Su Lingyu’s sudden appearance startled everyone except Jiang Yuli.
Jiang Yuli had been enduring the pain without uttering a word, but during the brief moment Su Lingyu helped him up, he couldn’t help but hiss several times.
Shen Zeming’s attitude immediately softened when facing Su Lingyu: “Xiao Yu, what brings you here?”
“If I hadn’t come, Grandpa Shen, you would have beaten your son to death.” Su Lingyu truly couldn’t understand how there could be parents in this world who didn’t love their own children.
Had Jiang Yuli committed some unforgivable sin?
Was he worth being beaten so mercilessly?
“Pao Pao, I’m fine.” Jiang Yuli’s voice was low and hoarse.
“You don’t look fine at all.” Su Lingyu supported his unsteady frame, her gaze coldly sweeping past Shen Qiao nearby.
Tattletale!
Shen Qiao was secretly pleased with himself, but upon seeing this, he immediately spoke up: “Since you came looking for me, let’s forget about last night’s incident. We’re not breaking up.”
Su Lingyu rolled her eyes internally: Narcissist!
“I’m not here for you,” she said coldly, “I came to return the suit that Uncle lent me.”
Shen Qiao’s face stiffened: “…”
Jiang Yuli again!
When did Jiang Yuli’s suit end up in Su Lingyu’s hands?
What exactly happened between them that night when the flight was delayed?
Right now, Su Lingyu was only eager to know why Jiang Yuli was being beaten, feeling strongly that it must be related to her.
She released her support of Jiang Yuli and turned to Shen Zeming: “Grandpa Shen, why are you beating him?”
“Xiao Yu, you and A Qiao grew up together. As an elder, he shouldn’t have interfered between you two.” Shen Zeming leaned on his cane as he sat back down, his tone carrying the authority of an elder. “As his father, I’m merely educating him. He’s tough-skinned and will be fine, don’t worry.”
“Grandpa Shen, Uncle didn’t interfere in our relationship. Shen Qiao and I broke up because he abandoned me at the airport alone.” Su Lingyu immediately explained. “This has nothing to do with Uncle!”
Upon hearing this, Shen Baichuan immediately shot a fierce glare at Shen Qiao.
Why was the story different?
Shen Qiao guiltily avoided his father’s gaze.
Shen Zeming remained unmoved: “Xiao Yu, I’m just an old man who can’t meddle in young couples’ quarrels. But as an elder, how dare he covet his nephew’s girlfriend? Shouldn’t I educate him? Where are his moral boundaries?”
Hmmm…
Su Lingyu remembered how miserable she felt that night, and how Jiang Yuli insisted she break up with Shen Qiao first before he would let her hug him.
Wasn’t he being extremely moral and principled?
Grandpa Shen simply didn’t understand Jiang Yuli.
“Grandpa Shen,” Su Lingyu said firmly, “I’m single now, and he’s single too. Who he wants to pursue is his freedom. What you’re saying is too biased. Moreover, who I want to be with is my own business, Grandpa Shen. You don’t get to decide that.”
Shen Qiao couldn’t help but loudly question: “Su Lingyu! You’re defending him so fiercely – have you already shifted your affections to someone else?”
Jiang Yuli, pale-faced, immediately scolded: “Shen Qiao, don’t talk nonsense! There’s nothing between us.”
“I just don’t believe that~” Shen Qiao dragged out his words with a sarcastic tone.
Su Lingyu let out a contemptuous laugh: “When you abandoned me at the airport, I really did want to cheat on you. What a pity – Uncle wouldn’t agree to it.”
As soon as the words fell, Jiang Yuli beside her suddenly began coughing violently.
Only then did Su Lingyu notice that his white shirt today was faintly stained with blood.
Looking more closely, fresh crisscrossing wounds were vaguely visible beneath the shirt.
All for such a trivial matter?
Old Master Shen had actually inflicted such severe punishment on his own son!
Su Lingyu stared at the bleeding wounds, her heart aching with both pity and shock.
“Grandpa Shen,” she looked directly at Shen Zeming, her voice tinged with disappointment, “I’d only heard before that you didn’t like Uncle, but today I witnessed with my own eyes just how biased you are.”
“Since your wife chose to give birth to Uncle, it shows she loved this child deeply. How anxious would she be, watching from heaven, seeing you treat him like this?”
Having grown up in a loving family, Su Lingyu simply couldn’t comprehend how a father could treat his own flesh and blood so harshly.
