Chapter 57: The Reason Mother Liang Is Indifferent To Liancheng
Liancheng couldn’t understand, and she didn’t have time to dwell on it.
She changed her clothes, paid extra for super-fast delivery, and got iodine. She didn’t dare to buy red ink.
She gambled that Liang Chaosu would only question the reason for each item and wouldn’t actually rummage through the trash can to see if her bloodstains were real.
Just as the items arrived, the door was pushed open from the outside.
It was already bright daylight outside, illuminating the foyer. The man’s tall, slender figure was too stiff, like a beast ready to attack, filled with restless irritability with nowhere to vent.
Liancheng observed for a few moments, didn’t approach, and didn’t ask more, acting as if she were deaf and blind.
Liang Chaosu’s expression became even more obscure.
Liancheng sensed his temper rising to an uncontrollable level and lowered her head, preparing to endure his emotional outburst.
It was the same during their four years living together in college.
Initially, she actively dealt with it, showing concern, but it only earned her a more furious punishment and a warning, like those two band-aids.
Later, she learned to be obedient.
Liang Chaosu utterly disdained her concern; in his eyes, she was just a trash can to vent on, and she should obediently endure it.
How could it be just one person?
“Gu Xingyuan’s wife is pregnant,” the man’s voice approached. “The outside reaction is huge. The Gu family is supporting a new heir, cutting off Gu Xingyuan’s funds. I’ve been extremely busy recently.”
Liancheng’s heart stirred; it was indeed as Shen Lichuan wrote in his letter, he was in trouble.
Then this house, at a time when she desperately needed to rescue him, was likely just like the bag, a product to comfort her into obedience.
Even his previously lenient attitude now had an explanation.
Liancheng’s doubts were all resolved. When she came to her senses, a pair of caramel-colored handmade leather shoes had already entered her line of sight.
“And you,” the man’s shadow loomed over her, bringing a chilling dryness, “always cause trouble for me when I’m busiest. First, you ran away, and now your father is looking for you to marry you off far away.”
Liancheng suddenly looked up, not paying attention, and bumped into the man’s chin.
Ignoring the sharp pain, she covered her forehead, partially obscuring her eyes, and used the cover to examine his expression from below.
He was backlit, his face a storm of obscurity, his anger unconcealed.
Did this mean that Father Liang looking for her to marry her off far away was beyond his expectations and contrary to his wishes?
Liancheng’s mouth felt dry. If it was as she guessed, then if she simply complied with Father Liang and distanced herself from Liang Chaosu’s control, she would have another chance to escape.
The man removed her arm, his eyes sharp as lightning, staring directly at her. “Do you want to marry?”
Liancheng glanced at his expression and decisively shook her head. “No.”
Liang Chaosu’s fingertip caressed the red spot on her forehead.
Her swift and decisive answer, full of sincerity, combined with raising her hand to swear, was her usual insincere method of perfunctorily dealing with him.
But this time, her perfunctory response was not entirely a lie; her eyes were filled with genuine, heartfelt resistance to marriage.
Liancheng had given her answer, but she waited for a long time without hearing the man’s next words.
She secretly looked up again and met Liang Chaosu’s pupils, dark and black, like bottomless whirlpools, stirring up many emotions.
She couldn’t distinguish any of them, and her back prickled. “I really don’t want to, but I will obey your arrangements.”
This should be acceptable.
She answered the question and then stated her obedience to him.
Based on her past experience dealing with him, it might not be a perfect score, but it would definitely pass.
Liang Chaosu finally reacted. “Every time you’re so obedient, the outcome is the opposite. Do you think I should believe you?”
Liancheng raised three fingers. “On matters of major life importance, if I lie, I will be at your disposal for the rest of my life, with no complaints.”
Liang Chaosu visibly froze.
For a moment, Liancheng seemed to see his pupils constrict sharply.
She couldn’t help but reflect on her previous vows, like being struck by lightning and dying a horrible death. Thinking back, they were all too fake and empty. Liang Chaosu was pragmatic; it was no wonder he didn’t believe her.
