Chapter 554 - 553: Angered to Death

Su Li couldn’t bring herself to smile.

"I’m sorry..."

But whenever Mrs. Tang was around, those were the only two words Tang Yuanxiao could ever say to Su Li.

"It’s fine." Su Li shook her head. "I..."

She was used to it.

Su Li picked up the yellow cloth bag Mrs. Tang had thrown at her feet, closed the car door, and walked over to Tang Yuanxiao to hand it to him.

"This is yours, right?"

Tang Yuanxiao took the bag and nodded, replying with a quiet sound of assent.

The bag was his. He had been carrying it originally, but Mrs. Tang had offered to hold it for him.

Mrs. Tang hadn’t caused any trouble lately, so when Tang Yuanxiao had time off, he decided to take her out shopping as she had requested.

The mood had been pleasant, but she went crazy the moment she saw Su Li.

Tang Yuanxiao had explained to his mother several times that Su Li’s factory had nothing to do with the Tang Family, but Mrs. Tang couldn’t accept it.

Or rather, she refused to accept it. She couldn’t stand the thought of Su Li having such a large factory and so much money all to herself, especially now that their family was in debt. It made it even more unbearable for her.

When she saw that Su Li even had a car, Mrs. Tang’s resentment morphed into outright hatred and a selfish desire to take it all for herself.

Tang Yuanxiao took a deep breath and explained, "I never told her you lent me money. She thinks I still owe my comrades-in-arms."

Su Li nodded. She understood, or rather, agreed with Tang Yuanxiao’s choice. Mrs. Tang absolutely couldn’t know about this. Besides, knowing the family was still in debt might keep her in line.

"As for your money, I’ll scrape it together and pay you back by the end of the year," Tang Yuanxiao said.

Su Li shook her head. "There’s no rush."

Tang Yuanxiao didn’t say anything to argue.

When he first married Su Li, he never imagined a day would come when he would have to borrow money from her.

The memory was still vivid: back when Su Li had first visited his military base, he had learned she’d been accepted to university. He told her not to be stubborn and that he could figure out a way to "lend" her money for tuition, but she had simply told him she had enough.

Back then, when Su Li said she had money, he never thought she meant *this* kind of money.

Tang Yuanxiao looked at Su Li’s car, and recalling his mother’s words, he felt a strange sense of melancholy.

An unexpected thought flashed through his mind: ’Thank goodness Su Li divorced me.’

Why "thank goodness"? Because if Su Li hadn’t divorced him, Tang Yuanxiao couldn’t even imagine what kind of ugly face his mother would show.

Even though Mrs. Tang was his mother, there were times he looked at her and found her terrifying.

Just as Tang Yuanxiao was lost in thought, he heard Su Li say, "You should go check on them. I’m leaving now."

The "them" Su Li mentioned was obviously Lin Huanzhu and Mrs. Tang. Seeing the state his mother was in, Su Li was a little worried about Lin Huanzhu.

"Yeah." Even if Su Li hadn’t said anything, Tang Yuanxiao knew it was time to leave. He had to go check on his mother.

Su Li said her goodbyes to Tang Yuanxiao, got in her car, and drove off immediately. Tang Yuanxiao watched her car disappear into the distance, then took a deep breath and hurried into the sanatorium.

Three minutes later, Tang Yuanxiao followed the sound of his mother’s cursing and found Lin Huanzhu and Mrs. Tang.

Seeing the scene in the pavilion, Tang Yuanxiao felt both helpless and relieved.

Mrs. Tang was still tied to her wheelchair with Lin Huanzhu’s jacket, unable to move. Lin Huanzhu herself was sitting off to one side, leisurely gazing outside as if she couldn’t hear Mrs. Tang’s tirade.

Lin Huanzhu yawned, then spotted Tang Yuanxiao. She blinked, forcing back the tears that had welled up from the yawn, and stood to greet him.

"You’re here."

Tang Yuanxiao nodded. Ignoring his mother, who was calling out to him, he walked over to Lin Huanzhu.

"Yeah. Thank you."

Lin Huanzhu waved her hand dismissively. "It’s nothing. Now that you’re here, I’m going to head back. This sun is making me sleepy. I need to go catch up on my sleep."

