Su Ning was not sure whether Su Jianheng would believe the truth if she told it now.
Still, she said it anyway: “Because of your secretary, Wu Lili. She hired people to kidnap Mom. After you paid the ransom, she still made the kidnappers set the fire. You went in to save Mom, and both of you died together in the blaze.”
His wife was burned to death?
How painful that must have been!
Su Jianheng’s heart felt as though it were soaking in water, aching and suffocating. “How could Wu Lili do such a thing? She is your mother’s good friend, and it was your mother who recommended her to be my secretary.”
“She was jealous that Mom married you and lived a good life,” Su Ning replied.
While many good friends genuinely wished the best for one another, plenty of them harbored jealousy.
Human nature varied from person to person.
A gloomy haze shrouded Su Jianheng’s eyes and brows. “When your mother married me, I was just an ordinary employee at a factory. What kind of good life did she live marrying me!”
“In recent years, as the factory grew larger, she also pursued her own career. Because the two of us argued and lived apart, she certainly didn’t live a good life because of me.”
Outsiders could only ever see the surface.
Su Ning suddenly realized something. “Because Wu Lili was Mom’s good friend, you condoned her treating Brother that way?”
Su Jianheng lowered his gaze, picked up the tea on the coffee table, and took a sip. “Whenever your brother had issues at school, your mother always called Wu Lili to handle them. Obviously, your mother thought she was more suited to manage your brother.”
Su Nanye’s left eye drooped, a flicker of grievance flashing deep within his gaze.
Neither parent managed him; instead, they let an auntie take charge!
Was he even his parents’ child or not?
Su Jianheng looked at Su Ning, cold light flashing in his eyes. “Don’t worry, Daughter. I will never let what happens in two years take place. I am going to find someone right now to deal with Wu Lili.”
As he spoke, Su Jianheng pulled out his phone, preparing to make a call.
Someone who killed his wife deserved to die ten thousand times over!
Although Su Ning also hated Wu Lili, she did not want her dad to break the law. “Wait a minute!”
Su Jianheng was startled. “What?”
Su Ning reached out and snapped her dad’s flip phone shut. “We don’t need to break the law for her. Besides, she is Mom’s good friend, and if she suddenly dies, Mom will be sad too.”
“Do not alert the enemy for now. Let us plan carefully after Mom comes back.”
“The kidnapping happened two years from now, so we don’t need to worry too much right now.”
Su Jianheng wished he could make Wu Lili drop dead on the spot, but what Su Ning said made sense.
After all, murder was illegal.
He took a deep breath to suppress the hatred in his heart. “Fine, I will listen to you.”
Su Ning looked at Su Jianheng with a bit more favor now.
He probably didn’t harbor any romantic feelings for Wu Lili, and he seemed to hold deep affection for her mother.
“Wu Lili embezzled the company’s money and fled abroad in the future, only to be caught by the police fifteen years later. Dad, you must start guarding against her in financial matters from now on.”
Su Jianheng’s pupils constricted slightly. “What did you say?”
Su Ning repeated: “I said Wu Lili…”
Su Jianheng shook his head. “Not that sentence.”
Su Ning’s eyelashes fluttered slightly. “Dad…”
Su Jianheng, who could well be considered a domineering CEO in this era, stood up directly in excitement. “Hey! Good daughter! This is the first time you have called me Dad!”
He strode toward his desk, retrieved a large bundle of cash containing twenty thousand yuan from the safe behind it, and handed it to Su Ning. “Here, take this as a welcome gift. Dad only has this much on hand for now, so take it first.”
Su Ning’s eyes lit up. After taking it, she found she could barely wrap her arms around the thick stack. “Thank you, Dad.”
Cash! She gladly accepted it!
Hearing the word “Dad” once more, Su Jianheng curled the corners of his mouth all the way up to outer space.
Remembering that a business partner had sent him two gold bars earlier that day, he immediately took them out from his desk drawer. “This is also a welcome gift for you. Take it and have some jewelry made.”
Once upon a time, Su Ning had thought gold was tacky.
Once the price soared past one thousand yuan per gram, she realized how pretentious she had been back then.
“Awesome! Love you, Dad!”
Gold! She gladly accepted that too!
Su Ning took the gold bars, cradled them in her palms, and looked at them with fond attachment, even playfully biting one to test it.
Su Nanye pulled a long, disgruntled face.
Noticing this, Su Jianheng said, “Son, don’t think Dad is playing favorites. Your sister…”
“That’s not it,” Su Nanye pouted. “Today is my first time seeing my sister too. You have so many things to give her as welcome gifts, and I got nothing.”
