, especially since Qiu Xiaoman had joined the criminal investigation team. So he replied truthfully, "Old Wang at the police station is a relative of mine."

"Old Wang is really well-informed. How did he know I was on duty?" Qiu Xiaoman thought of the anti-trafficking case. Back then, the traffickers were able to receive intelligence in advance, so the problem might not only lie with the police station.

She's currently at the base, yet even unrelated police stations know about her dispatch. That only shows that there are gossipy people in the criminal investigation team. Whether it was intentional or accidental is hard to say.

Chai Dafei laughed and said, "Is there any need to ask? You're so young, yet you've already gained Director Wen's favor. Many people are curious about you, asking around and finding out."

That sounds reasonable, but it cleverly avoids the source of the information, which makes it difficult to investigate. There are so many people in the criminal investigation team, and the family members could also be involved.

In short, let's put this topic aside for now; asking it again would seem inappropriate.

Qiu Xiaoman calmly finished a piece of cake and had to admit that having money was good; you could use the best ingredients.

In all her life, she had only ever eaten a piece of cake once, when she was admitted to the county high school, and that cake was made for her by her adoptive mother.

Because they had no money, the adoptive mother learned the recipe from the window of a cake shop in the county town. Although it was full of love, the ingredients were too shoddy, so objectively speaking, the taste was definitely not as good as the one Shen Qinghuai ordered.

But when she tasted the food, what she missed most was the one her adoptive mother made for her. Unfortunately, her adoptive parents didn't have a landline, so she couldn't call them. She could only write letters. Otherwise, she really wanted to call them every day to say hello.

After much thought, she decided to send a telegram this afternoon. She had already sent the 50,000 yuan last time, but she didn't know if it would be enough to treat her leg.

If all else fails, she should come to Beidu to have her legs checked. Now that she has money, she should repay their kindness in raising her.

After finishing the cake, she wiped her mouth, checked on the two injured dogs at home, patted Mango's bulging belly, and told the three of them to guard the house.

She then got up, slung her faded canvas bag over her shoulder, and prepared to go to work.

When I opened the door, there were several cars parked in a row on the road outside. Chen Weiping, that clown, had pushed the front of his car onto the curb in order to get a good spot.

Seeing her come out, he quickly opened the car door and offered his help: "Xiaoman, come on, I'll take you to work."

Qiu Xiaoman ignored him and glanced at the second car, Shen Tenglong's Santana. It was the most plain and inconspicuous, but parked the most neatly. The car's lines were parallel to the curb. You probably couldn't measure it that precisely with a ruler. It really was the style of an honest man.

The honest man was leaning against the car and eating a steamed bun. He was obviously in a hurry and hadn't had time to eat at home. When he saw her come out, he gave her a simple and honest smile, which made her feel happy.

The third car was driven by Jiang Mingyuan. He deliberately turned the car around and parked it so that he could leave directly, saving her time.

The last one was from that masochist. He had clearly been beaten, yet he still had the nerve to come over. It was unbelievable.

Without a second thought, Qiu Xiaoman walked straight to Shen Tenglong's car, turned to Chen Weiping and said, "Go back and tell your aunt not to make you run errands anymore. If she really wants to get close to me, let her do it herself."

Turning back, she smiled at Jiang Mingyuan: "Brother Jiang, you don't need to pick me up anymore. I can just ride in my brother's car. He's laid off anyway, so he has time."

As for that foul-mouthed man, she didn't even say hello, but simply bent down and sat in the back of the Santana.

With no other option, Liu Kun had to back his car out. Only after Jiang Mingyuan's car had also left could Shen Tenglong back out.

On the way, Shen Tenglong looked in the rearview mirror and said, "Chen Weiping left, Jiang Mingyuan went to the Public Security Bureau, and the other one is still with us."

Qiu Xiaoman was quite curious to see what Liu Kun was up to, so she calmly said, "Never mind him."

“It must be Liu Yuandou’s mission, but don’t worry, your uncle is already dealing with the Liu family. They’re really not following the proper procedures.” Shen Tenglong stopped at the red light. In the rearview mirror, Liu Kun’s car changed lanes at the end of the dotted line and stopped at the same level as the Santana.

The driver's side window was open. In such cold weather and with such a cold wind, didn't they feel freezing?

Qiu Xiaoman didn't understand this oddball and was too lazy to waste her breath, so she looked away, closed her eyes, and took a nap.

When the car stopped at the entrance of the base, Qiu Xiaoman yawned deeply. She hadn't been sleeping well these past few days, and she was sure she would sleep soundly until Sunday.

Before getting out of the car, she buttoned up her open trench coat and said, "Brother, you can come ten minutes early at noon, otherwise there will be a lot of traffic on the road after get off work."

That way I can get there sooner and see my aunt.

Shen Tenglong smiled and opened the car door: "Okay, see you at noon! By the way, Grandpa's birthday is coming up soon, I'd like to help you pick out a gift—"

Before Shen Tenglong could finish speaking, Qiu Xiaoman interrupted him.

She turned around and said calmly, "I don't have a grandfather. I'm willing to ride in your car simply because you're a good person, nothing more. The rest of the Shen family has nothing to do with me, so don't mention them again."

Shen Tenglong sighed and said nothing, only instructing, "Liu Kun got off the bus. I'll leave later. Don't be afraid."