A Not So Welcoming Welcome Party

"I heard that Li Qinyang was back and went to go and greet her since it had been a long time since we last saw each other," he began telling his, obviously made up, story and recount on what happened, "I saw what happened in the hallway when the maid spilt the drink all over her, so I came to check if she was okay,"

"And do you know how she repaid my kindness? As soon as she saw me, she threw herself at me claiming how much she had missed me. I told her it was inappropriate since I was about to be engaged to you, baby. I tried to get her off of me, but she wouldn't let go or leave me alone," he continued on to Li Ching trying to salvage his own reputation by throwing Li Qinyang under the bus.

Li Qinyang stood there in disbelief as she listened to his ramblings and storytellings. She could not believe her ears. She couldn't believe that this was the same quiet little boy who used to follow her around as she pulled all of her mischievous pranks, when they were little. The same little boy who would insist to take the blame whenever they got into trouble. The roles were being reversed because he was now the one playing the tricks and pranks whilst, she had to take the blame, involuntarily and wrongfully.

As Li Qinyang was about to rebut Chen Wenyan's words, the harsh sound of a slap rebounded off the walls of her bedroom, seeming to echo in her ears.

Master Li He had just slapped his daughter's face, but it wasn't Li Ching's... it was Li Qinyang's. He had just slapped his own biological daughter. His sour mood had taken a turn for the worst, the last straw was drawn.

One tear drop fell from the corner of Li Qinyang's eye slowly but surely. It was quickly followed by a stream that cascaded down her cheeks. Li Qinyang slowly turned her head back around, her eyes as wide as a wild deer's, a hand cupping her sore cheek trying to soothe ache, and a racing heart. She stared her father in the eyes with disbelief. She felt mistreated, betrayed, and crestfallen that her own father would believe an outsider over her. She felt even more betrayed and mistreated at the fact that he clearly didn't give her a chance to share her side of the story.

Li Qinyang finally found her voice after a moment but the only thing she could do was to call out, "Father?" There was a clear question in her tone.

However, before Li Qinyang could further voice her questions, Li He harshly cut in, "First you go abroad against my wishes, then you refused to help the family when we needed your help since you rejected the arranged marriage planned for you, and now you try to take your older sister's soon to be fiancee away from her. How unruly,"

Li Qinyang had so many questions inside of her head. She had just realised, just how many questions she had to ask herself since she came back to Country K.

Why was she so out of the loop, she wondered to herself? Was she the only one who didn't fully understand the situation here? Li Qinyang decided that it was time to voice her questions, otherwise, the misunderstandings would continue to fester and grow.

"Father, when did the family need help and when did you request any help from me," she started, "I haven't even had any contact with the family since I left years ago to go abroad. The only communication i've had, was this past week were I informed Li Ching of my return beforehand. Plus, what arranged marriage are you even referring to, I never agreed to any of that,"

"And Chen Wenyan was clearly lying to you," she continued to firmly insist, ending with one of the main points of concern at moment.

"Oh, so you know how to talk back now," he began as he became more infuriated by the second, "And don't act stupid. Your mother clearly called you when the family was going through a crisis, nearly on the verge of bankruptcy, and when she asked you on my behalf to step up in the family and do your duties, what did you do? You clearly refused to come back, wanting to do what? You wanted to stay abroad to realise your silly little dreams,"

Li Qinyang, for what must have now been the hundredth time, was confused again. She began to ponder over what her father meant. However, she was more than confused now, she was absolutely furious that her father would refer to Ning Chu as her mother. No one would ever and could never replace her mother, yet her father had resulted to disregarding her mother. And speaking of Ning Chu, Li Qinyang glanced over to the woman who, from what her father had just said, claimed to have called her informing her of this said arranged marriage. However, the thing was, Li Qinyang had obviously never received a phone call. As Li Qinyang looked at Ning Chu, she waited for the older woman to give her father an explanation, however, the woman just stared back at her with the ghost of a mocking smile written on her face which Li He couldn't even see since the woman was hidden behind him.

Although Ning Chu wasn't Li Qinyang's mother, Li Qinyang had always treated the much older woman with respect, and even though no one could ever replace her mother, Li Qinyang saw Ning Chu as a mother of a sort. So who was this woman that Li Qinyang was seeing right now?

Hurt,deceived, and betrayed again, Li Qinyang felt her heart squeeze painfully. Even though Li Qinyang had many questions and had been confused earlier on, she was not stupid, she was just missing pieces of the puzzle that needed to be fit together, which she had now been clearly found. She now knew and understood that she had been intentionally set up by Ning Chu if the gloating look in the woman's eyes were anything to go by. She clearly thought that she had won.

"While here your older sister is, being what a filial daughter is supposed to be. Here she is helping out the family while you what," he tried to search for the suitable words, "continued to play around abroad?"

"Why can't you be more like your elder sister?" Li He continued on snapping Li Qinyang out of her stupor. She had just zoned back in to what her father was saying, and hearing his words Li Qinyang had another speculation on how all of this had happened and who was involved. However, Li Qinyang didn't want to believe that this person could betray her. She didn't dare to look across the room at the woman who she called her big sister, and the woman who was now huddled in the arms of a man who had just tried to destroy her reputation. She just couldn't look, but she knew that she had to, otherwise, her questions would never fully be answered, she would always wonder.

Finally, mustering up her courage, Li Qinyang first took a slide glance at Li Ching before turning her head fully to look at the woman, before she lost the courage. Unfortunately, just as Li Qinyang had thought, Li Ching was in on the plan to cause the demise of her relationship with this family, her family. Were they her family anymore, though? Li Qinyang didn't feel welcomed there anymore, the thought of this causing another pang to her heart.

Li Qinyang continued to look at the small devious smile plastered on Li Ching's face as she considered something, "Li Ching, didn't you say to me over the phone that you had something important to tell me once I returned? Was this it? Did you want to brag to me about how you took someone who you thought was important me? It clearly seems that you thought Chen Wenyan was important to me. Why, was it because I used to play with him when I was, what," she thought for a moment, "four or maybe five?"

"Well guess what, i've had plenty of playmates, so I didn't even remember Chen Wenyan until HE trespassed into MY bedroom," Li Qinyang said putting emphasis on the he and my. Li Qinyang knew that what she said was awful and childish, but she had said all of this in hopes of provoking Li Ching into revealing her true self to her father.

However, as soon as Li Qinyang finished her sentence, another harsh slap was delivered to her face, her plan completely backfiring on her. The tears began to stream down Li Qinyang's face again. This time, Li Qinyang had completely given up hope on her father, she gave up hope on salvaging what remained of their relationship. Her father had never layed a hand on her throughout her life, yet today her father had done it twice in less than an hour.