Chapter 39

Pei Qian came back alone with her parents and brother waiting in the living room. Once she got inside, Xu Hua stood up and went to her anxiously.

"What happened? Did a fight occur?" she asked.

"No... nothing happened," Pei Qian smiled to reassure Xu Hua. But there was a trace of sourness in her eyes.

Li Junfeng was standing still like a tree nearby. He didn't get the chance to follow his brother out just now and he didn't have the heart to listen to his mother's insult towards Li Shaoze.

"I didn't know Junfeng's mother could be so extreme like that. I almost thought they were not biological," Pei Jin sneered.

He had a very good impression on Li Junfeng. He quite liked the guy, his polite smile and his friendly personality. He was bursting with positivity whenever he came to visit the Pei residence. But to think that his mother was acting like a shrew in the market just now, his expression hardened.

Pei Jin also liked Li Shaoze and his temperament. Even if today was their first meeting with each other, he could deduce that Li Shaoze was very different from the rumors that had tarnished his reputation otherwise. He could see great wisdom in Li Shaoze's eyes that was covered by a layer of detachment.

"She was so rude to our guest even though we invited him over," Pei Jin sighed. His mood was spoiled by the appearance of a screaming woman out of nowhere.

Li Junfeng casted his head down low. He stared at the floor as helplessness came gushing into his body. As Lu Mimi's son, he felt very ashamed of the thing that happened.

"How did president Li teach his wife manners? I always have good thoughts about Junfeng's parents but now I can't see the goodness in them," Xu Hua agreed with her husband. She put her hands akimbo and she was not reconciled that Li Shaoze had to leave prematurely.

Pei Qian stayed silent as she couldn't agree more to her parents. Before, when Li Junfeng introduced her to his parents, they appeared dignified and patient. They were very classy and polite. They agreed to their engagement and she was determined to be filial to them for the rest of her life.

Now that she herself had seen their raw hostility to not anyone else but Li Shaoze, Li Junfeng's older brother, she couldn't stop the strange feeling that was bursting from her heart.

Maybe this was the reason why Li Junfeng had wanted for her to take care of Li Shaoze. He worried for him endlessly. When Li Junfeng said Li Shaoze was alone and had no one but him, it should be the utmost truth from what they had seen today.

Pei Zeyan glanced at his sister and sighed. He told everyone not to think too much about it since it wasn't their problem. They should give some privacy to Li Shaoze because that was the least courtesy they should give to him. Nobody should mention the thing that happened today.

"Ai... my mood is ruined now. I'll visit Shaoze later. I can't just let him leave our house like this," Xu Hua walked to the kitchen area, leaving everyone else.

Li Junfeng looked at Xu Hua's receding back as he pursed his lips. He decided to follow his mother back to see what she was planning. Then, he disappeared just as fast as he appeared, without anyone's knowing.

***

Li Shaoze was sitting in a couch alone in the dark. The sun was high up in the sky during this time but he couldn't appreciate the sunny weather. His mood was complex.

He wasn't feeling sad because of Lu Mimi's words. Those hurtful things she said weren't something he hadn't heard before. He had lived his entire eighteen years of life listening to such verbal insults. He was used to it.

But at this moment, whenever he closed his eyes, the first thing that appeared inside his head was the figure of a woman, staring at him with delicate and red eyes, either from sadness or anger, he didn't know. It kept being repeated in his mind and he didn't know what to do. He was so confused.

Li Junfeng was gone. He disappeared to nowhere when Lu Mimi went away. Li Shaoze didn't bother. Maybe he felt so embarrassed again for his mother and that was why he hid himself. Li Shaoze let out a heavy sigh. He hoped Li Junfeng wouldn't mope around alone for too long.

'It's useless to think about it,' he stood up to get a glass of water.

Again, he felt a piercing pain at the back of his head. This time it was longer and he stumbled.

'Am I too stressed lately?' Li Shaoze pinched the area between his brows, trying to ease the tension. He forgot to tell Gu Chen about this strange condition he was having. He thought it was just temporary but now that it kept recurring, he should know what was going on.

'I'll ask him later,'

***

Lu Mimi went straight to Li Group building in the middle of fuming with anger. When she arrived, everyone on the ground floor was forced to stop their work. It was always the same occurrence. Whenever she came, she would like for the employees to come greet her as if she was an imperial princess.

The employees had always known her vain nature that liked to show off. So they didn't say anything. It had been almost two decades since she became the madam of Li's and they had diligently 'served' her the utmost treatment in the company, despite what other thoughts they felt in their hearts.

"Welcome, madam Li. The president is waiting," Li Qinfeng's secretary came down to greet her. He escorted her to the elevator as she walked quickly in the front, ignoring him.

The employees working at the lobby all had to halt their work just to welcome her. So they didn't feel very pleasant.

"What bad luck. Why must she visit today of all days?"

"Shh, don't be so loud. She'll hear you,"

"She had fired someone before because they were too loud,"

Once Lu Mimi arrived inside her husband's office room, she ran towards him crying. She began recounting the story at the Pei's and her eyes were marred with unshed tears.

Li Qinfeng's eye twitched uncontrollably. He didn't know Li Shaoze could be so daring. He never placed that illegitimate son of his into his eyes so he didn't know Li Shaoze could still make him pay attention to him in this way.

"What is he doing getting close to the Pei's? Hasn't he no shame?! That's his brother's in laws family!" Li Qinfeng berated in a loud voice.

"I don't know since when they have become close. You should look into it! It's better that you suppress him while he's still in this country. Or better, you can just throw him away abroad again!" Lu Mimi suggested, she took this opportunity to give him some ideas as she slowly crept to Li Qinfeng's seat and sat on his lap playfully.

Unbeknownst to her, her husband's heart had already been swayed by a woman outside that he held more dear. That woman even gave him a young son about seven years old. A good boy he could raise to heirship after Li Junfeng.

Li Qinfeng was someone who highly calculated gains and losses. The things he could see and touch could be the ones that he appreciated more. Rather than some intangible variety like feelings, love or filial piety.

"Get down. I'm working," Li Qinfeng clicked his tongue and Lu Mimi distanced herself from him in embarrassment.

"Dear... then what should we do?" she asked again with tearful eyes.

"I'll look into it. Just wait and see," Li Qinfeng soon ordered his assistants to do some investigation about Li Shaoze.

"Make sure to get a thorough report on his whereabouts, the place he's staying and the things he's currently doing," Li Qinfeng said, the scowl on his old face showed how bad in a mood he was.