Chapter 30

"... Brother,"

"What?"

"Who died...?"

Li Shaoze kept his silence as if he didn't know how to answer. He soon asked Zhu Zijin to park the car and wait. As he walked through the flight of stairs towards the mountain, Li Junfeng followed in anxiety.

It seemed that he didn't fully know his brother's circle.

And it made him a little nervous.

There were many wandering souls who attached themselves to their own graves. They were screaming and crying about their regrets. Some of them looked strange and scary, one had his head bent to his back with mouth full of red blood and another had her forehead split in two but no ghosts came to bother Li Shaoze, as if they were so preoccupied with themselves.

He was so used to it now that he could pretend not to see anything. His steps were steady as he stared straight ahead.

Later, it wasn't long when Li Shaoze stopped in front of a simple, well-maintained tombstone. He had asked for direction earlier from Liu Gang. Apparently, the chairman was fairly enthusiastic when he heard that Li Shaoze would really visit his aunt today.

Li Junfeng stared at the nameplate as it wrote 'Qin Meili', for some reason he thought he knew this person. He tried to recall where he had heard it from and soon realized that this was the famous businesswoman and entrepreneur who died from cancer two years ago.

He had seen her from afar at a banquet once. He even admired her as her success in business really did open his eyes that women were actually powerful creatures, just like his fiancee Pei Qian.

"This is my blood related aunt. My mother's older sister," Li Shaoze confessed.

Li Junfeng was so shocked that he blurted a surprise, "What?"

"Surprising, isn't it? My mother came from the powerful Qin family but she never once revealed it to the Li's," Li Shaoze chuckled lowly.

"This... why didn't you tell me?" Li Junfeng was really surprised by this revelation.

"I'm telling it to you now,"

"And I'm asking you why now?!" Li Junfeng went up against Li Shaoze with his voice lacing in frustration.

"I didn't get the chance to say it before," Li Shaoze answered simply. His line of sight trailed over the delicate nameplate but his eyes didn't shake.

Li Junfeng was exasperated, "This person died two years ago and you just revealed this to me now? If you didn't come back here from Country E, would I have known?! My god. You really-"

"Junfeng," Li Shaoze called. His voice neither cold nor gentle. It caused Li Junfeng to eat back the words he was about to say.

He realized that the Li Shaoze he saw in front of him right now was actually pretending.

Pretending to be indifferent.

Pretending that he didn't feel anything and that nothing could shake him.

That this aunt he had just introduced in a bland manner didn't matter much to him.

Li Junfeng knew Li Shaoze well. He might know him more than the person himself did. So he instantly understood why Li Shaoze had taken so long to tell him about Qin Meili.

"... You weren't close with her?"

"I don't know," Li Shaoze was rather honest.

It was true that he didn't know what his relationship was with Qin Meili. What she thought of him even until she drew her last breath. She had been so cold from the moment they had met and even until she left.

"When did you know you have an aunt from your mother's side?" Li Junfeng asked in a low voice.

"When I disappeared from home,"

Li Junfeng's eyes widened. That was 12 years ago!

"She was the one who helped me when I first left the Li's. I was grateful for the things she did," Li Shaoze skipped the first few months before Qin Meili was able to find him. That hellish several months better be known by him alone because it had been terrible.

Li Junfeng finally knew the reason behind Li Shaoze's success in his endeavor abroad. Sure enough, aside from an intelligent mind, he also already had a solid backing in the industry. And the backing was actually Qin Meili who governed over Quze Industries, Li Group's conglomerate rival.

Now that he thought about it, "Quze A. Investment... so that's why,"

Li Junfeng never once associated Li Shaoze's investment company with Quze Industries since his brother operated overseas and far from Quze's headquarters. And to be linked together, Quze A. Investment should have been officially listed as one of Quze Industries subsidiaries. Yet, it wasn't so in the public, which caused him to ignore the obvious clue.

"She gave me full autonomy for my own venture. My company is my own and it has nothing to do with Quze Industries," Li Shaoze explained as he saw the question form on Li Junfeng's face.

"She's passed away for so long. There's a new chairman already... wait?" Li Junfeng's eyes became as round as a golf ball when he figured it out.

He remembered that the news of her death once shook the business community. And it was later revealed that she already had a successor in mind. The current chairman was just filling the seat temporarily.

Li Shaoze knew that Li Junfeng had figured it out by himself so he kept his silence without saying anything, as if he acknowledged it to be true.

Li Junfeng was so shaken by the truth that he didn't know what to say. One thing to be sure was that if his father or grandmother came to know about this, then it would not end well for both sides. Quze Industries and Li Group were archnemesis in the same competitive industry!

He trembled while just thinking of the possibility.

Li Shaoze put the white flowers down on the tombstone and ignored Li Junfeng's dramatic reaction. The fact that he was floating and flying in circle in a shocked manner was funny in itself but Li Shaoze wasn't in the mood to be happy.

He was somber even on their way here so how could he suddenly feel better?

Li Shaoze tried to recall how many times he and Qin Meili had talked over the past years they had known each other. It turned out that he couldn't recall much as it was too few a number.

Their relationship was strictly business and it was fine that way. He never thought of her as family and her attitude was objective enough not to plant such hopes to him.

But somehow...

"You're feeling bitter,"

Li Shaoze pursed his lips instinctively once he heard Li Junfeng say such an incomprehensible thing.

"You didn't deny it so it must be true," Li Junfeng smiled apologetically. He felt like a villain when he must point this out.

"Apart from the Li's who... wasn't good to you. She should be the only family that's closest to you after me, right?" Li Junfeng asked carefully, looking for any answers from Li Shaoze's face.

Li Shaoze didn't say a word. In fact, he himself didn't understand. They weren't close. Definitely not. He never missed Qin Meili for all the time she had been dead. But he strangely wasn't able to stop thinking about 'what ifs' in many circumstances.

The painful and hateful past.

He hated to dwell on it. But he knew he had actually put some expectations towards his aunt. That was why he felt hurt and decided to mask his real feelings.

Li Junfeng didn't say anything anymore after he saw the subtle look on Li Shaoze's face. He didn't know the extent of their relationship but at the very least he was thankful for this sudden aunt who came out of nowhere.

When Li Junfeng wasn't strong enough to help his brother, this woman was there with him at his lowest.