Best Young Master
Chapter 153 - 138 [Secret, Weakness]

Chapter 153: Chapter 138 [Secret, Weakness]

Unlike the laughter and joy in Su Family’s No.2 Villa, Su Family’s No.1 Villa conveyed a gloomy, deathlike aura. Including Uncle Fu, the Su Family’s bodyguards all felt an immense pressure on their chests, as if a massive mountain weighed them down, creating an extremely oppressive atmosphere.

Perhaps knowing the significance of today’s events for the Su Family, Uncle Fu saw that the study’s light was still on but did not remind Su Hongyuan to sleep as usual.

In the study on the second floor of the villa, Su Hongyuan sat limply in his chair, his eyes lifelessly staring at the ceiling, unmoving.

If not for his abdomen gently rising and falling with his breath, one might think he had already passed away.

He wasn’t dead, he was still alive, but it seemed as if he had aged decades in just a few hours. His hair had turned completely white, his forehead was lined with wrinkles, his eye sockets deeply sunken, with a faint redness around his eyes and more pronounced crow’s feet.

"Ding-a-ling—"

Suddenly, the telephone rang, shattering the silence of the study and snapping Su Hongyuan out of his daze.

He turned his head in a daze towards the telephone on the desk, but did not reach out to answer it until the ringing stopped.

Only—

Soon, the telephone rang again, hauntingly echoing in Su Hongyuan’s ears, provoking an inexplicable irritation in him.

Amidst his irritation, he leaned forward, subconsciously wanting to cut the telephone line, but the corner of his eye caught the number on the caller ID – it was Su Qin’s mobile number.

This realization made him pause for a moment, and after thinking it over, he still answered the call.

"Dad, I just received a message saying you called off the engagement at the scene and enraged Lin Ao Feng. Lin Ao Feng went to hit you, but was killed by Ye Fan?" As soon as the call connected, Su Qin asked, her voice filled with confusion, "Is that true?"

"It’s true," Su Hongyuan sighed softly.

"Why did you do that?" Su Qin continued, "Could it be that Ye Fan has concealed his identity and is really Chu Xuanji’s disciple?"

"He isn’t."

Having said this, and realizing Su Qin seldom cared about the affairs of the Su Family, he added, "Xiao Qin, you don’t need to worry about this, I have my own plans."

"Dad, by doing this, you’ve completely offended Nanqinghong. Lin Tianyi won’t let the Su Family go!" Su Qin argued somewhat fretfully, "Moreover, this will also offend the Bai Family!"

"At this point, I had no other choice."

Su Hongyuan spoke gravely, "By the way, what did you mean the other day when you said you had a way to stop Lin Ao Feng from daring to swallow our Su Family and from treating Yuxin too harshly?"

"Dad, if you tell me the reason you changed your decision, I’ll tell you the inside story," Su Qin hesitated slightly, wanting to exchange secrets with Su Hongyuan.

"Ye Fan is Ye Wenhao’s son," Su Hongyuan revealed openly upon hearing this.

"What... what?"

On the other end of the phone, Su Qin, upon hearing Su Hongyuan’s words, jumped up from the sofa as if she had heard the most unbelievable thing in the world, "How... how is he possibly Ye Wenhao’s son?"

"This is what Ye Wenhao told me personally—Ye Wenhao also went to the West Lake Club tonight, though he did not show himself," Su Hongyuan sighed.

"Ye Family does not acknowledge Ye Fan at all. Could he be Ye Wenhao’s illegitimate son?" Su Qin thought for a moment before asking again.

"Mm. You’re right, he is Ye Wenhao’s illegitimate son."

Su Hongyuan still felt some chills recalling Ye Wenhao’s anger in the bamboo forest when mentioning the insults Ye Fan faced, "But he’s not like any ordinary illegitimate son; Ye Wenhao seems to care deeply about him. In fact, if not for fearing that Ye Fan might not be able to accept it at the moment, Ye Wenhao would have directly made an appearance to support him."

