Chapter 465: Not tearing her apart to feed the dogs is my greatest act of mercy.
Song Lili spoke casually, but Song Jiayu listened with a heart pounding in fear...
"If it weren’t for Wen Nian’s early preparation, I indeed wouldn’t have lived to see today."
Song Jiayu’s gaze shifted to Miu Lerong,
"You... and Xiao Qiao knew about Lili and Wen Nian’s situation early on?"
Facing her husband’s questioning, Miu Lerong couldn’t help but swallow hard before hurriedly explaining,
"Xiao Qiao did indeed hear such news, but she didn’t have concrete evidence, so naturally, she couldn’t be sure that Lili and Wen Nian had already married."
"So you did indeed know about it early on."
Song Jiayu was known for his good temper and gentle nature, which were the main reasons Miu Lerong originally took a liking to him.
But now, his eyes, usually warm as jade, were transmitting a chilling light.
"It was only a guess!"
Miu Lerong rebutted firmly.
"Even if it was your guess, was it Xiao Qiao who told Elder Mr. Wen that Lili and Wen Nian were secretly married?"
"I don’t know."
From a firm denial to "I don’t know"... The truth was already quite clear.
"Jiayu, even if it really was Xiao Qiao who told Elder Wen about this, so what? Elder Wen is President Wen Nian’s own grandfather, isn’t it only right for the old man to be informed?"
"As for what methods Wen Liangyu would use to go after Lili and Wen Nian, how could Xiao Qiao possibly know? If Xiao Qiao had known Elder Wen was so ruthless, not even death would have made her..."
Song Lili quickly raised her hand to interrupt her.
As Miu Lerong spoke, tears began to fall, as if she was utterly wronged.
"Aunt Miu, you don’t have to explain what was going through your minds when you did these things; my father isn’t a fool, he sees clearly."
Song Lili finished indifferently, then looked towards her father,
"I’m talking about this only to let you understand better the person who shares your bed. Besides that, I wouldn’t mind mentioning that from childhood to adulthood, Miu Xiangqiao has done so many things to me, both openly and in secret."
"Before I returned to Anlin, I served in the Navy Corps, and later, during the presidential election, I was transferred to Anlin to protect the President. It was there that Miu Xiangqiao saw me at the President Mansion, and she must have mentioned it to Aunt Miu."
"No, since Xiangqiao married Zhuo Ting, she has barely communicated with me."
"Hopefully so," Song Lili said with a little smile.
"Miu Xiangqiao has tried every means to investigate me, even bringing a boy I raised in Xilin to Anlin in order to make me admit that I am a murderer."
"...Murderer?"
Song Jiayu paused.
"The name I used during my service was Tang Xiaohua. When I went to Tang Xiaohua’s home, she had already died, leaving behind a five-year-old younger brother, Tang Xiaocao."
"Setting aside the matter of whether I killed someone, which is for the police to handle. For Miu Xiangqiao to plot to kill me so meticulously..."
Song Lili raised an eyebrow,
"It wasn’t overnight, right?"
Miu Lerong took a deep breath,
"I don’t know about the things you mentioned. All I know is that when your death was reported, Xiao Qiao lost her job at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and nothing went well for her after that. You say Xiao Qiao was plotting against you, but the one who ended up with ten broken fingers was Xiangqiao."
"Hurting you? You’re living perfectly fine, aren’t you? Nowadays, you have everything you want. Compared to Xiangqiao, I think you, Lili, are much more calculating."
Miu Lerong spoke righteously and finished her argument in one breath, turning her gaze towards Song Lili.
Song Lili just listened... and listened...
The air suddenly quieted down.
Miu Lerong, who thought she had the upper hand, also looked a bit stiff,
"Could it be that I—"
"OK."
Just as Miu Lerong started to say something else, Song Lili interrupted her again.
What... OK?
Miu Lerong was a bit puzzled.
"No matter how Aunt Miu refutes me, I have nothing to say."
"I’m telling the truth."
"Sure," Song Lili agreed, then slightly curved her lips and chuckled lightly, "Since I’m so cunning, do you still think I would help Miu Xiangqiao?"
"..."
Miu Lerong’s expression completely froze. Damn! She had forgotten what her main purpose was for coming today!
This Song Lili...
Song Lili looked at Song Jiayu,
"Over the years, I’ve experienced a lot of things, and I’ve told you very little, but whatever I did say, it was the truth. Dad, whether you believe Aunt Miu or me, it’s up to you."
"If you came today just to catch up with your daughter, then I’ll have the butler prepare more snacks and we can have a good chat. But if you’re here for Xiangqiao, then you should leave."
Song Lili picked up a nut from the plate of desserts on the table, shelled it, and put it in her mouth, speaking softly,
"Not using this opportunity to tear Song Xiangqiao to pieces and feed her to the dogs... is already the greatest kindness I can show."
"..."
Miu Lerong’s eyes widened.
Song Jiayu also heard what Song Lili said, but he didn’t dwell on it, instead he candidly said,
"Dad came today... to see you."
