Chapter 48

Su Qingci knew Pei Jingchen’s family situation well. His parents divorced when he was nine, and he lived with Pei Haiyang. Mrs. Fang threw herself into her career and rarely visited Pei Jingchen. Initially, she called every other week after the divorce, but as her career skyrocketed and she found new love, she gradually forgot about him entirely.

Fang Qiong possessed a stern and domineering personality, a perfectionist bordering on excessive nitpicking. Pei Jingchen had never been particularly close to her, and their contact dwindled further after her divorce from Pei Haiyang. To put it bluntly, the car accident that occurred during Pei Jingchen’s sophomore year of high school marked the first time he had seen his biological mother since his parents’ separation.

Though we lived in the same city, we hadn’t seen each other in seven years.

This proves that chance encounters in movies and TV shows are all fake. Even if you share the same city, if you’re determined to avoid someone you don’t want to see, you could go seventy years without meeting.

Su Qingci tactfully excused herself: “You two talk. I’ll go explore elsewhere.”

Pei Jingchen said, “Don’t wander too far.”

After Su Qingci left, Pei Jingchen and Fang Qiong moved to a quieter corridor. Fang Qiong bought two cans of coffee from the vending machine and handed one to Pei Jingchen. As Pei Jingchen took it, he glanced at his mother, Mrs. Fang. She remained as youthful and beautiful as he remembered—her skin flawlessly smooth, her smile revealing no wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. Her neatly cropped hair was dyed a rich dark tea color, and her slender figure radiated vitality. It was hard to believe she was already in her fifties.

Pei Jingchen thought of Pei Haiyang. Though the same age, Pei Haiyang had grown stout with middle age, his face already lined with wrinkles when unsmiling. His temples were streaked with gray, his complexion dull. Standing beside Mrs. Fang, he looked like an older brother.

Fang Qiong said, “Our chairman is hospitalized with coronary heart disease. I came to visit him.”

Pei Jingchen said nothing. It wasn’t his concern, and he had no interest in prying into Fang Qiong’s daily life. If memory served, this was their fourth meeting—the second when she was eighteen, the third at twenty, and now another six years had passed since their last encounter.

Fang Qiong glanced outside. “Cancan told me about Su Qingci. Are you accompanying him for his follow-up appointment today?”

At the mention of Su Qingci, a flicker of light finally appeared in Pei Jingchen’s eyes. He responded, “Yes.”

When Pei Haiyang and Fang Qiong were going through their divorce, Pei Jingchen was still young. He couldn’t understand why a once peaceful home had suddenly become filled with arguments. His mother grew more volatile by the day, while his father remained as meek as ever—apologizing and appeasing her. Yet his father’s concessions failed to keep his mother. She packed her suitcase overnight and left without a backward glance. The divorce was finalized the very next day.

Pei Haiyang crouched down in front of him and said they would live together as just father and son from now on.

Young Pei Jingchen believed his father had driven his mother away. He overheard neighbors gossiping about his father’s ambiguous relationship with a woman who played the guzheng in a villa, and how he was overly affectionate with her son. Once, when he walked the boy home, he was caught red-handed by the boy’s father, who accused him of being an adulterer. After that, he often lingered outside the villa, his thoughts constantly drawn to the zither-playing woman.

Rumors spread like wildfire, growing more convincing with each retelling, and a child was bound to believe them. He was reserved and restrained by nature, never confronting Pei Haiyang directly. He feared hurting his father’s pride and dreaded shattering the image his father held in his heart. So he chose silence, refusing to listen or believe.

Later, during a phone call with Fang Qiong, she personally explained, “It has nothing to do with your father. He didn’t cheat.”

As Pei Jingchen grew older, he gained more understanding. In his parents’ relationship, it was difficult to say who was right or wrong. Fang Qiong was proud and aloof, a noble swan during her school days. She ignored wealthy second-generation suitors driving BMWs and presenting roses, ultimately “humbling herself” to marry the penniless Pei Haiyang. Pei Haiyang pursued her relentlessly, starting in middle school and continuing for fifteen long years. He made embarrassing mistakes and did foolish things, but Fang Qiong married him because she was moved by his persistence.

Once, when Pei Haiyang was drunk, his face flushed, he mumbled, “I don’t blame your mother for leaving her husband and child. She had the right to pursue happiness. Look how well she’s doing now—married to a top lawyer, with a son of her own. And you gained a real brother. Isn’t that wonderful?”

Maybe Pei Haiyang was right. His father was that kind of forgiving, optimistic man—always smiling at life, content with his lot.

Pei Jingchen truly admired his father.

Fang Qiong despised her father for being poor in spirit, weak, spineless, and overly kind-hearted. She couldn’t stand his contentment with running a modest bakery that would never make him rich, settling for a life confined to a corner. She refused to live a life where the future was so predictably laid out before her.

Divorce. Shedding all the burdens she perceived, she transformed back into that proud swan, spreading her wings to soar. She studied relentlessly, pursued further education, engaged in constant learning and networking. After several career moves, she leaped from being a department head at an ordinary company to a high-level executive at a major conglomerate. Now, she was a successful female executive at a foreign enterprise, thriving in both her career and love life.

