Chapter 2-8
8
After dinner, it was already past nine o'clock. He Yajun parted ways with Bai Qing and Jiang Ming at their doorsteps, waving goodbye to each other before entering their respective homes.
He took out his key, opened the door, changed his shoes, and was walking inside when he saw He Qingyang sitting on the living room sofa, frowning and smoking, while Qin Hui sat at the other end of the sofa, her head half-lowered, seemingly lost in thought.
Seeing him enter, Qin Hui immediately looked up, stood up and said to him, "You're back. Is it cold outside?"
"It's alright." He didn't even look at He Qingyang, but said to Qin Hui, "Mom, it's getting late, you should get some rest."
Qin Hui looked at her son, then at her ex-husband, nodded, sighed, and went back to her room.
He Yajun went to the restaurant, poured herself a glass of warm water, drank it, and then walked straight to her bedroom.
"Stop right there!"
He had no choice but to stop. He Qingyang had stood up at some point and was glaring at him angrily.
He shrugged. "Is there something you need?"
"Do you even see me as your father anymore?" He Qingyang's voice was a little hoarse, but his momentum was not weak at all. "Zhu Yi is such a good girl. So many people want to marry her but can't. It's not easy for her to have a little bit of affection for you and agree to meet you. And what do you do? You say those bastard things as soon as you meet her. Do you think you're so great?"
He Yajun sneered: "I thought we had made things very clear on the phone. Let me repeat myself, I did not disrespect her. On the contrary, it was precisely because I respected her that I made my thoughts clear from the beginning, so as not to waste her time. I believe that I was very polite throughout the entire meeting with her. I may not be like you, who greets every pretty woman with a smile, but I certainly wouldn't call myself a scoundrel."
He Qingyang suddenly rushed in front of him and raised his hand.
He Yajun neither dodged nor flinched, maintaining that cold, sneer expression on her face.
He Qingyang remained silent for several seconds before lowering his hand and saying, "Very good, very good. You agreed to meet her, giving her hope, but as soon as you met her, you said you didn't want to date or get married. Isn't that playing with her? You not only played with her, but you also indirectly played with her father, forcing me to put on a brave face and personally go to apologize."
“I told you I didn’t want to go on blind dates, but you insisted on forcing me to go. So what am I supposed to do? But just because I went doesn’t mean I have to be with her and drag her straight to the Civil Affairs Bureau to get our marriage certificate. I’m telling you clearly now, I have no feelings for her. I’m sorry, but your plan to strengthen your relationship with her father through my marriage and thereby gain benefits is probably going to fall through.”
He Qingyang stared at him incredulously: "Don't go too far. What do I need to get out of you? I'm not short of money anymore. I advised you to go on blind dates and get married, all for your own good."
"For my own good?" He Yajun repeated He Qingyang's words, and said coldly, "If you really care about me, then please don't interfere in my affairs, and don't come here against your mother's wishes anymore. This is no longer your home. Don't take advantage of your mother's good temper and treat this place as your own home, coming and going as you please."
He Qingyang looked up at his son, who was half a head taller than him and whose face was full of resistance and impatience. The anger that had been building up in his heart seemed to be doused with a bucket of cold water, and it suddenly subsided. He was briefly confused and bewildered, not understanding why he and his son had come to such a confrontational point. He was extremely frustrated, recalling every meeting and phone call, and had to admit that they could never again be a normal father and son who could sit down and have a calm and rational conversation.
He suddenly stopped looking directly into He Yajun's eyes, looked away, and gazed out the window: "Yajun, there are three things you must remember: First, of the three unfilial acts, the greatest is to have no offspring; second, no matter what happens, you will always be my son, and that is a fact that no one can change; and third, my company will eventually be handed over to you to take over. Whatever I have done for the company, it is all to earn you a bigger fortune."
He Yajun remained unmoved: "Don't you have another child? Maybe you'll have another one soon. I believe that among my younger siblings, some of them will definitely be willing to get married and have children in the future, so you won't be childless; as for the second thing, yes, I am your son, but so what? If you could really control my life with this relationship, you wouldn't have come here tonight; speaking of your company, I regret to say that I have no interest in your business at all. You are in your prime, and it's no problem for you to work hard for several more decades. If you really want to find a successor, have more children with those women, and you'll eventually find a suitable one."
He Qingyang was so angry that he choked. After a long while, he said in a tired voice, "You can do whatever you want with other things for now, but you can't do whatever you want with marriage and starting a family. In a couple of days, invite Zhu Yi to dinner and apologize to her properly."
“I’ll say it one last time,” He Yajun said clearly, word by word, “I have no interest in her, I will never ask her out, and I will never apologize to her. If you still want to maintain a relationship with their family, please remember what I’m saying.”
