Chapter 111 N-Relaxation
The little eggplant, who was being held by the Filipino maid, struggled to get off her and ran to her.
The innocent little girl was completely unaware of the undercurrents between him and Li Shuying, and happily opened her arms, saying, "Brother, hug me."
Chu Beiling hesitated for a moment, then picked it up and held it in his arms, walking towards Li Shuying.
Li Shuying glanced at Xing Yu, who was following closely behind her, forced a smile, and then said to Chu Beiling, "Let's talk."
Chu Beiling glanced sideways: "Help me take a look at Little Eggplant." Then she added, "I can handle it."
Xing Yu didn't like it, nor was he willing to wait behind Chu Beiling until he finished dealing with this matter. Upon hearing this, he subconsciously frowned and looked over, opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing and only nodded.
After he confirmed, Chu Beiling looked at Little Eggplant: "Eggplant, your brother needs to talk to Mommy about something and will be right back." He gestured towards Xing Yu with his lip: "Why don't you go play with this brother?"
The little eggplant was shy around strangers and hadn't seen her brother in a long time. She missed him terribly and didn't want to leave, so she wrapped her arms around his neck and wouldn't let go.
Her bright, amber cat-like eyes sized up Xing Yu.
He stared at it for a long time—
Little Eggplant then realized that this handsome older brother looked very familiar, and she opened her arms to ask for a hug: "Brother Yu, hug me."
Xing Yu paused slightly, then picked the person up and asked softly, "What does Eggplant want to do?"
Little Eggplant said, "I want to eat ice cream, strawberry flavor, and dip it in a big chicken leg."
Xing Yu looked at him, and Chu Beiling said, "It's okay to eat a little." Then he said to Little Eggplant, "Eggplant can't eat too much, and you can't pester this older brother to act cute or unreasonable."
A little ice cream is fine too. Little Eggplant was satisfied, nodding vigorously, automatically ignoring the following sentence.
Chu Beiling rubbed the little girl's fluffy head and said to Xing Yu, "This little girl is clever and mischievous. She knows how to play hard to get and act spoiled. If she makes unreasonable requests, just refuse them."
Xing Yu nodded slightly, said nothing, and left with Little Eggplant in his arms, followed by the Filipino maid.
He and Li Shuying returned to the office.
Chu Beiling brewed a cup of chamomile and dandelion tea for Li Shuying, placed it on the coffee table, and then looked up at her: "President Li, please have a seat."
Li Shuying didn't sit down. "Trying to shut me up with words, is that interesting?"
Chu Beiling glanced at her indifferently, said nothing more, and stood beside her: "Of course not. Ten years have passed, and I really am not sure if Xing Yu's feelings are still the same as before."
Li Shuying: "I disagree."
Chu Beiling was not surprised: "Actually, I really want you to accept me and Xing Yu, but I also know that it is difficult and unrealistic to get you to accept this, so I will not force you."
He paused—
"Of course, I can't sever ties with you because of this, and that's not realistic. You'll always be my mother, and I won't do that."
Chu Beiling said, "I won't ask you to do anything. If you can't accept it, I won't bother you anymore. Out of sight, out of mind. If needed, I will have my assistant visit you. And if possible, I would prefer to visit you and Xiao Qiezi in Singapore in person and often. I can't think of a better way."
Li Shuying took a deep breath and paused for a long time before saying, "If I don't agree and ask you to come back to Singapore with me, you'll pretend I'm not your mother, and you're planning to disown me, right?"
She laughed: "That's true. If I hadn't been sick back then, you would have made this choice long ago."
Chu Beiling apologized again for the impulsive words he had spoken back then.
Li Shuying interrupted her directly: "I don't want your apology."
“I hope you can respect me and my choice.” Chu Beiling looked up and stared directly into her eyes. “Just like back then, when I was worried about your health and didn’t want you to give birth to Xiao Qiezi, I still respected your choice even though I didn’t want to.”
“You still mind the birth of Little Eggplant,” Li Shuying’s breathing grew heavier. “Yes, getting pregnant with Little Eggplant was unexpected, but now that I’m pregnant, can I just abort her and just say I don’t want her anymore?”
As long as Xing Yu and his return to China are not mentioned, the relationship between the mother and son has been relatively harmonious and pleasant over the years.
Chu Beiling is meticulous, patient, considerate, and thoughtful. She can do everything perfectly, leaving no room for criticism. She is very filial and can also promptly detect and soothe her uncontrollable and fluctuating emotions caused by her illness.
