Spoiled Sparrow

The next morning, at the Su family home.

"Mom!" Su Jiaojiao slammed her chopsticks on the table and yelled at Shen Zhaolan, "Didn't you say Su Ruanqing would come back immediately if you called?! It's been all night and she hasn't replied!"

Su Mingsheng: "That ungrateful wretch! I've raised her for nothing all these years!"

"She should have frozen to death outside the hospital!"

In recent years, the Su family's business has been getting worse and worse for some reason, and Su Mingsheng's temper has become increasingly irritable.

He vented his anger on his wife, slapping her across the face: "You can't even call someone back! What use are you in this house?!"

Su Jiaojiao was frightened by her father and dared not say another word.

She helped Shen Zhaolan up, her voice softening: "Mom, Dad didn't mean it."

The Feng family wants to annul the engagement, and my father is extremely worried.

Shen Zhaolan covered her face, enduring the pain, and called Ruan Qing for the third time. After a few seconds of ringing, a mechanical female voice came through:

"Sorry, the number you dialed is currently busy..."

"She's not answering..."

Shen Zhaolan looked at her husband tremblingly, her hand gripping the phone shaking uncontrollably.

Su Mingsheng slammed his fist on the table in anger, then turned and stormed out of the house without looking back.

The mother and daughter only breathed a sigh of relief after he left.

Seeing her daughter crying, Shen Zhaolan hugged her and comforted her: "Jiaojiao, it's okay. Your father wasn't like this before. He was just anxious."

Su Jiaojiao pushed her away and anxiously slapped her thigh: "Mom, as long as you get Su Ruanqing to convince Feng Xiao to marry me, everything will be fine."

"As long as we marry into the Feng family, Dad can turn back into his old self, and the three of us can live happily together again."

In recent years, the Su family's business has plummeted, and they had hoped to save the company through a marriage alliance with the Feng family.

After waiting for several years, Feng Xiao finally returned to China, but unexpectedly, he refused to marry Su Jiaojiao.

In front of the elders of both the Feng and Su families, he made his stance clear without any hesitation: "Among the Su family's fiancées, I only recognize Su Ruanqing."

No matter how much she pleaded, the Feng family refused to budge, insisting that they respected their son's wishes.

Seeing her husband and daughter in this state, Shen Zhaolan had no choice but to send another text message to Ruan Qing: "Qingqing, it's Mom. Can we meet? Please, Mom isn't feeling well right now, I just want to see you..."

The incessantly vibrating phone kept disturbing Ruan Qing's mind.

She pursed her lips, lowered her head, and gently nudged Fu Chen's shoulder, gesturing for him to look at his phone.

"Tsk."

The precious moment of tenderness he had finally managed to steal was interrupted, and Fu Chen's displeasure was written all over his face. He reluctantly withdrew his hand from around her waist.

With his hands on the steering wheel, his peripheral vision was fixed on the passenger in the front seat.

Ruan Qing looked down and swiped her phone screen, seeing the call that had been hung up 10 minutes ago. She glanced up at the person driving seriously in the driver's seat.

Who else could it be but him?

Her adoptive mother's lengthy text message annoyed her, and could be summed up in just two words: scheming.

They really still think of her as a seventeen-year-old pushover.

She turned off the screen and turned her head to look at the first snow falling outside the car window.

Memories of being packed up and boxed up resurfaced.

"You refused when I suggested having another child, but you insisted on bringing her home. Now people outside are pointing fingers at me. Are you satisfied now?"

On a snowy day like this, Su Mingsheng came home drunk and had a big fight with Shen Zhaolan.

Ten-year-old Ruan Qing learns that she is not his biological daughter.

She hid in the attic and saw her parents arguing.

The mother knelt at the father's feet, crying, "That was a piece of my own flesh and blood. It was perfectly fine when I was born, and then it was gone just like that. Only three days... three days!"

"If you hadn't made enemies outside, how could your child have just disappeared without a trace..."

Shen Zhaolan cried her heart out and fainted several times.

Su Mingsheng was afraid she would commit suicide, so he didn't say anything more.

"Since things have come to this, you should take good care of her. At least she's a daughter, and she can make some money when she grows up."

If you can't give birth to a son, don't blame me.

Little Ruan Qing finally understood why her father, whom she tried so hard to please, was always so cold.

How could she be loved if she wasn't his daughter?

The fatherly love that had been absent for seventeen years completely collapsed the moment Su Jiaojiao returned home.

Even after all these years, she still feels heartache whenever she thinks about it.

Tears rolled down his cheeks, reflected on the car window, and pierced his heart.

Back home, Ruan Qing was enveloped in negative emotions and lay in bed, unable to muster any interest in doing anything.

It felt like I was being crushed by heavy shackles, making it hard to breathe.

Fu Chen held her in his arms and gently comforted her: "Those people are a burden to you. The best solution is to get them out of your life completely and stop giving them the opportunity to drain you."

With just one word, I can make them disappear from your life forever.

He lowered his head and kissed her forehead: "Don't be soft-hearted, cut ties cleanly."

Merchants value profit over parting, and Fu Chen's words stunned her.

She lowered her eyes, a sudden pang of bitterness rising in her heart.

For her, her adoptive mother's family had long since faded from her world, and what she found hardest to let go of in her life was her ill-fated relationship with Fu Chen.

In less than a month, she will completely sever this relationship that has no official status or recognition.

Will Fu Chen still remember the words he advised her today when the time comes?

The day of separation will always come, so enjoy the remaining days to the fullest.

Ruan Qing leaned slightly forward, resting her hand lightly against his chest. His noticeably accelerated heartbeat filled the air like an stimulant.

She leaned down, her head slightly lowered, her breath gently brushing against his chest, her increasingly hot face slowly pressing against his firm and powerful abdomen.

Fu Chen froze, and Dong Chenye's words suddenly flashed through his mind.

"It's best for patients to avoid any dramatic emotional fluctuations in the next two days. Young people like you especially need to learn to control your emotions."

He was tense all over, breathing heavily.

Just before his desires overwhelmed his reason, he pulled away the overly assertive Ruan Qing, closed his eyes, and focused his mind.

Stunned by being thrown aside, Ruan Qing grabbed a pillow and shoved it into his groin: "Fu Chen, are you crazy?"

Are you kidding me? You actually rejected me?

Fu Chen grunted, "I'll deal with you properly tomorrow."