However, she wouldn’t have dared to make such a vow if she hadn’t truly decided to run.
The next moment, her body suddenly became weightless. Before Liancheng could exclaim, she was embraced by the man.
“If you stay in the Southern Province, it’s only a matter of time before your father finds you. I would have sent you away directly, but now I’m giving you a second choice: you refuse your father yourself and leave the Liang family.”
Liancheng was so startled her palms sweat. If she were really sent away, she feared it would be the same as when she called the police and took leave from school, ending up under strict surveillance.
She couldn’t help but feel fortunate. “I choose two.”
Liang Chaosu gazed at her, his eyes seeming familiar, like when she graduated and didn’t go for graduate studies; he seemed to have seen them once before.
Liancheng’s heart skipped a beat, and she shifted her focus. “Then I’ll go to work? So he can find me?”
Liang Chaosu laughed in exasperation.
………………
Meanwhile, at the Liang family residence.
Mother Liang entered the study holding a bowl of bird’s nest with fish maw.
The curtains in the room were half-open. Father Liang leaned back in his chair, resting with his eyes closed, his brows furrowed in deep thought.
“You just returned from a business trip to the North.” Mother Liang placed the bird’s nest by his hand. “Don’t worry about business matters. Now that Chaosu is handling things independently, you won’t lack anything even if you retire.”
Father Liang rocked his chair. “He’s not just handling things independently; the Liang Corporation has become his sole domain.”
“What?” Mother Liang detected a hint of melancholy and couldn’t help but chuckle. “The old wave is jealous of the new wave, and he’s your own son.”
“I’m not jealous; I just can’t control him anymore.” Father Liang picked up the bird’s nest and drank it down with a frown. “I don’t like these overly sweet tonics. Don’t make them next time.”
Mother Liang agreed verbally. It had been tens of thousands of “next times,” yet he still drank it when she served it. She steadied Father Liang’s chair. “You said you’d marry Liancheng far away, and he went along with you, not objecting a single word. How can you say you can’t control him?”
Father Liang pondered in silence.
It sounded like he had persuaded him, but in reality, it didn’t feel like it at all; he always felt there was something else behind it.
He had struggled in the marketplace for decades and knew that intuition, while not always accurate for good things, was absolutely precise for bad ones.
“Have I asked you before,” he took Mother Liang’s hand, “why you suddenly became indifferent to Liancheng?”
“She—” Mother Liang stiffened slightly. Seeing Father Liang’s serious expression, she said, “After I discovered what happened with Lichuan, she harbored resentment towards Feifei and Chaosu.”
Father Liang nodded. “In recent years, Liancheng has indeed been somewhat harsh towards Feifei. What about Chaosu?”
Mother Liang’s complexion worsened. “Do you remember the day of Feifei’s engagement, when Chaosu asked her to the stage to give her blessings? After she came down, she stood alone in the corner, and the look in her eyes towards Chaosu was simply terrifying to me.”
“Later, I paid attention a few more times, and every time I saw her eyes, they were filled with either resentment or a dark, oppressive gaze that was truly shocking.”
Mother Liang continued, “The Liang family raised her for eighteen years. Before Feifei returned, the whole family doted on her. But in the end, for Shen Lichuan, she harbored such resentment. She was simply ungrateful. That’s when my heart completely chilled.”
Father Liang rubbed his fingers. “Since she hates Chaosu, why do you now suspect Liancheng of seducing Chaosu?”
“You don’t understand women. When they love, women are kittens, roses, with claws and thorns; that’s for playful affection. But if love turns to hate, their claws become knives, and their thorns become swords. To tear open a man’s belly, they can endure and lie in wait, resorting to any means.”
Father Liang was taken aback. He and Mother Liang had been childhood sweethearts who married, their relationship smooth and devoted. He understood love thoroughly, but hatred from women was something he couldn’t even imagine.
“Are you suggesting that Liancheng is seducing Chaosu as revenge against him?”