Even though he always wanted to return to China, he would still consider her feelings.
She trusts and relies on her even more than her current husband, Zhao Chen.
But the relationship continued until he found out he was pregnant with Little Eggplant, at which point it plummeted to rock bottom.
Chu Beiling remained gentle and meticulous, leaving no room for criticism. Li Shuying, however, knew that it was only out of a sense of responsibility and blood ties.
Without this relationship, Chu Beiling would have made her truly understand what it means to be cold-hearted and ruthless.
Having been easily fooled by him, Li Shuying was furious and wanted to ask, "You can't even tolerate Xiao Qiezi? She's still your sister."
But she knew it wasn't all like that, otherwise she wouldn't be so good to Xiao Qiezi. Their relationship, which had dropped to a freezing point over the years, wouldn't have needed Xiao Qiezi to repair and maintain it.
Chu Beiling's feelings for her were based on responsibility and blood ties, but he truly doted on Xiao Qiezi.
Chu Beiling smiled and said, "Of course, you are a mother, and I can understand and respect your choice, even though I was worried back then and still am now about whether there will be any aftereffects or whether your illness will relapse."
He saw that Li Shuying was emotional and about to lose her balance, so he helped her up in time, but she pushed him away. He didn't say anything, walked to the coffee table and touched the water glass to check the temperature. It was a little cold.
Chu Beiling went to the small bar and brought her a fresh cup of tea at the right temperature. "Dandelion and chamomile tea, it's good for clearing heat and reducing internal fire. Otherwise, if you faint in a little while, I'll have to call an ambulance to take you to the hospital. Little Eggplant will cry tonight if she can't see you."
Li Shuying was speechless, choked by his gentle yet distant words.
Seeing that she wasn't going to take the water, Chu Beiling placed the glass on the cabinet next to her, indicating that Li Shuying should remember to drink if she wasn't feeling well, and then continued with what she hadn't finished saying:
“As a mother, you can’t bear to part with Xiaoqiezi, even facing the unknown and the risk of her illness relapsing, you still want to keep her. Xing Yu is my boyfriend, and I also want to keep my lover and accompany him through the long years to come.”
Li Shuying's breathing quickened, and her face turned from white to pale: "These are two completely different things. I am the mother who gave birth to her and raised her. What about you? What kind of relationship do you have? Is it a road that can go all the way? Do you know how chaotic this road is? You are gambling with your own life."
"When you say 'chaos,' are you referring to certain phenomena within this group, or to how society views them?"
Chu Beiling’s voice was calm but firm: “Every group has good and bad members, but we can’t deny the sincerity of everyone just because of the chaos of a few. Just like your venture capital circle, some people are opportunistic and some people cheat and swindle, but can you say that everyone who does venture capital is gambling? You can’t, because you know that you are serious, professional and respect the market.”
He paused, then continued, his tone even more solemn: "He and I are just two ordinary people living our lives earnestly. The path we're on may be less traveled and full of obstacles, but because I'm with him, I don't feel like I'm in the dark. If there are no lights on the road, we'll be our own lights."
“I understand your thoughts. I am unwilling to accept it because I know what you are worried about. It is not to appease you in order to achieve my goal.” Chu Beiling said, “I made this choice because I am prepared to accept all the consequences of this choice and give my all without regret. I have never thought about what I will gain.”
Li Shuying: "You can do whatever you want, but I can't let you go down this dark path."
"Mom, a woman carries a child for ten months and gives birth to a child. She has to pay a lot, lose a lot, and the damage to her body is irreversible."
Chu Beiling pursed her lips, composed herself, and said, "I've always felt that you shouldn't have brought me into this world. You've made your venture capital firm a great success, but if it weren't for my existence and the need to divert your energy to manage me, you would definitely have done even better and achieved even greater heights. I've always believed that."
Li Shuying froze for a moment, then couldn't help but say, "Chu Beiling, I'm just worried about you, so I don't want you to walk this path that's destined to be difficult. Am I wrong?"
“That’s right, that’s why I said I understand you,” Chu Beiling smiled faintly, “but Mom, I’ve never asked anything of you.”
Li Shuying was completely stunned.
She recalled that when she was pregnant with Chu Beiling, she had severe morning sickness and vomited everything she ate. The only thing she could eat was tomatoes. Her husband joked that since the little one in her belly loved tomatoes so much, they should just name him Tomato.
