Chapter 159: A Conversation by the River

The luxury of the Hua family mansion was in no way inferior to Xu Shu's villa. Once inside, I met the legendary living Buddha—Hua Jingjing's maternal grandmother. Introduced by Jingjing, I paid my respects to her family. Jingjing's grandmother was around seventy years old; years of practicing Buddhism gave her a dignified and benevolent appearance, though her bald head looked somewhat strange. The old lady was very amiable, and after exchanging a few words, she naturally evoked a sense of closeness. I was extremely respectful, humble, and filled with overflowing gratitude toward her.

As for Hua Qiming, let's leave him aside for a moment. Jingjing's mother was a middle-aged noblewoman in her forties, whose facial features vaguely bore a thirty percent resemblance to Jingjing's. She stayed by her mother's side, occasionally asking me questions here and there.

I also met Jingjing's older brother and her cousin Liu Qing, though they were all clustered around Xu Shu. After all, a celebrity's charm is undoubtedly greater. During the dinner, Jingjing sat next to me, and she was the happiest person at the table. At a gesture from her grandmother, Hua Qiming raised his glass to offer me a formal apology. Although he had once been the person I hated most, who could argue with the fact that he was Jingjing's father? So I drank the wine. Still, my attitude remained ice-cold, and I didn't say any polite pleasantries.

After the meal, Jingjing's grandmother summoned Jingjing and me into the study. The old lady said to me kindly, "Xiao Tang, I admire your character, and I am very at ease leaving Jingjing in your care. However, although Jingjing's father has nothing to say for now, I know deep down he is extremely unhappy about this. After I pass away, you must mentally prepare yourself for him treating you poorly."

I replied, "Please don't say that, Elder. Being able to have Jingjing makes me already very happy. No matter how difficult everything else might be, I will face it with a smile."

The grandmother nodded and added, "I am very glad you can think this way." As she spoke, she pulled Jingjing into her arms and affectionately stroked her hair. Jingjing first let out a spoiled, coquettish "Grandma!" then snuggled into her embrace, looking at me happily with her bright, expressive eyes.

Grandma continued, "Xiao Tang, I only have this one precious granddaughter. After handing her over to you, if you dare to mistreat her, don't blame me for turning ruthless."

I hurriedly said, "Rest assured, Elder. I love Jingjing more than I love myself; how could I ever mistreat her? I will do everything in my power to make Jingjing happy!"

Jingjing wriggled in her grandmother's arms and protested coquettishly, "Grandma, Tang Qian would never do that! Stop trying to scare him!"

Grandma laughed, reached out to pinch Jingjing's nose, and said, "I'm just giving him a preventive vaccination. You're defending him already? Girls really do turn outward as they grow."

Jingjing had no choice but to keep acting spoiled, crying out, "Grandma, you're bullying me!"

After laughing heartily for a moment, Grandma turned back to me and said, "Xiao Tang, although I have entrusted Jingjing to you, her education cannot be cut short. I think we should find a date to officially engage you two first. Three years from now, when Jingjing returns with her degree, you can get married. During these three years, you must redouble your efforts. Only when you achieve success in your own career will Jingjing's father stop looking down on you!"

I respectfully replied, "Please rest assured, Elder. I will certainly not let you down."

Grandma nodded and said, "I won't say much else. You may head out now. Jingjing, go call that flower-like classmate of yours inside. I've been a nun for twenty years, and even the junior sisters in the temple are well-acquainted with her famous name. Doesn't your brother like her a lot? Hehe!"

Jingjing laughed and said, "Grandma, you can even tell that? Have you really attained Buddhahood?"

Grandma smiled and scolded, "Go on! I came back this time just to worry about you lot. This old woman hasn't severed her mortal attachments yet; what Buddhahood have I attained?"

Jingjing giggled, took my hand, and said, "Tang Qian, let's go outside. My grandmother is going to try playing matchmaker for another pair!"

