Chapter 120: Beicheng’s Past
A man like that was worthy of being treated well by his wife. She should have loved and respected him. Unfortunately, Yan Beicheng’s mother did not cherish her husband at all. Worse still, she loathed him.
On the other hand, she never realized that Lu Zhenting was an exceptional man at first. Perhaps she was prejudiced against him because she was already devoted to someone else at that time. She felt that Yan Beicheng’s father was no match for Lu Zhenting.
“My father never said that his relationship with Miss Jiang was rocky. After all, my grandparents were the ones who had chosen her. My father was worried that the two elders would feel troubled and blame themselves if they discovered the actual situation between him and Miss Jiang. No one in the Yan Family had ever gotten a divorce.
“My grandfather was overseeing the company back then because my father was frequently away on business trips. There was an instance where my father needed to go to the branch office overseas to stabilize the office over there. He was away for a year and a half. After my father left, I… Ms. Jiang sent me to the mansion so my grandmother could take care of me while Ms. Jiang returned to Ning City on her own. She remained in Ning City for the entire duration while my father was away. She never even returned for New Year’s or other festivals.
“Later on, my father returned because there was no need for him to live abroad for extended periods of time anymore. He was only required to go abroad for one or two months each year to briefly handle work matters. When I was fifteen years old, there was one time when my father returned from abroad and discovered that Ms. Jiang had returned to Ning City again. Although he was unhappy, he was still forced to bring her home. Can you guess what happened in the end?” Yan Beicheng’s smile was always pleasant, but his expression looked unbearable now. He was obviously sneering. “Apparently, she had taken the opportunity to go to Ning City to meet Lu Zhenting in private while my father was away. Whenever my father was abroad, she would return to her parents’ home to be with Lu Zhenting. Many years had passed, but none of us realized this.
“Coincidentally, Lu Zhenting’s wife passed away one year before my father left the country for the longest period of time. Ms. Jiang discovered that information while she was in B City, but she could not sit still. Her soul had already raced to Ning City by then. She was anxious to return right after my father went abroad. When I was three years old, she impatiently ran off to have an affair with Lu Zhenting. Perhaps it had even started before that. Lu Zhenting’s wife’s family was more affluent than the Lu Family. The Lu Family gradually flourished due to the financial assistance from Lu Zhenting’s wife. The Lu Family was even in a position that was slightly better than the Jiang Family.
“Of course, my father so mad at that time that he wanted to divorce her. Both of them told their families about the situation when they returned to B City. My grandparents were terribly shocked, but I felt disgusted. She had never loved me, but I’d gotten used to it after so many years. Fortunately, the two elders were kind to me. I felt that I never had a mother, but I was resigned to that. She couldn’t even wait to get a divorce. However, I had never expected that she would take the opportunity to run off and have a son with another man while my father was abroad.
“I don’t know why they started arguing when they were driving to the civil affairs bureau. My father was distracted when they encountered a car that appeared out of nowhere. Sadly, he couldn’t evade it. In spite of everything, he instinctively reacted by protecting that woman at that moment. He turned the steering wheel so that the other car crashed into his side. He died on the spot.” Yan Beicheng shut his eyes. His voice was faintly trembling. “Meanwhile, that woman merely suffered minor injuries.”
He took a deep breath. “My father took care of everything for me because my mother never cared about me ever since I was little. He consoled me when my mother hurt me. In my eyes, my father was a truly wonderful man. He deserved a better woman. If it wasn’t for her, my father wouldn’t have died in vain. He was my grandparents’ only son. He had been outstanding ever since he was young, and he became a famous excellent gentleman once he had grown up. Numerous families wanted him to marry their daughters at that time. Unfortunately, he married that woman instead.
“Yan Huaian told me that he had attended a banquet with my father when they were much younger. When my father arrived there back then, someone blurted out that a refined gentleman had appeared. That person was referring to my father.” Yan Beicheng sighed heavily. “He was handsome, honest, gentle, polite, and modest to everyone. However, he was never too timid to carry out grand plans. He had a good eye for business and he was very skillful as well. Nonetheless, he was an honorable man who made decisive decisions.
