The Shao Family was one of the most influential families in Capital City, but Wei Hongmian’s father used to be Shao Jingshan’s chief. The doctors were willing to risk offending the Shao Family for Wei Hongmian when she wanted to mess with the results after weighing the advantages and disadvantages of their actions. In the end, they agreed to Wei Hongmian’s request.

Shao Yibai realized that Wei Hongmian’s wrong decision during a moment of weakness caused him and Su Qingcheng to lose many years together. He was particularly upset because his lover was so devastated that she repeatedly ran away from him His heart was filled with gloom.

When Shao Yibai got up and left, his bodyguards in plain clothes went out as well.

The air in Capital City was terribly chilly in December. The north winds howled angrily and penetrated people’s skin.

The man briefly staggered in the snow before he fell head first on the green belt beside the road. His bodyguard hurriedly rushed over and picked him up, but Shao Yibai was already in a half-awake and dazed state. “Xiaodai, where are you…”

*

In Yan Zhou…

The scorching sun hang right in the sky, and the rays of sunshine were blazing down on earth. This was the longest dry spell that she had experienced ever since she first arrived in Yan Zhou three years ago. Every single creature shriveled up its body in the afternoon on this hot summer’s day. You could almost hear the sizzling sound of their skin being roasted…

“Miss Su, please come to the school. Little Su Shaoan fought with his friends.”

Su Qingcheng’s warm mood turned cold when she received a phone call from Su Shaoan’s class teacher.

This was the third phone call she had received this month.

Su Shaoan was already a second grader in elementary school, but he could not get rid of his bad habit of constantly getting into fights.

The number of times she was getting called to school because his son had fought with the other kids in school was getting more and more frequent. It gave her headaches just thinking about it.

She had opened a martial arts training center in Yan Zhou that taught children and teenagers wushu and fistfighting. Su Shaoan’s martial arts skills were naturally superior to the other kids since he grew up by Su Qingcheng’s side. The children whom he fought were being defeated left and right, and their parents naturally refused to let him off easily.

The boys who were beaten up today were three children who were in higher grades. Their faces were dusted with bruises while the corner of one boy’s uniform was also torn.

Su Shaoan’s clothes were slightly dusty, but he was fine. The stubborn expression on his little face annoyed one of the other parents.

“You’re his mother, but why don’t you know how to educate your child? Look at how he’s beaten up my son!”

The forty-year-old middle-aged woman spoke loudly in Yan Zhou’s local dialect. She pointed at Su Qingcheng and kicked up a big fuss in Miss Zhang’s office.

The other two parents were also acting very impulsively. The words they said were harsh and upsetting. “That child was raised by his mother, but she obviously never taught him anything. Why don’t you ask around in Yan Zhou and find out if the Hu Family are the kind of people you can just bully as you please? We’ll give you two options since your son has hurt our children so badly. You can either let our children beat him up in return or you can pay for their hospital bills and have your son kicked out of this school.”

Su Qingcheng remained calm as she assessed the situation. She ignored the other three parents causing a scene and turned to the teacher instead. She asked in a drawn-out manner, “Miss Zhang, can you please tell me what happened?”

Miss Zhang knew that Su Shaoan came from a single parent household. This child was usually very polite in school. He was just a little cold and aloof toward the other students.

The older students got beaten up when they ran to the entrance of the second-grade classroom and provoked Su Shaoan. The other adults were clearly aware of the actual situation.

However, Miss Zhang was rather afraid of one pair of parents because they were infamous for being local tyrants in the village. If she helped Su Shaoan this time, there was a chance that those parents would use their connections to get her into trouble.

“Miss Su, your son Shaoan hit the other children. In my opinion, you should pay for their hospital bills right away to resolve this matter…”

“Miss Zhang!” Su Qingcheng could not suppress the rage in her heart anymore when she heard her tone. Su Shaoan who was next to his mother watched as her expression worsened. He moved his little body closer to hers.

