Fang Su seemed to find it unbelievable, he pondered for a long time about these two characters, thinking about the name “Fang De” blankly in his mind.

　　The maid that came to deliver the message was so stunned by Tang QiaoYuan’s glare that she knelt down, Fang Su saw her expression and knew in his heart that this matter had something to do with him. He raised his head, and asked hesitantly: “Is it my father?” 

　　Tang QiaoYuan did not answer and looked at him, nodding wasn’t a good answer but nor was shaking his head, he hadn’t thought how to answer, then he heard him ask again: “My father, he… why would he come here to kowtow to apologize? He is indebted again, is that it?” 

　　Tang QiaoYuan sighed, he couldn’t trick him thoroughly, nor can he now hide it either, in order to not worry him, he could only be honest with him. 

“No,” Tang QiaoYuan took Fang Su in his arms, “I detained people in the mansion.” 

　　Fang Su did not understand, he looked up at Tang QiaoYuan in silence while thinking at the meaning behind his words, after a while, he seemed to have guessed something. 

　　He is initially smart, it’s just that he is simple, he doesn’t like to think about complicated things. Now that he heard Tang QiaoYuan say this, after thinking carefully, Fang Su remembered that Tang QiaoYuan wasn’t in the room early in the morning, his second mom’s face appeared in his mind, his heart turned so cold that his complexion slightly changed.

　　Tang QiaoYuan noticed his strangeness and held him a little tighter, his intuition told him that what he has to tell him today won’t be a simple answer to a question. After thinking about it, Tang QiaoYuan settled down in his heart, he asked him in a low and gentle voice: “Is Su Su going with me, or would you rather wait for my return in the courtyard?”

“I am going with you.” Fang Su did not hesitate. 

　　The mansion gate was half open, a person outside the threshold kept kowtowing for a long time, causing some dark purple bruises to faintly appear in the middle of his forehead. Tang QiaoYuan could hear Fang De’s grievances cries from afar, after his figure was in Fang De’s line of sight, that voice suddenly rose a bit more, begging and yelling “Master Tang”.

　　Tang QiaoYuan was not in the mood to hide it from Fang Su anymore, but he still had some measurements in his heart, and he raised his hand to stop him. Tang QiaoYuan leaned to kiss Fang Su’s earlobe, and whispered: “Wait here for me.”

Fang Su did as he said and stopped his steps, looking beyond the gate from afar. 

　　Maybe the change in his attire was way too big, that’s why the person outside the gate didn’t recognize him from afar, and was only knee-walking towards Tang QiaoYuan’s direction, he got closer to the threshold but did not dare to enter the mansion rashly, he kept begging him outside: “Master Tang! Master Tang is a bigger person and is magnanimous, please let my ignorant wife and son go…” 

　　Tang QiaoYuan walked closer, his gaze falling on the prostrating back, and answered: “The Tang mansion’s gate isn’t open at any time, they dared to walk in perfect condition, then they should know that it is hard to walk out in a perfect condition.”

　　“Master Tang…” Fang De knocked hard on his forehead on the threshold, and kept begging for mercy, “It’s my wife and son who are ignorant, a greater man like you will not take not make note of a lesser man’s faults, please let them go…… They both are insignificant to you, consider as letting two ants go, I promised… I promised that both of them will never appear in front of you again!”

　　Tang QiaoYuan sneered, raised his voice a little, for someone to hear on purpose what he had to say: “I, Tang QiaoYuan, am not some charitable person, letting people go, not letting people go, it is always only up to me, you dare to come to beg me, are you not afraid to die?”

　　How could Fang De not be afraid, when he heard this, his whole body trembled like a sieve, his complexion couldn’t help but turn white, even though it was the case, he still gritted his teeth and pleaded: “This little one is afraid… but this little one couldn’t help but come! Master Tang…they are my wife and son, my most important persons… Without them, it will be no different than losing my life…”

　　“Oh?” Tang QiaoYuan’s tone was extremely disdainful, he thought about Fang Su who was not far behind him, he felt reluctant in his heart but he couldn’t not be harsh and continue to tell him, “Back then when I wanted to take your life to pay off your debts, why did I not see you have this same thought? Could it be that Fang Qiang is your son but Fang Su is not?”

Beads of sweat dripped from Fang De’s forehead, and he was suddenly silent.  

“Answer me, Is Fang Su your biological son or not?”

　　“Yes, he is…” Fang De gritted his teeth with an unreasonable heart, “He is my biological child, Master Tang, Fang Su’s mother has left us too early, I love him dearly too… but I am a man, who also wants a wife to warm its bed, that’s why I married his second mother… His second mother gave birth to Qiang Er, it is difficult for the family to finally become whole again… Even though I love him dearly, he and his second mother have never been on good terms, I really have no choice…”

“No choice? That’s why you’ve agreed to give him to me so easily? Is it to live, or just to kill two birds with one stone?”

　　Fang De dared not to speak again when he heard his anger, and vigorously kowtowed before him. Tang QiaoYuan was completely disgusted when he looked at his cowardly appearance, and wished he could kick him far away, but he was worried about the person behind him, so he decided to restrain himself.

　　“Since you are so concerned about those two, then go and have a look”, Tang QiaoYuan said no more to him, and signaled with his head for the two footmen beside the door, “Take him down.”

Two strong men came forward and took the pale Fang De away from the ground.

