Chapter 69: Last Friday Night Incident
Watching Zhou Hao so carefully clean and dress her wound, Qu Danwan felt a profound tug on her heartstrings.
While their relationship was taking a step forward, Chen Mo and Su Yuqing were already in a taxi, heading for her home.
During the ride, Chen Mo could tell Su Yuqing was tense.
He reached out and gently took her right hand, which was clenched into a tight fist.
He simply held her soft hand, allowing her to gradually calm down.
Su Yuqing looked at Chen Mo. When he met her gaze with a smile, she took a few deep breaths, forcing herself to relax.
Soon, the taxi arrived at the corner of the street near Su Yuqing’s home.
"Sir, could you please wait for us here? We’ll be right back," Chen Mo said to the driver before getting out.
"Son, I have to charge for waiting. I can give you fifteen minutes for free, but after that, it’s one yuan per minute."
"Deal." Chen Mo nodded, then helped Su Yuqing out of the car.
"Kids these days are so good-looking," the driver mused as he watched them walk away.
Now that she was almost home, Su Yuqing’s heart was still pounding with anxiety.
The closer she got to her front door, the faster her heart pounded.
Dusk was falling, and the setting sun cast an orange-red glow over Su Yuqing’s old apartment building.
A few residents, on their way in and out, saw Su Yuqing returning with a handsome young man and couldn’t stop their eyes from darting between them.
A rusty mailbox clanked shut. Aunt Wang from the third floor pretended to be getting the evening paper, but her eyes were glued to Su Yuqing’s pale knuckles—the girl was clutching the corner of the unfamiliar boy’s shirt like a drowning person clinging to a piece of driftwood.
Uncle Zhang from the second floor paused on the stairwell landing, garbage bag in hand. "The Su Family’s girl brought someone home!"
Grandma Wu, a retired teacher who lived alone on the fifth floor, adjusted her reading glasses and peered through her dusty window at the tense line of Su Yuqing’s shoulders.
She remembered the stormy night last week when the child had run out of the house in a state of distress.
"Well, look at you, Yuqing. Found yourself a handsome one," Aunt Liu from 401, who made a habit of prying into her neighbors’ business, teased as she passed them on the stairs.
Aunt Liu’s comment made Su Yuqing blush, but she didn’t say anything to deny it.
Chen Mo paid them no mind and continued up the stairs.
Su Yuqing didn’t even realize that she hadn’t been leading the way, yet Chen Mo knew exactly which floor her apartment was on.
When they reached the door of 402, Chen Mo turned to face Su Yuqing.
Su Yuqing took out her key, her hand trembling as she aimed it at the lock.
CLICK! The moment the lock turned, her heart leaped into her throat.
She had no idea what she would be walking into.
On the way over, she had rehearsed what she was going to say, but the sound of the lock opening shocked her mind into a state of shutdown.
Her mind went completely blank.
Seeing Su Yuqing frozen in place, not daring to push the door open, Chen Mo reached past her and opened it himself.
The apartment was silent.
Su Yuqing finally let out a huge sigh of relief. Not having to face her mother immediately was a small mercy.
Just as they thought no one was home, a door to one of the rooms opened, revealing a little boy.
"Sister?"
The little boy stared at Su Yuqing for a moment, then quickly asked, "Where have you been the last few days?"
"I was at a friend’s house. Xiaoyu, where are Mom and Dad?" Su Yuqing asked, forcing a gentle smile.
Her parents’ poor treatment was their own issue; her little brother had always treated her like a true big sister.
But Su Yuqing’s feelings toward her brother were complicated.
She knew her situation had nothing to do with him.
But his existence was the reason she was so overlooked in this house.
She harbored some resentment for that fact, though she never directed it at her brother himself.
Her resentment was born from her parents’ lopsided affection.
But every time she saw him, she was reminded of her parents doting on him while ignoring her, and it made her heart ache.
"Dad and Mom are at the hospital. Mom should be back soon to make dinner," seven-year-old Li Mingyu said, then his eyes landed on Chen Mo, lighting up. "Is this handsome big brother your boyfriend, Sis?"
Su Yuqing’s face flushed red at her brother’s question. She reflexively glanced at Chen Mo, but when she saw he had no reaction, she chose not to explain.
Hearing that her mother would be back soon made Su Yuqing anxious.
She decided to hurry up and pack her things to avoid running into her.
As for why they were at the hospital, she certainly hadn’t forgotten what happened on Friday night...
"What is all this on your phone? Have you no shame?!"
As her mother held up the phone, demanding an answer, her stepfather took it for a look. He saw that the photo album was filled with pictures of a boy, all taken from candid, hidden angles.
He shot Su Yuqing a surprised look. With her looks, it didn’t make sense that she’d have to resort to stalker-like tactics to get a boy’s attention.
"That’s my private stuff! How could you go through my photo album without my permission?" Su Yuqing was clearly furious and hurt by her mother’s actions.
It was one thing that her parents never showed her any affection, but to berate her while so blatantly violating her privacy was too much.
All the resentment, pain, and anguish that had been building inside Su Yuqing for years erupted in that single moment.
The straw that broke the camel’s back didn’t need to be heavy; it was merely the trigger for a tragedy.
"Your privacy? I’m your mother! What privacy could you possibly have from me? Who else would you have learned this shameless behavior from but that good-for-nothing father of yours? How old are you, already obsessing over boys! I swear, you’re just like your father—a pair of filthy, cheap degenerates!"
In that moment, images flashed through her mother’s mind: the secret photos of other women she had found on Su Chengfeng’s phone.
His current wife had been among them.
It was this very discovery that had led to a fight with Su Chengfeng, which in turn exposed his affair and ended their marriage.
Traumatized by these events, her mental state had always been fragile. Anything that reminded her of Su Chengfeng could send her spiraling into paranoia and madness.
Su Yuqing’s behavior had struck that raw, sensitive nerve.
The instant she saw the pictures, she was transported back to that moment, to the exact state of mind she was in when she discovered Su Chengfeng’s secret photos of other beautiful women.
This was what unleashed her incandescent rage and the torrent of unrestrained, venomous insults.