Su Qingcheng noticed the fear spreading throughout her young child’s face when she lowered her head and looked at him. She lowered her voice and continued, “I’d like to resolve this issue, but it depends on what happened.”

Her gaze was sharp and vicious when she turned around and glanced at the three arrogant and ruthless parents. She said, “If Su Shaoan hit your children intentionally, I’d obviously teach him a good lesson. However, I need someone to explain to me why all three of them were ganging up on him. Worse still, they were all older than Su Shaoan. What was going on?”

The three parents exchanged glances, but none of them spoke first. Deep down, they had a clear idea of what their own children were like. It was also true that their children were older than that boy.

Su Qingcheng’s stance was still oppressive. Her beautiful face was bright red from the fury she was suppressing. The three parents felt as though she was provoking them.

It looked like they were having a hard time getting rid of their own anger as well as they glared at Su Qingcheng.

Su Qingcheng’s voice sounded hoarse from the effort of restraining herself. “You’re blaming us because your children lost the fight. That’s why you’re making a huge scene here. But I’d like to ask a question: who would I need to seek to get justice if your children won today?”

The most arrogant parent who was the forty-year-old woman spoke first. She was unable to suppress her anger any longer, so she pulled her son over and pointed at Su Shaoan. “Tell us then. Why would our sons fight with that little brat for no reason if there was nothing wrong in the first place?”

The little boy became bolder because his mother was protecting him. He did not hold himself back as he inched closer to Su Shaoan.

Su Qingcheng shielded Su Shaoan with her body by standing in front of him. She lowered her head and smirked. Turning to Su Shaoan, she asked, “An An, can you tell me why you hit them?”

Su Shaoan’s complexion turned red before returning to its natural colors. Moments later, he gradually relaxed his tightly knitted eyebrows. The boy lowered his head and muttered, “They said that… I didn’t have a father… They called me a b*stard…”

Su Qingcheng shuddered. The hand she had on her son’s shoulder tightened.

Her son did not know the full meaning of the word “b*stard” because he was still young, but he knew that it was an insulting term.

“My son, you fought well!” Su Qingcheng smiled. She said, “That doesn’t mean that I’m encouraging your actions, but you should make a move against someone when they are bullying you.”

Su Shaoan’s eyes lit up, and his pouty lips stretched into a smile. “Mom, was my martial arts skills alright? Those big dummies thought that they could bully me.”

Miss Zhang’s perspectives of life were thrown into a state of confusion when she heard the conversation between the mother and her son. The other three mothers who were present were bothered by this. What kind of mother would encourage her son to fight?

“What kind of woman are you to say these things? We’ll help you educate your son if you can’t do it on your own…”

“What do you mean by that? My son would never call another child a “b*stard”!” Su Qingcheng straightened her back. Her imposing aura was honed by numerous years of martial arts training. The pressure made it rather difficult for the other parties to catch their breath.

The first parent took a step back. She pointed her fat finger that was adorned with a gold ring at Su Qingcheng’s nose and yelled, “A sly young woman like you is definitely bad news. You gave birth to that little b*stard…”

“Yes, I agree. You must’ve slept with a rich man to be able to open such a massive martial arts institution in Yan Zhou. I wonder who it was…”

Despite being in the presence of their children and the teacher, the three women started spouting nonsense incessantly.

Su Qingcheng sneered and spat, “All three of your children were no match for Su Shaoan. You can only imagine how strong his mother must be. Since you can’t keep your mouths shut, I don’t mind stepping in for the children’s grandmothers and teaching all of you a lesson!”

The three women became fearful when they noticed the murderous glint that had flashed across Su Qingcheng’s bloodthirsty gaze. They turned to Miss Zhang for help and shouted, “Miss Zhang, look at this. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. We’ve only had a few words in, but she’s already resorting to violence. Tell her that we have people backing us up!”

Miss Zhang had no idea what to do with this situation since a while ago. When she saw the how murderous Su Qingcheng looked, she hurriedly stepped forward to be the peacemaker. “Miss Su, please don’t be rash. Let’s talk about it properly.”