"Uh..."

Having her father’s confirmation, Su Qin was stunned and then said somewhat angrily, "Dad, why didn’t you call to inform me before making that decision?"

"In that situation, how could I have had the chance to make a call? Besides, you usually don’t care much about the family affairs, and even if I had informed you, what good would it have done?" Su Hongyuan said weakly, then suddenly felt something amiss, "Xiao Qin, you..."

"I’m Bai Guotao’s lover," Su Qin interrupted Su Hongyuan, her voice complex as she revealed the mystery.

"What... what??"

Now it was Su Hongyuan’s turn to be shocked. Despite his extremely strong heart and the emotional roller coaster he had endured that evening, Su Qin’s admission still left him standing up abruptly, stunned to the point his hand almost dropped the phone.

"I have always been his lover,"

Su Qin’s face was grim as she revealed a secret hidden deep in her heart for nearly twenty years, "That’s also the reason I’ve remained single all these years."

"When did it start?" Su Hongyuan took a deep breath to calm himself down, feeling an ominous premonition rising in his heart.

"Twenty years ago, before I had Liu Li," Su Qin disclosed without any concealment, "And at that time, that grassroots was just a cover to shield me and him."

"Why didn’t you tell me earlier?"

Su Hongyuan, upon hearing this, almost fainted from anger. In his view, if Su Qin had disclosed this to him earlier, the Su Family wouldn’t be in its current predicament—their family would have leveraged the Bai Family to become one of Southern Hua Xia’s top business clans long ago.

"He forbade me from telling anyone about our relationship; otherwise, he said he would cut ties with me. He also told me he won’t help the Su Family," Su Qin sighed softly, "Because of this, I never told you."

"Xiao Qin, oh Xiao Qin, you’re really muddled,"

Su Hongyuan was furiously spun, "If he could maintain a relationship with you for twenty years, he definitely has feelings for you. Even if you were foolish at first and didn’t tell me, you should have told me later. Especially during the family meeting about Yuxin’s engagement, you should have been upfront!"

"Dad, even if I had been upfront at the family meeting that day, would you really have changed your mind?" Su Qin gave a bitter smile and said, "I’m just Bai Guotao’s lover, but Ye Fan is Ye Wenhao’s son; we’re incomparable."

"—"

Su Hongyuan was at a loss for words, just as Su Qin had said, she was merely Bai Guotao’s lover, while Ye Fan was Ye Wenhao’s son, and the Ye Family was still firmly holding the seat of the wealthiest clan.

After a moment of silence, Su Hongyuan sat back down in his chair and said thoughtfully, "Xiao Qin, then your current situation must be extremely awkward? How do you plan to talk to Bai Guotao?"

"I will tell him the truth."

Su Qin said wisely, "He is an extremely proud man, his pride even surpasses that of Ye Wenhao. Because of his pride, he hasn’t taken this matter to heart at all. If I tell him the real inside story, he won’t blame me, nor will he blame you."

"But... but I promised Ye Wenhao that this matter must not be leaked." Su Hongyuan felt somewhat troubled.

"Dad, he is not only extremely proud but also very possessive. If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t have remained single all these years."

Thinking of Bai Guotao’s terrifying possessiveness, Su Qin couldn’t help but warn, "If I choose to hide this from him, then when he finds out the truth, he will think I have betrayed him, and at that time, not only will I have to endure his rage, but our Su Family will also suffer."

"Ah, it really is raining more in times of a leaking roof," Su Hongyuan sighed heavily.

Seemingly understanding Su Hongyuan’s helpless and powerless feelings, Su Qin tactfully remained silent.

"You can tell him the truth, but you can’t tell anyone else."

After a moment of contemplation, Su Hongyuan gritted his teeth and decided, "That way, even if Bai Guotao uses this against us, we could still argue our case in front of Ye Wenhao. After all, the Bai Family’s intelligence network is extraordinary, it’s possible that they could find out this inside story."

"Alright."

