Early the next morning.
Zhonghai Imperial Garden.
More than a dozen luxury cars were parked at the entrance to the residential compound, and more than a dozen men in black suits stood neatly in a row.
“Did you hear? A billionaire’s daughter, who was lost to the outside world, lives in our neighborhood.”
“Really?”
“With a show like that, it has to be true.”
“I wonder when my rich dad’s coming to take me home. If he doesn’t hurry up, I’m going to die at my desk.”
“…”
Su Zekai paid no attention to the chatter around him.
He had a lot of questions, and he was desperate to see his daughter.
Si Nanyuan was woken by the sound of someone knocking. Irritably, she ran a hand through her hair, went to the living room, and called toward the door, “Could you keep it down?”
“Eldest Miss, the president has come to take you home.”
“Wait.”
Si Nanyuan took her time washing up and making breakfast, then ate at her leisure.
Only then did she open the door. “I’m here.”
Su Zekai looked her over. “Where’s your mother?”
Si Nanyuan gave a cold laugh. “You tell me.”
At that, Su Zekai frowned slightly. “She’s still angry.”
Everyone had said she died in the car accident all those years ago, but he had never believed it.
Si Nanyuan almost laughed at the absurdity.
“The grass on her grave is already waist-high. Who knows if she’s still angry?”
“Y-You… what did you say?”
Su Zekai stared at her in shock, his hands clenched tight and his whole body trembling slightly.
“Exactly what you heard.”
It was a long while before Su Zekai managed to speak. “When did it happen?”
“Ten years ago.”
Su Zekai froze.
“The day she left you, she was in a car accident and was disfigured. To protect me while I was still in her womb, she couldn’t take many of the medicines she needed, and she missed the best window for treatment. Then she couldn’t bear the pain of losing her older brother and fell into depression. Later, she worked herself to death raising me.”
Only then did Si Nanyuan’s flippant expression fade. Sorrow filled her eyes.
Shock. Disbelief.
His wife, Si Yirou, was gone just like that.
Su Zekai studied the girl before him. She had bright eyes and white teeth, and her delicate features looked as though they had been carefully carved by the heavens. Her round almond-shaped eyes were just like her mother’s.
“Dad will take you home.”
Si Nanyuan gave a slight nod.
Su Zekai didn’t say a word the whole way. Si Nanyuan glanced at him now and then.
He seemed very upset.
Was it guilt?
Probably.
Men were like that. They’d feel guilty for three days, then forget all about it.
The Su family’s old residence.
Liu Wan, the wife of the Su family’s eldest son, wore a green qipao. Her dark hair was loosely pinned up, and she sat ramrod straight, sipping tea with elegant ease.
Her daughter, Su Xiyue, was already on edge, constantly looking outside.
Her father, the Su family’s Eldest Young Master, had been dead for more than twenty years. The Old Madam had arranged for Su Xiyue to be adopted under the name of Second Young Master Su, Su Zekai.
Su Zekai’s son had died long ago. Now that a daughter had appeared out of nowhere, Su Xiyue’s position was no longer secure.
Old Madam Su sipped her tea unhurriedly.
When Si Nanyuan and Su Zekai entered, everyone turned to look at them. Faced with their scrutiny and hostile gazes, Si Nanyuan met their eyes without the slightest unease.
“Mom, this is the daughter Yirou and I had, Nanyuan.”
Su Zekai patted Si Nanyuan on the shoulder and led her to a sofa nearby.
Old Madam Su glanced at her coolly and set down her teacup. “Now that you’re back, learn some manners. Don’t be as common as your mother. Just looking at her turned my stomach.”
Si Yirou had no parents and no influential family behind her. Old Madam Su had never once treated her kindly.
She disliked Si Yirou’s child, too, always thinking she had a country bumpkin air about her.
Si Nanyuan’s lips curved slightly. This was the old woman who had ruined her mother’s hands, leaving her deaf in her right ear and blind in her right eye.
Her mother had died ten years ago. Si Nanyuan had been raised by her mother’s friend, Luo Qingyang. Only last month, as Luo Qingyang lay dying, had she told Si Nanyuan who she was. Her intention had been for Si Nanyuan to seek out Su Zekai if she ever ran into trouble. If he showed no compassion, she was to produce her mother’s will and claim her share of the estate.
If Si Nanyuan hadn’t looked into it, she never would have known how hard her mother’s life in the Su family had been.
She had thought about taking them straight to court. But why should she let these people off easy?
Taking away their sense of superiority with her own hands—that would feel so much better.
“I may be a country bumpkin, but I’m enough to bury you.”