Jiang Yuli wasn’t an illegitimate child—he was the son left behind by Shen Zeming’s beloved wife!
“Uncle is the last keepsake your wife left in this world, her legacy. If she were still alive, she would have loved him dearly.” Su Lingyu’s voice was earnest. “Though she’s gone, she must have hoped before passing that you would stay by your child’s side, with fatherly kindness and filial respect—not beating and berating him as you do now.”
Jiang Yuli’s gaze remained fixed on Su Lingyu, burning with an intensity he’d never felt before.
No one had ever stood up for him like this in front of Shen Zeming, speaking from his mother’s perspective.
At this moment, Su Lingyu seemed enveloped in a radiant light.
Pao Pao…
Was she an angel sent by heaven to save him?
Mention of his deceased wife caused Shen Zeming’s eyes to dim instantly, his throat tightening with bitterness.
“When you pass away someday and meet your wife—if she asks about your two sons, how heartbroken would she be? The Boss received all your affection, while the second son was sent abroad since childhood, leaving your relationship frozen.”
“Grandpa Shen, in my heart, you’ve always been a reasonable elder. I believe you’ll understand these truths.”
“As for me and Shen Qiao,” she paused, her tone resolute, “from the moment he abandoned me alone at the airport, it was clear we weren’t suited for each other.”
After speaking, Su Lingyu ignored the varied expressions on the Shen family’s faces. She bent down to pick up the bag of clothes on the floor: “Uncle, your injuries are serious. Let’s go to the hospital first.”
“…Thank you,” Jiang Yuli’s voice was low.
Supporting him, Su Lingyu turned and left.
Shen Zeming remained seated, sinking into prolonged silence. Su Lingya’s final words about his late wife struck his heart like a heavy hammer.
With his relationship with Jiang Yuli so strained, how could he face his wife after death?
Seeing the change in his father’s expression, Shen Baichuan’s alarm bells rang, thinking this was bad.
He hadn’t expected Su Lingyu to be so eloquent.
“Shen Qiao!” Shen Baichuan immediately raised his voice, trying to disrupt Shen Zeming’s thoughts. “Did you really leave her alone at the airport? That’s not what you said earlier!”
Shen Qiao hurriedly defended himself: “Dad, I didn’t mean to, I just momentarily lost my mind…”
“You need a beating too!” Shen Baichuan made as if to hit his son, but Shang Shuya quickly stepped in to stop him.
Shen Zeming watched the chaotic scene before him, feeling a throbbing pain at his temples.
Meanwhile, inside the moving car.
Jiang Yuli slowly unbuttoned his shirt, letting it hang halfway down his arms. The exposed skin revealed shocking crisscrossing red marks.
Su Lingyu frowned deeply: “When he hits you, don’t you even try to dodge?”
“He’s my father.”
“Uncle, you don’t strike me as someone who’d practice blind filial piety.”
“Consider it… repaying him for giving me life and raising me.” Jiang Yuli’s tone was calm, carrying a hint of indescribable complexity.
He couldn’t very well say that he knew she was coming and deliberately wanted to make her worry about him.
Su Lingyu didn’t understand the turmoil in his heart, only feeling those wounds sting her eyes until they reddened: “For a father to treat his son so harshly… that brilliant, heroic image I had of him in my mind is completely shattered.”
It’s absolutely infuriating!
She didn’t dare touch the wounds, could only stare at them with aching heart.
…Wait.
Don’t mention it, really, don’t mention it…
Those smooth pectoral lines… they look like they’d feel… ahem.
As if afraid Jiang Yuli might notice her gaze, Su Lingyu quickly averted her eyes and asked instead: “What about your legs? Are they injured too?”
“Even worse.”
Su Lingyu’s frown deepened: “Can I see?”
“How?” Jiang Yuli’s eyes curved slightly, carrying a faint, elusive smile. “Should I take them off?”
Su Lingyu instinctively covered her eyes: “Uncle! Be serious! I meant looking at the injuries on your legs! Not anything else!”
This man, even while injured, still remembers to act like a rogue! She thought to herself, so even aloof, abstinent men can be like this…
“Your injuries are ultimately related to me. I won’t feel right unless I see the actual condition with my own eyes.” She lowered her hands and explained seriously.
Jiang Yuli leisurely straightened his shirt, his voice carrying a barely noticeable coaxing tone: “Since you’re so eager to see… then, how about coming home with me?”