　　As the sound of begging for mercy faded away, Tang QiaoYuan turned around, and saw Fang Su didn’t move at all and remained in the same spot. He felt distressed, but did not regret the words he had just forced Fang De to say, instead thought it was better this way, Fang Su will only be sad temporarily,  from then on he will be able to completely cut off his longing.

　　Tang QiaoYuan approached him, stretched out his hand to raise his lowered jaw, and felt his palm damp with water. Tang QiaoYuan’s whole heart tugged, he lowered his head and slowly kissed the tears on his face.

　　After a long moment, he explained the whole story to Fang Su with a low voice.

　　“A few months ago, I went out of the city to relax, and saw you in a forest people rarely come by. At that time, you were sweeping your mother’s grave, and with such diligence, I’m afraid you have never noticed me.” Tang QiaoYuan said as Fang Su slowly raised his eyes to look at him. He curled his lips to reveal a smile, then added with a gentle tone, “I just liked you to no end, I didn’t know whose family’s child you were from, how could you be so likeable, en?”

Fang Su’s long eyelashes trembled slightly, but his mood was still not good, and waited for what came next with a sense of loss in his eyes.

Tang QiaoYuan sighed lightly.

　　“After I returned to the mansion, I ordered people to find out about your personal background… In fact, it would have been easy for me to take you as my own. I could have given your family some money, hired a matchmaker, and welcomed you through the door. But I did hire some people to catch your father, threaten him and order him to send you to pay off his debt.” Tang QiaoYuan was not sure whether such honesty will make Fang Su resent him, but his words were already irretrievable, and kept on revealing everything, “There are a few gambling houses under my command, your father likes to gamble and would often owe the gambling houses some money. Although he was unable to repay his debt on time, the amount owed was small, and he could have accumulated some money over time, or if he were to have a golden touch/a streak of luck, he eventually would have been able to pay everything back slowly… Up until a few days ago, my men tempted him into losing a big one, so big that he won’t even be able to repay the small change for the rest of his life. You should understand what will happen hereafter.

　　Fang Su’s eyes revealed his surprise and puzzlement, his thoughts lingered in his mind, the more he thought the more confused he became, he thought so much that he didn’t even know the reason behind his headache,  and asked blankly: “But why…”

　　Tang QiaoYuan turned his head to kiss him, and tasted a salty and astringent taste on his lips, so he kept on kissing him, until his lips became moist and warm, once it was back to being sweet again, he withdrew a few inches and replied softly: “Because I don’t want you to have any kind of involvement with such family again, I can give you everything, and make it so you never have to experience any sad moments ever again. All the good things in this world, I can find them all for you as long as you like them. I want for you to cut off any connection to your past, and for the rest of your life, the important person only needs to be me, and you can only rely on me.”

Fang Su was stunned and looked at him dumbfoundedly, his emotions were complicated and found it difficult to speak clearly.

　　“I am not open nor straightforward regarding things I do, and I am not an upright person, but I sincerely want to love and cherish you, and never regret what I have done… I just didn’t expect your second mother to be even more brazen than I had thought, even though you were sent away to pay off a debt, she still had the nerve to ask for a share of your benefits. This morning, she was the one to take the initiative to come to our door with her son, so I’ve had her detained in our mansion, and this is the reason your father came to apologize. Now these three individuals are in this Tang mansion, whether to free them or not, or how to treat them, everything is up to you. As long as you say the words, no matter what the request is, I will promise you all.

　　Fang Su’s eyes became gradually erratic, after listening to this statement, he seemed to have a lot to say, but when he opened his mouth, he couldn’t utter a single word. Tang QiaoYuan was not in a hurry for him to answer, He lowered his forehead, picked him up and walked back to the main courtyard.

　　Back in the room, Tang QiaoYuan put Fang Su down on the couch, and left him alone for quite a while. Tang QiaoYuan did not say a single word, he just remained in the room, but stayed out of his sight. He lifted the curtain and went to sit alone in the outer room, and waited patiently.

　　Fang Su looked at his figure when he left, and recalled every word he said over and over again in the silent room

　　He didn’t know how long he had been contemplating, it was like everything he saw on the day he got married was laid before him.

　　Fang Su remembered Tang QiaoYuan’s gentle smile, the warmth of his hands, every single word and gesture smoothing out the loneliness and fear in his heart. But he had one question on his mind: “If Tang QiaoYuan never liked him, both of them never meeting in this life, then what would he have become?

He wouldn’t have become anything… Neither having joy nor sadness, living the lonely days like he was used to, not getting any attention from anyone at home, till old.

　　Maybe he would have met someone else, maybe he would have fallen in love and gotten rid of the emptiness of the past. He would spend his life like this, but even this way, there will be no Tang QiaoYuan, there will be no one who would love him like this, teach him to write, read to him, coax him to sleep at night, wait for him to wake up in the morning, be considerate right down to the most trivial details at all time. 

　　Fang Su calmed his heart, he thought clearly about various things. 

　　He cares about his father, not because they were related by blood but because he has childhood memories left in his heart, he unilaterally wished for his dear ones to care for him. But for a long time, he was only lying to himself, father Fang became someone else’s dad a long time ago, he was the superfluous one at home, because he wasn’t liked by his second mother, he was like a fishbone stuck on his father’s heart. 

　　There was no place left for him in that home, but Tang QiaoYuan gave him a place, he gave him the care he wished for, and also value. In this world, there was only this one particular person, only this person is the most irreplaceable. 

　　Fang Su’s thoughts were clear. 

　　He raised his eyes, looked at the silent beaded curtain, and a soft smile returned on his face.