met free Chapter 1995 The interests of the Shangguan family are always above everything else!
Chapter 1995 The interests of the Shangguan family are always above everything else!
The door opened.
Shangguan Wanqing stood behind the door, wearing a plain white cotton-padded jacket, her hair loosely tied back, and her face still bearing traces of wet tears.
Her eyes were a little red and swollen, but her gaze was calm, a calmness that made Shangguan Wuji's heart tighten.
"Father!" she called softly, stepping aside to make way.
Shangguan Wuji entered the room with a gloomy expression.
He rarely comes to this house.
Because this place holds many bad memories for him.
A small boudoir, an antique-style bed, a desk, two chairs, and three huge wardrobes—that's been the daughter's home for nineteen years!
A traditional Chinese ink painting of plum blossoms hangs on the wall; it was Shangguan Wanqing's mother's favorite painting.
Every time he sees this painting, he is reminded of the person he loved, and Shangguan Wuji's heart aches.
He walked to the table and sat down. Instead of looking at his daughter, he looked around the room.
There were no electric lights; only a kerosene lamp sat on the table. The wick burned brightly, and the flickering flame cast the shadows of the father and daughter onto the wall, which were stretched, twisted, and uneasy.
"Sit!" Shangguan Wuji said coldly.
Shangguan Wanqing sat down opposite him, her hands on her knees, her head slightly lowered, like a child waiting to be scolded.
She knew that her father's attitude was noticeably colder than before on his third visit.
"I'll ask you one more time, where did you go last night?" Shangguan Wuji got straight to the point, his voice not loud, but carrying an unavoidable pressure.
Shangguan Wanqing raised her head, a hint of panic flashing in her eyes, but she quickly regained her composure. "I just took a walk in the Western Hills!"
"West Mountain is so big, which path did you take? And who did you meet?" Shangguan Wuji asked coldly, his eyes fixed on his daughter's eyes, not missing a single change in expression.
"I didn't see anyone, and I couldn't see anyone!" Shangguan Wanqing avoided her father's gaze, looking at her hands under the table. "I just... took a casual stroll, looked around, and wanted to see the snow!"
"To see snow?" Shangguan Wuji sneered. "It's winter, when doesn't it snow in the Western Hills? Why did you have to go see it last night? You came back covered in mud, and instead of riding your favorite horse, you took the bicycle, which you're not good at, and fell so badly... Were you afraid of making too much noise and getting noticed? Wanqing, do you really think your father is senile?"
Shangguan Wanqing pursed her lips and remained silent.
The room fell silent, save for the faint crackling sound of the kerosene lamp wick as it burned.
The snow is still falling outside the window.
"Wanqing!" Shangguan Wuji softened his tone, as if advising an ignorant child, "You are my daughter, the eldest daughter of the Shangguan family! You must consider the consequences before you do certain things!"
He paused, then continued, "You went to the city last night, didn't you?"
Shangguan Wanqing's body trembled slightly.
"You went to see Li Xiangnan, didn't you?" Shangguan Wuji's voice was crisp, but also colder.
"I didn't!" Shangguan Wanqing suddenly raised her head, her voice filled with grievance and anger. "Father, how could you think of me like that? Why would I go to see Li Xiangnan? I..."
"What's your relationship with him?" Shangguan Wuji interrupted her, his gaze sharp as a knife: "You've known him for a long time, haven't you? You're not as strangers as you seem to me, are you? You've secretly met him several times, haven't you? You think I don't know?"
Shangguan Wanqing's face turned pale instantly.
"I..." She opened her mouth, wanting to explain, but found herself speechless.
She was aware of her father's influence.
She had indeed known Li Xiangnan for a long time.
On the night following the Mu family fire a few months prior, she had a piece of her clothing torn off by the perpetrator while she was in the ruins. Since then, she and Li Xiangnan have been inextricably linked.
She even kissed him under the moonlight one night.
Intense, fierce, pure, and without impurities!
Of course, she hadn't only known him for a few months!
She, Shangguan Wanqing, knew Li Xiangnan before any other woman!
As early as when she was a child, she had unintentionally seen the boy's face in a corner of her father's study.
During the decades of surveillance of the Li family by the Shangguan family, a naive and innocent heart had long been secretly stirred by the other party.
After they finally met, she discovered that she had unknowingly fallen in love with him, and it was an uncontrollable infatuation.
She knew this was inappropriate, that she was the eldest daughter of the Shangguan family, and that her father would never allow her to have any connection with the Li family.
But she couldn't control herself.
I can't control myself from not thinking about the other person.
It's like being unable to control your heartbeat or your breathing.
"Wanqing!" Shangguan Wuji sighed, but there was no heartache in his sigh, only disappointment: "You are my daughter, I know you too well! Whenever you lie, you instinctively grab your own arm, just like now!"
Shangguan Wanqing subconsciously looked at her left hand, and sure enough, it was gripping her other arm tightly.
She hurriedly let go, but it was too late.
"Something happened in Nanluoguxiang today!" Shangguan Wuji stared into his daughter's eyes. "Li Xiangnan's house was surrounded. Three groups of people—firefighters, health officials, and cultural relics inspectors—went to investigate him, and a group of ordinary people blocked the alley entrance and caused trouble!"
Shangguan Wanqing's heart skipped a beat.
“However,” Shangguan Wuji said with a probing tone, “Li Xiangnan seems to have been prepared all along. He came up with various strategies for fire protection, certificates for sanitation, and test reports for cultural relics! He even called out the names of the ordinary people one by one and dug up their old stories!”
He leaned forward, lowering his voice even further: "Wanqing, isn't it strange? How could Li Xiangnan, a doctor from a small, remote village, know so much about the backgrounds of ordinary people in Yanjing? And how could he know so much about the past of the servants in the Shangguan family?"
Shangguan Wanqing gripped the hem of her clothes tightly under the table.
She knew what her father suspected.
He guessed that he was the one who told Li Xiangnan these things.
“Father,” she tried to make her voice sound angry, “I don’t understand what you’re trying to say. Dr. Li is a smart man; isn’t it normal for him to have found these things on his own?”
“Normal? You call this normal?” Shangguan Wuji laughed, but there was no warmth in his smile. “If this is what you call normal, then there’s nothing abnormal in Yanjing City!”
He stood up and paced around the room, his steps light, but each step felt like it was treading on Shangguan Wanqing's heart.
"Wanqing, listen to me carefully!"
He stopped in front of his daughter, looking down at her: "I don't care what's between you and Li Xiangnan, or who you met last night! But there's one thing you must understand!"
He bent down, his face almost touching his daughter's, his voice as cold as a stone in an ice cellar.
"The interests of the Shangguan family will always be above everything else! Above your feelings, above your preferences, even above your life!"
Shangguan Wanqing raised her head and looked directly into her father's eyes.
At that moment, Shangguan Wuji was stunned.
He saw something he had never seen before in her eyes.
It was not fear, nor submission, but a kind of stubborn calm.
“Father,” she began slowly, her voice soft but firm, “do you still remember Mother?”
"..."
Shangguan Wuji was startled.