What did he and Pei Haiyang amount to? A cage trapping Fang Qiong’s flight, shackles binding her wings? Pei Jingchen wasn’t a saint; he had harbored resentment and couldn’t match Pei Haiyang’s magnanimity.

“Your mother never should have been with someone like me,” Pei Haiyang said, dabbing butter onto a rag with a sheepish grin. “I was just a toad dreaming of swan meat.”

So marrying Pei Haiyang was a mistake. Giving birth to him was a mistake. Her entire first half of life had been absurd and reckless. Only at the moment of divorce did she truly begin anew. Meeting a man who truly understood her, marrying him, having children, living happily as a family of three—that was the right path. That was how things should be.

Turns out he and Pei Haiyang were Fang Qiong’s dark past—system bugs she’d gladly toss into the recycle bin for permanent deletion!

Pei Jingchen refused to accept it. He’d prove to Fang Qiong he wasn’t trash. He’d have nightmares filled with her icy, contemptuous gaze; By day, he studied relentlessly, becoming the embodiment of Fang Qiong’s competitive spirit in adults’ eyes and a relentless overachiever among peers. He topped the college entrance exams. He successfully waited for Fang Qiong’s second meeting. The mother of the top scorer—how glorious! Facing reporters’ interviews, she beamed brightly, replying, “Yes, yes, yes, that’s my son. “No special nurturing needed—this child was bright from birth. I barely had to guide him, and he still achieved such excellence.”

In that moment, Pei Jingchen suddenly found Fang Qiong’s laughter jarring, her smile tasting bitter. Though she was still the same mother, it felt nothing like when he’d earned perfect scores in elementary school and been embraced and kissed on the cheek.

He watched as Fang Qiong eagerly called over Chen Cancan. Mother and son chatted and laughed in front of the camera. She introduced him as Xiao Chen’s younger brother, her little treasure, equally bright and clever. Like his brother, he required no academic supervision…

Suddenly, everything felt utterly meaningless.

Completely meaningless.

*

The canned coffee had been warmed in his hands for so long that even the metal can felt hot. Pei Jingchen placed it on the windowsill: “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going.”

Fang Qiong hurriedly said, “Cancan told me you’ve been taking care of him all along.”

“Mhm,” Pei Jingchen replied. “His health is poor. I can’t keep him waiting too long. Goodbye.”

“Jingchen.” Fang Qiong took three quick steps to catch up. “You disregarded propriety and morality before, falling in love and cohabiting with a man. Now you’re even more absurd—wasting your career for another man?!”

Pei Jingchen rooted himself to the spot, turning to say, “Ms. Fang, isn’t Chen Cangcang enough for you to manage?”

“Mom is only looking out for you. You’re a man of status and standing—don’t you feel ashamed being with another man? Even if we set that aside, can Su Qingci bear your children? Can he stay by your side for life?” “ Fang Qiong snapped, her voice sharp and stern. ”I used to think you were just young and foolish, acting on a momentary impulse. I understood that—who hasn’t made mistakes in their youth? But you’re not young anymore…”

“Foolish? Yes. So you’re saying you’re the cautionary tale—impulsively marrying my father in a moment of passion, then impulsively bearing me in another? Compounding one mistake with another, squandering your youth. We should resolutely take this as a lesson.” Pei Jingchen sneered. “Is that right?”

Fang Qiong was speechless.

Pei Jingchen: “Your son is gay. A hopelessly gay man who loves someone named Su Qingci.”

Fang Qiong was furious but couldn’t utter a word, watching helplessly as Pei Jingchen walked away without looking back. That resolve and determination mirrored her own when she packed her bags and left in the dead of night all those years ago.

*

Su Qingci sat under the shade of a tree, watching a wealthy woman walk her dog. The dog, exhausted, lay sprawled on the ground, panting heavily.

Hearing footsteps, Su Qingci knew without turning who it was.

Pei Jingchen pressed a slightly chilled bottled water against Su Qingci’s face. In the sunlight, his smile was warm and gentle: “Let’s go home.”

The mineral water was pleasantly cool, refreshing without being stomach-chilling. Pei Jingchen didn’t mention Fang Qiong, and Su Qingci didn’t ask. One drove, the other dozed in the passenger seat. Su Qingci drifted off unintentionally, waking to find himself lying in his bedroom bed.

Checking the weather forecast, which predicted rain for the coming days, Su Qingci already felt uneasy.

That morning, a light drizzle fell outside. After preparing breakfast, Pei Jingchen left. Su Qingci urged him to eat first, but he declined, saying urgent matters awaited at the office and he’d eat on the way.

After Pei Jingchen departed, the villa fell into complete stillness, broken only by the steady patter of rain outside—a sound both noisy and quiet.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Thinking it was Pei Jingchen, Su Qingci answered. After a two-second pause, a woman’s voice came through: “This is Xiaochen’s mother. Su Qingci, would you be available to meet sometime?”