Han Leifeng could not agree, "I can't do that. I want to cultivate a relationship with my son. He's my only son. Besides, a son needs his father."
Pei Yueran refused to budge, "Maybe you should have thought of all that before putting on a play!
"Did it cross your mind that as young as he was back then, he had had to stand in front of the burial procession as your heir and greet the guests? Did you think about the pain you put him through?"
Han Leifeng couldn't say anything. He really hadn't thought about it.
"He already believes that you are dead, and I would frankly like it to stay that way. It took us so long to adjust and finally start living well, why do you want to upset the balance? Besides, he now has a father." Pei Yueran said, her voice steady.
Han Leifeng felt bad at first, but her last sentence rubbed him the wrong way, and he finally showed anger, "What do you mean by that? I'm the only father my son can have. If you don't want to see me, fine. But you can't stop me from seeing my son!"
Li Chuanmo spoke from the side, "We'll see about that. Yichen is my son, and as far as the law recognizes, his biological father is named Han Lei, who died many years ago, and not a Mr Han from the Capital."
Han Leifeng didn't have a comeback.
Leaving aside the fact that his life before the Capital, including his original name, had been mostly erased, he still didn't have enough power to control the Han family yet, which meant that bringing Han Yichen home at this point was foolhardy.
He knew he had to stop for now.
Facing Pei Yueran, he grounded out, "This discussion is not over yet. I'll come and see you soon."
That said, he left.
The strength left Pei Yueran's body and she sagged down. Li Chuanmo tightened his grip on her and led her to a nearby seat to sit down for a few minutes.
"Are you okay?" He asked in concern.
She nodded, then faced him with slight panic, "Chuan, he's going to upset Xiao Chen."
"I will not allow it." Li Chuanmo said firmly, "Don't worry."
Pei Yueran nodded again and seemed to calm down. Li Chuanmo hugged her head to his firm abdomen and stroked her hair, all the while fuming inwardly. Han Leifeng would pay.
When he was done with him, he would wish he had just died peacefully back then!
The bodyguards escorted them to the car where the driver was waiting to take them back to the Gao family mansion, from where they would go home.
Home. Pei Yueran mused. Perhaps, she had never wanted to go home as desperately as she wanted to now. It was as if as long as she got to City M, she could put all the horrible events behind her.
The trip was made in silence. Qiao Mingran was waiting for them outside when they arrived. She immediately came forward in concern, asking how she was feeling and how the talk went.
While Pei Yueran was trying to assure her that things went well, Gao Tinghua came out, followed by Zhou Qiaohui.
Gao Tinghua moved closer to Li Chuanmo, "Brother-in-law, I only got to know who he was when she went missing. It was not my intention to cause so much trouble."
Li Chuanmo only nodded.
"Can you hand over the abductors to me? At least for a while. I just want to teach them a little lesson." Gao Tinghua asked.
Li Chuanmo looked at him with something akin to interest. Little lesson? Would this little lesson entail broken bones, missing teeth and internal organ damage like the last time?
After staring for so long that Gao Tinghua had almost began to fidget, he said, "I'll do better than that. You liaise with Charlie and do whatever you want."
This time, he was really not in the mood to play nice. He trusted that Charlie would handle things and not let him go too far. Besides, he thought they could use the opportunity to become friends.
Gao Tinghua smiled, "Great."
Pei Yueran walked over with Zhou Qiaohui and Qiao Mingran, who thanked Li Chuanmo for taking care of her daughter. He of course waved it off. He was taking care of his wife.
Gao Tinghua informed them that Madam Jiu was doing well in the hospital and that she was recovering well with no sequelae. Pei Yueran felt relieved.
She asked if the banquet ended without problems and it was Qiao Mingran that filled her in.
"Yes it did. After Tingxiu found your adoptive mother, she took her home before leaving. So your father and I told the guests that something happened to her and you wanted to check on her due to your deep feelings. Your Aunt also corroborated our story, so they had no choice but to believe it.
"And your uncle eventually showed up, but he didn't even stay for five minutes. That pretentious man!"
Gao Tinghua added, "My guess is that both of them had something to do with this incident as well. Things don't look so simple. I'll check things out."
"Keep me updated," Li Chuanmo said to him.
They went into the house together and Pei Yueran moved to her room to go and pack up. Qiao Mingran looked very reluctant as she held her hands, "Can't you stay for one more day? We hardly had the time to talk."
"I'm sorry Madam. We have to go back today, because we have a lot to do at the office tomorrow."
She was also thinking that they could go with Zhou Qiaohui to City A. She wanted to see Su Qianhua and her newborn godson.
Qiao Mingran nodded sadly, "Can I come and visit whenever I miss you badly?"
Pei Yueran smiled and nodded, making Qiao Mingran smile back with teary eyes, "Thank you Yue'er. Let's go upstairs then, I'll help you pack. Then you have to eat something before leaving."
Pei Yueran agreed, and they went upstairs together. There was nothing much to pack, but Qiao Mingran worked slowly, trying to savor the little time they had alone.
Tears stung at her eyes even as she reminded herself to be thankful instead. The daughter she thought she had lost forever was not only found, she also didn't hate her and was even spending time with her. It was a blessing she had almost given up hope on ever receiving.
Pei Yueran saw her melancholy from the corner of her eyes and sighed inwardly. For some reason, she felt bad to see her like this.
Qiao Mingran was so lost in thought that she didn't know Pei Yueran had come to her side until she felt her hand.
Pei Yueran hugged her close and said, "I'll make sure to keep in touch, so don't be too sad, Mother."