Chapter 254

Chapter 254: Father-Daughter Argument "So sleepy." Chu Tang mumbled in a soft voice. The executives in the conference room couldn't hear what the person on the other end of the phone was saying. All they could see was that the usually stern and unsmiling cold CEO now had gentleness in every corner of his brows and eyes. The drowsy employees snapped awake instantly. They never expected to get some gossip during a meeting. So the CEO, who was usually known for keeping his distance from women, was actually this gentle and doting with his girlfriend in private—it was just too adorable to watch. In the conference room, everyone had different expressions on their faces. But one person had a very sour look on her face. She was Gu Qiuhui, the newly appointed Director of the Planning Department at Jiangshi Group's headquarters. When Jiang Shixu was on the phone with Chu Tang, it was like he had become a completely different person. Patient. Gentle. But in Gu Qiuhui's impression, Jiang Shixu was cold, strict, and unsmiling—always icy toward people, keeping them at arm's length. She had been at Jiangshi Group for over half a month now, and aside from work, she hadn't exchanged a single word with Jiang Shixu. She couldn't even add him as a contact; she could only reach him through his assistant, Lin Sen. Seeing Jiang Shixu openly showing off his affection for his girlfriend in front of everyone without any hesitation, Gu Qiuhui clenched her fingers tightly into fists, feeling deeply unwilling. Chu Tang was being woken up, and Jiang Shixu was still gently asking if she had time to have lunch together. She seemed to have declined, and Jiang Shixu's tone carried a hint of disappointment as he asked again, "What about dinner?" Chu Tang said, "I need to go home tonight." By "home," she meant the Ruan family home. "Alright." The people in the conference room gathered that their CEO had been rejected? Rejected twice? Gu Qiuhui's face turned cold. When did Jiang Shixu start dating someone? Before she came to Jiangshi Group, she had specifically asked around—Jiang Shixu was definitely single. Who had gotten to him first? ... In a certain VIP private room. Ruan Shaodong was having a meal with several business partners. After finishing their business discussions, the middle-aged men started chatting casually. "Old Ruan, congratulations!" said a man around fifty with a receding hairline, smiling cheerfully. Ruan Shaodong looked at him with confusion. "Congratulations on what?" The man chuckled and said, "Good news is coming for your family." "What good news?" "Come on, why are you playing dumb with me? Of course it's the happy occasion between your family and the Jiang family. Marrying into the Jiang family is a good thing—why are you keeping it under wraps?" Ruan Shaodong froze, his face turning cold. "Who told you our family is going to form a marriage alliance with the Jiang family?" Seeing Ruan Shaodong's expression turn cold, the man paused for a moment. "Isn't your daughter dating that Jiang fellow? You didn't know? A couple days ago, my brat of a son went to the Shu family girl's birthday party, and he saw it with his own eyes—your daughter and Jiang Shixu together, always appearing as a pair. Lots of people saw them. You really didn't know?" Ruan Shaodong remained silent with a dark expression. Seeing the atmosphere turn awkward, the man quickly changed the subject. ... That evening. Chu Tang returned to the Ruan family home after a busy day. The moment the car stopped, Yang Xuelian came out to greet her. Yang Xuelian didn't look well. She pulled Chu Tang aside and said in a low voice, "Tangtang, your father knows you've made up with Jiang Shixu. He's very angry and is sitting in the living room with a sour face right now. If you don't want to face him, go back first. Come back another day when he's calmed down." Chu Tang's heart tightened. He found out that quickly? She lowered her gaze and thought for a moment, then spoke up, "It's fine, Auntie. I'll go in anyway. I have to face this sooner or later—running away won't help." Yang Xuelian sighed and said, "Alright then. Talk to your father nicely when you go in. He dotes on you; if you speak to him properly, he'll go along with you." "Mm." Chu Tang let out a breath and walked toward the house. "I understand. Thank you, Aunt Yang." Entering the house, she reached the first-floor living room. Just as Yang Xuelian had said, Ruan Shaodong was sitting on the sofa with a gloomy expression. Chu Tang walked in and called out, "Dad." Ruan Shaodong looked over with a cold face, his tone harsh: "You still recognize me as your father?" Chu Tang's expression remained neutral. "Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?" She walked over and sat down on a single sofa. Ruan Shaodong said coldly, "When did you make up with Jiang Shixu? Why didn't you tell me?" Chu Tang calmly picked up her teacup and took a sip. "Isn't this me coming back to tell you now?" Ruan Shaodong laughed in anger. "If I hadn't asked, would you have said anything?" Chu Tang smiled too. "If you hadn't asked, what would I have said?" "Don't play word games with me." Ruan Shaodong shot Chu Tang a glare and said irritably, "My daughter is dating someone, and I, her father, found out from someone else's mouth." Chu Tang remained unmoved. "That's perfectly normal. There are all kinds of people out there with wandering eyes—I don't have the right to stop people from looking, do I?" Ruan Shaodong let out a cold snort through his nose, his face turning ugly. "You're deliberately trying to anger me!" Chu Tang grinned cheekily. "That can't be. How could I deliberately anger you? I just hadn't figured out how to tell you." Ruan Shaodong spat out two words in fury: "Break up!" Chu Tang's smile vanished, and she replied coldly, "I won't." Ruan Shaodong was so furious at these words that he shot up from his seat, his voice rising several octaves as he snapped, "You still think the Jiang family hasn't harmed you and our family enough? You nearly lost your life, and you're still thinking about romance?" "Before, it was the Jiang family's illegitimate son and adopted daughter who harmed me. Now they've been brought to justice, and there won't be any more threats. Why can't we make up? The bad things Fu Yuanzhou and Xu Jingxuan did can't be blamed on Jiang Shixu!" "Can't be blamed on Jiang Shixu? Then blaming the Jiang family as a whole is certainly fair, isn't it? Me agreeing to a marriage alliance with the Jiang family—absolutely not!" "At the engagement ceremony, if Jiang Shixu hadn't shielded me from that knife, I would have died." Ruan Shaodong was beside himself with rage. "If it weren't for him, would you have been stabbed at all?" "That has nothing to do with him. He can't control other people's thoughts and actions. Xu Jingxuan loved him, couldn't have him, and took revenge on me—is that his fault?" Ruan Shaodong's face turned cold. "Don't give me all that nonsense. The bottom line is you can't be together. Anyone but him." "Heh." Chu Tang curled her lips into a cold sneer. "Anyone but him—I don't want anyone else." Ruan Shaodong fumed, "There are so many good men in this world. Can't you live without him? Why must you hang yourself from a single tree?" Chu Tang replied, "When you already have someone you love in your heart, how can there be room for anyone else?" Ruan Shaodong snapped, "You can forget him. As long as enough time passes, there's no one you can't forget." The moment he said that, Chu Tang fell silent. She just stared at Ruan Shaodong with a sorrowful gaze, unblinking. Realizing what he had just said, Ruan Shaodong's expression changed, and he too fell silent. The living room suddenly went quiet. A deathly stillness. After a long moment, Chu Tang said softly, "Just like how you forgot Mom, right?"