49 Behind The Covering Smoke

My eyes were fixed on the scenery outside as I leaned back on the car seat. Both of my hands were clasped together atop my legs while I made a quick run through Li Fei's memories. If I was going back, I needed to know everything there was to know about Li Fei.

I sighed inwardly. I had made plans, but never would I've anticipated this sudden occurrence. I thought they had forgotten about Li Fei. I thought they had disowned her for the mess she had created. She was no use for them anymore, wasn't she?

Yet, never could I've imagined this scenario unfolding, being dragged forcefully by my brother. I chuckled softly under my breath.

"What?" Huang Qian asked from behind the steering wheel.

Without turning to face him, I replied, "I just find it funny how you needed to bring four bodyguards to handle a woman."

He didn't comment on my sentence and for a while, it was only the faint sound of the car engine filling the quiet air. I finally turned to him then, raising an eyebrow.

He chuckled but the smile didn't get to his eyes. "Well, I didn't know what kind of crazy things you would cook up."

"No matter how crazy it is, you're five feet nine with toned muscles."

He sighed and I could sense him fidgeting, clearly he didn't know what else to say to serve as an excuse. I shook my head slightly before shifting my eyes back to the road.

"They're just there for precaution," he suddenly spoke up.

I looked on indifferently at him as he snuck a glance towards me. "It makes things easier and faster, doesn't it?"

I had no comment. Indeed, he caught me off-guard and trapped me good like a mouse in a cage. I sighed, raising my hand to massage my forehead.

Perhaps Huang Qian had caught my movement from the rear-view mirror, but his concern had surprised me.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

It wasn't said out of courtesy nor was it intended as a mere chit chat. I could hear his worry through his voice. It might not have been obvious, but still I caught on to it.

I stopped massaging my forehead and raised my head to gaze at the young man. Actually, as a third person, I understood where Huan Qian was coming from, but Li Fei had it worse than him. She had tasted pain long before Huang Qian was born.

I bit my lower lip, diverting my eyes from him again. If I wished to acknowledge it, I also knew Huang Qian had suffered as well. They lived under the same roof, so how could Li Fei not know?

I closed my eyes as I leaned my head against the window. An image of a young girl standing outside the bedroom with her head down flashed into my mind. Drop by drop, her tears fell like a glittering pearls.

'Sorry.'

The trembling of her shoulders and how she painfully wrung the hem of her dress. I could feel it. I could feel it all.

Her fear.

Her helplessness.

Her self-blaming speech.

And when the cry broke out from behind the door, the girl could only cover her ears and squatted down.

'Sorry.'

My eyes slowly opened up and they caught his shadow reflected on the car window.

Nobody was at fault. No one was to be blame. But, their father made them this way. He had crushed any remaining affection between the siblings, turning them against each other.

Living in that mansion, the siblings had to put everything they got in order to survive. It was like a game of chess. One wrong move and it all fell like a domino. Everyday was a matter of losing and winning.

I lowered my gaze. Nobody wanted to lose. Even if they had to play tricks and betrayed one another, as long as they could keep themselves in favor in their father's eyes, all was well.

"Things with no value isn't worth keeping," he had said.

Huang Lijue. I scoffed. 'What a heartless man..'

.....

When the car had left the downtown area and rolled along the business district, I knew we were already close to arriving at Huang family mansion in Twin Oaks housing complex.

Twin Oaks was not as fancy as other luxurious area or even measured to Lu family private estate. But, this housing complex was still considered as an upper class residence. The location was not bad and the environment was friendly as well.

"I need to tell you something."

I remained quiet and unmoved from his sentence. My eyes were still studying the scenery outside. But, this was my silent consent for him to move on with whatever he wanted to say.

"The situation at home has somewhat changed when you were still in the hospital."

I turned my head to face him for a moment before shifting back to my original position.

"You're not curious?" He asked.

"I doubt anything can surprise me," I answered directly.

What could be more shocking than the existence of Huang Lijue, their father? To this point, I still couldn't believe I would soon have to call him father. At the thought of this, I was immediately felt repulsed. So, whatever the changes were, it wouldn't affect me much unless by some miracle their father disappeared into thin air.

"Well, our parents have divorced," he broke the news to me.

I raised an eyebrow at him when I caught the anticipation in his face. I wondered if he wanted some kind of reaction from me. But, I couldn't exactly satisfy him because that was not news for me who possessed Li Fei's memory. Instead, it was within my expectation.

