Chapter 650 - 648: Conflicted

Su Shengguo frowned. "Do you even know her? We don’t know her at all. She just came out of the blue to tell us this. Don’t you find that strange?"

"He’s right, Mom." Su Lidong, who was now hoping to make peace with Su Qing, naturally took her side. "Some random person comes over and says a few words, and you just believe them? You never used to be like this."

Zheng Erlian erupted in a fit of uncontrollable rage. "We’re talking about your sister! Your daughter! And this is how you react? You’re right, we’ve never met her before. But if that’s the case, then she has no reason to harm us, so why shouldn’t I believe her? I think what she said is the truth! It must be because of Su Qing! If it weren’t for Su Qing, my daughter would never have died!"

"Calm down." Having worked for many years, Su Shengguo still had his wits about him. "Think about it. We don’t know her, but she somehow knows who we are, and she even knows our relationship with Su Qing. What does that tell you?"

"What?" Zheng Erlian didn’t understand.

Su Lidong looked even more clueless. "Dad, what does it tell us?"

Su Shengguo shot his eldest son a look of profound disappointment. ’This boy has been spoiled rotten since childhood,’ he thought. Back in the county town, he had refused to learn a trade and just ran around with a bad crowd. After Su Shengguo lost his job and the family moved back to Lihua Village, those so-called friends wanted nothing to do with him. He had quieted down some since being at home, but he was still incredibly dense. He knew nothing and was full of unrealistic ambitions, daydreaming about all sorts of nonsense. The one thing he couldn’t do was put his head down and do some honest work.

If his eldest son weren’t such a good-for-nothing, Su Shengguo could have used his old connections from the county town to at least get him a temporary job at a factory.

Sigh...

Su Shengguo sighed to himself. "What does it tell us? It tells us she came prepared. It means she’d already investigated our family and our relationships. She came to us with a clear agenda. I even suspect she has a grudge against Su Qing and wants to use us to get her revenge."

"Ah, so she’s just using us as a weapon," Su Lidong said, blinking.

"That’s my guess." Su Shengguo nodded. ’At least his eldest son wasn’t a complete and utter waste.’

Zheng Erlian remained silent, her face contorted in anger, a dark shadow lurking in her eyes.

"Erlian, are you listening to me?" Su Shengguo asked with a sigh.

Zheng Erlian looked up at Su Shengguo and scoffed. "You’re only saying all this because you don’t want me to go after Su Qing. Don’t think I don’t know what you two are plotting. You think that now that Su Qing has powerful connections, you, her own uncle and cousin, can just cozy up to her and mooch off her to get by in Beijing."

Su Shengguo retorted, "How can you think that? Didn’t I just say it? Su Qing will never forgive us for what happened. We shouldn’t go out of our way to get close to her. The best thing to do is stay far, far away and act like strangers from now on."

Zheng Erlian wrenched her arm out of Su Shengguo’s grasp. "When it comes down to it, you’re just scared! You’re scared of Su Qing’s maternal family coming after you. You’re scared that a nobody like you can’t possibly win against people like them."

With that, Zheng Erlian sneered, "You’re afraid, but I’m not. My daughter is already gone. What else do I have to fear?"

"Mom, you still have me! And Lifeng!" Su Lidong, afraid that Zheng Erlian would actually go and cause trouble for Su Qing, quickly interjected. "Are you just going to abandon us? You’re always thinking about Meizi. Have you given any thought to us at all?"

Zheng Erlian burst into tears. "Lidong, that was your own sister! Your own sister is dead!"

"But your two sons are still alive!" Su Lidong said urgently. "Mom, you need to think about me and Lifeng now. Don’t you love us anymore? Just think, what if you go cause trouble for Su Qing and her maternal family gets upset? What will they do to me and Lifeng?"

Su Lidong’s words stunned Zheng Erlian, and the color drained from her face.

Su Shengguo quickly added, "Think about it. It was child’s play for Su Qing’s maternal family to get me fired. We’re in Beijing now. How can we possibly fight them? Meizi is gone, but we have to think about the living. Lidong is right. We still have two sons. We have to think about them."

The father and son chimed in one after another, their main goal to talk Zheng Erlian out of her plan to settle the score with Su Qing.

Zheng Erlian listened numbly as the girl’s words from earlier echoed in her mind: ’How can common folk fight against officials? You won’t get your revenge, and you’ll end up ruining yourself in the process!’

The words circled endlessly in her mind, impossible to shake.

"Yes, you’re right." Zheng Erlian nodded. "I need to think this through. Both of you, get out. I want to be alone for a while."

"Erlian..." Su Shengguo said, still worried.

"I just want some quiet. If you’re that worried, you can stand guard outside the door." Her expression had grown much calmer as she pushed her husband and son out. "Now go. Leave me alone."

After shutting her husband and son out of the room, Zheng Erlian leaned against the door and slowly slid to the floor. She stared blankly out the window. Until now, her grief for Su Mei had consumed her, pushing her two sons to the back of her mind. But she had doted on Su Lidong and Su Lifeng since they were boys, perhaps even more than she had on Su Mei. After all, the belief was that you raise sons to care for you in your old age, and Zheng Erlian had always favored her boys. It was just that this time, the shock of Su Mei’s death had left her too overwhelmed with grief to spare a thought for her sons.

Zheng Erlian hated Su Qing. It wasn’t just because Su Shengguo had lost his job, or because of the scars on Su Mei’s face—which she also blamed on Su Qing. Now, after hearing what that girl had said today, her hatred was climbing to new heights. But she couldn’t ignore her two sons. She wanted revenge on Su Qing, but she was terrified that Su Qing would take that revenge out on her boys.

If Su Mei had really died to shield Su Qing from some disaster, then Su Qing might not hesitate to do the same to her two sons. The thought of her boys one day lying cold and lifeless before her sent a violent shiver through her body.

’What should I do? What am I supposed to do?’

Zheng Erlian felt a splitting headache coming on. She clutched her head as large tears streamed down her face. ’If what that person said is true, should I get revenge for my daughter? But what if it ends up harming my two sons?’

In a state-run restaurant not far from the guesthouse, the girl who had visited Su Shengguo’s room was sitting in the dining hall, eating a bowl of noodles. Her seat faced the guesthouse, and she stared at it as she ate, her eyes narrowing slightly.

’Su Qing,’ she thought, ’get ready.’