Chapter 55 Li Zhizi's phone call...
Li Zhizi's phone call also revealed that Li Li had secretly gone out to meet someone else during her Christmas trip back to China, a fact she had previously concealed.
She didn't know if Li Zhoudu was aware of the illogical connection between knowing the other party's license plate and his own, but fortunately he didn't press the matter.
Li Zhizi hung up the phone and breathed a sigh of relief.
——
Li Li lost her usual quality sleep that night. She sat up in bed, clutching her blanket, and thought to herself with annoyance, "Inertia really is a very troublesome thing."
Because of the physical intimacy, kissing becomes insignificant.
Because they always kissed each other when they met, she wasn't too angry about Tan Su's abrupt advances.
This makes her refusal seem absolute, incomplete, and not resolute enough.
Why.
She collapsed onto the bed, her hair brushing against her face. She reviewed her brilliant but failed strategy. Was choosing Piet as a teammate a huge miscalculation? Or was it Tan Su's utterly shameless audacity?
That guy was like a lunatic. He took advantage of you during the day and then laughed, saying, "I won't kiss you for nothing. Let's make a bet. If Li Zhoudu contacts you within a week, I'll consider myself the winner."
Li Li asked him, "What if there isn't one?"
"I'll let you make a request."
After Tan Su finished speaking, looking at her big, bright eyes, he added, "Anything is fine, except if you want to sever ties."
Li Li hated his patching-up behavior. Like before, he had just said in bed that he could have anything she wanted, but the next second he said he wanted to see his grandfather and immediately changed his expression. He had no credibility whatsoever!
She turned her head away: "I don't believe your nonsense."
Tan Su coaxed her in a joking tone: "Haven't you noticed that for a long time now, I've been giving you whatever you want and being at your beck and call?"
—
A few days after Li Zhizi's phone call, people came to her house.
The soft light of the setting sun streamed into the minimalist interior through the arched windows. Li Zhoudu sat in the living room drinking water, while Li Zhizi went into the kitchen to help her aunt cook.
She was somewhat hesitant to come out and confront Li Zhoudu, who appeared calm at the moment.
Around 7 p.m., footsteps sounded outside the door, accompanied by the clattering of bag chains. Li Li entered, casually tossed her car keys onto the cabinet by the door, and took off her shoes while humming a song.
When she looked up, she was startled by the person on the living room sofa.
She was quite surprised to see Li Zhoudu arrive. Because of their recent strained relationship, she wasn't sure whether to give him a warm welcome, so she walked over slowly and awkwardly, asking, "Brother, what brings you here?"
Looking at her perpetually lively and positive face, Li Zhoudu tossed out a sentence: "Go wash your hands and eat."
After cleaning up the kitchen waste, the aunt left. The remaining three people sat at the table without saying a word; only the clinking of the cutlery against the dishes made a sound.
Li Li thought Li Zhoudu had come to beg for peace, but considering his recent cold treatment of her, she was actually quite angry.
After dinner, she went upstairs and said that she still had homework to do.
Li Zhizi immediately said that she would clean up the dishes herself.
She crouched down and carefully placed the dishes one by one into the dishwasher. She heard light footsteps coming upstairs ahead of her; it was Li Li.
A few minutes later, heavier footsteps followed; it was Li Zhoudu.
Li Zhizi let out a breath.
She couldn't really explain why she was so uneasy and fearful, even though Li Zhoudu had always had a very good reputation.
He is Wan Jing's only successor. He is honest and straightforward, without the arrogance and conceit of ordinary rich second-generation heirs. He is quite down-to-earth and polite, and there is almost no fault in his conduct.
However, the almost superior-subordinate relationship that has lasted for more than a year has still put her under immense pressure.
He is not someone who can be easily fooled; on the contrary, he is quite meticulous and picky, and he gives almost no room for error to others.
After clearing away the dishes, Li Zhizi closed the cabinet door and set the timer.
Suddenly, I heard a cold voice from upstairs: "How many times have you lied to me in between?"
Her heart skipped a beat.
The upstairs studio door was open. Li Li gripped her pen tightly, her neck stiff, and said, "I don't know what you mean!"
"have no idea?"
Li Zhoudu sneered: "What was the name of the man who stayed overnight in this house last year? As far as I know, Tan Su has never been to Sipo. Where did this title of 'senior' come from? Hmm?"
Li Li had already put this past incident, which had been safely resolved, out of her mind, but she never expected that Li Zhoudu would bring it up again at this moment.
She didn't know where she had slipped up, and she was speechless. Feeling guilty, she took a step back and listened as Li Zhoudu continued to push things backward.
"Then you must have crossed the line even earlier, before you left the country?"
"It was that time in Hong Kong, wasn't it?" He seemed to suddenly realize the key to it.
"What happened that day that made you go to see Tan Yi, but then suddenly decide to break up with him?"
Why were you picked up by Tan Su from Tan Yi's house?
"Why did you disappear all night and not turn your phone on? Who were you with, and were you alone with them?"
"Stop talking, Li Zhoudu!" Her head was about to explode; Li Li didn't want to be forced to recall any trace of that day.
"I don't want to answer you, and I won't answer you. This has nothing to do with you! Get out!"
Her resistance confirmed all the vague guesses. Li Zhoudu was furious. He twisted her wrist, forced Li Li to let go, and let the paintbrush fall to the ground.
