"What is she doing, and what are you doing? Just half a year ago, Su Ziceng was someone who only knew how to spend money, not make it. Now, somehow she managed to take over that nearly bankrupt Wine Shop. It seems like a loss-making business, but who knows, she might be able to turn it around. If she makes a comeback, our years of patient endurance will have been for nothing," Chang Mei patiently advised Chang Chi.
"Mom, you always say that you want me to replace Su Ziceng’s position, but behind the scenes, you care about her more than anyone else does. Every day at the dining table, there are the dishes she likes to eat. When we were children, if she had the slightest headache or fever, you were always the first to notice," Chang Chi said, watching Chang Mei’s nostrils flare with each breath. To her, Su Ziceng was the bane of her existence - her first love, a mother’s love, was taken away by her.
Facing Chang Chi’s aggressive questioning, Chang Mei desperately argued, "She is Qing Chang’s only daughter, I..."
"She is also Qiao Chu’s daughter. You’ve said she’s the woman you hate the most in this world," Chang Chi slammed the door shut violently. There was a time when she had been similarly shut out of the Su Family home. Three-year-old Ziceng spit at the metal gate and cursed her as a fatherless bastard.
This was the first time Chang Chi had ever talked back to her. Chang Mei’s face turned ashen as she looked at the increasingly Ziceng-like Chang Chi, feeling everything so alien. The closed door and the endlessly spreading dark corridor behind her, Chang Chi walked alone like a walking corpse, having effectively died eighteen years ago when she and Su Qingzhang caused Qiao Chu’s death.
By the time Su Ziceng returned home, it was already midnight. She was a bit drunk, the forced drinks sitting uneasy in her stomach. She had just reached the downstairs when she felt the acid rise in her throat and ran into the restroom to vomit until she saw stars. When she came out, her vision was already starting to blur. Tonight, she had indeed drunk a lot, mixing low and medium strengths, which got her drunk more easily. Zhou Dagen, who had accompanied her, had already passed out, let alone her, Su Ziceng; it was already good enough that she made it back.
But it was worth it. After today’s effort, those "sent out" eighty cases were definitely worth it, enough to make the ten cases of wine at the auction house skyrocket in value like "paper price".
Halfway up the stairs, she saw a figure standing at the top. Looking closer, it turned out to be Su Qingzhang. She shook her head to clear it, but it only made her feel more unstable, "I forgot, dad is the vainest, placing a life-size portrait of himself in the middle of the staircase. But, it’s well-painted and quite lifelike."
"Hmm," Su Ziceng thought she heard a human voice. A painting, of course, would not make a sound, but Su Qingzhang would. The painting in front of her had a three-dimensional nose and a warm body, and in its hand was the cane Su Qingzhang never let go of.
Father and daughter hadn’t faced each other in a very long time. After being reborn, Ziceng still couldn’t confront Su Qingzhang openly; initially, it was because she still harbored guilt over his death. Later, it was because she couldn’t quite understand Su Qingzhang’s actions – Su Qingzhang was not a foolish ruler, so why would he let the Chang’s mother and daughter do as they pleased within the Su Family? But after taking over that Wine Shop, she gradually came to understand the pressure that Su Qingzhang had to bear.
"So you’ve been gallivanting with your riff-raff friends again," came Su Qingzhang’s usual interrogatory tone, "Do you not see what time it is? You are the Su Family’s young mistress; do you not know how many people are watching you all the time?"
"I’m tired, truly tired," Su Ziceng, resting her head in her hands, sat on the staircase. Her shoes were slightly damp from running around all day, and after soaking for a whole day, her feet were so cold, they had lost all feeling, "Dad, now I know just how hard it is for you, having to force a smile in front of all those demons and ghouls every day. No wonder you never showed me a happy face when you came home." Her head, too heavy to hold up, was buried in her knees, babbling like a drunkard collapsed by the roadside.
Su Qingzhang could not see Ziceng’s face, only her long hair cascading over her shoulders, revealing her pointed, upturned chin. The faint sound of snoring soon followed; Ziceng had fallen asleep.
On the stairs, Su Qingzhang still leaned on the cane. He took a few steps downstairs, planning to ring for a servant to help the young mistress upstairs. The lecture he intended to give would have to wait until tomorrow.
After a few steps, Su Qingzhang stopped and turned back to look at the still figure. How many years had it been? When she was just born, when she was just a tiny thing, he could hold her in his arms. A baby of ten months, yet more frail than other children, she felt so light in his arms as if she could disappear any moment. Su Qingzhang let go of the cane, placing it aside; he limped forward with much more agility than a typical polio sufferer.
She had grown taller and heavier, Su Qingzhang thought. He picked up Ziceng, taking one difficult step after another, but after a few, he seemed to adjust to the weight in his hands. He didn’t stop until he reached the end of the staircase. It was a pity that Ziceng had already fallen asleep and didn’t notice that Su Qingzhang’s walk lacked the limp. In fact, even Su Qingzhang himself hadn’t realized that his legs were capable of walking normally.
That night, Su Ziceng slept soundly, dreaming again of "Qiao Chu". "Qiao Chu" gently rocked the cradle, staying by her bedside until dawn. (To be continued. If you work, feel free to vote your recommendation ticket or monthly ticket on Qidian (qidian.com); your support is my greatest motivation.)