“I’m sorry for making you witness that joke earlier.”
As they reached the parking lot, Su Chengning finally spoke after a long silence.
Hearing his words, Tang Mo suddenly grabbed his wrist, applied a gentle force, and pulled him into a firm embrace.
“Brother, if you’re unhappy, just tell me,” Tang Mo said, lowering his head to gently touch him.
He could see that Su Chengning was in a very bad mood, but being somewhat clumsy with words, he didn’t know how to comfort him. He could only use his embrace to circle the man tightly, hoping to use his own body heat to warm Su Chengning’s low spirits.
Su Chengning could feel light kisses falling on his cheek very soft, carrying a hidden, cautious tenderness. From these subtle movements, he felt an indescribable warmth and obvious gentleness.
He raised his hands and lightly returned the hug, resting his forehead against Tang Mo’s broad shoulder. His voice sounded a bit muffled as he said, “I really hate him.”
That “him,” naturally, referred to Su Binghai.
“I saw him just now in the private booth being intimate with that woman. Originally, I wanted to pretend I didn’t know, but I ended up running into them anyway.”
“Tell me, does this count as a twisted fate?”
Tang Mo’s heart skipped a beat. He asked in surprise, “So, the ‘annoying person’ you mentioned seeing earlier was…”
Su Chengning gave an affirmative hum.
Only then did Tang Mo realize he had been jealous of the wrong person. He let out a few dry laughs, causing Su Chengning to look up at him with a strange expression.
Feeling momentarily embarrassed, Tang Mo cleared his throat and said, “Since you hate him, just stay away from him.”
He was the same way; he hated Tang Chen, so he basically avoided seeing him whenever possible. If they did happen to meet, at most, he would just snap at him a few times to vent his frustration.
“That’s why I’ve never liked living at home,” Su Chengning said, steadying his emotions before finally pulling away from the embrace.
Tang Mo followed his lead and added, “I don’t like living at home either.”
The two looked at each other and shared a laugh. People you hate are better left unseen.
Su Chengning’s mood improved slightly, and he ultimately decided not to go home. Regardless of whether Su Binghai would confess the situation or not, Su Chengning decided to give him a warning.
Inside the restaurant booth, Su Binghai said to Jiang Wen, “I’m heading back now. You should go back and rest early too.”
Jiang Wen looked at him with a sour expression. “Are you going back to tell your wife everything?”
Su Binghai hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. “She never cares about what I’m doing. Why should I invite trouble?”
“But your son said…”
“Don’t worry about what he says,” he interrupted her. Seeing her worried face, he offered a few words of comfort. “A-Ning is someone whose mouth is sharp but whose heart is soft. Even if this matter is out in the open, it doesn’t benefit him to expose it. He won’t easily blow our cover.”
Su Binghai believed he understood his son to some extent; he didn’t take Su Chengning’s words to heart. Going home now was merely for the sake of appearances, to avoid a public scene between father and son that would make them a laughingstock.
Jiang Wen nodded. “Xiao Yu was throwing a tantrum with me a few days ago. I’ll go back and check on him.”
Su Binghai hummed in response and instructed, “Keep a tight leash on him. As long as he honestly does what I told him to do, it’s fine. Tell him not to do anything useless.”
However, when the two left the booth and went to settle the bill, they were informed that none of their cards worked.
“What’s going on?” Su Binghai tried several cards in a row, but none could be swiped successfully. His face turned exceptionally grim.
The restaurant manager apologized profusely while explaining the situation. In the end, he had no choice but to pay in cash. After letting Jiang Wen leave first, Su Binghai immediately called Su Chengning.
“A-Ning, did you freeze my cards?”
Hearing his father’s cold, questioning tone, Su Chengning replied with a sneer, “Dad, your spending has been a bit high lately. I just mentioned it to Mom, and she said to freeze your cards for now. Since you don’t have any social engagements lately, you won’t need much money living at home anyway.”
Su Binghai’s face darkened. He knew exactly which “high expenditure” Su Chengning was referring to. He had taken Jiang Wen to buy a set of diamond jewelry that afternoon. That bill must have been sent straight to his wife by Su Chengning.
“You also know Mom doesn’t like wearing diamonds. Since a set mysteriously appeared, Dad, you should explain it clearly to Mom. We wouldn’t want her to lose sleep over it.”
Su Chengning’s voice came through the phone, cold and heartless. Su Binghai knew this was a warning.
“I understand. I will explain it to your mother,” Su Binghai replied, suppressing his fury.
The moment he hung up, he kicked a roadside trash can. A stray dog that had come over to forage was startled by his fierce expression and ran away with its tail between its legs.