“The two elders constantly blamed themselves after my father met with that accident. My father’s fate wouldn’t have turned out that way if my grandparents hadn’t picked that woman for him. There was no denying the fact that he was an outstanding and impressive man whose world was his oyster. My grandparents were grief-stricken, but they were also worried about me. They were worried that I would never be able to pull myself together. They forced themselves to smile around me. They wanted to make me happy and cheer me up.” Yan Beicheng’s eyes opened. They were terribly bloodshot.
He looked at Lin Chu. “During that period of time, I even felt that I couldn’t live anymore. My father had always been my role model and I idolized him. I’d always depended on him the most. The person whom I’d relied on and admired all this while had suddenly disappeared. It was fortunate that I met you at that moment.
“My mother returned to Ning City once my father’s funeral rites were completed. She was too ashamed to stay in the Yan household. My grandparents could no longer accept this woman because she had caused the death of their only son. Perhaps she was afraid as well. My father’s final actions before his death had probably scarred her, but I don’t know if there was any remorse in her heart. I couldn’t be bothered to investigate her life after she returned to Ning City. I don’t know whether she got into a relationship with Lu Zhenting immediately. If that happened, she’d probably have to do it in secret. After all, she had to act the part of the grieving widow because my father had recently passed away.
“I had never expected that she would go for a checkup after she returned and discover that she was more than two months pregnant. According to the number of months, that baby could have been my father’s child. My father was still in B City at that time and so was she. However, that didn’t stop us from being suspicious until she gave birth to the baby and did a DNA test on her. The test proved that the baby girl was my father’s child. The two elders wanted to take the baby with them, but she refused to let them do it. The elders relented in the end.
“I pretty much understand what the two elders were thinking. That baby girl was born after she had an affair and after my father met with an accident. The two elders secretly harbored grudges. When they thought of that child, they would remember the grief and fate that my father suffered. Deep down, they did not want to see her. I suppose that she didn’t suffer while she was living in the Jiang household. That’s why the elders didn’t insist on taking her but simply focused their energy on raising me instead.
“As for the reason why she refused to give her daughter up,” Yan Beicheng said before he mockingly sneered, “perhaps she felt remorseful toward my father. She probably finally realized that she had disappointed him. Due to that, she gave birth to the baby instead of aborting it, and she even wanted to raise the child on her own as a form of compensation. That baby girl was the life that my father had left behind. That woman was doing this to make it up to my father. However, her rationale seemed ridiculous to us. She was still indifferent toward me as always.
“That girl was my younger sister, but my hatred toward her mother had nothing to do with that child. She was the only thing that my father had left behind after his death. I went to see her several times in the past. I was relieved to discover that Ms. Jiang was truly treating her well. She refused to come home with me because she wanted to be with her mother. She was unfamiliar with our family as well. I didn’t force her because I understood that.
“Later on, Lu Zhenting remarried after more than a year. However, he didn’t marry that woman. In the beginning, the Jiang Family stopped her from being with Lu Zhenting because they belittled the Lu Family. Lu Zhenting’s parents held a grudge all along. The Lu Family also refused to accept her because she was a divorcee with a son. She was still married when she had an affair with Lu Zhenting and bore him a son behind her husband’s back. I suppose that the Lu Family looked down on her character because of that. They were worried that she would suddenly make Lu Zhenting a cuckold in the future.
“Lu Zhenting had a daughter with his wife after he got married. That daughter is Lu Weining,” said Yan Beicheng. He tauntingly curled his lips. “I don’t know if Lu Zhenting was cursed, but his wife died from cancer three years ago,” said Yan Beicheng. “He never remarried. I can’t be bothered to investigate his relationship with my mother. It’s fine as long as there’s no way for her to marry Lu Zhenting.
