Chapter Sixty-One: I Agree to Sever Our Father-Son Relationship!
Chapter Sixty-One: I Agree to Sever Our Father-Son Relationship!
A-Ken panicked and shouted loudly, “Oh my little ancestor, please don’t bite it! If you break it, it’ll be a disaster, do you know how precious this thing is to a man—Oh, please let go! You’re going to drive me crazy. If you break it, what am I supposed to do in the future?”
The driver, apparently someone Bai Su brought from her hometown, was an honest, quiet man who rarely spoke. Even when others talked to him, he’d just respond with a couple of chuckles. When he realized what was happening behind him, his hands began to tremble, and he nearly lost control of the steering wheel, almost driving onto the sidewalk—
Only Lin Huiyin remained silent, watching the scene with great interest, as if she were a complete outsider. Bai Su and A-Ken tried everything, exhausting their words and efforts—but Zhang Hepburn still wouldn’t let go.
Tang Zhong grew desperate and shouted, “If you don’t let go, I’m going to—pee myself.”
Zhang Hepburn glanced up at Tang Zhong, her look saying, “Go ahead, see if I care.”
So—
Tang Zhong began to beg. “I was wrong. I apologize,” he said sincerely. “You may not have her mature charm—ah—but they don’t have your unique allure either. Each of you has your own merits, truly.”
Only then did Zhang Hepburn feel appeased and released her grip, snorting coldly. “If you dare provoke me again, I’ll bite it off.”
Bite it off?
Tang Zhong seriously pictured such a scene, and his face suddenly flushed.
“Benben,” Bai Su pulled Zhang Hepburn to the front seat and said, “You’re a girl. How can you do something like that?”
“So what?” Zhang Hepburn retorted. “I can’t beat him, and I can’t out-argue him—so all I can do is bite. I can’t just let him bully me for nothing, can I?”
“But you can’t just bite—bite there. Do you know what that means for a girl?” Bai Su said helplessly.
“I just happened to be in that spot; where else could I bite?” Zhang Hepburn replied brazenly. “Besides, you’re the ones with dirty minds. To me, it’s like holding a sausage in my mouth. If he dares provoke me again, I’ll snap—it off, then toss it in the rice pot and cook it.”
“——”
Bai Su realized she couldn’t reason with her and decided it would be more productive to talk to Tang Zhong—maybe he’d be more receptive.
She returned to her seat. Seeing the flush on her face, Tang Zhong asked, “Did I make things difficult for you?”
“No. Benben is just like that—she’s still a child. I’m used to it. Don’t overthink it,” Bai Su explained. She was already a thirty-year-old woman, but even she couldn’t help blushing at such scenes. These young people were certainly uninhibited.
“I meant about hitting Sun Qing,” Tang Zhong said with a smile.
“Oh.” Bai Su looked a bit awkward. “It’s a bit troublesome. I’ll have to report to him personally about this.”
“Does he know I’m a stand-in?” Tang Zhong asked.
“He doesn’t,” Bai Su replied. “I only reported it to Chairman Xuan. He approved. The company staff and the other two vice-chairmen don’t know.”
Bai Su pointed to A-Ken. “A-Ken used to be the exclusive stylist for Sister Zhang Shangxin. To support our plan, Chairman Xuan assigned him to help us.”
Tang Zhong knew of Zhang Shangxin—a veteran in the music industry who, after more than a decade, was still popular and now thriving in music, film, TV, hosting, and writing. She was a household name in entertainment. Tang Zhong was surprised to learn she was in the same company as him.
Tang Zhong frowned. “If he knows my identity, it’ll be easier to resolve. If he doesn’t, it could be hard to explain.”
“It’s fine. If he doesn’t understand, I’ll ask Chairman Xuan for help,” Bai Su offered, comforting Tang Zhong.
“Alright. You can say I’m a hot-tempered person, not easy to deal with—” Tang Zhong grinned. “Try to put the blame on me. If your Chairman Xuan still wants me to keep making money for him, he should help smooth things over. And remember to tell him about Sun Qing frequently hitting you, and his attempts to harass me, Huiyin, and Hepburn. If you don’t mention it, he won’t know.”
“Sun Qing hasn’t been hitting me, nor has he harassed Huiyin or Hepburn—”
“If I hadn’t hit him today, he would’ve hit you. If I hadn’t beaten him, he’d find a chance to harass the three of us sooner or later—it’s bound to happen, so just say it,” Tang Zhong insisted. “Whether your Chairman Xuan believes it is up to him.”