Would his sister think he was a useless older brother?
Only then did Su Jianheng understand his train of thought, and he was about to comfort him by saying he was still young.
Su Nanye stared at him with burning eyes. “Dad, why don’t you just let me inherit the factory right now?”
Su Jianheng: “…”
Su Ning was laughing so hard she could barely breathe; she couldn’t even say words like that when she went out of her way to pick a fight.
She looked at Su Nanye’s single eye. “Brother, you don’t need to give me anything. In the future, you were the one who raised me up bit by bit. Without you, there would be no me today.”
Hearing this, Su Jianheng’s deep gaze fell heavily upon Su Nanye, a flash of heartache crossing his eyes.
With both parents gone, this brat raising his younger sister all by himself must have been very hard.
Yet, Su Nanye completely missed that angle of hardship.
He only felt that his future self was very happy, able to watch his little sister grow up step by step!
At that moment, Wu Lili pushed the door open again.
“President Su, will you be having dinner at the factory?”
The factory had a cafeteria, and when orders were heavy, employees had to work overtime, so three meals were provided.
With night falling soon, it was time for dinner.
Su Jianheng did not look at Wu Lili.
He was afraid his impulse to kill her would show on his face.
Fortunately, he and his wife died together, so they would still be a couple in the netherworld.
“Never mind that. You can get off work first.”
Wu Lili hit another wall, but she was helpless. “Alright.”
Su Jianheng added in a cold voice: “From now on, you must knock before entering my office.”
Wu Lili bit her lip.
Su Jianheng had never guarded against her before. Sure enough, once a person had secrets, things changed!
Her gaze swept over Su Ning to size her up.
She noticed the girl was holding gold bars and clutching a large bundle of cash.
Her pupils widened.
They were meeting for the very first time, yet he was giving away this much money!
All of this money would belong to her in the future!
Wu Lili felt a pang of sharp heartache. Unable to hold back, she said, “President Su, you shouldn’t manage this much money entirely on your own, should you? If Meixia were to find out…”
Su Ning frowned slightly.
Wu Lili didn’t recognize that she looked like her mother.
She probably had never seen what her mother looked like when she was young.
Mentioning his wife only made Su Jianheng even angrier!
He raised his eyes and stared at her coldly. “You care too much. Get out!”
Su Jianheng had never looked at her with such a gaze before.
For a split second, a chill ran down Wu Lili’s neck, and her heart pounded violently.
With a smooth pivot, she turned and walked out, pulling the door shut behind her.
After walking some distance away, the chill on the back of Wu Lili’s neck slowly faded.
She lowered her gaze and pulled her phone out of her pocket.
She couldn’t wait for someone else to investigate; she had to let Fang Meixia know about this as soon as possible.
Otherwise, all the money would be taken away by outsiders!
She dialed a number.
The other end answered quickly.
She said anxiously: “Hello! Meixia, something terrible has happened.”
Inside the office, Su Jianheng asked with concern: “Is Xiaoning hungry? What do you want to eat tonight? Dad will take you out.”
Since Su Ning had no idea what delicacies existed in this era, she asked Su Nanye: “Brother, what do you want to eat?”
Su Nanye thought about it. “Let’s go to Hongyan Restaurant.”
This was a time-honored, prestigious restaurant in Haishi with exceptional food.
Su Jianheng quickly called his driver and then said to Su Ning: “After dinner, I will take you shopping so we can spend this money.”
Twenty thousand yuan in this era was worth much more than twenty years later.
Initially, Su Ning had worried she would suffer hardships in this era, but now she felt completely at ease.
She brought her feet together, raised her hand beside her head, and made a salute gesture. “Guaranteeing completion of the mission!”
Spending money was her absolute specialty!
Su Jianheng was amused by his daughter’s cute posture, his heart softening into a complete mess.
He wished he could present the best things in the entire world right in front of her.
Come back soon, Wife, and take a look at our super-duper cute daughter!
At the factory entrance, the three of them boarded the Land Rover together.
Business at Hongyan Restaurant was booming.
When they arrived, only the very last private dining room was left.
As the three of them sat inside the private room, a waiter walked in.
“Here is the menu. Would you folks like to take a look and see what you’d like to order?”
It was a pleasant and crisp voice.
Su Ning was talking to Su Nanye when she looked up.
A young man whose breathtaking good looks bordered on the infuriating came crashing into her line of sight.