51 The Reason Why

Gold-rimmed eyeglasses atop a pair of phoenix-like eyes, a short neatly combed hair, defined eyebrows, sharp nose, square jaw with designer stubble around it, and downturned lips. Huang Lijie was a man around six feet eight or nine with a medium-sized body. For a man in his early fifty, he did appear younger than his age.

Perhaps it was his calm disposition or his indifferent eyes staring at me ever so sharply, I felt his intimidation piercing through my defense. I couldn't help but slightly pulling my eyebrows into a frown.

My first impression, I didn't like the way the man looked at me, extremely cold and detached. He didn't really give much reaction towards my greeting. It was as if he didn't hear anything instead.

For a moment there, we were left with tension brewing in the air as the both of us stared at each other. Unbeknownst to me, my eyes were even more indifferent and colder than him, especially paired with my expressionless face. I was far from how Li Fei used to be standing in front of him.

"So, this is your eldest daughter?"

I raised an eyebrow at the smiling woman beside Huang Lijie who was wearing a royal blue sheath dress. She was a beauty with auburn hair which seemed to be the result of a hair dye. Well, this had to be the new wife, Han Rui Yuan.

Smirking, I thought in my head, 'Why are you being passive aggressive?'

My father who was tapping his fingers on the couch only nodded lightly in agreement to her question.

Meanwhile, I returned her question before she could even say another word, "Aren't you the heiress of the famous Little J company, Miss Han?"

Immediately I saw the confusion on her face. But, before I spoke up again, Huang Kun, Huang Qian twin sister interjected.

"You might not know sister since you were in coma. But, father married Miss Han and now she's our moth-"

"Stepmother," Huang Qian suddenly interrupted. His twin sister was stunned at his action.

'Oh?' I smiled secretively. 'This is interesting. The brother rejected the new wife yet the sister accepted her as her mother. Not so twins now, are we?'

Form Li Fei's memory, I had known that this little sister of mine, Huang Kun, had dreamt of joining the socialites circle like Han Ya Ru and Hua Ling. Thus, it was quite expected that she was quick on her feet to latch onto this pair of mother and daughter.

I scoffed inwardly. Honestly, I pitied their biological mom, Huang Su Li. The daughter whom she cherished so much turned her back on her without any hesitation.

I shot a glance at Huang Qian. Instead, this son was the appreciative one. Afterwards, I turned my eyes back to the old man.

I blinked when I found out his fingers stopped tapping and his face showed discontentment. Perhaps it was due to Huang Qian's comment. However, the man was still in control of his emotion. He kept quiet on his position. For some reason though, it ticked me off.

I smiled then at my stepmother. With one hand cupping my cheek, I said, "It's true then you are Ms. Han Rui Yuan."

"Oh yes, dea-"

"Yet, you still questioned who I am despite ruling the entertainment industry. Did I not appear enough on your screen for you not being able to recognize me?"

The smile on everyone's faces was instantly robbed by my sentence. Huang Qian stared at me dumbfounded. Meanwhile, I stared back at him, cocking my eyebrow. My expression was clearly saying, "What? Do you think I dare not throw some shades?"

My body might be quivering and my hands sweaty, but there was no way I would indulge in this fear.

"And you're proud appearing in every media?!" Huang Lijie raised his voice as he asked me. His face was grim, staring at me as if he was ready to rip me apart. I would lie if I said my heart didn't jump at that sharp gaze of his. After all, this shell was still Li Fei's.

I smiled innocently at the man. "Well, daddy, it's not easy to be able to dominate every media outlets like I did. So, I'll take some credits for that."

"You shameless woman!!" He yelled as he pointed at me.

I stared at him apathetically. Woman. Not daughter. 'You are beyond helping, Huang Lijie.'

Albeit his anger, I kept my smiling face on. "Indeed, father. I am shameless. Aren't you proud? You taught me well."

And that was the last straw. All the patience he had in him dissipated. There was no longer an expression of a father on Huang Lijie's face, only pure hostile that one usually directed on their enemy. Perhaps this was how he looked at Li Fei all this time. She just never saw it clearly when she looked up for a second.

"I taught you? I taught you to be a good virtuous lady of a high class family! And look at you now! A crazy woman who ran rampant like a fucking mistress. Not only did you bring shame upon the family name, you're also divorced, ruining everything that I've worked for."

Huang Lijie was indeed fuming with rage. He was openly glaring at me with enmity. Then, with his finger pointing at me, he mocked, "You disgust me. No wonder they thought you were the mistress!"

I stared quietly at him as he insulted me relentlessly. Yes, there was a point where his anger was justified. Li Fei shouldn't have done some of the things she did. However, no one in their right mind would scold their child the way he did.

A tiger, though cruel, wouldn't devour their cubs. But, I doubted this man would even hesitate.

In any case, I riled him up for a reason. I wanted him to lose control. I wanted to see how far his anger could go. Besides, this man did not deserve even an ounce of respect. So, why should I kindly talk to him?

Raising an eyebrow at him, I sneered. "To be honest, I don't remember you teaching me anything. I only learn from how you act father. But that's the same as teaching, right? And like they said, children follow their parents footsteps. Hence, I followed yours."

Seeing him gritting his teeth and clenching his fist, slowly losing his composure, it delighted me. I took a step forward and faced him indifferently. "So, father, when you said 'you disgust me', isn't it the same as saying that you're feeling disgusted with yourself? It surprises me because all this time, I could only see how you love only yourself and be damn with everyone else."

The man was struck dumb. He stared at me with a tinge of surprise coloring his eyes. I knew it wasn't from my sentence, but he was shocked of my retaliation. Li Fei was always timid, so from me looking straight at his eyes to now fully going against him without fear was enough to shock him to his core.

"You-"

I stopped him there and continued, "And father, if you call me mistress," I paused and turned to look at Han Rui Yuan, I gestured with my head, "What is she then?"

That was the moment when everything was engulfed in a gloomy silence. Han Rui Yuan's complexion was as pale as a ghost. Her daughter, Han Ya Ru was glaring indignantly at me. Huang Kun also didn't forget to suck up to this pair by staring at me with hatred.

On the other side, the butler and the maids peeping at the corner were absolutely stunned by my performance, while Huang Qian grew pale as he looked at me with concern. I was a bit taken aback when I witnessed that. It seemed Huang Qian was not as heartless as I thought him to be.

When I shifted my eyes back to Huang Lijie, I found the man had silently approached me. I frowned watching him inching closer. However, before I could take a step back, my vision suddenly blur and my body hit the floor.

I was stunned. Carefully, I raised my hand and touched my left cheek. It was burning in pain. As I raised my head to look up at the man, I realized this was the memory gap. This was the thing that Li Fei refused to remember.

Only then I knew, it wasn't that she was always looking down. But, every time she had the chance to look up, she would be staring from his feet at a pair of menacing eyes staring down at her. It choked her whole being as a 'daughter'.

"Butler," he calmly called.

At the sound of that call, my heart slammed against my chest and my breath suddenly hitched, while my body shook uncontrollably. I could feel my eyes blurring and the cold sweat rushing down like a waterfall.

'What's happening?' I went panic at this unknown reactions.

I could feel it, at every step the butler had took, a terror-stricken fear would cover some parts of my soul. Until, he arrived at the scene and the fear devoured me whole, only then I knew why.

Wave after wave of images came rushing in. They filled every gap and every section of my memory and when I was finally pulled back to my focus by a loud scream, the only thing that entered my vision was a long wooden stick coming down at me.