“All this while, she couldn’t marry Lu Zhenting from the time of my father’s death until now. I don’t know if she secretly feels remorseful.” Yan Beicheng mockingly sneered. He basically felt that she did not regret anything. “Nonetheless, our family secretly did what we could to prevent that. I lacked the means to do that back then, so the Old Master did everything while the Old Lady helped him from the sidelines. I didn’t think that they were doing anything wrong. My father was an outstanding man, but she caused him to die in vain while she ran off to be with the man she loved. What right did she have to do that? I wanted her to be separated from her true love for the rest of her life. It serves her right.”
When Yan Beicheng looked at Lin Chu, he realized that she was still holding his hand. He lacked the strength to return the gesture now. He was too afraid to touch her.
In a deep voice, he asked, “Do you think that I’m heartless?”
Lin Chu shook her head. “I’d feel the same way if I were you.”
Her words were sincere. She did not merely say these things to comfort him. Yan Beicheng sighed in relief.
“Back then, the two elders merely did that for revenge. Their only son had given his life for a woman who was unworthy of being saved. I don’t know whether the two elders could’ve stayed strong if Yan Huaian and I weren’t here anymore. They didn’t do anything to the Jiang Family, but they simply refused to allow Ms. Jiang to fulfill her desires. My initial feelings have died down because so many years have passed since then. This incident made me extremely bitter when I was younger, but I’ve gradually calmed down as I grew up.
“I’m still indifferent toward her now, but I refer to her as my mother just to be respectful toward her. I don’t want outsiders to think of the Yan Family as a laughing stock. When my father died back then, we merely told the outsiders that it was an accident. No one outside our family knows the real reason, much less the fact that she was having an affair. I think that this was the main reason why the two elders were secretly stopping her from being with Lu Zhenting in the first place. They weren’t just doing this because they resented her. Otherwise, someone would’ve definitely noticed that something was amiss. They would be able to guess what happened to my father that way. My father had already died, but they couldn’t let him become a laughing stock that everyone constantly gossiped about even after his death.”
In reality, he was extremely reluctant to call that woman “mother”. The word “monster” nearly escaped his lips every time he was forced to call her that.
“I don’t know how the Jiang Family discovered that I was in Ning City when I went there for a business trip previously. They called me and asked me to visit them. Other people would inevitably overthink this matter if they discovered that I refused to even meet them while I was there. I can’t imagine how they would slander the Yan Family and the two elders behind their backs. That’s why I paid them a visit.” Yan Beicheng laughed at himself. “This was merely wishful thinking on Old Lady Jiang’s part. My mother never wanted to see me. However, she invited me to a restaurant for dinner that night. She said that it was just a family dinner for us to sit down and have a good chat because we hadn’t seen each other for many years.
“I never expected to see Lu Zhenting and his daughter, Lu Weining when I arrived there.” Yan Beicheng’s eyelids briefly twitched as he quietly sneered. “I realized what she was trying to do. Apparently, she wanted to matchmake me and Lu Weining. I was already repulsed by Lu Zhenting because of what he and my mother had done in the past. I have no idea how they could be so shameless and confident. How did they expect me to smile and face them? Even if I hadn’t met you at that time, they would still be dreaming if they wanted me to marry Lu Weining.
“Ms. Jiang was truly naive. She couldn’t marry Lu Zhenting, but they secretly continued to be lovers throughout all these years. Did she really think that we were unaware? Lu Weining was not her daughter, but she was Lu Zhenting’s child. My mother wanted to matchmake me and Lu Weining to gain Lu Zhenting’s favor. It seemed like she was trying to make it up to him. She wanted to help the Lu Family by allowing Lu Zhenting’s daughter to marry into the Yan Family. She was placing her previously unfulfilled desires on Lu Weining now.
“Lu Weining was the daughter of Lu Zhenting’s previous wife. Although his previous wife was already dead, my mother needed to curry favor with Lu Weining if she wanted to be with Lu Zhenting. Lu Weining was also loved by the elders in the Lu Family. If my mother still wanted to marry Lu Zhenting, she needed to depend on Lu Weining to speak highly of her in the Lu household.” Yan Beicheng sneered. “I had never imagined that she still wanted to marry Lu Zhenting. She had not given up until now.”