"You're not surprised?" Huang Qian asked while he kept his eyes on the road.

"Nope." I shook my head.

"Did you by any chance know about this before?" His voice suddenly changed and became more emotional.

I understood because unlike Li Fei, Huang Qian and his twin sister, Huang Kun, were close to their mother and likewise, their mother had showered them with the same amount of love. Though their mother had also cared for Li Fei, but it was a different kind of care and it sure didn't stand on the same level as her two younger siblings.

"No," I said, "But is it really that surprising for father to divorce mom?"

"What do you mean?"

The corner of my lips lifted. "We both know what a greedy man our father is."

To this statement, Huang Qian scoffed in agreement. "That, I agree."

"Mom was lucky our grandfather had his hands on some great projects that father was interested in."

I saw his grip tightened on the steering wheel. "I hate to admit it, but that's true," he gave in. "He marries the heiress of Little J company."

And that caught my attention. I directly shot up from my relaxing position and stared in awe at Huang Qian. He scoffed and muttered, "Now you're surprised."

"Isn't she a widow?" I asked as I bowed my head in deep thoughts.

Huang Qian nodded. "Yep and she brought in her daughter too. Guess who that is, sis."

I shot him an indifferent look even though I knew, he was trying to snide me by the playful tone of his voice.

I smiled. "The model, Han Ya Ru, is it?"

Li Fei had always been on the lookout for entertainment news because of Hua Ling. She was keeping her on tab so she would be the first one to know if that supermodel had been with Lu Tianfeng. Anyway, she didn't really have much to do as the young madam of the Lu family, besides getting holed up in that big mansion with the servants who had most of the time ignored her as well.

Hence now, it was rather easy for me to recall about Little J. The first owner who built this company from the scratch was originally an ordinary businessman, but he married a model and afterwards, the wife convinced the man to build this modeling company as it had been her wish for a long time.

Thus, together, they built their empire step by step from the capital they had accumulated from both fortunes. Although it took them quite a long time, eventually their effort bore fruits. They had named it Little J as a gift for their first born who had been nicknamed Jay.

Now, Little J was one of the biggest modeling company not only in the capital, but also the whole Country S. It had the resources and the power to make their models soared into the international market. Their network spread wide amongst the upper class and important figures inside and outside of the country. Even that wasn't enough as they had begun to invest in actresses and actors.

Meanwhile, Jay, the owner of this agency was the current head of the Han Family and he had only one daughter of whom he spoiled. She was Han Rui Yuan, the promised heir to their modeling empire. This infamous heiress had been married before but unfortunately, her husband passed away during one of his business trip, leaving his wife and daughter, Han Ya Ru behind.

"So, how does it feel, sis? You're going to be the older sister of the model, Han Ya Ru!"

I chuckled at his remark. If he was expecting me to show some reaction, well, he would be disappointed then.

"I have to say, it's quite an honor," I replied apathetically.

He scoffed. "You do know Little J is Hua Ling's agency, right?"

"I'm well aware."

"And you know Ya Ru is Hua Ling's best girl friend?"

I turned to look at Huang Qian, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't know Hua Ling is a lesbian."

He shot me a look then. "You wish! I paused in between those words. There's a space there, darling."

I smirked, propping my head onto my hand as I studied Huang Qian's side profile while he continued driving. "Well, quite a surprise there, Darling. I didn't know you worry about me that much. Thank you for the kind reminder."

He clicked his tongue and denied me, "Don't flatter yourself! I just don't want his power to increase more. His arrogance has already reached the top of his head."

By 'his' here, I knew who Huang Qian referred to. It was none other than our own father, Huang Lijue.

"Don't worry. I've already smelled the smoke from far away. I just..." I paused, massaging my forehead.

"What?" He asked.

I sighed, trying to adjust my breathing. "I know how greedy father is. But I could never guess his appetite to be that huge."

When the car stopped at the red light, Huang Qian turned his head to me with questioning look plastered on his face.

I raised an eyebrow. "You couldn't be that stupid by not being able to smell when there's a fire even though the target is already burnt and the smoke covering the sky."

"But there's no proof," he said.

"Yet, it smells like the sewer."

There was a deafening silence covering us in that instant. Huang Qian inhaled deeply before letting out a long sigh. He turned back to his wheel and when the lights turned green, he chuckled.

"Yeah, that sounds like father."