Su Qingcheng gave a quick and sarcastic flash of a smile. “It was them who had refused to discuss this matter reasonably in the first place!”

Miss Zhang pulled Su Qingcheng aside and whispered, “There are higher authorities in that family while you’re just a single mother who has adopted an orphan. It would be better for you if you didn’t upset them…”

Su Qingcheng had guessed from the beginning that the situation would end up like this. She smiled at Miss Zhang and said, “I’m not going to cause any trouble for you as their teacher. However, it’ll be impossible for Su Shaoan to remain in this school after this if we let them have their way today. After all, if an educator like yourself thinks that we should merely swallow our anger and bear with it, everyone else will think so as well!”

Growing up, Su Qingcheng was always the most obedient child in her family. That was why she was entirely aware that the most obedient child would not necessarily have the brightest future.

Miss Zhang felt embarrassed after hearing Su Qingcheng’s criticism. She glanced at the other three parents and sighed. She said to Su Qingcheng, “Well, what do you want to do?”

Su Qingcheng said with a smile, “I want them to admit that it’s their fault!”

Admit that it was their fault?

The three women exchanged glances among themselves. The first woman stepped forward and snarled, “Are you saying that you want our sons to get beaten up for nothing?”

Su Qingcheng smirked and looked at the three children from higher grades. She said in a calm manner, “Boys, before you fight, you should’ve realized that there are only ever going to be two kinds of consequences. You would either win or lose the fight! Since you’ve failed to beat your opponent, you have two choices. For the first option, you can learn martial arts. I’ll give you a twenty percent discount at my Heaven and Earth Martial Arts Center. As for the second option, you should stop fighting and control your mouth and hands instead!”

Upon saying this, Su Qingcheng took out several business cards and stuffed them into the first child’s hand. “The address of the martial arts center is written on the cards. You’re always welcome to come!”

She pulled Su Shaoan’s arm and walked out of the office without turning back.

The others were momentarily stunned and did not react in time. They merely suffered in silence as they were too afraid to step forward and stop her.

The first parent said with gritted teeth, “I’ll get Bureau Chief Li to seal your institution later!”

Su Qingcheng was obviously not afraid of having her institution closed down. Her martial arts training center had all five certificates in order. Their firefighting equipment was also the most advanced, and the business had already been certified. Speaking of which, Chief Zhang Han from Yan Zhou’s military compound was actually the one who had assisted her…

When Zhang Han discovered that the Little Su whom he knew from the past was actually a girl, he managed to guess that she was in a relationship with Shao Yibai as well. He even assumed that Su Shaoan was Shao Yibai’s son…

Su Shaoan’s face was filled with joy on the way home. After all, children could never conceal their true feelings.

Unfortunately, Su Qingcheng had fallen into a deep state of anxiety now. It would certainly be bad for Su Shaoan’s growth if situations like this persisted.

She turned this matter over in her mind, but she did not know what to do. Little boys needed to spend time with their fathers, but she could never accept another man.

Shao Yibai’s figure was the only one that appeared in Su Qingcheng’s mind when she thought of men.

She did not have many connections in Capital City, but Su Qingcheng knew that Shao Yibai was still single after all these years…

Su Qingcheng made a simple dinner for her son once they were home. After that, she turned on her computer. This was the first time that she had logged onto the QQ website after many years. She had stopped contacting Mu Chenyan and Miao Hong, but they were still friends on QQ.

Su Qingcheng was briefly informed about Mu Chenyan’s return to Luo Hai. She saw that the pair had finally ended up together after facing various trials and tribulations. Su Qingcheng was extremely happy for them.

She clicked on Mu Chenyan’s profile and saw the news about her second pregnancy. Suddenly, an indescribable pain stirred in her heart. If she could have Shao Yibai’s baby, neither of them would need to suffer…

The years when she was twenty to twenty-eight years old were supposed to be the most important years of her life. Unfortunately, she had spent most of them running and hiding.