Lu Weining loved clinging to him ever since she was little. Her intentions were extremely obvious. Jiang Changdai truly spared no effort to help Lu Weining.
His mother was finally looking at him properly and giving him face. However, Yan Beicheng’s heart was filled with disgust when he realized that she was only doing this to gain favor with an outsider.
“One reason why I never told you this in the past was that I was unwilling to think of these memories. I felt hurt every time I thought of them.” He took a deep breath. His breathing was faintly trembling now. “The other reason was because it was truly shameful. I was really too ashamed to talk about these things.”
“Are you done?” asked Lin Chu. There was a terrible look on her face and her tone sounded slightly accusatory.
Yan Beicheng was so stunned that he simply stared at her blankly. He did not know how to react.
He obediently nodded before Lin Chu suddenly pounced on him. She pulled off his shirt and bit his chest. Yan Beicheng felt a jolt of pain. When he lowered his head, he could faintly see two rows of fine teeth marks on his own chest.
“This is neither you nor the Yan Family’s fault. I don’t think that you have anything to feel ashamed about. I’m angry because you felt ashamed to tell me this.” Lin Chu pondered for a while before she realized that she had not finished venting her anger. She decided to bite him again.
Yan Beicheng did not tell her how his mother had treated him when he was younger, but Lin Chu could imagine it. Emotional abuse was the least of her worries. This was a woman who did not care about her own flesh and blood simply because she disliked him.
Although his father was there with him at that time, he could not have possibly been with him at all times. His career was still the core of his life. Yan Beicheng must have suffered unimaginably when his father was not around and at places where he could not see him.
Perhaps Lin Chu was tormented by the Lin household, but she knew that those people were not her real family. She did not share any blood relations with them. They caused her physical pain, but her heart did not suffer the same way.
However, it was different for Yan Beicheng. After all, that woman was his mother. The pain of being hurt by the person who was closest to you was greater than wounds of the flesh.
Lin Chu was annoyed that Yan Beicheng for feeling conflicted over insignificant things. She punched his chest, but she hurriedly hugged him tightly because she felt bad for him.
Yan Beicheng could not help but laugh when he saw her contradicting emotions. He was initially filled with negative emotions when he brought up the incident with Jiang Changdai, but those feelings had mostly disappeared now.
“I’m sorry. I’ll never hide anything from you ever again.” Yan Beicheng hugged Lin Chu back tightly. His thin and warm lips softly kissed the corners of her eyes as he gently caressed them.
His lips were slightly dry. They felt faintly coarse when they rubbed against the smooth skin at the corners of her eyes. His lips were not as moist and supple as before. They felt drier and warmer now.
“I felt very conflicted at first, but I realized that it’s not a big deal after I talked about it properly,” said Yan Beicheng quietly. His lips slowly glided down the corners of her eyes as he held her tighter now.
It seemed as though he was afraid that she would leave. He was glad that she had waited for him here.
“Hurry up and take your shower. Your entire body smells of smoke. It’s so strong,” said Lin Chu as she patted him.
Yan Beicheng faintly laughed before he kissed her again. After that, he took clean clothes and went to the bathroom.
Lin Chu felt relieved because Yan Beicheng had untangled the knot in her heart. However, she was inwardly filled with sorrow for the troubles that Yan Beicheng had encountered when he was younger. He did not tell Lin Chu exactly how his mother had treated him as he did not want her to feel even more troubled for his sake.
After a short while, she ended up receiving a phone call from Old Lady Yan.
“Lin Chu, has Beicheng returned yet?” asked Old Lady Yan anxiously.
Old Lady Yan felt that something was not right when Yan Beicheng frantically rushed over. She was particularly worried that an issue had cropped up between Lin Chu and Yan Beicheng.
In the end, Yan Huaian briefly explained the situation to her.