I let out an "oh" and walked out of the study with her. The first thing I saw was Xu Shu and Jingjing's brother sitting together, chatting happily. A pang of inexplicable sourness gripped my heart, and I quickly turned my head away not to look at them. *(Be a decent person, will you? Still feeling jealous? I ought to chop you.)*

Jingjing let go of my hand, ran over to Xu Shu with a smile, and whispered something into her ear. Xu Shu's face instantly blushed, and she reached out to swat Jingjing lightly. I noticed that Xu Xin and Liu Qing were missing from the living room, wondering where the two of them had gone. Xu Shu stood up and hurriedly entered the study, while Jingjing sat beside her brother and whispered something to him. Feeling momentarily bored, I walked outside the living room and stared blankly at a large fountain. In truth, I didn't even know what I was thinking; my heart felt completely hollow—a strange emptiness of having gained something while simultaneously losing something.

"Mr. Tang!"

I turned my head to see that Hua Qiming had somehow appeared beside me. Smoking a cigar, he looked at me and said, "If you don't mind, shall we take a walk?"

Hua Qiming and I slowly strolled toward the riverside. After a long silence, he finally spoke, "Mr. Tang, actually, I knew about you a long time ago. I knew there was a period when Jingjing spent a lot of money on you. Out of deep concern for my daughter, I investigated you and found out that while you were dating my daughter, you had another girlfriend, and furthermore..." He paused, stopped walking, and stared right at me as he said, "You also had an ambiguous relationship with your female superior, Gu Ruoyan, at your company, and you spent the night at her place multiple times. Are these facts true?"

I was stunned. Although what Hua Qiming said was technically true, the context behind it couldn't be explained in just a couple of sentences. Moreover, the truth was only clear to me, the person involved; to outsiders, I indeed had ambiguous relationships with multiple women. *(It seems he missed a few more in his count. No use arguing now.)*

I began to understand why Hua Qiming harbored such deep hatred toward me. I said, "Mr. Hua, you have no right to pry into other people's privacy, and besides, the reality is not what you think."

Hua Qiming took a puff of his cigar and casually tossed the remaining butt into the river. He said, "If you were in my shoes, I believe you would have done the same. What father in the world doesn't cherish his own daughter? Don't you agree?"

I fell silent for a moment and nodded.

Hua Qiming continued, "That's why I always believed you were just a womanizing scoundrel, and I thought your motives for approaching my daughter were impure. I've never had a good impression of you!"

I sneered, "You thought I got close to your daughter just to get my hands on your wealth?"

Hua Qiming asked, "And what do you think?"

I replied, "I couldn't care less about your stinking money!"

"Hmph, I know that now. Although you mess around with women, you still have some backbone, kid."

I remained silent.

Hua Qiming went on, "As a man, I can understand you liking to play around with women, but as a father, I can never tolerate it. At first, I didn't want to interfere in my daughter's life; the money she spent on you was mere pocket change to me—I didn't care at all. I thought no matter how foolish my daughter might be, she would at least hold her final bottom line. Just like when she was studying at university in America. That foreign guy was so exceptional, so full of passion, yet my daughter still cherished herself and didn't easily surrender her virginity." *(Probably because the protagonist has a system modifier, haha.)*

Hua Qiming sighed, gazing out at the Jade Ribbon River, and said, "Besides, I had confidence in my daughter. Sooner or later, she would see through a fickle man like you who plays the field. Moreover, around that time, a major crisis broke out at my European branch, and I had to rush over to handle it, so I didn't manage to stop you in time. But I still underestimated you! Shortly after I returned, I found out my daughter had been defiled by you. At that time, my European branch had crashed, suffering a loss of nearly three hundred million euros. Struck by that on top of this, I lost my temper. I admit my actions back then were extremely unwise, and my methods against you were a bit too harsh. If you hate me, I have nothing to say. I only hope this hatred doesn't involve my daughter; she is innocent."

I sneered, "I will never forgive you! But you can rest assured about Jingjing. I'm not like you—I don't blur right and wrong or vent my anger on bystanders! I can be ruthless toward you, but how could you bear to torture your own daughter? What did Jingjing do wrong? You kept her under house arrest for a long time and restricted her personal freedom. You claim you care about your daughter, but I couldn't feel that care at all!"

Hua Qiming was taken aback for a moment, then muttered, "Perhaps the deeper the love, the stronger the hate! She loved you so much that she went on a hunger strike to rebel against me. I was jealous, and I stubbornly believed I was right. I made a three-year pact with my daughter, forbidding you two from meeting, simply because I believed an uncommitted playboy like you could never wait three years for my daughter." *(Wasn't it a four-year pact?)* "By that time, you would have long since found a new lover, and without me needing to say anything, my daughter would have seen through you. Then all that painstaking effort wouldn't have been in vain!"

