Chapter 40: Stubborn Love

Shen Xinran was taken back to her residence by the chauffeur.

Their humongous bungalow occupied half of the hilltop, which just showed how rich the owner was.

The security officer opened the electronically controlled, large and sturdy gate for her to enter.

“Missy is back.”

“Missy is back…”

She passed through the garden and into the bungalow’s front hall. Her mother was busy with her floral arrangement inside the house when she entered.

The lady saw her daughter walking in, put down the stalk of a flower in her hand and greeted her with a smile. “You’re back early today.”

“Eh.” Her daughter replied with disinterest, walked to the sofa and sat down. She picked up one of the floral stalks lying carelessly on the coffee table and started to play with the petals instead.

“What happened?” Yu Qinglan could see that the young lady was not in a happy mood and asked with concern. “Was the director making things difficult for you again?”

She stifled a snigger. “He can’t even help himself. Why would he try to pick faults with me now?”

Honestly, it was easy to tell why the investors had pulled the plug on this movie out of the blue. Chen Yuheng definitely had something to do with it. He actually went to all this trouble just for a robot. How unreasonable and… ludicrous.

Insiders were well aware of the director’s pastime so naturally, she knew a little about it, too. However, this was a non-issue for her. It was just a robot, after all; so it was up to him how he wanted to use it. Even if he had informed her prior to borrowing, she would not have rejected it.

The actress believed that the director had not yet realized how he had offended RK’s CEO. The latter had really flared up this time and gone all out to destroy him. Anyway, Director Xu would probably not believe her if she were to tell him that the robot had gotten him into trouble this time…

Her mother could tell that something was not right with the girl as she pressed on, concerned. “Has something happened?”

She trimmed the floral stack in her hand and then inserted it into her mother’s vase, before quietly telling her mom, “Brother is not answering my calls.”

Yu Qinglan’s heart turned cold instantly.

Shen Xinran suddenly put on a sweet, coyish look of a young daughter as she cried out to her mother petulantly, “Mommy, can you make a date with brother on my behalf?”

“Xinran…”

The young lady continued regardless, “What’s the purpose of the meeting? Erm… you can tell him that it’s for an apology. I want to apologize to him. Will you do that for me, please? Mommy, can you arrange a meeting with brother for me?”

The woman found this a tough order. Holding on to her daughter’s hand, she tried to persuade her otherwise. “Xinran, if this is about compensating for the damage done to the robot, your father will resolve this matter on your behalf. There’s no need for you to apologize to him, Xinran. Your father won’t be happy…”

The girl wrinkled her nose and gave a snort unhappily. “Father is biased against brother! He’s not happy that I look for him every time. Besides, I’m not looking for him because of this matter…”

Her mother was at a loss for words.

She knew that this stepdaughter of hers had fallen in love with her son whom she had raised with her ex-husband. This was something that her current husband found deplorable and, privately, he had blamed her for not teaching the girl well.

She was caught in-between. It was not easy being in the role of a step-mother, especially with a step-daughter like Shen Xinran who could be headstrong and willful. She might end up on a wrong note if she was not careful with her words.

Just as the woman was contemplating this, the young lady opened her mouth and added, “I saw the news saying that brother might have a new girlfriend, so I went to engage a private investigator to check on him. I think I’ve antagonized him because of that… Mommy, can you help me to explain to him on my behalf? I didn’t mean any harm. I was just curious… Now, he absolutely refuses to answer my calls…”

She seemed heartbroken as she explained, a tear could be observed falling from the corner of her eye.

Her stepmother was too startled by her confession to respond at first.

“Xinran, you… you actually engaged a private investigator to check on him?”

Although Shen Xinran was not her flesh and blood, she knew her stepdaughter well enough. After all, she had brought her up over the last twenty years so how could she not know the real motive behind the girl’s action?

Would a woman engage a private investigator to check on another man out of mere curiosity?

No, that’s impossible.

She felt that her daughter had increasingly overstepped the line…

Her liking for Chen Yuheng had not developed recently.

Since she had been young, and she could not recall when it happened exactly, the young girl loved to talk about him, and often asked her to invite him over. The woman did not suspect anything beyond the ordinary at the start. In fact, she hoped that this would encourage her older son to treat her other children as his siblings. So if he was to treat Shen Xinran as his younger sister, then surely he would also treat her youngest child, Shen Jiayou, as his younger brother too. After all, both had her bloodline.

As a mother, which woman would not want to see their children bonding in harmony? As such, she was happy that the girl was so ready to accept her older son.

However, as the girl grew up, her fascination with him did not subside, and in fact, it turned into an obsession that was no longer concealed.

The woman had tried to persuade the young one to give up but her words fell on deaf ears.

She had reckoned that the girl was probably in a rebellious stage and hoped that the young lady would give up after meeting some other excellent men. Besides, the older boy was not friendly to the girl at all.

However, her heart grew uneasy as she watched the obsessed girl before her. She had a feeling that the young lady was sliding down an abyss, of which there was no return…

“I know it’s wrong of me to engage a private investigator.” Pouting, the lady admitted gloomily. “But I was curious to find out if he really had a girlfriend… Now, he’s not answering my calls… Mommy, I really want to see him. Can you help me please?”

“Xinran…” The woman looked at her daughter with pain and frustration. “Yuheng isn’t someone who knows how to pamper girls… I don’t find the two of you suitable for each other. Remember that boy who came over to our place to visit us? I find him a nice man… why don’t you consider…”

The young girl’s face turned sullen immediately as she complained, “Mommy, why did you have the same idea as daddy?! What’s so good about that man? He looked stupid!”

Her mother did not want to antagonize the girl and tried to lighten the mood. She replied in a half-joking manner, “I just feel that our Xinran is so pretty, and deserves a fitting partner. You should be more picky with men… Nowadays, youngsters like you have a saying, something like ‘not to give up a forest for the sake of a tree’?

“Alright, that’s enough!” The young lady was clearly not in the mood to listen further. She stood up and declared, “Since you aren’t going to help me, then I’ll look for him!”

“Xinran!” Suddenly, a deep and authoritative voice boomed over their heads.

Unknown to both of them, the head of the household had appeared at the door. The servant quickly went up to take his jacket and placed his slippers at his feet.

Holding a solemn look with a tinge of fury, the middle-aged man looked at his own daughter and reprimanded sternly, “Is this how you treat your elders?”

The girl looked away defiantly.

Shen Yao lectured, “What your mother said was right, stop interacting with that Chen fella! My daughter doesn’t need to fawn over this man! You’d better have this inert understanding if you consider yourself as the daughter of the Shen household!”

The girl was obstinate. “I’ll like who I want to like! What’s wrong with brother?! He doesn’t like to come over because you’re prejudiced against him!

“I dare you to repeat yourself!” the man bawled.