Projected Love

"Anqi, are you abusing your stepdaughter?"

Su Anqi lost it at Old Lady Yi's question. Her status in the Chu family was even lower than Wan Wan as she joined the Yi family as Yi Xianzong's stepdaughter after Su Yuzhi remarried. If the accusation of her abusing Wan Wan stood, not only Old Lady Yi would disdain her, her mother's status in the Yi family would get affected too.

"Granny, you've misunderstood!" Su Anqi explained hurriedly, "She defied me, I was just educating her!"

"With physical violence?" Old Lady Yi lowered herself into a crouch to check on Wan Wan's swollen cheeks and she shook her head in disapproval. "That was harsh, only you can be this cruel!"

Su Anqi was angry that Old Lady Yi was helping Wan Wan but she had to suppress it as she could not lash out. "She is lazy, arrogant and she infuriates me! Granny, you can't just trust what you saw, you have to know the whole story before you conclude!"

"Treating such a young child with violence is wrong regardless of what she did!" Old Lady Yi stared at Su Anqi with disgust and scoffed before she continued, "If your son did the same thing, will you beat him then?"

Su Anqi could not rebut her.

"Mother, please calm yourself." Fang Yaqin stood out to defuse the situation. "Perhaps Anqi was in a bad mood, no one from our family would do anything like this as we are educated well!"

Old Lady Yi sneered, "It's a shame that she isn't educated like our family members!"

Su Anqi was furious but she did not dare to talk back.

Ignoring Su Anqi, Old Lady Yi proceeded to pick up the teddy bear and patted it to clean the dirt before giving it to Wan Wan. "Look at how swollen her fair, pretty cheeks are! Yaqin, get Chi to take her to a hospital nearby to check on it."

Chi was Yi Liangze's personal driver but he was asked to drive Su Yaqin and Old Lady Yi that day.

Su Anqi could no longer hold her anger when she heard that. "Granny, that is not necessary! Why are you taking her to a hospital? She's not even bleeding!"

"How ignorant can you be? Children's eardrums are fragile, what if hers are ruptured?" Old Lady Yi explained, "The Yi family will never allow such thing to happen. Also, I don't think that you will be able to account for that to Chu Tianyi if that really happens!"

Su Anqi stuttered as she defended herself, "But...Tianyi asked me to take them to Aunt Piaoyun's house for dinner!"

She received a call from Chu Tianyi before she could finish and he sounded impatient. "Why are you not back yet? I told you that we're going to my aunt's house for dinner!"

"We're going back right now!" Su Anqi hung up the call and turned to beg Fang Yaqin as she knew that begging Old Lady Yi would be fruitless. "Aunt, you know how Aunt Piaoyun is! She will definitely criticize me for not being able to do simple stuff like fetching the kids after school on time if I get to her house late! Can you please talk to Granny so that I can take the kids to Aunt Piaoyun's house first? I'll take her to a hospital to check on her eardrums after that!"

Fang Yaqin blinked and gave her a gentle smile. "Don't be anxious, checking eardrums is a simple procedure. There is a clinic nearby, we'll get Chi to take her there. It wouldn't take up much of your time, only five minutes. Old Lady Yi will feel assured and you can clear the suspicion, it's killing two birds with one stone!"

Su Anqi had no other option but to agree since Fang Yaqin said so.

Fang Yaqin walked to Chi and talked to him for a while, perhaps to give him instructions to take Wan Wan to check on her eardrums. Chi nodded in acknowledgment before walking to Wan Wan smilingly, "Little beauty, let's go!"

Old Lady Yi caressed Wan Wan's tiny head lovingly and coaxed her gently when she refused to go, "Good girl, you'll be back in no time. I know that you're a brave little girl!"

The little girl in front was too similar to Bao Bao, Old Lady Yi could not help but projected her love and care to Bao Bao to her.

Perhaps Old Lady Yi's kind and comforting words worked, Wan Wan nodded obediently and followed Chi to the clinic nearby for a checkup.

*

He Yi clasped both her ears and shut her eyes tightly in her Porsche as if she was an ostrich burying her head in the sand. 

Based on her understanding of Su Anqi's temper, she knew that she would definitely make a ruckus when Wan Wan left with the teddy bear. Since Wan Wan inherited the stubbornness from He Yi and she would never submit herself easily, she and Su Anqi would have a conflict and Wan Wan would definitely be the losing one.

He Yi clenched her teeth and hardened herself to do that. Like how she helped Wei Jiameng to get rid of Jiang Peng like a tumor, she had to let Wan Wan suffer to get rid of her reliance on her useless father.

The way Wan Wan was seeing Chu Tianyi as her father was like she was a puppy and he was her master who fed her. Despite him not treating her well, she was still staying by his side loyally and refusing to leave.

He Yi was trying to make Wan Wan get disappointed toward Chu Tianyi and choose to leave him by her own will.

Su Anqi was the perfect buffer for her plan!

He Yi was unsure of how much time passed. She only escaped from her agonizing shutdown when Ji Xueshan pushed her lightly.

"Sister He, Wan Wan left!" Ji Xueshan handed a recorder to her.

He Yi looked up, her jaw was sore from clenching her teeth too hard. She wiped the tears off her eyes and looked out the car window to notice that Old Lady Yi and Fang Yaqin were there talking to Su Anqi.

Unsure of whether it was a coincidence, Old Lady Yi turned to stare in He Yi's direction and she had to duck and hide. She pressed onto her frantically beating heart and ordered Ji Xueshan, "Drive!"

*

Su Anqi could not continue abusing Wan Wan with Old Lady Yi and Fang Yaqin there so there was no point for He Yi to stay there.

He Yi opened the clip recorded by Ji Xueshan on the way back and watched the whole process of Su Anqi and Wan Wan's intense conflict. She almost lost it to rush back to murder Su Anqi the moment she saw her going on a rampage and giving Wan Wan four slaps.

She could only press the camera onto her chest and feel the agonizing pain.

Everything would be worth it as long as she could get Wan Wan back!

He Yi closed her eyes and sobbed in silence for a while before she could make herself continue watching.

Su Anqi was about to kick Wan Wan's stomach with her thin heels when Old Lady Yi and Fang Yaqin appeared in time and they finally stopped Su Anqi's violent acts.

He Yi did not know whether the pair's appearance was a coincidence but she knew that Su Anqi's mother, Su Yuzhi was the second wife of the second son of the Yi family, Yi Xianzong so the three of them definitely knew each other.

He Yi rubbed between her brows and calmed herself down after a while. She cut the clip and made copies before sending one to Chu Tianyi with a caption.

Your wife abused my daughter and here's the proof. This clip will be publicized to mainstream media and presented as evidence in court if you still don't return me the poor child! I am sure that you wouldn't want to see that! Think twice before you act!