Song Lili smiled broadly, "Then... let’s go for a walk in the backyard, no need to stay cooped up here."
"Okay."
Song Jiayu nodded.
Song Lili stood up, "Is Aunt Miu coming too?"
"..." Miu Lerong couldn’t find the words to speak.
"You go back first."
At that moment, Song Jiayu was the first to speak, his tone had cooled by several degrees.
Miu Lerong furrowed her brows, just from this one sentence she could detect her husband’s impatience and indifference. She wanted to say more, but Song Jiayu and Song Lili had already walked out.
Then the butler came in, very politely offering to see Miu Lerong out.
The back garden of the President Mansion’s residential area was so vast it seemed endless.
Song Lili and Song Jiayu walked side by side on the grass. In July, it was certainly hot, but now at a little past four o’clock, the backyard was shaded by trees that blocked the heat. With a gentle breeze blowing, it felt quite pleasant.
"How many months is the child?"
Song Jiayu murmured the question.
"Just over three months. I thought you knew already."
Song Jiayu gave a bitter smile,
"If you don’t tell me, how would I know..."
"...I’m sorry, Dad."
Song Lili stared at the ground, her feet stepping one by one on the thick piles of leaves...
"What do you have to be sorry about?"
Song Jiayu bit his lip, "It’s always been me, as a father, who owes you. I brought you into this world, yet I never raised you properly. Shaping a new family...in the end, it was just me who was satisfied."
"..."
"I’ve always hoped you could get along peacefully with Miu Lerong, with Xiangqiao, with Xiao You, hoping that one day you would change your mind. I’ve always hoped for you to make a change but never realized...you’ve been living in such distress."
Song Jiayu’s voice choked with emotion.
Song Lili actually didn’t feel good about it...
"That time you said you were traveling around the world, I actually believed it. To say I cared about you, in reality, was just lip service..."
"I didn’t mean to deceive you. At that time, I actually wanted to avoid Ah Nian. Also, I’ve grown up. If I had told you I was going to Xilin to serve in the military, you probably wouldn’t have slept well."
Song Lili said with a slight chuckle.
"..."
Song Jiayu’s throat tightened.
"Dad, I know you love me, and I know you loved Mom very much. People should live for the living, not for the dead—I understand this principle."
"...Thank you."
"Today, what I said in front of Aunt Miu was the truth. I wanted you to see her clearly and also to let you know that Xiangqiao has never been as kind as she seems."
"Darling..."
"..."
Song Lili was stunned for a moment, her father’s call of "darling" caught her off guard.
Song Jiayu halted in his tracks, standing firm, and Song Lili stopped as well, slightly turning her body to face him.
"Are you happy now?"
"...What about you, Dad? Are you happy now?"
The father and daughter faced each other like this, Song Lili was tall, having inherited that from her father.
Song Jiayu felt like it had been over a decade since he had looked at Lili so closely, and Lili...felt as though it had been a century since she had truly seen her father.
He had put on weight.
His hair by his temples was completely white.
The wrinkles around his eyes were like deep gullies.
Those deep eyes were somewhat cloudy, cloudy...yet still gleaming.
Song Jiayu looked away first, his eyes swimming with tears, while Song Lili bowed her head slightly, reaching out to hold Song Jiayu’s hand,
"Dad, I am very happy now."
"..."
"So, I hope you can be happy too. Let’s not dwell on the past years anymore. Let’s not talk about who owes whom, who should apologize to whom... Let’s not make it so that even a simple greeting between us in our limited time ahead feels like such a heavy burden. What kind of parent-child relationship would that be?"
Song Jiayu found himself unable to speak...
Only tears welled up from his eyes, wetting his cheeks filled with guilt and relief.
She just had this one blood-related relative left...
She had been unwilling to understand her father until death, always harboring resentment towards him. Now, seeing him from a different perspective, she knew it wasn’t a lack of love, just not enough of it.
But, it was enough.
Song Jiayu opened his arms to Song Lili,
"Can...Dad have a hug?"
"..."
Song Lili’s eyes widened in surprise. She had never imagined that she and Song Jiayu could one day look at each other with such calm and warm gazes.
Coming into this world for this journey, one must never forget who guided the way.
She stepped forward, leaning lightly against Song Jiayu’s frame. Little did she know...this light lean would lead to Song Jiayu’s uncontrollable sobbing!
"..."
Song Lili stood dumbfounded, listening, as tears silently began to stream down her face.
Through her blurred vision, Wen Nian was there, flickering in the shimmering light.
Dressed in a white shirt, casual white trousers...lazily leaning against a nearby tree, smiling gently at her...
What had been a silent shedding of tears became an irrepressible sob.
This was probably what Ah Nian had always wanted too, right?
The following day.
Song Lili slept until she woke naturally, got up, and dressed.
Wen Nian returned after finishing his work, bringing Tang Xiaocao with him into the room.
Song Lili saw Xiaocao dressed in a neat, formal little suit, and was taken aback for a moment, "Xiaocao...are you going too?"