Bai Su looked at Tang Zhong. “You’re ruthless. With this sort of report, Sun Qing’s days will get much harder.”
“Have you forgotten where I came from?” Tang Zhong laughed.
Bai Su grew solemn at that. She thought, a youth who walked out of prison—just how much of a storm would he stir in this murky entertainment world?
——
Sun Qing parked his BMW by the roadside, pulled off his grass-stained Armani jacket, and tossed it into a nearby trash can.
He pulled out his phone and dialed a number.
The call was barely answered when he exploded, “Dad, I don’t care what excuse you use, you have to blacklist those three little bitches from the Butterfly group for me! I want them ruined and destroyed. And that slut Bai Su—she ganged up with others to bully me. You’d better fire her too.”
“What happened?” The voice on the other end was steady. The man’s composure was undisturbed by Sun Qing’s outburst.
“They—” Sun Qing’s grievance nearly brought him to tears. But he couldn’t bring himself to say he’d been slapped and kicked by a woman, not even to his father. “They were too hateful. They didn’t give me any respect, and even called me a son of a bitch—Dad, it’s fine if they don’t respect me, but they can’t insult you too, can they? After all, you’re their superior, aren’t you? I don’t care—you must blacklist them! Otherwise I’ll—”
“Otherwise what?”
“I’ll sever our father-son relationship!” Sun Qing shouted impulsively.
“I agree,” the man replied.
“Dad, you agree?” Sun Qing blurted out, excited. “You’ll blacklist them?”
“No,” the man said. “I agree to sever our father-son relationship.”
“——”
——
Bai Su hadn’t expected that before she could even explain and apologize to Vice Chairman Sun Wenlin, he’d already called her.
Seeing Bai Su’s grave expression as she held her phone without answering, Tang Zhong picked up on it and asked, “Is it him?”
“He’s come to call us to account,” Bai Su forced a wry smile. She motioned for everyone to be quiet, then answered the call, speaking sincerely, “Director Sun, I’m really sorry. We’re still on the road. The phone was on vibrate, so I didn’t hear your call.”
“It’s alright,” the man said with a smile. “I already know about it. Don’t worry about it. Also, tell Tang Xin I’ve already reprimanded that boy. He won’t bother her again. You’re all doing well lately. I’m very pleased.”
“Yes, thank you, Director Sun. I’ll pass it on,” Bai Su replied quickly.
Even after hanging up, Bai Su couldn’t quite process what had just happened.
“What did he say?” Tang Zhong asked with concern. Seeing Bai Su’s unsettled expression, he reassured her, “Don’t worry. Whatever it is, just tell us. We’ll figure it out together.”
“He said he already knows about it and told us not to worry. He also said he’s scolded Sun Qing and wanted me to tell you—Sun Qing won’t bother you again.” Bai Su turned to Tang Zhong. “What do you think? Does he have some scheme?”
“What scheme?” Tang Zhong countered.
“If there’s no scheme, isn’t that just strange?” Bai Su couldn’t believe things could resolve so easily. “He’s nicknamed ‘the Old Taoist’—all smiles on the surface, but a knife in the back, very cunning. I suspect we’re doomed.”
Tang Zhong’s expression became serious. “We’ll just be cautious from now on. If soldiers come, we’ll fight; if floods come, we’ll block them. Didn’t Liu Weidong talk tough for so long, and now he’s gone quiet?”
“Let’s hope I’m just overthinking it,” Bai Su said.
Zhang Hepburn and Lin Huiyin exchanged a glance, then looked away in silence.
When their car arrived at the entrance of Ziyuan Community, they heard a commotion at the security post.
“Brother, let me in—I have my ID and my student card. I can leave them both here—I just need to go see someone, I’ll be right out—”
“Brother, I’m not a scammer or a thief—I’m a student at South University. I have a friend who lives here, I just want to see her—”
“If you don’t believe me, you can come with me—I know you’re busy. I’ll pay you if necessary. Brother, is that okay?”
——
“What’s going on?” Bai Su asked.
“Someone wants to come in,” the driver answered. He rolled down his window and shouted to the security booth, “Open the gate.”
Two security guards rushed out and steered a long-haired boy with a guitar on his back aside to let the car through.
Zhang Hepburn, always curious about a spectacle, rolled down her window as well.
The boy caught sight of Zhang Hepburn’s face, froze for a moment, then started struggling fiercely, shouting, “Tang Xin—Tang Xin, it’s me, Gao Shan! Tang Xin!”