Chapter 78

Chapter 78

The driver started the car.

Chu Suosuo hurriedly scrambled out of the way.

Long after the car had driven off, she remained frozen in place. Her eyes glared at Gu Beixian’s car with deep resentment, her face deathly pale.

She felt utterly crushed, her heart cold as if she had fallen into an ice cellar. She stood there until the car was completely out of sight.

Only then did she slowly turn around and walk toward Tianshou Pavilion. Her legs felt weak, and her steps lacked their usual energy.

She walked into the shop.

Hua Tianshou was standing behind the counter, holding a large magnifying glass as he studied a famille-rose floral-patterned vase with double handles.

Chu Suosuo swayed her slender waist as she walked up to him, complaining in a high-pitched, pampered voice, “Grandpa, you don’t care about me at all.”

Hua Tianshou adjusted the reading glasses on the bridge of his nose and looked at her expressionlessly. “If this is still about Su Hua, don’t even bother.”

The words Chu Suosuo had been about to say were forced back down her throat.

She said petulantly, “I want to become your apprentice too.”

Hua Tianshou pushed the famille-rose vase toward her.

“Then tell me, is this vase real or fake? Which dynasty is it from? What technique was used to make it?”

Chu Suosuo leaned in, her fingers tracing the patterns on the vase’s body. She hummed and hawed for a long time, but she couldn’t squeeze out a single word.

Wrinkling her nose, she said, “Grandpa, you haven’t taught me anything yet. How am I supposed to know?”

Hua Tianshou pulled the vase back and said calmly, “Su Hua could tell even before I started teaching her.”

Chu Suosuo slapped her hand on the counter. “You’re just being biased! I’m your biological granddaughter. If you teach me properly, I’ll definitely be a thousand-no, ten thousand times better than Su Hua.”

Hua Tianshou said nothing. He simply bent down and pulled a box of puzzles from under the counter.

He placed the puzzle in front of her. “If you want to learn from me, fine. Finish this, and I’ll take you as my apprentice.”

Chu Suosuo frowned as she looked at the dense pile of pieces in the box. “There are so many. How many pieces is this?”

“Eight thousand four hundred.”

Chu Suosuo felt like her head was going to explode. “With this many pieces, how long will it take to finish? Grandpa, aren’t you just making things difficult for me on purpose?”

Hua Tianshou straightened his back and looked at her. “If you can’t even handle something this simple, how can you expect to study under me? Do you think restoring antiques is a game? Sometimes it takes months to fix a single vase. Su Hua and the others who restore ancient paintings sometimes spend years on a single piece. You’ve been pampered since childhood; can you really endure that kind of hardship?”

Chu Suosuo was speechless.

But the moment she thought of Su Hua, her anger flared up again. She refused to lose to that country bumpkin who grew up in some remote mountain gully.

She was so talented, so noble-a refined lady of high birth. How could she possibly be inferior to that hillbilly?

She believed that if Su Hua could do it, she could too, as long as she was willing to learn.

“I don’t care! I’m going to start learning from you tomorrow anyway!” Chu Suosuo said defiantly.

Hua Tianshou said solemnly, “It won’t be too late to learn once you’ve finished this puzzle.”

“I’ll definitely finish it!” Chu Suosuo huffed, picking up the box of puzzles and stomping away in a huff.

Meanwhile, in the car.

Gu Beixian looked down and asked Su Hua, “Did you really not get bullied today?”

Su Hua shook her head. “I really didn’t. Hua Qirou said some nasty things, but I snapped back at her. Master was very protective of me, too. By the way, everyone says I look like Aunt Qinwan. Can you tell me about her?”

At the mention of the name “Qinwan,” Gu Beixian’s eyes darkened slightly.

After a moment, he spoke. “Aunt Qinwan is a very good person. She and my mother were like sisters, and she was very kind to me.”

Su Hua grew even more curious. “Do you have a photo of her?”

“Your mother-in-law should have one. Ask her yourself.”

“Okay.”

Su Hua took out her phone and sent a message to Qin Shu on WeChat.

Before long, a photo was sent back.

Su Hua tapped to open it. It was a group photo. Two young women in their early twenties stood side by side under a hibiscus tree, posing intimately with bright smiles.

Judging by the features, the one on the left was a young Qin Shu. The one on the right must be Hua Qinwan.

She had a naturally perfect oval face, fair skin, beautiful eyes, dark eyebrows, and ruby lips. Her large eyes were bright and shimmering, her nose was delicate, and her lips were finely shaped. Her gaze was calm-not flighty, not evasive, and not searching. Her whole being exuded a gentle, elegant, and scholarly aura.