Seeing that Lin Huanzhu was unfazed by his mother’s furious curses, Tang Yuanxiao felt another wave of relief.

Looking at his mother’s behavior, Tang Yuanxiao felt helpless and embarrassed.

A son shouldn’t despise his mother, no matter how ugly her behavior, but Mrs. Tang was constantly testing his limits. On days like today, he just felt ashamed.

"Okay, you go get some rest. I’ll find you when I have time."

Tang Yuanxiao wanted to properly thank Lin Huanzhu, but not under these circumstances.

"Okay, I’m off." As she spoke, Lin Huanzhu reached out and patted Tang Yuanxiao’s arm, offering a silent gesture of comfort.

Lin Huanzhu had only taken a few steps when Tang Yuanxiao suddenly called out to her. "Are you hurt?"

Lin Huanzhu’s jacket was being used to tie up Mrs. Tang, revealing the white gauze bandage on her elbow that Su Li had wrapped for her. Tang Yuanxiao had noticed it.

Following his gaze, Lin Huanzhu glanced at her arm and shook her head. "No, it’s just a scrape. It was Su... She saw it and insisted on bandaging it for me."

"That’s good..."

As Tang Yuanxiao watched Lin Huanzhu’s retreating figure, his mind flashed back to the time Su Li had tended to his own wounds.

’Su Li... Su Li really is like that,’ he thought. ’She never seems to care about her own injuries, but she’s always so concerned about others’.

Back when they were looking for Little Tang Mo, he had scraped his hand, and Su Li had insisted on cleaning and bandaging it for him. Along the way, she had bandaged wounds for both Wu Sheng and him.

Su Li... Su Li...

Tang Yuanxiao’s thoughts were a tangled mess, but they were soon cut short by the escalating volume of his mother’s shouting.

"Do you want me to call your friends from the sanatorium over to listen to you scream?"

Tang Yuanxiao took a deep breath, stood before his mother, and asked her in a low, heavy voice.

"You unfilial son! How dare you talk to me like that for that slut! Untie me, now! And you just let that demoness Lin Huanzhu walk away? After what she did to me, you actually thanked her!"

Mrs. Tang let loose a torrent of curses. "Serves her right she can’t get married! A woman like that, what man would want her?"

Tang Yuanxiao stepped forward and silently untied the jacket binding his mother. He pried her hands off him and took a step back.

"Go on and curse if you want. Make a scene if you want. If you fall out of your wheelchair, you can just lie there. I’m leaving."

Mrs. Tang’s thrashing froze. "What did you say?"

"I said, I’m leaving. I won’t be coming to see you for the next two weeks. The shopping trip we planned is canceled. And if you keep acting like this, I’ll start visiting only once a month."

Tang Yuanxiao had realized that his mother didn’t cause trouble when he wasn’t around. She only acted up when he was present. In that case, he might as well just stop coming.

Mrs. Tang’s face was a mask of disbelief. "You... Tang Yuanxiao, you dare! You unfilial son!"

Tang Yuanxiao turned and walked away, completely ignoring his mother’s shrieks.

Mrs. Tang watched him leave without a backward glance, so furious she nearly choked. But in the end, she didn’t dare thrash around and risk falling out of her wheelchair.

When Lin Huanzhu had pushed her back, she had chosen a quiet, secluded pavilion in the woods. Mrs. Tang had been cursing for two hours, but no one had come.

It wasn’t that no one heard her; it was precisely because people heard her that they stayed away.

Many people in the sanatorium were aware of Mrs. Tang’s vile nature, so they simply ignored her and let her scream.

As Mrs. Tang continued to curse, she grew thirsty. After thirst came hunger.

She had been so excited about going out that she had barely touched her lunch, wanting to save her appetite for some snacks outside. Since she hadn’t eaten much, she got hungry quickly.

Then, as the sun began to set, she started to feel cold.

Before long, Mrs. Tang began to shiver from the cold. The reason was the icy chill beneath her.

Mrs. Tang had been incontinent for a long time and would lose control whenever she got agitated. As she had cursed and screamed, her pants had become soaked. The moment the temperature dropped, the dampness made her shiver uncontrollably.