Su Qin agreed immediately, then said, "Dad, he must know by now, I won’t talk more with you, I’ll call to tell him right now."

"Mhm." Su Hongyuan responded softly, then hung up the phone.

At the same time, Su Qin first took a deep breath, calmed her emotions, and then dialed the phone number that had long been engraved in the depths of her heart.

"I’m sorry."

The call connected quickly, and Su Qin apologized first, feeling somewhat uneasy.

Based on her understanding of Bai Guotao, because of his pride, whether the Su Family affected Ye Wenhao’s achievements was negligible to him—he disdained leveraging his lover’s family to do so!

But because of that terrifying possessiveness, Bai Guotao absolutely would not allow his lover’s family to serve the rival Ye Family!

"This has nothing to do with you, it must be your father acting on his own, so you don’t need to apologize to me."

As Su Qin had predicted, Bai Guotao, residing in Nandong Province. No.1 Villa of the Commission Family Compound, looked somewhat displeased, his tone was so low it made one’s heart tremble, "I just want to know the reason. What exactly made your father bold enough to risk completely offending Nanqinghong and even our Bai Family, and stage tonight’s drama?"

"My dad was also driven to despair."

Su Qin hurried to explain, "Ye Wenhao was also there tonight; he secretly met with my dad in the bamboo forest at the West Lake Club..."

"Are you saying, Ye Wenhao made promises to your father and painted a vast blueprint for him, which is why your father suddenly changed his mind?" Bai Guotao’s eyes flashed with anger.

"No... not that."

Sensing Bai Guotao’s anger, Su Qin quickly denied, "My dad changed his mind because a young man named Ye Fan liked my niece Su Yuxin—they were in love even before Lin Ao Feng proposed."

"Does this young man named Ye Fan have ties to the Ye Family?" Bai Guotao’s interest was piqued, sensing something.

"Yes." Xu Qin unraveled the mystery, "He is Ye Wenhao’s illegitimate son."

"Ye Wenhao’s illegitimate son?"

Astonished by Xu Qin’s words, Bai Guotao was also slightly taken aback, then fell silent, his eyes shimmering, thinking about something.

"Could you... could you give Nanqinghong a heads up to not let them involve our Su Family as collateral damage?"

Seeing Bai Guotao not speaking, Xu Qin hesitated then mustered the courage to ask, "Lin Ao Feng was furious enough to strike my father, but instead, he got entangled with Ye Fan; got taken advantage of ’legitimate self-defense’ and ended up killed by Ye Fan..."

"If it weren’t for your father’s spectacular performance, that Lin kid wouldn’t have acted so rashly."

Bai Guotao’s expression was unreadable as he interrupted Xu Qin’s words, providing no clear response but shifting the topic, "What do you know about this young man named Ye Fan?"

"I can’t say I know him well, but I’m aware of some events that transpired after he arrived in Hanghu." Xu Qin replied bleakly.

"Let’s hear it."

"Alright."

Guessing that Bai Guotao was leveraging the fact that Ye Fan was Ye Wenhao’s son, Xu Qin detailed everything Ye Fan had done since arriving in Hanghu to Bai Guotao.

"So, this son of Ye Wenhao is inherently arrogant and vengeful, hence his continuous troublemaking?" Bai Guotao asked.

Xu Qin nodded, "Yes. Anyone who has offended him has not ended well."

"Good, good, good, I never expected Ye Wenhao to have such an exceptional illegitimate son, and what’s more, to care deeply about him."

Realizing Xu Qin’s confirmation, the displeasure in Bai Guotao’s heart vanished without a trace, replaced by excitement, "Heaven truly helps me!"

At those words, something clicked for Su Qin, and she instantly grasped the implication in Bai Guotao’s words—Ye Fan would become the biggest stumbling block for Ye Wenhao’s ascension!

A stumbling block?

As the chess game progressed, Chu Xuanji smiled and remained silent. (To be continued. If you like this work, we invite you to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)