He Qingyang gave up arguing with him, calmed his breathing, and said, "You're emotionally unstable right now and just talking nonsense. I won't argue with you. I have something to do, so I'll leave first."
"Wait," He Yajun called out to him, walked to the coffee table, threw the ashtray full of cigarette ash and butts into the trash can, and then tied the trash bag tightly. He picked up the trash bag, walked to He Qingyang who was already at the entrance, and handed him the trash. "Mom has rhinitis and pharyngitis and can't stand the smell of smoke. Please take the trash with you."
He Qingyang sighed helplessly and had no choice but to take it. He pursed his lips, muttered "brat" under his breath, closed the door, and stormed off.
He Yajun looked around the empty living room and smiled bitterly to himself. He walked to the sofa and sat down, pressing his hand against his throbbing temples.
Qin Hui came out of the room and saw his exhausted appearance, her heart aching. She sat down next to him, put her arm around his shoulder, and said softly, "Ya Jun, don't be angry with your father, and don't take what he said to heart. Before you came back, I told him not to pressure you. You're an adult now, and you can make your own decisions. Parents interfering too much in their children's lives will only hurt each other and backfire. We haven't been able to give you a complete family, so we're already not good parents. If he can't even respect you, then he's unworthy of being a father. I don't know if he can seriously consider what I've said, but at least I can assure you that I will always respect your choices."
He turned to look at Qin Hui: "Have you ever regretted marrying him?"
Qin Hui released his shoulder, turned her gaze forward, seemingly lost in memories. After a long while, she said, "I don't regret marrying him, Ya Jun. If I could go back in time and have the chance to choose again, I would still choose your father."
He Yajun was stunned: "Why? He kept cheating on you, kept making you feel wronged, and finally just abandoned the family. What makes him worth choosing?"
“Because I loved him then, I cherished all the happy days we spent together, happiness that only he could give me. To be able to love another person unconditionally is a rare life experience. If I were given another choice, to choose someone I wouldn't be moved by, then regardless of whether that person loved me or not, my life would be incredibly dull. Most importantly, the so-called other choice might not necessarily be a tragedy.” Qin Hui’s voice was soft but firm. “Ya Jun, your father has never loved me. You could say he has never loved any woman in his life. He only loves himself. Once I understood this, I stopped hating him.”
He Yajun stared blankly at his mother, as if he understood, yet also as if he understood nothing at all.
“But that shouldn’t be his excuse for betraying his marriage. Even if he doesn’t want the marriage anymore, he should make it clear to you first, end the relationship with you, and then go find another woman.”
Qin Hui smiled: "Ya Jun, people are very complex. He seems very bold in his actions, as if he doesn't care what others think of him, but he's also cowardly. When I first discovered his infidelity, he kept begging for my forgiveness, saying he was wrong and wouldn't do it again. I softened, and he did indeed behave for two years. During those two years, he was exceptionally good to me, practically indulging me in everything. But... he still broke his promise. We argued and had cold wars repeatedly, finally exhausting all the good things he remembered about me, and wearing down my love for him as well. I used to think that this ending was entirely his responsibility, but in reality? If I had severed my feelings for him and left him when he first cheated, I wouldn't have had to endure all the negative emotions that followed. Although I don't regret marrying him, I deeply regret not choosing to divorce him when he first cheated."
He Yajun remained silent.
"The reason I'm telling you this is to tell you that no matter what path you choose, the most important thing is to follow your heart. If your heart says you want it, then do it; if your heart says you don't want it, then don't do it. Only in this way will you not have regrets. As for what other people think, just ignore it if you can."
He Yajun hummed in agreement.
"There's one more thing Mom hopes you'll remember. You're different from your father. If one day in the future a girl comes along and changes your mind about marriage, don't doubt that you have the ability to manage your marriage well."
He Yajun watched her mother's figure disappear through her bedroom door, then sat alone in the living room for a long time before getting up to take a shower.
While brushing his teeth in front of the mirror in the bathroom, he saw a faint bite mark on his left shoulder. He remembered Qiao Ruo's trembling body when she bit his left shoulder that morning, and his breath caught in his throat.
He went back to his bedroom and lay down on the bed, but he couldn't fall asleep. He took out his phone and looked at the WeChat message that Qiao Ruo had sent him after seeing him at the restaurant entrance that night.
He silently read the WeChat message and realized that she, like his mother, cared a lot about whether he was happy or not.
He still remembered that night on the island, when she was drunk, clung to him and wouldn't let go, and whispered in his ear, "Even if I never see you again, I hope you live well and live happily, do you hear me?"
So, she truly loved him.
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