C27

At 4 p.m. sharp, Yang Li picked Xue from her apartment. They reached the workshop in 2 hours.

They went to the cafeteria to grab a meal. After the meal, they went to Yang Li's workspace. Here, they settled themselves comfortably on a sofa.

She said, "Okay now let's talk. It has been so long. I want to know more about your past."

Yang Li shook his head. He said, "No, not today. It's not fair."

Xue frowned and asked him, "What's not fair?"

Yang Li said, "You know almost everything about the first 20 years of my life. I don't know anything about your childhood. I am jealous!!!"

"So, today you will first tell me about your childhood. I'm very interested in knowing about little Xue'er."

Her face became red when he heard her say 'little Xue'er'. She whined for a few minutes, but Li ignored her. Finally, she gave in and started telling about her past.

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FLASHBACK

Zijin- Bing Family

The Bing family in Zijin was amongst the top tier 1 family.

It had its roots in the electronics and semiconductor industry.

However, it was not always so. The Bing family came into prominence during the time of Bing Junfeng, father of the current patriarch Bing Jian.

Bing Junfeng 1st started his business when he was in his mid-20s. He had already married at the young age of 19. He was married to Wu Liling. Wu Liling came from a commoner family. Although the Bing family at that time was not yet a tier 1 family, it was still a prosperous family. They had inherited a lot of ancestral land.

Bing Junfeng was an astute businessman. Even when he set up his first venture, he achieved success. He had sold some of the family land and used that capital to set up a company for making electrical appliances. In those times there were very few domestic appliance companies. The few companies that were present had quality issues.

Although a few foreign brands were present, they were very expensive. Therefore, he focussed on this area and tried to improve the quality while keeping the prices minimal. He was successful in doing so. Within 5 years the company had started generating steady revenue.

With increased revenue, Junfeng started expanding his operations. Within 10 years his company became the most profitable in Zijin. Then he sold his business to a foreign company at triple its market value. With that money, he set up another company for manufacturing mobile phones and other electronic devices. In this manner, the Bing family entered the Electronics and semiconductor industry.

Junfeng had two children- a son and a daughter. His daughter showed no inclination towards the family business, so he started training his son. He started showing him the ropes.

His son was not as business savvy as himself, however, he was a smart worker.

In the next decade, the company had cemented itself as one of the most profitable businesses in Zijin. This had allowed the Bing family to become a tier 1 family.

However, soon after Junfeng passed away in a road accident.

Bing Jian took over the position of CEO of Bing Enterprises.

After 2 years he married Tong Li. She was from the Tong family. It was a top-tier 1 family just below the 4 great families. The Tong family was in the apparel industry and were the closest competitors of the Wang family. They were also making inroads into the fragmented e-commerce industry.

Tong Li was one of the most beautiful women of her time. She was a creative genius and had great business acumen. She was a fashion designer by profession.

Bing Jian's sister Bing Daiyu fell in love with a commoner from the Qin family. Both Wu Liling and Bing Jian were against this relationship. Since nobody supported her she eloped with Qin Juyal. At that point, Qin Juyal had just entered the police force. Because of this act, the relationship between brother and sister had almost been severed. At that time, Tong Li had persuaded Bing Jian to accept his sister's relationship.

Thereafter, Bing Daiyu had always had a good relationship with Tong Li.

Two years into the marriage Tong Li became pregnant. 9 months later she delivered a healthy baby girl. The girl was named Bing Xue.

Both her beauty and intelligence had been inherited from her mother. She looked like a miniature version of Tong Li.

Bing Xue had a very happy childhood till the age of 7. She was a happy and cheerful kid and being the princess of the Bing Family, everyone loved her and doted on her.

Six months after Bing Xue's birth, her mother had started working in Tong Corp. She was the Head of the Design and R&D department. Bing Xue's uncle, Tong Han was the CEO.

As the years passed, the apparel business of Tong Corp. thrived. It was said that if Tong Corp.'s success had continued in that manner, then in a decade, the Tong family could become the 5th great family. This was primarily attributed to the ingenious brother-sister duo.