He forced her to confront him: "It has nothing to do with me, you fucking acted recklessly and ran away from home, I was afraid you'd be kidnapped! Afraid you'd be raped and murdered by bad guys! You wouldn't answer the phone, I was frantically searching for you all over the world, I wandered the streets of Hong Kong all night! What were you doing then?!"
"So, after leaving Tan Yi, you've willingly fallen into depravity and started fooling around with Tan Su, haven't you?"
Even if you know he's treacherous and has ill intentions, do you still not care at all?
Li Li felt embarrassed and resented Li Zhoudu for pointing out all this.
Why did he ask that?
These are all old stories, why press them one by one? Why bring up your own wounds?
She didn't want to hear these accusations, nor did she want to face her past weakness and depravity. She hysterically cried out, "But my aunt also said I wasn't wrong! Even if..."
"Even if I were to be with Tan Su, I wouldn't have done anything wrong."
"You think that this self-degradation, seamlessly transitioning between two brothers, is not wrong? I don't know that my mother would agree to you making such a despicable choice."
“I have the right to choose freely,” she said, biting her lip with tears in her eyes. “Don’t interfere with me.”
"So you regret it," he chuckled inexplicably. "In the garage, you cried and said you were wrong. Now you regret it, and you're justifying it to yourself."
Li Li almost blurted out incoherently, not knowing what she was saying: "I tried to explain to you! I wanted to tell you in the car that he and I aren't, that I didn't. You just didn't give me a chance!"
Li Zhoudu raised his voice to suppress her emotional breakdown: "Are you still saying I didn't give you a chance! You had one or two months, did you clean things up?"
She was speechless.
“I’ve been waiting for your news, Li Li,” Li Zhoudu said, his face a mixture of utter disappointment and composure. “It seems you can’t handle this.”
“Let me handle this,” he said, releasing his grip on her hand. “You are no match for him.”
——
When the week-long agreement expired, Tan Su sent a message to Li Li asking who won and who lost the bet, but there was no reply.
He had a general idea of what was going on.
While he was speculating about what methods Li Zhoudu would use, he saw a newspaper article about himself on his grandfather's bedside table.
News headline: [Unveiling the whole story of the battle for control of Frasers – the rise to power of the female CEO deeply intertwined with her investors].
He picked it up with great interest and found that it was not a completely unfounded report. On the contrary, it described the entire process of Frasers' establishment, rise to prominence, and eventual listing and operation in a very clear manner.
However, among the 90% of objective statements, there are 10% of scandalous news stories that are difficult to distinguish between true and false.
It's likely that Tan Huiming's urgent recall of him was also for this reason.
Grandpa was wheeled out by the nurse for over an hour to get some fresh air. When he returned, the newspaper was no longer in its original place. Both sides understood the situation and didn't ask any further questions.
During lunch, Tan Huiming asked, "Does that woman really have a child?"
When his grandfather asked him about it, Tan Su frankly said, "I do have someone I like, but it's not her. She's unmarried and her family background is suitable. I'll bring her back for you to see when she's ready."
He's always been clear about what he means, so if he says it so clearly, it must be true.
Tan Huiming did not ask any further questions.
After the meal, I saw Tan Su pick up the newspaper again and read it repeatedly, as if he had found something very interesting.
He probably guessed the source of the revelation and asked wearily, "This time, to what extent are you planning to go against your uncle?"
Tan Congxu has already established himself in Hong Kong. He has harbored resentment towards Tan Su for many years, and it was only a matter of time before he turned back to retaliate. He must still be determined to prove to the old man before his death that he should not be the one who was abandoned.
Tan Su seemed not to hear him and did not reply.
"If you had told me about what happened back then, there might have been better solutions. But you chose the most ruthless one, so it's no wonder your uncle won't let it go now."
Tan Huiming lamented, "Your father was too ruthless and cruel back then. Too much intelligence can be harmful, and he died young. I don't want you to end up like him."
The decision to bring in Tan Congxu back then was a reluctant move by Tan Huiming, taking into account a variety of factors.
However, everything subsequently spiraled out of his control. Tan Congxu was not content with merely being a relative by marriage to the Li family; Tan Su, on the other hand, would not tolerate anyone else touching what he had decided upon.
Neither side was willing to back down, which led to repeated large-scale conflicts that were irreconcilable.
Seeing that Tan Su showed no emotion, he sighed and said, "Back then, those two rascals in Li Pusheng's family fought since they were little, destroying countless good things in the house. He was so angry that he would jump up and down, and it was common for him to discipline them. I used to find it funny to see his family in such chaos, but who knew that as the brothers grew older, they matured and became more understanding and supportive of each other."
Tan Huiming: "I know you dislike them, father and son, but blood ties cannot be severed. If they shake hands and make peace, it will save them from further draining each other. If you agree, I will invite them here, and we can all sit down..."
Tan Su closed the newspaper, placed it on the coffee table, and frankly said, "I disagree."
Tan Huiming stopped speaking.
Tan Su was a good successor, but not a good grandson.
As if to make amends, he lowered his head and said, "Don't you admire the Li family's traditions?"
"The one I just mentioned is their daughter named Little Cat. I will marry her and she will be your granddaughter-in-law. I can fulfill all your expectations for this family on my own."
Tan Huiming was stunned: "When did this happen?"
“It’s been a long time,” Tan Su said. “Tan Yi himself felt sorry for her and gave it up voluntarily. You can’t blame me for this.”
-----------------------
Author's Note: Two chapters in one! That's impressive! [Thumbs up]
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