A few days later, Su Chengning returned home.
Su Binghai was accompanying his mother while she watched a melodramatic soap opera. As soon as he saw his son enter, he called out “Son” with forced enthusiasm.
Su Chengning gave a lukewarm response, ignored the way Su Binghai’s face instantly soured, and sat down naturally beside his mother.
“Mom, I have some free time the next two days, so I came back to see you.”
Upon hearing this, Su Juan immediately smiled and said, “Then stay at home for a couple of days. I’ll have Sister Li cook some of your favorite dishes.” As she spoke, she made a move to instruct the servants, then hesitated. “Or maybe I should cook myself?”
Amidst her indecision, wanting to chat with her son a bit longer, Su Juan turned directly to Su Binghai on the other side of the sofa. “How about this, Ah Hai? You go buy the ingredients our son likes, and I’ll cook them myself later.”
Su Binghai was reluctant. “Just let Sister Li go buy them.”
“No,” Su Juan refused flatly. “Food prepared by one’s own parents has the most love.”
Unable to win the argument, Su Binghai was eventually sent out to buy groceries.
Once only the mother and son were left in the living room, Su Juan spoke up. “Tang Guoming called me two days ago and said you wanted to break off the engagement with Tang Chen.”
Su Chengning hadn’t expected his mother to send Su Binghai away just to ask about this. “It was my idea.”
Su Juan looked at him curiously. “I remember you liked him quite a bit before. Why the sudden change of heart?”
Su Chengning then told her about the affair between Tang Chen and Jiang Baiyu. Hearing this, Su Juan’s expression turned quite ugly.
“In that case, the engagement should be canceled. A man only cheats zero times or countless times. It’s better to break it off now before you’re married.”
Su Chengning laughed softly at her words. Seeing his mother’s slightly puzzled look, he explained, “Someone told me the exact same thing a few days ago.”
“Who?” Su Juan asked. She rarely saw such a relaxed and pure smile on her son’s face one that seemed to carry a different kind of meaning.
“A big boy,” Su Chengning replied, liking that description for Tang Mo.
“Are you on good terms?”
Su Chengning nodded. “Pretty good. He’s a very obedient kid.”
Su Juan watched him for a long moment. Seeing that he had no intention of revealing a name, she didn’t press further.
“I’ll handle the cancellation of the engagement,” she said, wanting to help her son. “Do you have anyone you like now? Do you want to find someone else to get engaged to?”
She suddenly thought of someone. “I remember Tang Guoming has another son, right?”
Seeing her bring up Tang Mo, Su Chengning smiled and nodded.
“The younger son should be quite grown up by now. How is your relationship with him?” she asked.
“The relationship is… alright,” Su Chengning said.
Their relationship in bed was, indeed, quite alright.
“Then, would you be interested in…” Su Juan hesitated. She was actually quite satisfied with the idea of an alliance with the Tang family.
“Mom, he’s only twenty,” Su Chengning said helplessly, not expecting his mother to have that idea.
“Only twenty?” Su Juan was slightly disappointed. “Then he’s too young.”
Su Chengning raised an eyebrow slightly. Whether he was “too small” or not… he didn’t seem small at all.
After discussing that, Su Chengning moved on to the other matter he cared about. “Regarding some of Dad’s affairs, I think it’s necessary for you to talk to me, Mom.”
“Which affairs?” Su Juan asked, appearing not at all surprised that he brought it up. “The fact that your father has a mistress, or the fact that the mistress gave birth to a son?”
His mother had indeed known about Su Binghai’s actions all these years.
Su Chengning sighed softly. “Mom, since you knew, why have you let him get away with it for so long?”
Su Juan watched the dramatic plot unfolding on the TV and suddenly laughed. Meeting her son’s confused gaze, she pointed at the screen. “You know I really like watching these soap operas.”
“Rich families have a lot of drama, and it’s almost always about money.” Su Juan’s tone was calm, as if she were talking about something that had nothing to do with her.
“Your father was willing to marry into our family back then because he was greedy for our money. But so what? He can’t even get a foot in the door of the Group. The annual dividends are enough for his expenses, so I just treat it as supporting a man I once liked.”
Noticing Su Chengning’s furrowed brows and knowing he disapproved of her mindset, Su Juan said indifferently, “He keeps Jiang Wen just to satisfy his chauvinism. After all, he has certain habits he can’t satisfy with me, so he needs a woman to fulfill them.”
Su Chengning had never expected his mother’s perspective to be so peculiar. For a moment, he was at a loss for words.
Su Juan then spoke with absolute dominance: “Since that mother and son have affected you, Mom will take care of them for you.”