I Want A Lifetime With You

Chapter 581

Chapter 581 Wishful Thinking

The living room was thronged with people. Although Fu Ling was caught off guard by Su Shaoqing’s appearance, she was an extremely calm and collected person, just as Fu Chengyan had described. Thus, she would not behave unseemly in front of so many people. Even so, she would not take the initiative to please those people.

Pei Huan felt distressed upon seeing that. She cast a meaningful look at Shi Nuan, who also felt at a loss. After all, they were not directly involved in their affairs. Even if they wanted to help, it was still dependent on Fu Ling’s decision.

“I’ll head upstairs first.” Fu Ling did not want to stay there any longer. “I’m a little tired.”

“Ling!” When Pei Huan saw her heading upstairs to avoid Su Shaoqing, she, too, made a move in resignation. “You guys carry on. I’ll check on Ling. After all, we are friends and also family.”

As she spoke, she glanced at Su Shaoqing. At the sight of the man’s grim expression, she reckoned it had to be because of Fu Ling’s attitude.

Li Heng walked over and patted Su Shaoqing’s shoulder. “You still have plenty of time!”

However, Su Shaoqing sneered and got Li Heng’s hand off his shoulder.

Naturally, he knew Fu Ling did not wish to see him.

Despite being fully aware of that fact, he still could not suppress the impulse to meet her. In a way, he was cognizant of the inconsistency of his behavior. Back when Fu Ling pursued him without a sense of shame, he never reciprocated her feelings. Worse yet, he treated her in that way cruelly.

Even when he knew his family’s attitude toward her, he still never bothered to care for her. Instead, he allowed the elders of his family to bully and degrade her.

Initially, he thought that by doing so, there would be no more possibility between the two of them.

It was not until Su Shaoqing saw the frightening red pool of blood beneath Fu Ling that he finally realized what he had done and missed out on. However, everything was too late by then. He wanted to make it up to her, but she was no longer the person who pursued him in the early days.

Indeed, it was impossible for her to love him again after the agony he had inflicted on her.

If not for Bai’s illness, Fu Ling might not see him for the rest of their lifetimes.

Although Fu Ling did not want to spoil their fun, certain things were like poisons. Regardless of how long it had passed, she could still feel the pain. She could not curb them, so she could only refrain from triggering them.

At the same time, she knew what Su Shaoqing had in his mind, but it was all in the past, and she was not the same person anymore.

Fu Ling fell into a trance in her room. Her gaze landed on the top of her bedside table, where a picture frame containing a photograph from her childhood was placed. It was the only photograph she had taken with her mother. No matter where she went during these few years, she always brought it with her to remind herself that she was living under someone else’s roof.

It was not because of her feelings of inferiority but because those things never belonged to her. Regardless of how kind Fu Chengyan treated her, she knew that certain things were deeply rooted and could never be changed.

Fu Ling closed her eyes. When she heard someone knocking on her door, she quickly concealed her emotions and asked, “Who is it?”

“Ling, it’s me!” Pei Huan’s voice rang out from outside the room.

Twitching her lips subtly, Fu Ling went over to open the door. “What are you doing here?” Her tone was flat as though nothing had happened.

Pei Huan frowned, then sighed inwardly. “To check on you. We haven’t met each other for a long time!”

Fu Ling could not refute her words. Ever since they parted because of what happened three years ago, they never met each other, though they remained in touch. Despite meeting in Jiang City that time around, the two did not get to talk much because of the various things that happened previously.

“Come in and have a seat!” Fu Ling knew about the virus in Pei Huan’s and Bao’s bodies. “Are you and Bao doing well?”

Pei Huan nodded in response. “Ms. Huo, the lady downstairs earlier, has brilliant medical skills!”

Upon hearing that, Fu Ling also sighed in relief. “I’m glad to hear that!”

“Ling.” Pei Huan reached out to hold her hands. “It’s been so many years… Are you still unable to let it go?”

Fu Ling was stunned. She moved her fingers, trying to withdraw her hands from Pei Huan’s grip, but the latter held her hands tightly and exclaimed, “Ling, we are friends!”

At that, she let out an awkward chuckle that also carried a hint of resignation. “We are. I know why you came upstairs, but Huan, my circumstance is different from you and Li Heng. For some things, there’s no help for them. You and Li Heng have feelings for each other, and you have Bao. However, there’s nothing between Su Shaoqing and me. As of now, I don’t even have any hatred toward him!”

Pei Huan could not help but look up at her, only to see her expressionless face. It was as though Fu Ling was utterly unbothered by that matter.

Then, she tried to read her expression, but Fu Ling looked at her blankly. After a long while, Pei Huan gave in. “It looks like there’s zero possibility between you and Shaoqing.”

“Yeah. I no longer have the wishful thinking that I had back then. Actually, aren’t I in a good place now? I bet he thinks the same. After all, I was the one who pestered him to accept my feelings that year, and he never wanted to see me. All is well now. I came back only because of Bai’s illness. After Qin Yanzhi gives me an answer and Bai recovers, I’ll leave.”

Pei Huan knew Fu Ling was a tough woman. The latter was zealous about doing well in everything during their time in university and the workforce after graduation. It was only in matters pertaining to Su Shaoqing that she became unusually weak. Nonetheless, since Fu Ling had said so, it was evident that she had no desire to lead her old life again.

