Chapter 129: Chapter 129
TangShi eyed them up with interest, her heart beating fast as she scanned the pictures and looked for anyone that might resemble the idea she had of how her mother might look. Checking the year for any of her mother’s timeline and sliding them from YuZhi to peer at closely. Invested and concentrating hard, holding back so many feelings as she searched her out.
“Yor mother was such a special girl who visited our family a lot in her younger years. We were close with the He family and I adored having her stay with us anytime the school was on a break. She was a loveable and sweet ray of sunshine and I always hoped that she would one day marry into my family.” Grandfather uttered softly; his eyes set on the pictures in their hands but he seemed like he was lost in memories far away. Smiling softly to himself and it was obvious he had genuine affection for a girl TangShi had no memories of at all. It broke her heart more so to know she missed out on someone so precious.
“I never knew her. She died giving birth to me and my father has never told me anything about her. He treated her name like a black mark and I was forbidden to ever bring her up. I know literally nothing about her or their marriage.” TangShi admitted, lowering her eyes in shame because it was the normal reaction whenever she mentioned her mother. Still carrying that heavy burden of guilt over her death.
“Your father….. the least said about him the better, was never worthy of her. Your mother was very much like you in terms of prettiness and gentle nature. If you turn them over, the names are on the back. Look for YuYan.” Grandfather waved his fingers at YuZhi and he did as he was told, turning them and singling out any that had the name YuYan amongst them and handed them to TangShi.
“She was only young when the Lei family announced her marriage to your father. Rumor has it that he had pursued her for a long time and gained nothing but rejection until that point and her family were not on board with an arranged marriage.” Grandfather’s tone turned sour and he screwed his face up. “She never wanted to marry him at all, yet she did and they always denied that it was forced. I remember her tears on her wedding day, she looked miserable as though her life was ending. She had her heart set on marrying your Uncle Lui, YuZhi. Was infatuated with him.” Grandfather exhaled heavily, reminiscing about his lost son who was YuZhi’s father’s brother. He had died in the plane accident a few years ago. “In my opinion she was too young for marriage. Barely a woman at all and only beginning her life.”
“Then why did they allow it and what about the He family? TangShi has never heard from them in all these years so knowns relatively nothing about them either. I don’t remember them from my youth so what happened to them?” YuZhi leaned forward to scoop more pictures from the box and began sorting them in the same way and sliding out any for TangShi.
“You wouldn’t. There’s no one left. Much like the terrible tragedies inflicted on our family, the He line met similar fates before you were born. They didn’t have many offspring to begin with and bad luck took what few there was over the years. When you were a baby YuYan’s parents died in a car accident and her grandmother was left to decide her fate. She passed away in the first month of YuYan’s marriage, leaving only her.” He was saddened by the retelling of this depressing story and TangShi was overcome with a confusion of feelings. Knowing she was truly the only one left made her feel strange, a little hopeless, and somehow sad. People she didn’t know but it still upset her to know there had been an entire family she had never gotten to know.
“My father has never even told me that I had no family left. Only that they didn’t want to know me because of my mother’s death. I think it would have given me peace in my heart to know they weren’t denying my existence but had passed away before I was born.” It was painful to say the words and struck her like a slice to the abdomen, but it now also made her mad. Knowing her father’s cruelty had extended to making her believe she was unloved by relatives that had abandoned her. It was all a lie. A horrible and nasty untruth to cause her pain.
“No, he wouldn’t. The He were a wealthy family and your mother inherited everything as the last remaining heir. Her death meant her assets and money would have gone to you and your father equally, but over the years your father dwindled away the inheritance and his business and had nothing real to show for it. He sold everything left for you to support his failures. This marriage between you two is to save the Lei’s from bankruptcy. He has nothing left except a façade and you were his bargaining chip to save his own ass.”
TangShi gawped at grandfather in shock, shocked by what he was telling her so bluntly. Unknown to her all these years with their lavish lifestyle and snobby behavior, was that they were actually broke and in debt. She couldn’t get her head around it at all. She wondered if her stepmother knew about it and how she would react if they really did end up penniless. It seemed like some kind of Karma.