She was angry and strongly objected, because the name "Tomato" sounded awful. What kind of child is named "Tomato"? If he went to school with that name, he would be laughed at and ridiculed. How could her son face anyone?
It was just a casual joke, but because of her objections, her husband dared not mention it again.
It's probably because Li Shuying ate tomatoes throughout her pregnancy, resulting in a high level of red pigment. When Chu Beiling was born, he was small and red, curled up like a giant tomato.
My husband said that this child will definitely be very lively, sunny and cheerful in the future. You think "Tomato" sounds too awful, so how about we call him "Fanfan" instead?
Fiery red, the color of the sun.
Like Bei Ling, being spirited is also a synonym for being splendid, gorgeous, brilliant and dazzling.
Chu Beiling, Fanfan.
Their expectation for him has always been that Chu Fanfan grows up healthy and happy, and that he will always live a vibrant and energetic life, facing the sun.
Everything she did was to support Chu Beiling, allowing him to do whatever he wanted without any worries.
But from some point onwards, Li Shuying began to hope that he would stand out from the crowd and become an outstanding person. The premise for giving her care was that he was outstanding enough; otherwise, how could she leave behind what she wanted?
Completely ignoring the fact that, initially, all she wanted was for him to grow up healthy and happy.
Li Shuying did not speak.
Chu Beiling looked at her and said, "You, Xing Yu, and now Xiao Qiezi are the people I love and care about most in this world. Back then, my impulsive words did hurt you, and I have always regretted my rudeness. But when you were in the hospital and I had to choose between the two, it really hurt."
He remained silent for a long time before finally asking, "Mom, do you still want me to choose this option?"
At that moment, Li Shuying almost blurted out her agreement. Perhaps she had been overwhelmed by Chu Beiling's words for too long, and now her heart ached, and her throat was dry and hoarse, unable to utter a single word.
Chu Beiling didn't say anything more. He knew that Li Shuying was no longer so opposed and wary.
It's just a matter of time before she comes to her senses.
After a long time—
Li Shuying took out her phone and called the Filipino maid, asking her to bring Xiao Qiezi over. She was a little tired and wanted to go back to the hotel to rest first.
Chu Beiling accompanied her to the hall. Little Eggplant was being held in Xing Yu's arms and was sitting on his lap playing with his hair, tying it with colorful hair ties and clips.
Upon seeing them, the two looked over at the same time, one big and one small, and were momentarily stunned.
A hint of embarrassment flashed across Xing Yu's face. Little Eggplant climbed off the lap of a certain flower fairy, ran to his side, and opened her arms: "Brother, hug me."
Chu Beiling scooped her up with one hand, held her in his arms, and poked her nose with his finger: "Eggplant, you're rude."
The little eggplant looked at him with a pitiful expression: "Brother, but it looks really good."
“That’s still not okay,” Chu Beiling grabbed a handful of his hair. “If I mess up your hair, would you be happy?”
Little Eggplant immediately covered her head and shook her head: "No."
“Apologize to Brother Ayu,” Chu Beiling said.
Little Eggplant turned around and obediently apologized to Xing Yu, who had followed behind her: "Brother Yu, Little Eggplant won't do that again."
Xing Yu smiled and ruffled her fluffy head: "Good girl."
Chu Beiling looked at his head covered in flowers and held back her laughter: "If you keep indulging her like this, be careful she'll ride roughshod over you in the future."
“Your eyebrows and eyes are so similar to yours, I couldn’t bear to hurt you when you were wronged.” Xing Yu then looked at Li Shuying, who was standing not far behind him, and said, “I’ll go over there for a bit.”
Chu Beiling grabbed him and gestured with her eyes that he shouldn't go.
Xing Yu grasped his hand in return: "You have your considerations, and I have my responsibilities. This is not just your problem."
Chu Beiling summoned the Filipino maid to give her the small eggplant, and then went over with Xing Yu.
As he approached, Li Shuying dismissed him, saying, "You should leave first. I need to talk to Xing Yu alone."
Chu Beiling: "President Li."
Li Shuying pointed in the direction of Little Eggplant: "Go and keep Little Eggplant company."
Chu Beiling had no intention of making a move.
Xing Yu patted the back of his hand to comfort him: "Go keep Xiao Qiezi company, don't worry." After saying that, he invited Li Shuying to a nearby coffee shop.
Chu Beiling quietly followed.
The two noticed at the same time and turned around to stop him: "Don't follow us."
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