As such, Pei Huan could not bring herself to say anything else. After all, Fu Ling was her best friend, and they were family. “All right, then. I won’t interfere in the affairs between you two anymore. But, you said you’ll leave? Are you going to leave after Bai recovers?”

“Yeah.” Fu Ling nodded. “Bai and I have gotten used to the life over there.”

“Fine, then.” Pei Huan stopped pressing on. After pausing for a moment, she continued, “I won’t go back these few days since Bao and I have to come over to receive treatment from Ms. Huo every day. I’ll keep you company!”

“Sure!” A genuine smile appeared on Fu Ling’s face as she reached out to hold Pei Huan’s hands. “Huan, I feel happy from the bottom of my heart seeing you lead a happy life with Li Heng. I remember that I was quite worried about you when you first got together with him, but Li Heng is a man who doesn’t fall for anyone easily. Once he does, he will never let that person go.”

Amusement flickered in Pei Huan’s eyes when she heard Fu Ling’s words. “Yeah. We’ve missed out on so many things, and we don’t want that to happen anymore… What about you? How’s Bai doing now?”

“He’s doing fine for the time being, but he still needs his biological father’s bone marrow. It’s a bit difficult to deal with the Qins. I don’t know Qin Yanzhi well, too.” Fu Ling sighed. “Perhaps he has forgotten about the adopted daughter of the Qins.”

“Qin Xiaoxiao?” Pei Huan frowned. “Are you talking about Qin Xiaoxiao? Bai is the child of Qin Yanzhi and Qin Xiaoxiao?”

Fu Ling nodded. “Yes. I ran into her when I was alone overseas. She got pregnant at such a young age and had difficulty giving birth. Though she didn’t die in the hospital, she passed away when Bai was only a few months old.”

She then recounted everything to Pei Huan, who felt sorry to hear the story. “So you raise Bai because you feel that you and Qin Xiaoxiao share the same fate?”

Fu Ling’s fingers trembled. “No. Perhaps I pity him!”

Outside the room, Su Shaoqing stood still for a long time. A tinge of sorrow flashed across his dark eye. He then clenched his fists and turned around to leave.

“I have news about Qin Xiaoxiao!” he said to Qin Yanzhi after the latter answered his phone call.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere was lively downstairs. Due to the crowd, the chef was cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Probably because she was bored and hungry, Shi Nuan expressed her craving for dumplings.

It was troublesome to head out to buy dumplings at that hour. Fortunately, they had some flour at home. Hence, she suggested making dumplings on their own.

Huo Ling was incredibly excited as a huge crowd like that hardly gathered in the Huo residence. “Dumplings? What is that?”

Inching closer to Shi Nuan and smelling the fragrance on the latter’s body, she could not help but go nearer to her. “Ms. Nuan, do dumplings taste good?”

“Of course!” Shi Nuan then looked at Fu Chengyan with a smile. The latter flashed her a resigned smile as he pinched her nose gently. “You’re always unpredictable. Don’t we have to make many dumplings given how many people we have here? The chef is too busy to do that.”

“We can do it ourselves!” Shi Nuan blinked. “Right?” She tilted her head to look at Pei Huan and Fu Ling, who had just arrived downstairs. “We can do it ourselves since we have nothing to do.” Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

Since she had said so, no one had any objections. The chef brought the flour and other ingredients to the living room and glanced at Fu Chengyan worriedly. “Young Master Chengyan, should I do it instead?”

“It’s fine. Go back to your work. We can make these dumplings ourselves.” Fu Chengyan waved his hand, signaling the chef and other servants to go back to their work.

As Shi Nuan was pregnant, there was nothing much she could do to help. Fu Chengyan and Li Heng were the ones who prepared and kneaded the dough.

At that sight, Shi Nuan tugged Pei Huan’s sleeve and giggled behind the men. “Li Heng knows how to cook as well.”

The latter nodded with a smile. “Yeah. He knows how to cook from the start!”

“Oh my, Ms. Nuan! Both Mr. Handsome and Heng know how to cook. Indeed, men who know how to cook are attractive!” Huo Ling came over and gazed at Fu Chengyan and Li Heng with a look of

admiration.

Su Shaoqing and Pei Jingxiu knew how to cook too, but they were both single. Hence, they did not bother to impress anyone and merely watched Fu Chengyan and Li Heng busy themselves with the preparation. Pei Jingxiu smiled as he remarked, “These two are getting more domesticated indeed!”

“Jingxiu, you can do that too if you like!” Su Shaoqing smirked at him. “Where’s your girl? Doesn’t she used to follow you everywhere?”

With a calm expression, Pei Jingxiu shot him an impassive glance. Even without doing anything, he gave off an intimidating aura.

Su Shaoqing raised his brows upon seeing that. “Fine, let’s not talk about her!” He raised his hands as a sign of surrender. “I wonder what happened between you two.”

“What about you? What’s going on between you and Fu Ling?” Pei Jingxiu was not interested in prying about what happened between Su Shaoqing and Fu Ling, but he could make a rough guess when Su Shaoqing left and headed upstairs earlier.

Sure enough, Su Shaoqing’s expression turned grim when he heard his words. “Haha. Let’s go make some dumplings!”