“You’re saying TangShi was left half of her mother’s estate and her father has lost it all. All of it? She’s been treated appallingly her whole life and never got a penny and yet it was hers by law. He really is the worst kind of human.” YuZhi’s temper riled, picturing that slimy weasel of a man and his insides churned with simmering anger at how much wrong had been done to her all these years. It’s not like YuZhi could fight to get what she was owed if they had nothing left fighting for.
“Your father is a cruel man with a gambling addiction and no sense. I watched you grow up from afar and always wanted to do something for YuYan’s memory. Arranging marriage was the only thing I could think of to save you from your circumstances, save you from drowning with that despicable family who never treated you as worthy.” Grandfather relaxed back with a heavy outward breath, seemingly exhausted with bringing all of this up and getting himself riled up as he remembered her mother’s memory. “There was a scandal, well, a rumor…. that the marriage was a fast and forced affair because she was with child, but I knew her well enough to know she would never willingly lay with that man. She had tried everything to outrun him and he was rather obsessed with her. Her grandmother was a domineering old woman but she would never have pushed her into a loveless marriage without good reason. She was still a child herself in her eyes.” Grandfather’s shake of the head and sad expression clawed at TangShi’s chest and she suddenly felt breathless.
A heaviness settling over her heart and stomach. Her mind swirling back and trying to fill in the gaps and put the pieces of the jigsaw together which didn’t fit the story she had been force fed by her father since birth. Shocked by these revelations but then again, not. She had always known her father was a selfish and cold person and she had often doubted the love he spoke of when it came to her mother. Why he always hated TangShi so much if she resembled her.
“How old was she?” TangShi’s voice was trembling, low and husky and she kept flipping the pictures nervously trying to pick out a face she recognized but her eyes were blurring so much that she couldn’t focus on them. Her mind a scattered mess.
“Nineteen, and they had to wait until her legal age changed before he could wed her. It was a very rushed and quiet affair for a family so well-known and wealthy. Steeped in scandal and speculation that your father was after her money and forced himself upon her to ensure their marriage.”
“You think Tang’s mother was forced to have sex with him and then marry because she fell pregnant?” YuZhi choked, eyes widening in disbelief that Lei was so much worse than he fathomed and grandfather nodded his disapproval. His eyes darkening and it was clear this was raking up old scars and regrets for the old man.
TangShi paused, her body running cold as she shuddered and couldn’t help thinking of the nature and behaviors of Rong Cai. Believing there were really men who did those kind of heinous things fueled by their own greed and selfishness. Tears welling up in the backs of her eyes and she swallowed hard, taking deep breaths to hide her sudden distress from YuZhi. Realizing how thankful she was to have him in this moment, because she might have ended up like her mother and pushed to marry a monster had she been single and alone to face her father’s wrath. It didn’t bear thinking about.
“She was a good girl with a shining bright future as an artist. She was madly in love with Lui, and she hoped that when she was old enough he would court her. The affection was mutual but they never once dated because of her young age. Everything changed so quickly and she was cut off from our family from then on and Lui left for the military to nurse a broken heart.” Grandfather had so many tales he could tell, so many sad and joyful stories and he knew over time he would share what he could with TangShi. Now he knew she would stay in his family and he was no longer afraid to form attachments to her.
“My father acts like she was the love of his life and hates me because she died giving me life. Now you’re saying she never loved him and was forced to be by his side. He forced her to fall pregnant so he could trap her?” TangShi knew it wasn’t exactly unheard of given the fact she herself was in a contract marriage but her mother’s situation sounded so much worse. Back then being pregnant out of wedlock carried more weight than now and her family name and honor would have been destroyed.
“He’s always been a spoiled and selfish man. He wanted her and your birth took her away from his clutches. You were of no use to him other than the wealth that should have been yours. You are the only remaining He in Shanghai so it’s not like he had to play nice to keep what she left you.”
“So that’s why you were adamant it had to be TangShi?” YuZhi was finally catching onto why he had been so stubborn about this months ago and no amount of begging changed his mind. He had never understood it when Shanghai was filled with wealthy families with better reputations.
“I promised her that one day she would be a part of our family and bringing her daughter to the Leng fold was the only way I could fulfill that before I died. An heir that is both He and Leng. I’m getting old and I wanted to see my grandson settled with the right girl and our family begin to grow again. Two cursed families would be given new life.”