Even by modern standards, she was a top-tier beauty.
Su Hua stole a glance at her and realized they really did look a bit alike.

Their temperaments, in particular, were practically identical.

She gently stroked Hua Qinwan’s face on the phone screen and praised her sincerely, “Aunt Qinwan is truly beautiful.”

Gu Beixian raised his eyes slightly and glanced at the photo. “It’s a pity. A classic case of a beauty having a tragic fate.”

Su Hua thought for a moment and said, “I heard Nanyin mention it once before. She said that after her daughter died young, she suffered a breakdown and went mad?”

Gu Beixian hummed in affirmation and raised a hand to rub his brow, looking like he didn’t really want to talk about it.

Seeing that he wasn’t in the mood, Su Hua stopped asking.

She lowered her head and stared at Hua Qinwan’s face for a while longer.

For some reason, looking at her radiant, smiling face made Su Hua feel strangely melancholy.

She sighed inwardly: A beauty truly has a tragic fate.

Such a gentle, beautiful, and intelligent woman had actually lost her mind.

The next day.

Lunchtime.

Su Hua and her driver, Ah Hong, went to a Chinese restaurant near the antique city for lunch.

At peak hours, the restaurant was very lively.

Su Hua ordered abalone sauce over rice.

Ah Hong ordered seafood braised rice.

The two sat across from each other and began to eat quietly.

Halfway through the meal, a man carrying a bowl of pork ribs and rice walked over and sat in the empty seat next to Su Hua.

Thud!

He slammed the bowl heavily onto the table.

Su Hua instinctively looked up at him.

The man was around fifty years old, with graying hair at his temples, thick eyebrows, and large eyes. His face was full of hostility.

It was Ding Lie.

Her father.

Su Hua was slightly surprised.

She was about to greet him, but when she remembered all the terrible things he had done to her mother, the words died in her throat.

Ding Lie picked up a rib, put it in his mouth, skillfully bit off the meat, and chewed vigorously.

After swallowing, he spoke.

He didn’t look at Su Hua, keeping his eyes fixed on the bowl in front of him as he said sarcastically, “My daughter eats the best food every day while her old man is about to starve on the streets.”

Su Hua’s grip on her chopsticks tightened.

She replied in the same tone, “If you had treated my mother even a little bit better back then, I would be giving you meat instead of letting you gnaw on bones.”

Hearing her respond, Ding Lie turned his head to look at her, his tone softening. “Xiao Hua, no matter what, I’m still your father. I’m in trouble right now and have nowhere else to turn. Just lend your father five million.”

Su Hua thought for a moment and said, “I’ll call my mom and ask her.”

She picked up her phone to call Su Peilan.

However, the phone was snatched away by Ding Lie.

“Your mother is too heartless. Don’t ask her. Xiao Hua, for the sake of our bond as father and daughter, just lend it to me. Once I have some money, I’ll definitely pay you back.”

Su Hua’s brow furrowed. “My mom won’t let me give you money. If I give it to you without her permission, she’ll be angry. It’s better to ask.”

Ding Lie’s face hardened. He slammed his chopsticks down and threatened, “If you don’t give me the money, I’ll go to the shop where you work and tell your boss and colleagues exactly how selfish and cold-blooded you are!”

Su Hua smiled.

Her mother was right after all.

A breakup reveals a person’s true character.

A man who cheated during his marriage, had a child with another woman, secretly transferred assets, and even swindled away the house his wife’s family had bought… such a man had no humanity.

Even in old age, he wouldn’t change.

Ah Hong, who had been sitting across from them eating quietly, also slammed his chopsticks onto the table.

He stood up, grabbed Ding Lie’s arm, and dragged him outside.

The crowd’s eyes focused on them, and people began to whisper.

Ding Lie didn’t feel embarrassed at all, as if he had long since grown accustomed to such scenes.

Su Hua actually admired him a little.

His thick skin was truly beyond that of an ordinary person.

After Ah Hong sent Ding Lie away, he came back and sat down to finish his meal.

The two finished eating in silence and left the restaurant.

Ah Hong escorted Su Hua to Tianshou Pavilion.

After watching her enter the shop, Ah Hong went to sit under the shade of a tree by the roadside to smoke while waiting for her to get off work.

Firstly, it was convenient for protecting her; secondly, he was under orders to keep an eye on her.

As soon as Su Hua entered the shop, she saw a familiar yet strange figure standing at the counter.

It looked a lot like Ding Lie.

The man slowly turned his head.

Su Hua’s foot froze mid-step.

It really was him. He actually had the nerve to come to the shop.

Ding Lie grinned, an ill-intentioned smirk on his face. “Xiao Hua, my good daughter, we meet again!”