Chapter 3: Xu Duyan (2) — Mother

Young Su Ziyan had asked Father Su more than once where his mother had gone.

Back then, Father Su only replied that she had gone to a place very, very far away.

As he grew up and became more sensible, Su Ziyan also understood that his mother must have died.

It was not until that day, when the police found his mother’s information in the archives and called her number, that he realized his mother had been alive all along; she just had never seen him.

When he met his mother, his mind turned completely into mush until she reached out to stroke his face and said, “You’ve grown so much.”

Feeling the warmth from her palm, for some reason, Su Ziyan felt an impulse to cry at that moment, until she spoke again…

“I really don’t know how your father raised you, to the point that you’ve ended up in a police station at such a young age,” Mother Su sneered.

“He even refused all contact and wouldn’t let me see you. If you ask me…”

Hearing her words, Su Ziyan, who had felt a bit of warmth a second ago, now felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

However, her words still did not stop.

“If you ask me, custody should have been awarded to me back then. I definitely would have raised you to be a — “

Smack!

As Su Ziyan slapped her hand away without hesitation, the air seemed to stand still.

Mother Su’s hand hung in the air where it had been slapped away.

She stood there dazed, seemingly unable to understand why a child whose eyes had been red and looked like he was about to cry a second ago would suddenly change his expression.

After all, Su Ziyan’s slightly red eyes just now made it seem as if he had suffered many grievances over the years.

“My father’s education has always been successful. At least I know how to be a decent person.”

Su Ziyan stared fixedly at the beautiful woman before him, his eyes appearing to flicker with flames.

“Someone who hasn’t even seen me once since I was a child has no right to judge.”

“Successful? Successful enough to let you fight with your classmates and get sent to the police station?”

Seeing the child before her turn hostile, Mother Su couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

“If he were truly successful, he wouldn’t have called me here to clean up your mess after he told me back then not to disturb your lives.”

“I know he raised you and you have deep feelings for him, but if he were really that good, he wouldn’t have avoided the police station today and had me called over instead!”

After hearing her words, Su Ziyan felt his blood run cold.

Although he had expectations, he now truly realized one thing: his mother did not even know his father had died two years ago!

Otherwise, she would not have said such nonsense about his father not coming!

This also meant that although she was speaking nicely now, she had not paid any attention to his situation at all over the years.

“Do you know what you’re saying?”

Su Ziyan’s voice trembled slightly.

He reached out to point at the person in front of him, feeling as if this dignified, beautiful woman had transformed into a hideous demon.

“You…”

“‘You’ what! Didn’t he teach you to use titles when speaking to people? You should call me Mom!”

Mother Su interrupted Su Ziyan and rubbed her temples with a bit of a headache.

In that moment, she felt like she understood the feeling of seeing a child grow up wrong.

“You’ve just been poisoned by that incompetent father of yours to become like this. You don’t think it’s cool to fight with others like some hoodlum, do you? If you keep developing like this, you’ll only end up a failure just like your dad. You — “

“Shut up!”

Su Ziyan had never felt this angry before.

While shouting to stop the woman who spoke as if it were for his own good, he directly swung his fist.

He had never had a mother, and the person before him was just a woman speaking rudely and slandering his deceased father.

Seeing the situation spiral out of control, the police officer nearby immediately stepped forward to hold Su Ziyan in his arms and stop him.

Having listened for a long time, he roughly understood what was going on, so he turned back to the incredulous noblewoman and said, “Ms. Gu, it’s best not to provoke the child anymore. Besides… we should respect the dead…”

Under her wide-eyed stare, the police officer turned back to comfort the tearful youth in his arms who wanted to strike out.

Su Ziyan, now held back, was no longer impulsive.

He just looked at the stunned woman and spoke one word at a time, “My father passed away in an accident as early as two years ago.”

He did not want to say these words because saying them made him seem pitiable, and he felt as though he were lowering himself before this woman who had insulted his father.

Although he did not regret taking action to teach those people a lesson, he already regretted saying he had no father or mother.

He had originally intended to act like a tough nut, but he did not expect to attract such trouble.

However, he now had to say these words because he did not want the father who had worked so hard to raise him to be seen by others as a failure who could not educate a child.

“The reason I fought with those people was that they insulted both my deceased father and the elder sister who is currently raising me.”

“I never thought about looking for you, because in my memory, my mother should have been dead. I didn’t know the police would find you and bring you here…”

As he spoke, Su Ziyan felt his vision blur again.

But unexpectedly, this woman, who was so high and mighty that he found her loathsome, actually chose to bow her head and apologize.

However, after the apology, she firmly pulled him into her car and took him home.

She said that since she realized her mistake, she had to find a way to make up for it and give him a better life.

Because they were family members, the police could not easily stop her.

This child, who was only twelve years old, was thus forcibly pulled into the car by the beautiful woman.

Su Ziyan did not want to go home with this strange woman until she said, “I know you won’t want to come with me. How about this: listen to a few words from me and then consider it. If you’re still unwilling, I’ll take you home to your sister.”

Hearing her words, Su Ziyan was stunned for a moment, then nodded without speaking.

Knowing that Su Ziyan did not want to talk to her, Mother Su did not force it.

She just sat in the driver’s seat, not starting the car, and looked down at her phone.

After a long silence, Su Ziyan finally could not help himself and spoke first.

“What exactly do you want to say? Don’t stall for time anymore, okay? My sister is still waiting for me to come home.”

“Isn’t your sister working as a bartender? She should have just started her shift by now, right?”

Mother Su replied while looking at her phone.

“In that case, I’ll speak plainly. I just asked someone to investigate your current situation.”

She turned off her phone screen and turned to look Su Ziyan in the eye.

“Your sister is only twenty-two years old. She always had excellent grades and should have had a bright future, but she chose to drop out of school and come back for your sake. Now, she works as a bartender, flipping her days and nights to earn money to support you…”

“Maybe she does it willingly, but what cannot be changed is that all her youthful years as a girl have been wasted on you, a younger brother she has no blood relation to.”

“If you come with me, besides giving you the best life, I can also send your sister back to college, give her a large sum for living expenses, and provide her with a great job after graduation. How about it?”

“Even if you don’t consider it for yourself, you should consider it for your sister. After all, you can’t just let her squander her best years like this, can you?”