Old Lady Yan did not think that Lin Chu had the wrong idea. They would inevitably encounter Jiang Changdai in the future. They could not keep her in the dark when it came to the dispute between Jiang Changdai and the Yan Family. This would only cause trouble for Lin Chu.
Jiang Changdai was a terribly unreasonable person. She would simply come up with wicked ideas for the sake of arguments. Jiang Changdai could catch Lin Chu off guard because she did not know anything. Lin Chu would easily be at a disadvantage because of that. As Lin Chu was unfamiliar with Jiang Changdai’s personality, she would be respectful toward the other woman because she was Yan Beicheng’s mother. Unfortunately, she would not achieve anything fruitful by doing that.
Old Lady Yan felt that Yan Beicheng did not put enough thought into this matter.
She called Lin Chu because she was planning to explain everything if Yan Beicheng had not done it yet. Yan Beicheng would never dare to blame her for doing this.
“Yes.” Lin Chu glanced at the bathroom before she walked out of the bedroom and went to the study room beside it. “After Beicheng returned, he… He told me about his mother.”
In the end, she was not brave enough to simply refer to that woman as Ms. Jiang like Beicheng. After all, Beicheng still respected her to a certain extent.
“Grandmother, I was too stubborn when it came to that matter. I shouldn’t have forced him that way,” whispered Lin Chu.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. You should be aware of this. After all, you’re going to live with him. That woman…” Old Lady Yan paused before she briefly glanced at Old Master Yan. He was sitting beside her with a stern look on his face. She continued, “She’ll always be a part of Beicheng’s life. We may rarely see her, but our paths will inevitably cross. You need to be aware of this so that you’ll know how to handle her properly.”
“I know,” said Lin Chu while nodding.
“Beicheng probably never told you this, but Jiang Changdai… She’s Beicheng’s mother, but she treated him like this,” said Old Lady Yan before she sighed.
Lin Chu said that Beicheng did not tell her that. Old Lady Yan took a sip of the tea that Yan Huaian had passed to her. “Beicheng’s mother never breastfed him even as he was little. Jiang Changdai handed him over to the nursemaid right after he was born. She never liked looking at him. When Beicheng was a little baby who was recently born, he would frequently fall sick. Once, he had gotten a fever at home when the nursemaid was away on leave. He cried until his voice became hoarse. Jiang Changdai ignored him and she even complained that he was annoying. She stuffed a baby bottle in his hands and threw some toys there before she locked the infant in his room.
“I was aware of her shameful behavior. I knew that the nursemaid was not around so I went to check on the baby because I was worried. I heard Beicheng crying just as I came inside. When I went over to take a look, I realized that his body was terribly feverish, his voice was hoarse from crying, and his face was bright red. I was so afraid that I frantically took him to the hospital. The doctor told me that I would’ve lost the child if I came any later. At that time, I was truly afraid because I had barely saved his life. I was worried that the high fever would have caused damage to his brain, but it was fortunate that he was still fine. I slapped Jiang Changdai because I was so mad at that time. She restrained herself after that, but she merely asked the nursemaid to pay closer attention to Beicheng. Meanwhile, she never even glanced at him.
“Beicheng truly needed his mother when he was slightly older and once he understood more things. However, she had never carried Beicheng, but merely glanced at him coldly instead. Beicheng approached her on his own numerous times, but she always ignored him. She coldly told him that boys shouldn’t always cling to their mothers and ask to be carried. That boy was only two or three years old. He looked like a little bun. He was walking on eggshells just to get closer to his mother and make her like him. You don’t know how much my heart ached when I saw him doing that. When did a child ever need to make his mother like him?
“Once, Beicheng accidentally touched one of her brooches. He merely touched it, but she dragged Beicheng away and violently hit him when she saw that. Later on, we discovered that Lu Zhenting had given her that brooch before she got married,” said Old Lady Yan. “We took Beicheng to the mansion immediately so that we could take care of him there. His grandfather and I could care for him because we were still younger back then. We’d rather do that than to leave him with Jiang Changdai. We only took him back home when his father was on leave from work.”
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