“What are you doing?”
Fu Jingshu’s voice came from behind them. Fu Tingyi and Fang Ruo’s expressions flickered, and they both turned towards the direction of the voice with smiles.
“Jingshu, we were just having a few words with Miss Shen.”
Fu Jingshu had only spoken to that uncle from a prominent family for a few words. Fu Tingyi had used that as an excuse to leave. The more he thought about it, the more something felt wrong. He scanned the entire venue and saw them standing with Shen Qingqing.
His expression was icy. “Who gave you the right to make decisions for me?”
Fu Tingyi realized he had heard everything and felt a bit guilty, but he still tried to assert his paternal authority. “Jingshu, you can’t speak to me like that.”
Strangely, upon hearing this, Fu Jingshu’s eyes flickered with sarcasm.
Fang Ruo, seeing the tense atmosphere, stepped forward to mediate. “I know what we’re doing might displease you, but it’s all for your own good. We truly have your best interests at heart.”
“For my good?”
Fu Jingshu slowly repeated the phrase.
Fang Ruo’s face showed a hint of guilt, and she pleaded, “Jingshu…”
She didn’t want those past events to be brought up in front of Shen Qingqing. It would completely strip them, as parents, of any dignity and make it impossible for them to put on airs before Shen Qingqing in the future.
Fu Jingshu clearly had no intention of covering up for their past. “Before I took over the company, I never saw you. Why didn’t you care for me back then?”
The couple’s faces turned unsightly.
Shen Qingqing looked at him in surprise, never expecting that he wasn’t liked by his parents either.
Fu Jingshu’s cold gaze fixed on the couple, making them feel so guilty that they lowered their heads, not daring to meet his eyes. Their earlier air of superiority towards Shen Qingqing had completely vanished.
“You didn’t care before, and you don’t need to care now.”
Fu Tingyi’s expression was unpleasant. “Do you have to treat us like this? We are your parents. If it weren’t for us, you wouldn’t exist.”
“Tingyi!” Fang Ruo tugged at his clothes, fearing that the atmosphere would become even more strained and that Fu Jingshu might say something irrecoverable. “Jingshu, if you don’t like it, we won’t do it this way. We were impulsive this time. I was just worried you’d be deceived again.”
She was referring to Shen Yaoyao.
Fu Jingshu rubbed his temples, sounding impatient. “I don’t want you interfering in my affairs. This is your final warning.”
Fang Ruo couldn’t help but say, “We didn’t like Shen Yaoyao before, but you insisted on having your way. Now, the truth has proven us right. She’s a promiscuous woman. I know you resent us because of past events, but what we say is always right. Will you listen to me just this once?”
Her words were earnest, but to Shen Qingqing, they sounded deeply ironic.
She suddenly thought of herself.
The same cold-blooded father, the same high-sounding rhetoric. She stepped forward and pulled Fu Jingshu behind her, shielding him with her small, slender frame.
“Are you not ashamed to say that?”
Fang Ruo, when facing Shen Qingqing, lost the gentle demeanor she had towards Fu Jingshu. Pride and distance resurfaced in her eyes. “This is our family matter, Miss Shen, and it has nothing to do with you.”
Shen Qingqing’s gaze was equally cold, and she retorted, “His affairs are my affairs.”
“You!” Fang Ruo, who had always considered herself a lady and had never encountered someone so direct. Even Shen Yaoyao had been submissive to her. “Don’t forget, you are merely his female companion, a companion without status or title. Do you really think you are Jingshu’s girlfriend?”
“Without our consent, you will never be his girlfriend.”
Fu Tingyi said this with confidence.
Shen Qingqing asked with an unreadable expression, “Are you sure?”
Perhaps it was her peculiar expression, but Fu Tingyi and Fang Ruo both felt a bad premonition. In the next second, they saw her look at Fu Jingshu.
Her beautiful face lit up with a smile as radiant as the morning sun.
“Master Fu, is what they’re saying true?”
“No.” Fu Jingshu replied without hesitation. In fact, the moment she shielded him, his gaze had been unable to leave the woman before him. “My affairs are decided by me.”
Shen Qingqing looked at the couple with a composed air. They looked furious, yet she deliberately provoked them. “Did you hear that?”
Fu Tingyi’s face was extremely ugly. “You’re treating us like this for that woman?”
“She’s worth it.”
Compared to his fuming rage, Fu Jingshu’s expression remained unchanged. He even held Shen Qingqing’s hand, which hung by her side, in front of his father.
Shen Qingqing suddenly said, “You didn’t want to bother with him before. Let me guess, why have you appeared now?”
The couple’s faces tightened.
“Because he has become successful.” Shen Qingqing looked at their expressions and knew she had guessed correctly. This was just as despicable as her own father. “If I were you, I wouldn’t come crawling back like this. After all, such behavior is truly annoying.”
After speaking, she ignored the couple’s ashen faces and pulled Fu Jingshu away.
She led Fu Jingshu away from the boisterous banquet and to the entrance of the Fu family’s back garden. No one was here, only the wind and silence.
She let go of his hand and looked at Fu Jingshu’s face, suddenly rendered speechless.
His handsome face was expressionless, as if he hadn’t been bothered by what had just happened, yet the aura around him was incredibly somber.
She didn’t know how to comfort him.
“Actually, you don’t need to feel sad,” she said softly. “There are many parents like that in the world.”
“Are you referring to your father?”
He replied in a low voice.
Speaking of Shen Zhizhong, Shen Qingqing let out a scornful laugh. “Yes, I’ve forgotten what my memories were like before I was a few years old. He was very good to me back then, and very good to Mom. When did he change… I’ve forgotten, or perhaps, he was always pretending from the beginning.”
“Some people are willing to pretend, while others can’t even be bothered to.”
Fu Jingshu actually had little impression of these parents, as he had never met them since childhood. He had always been raised by his grandmother, who taught him knowledge and many other things.
He gradually stopped thinking about what his parents were like.
Until one day, they suddenly appeared.
He sat on a wooden bench by the roadside, his gaze fixed on the flowerbed in front of him, deep and distant, as if looking at something, or perhaps at nothing.
Shen Qingqing felt a little unaccustomed to his demeanor. She stood in front of him and cupped his face with both hands.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing,” he replied.
“You’re not someone who wallows in self-pity.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Fu Jingshu’s lips curved upwards, his eyes devoid of sadness, only a faint smile. Shen Qingqing immediately realized she had misunderstood something.
This man would never be sad.
She released her hands and turned to leave.
Her wrist was grabbed, and she was pulled into an embrace. She looked up in surprise, and a warmth fell upon her lips, like the cotton candy she had eaten as a child.
Soft, with a faint, sweet freshness.
Suddenly, the lips pulled away, and his slightly hoarse voice sounded in her ear, “Is that okay?”
In fact, there had been a little low spirits initially, but with her by his side, that slight, almost imperceptible disappointment quickly vanished.
After a long silence, she did not refuse.
He slowly leaned down, savoring the softness that made him linger once more. Their lips met, entwining intimately, and the atmosphere gradually became ambiguous and enchanting.
Just then, a childish voice suddenly rang out.
“Daddy!”