Chapter 304 - 303: The Past
Old Master Ding heard Old Qi’s words and couldn’t help but glance at him, saying, "Since you weren’t discovered, be careful when you leave later. Don’t let anyone see you."
Old Qi quickly nodded and said, "Don’t worry, Family Head. I’ll be cautious."
"Okay, you can go back now."
After Old Qi left, Old Master Ding’s face remained grim for quite a while before he returned to normal, looking natural as he walked forward.
"Dad, I didn’t expect you to be here. Let’s have a family dinner tonight."
Upon hearing this, Old Master Ding looked up and saw it was his daughter, Yating. He had never been very close to this daughter, but since she was his daughter, he had paid some attention to her over the years. However, knowing what Chen Meilian had done, his attitude towards Ding Yating had cooled.
"Oh, it’s Yating. I won’t be having dinner at home tonight; I have something to do and need to go out." After saying that, he left without looking back.
Watching her father’s distant figure, Ding Yating stood there slightly stunned, finally letting out a long sigh.
Since she could remember, her father and mother had been distant from each other, and consequently, her father was not close to her. Today, he seemed even colder.
Thinking of this, Ding Yating couldn’t help but shake her head, turning to find her mother.
"Mom, what’s wrong?"
As soon as Ding Yating entered the door, she saw her mother’s gloomy face and couldn’t help but ask.
Chen Meilian heard the voice, and seeing her daughter had come, her expression softened slightly, then she asked, "Yating, why have you come over, is there something you need?"
"It’s nothing, I just thought we could have a lively family dinner tonight, but father just left, so... it looks like we won’t be gathering."
"Hmph... your father never had us in his heart; his heart has long been..."
At the end, Chen Meilian didn’t finish but just looked at her daughter and said, "Alright, Yating, since your father has gone out, you should return home and have a nice dinner with Yunfang and the others."
Upon hearing this, Ding Yating looked directly at her mother and asked, "Mom, what’s really going on between you and Dad? Is there... is there someone else in Dad’s heart?" She had long suspected but hesitated to ask, considering it was her parents’ matter. However, she couldn’t hold back today.
Chen Meilian glanced at her daughter and said, "Our matters are not for you to ask."
"Mom..."
Ding Yating frowned at her mother and said, "Is there anything we can’t talk about between us as mother and daughter? Also, you don’t seem well today; did something happen?"
Seeing her daughter’s concerned face, Chen Meilian’s initially stern expression softened a bit, and she spoke softly, "It’s mainly between your father and me; I don’t want you to get involved."
But Ding Yating shook her head and said, "But Mom, I also have the right to know. Ever since I was young, father hasn’t liked me much, nor Yunfang either. At first, I thought he didn’t like girls, but later, I found out he just didn’t like me or Yunfang. I just want to know what’s in his heart. I am his biological daughter; why doesn’t he like me?"
At the end, Ding Yating felt a bit sad.
She had always envied other people’s fathers because she had never felt fatherly love.
Seeing her daughter’s sad expression, Chen Meilian couldn’t help but sigh and said, "Since you want to know, I might as well tell you."
Speaking of the past, Chen Meilian gradually fell into reminiscence.
"Though your maternal grandparents’ family isn’t prominent now, it was a prestigious family in Shangjing City about forty or fifty years ago. So your father and I were engaged when we were young, but unexpectedly..."
Chen Meilian clenched her fist, her expression somewhat fierce.
"Just two years after our engagement, your father fell in love with a girl from a farming family. He didn’t care about the family’s objections and insisted on marrying that woman. Her name was Wu Meng, and she was beautiful, had great grades, and excellent means. She knew well that your father and I were engaged, yet she still played hard to get and got involved with your father."
Hearing this, Ding Yating couldn’t help but feel some sympathy for her mother. So her father had betrayed her mother from the beginning.
"Mom, what happened then? Did that woman eventually leave town?"
After all, after her parents got married, she was born quickly, and she never heard of such a woman, suggesting that woman left no mark on their family. Yet she never thought her father would always remember that woman.
However, Chen Meilian said hatefully, "No, how could she have left town? That wretched woman, Wu Meng, kept clinging to your father and eventually followed him to the Ding Family. At that time, your grandparents were also around, and gradually, that wretched woman won them over, making them think she was good. Finally, even after your father tried hard to reject the engagement with me, they agreed to his decision. In the end, your father married that wretched woman, Wu Meng."
"Although your maternal grandparents strongly opposed at the time and even pressured the Ding Family, they eventually couldn’t stop it."
"What..."
Ding Yating looked incredulous, "But... weren’t you father’s only wife?"
Chen Meilian chuckled upon hearing this.
"Yes, I am your father’s only wife. Even if Wu Meng married Ding Wenzhi, so what? A year later, she died in childbirth."
"This..."
Ding Yating didn’t know what to think.
She had always thought her mother was the original wife, but she never imagined the original wife was actually that woman named Wu Meng, and before her, her father even had another child, "Mom, then... what about that child?"
Speaking of this, Chen Meilian’s expression turned gloomy again.
"That wretched woman, Wu Meng, also gave birth to a daughter. If only she went with her mother at the time."
Upon hearing this, Ding Yating frowned and said, "Mom... the child is innocent." Even though she felt uncomfortable about it, what wrong had the newborn child done?
"Hmph... you’re just too kind."
But having said so much, naturally, Chen Meilian recounted what happened later.
"After that wretched woman, Wu Meng, was gone, your father was heartbroken and devastated for a while. But for the sake of the child, he pulled himself together. However, your father was so young then, and how could the Ding Family let him stay single, so eventually, I did marry your father. After all, our two families originally had an engagement."
Upon hearing this, Ding Yating sighed but soon smiled slightly and said, "Seems like father and mother were destined; in the end, you were united."