I retorted, "If that's the case, why are you stopping interfering now?"

Hua Qiming chuckled. He pulled another cigar from his pocket and asked me, "Really not going to have one? I know you used to be a heavy smoker."

I shook my head and said, "No need. Quitting smoking is the only benefit you've brought me. You wouldn't want to take back even that little benefit, would you?"

Hua Qiming gave a bitter smile, pulled out a lighter to ignite the cigar, took a deep drag, and said, "Actually, I regretted it long ago. Seeing my daughter grow thinner day by day out of longing for you... it's just that my old pride wouldn't let me admit my mistake. Besides, for the past half year, I've been secretly observing you and found that you suddenly cut off all ties with other women and threw yourself entirely into your work. I genuinely admire the achievements you've made now—Leaf Tip Fragrant Tea truly has a unique taste. A man who refuses to sell out his conscience and friends is a true man. Compared to your previous fickleness, this is the character I truly appreciate. As long as you stop messing around with other women from now on and treat my daughter wholeheartedly, I won't stand in your way anymore."

I said earnestly, "I have never messed around with any women. The only woman I have ever been with is your daughter!"

"Is that so?" Hua Qiming smiled. "We're both men, no need to spout ghost stories! Whether you admit it or not, it's all in the past anyway. Jingjing's grandmother coming back is simply an opportunity—a graceful way out for me. Otherwise, Jingjing is my biological daughter; if I refused, no one else's interference would matter. The reason I am handing my daughter over to you is, first, I recognize your character and achievements, and second, I believe your feelings for my daughter are sincere. There aren't many men in this world who can resist the immense temptation of money without abandoning love. Back then, I couldn't do it, but you did. Although I hit you, I actually admire you deeply."

Hua Qiming discarded his cigar, turned to face me, and continued, "I've seen too much vicious competition and deceit in the business world, so I've always been merciless toward my enemies and rivals. Out of sheer habit, I didn't treat you generously. But a real man distinguishes clearly between gratitude and grudges; a wrong is a wrong, and I'm not asking for your forgiveness. As long as you treat my daughter well, I don't care if you exact revenge on me."

I straightened my back and said, "A real man must indeed distinguish between gratitude and grudges, but he must also be clear about right and wrong. Of course I won't forgive you, but you are Jingjing's father, and I won't put her in a difficult position. Even after I become your son-in-law, I won't call you 'Dad.' I just can't bring myself to do it, even if you give me the cold shoulder."

Hua Qiming burst out laughing and said, "You brat! Then I won't call you son-in-law either; I'll just call you 'kid'!"

Unwilling to show weakness, I retorted, "Then I'll just call you 'old man'!"

Laughing, Hua Qiming said, "Whatever! Old man it is then. Kid, let's head back. If they see us missing for this long, they'll think we went off to start a fistfight, haha!"

Hua Qiming's self-proclaimed reconciliation left me neither knowing whether to laugh or cry, so I simply walked back with him. After taking a few steps, we saw Jingjing rushing toward us from a distance, calling out anxiously, "Dad! Tang Qian! Where on earth did you guys go?"

Jingjing ran up to me with a worried look on her face. Old man Hua smiled, reached out to pull her into his arms, and said, "Tang Qian and I were just practicing some martial arts by the river. Ah, I'm getting old and useless!"

Hearing this, Jingjing panicked and hurriedly scolded me, "Tang Qian, how could you hit my dad? You promised me you wouldn't take revenge, you broke your word!"

I let out a long internal sigh. Seeing this situation, the beating I took back then truly went for nothing! There is zero hope of ever taking revenge in this lifetime. Still, if this is the price to win the ultimate approval of Jingjing's family, I have no regrets. As hateful as the old man is, he is ultimately Jingjing's father—what else could I possibly do to him? Besides, Old man Hua is indeed an old fox; that little speech by the river nearly made me forgive him. It seems ginger really does get hotter the older it is!

Ah, forget it, forget it! As a man, one should be broad-minded. For Jingjing's sake, I'll just pretend the past never happened!

I smiled and said, "No way! Actually, your dad beat me up all over again, so our feud is even deeper now!"