However, in these years the Bing family was not doing well. A few deals had gone awry and many new competitors had entered the market. Bing Jian was under constant pressure.

Both Bing Jian and Tong Li were extremely busy and they would not meet each other for days. This started creating a rift between them.

Bing Jian was a very proud, stubborn, and competitive man. His wife was flourishing while he was struggling. He felt inferior and angry. His pride was wounded. Therefore, despite struggling he didn't turn to his wife. There was no communication between them. Tong Li was too busy to notice the changes in her husband. In this manner, the rift between them deepened further.

During this period the time they spent with Bing Xue also started decreasing. She was mostly under the care of family butlers and nannies. Tong Li would still make time for Xue every day but Bing Jian would not meet his daughter for days.

Xue saw her parents fight for the first time on her 5th birthday. It was a terrible fight and Bing Xue was crying the entire time.

Since then, their fights kept getting worse. They had already started sleeping in separate rooms since Xue's 5th birthday. In 9 years, their marriage had crumbled.

A week before Xue's 7th birthday a tragedy happened. While coming home from work Tong Li met with an accident and died en route to the hospital. The young princess was devastated by this news.

The funeral was held 3 days later. Bing Xue had not spoken a single word for three days. In the meantime, Bing Daiyu was looking after her.

Bing Jian didn't seem like a man who had lost his wife. Even the family members were surprised by his attitude. The people who came to the funeral had heard whispers about their marital problems, but they didn't know it was to this extent.

He didn't shed even a single tear. He didn't even console his daughter. For the last 2 years, he had become distant not only towards his wife but also towards his daughter.

However, after the death of Tong Li, Tong Corp. collapsed. Out of nowhere, it faced financial difficulties, outstanding debts were suddenly recalled. Tong Han suffered from a heart attack and was hospitalized.

In such a dire situation, without any leadership and the death of their genius designer, the company went bankrupt.

There were many speculations around the accident and sudden bankruptcy of Tong Corp. Many rumors and conspiracy theories were circulating in the media as well. However, there was no proof and the police concluded Tong Li's death was an accident.

For the next year, Bing Xue became very quiet and would rarely talk. Daiyu was worried. She would often visit Xue to check up on her. Xue's personality had taken a U-turn. She had become quiet and reserved. Even Xue's grandmother Wu Liling had noticed the changes in Xue. She told her son to get her daughter treated at the hospital.

It was only after Wu Liling's instruction that Bing Jian took Xue for a check-up. For the past year, Bing Jian had completely stopped communicating with his daughter. For weeks he would not come home. Nobody knew where he was and with whom.

After the check-up, the doctor told Bing Jian that the trauma of the death of her mother had brought about this personality change.

However, he told Bing Jian that it could easily be cured by regular therapy and counseling.

Bing Jian relayed this information to Daiyu and told her to take care of it. Thereafter, Daiyu would take Xue for regular therapy sessions.

When Bing Xue turned 9, her father brought home his new wife and her two kids. Her new wife was called Wang Bier and she had ties with the Wang family. One child was a girl and she was a year younger than Bing Xue. Her name was Bing Lan. The other was a boy named Bing Zhan. He was 5 years younger than Bing Xue.

Xue's father simply introduced them as her new mother and siblings. Then he didn't pay Xue any more attention.

However, life became tougher for Xue after her new family started living with her. Her father paid all his attention to his new children, especially his son. He would fulfill all their demands. He continued to ignore Bing Xue. He even took away her things and gave them to his younger daughter. All the best things in the house- the best room, the best toys, the best food were first reserved for his new kids. He would blatantly discriminate against Bing Xue.

Her stepmother was a shrewd lady. In front of her husband and others, she would treat Xue as her own daughter. However, when they were alone, she treated her like a maid.

Xue had always been intelligent. By the time she turned 14, she had no attachments left for the Bing family. The only exception was her aunt Bing Daiyu. When she was 13, she became aware of the real relationship between her father and her stepmother. She had overheard her aunt talking to her husband.