The living room fell silent.
When Old Madam Su grasped what she meant, she flew into a rage. “Are you cursing me?”
“Little Sister A-Yuan, how can you talk to Grandma like that?”
Su Xiyue’s voice sounded pinched, like someone was squeezing her throat. Her words were dripping with false sweetness.
But inside, she was overjoyed.
So what if she was Dad’s biological daughter? She was an idiot. Su Xiyue had worried for nothing.
“I see. Grandma doesn’t want to be buried under dirt. In that case, we’ll leave your bones out in the open.”
“You—”
Old Madam Su’s face turned livid with rage. “A-Kai, make her leave! The Su family won’t keep an unfilial girl like her.”
Su Zekai frowned. This girl seemed so sweet and harmless. How could she say such awful things?
“Mom, A-Yuan grew up in the mountains. Yirou died when she was eleven, and there was no one to teach her. That’s why she’s like this. I’ll teach her from now on.”
“Grew up in the mountains? Then she’s nothing but a crude countrywoman. A girl like that will only bring shame on the Su family.”
Old Madam Su was so angry she nearly choked. Remembering that Si Nanyuan was Si Yirou’s daughter, she had prepared plenty of things to say to put her in her place. But before she could get a word out, anger had left her speechless.
“Mom, she is A-Kai’s daughter, after all.”
Liu Wan supported her, rubbing her back as she spoke.
“The Su family will never accept such a vulgar girl.”
“Funny, because I didn’t come here to be accepted by you.”
Everyone froze.
Si Nanyuan gave a small shrug and smiled innocently. “I came to get my share of the family’s assets.”
“Get out! Make her get out!”
At that, Old Madam Su fainted from rage.
Si Nanyuan: I haven’t even gotten started, and this is all it takes?
“Mom!”
“Grandma!”
The Su family’s old residence descended into chaos. Si Nanyuan calmly sipped her tea, unconcerned, as she looked around the place where her mother had once lived.
Back then, to make life difficult for her mother, Old Madam Su had dismissed every servant from this enormous villa.
Si Nanyuan wasn’t her mother. No one was going to make her put up with anything.
“A-Kai, stay for dinner!”
As soon as Su Zekai came downstairs, Liu Wan hurried after him.
The Old Madam had only been overcome by anger; she was fine now.
“No need. Take good care of Mom.”
The smile on Liu Wan’s face stiffened.
Back then, because Su Zekai had no interest in the Su Corporation, Liu Wan had turned around and thrown herself into the arms of the Eldest Young Master Su. Who could have known fate would play such a trick? In the end, Su Zekai was still the one who inherited the Su family.
She had thought that now Si Yirou was gone, she and Su Zekai would eventually rekindle their relationship.
But twenty years had passed.
Liu Wan watched helplessly as Su Zekai and Si Nanyuan left.
“You did that on purpose today.”
As soon as they were outside the old residence, Su Zekai couldn’t help asking.
“She didn’t respect me. Why should I respect her?”
“She’s your grandmother. She’s an elder.”
Si Nanyuan gave a cold laugh. “So elders can do whatever they want? My mother had an incredible talent for piano, but that woman ruined her hands. Just because she’s an elder, she doesn’t have to take responsibility for what she did?”
Su Zekai had no answer.
“Aren’t you afraid I won’t acknowledge you?”
Si Nanyuan’s lips curved into a faint, cold smile.
“Believe me or don’t. It’s up to you.”
“Then why did you come back to find me?”
Yirou had been dead for ten years. Si Nanyuan had only come to find him now. It clearly hadn’t been Yirou’s idea. The girl was just as stubborn as her mother.
“I’m short on money.”
Su Zekai smiled too, taking her answer in stride.
“So you came to me for the inheritance?”
“More or less.”
“If you came for the inheritance, wouldn’t it be easier to get it if you behaved?”
After all, she was his only child.
“I can’t be bothered pretending.”
Su Zekai gazed intently at her. She looked a lot like Yirou, but her personality was completely different.
Yirou had always swallowed her grievances.
“Aren’t you afraid I won’t give you anything?”
“Then I’ll see you in court.”
“If you sue me, you won’t get a single cent.”
Su Zekai sighed.
She probably had no idea what kind of power the Su family wielded in Kyoto.
Si Nanyuan followed Su Zekai back to his home in Kyoto, Dijing Garden.
“The room on the left on the second floor is yours. Go see if you like it. If you don’t, ask Nanny Li to change it.”
“I want to stay in Older Brother’s room.”
At that, Su Zekai froze.